[Blau examines Agrippa's writings in the context of sixteenth-century study of the cabala.]

In the sixteenth century magic was well-nigh respectable. Many of the most noted men of the century dabbled in it; to some, as to Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, magic spelled power. The universities did not teach magic, but many of their students practiced it. Magic went far beyond mere formulas of incantation; its doctrines were of far greater import than its practices. Much of the most original thinking of the period is to be found in books on magic.

Among the followers and students of the magical art cabala developed considerable popularity. It became, as it were, a part of the philosophic background required of each member of this fantastic fringe of the intellectual life. It is true that often when the word "cabala" was used the doctrine in no way resembled that of the Hebrew cabala….

Some, however, of the sixteenth-century devotees of the magical art actually meant cabala when they used the word, and of these the most distinguished was Henry Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim (1486-1535). Agrippa's interest in the cabala was stimulated by Reuchlin, whose De verbo mirifico the young occultist studied with great care. As early as 1509 Agrippa delivered a public exposition of Reuchlin's work. His biographer, Henry Morley, explains that by 1509 Agrippa had collected the notes for a complete treatise on magic; some, of course, were from fellow members of secret societies interested in magic, but many "were obtained from Reuchlin's Hebrew-Christian way of using the Cabala" [The Life of Henry Cornelius Agrippa]. In order to earn the good will of Margaret of Austria, Agrippa decided to apply what he had learned in this close study of Reuchlin's work to a series of public orations on the book in honor of her highness, whom he hoped thus to gain as his patron.

We do not know what Agrippa said about Reuchlin's book. We do know that about a year later, when he was in London on a mission on which he had been sent by the Emperor Maximilian, father of Margaret, and while he was staying at the home of Dean Colet, Agrippa responded in a very mild way to an attack made upon his orations by the monk Johannes Catilinet.

This Expostulation was extremely Christian in tone. It was produced at a time when the vicious attacks on Reuchlin by the Cologne Dominicans were in the air, and when the equally vicious but somewhat more toleration-conscious defenses of Reuchlin by Ulrich von Hutten and others were being composed. Yet Agrippa quietly pointed out that he was a Christian, not a "Judaizing heretic," and that the work he defended in public auditory and for whose defense he was rewarded with "a lectureship, the position of Regent, and a salary" was that of "a Christian doctor, John Reuchlin of Pforzheim." His conclusion is that Catilinet must have erred because of a lack of knowledge of cabala and that if given the opportunity to talk with him, Agrippa could change his views. There is no record of such a conversation having taken place.

Catilinet's attacks were delivered in a series of public orations before the Princess Margaret at the beginning of Lent in 1510. Shortly before this, Agrippa had submitted to the Abbot Tritheim (1462-1516) his work On Occult Philosophy. In an accompanying letter he requested Tritheim's criticism and advice about publishing his book.

Tritheim kept the messenger while he read the manuscript, and immediately after completing his reading, April 8, 1510, he sent a note to Agrippa. He advised Agrippa to continue his occult studies, but not to publish his book. He wrote: "Speak of things public to the public, but of things lofty and secret only to the loftiest and the most private of your friends. Hay to an ox, and sugar to a parrot: interpret this rightly, lest you be trampled down by oxen as most others have been." How apt Tritheim's warning against public presentation of occult against ideas was can be seen from the fact that the attack of Catilinet against Agrippa's lectures followed it so closely. Agrippa took heed to his friend's advice. This work on occult philosophy was not published until 1531. By this time Reuchlin's De arte cabalistica had appeared, and Agrippa revised his text to include some material from Reuchlin's better book.

When the work On Occult Philosophy appeared, it was divided into three books. At the beginning of the first book the author asserts that there are three worlds or realms: the elementary world, the intellectual world, and the celestial world. This is the schema which Pico drew from the work of Recanati. The first book deals with the elementary world, or natural magic. Only at the end does Agrippa suggest the possiblity of magical performance by means of formulas developed from letters, of which, of course, Hebrew letters are most sacred and effective.

But this you must not be ignorant of, that it is observed by wise men, that the Hebrew letters are the most efficacious of all, because they have the greatest similitude with the celestials and the world, and that the letters of the other tongues have not so great an efficacy because they are more distant from them.

The second book treats of the intellectual world and is chiefly concerned with a statement of the symbolism of numbers. Thus we learn that unity is not a number, but the original of all numbers. We discover, too, that as in the celestial world there is but one God, whose name is written with one letter, so there is in the intellectual world one Supreme Intelligence. There are similar treatments of the other numbers….

The year 1510, so eventful in the career of Agrippa, as we have seen, also marked the appearance of his glorification of the female sex. This was another of the author's weapons in his attempt to gain the favor of Princess Margaret. The lady had listened to Catilinet's attack on Agrippa and the cabala. Agrippa replied to his opponent not only directly, in his Expostulation, but also indirectly, by writing of the merits of women. In the course of this political exercise there is one passage of interest to this study; Agrippa uses the alphabetical technique of the cabalist to prove that there is a closer correspondence between the name "Eve" and the Tetragrammaton than exists between the name "Adam" and that supreme four-letter name of God.

In 1515 Agrippa fought with the Italians against the French at the battle of Marignano. As a result of the French victory he was reduced to penury. In these straits he was aided by the Marquis of Montferrat, who was repaid by receiving the dedication of two treatises, one on man, the other on the threefold way of knowing God. Only the latter has come down to us….

The treatise is in six chapters; the first of these deals with the necessity for seeking to know God; the second presents the three ways of knowing Him: by contemplation of His creatures, by hearing the angels, and by listening to His Son. The next three chapters discuss these three ways in more detail. The final chapter is a more or less formal summary brought into accord with the creed of the church. In the fourth chapter, dealing with the way of knowing God through angels, Agrippa explains that in addition to the written Law handed down to Moses at Mount Sinai, God revealed to the leader of the children of Israel a complete exposition of the true Law, which is contained hermetically in the written Law. Moses, therefore, received two laws, one literal and one spiritual. In accordance with the precept of the Lord, he communicated the written Law to all the people, the spiritual Law only to the seventy elders. This spiritual Law was handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. It was, therefore, called "cabala," reception.

Cabala is concerned with those things which may be known about God and His angels. It teaches the many names to be used for the invocation of the angels. The doctrine of the Messiah was a part of the original cabala, but since the Messiah, Jesus, has already come, cabala should now be chiefly concerned with the angels.

At this point Agrippa shows an inkling of the development of an attitude which was later to lead him to renounce all his former pursuits as vanity, when he maintains that cabalists have devoted themselves too much to magic and are thus leading to a misunderstanding of the name and purpose of cabala. Cabala in its true sense is necessary, for if one does not know the technique for looking below the surface of the Scriptures one has only the literal sense to go by. Furthermore, if knowledge is of the literal meaning only, "nothing is more ridiculous than the Law, or more like old women's fables and mere wanton talk." Since, however, Christ, the sun of all justice, has come, we no longer need this misty and indirect way of knowing God; we can know Him through His Son. God can be known through the Gospels.

In 1526 Agrippa's dissatisfaction with the conditions of his life led to the composition of a remarkable book on The Uncertainty and Vanity of the Sciences and Arts, half satire directed against the schools, half renunciation of all his earlier preoccupations. He attacks, in turn, all the sciences and arts and their subdivisions, showing a wide knowledge, for, at some time or other [according to Morley] "Agrippa had tried nearly every art that he had found wanting…. He was not a reviler from without, but a satirist from within, of the uncertainties and vanities of the imperfect art and science of his day." The treatise closes with an exhortation, largely in the words of the Scriptures, that men should attempt to become like-minded with God; and, learning from Jesus, the true Master, should be wise concerning the good, and simple concerning the evil.

Among his other renunciations is the study of cabala. He describes cabala as an ancient Hebrew tradition, known to Christians for only a short time. It is double science: half treats of cosmology, half of "Marcana,"

which is something of a symbolic theology dealing with sublimer reflections about God, the angelic powers, and sacred names and symbols, in which letters, numbers, figures, things and the names and ornaments of letters, and lines, punctuation, and accents are names significant of most profound things and of great mysteries.

While, he says, there is no doubt that such a secret tradition was handed down to Moses, nevertheless he feels that cabala as practices by the Jews is a rhapsodical superstition, allied to theurgic magic. If there is a wonder-working name, it is Iesv, which the Jews do not recognize. Cabala is, therefore, now only a vain delusion.

This renunciation did not last; as has been seen, by 1531 Agrippa dared to publish his three books on occult philosophy in their revised form. Thus, for a brief period in his life the skeptic was uppermost in him; both before and after this period he was the credulous philosopher of magic….