Brewer's: Picatrix

The pseudonym of a Spanish monk, author of a book on demonology, collected from the writings of 224 Arabic magicians. It was dedicated to King Alfonso.

“At the time when I was a student in the University of Toulouse, that same reverend Picatrix, rector of the Diabolical Faculty, was wont to tell us that devils did naturally fear the bright glancing of swords, as much as the splendour and light of the sun.” —Rabelais: Pantagruel, iii. 23.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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