Satan and his minions came under increased scrutiny in early modern Europe (ca. 1400–1800). Some daring thinkers, like Nicole Oresme (ca. 1320/25–82), had already questioned the existence of demons altogether and attributed demonic activity more plausibly to natural causes than to fiendish agency. Others, like the Neoplatonist Marsilio Ficino (1433–99), revived the idea that human beings were born with their own personal demons, a notion made popular in antiquity by pagan philosophers like Plato and Apuleius (see this page). These opinions were mere whispers, however, amid the chorus of voices expressing fear about the malice of demons and the lure of their power. As the survival of foreboding grimoires and spell books from this period suggests, students of occult philosophy practiced the dark arts to initiate contact with demons in an effort to increase their influence and worldly gain, but the costs were great. An overarching theme in depictions of Satan and his lieutenants at this time was the notion that their organization and activities were crude and derisive imitations of God’s works. Writing in 1646, John Gaule concluded that “the Devil is God’s ape, and one that fains to imitate him, though in contrary ways. And therefore, as God makes a covenant of grace with his, so doth the Devil with his a covenant of death.”[1]