Nine Books on the Nature of Things

Necromancy discloses its signs through the stars of death, which we also call euestra. They mark the body of a sick and dying person with red, livid and purple spots, certain indications of death arriving on the third day. They also mark human hands and fingers with yellow spots, certain signs of approaching fortune, whether good or bad. When the stars of necromancy move, the dead produce wonders and signs: corpses bleed, dead things are seen, voices are heard from graves, commotions and tremors arise in ossuaries, and the dead appear in the form and dress of the living. They are seen in various forms in visions, mirrors, beryls, stones and waters. The evestrum and trarames give signs by knocking, striking, pounding, falling and throwing, where only commotion or sound is heard but nothing seen. All these are certain indications of death, foretelling it for the one in whose form they appear or in the place where they are heard.