VAIRO, Leonardo.

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De fascino libri tres. First edition of this influential treatise on demonic possession. Vairo explores the nature of "fascination", the ability of witches and evil creatures to enchant through the power of their gaze. According to the author, this power can only be attained through a pact with the devil.Leonardo Vairo (c. 1543-1603) was a Spanish Benedictine canon, theologian, and later Bishop of Pozzuoli near Naples. In De fascino, he refutes the belief, widespread at the time, that some individuals possess an innate power to cause harm. He argues instead that fascination is "a pernicious quality induced by art of demons because of tacit or express pact of men with the same demons" (Thorndike, p. 528). He quotes classical sources (including Aristotle, Avicenna, Plutarch, Heliodorus, Ovid, and Virgil) and explains that they could not understand the demonic origin of fascination because they did not know the Scriptures.Vairo describes the process of fascination as an influence that is transmitted through rays emitted by the eyes. He addresses traditional topics including monstrous births, the witches' sabbath, the witches' flight, and the powers of animals like wolves and basilisks (noting that their gaze is not fatal if seen through a mirror, p. 114). The book includes an early reference to America: Vairo mentions demonic illusions can be brought about by natural substances and dedicates a long paragraph to the use of tobacco for divination rituals in the Americas (p. 183),

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