Nine Books on the Nature of Things

Likewise it is possible, and not contrary to nature, for an irrational animal to be born from a woman and a man. Here the woman must not be judged as the man was: she must not on that account be held a heretic as though she had acted against nature. It is to be attributed to her imagination, for her imagination is very often the cause. A pregnant woman’s imagination is so effective that, when she conceives seed within her body, she can transform the fetus in various ways, because her inner stars are directed so strongly toward it that they produce an impression and influence. During its formation the child in the mother’s womb is thus placed in her hand and will, like clay in a potter’s hand, which the potter forms and fashions as desired. So the pregnant woman forms the fruit within her body according to her imagination and the condition of her stars. Thus cattle or other dreadful monsters are often born from male seed, according to the force with which the mother’s imagination is directed toward the embryo, and so forth.