Satan's rhetoric : a study of Renaissance demonology / Armando Maggi.

Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2001.

x, 260 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-251) and index.

The devils' perverted syllogism : Prierio's De strigimagis -- The word's "ceremonies" : natural and unnatural language according to de Moura's De Ensalmis -- To vomit the name of the morning star : creation as metaphor in Menghi and Polidori's Thesaurus exorcismorum -- Walking in the garden of Purgatory : the discourse of the mind in the probation of St. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi -- To dream insomnia : human mind and demonic enlightenment in Cardano's Metoposcopia -- The epic triumph of the church, its melancholy, and the persistence of sodom : a conclusion.