Nine Books on the Nature of Things

To continue the treatment of monsters: understand that monstrous animals born from other things rather than from their like seldom live long, especially if they try to live beside or among other animals. By innate nature and divine ordinance all monsters are hateful to properly born animals of their own kind, and so forth. Likewise human monsters born from humans seldom live long. The more extraordinary and remarkable they are, the sooner death overtakes them, so that hardly any survive beyond the third day among humans unless immediately carried to secret places and separated from all people. Furthermore, it must be understood that God recoils from such monsters and is displeased by them, and none can be saved, because they do not bear God’s likeness. Nothing else can therefore be inferred except that they were formed thus by the Devil and born for the Devil’s service rather than God’s: no good work has ever flowed from a monster, but rather every evil, every sin and every diabolical cunning. As an executioner marks his sons by cutting off their ears, gouging out their eyes, burning their cheeks and amputating fingers, hands and head, so the Devil marks his sons through the imagination of mothers, who draw it in at conception from evil desires, lusts and thoughts. Everyone who has an extra limb, lacks a limb or otherwise has a doubled member must therefore be shunned. This is an omen of the Devil and a most certain sign of the hidden wickedness and cunning which follows from them. Thus they seldom die without the executioner, or at least a mark from the executioner.