Chapter 13

114.Nat. Hist., bk. xxx, ch. 2. “Certe Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, Plato ad hanc discendam navigavere exsiliis verius quam peregrinationibus susceptis. Hanc reversi praedicavere, hanc in arcanis habuere.” Philostratus, as we shall see, mentioned the same men as associating with the magi, although he denied that they embraced the magic art. (Seeinfra, p. 67.)

115. Bk. xxx, ch. 2. “Plenumque miraculi et hoc, pariter utrasque artis effloruisse, medicinam dico et magicenque, eadem aetate illam Hippocrate, hanc Democrito inlustrantibus.” Pliny may have got a false idea of the teachings of Democritus by accepting as genuine works which were not. He tells us (bk. xxx, ch. 2) that some persons have vainly tried to save Democritus’ reputation by denying that certain works are his. “Democritus Apellobechen Coptiten et Dardanum et Phoenicem inlustravit voluminibus Dardani in sepulchrum eius petitis, suis vero ex disciplina eorum editis, quae recepta ab ullis hominum atque transisse per memoriam aeque ac nihil in vita mirandum est. In tantum fides istis fasque omne deest, adeo ut qui cetera in viro probant, haec opera eius esse inficientur. Sed frustra. Hunc enim maxume adfixisse animis eam dulcedinem constat.”

116. Bk. xxiv, ch. 9. “In promisso herbarum mirabilium occurrit aliqua dicere et de Magicis. Quae enim mirabiliores? Primi eas in nostro orbe celebravere Pythagoras atque Democritus, consectati Magos.”

117.De Divinatione, bk. i, ch. 39, and bk. ii, ch. 42.

118.Timaeus, p. 47 (Steph.). The passage may be found in English translation in vol. iii, p. 466, of B. Jowett’sPlato’s Dialogues(3d edit.), London, 1892.

119.Timaeus, pp. 53–56 (Steph.); Jowett, vol. iii, pp. 473–476.

120.Laws, bk. xi, p. 933 (Steph.).

121.Timaeus, p. 70 (Steph.). The translation is that of Jowett, vol. iii, p. 492.

122.Ibid., p. 71 (Steph.).

123.Symposium, p. 188 (Steph.). Translated by Jowett, vol. i, p. 558.

124.Timaeus, p. 40 (Steph.). Jowett, vol. iii, p. 459.

125.Ibid., pp. 41, 42 (Steph.).

126. W. Windelband,History of Philosophy, p. 147. English translation by J. H. Tufts. Macmillans, 1898.

127. Windelband,Hist. of Ancient Philos., p. 272. Eng. transl. by H. E. Cushman. Scribners, 1899.

128.Aristotelis De Animalibus Historiae Libri X(Graece et Latine. Io. Gottlob Schneider. Lipsiae, 1811). Vol. i contains the Greek text. In the following foot-notes I shall refer to the book, chapter and section by Roman and arabic numerals, but in the text the book and chapters are denoted by letters of the Greek alphabet. There is an English translation of the work by Richard Creswell, London, 1862. (Bohn Library.)

129. Bk. v, ch. xx, sec. 2; bk. vi, ch. xi, sec. 2; bk. vi, ch. xiv, sec. 1; bk. vii, ch. xi; bk. viii, ch. xvii, sec. 4; bk. viii, ch. xx, sec. 12.

130. Bk. v, ch. xix, sec. 4. Γίγνεται δὲ κηρίον μὲν ἐξ ἀνθῶν. κήρωσιν δὲ φέρσοσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ δακρύου τῶν δένδρων, μέλι δὲ τὸ πίπτον ἐκ τοῦ ἀέρος καὶ μάλιστα ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἄστρων ἐπιτολαῖς, καὶ ὅταν κατασκήφῃ ἡ ἶρις. Ὅλως δ’ οὐ γίγνεται μέλι πρὸ πλειάδος ἐπιτολῆς. τὸν μὲν οὖν κηρὸν ποιεῖ, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ἐκ τῶν ἀνθέων, τὸ δὲ μέλι ὅτι οὐ ποιεῖ, ἀλλὰ φέρει τὸ πίπτον, σημεῖον. ἐν μιᾷ γὰρ ἢ ἐν δυσὶν ἡμέραις πλήρη εὑρίσκουσι τὰ σμήνη οἱ μελιττουργοὶ μέλιτος. Ἔτι δὲ τοῦ μετοπώρου ἄνθη γίγνεται μὲν, μέλι δ’ οὒ, ὅταν ἀφαιρεθῇ.

131. Bk. v, ch. xvii, sec. 13.

132. Bk. viii, ch. xxviii, sec. 2.

133. Bk. iii, ch. ix, sec. 7 and bk. vi, ch. ii, sec. 4.

134. Bk. v, ch. iv, sec. 7 and bk. vi, ch. ii, sec. 9. See also bk. vi, ch. xvii, sec. 4.

135. Bk. v, ch. xvii, sec. 2.

136. Bk. ix, ch. xxv, sec 2.

137. Bk. v, ch. xxv, sec. 2.

138. Bk. viii, ch. ix, sec. 1.

139.De Re Rustica, chs. 26, 31, 37, 40, 50. Scriptores Rei Rusticae Veteres Latini. Tomus Primus. Io. Matthias Gesnerus, Lipsiae, 1773. The speed with which I progressed through theDe Re Rusticawas accelerated by the fact that Mr. E. H. Oliver, Ph. D., then of the School of Political Science, Columbia University, kindly lent me an English translation which he had made of that work.

140.De Re Rustica, ch. 71. See alsoibid., ch. 70.

141.De Re Rustica, ch. 70.

142.De Re Rustica, ch. 160. “S. F.” probably means “Sanitas Fracto.” Two alternative charms are also suggested, namely, “Huat hanat huat ista pista sista domiabo damnaustra” and “Huat huat huat ista sis tar sis ardannabon dunnaustra.”

143. Dio Cassius, ch. lii, sec. 36. μαντικὴ μὲν γὰρ ἀναγκαία ἐστί, καὶ πάντως τινὰς καὶ ἱερόπτας καὶ οἰωνιστὰς ἀπόδειζον, oἷς οἱ βουλόμενοι τι κοινώσασθαι σονέσονται. τοὺς δὲ δὴ μαγευτὰς πάνυ οὐκ εἶναι προσήκει. πολλοὺς γὰρ πολλάκις οἱ τοιοῦτοι, τὰ μέν τινα ἀληθῆ, τὰ δὲ δὴ πλείω ψευδῆ λέγοντες, νευχμοῦν ἐπαίρουσι.Lecky translates the passage in hisHistory of European Morals(1889), vol. i, p. 399. The next sentence of the passage is also worth quoting: τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ τῶν φιλοσοφεῖν προσποιουμένων οὐκ ὀλίγοι ποιοῦσι.

Lecky translates the passage in hisHistory of European Morals(1889), vol. i, p. 399. The next sentence of the passage is also worth quoting: τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ τῶν φιλοσοφεῖν προσποιουμένων οὐκ ὀλίγοι ποιοῦσι.

144.Apologia, ch. xxv (Van der Vleet,Apologia et Florida. Lipsiae, 1900). “Leges cerimoniarum, fas sacrorum, ius religionum.”

145.Ibid., ch. xxvi. “Auditisne, magiam, qui eam temere accusatis, artem esse diis immortalibus acceptam, colendi eos ac venerandi pergnaram, piam scilicet et divini scientem, iam inde a Zoroastro et Oromazo, auctoribus suis nobilem, caelitum antistitam? Quippe qui inter prima regalia docetur, nec ulli temere inter Persas concessum est magum esse, haud magis quam regnare.” This definition reminds one of Agrippa von Nettesheim’s praise of “that science divine beyond all human tracing.” In a less degree—for with Apuleius magic is the cult of the gods and not much concerned with material things—it recalls the high place assigned to magic by Porta and Francis Bacon.

146. Bk. i, ch. 2 of the life of Apollonius in the works of Philostratus as edited by Gottfridus Olearius. Lipsiae, 1709. ὁμιλήσαντες μάγοις καὶ πολλὰ δαιμόνια εἴποντες οὔπω ὑπήχθησαν τῇ τέχνῃ.

147. Indeed “magic,” though condemned, was popular, and charlatans calling themselves “magi” did a thriving business.

148. Suetonius, Aug., ch. xc;Tiber., ch. lxix. Cited by W. E. H. Lecky.Hist. of European Morals(London, 1899), vol. i, p. 367. Lecky gives a large amount of material on superstition in the Roman Empire.

149.Nat. Hist., bk. xxviii, ch. 5.

150. A. Bouché-Leclercq. “L’Astrologie dans le monde romain.”Revue Hist., vol. lxv, pp. 249et seq.If we may believe the Roman historians, Tiberius was a devotee of astrology; Caligula was warned of his death by the stars; Nero, among other acts dictated by his trust in the art, ordered a number of executions in order to avoid the evils threatened by a comet; Galba, the three Flavians and Vespasian all had their astrologers; Titus was himself an adept in the art; Domitian, when disposing of persons whom the stars designated as dangerous, made the fatal error of sparing Nerva because the constellations allowed him but a brief additional term of life;etc.

151.Revue Hist., vol. lxv, p. 252.

152.Nat. Hist., bk. xxx, ch. 1, and Tacitus,Annals, bk. vi, ch. 22 (28 in some editions).

153. Carolus Gottlob Kuhn.Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia.(Lipsiae, 1821, 19 vols.), vol. xii, p. 362.De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis ac facultatibus.

154.De diebus decretoriis,ibid., vol. ix, pp. 901et seq.πάντων μὲν τῶν ἄνωθεν ἄστρων ἀπολαύομεν τῆς δυνάμεως.

155. “Quod optimus medicus sit quoque philosophus.”Ibid., vol. i, p. 53.

156. Vacherot,L’Ecole d’Alexandria, vol. ii, p. 115.

157. Ricardus Volkmann,Plotini Enneades, Lipsiae (Teubner) 1883. Ennead ii, ch. iii, sec. 7. ἀλλ’ εἰ σημαίνουσιν οὗτοι τὰ ἐσόμενα, ὥσπερ φαμὲν πολλὰ καὶ ἄλλα σημαντικὰ εἶναι τῶν ἐσομένων, τί ἂν τὸ ποιοῦν εἴη; καὶ ἡ τάξις πῶς; οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐσημαίνετο τεταγμένως μὴ ἑκάστων γιγνομένων. ἔστω τοίνυν ὣσπερ γράμματα ἐν οὐρανῷ γραφόμενα ἀεὶ ἢ γεγραμμένα καὶ κινούμενα, ποιοῦντα μέντοι ἔργον καὶ ἄλλο. ἐπακολουθείτω δὲ τῷδε ἡ παρ’ αὐτῶν σημασία, ὡς ἀπὸ μιᾶς ἀρχῆς ἐν ἑνὶ ζῴῳ παρ’ ἄλλου μέρους ἄλλο ἄν τις μάθοι. καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἦθος ἄν τις γνοίη εἰς ὀφθαλμούς τινος ἰδὼν ἤ τι ἄλλο μέρος τοῦ σώματος καὶ κινδύνους καὶ σωτηρίας. καὶ οὖν μέρη μὲν ἐκεῖνα, μέρη δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς. ἄλλα οὖν ἂλλοις. μεστὰ δὲ πάντα σημείων καὶ σοφός τις ὁ μαθὼν ἐξ ἄλλου ἄλλο. πολλὰ δὲ ἤδη συνηθείᾳ γιγνόμενα γινώσκεται πάσι. τίς οὖν ἡ οὐνταξις ἡ μία; οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὸ κατὰ τοὺς ὄρνεις εὔλογον καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ξῷα, ἀφ’ ὦν σημαινόμεθα ἕκαστα. συνηρτῆσθαι δὴ δει ἀλλήλοις τὰ πάντα, καὶ μὴ μόνον ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν καθ’ ἕκαστα τοῦ εὖ εἰρομένου σύμπνοια μία, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον καὶ πρότερον ἐν τῷ παντί. This entire third chapter of theEnneaddeals with the subject. περὶ τοῦ εἰ ποιεῖ τὰ ἄστρα.SeeThe Philosophy of Plotinus, Dunlap Printing Co., Phila., 1896, page 40, for further references to passages in his works giving his views anent astrology. He believed that the souls of the dead are still able to benefit men and to inspire with powers of divination.Ennead, iv, ch. vii, sec. 15.

SeeThe Philosophy of Plotinus, Dunlap Printing Co., Phila., 1896, page 40, for further references to passages in his works giving his views anent astrology. He believed that the souls of the dead are still able to benefit men and to inspire with powers of divination.Ennead, iv, ch. vii, sec. 15.

158. Page 66, note 1.

159.Apologia, ch. iii. Even if the oration was a satire and not a speech actually delivered, the inferences to be drawn from it would be practically the same.

160. Apuleius may have been guilty of attempting to practice magic. Certainly he believed in its possibility. He affirmed the existence of subordinate gods, or demons,—interpreters and ambassadors between mankind and the superior gods, who live far away from us and have no direct concern with our affairs. The demons, he believed, were susceptible to human influence and capable of working marvels. He stated that the art of divination was due to them. See hisDe Deo Socratis.

161.Apologia, ch. xxvii. Evidently hostility to magic did not commence with Christianity. Not even, as Roger Bacon thought, did the practice of confusing philosophy with magic originate among Christian writers. Bridges,Opus Maius, vol. i, p. 29.

162. See Philo’s treatiseDe Cherubim, cited in vol. ii, p. 243, of Rev. James Drummond’sPhilo Judaeus; or The Jewish-Alexandrian Philosophy in its Development and Completion(2 vols., London, 1888). Concerning Philo see also Edouard Herriot,Philon le Juif(Paris, 1898), where a full bibliography of Philonian and Jewish-Alexandrian literature may be found. A third important secondary book on Philo is by Siegfried:Philo von Alexandria(Jena, 1875).

163. Drummond, vol. i, p. 13.

164.Stromata, bk. v, ch. 9. Nor was such mysticism advocated by theological writers alone. Roger Bacon—but one instance from many—declared that one lessened the majesty of knowledge who divulged its mysteries, and even went to the length of enumerating seven methods by which the arcana of philosophy and science might be concealed from the crowd (a vulgo),De Secretis Artis et Naturae et de Nullitate Magiae. Rolls Series, vol. xv, pp. 543–544.

165.De Civitate Dei, bk. xi, ch. 30.

166. “AliquandoDe Motu Terrarumvolumen iuvenis ediderim.” L. Annaei SenecaeNaturalium Quaestionum Libri Septem, bk. vi, ch. 4. The edition by G. D. Koeler, Gottingen, 1819 has convenient summaries indicating contents at the head of each book, and devotes several hundred pages to a “Disquisitio” and “Animadversiones” upon Seneca’s work. In Pancoucke’sLibrary, vol. cxxxxvii, a French translation accompanies the text.

167. “Veniet tempus, quo posteri nostri tam aperta nos nescisse mirentur. Harum quinque stellarum ... modo coepimus scire.” Bk. vii, ch. 25.

168. Bk. vii, ch. 31. “Non semel quaedam sacra traduntur. Eleusin servat quod ostendit revisentibus. Rerum natura sacra sua non simul tradit. Initiatos nos credimus; in vestibule eius haeremus. Illa arcana non promiscue nec omnibus patent; reducta et in interiore sacrario clausa sunt.”

169. Bk. iv, ch. 7. “Et apud nos in duodecim tabulis cavetur ne quis alienos fructus excantassit. Rudis adhuc antiquitas credebat et attrahi imbres cantibus, et repelli; quorum nihil posse fieri, tam palam est, ut huius rei causa nullius philosophi schola intranda sit.”

170. Bk. v, ch. 6 for animals being generated in flames.Bk. ii, ch. 31 for snakes struck by lightning.Bk. iii, ch. 25 for the Nile. Bk. iiipassim, for marvelous fountains,etc.

170. Bk. v, ch. 6 for animals being generated in flames.

Bk. ii, ch. 31 for snakes struck by lightning.

Bk. iii, ch. 25 for the Nile. Bk. iiipassim, for marvelous fountains,etc.

171. Bk. iii, ch. 25.

172. Bk. iii, ch. 26.

173. Bk. ii, ch. 32. “Quidquid fit, alicuius rei futurae signum est.”

174. Bk. ii, ch. 46.

175. Bk. i, ch. 1.

176. Bk. vii, ch. 30. “Egregie Aristoteles ait, numquam nos verecundiores esse debere, quam quum de diis agitur. Si intramus templa compositi, si ad sacrificium accesuri vultum submittimus, togam adducimus, si in omne argumentum modestiae fingimur; quanto hoc magis facere debemus, quum de sideribus, de stellis, de deorum natura disputamus, ne quid temere, ne quid impudenter, aut ignorantes affirmemus, aut scientes mentiamur?”

177. Bk. ii, ch. 10.

178. Bk. vii, ch. 28. “Chaldean” was often used to denote an astrologer without reference to the person’s nationality.

179. Bk. ii, ch. 32. “Quinque stellarum potestatem Chaldaeorum observatio excepit. Quid tu? tot millia siderum judicas otiosa lucere? Quid est porro aliud, quod errorem incutiat peritis natalium, quam quod paucis nos sideribus assignant: quum omnia quae supra nos sunt, partem sibi nostri vindicent? Submissiora forsitan in nos propius vim suam dirigunt; et ea quae frequentius mota aliter nos, aliter cetera animalia prospiciunt. Ceterum et illa quae aut immota sunt, aut propter velocitatem universo mundo parem immotis similia, non extra ius dominiumque nostri sunt. Aliud aspice et distributis rem officiis tractas. Non magis autem facile est scire quid possint, quam dubitari debet, an possint.”

180. Bk. iii, ch. 29.

181. Bk. ii, ch. 32. Seneca has been describing other manifestations of the “divina et subtilis potentia” of thunderbolts; he proceeds, “Quid, quod futura portendunt: nec unius tantum aut alterius rei signa dant, sed saepe totum fatorum sequentium ordinem nuntiant, et quidem decretis evidentibus, longeque clarioribus, quam si scriberentur?”

182. His discussion of divination by thunderbolts is contained in bk. ii, ch. 31–50.

183. The edition of theTetrabibloswhich I used is that by Philip Melanchthon, 1553. It gives the Greek text, a Latin translation and an introduction of interest, in which Melanchthon affirms his own more modest trust in astrology.Two other treatises of considerable length setting forth the principles of astrology and which have come down to us from the Roman Empire, are a poem consisting of five books of about 900 lines each by Manilius, probably of the Augustan age; and a prose treatise in eight books, and apparently left unfinished, by Firmicus who was a Neo-Platonist of about 350A. D.M. ManiliiAstronomicon, London, 1828, Delphin edition. Iulii Firmici MaterniMatheseos Libri VIII, (ediderunt W. Kroll et K. Skutsch, Lipsiae, 1897, 2 vols., Teubner edition). The essay on astrology purporting to be by Lucian is probably spurious.

Two other treatises of considerable length setting forth the principles of astrology and which have come down to us from the Roman Empire, are a poem consisting of five books of about 900 lines each by Manilius, probably of the Augustan age; and a prose treatise in eight books, and apparently left unfinished, by Firmicus who was a Neo-Platonist of about 350A. D.M. ManiliiAstronomicon, London, 1828, Delphin edition. Iulii Firmici MaterniMatheseos Libri VIII, (ediderunt W. Kroll et K. Skutsch, Lipsiae, 1897, 2 vols., Teubner edition). The essay on astrology purporting to be by Lucian is probably spurious.

184. “C’était la capitulation de la science.”Rev. Hist., vol. lxv, p. 257, note 3.

185. Roger Bacon,Opus Minus, Rolls Series, vol. xv, p. 313, speaks of “Hermes Mercurius, pater philosophorum.”

186.Stromata, bk. vi, ch. 4.

187. Ammianus Marcellinus, however, writing during the latter fourth century, says of Egypt: “Hic primum homines longe ante alios ad varia religionum incunabula, ut dicitur, pervenerunt et initia prima sacrorum caute tuentur condita scriptis arcanis.” Bk. xxii, ch. xvi, sec. 20. Again, in bk. xxii, ch. xiv, sec. 7, Ammianus speaks of the Egyptian mystical books as still extant.

188. F. J. Champagny,Les Antonins, vol. iii, p. 81 (Paris, 1863).

189. See article on “Hermes” inLa Grande Encyclopédieby Berthelot who has made an extended study of the history of alchemy; and who, in hisLa Chimie au Moyen Ageholds that Greek alchemistic treatises were continuously extant in Italy during the Dark Ages—a circumstance which diminishes the importance of Arabian influence on the study of the hermetic art in the later Middle Ages.

190. See Anthon’sClassical Dictionary, 1855 (no adequate account of Hermes Trismegistus exists in any of the more recent classical dictionaries).

191. ThePoemander(orPymander) has been reproduced in the BathOccult Reprint Series(London, 1884) from the translation “from the Arabic by Dr. Everard, 1650.” It has an introduction by Hargrave Jennings, “author of the Rosicrucians,” giving some account of Hermes Trismegistus. Vol. ii in the same BathOccult Reprint Series—which seems to have been instituted on behalf of “students of the occult sciences, searchers after truth and Theosophists”—is Hermes’Virgin of the World. Besides Berthelot’s article, an account of Hermes may be found in pages 181–190 ofThe Literary Remains of the late Emanuel Deutsch(London, 1879). There is a French translation of thePoemanderby Menard with an introductory essay which, however, Deutsch characterized as “deplorably shallow.”

192. J. B. Bury,Later Roman Empire(N. Y., 1899), vol. i, p. 208.

193.De Divinatione, bk. i, ch. 58. “Haec habui, inquit, de divinatione quae dicerem. Nunc illa testabor non me sortilegos neque eos qui quaestus causa hariolentur, ne psychomantia quidem quibus Appius amicus tuus uti solebat, agnoscere.”

194. For the arguments of Favorinus, see Aulus Gellius,Noctes Atticae, bk. xiv; ch. 1. (Delphin & Variorum Classics [1824] ex editione Jacobi Gronovii.) Fragments of Favorinus’s writings are also to be found in Stobæus.The edition of theOperaof Sextus Empiricus which I used was that by Johannes Albertus Fabricus, (Lipsiae, 1718), giving the Greek text and a Latin translation.For Cicero’s arguments, seeDe Divinatione, bk. ii, chs. 42–47.

The edition of theOperaof Sextus Empiricus which I used was that by Johannes Albertus Fabricus, (Lipsiae, 1718), giving the Greek text and a Latin translation.

For Cicero’s arguments, seeDe Divinatione, bk. ii, chs. 42–47.

195. “Adversum istos qui sese chaldæos seu genethliacos appellant, ac de motu deque positu stellarum dicere posse, quae futura sunt, profitentur, audivimus quondam Favorinum philosophum Romae Graece disserentem egregia atque illustri oratione; exercendine autem, anne ostentandi gratia ingenii, an quod ita serio judicatoque existimaret, non habeo dicere.”Noctes Atticae, bk. xiv, ch. 1, sect. 1. A foot-note in the Delphin edition expresses preference in place of the words “exercendine autem, anne ostentendi” for the shorter reading “exercendi autem, non ostentandi”—which reading is adopted by Hertz in his edition of the year, 1885.

196. “Disciplinam istam Chaldaeorum tantae vetustatis non esse, quantae videri volunt; neque eos principes eius auctoresque esse, quos ipsi ferant: sed id praestigiarum atque offuciarum genus commentos esse homines aeruscatores, et cibum quaestumque ex mendaciis captantes.”Noctes Atticae, bk. xiv, ch. 1, sect. 2.

197. For instance, the charge that astrologers disregard the differing aspects of the heavens in different regions does not hold true in the case of Ptolemy. Also the objection to the doctrine of nativities, that men born at different times often suffer a common fate in battle or some such general disaster, is a weak argument at best, for the fact that you and I are born under different stars does not necessitate that our careers have absolutely nothing in common, and it was nullified by Ptolemy’s explanation that great general events like earthquakes, wars, floods and plagues overrule any contradictory destiny which the constellations may seem to portend for the individual. See Bouché-Leclercq,Rev. Hist., vol. lxv, p. 268.

198. Similarly Favorinus declared that, if the different fate of twins was to be explained by the fact that after all they are not born at precisely the same moment, then to determine one’s destiny the time of his birth and the position of the stars at the same instant must be measured with an exactness practically impossible. “Atque id velim etiam, inquit, ut respondeant: si tam parvum atque rapidum est momentum temporis, in quo homo nascens fatum accipit, ut in eodem illo puncto, sub eodem circulo coeli, plures simul ad eamdem competentiam nasci non queant; et si idcirco gemini quoque non eadem vitae sorte sunt, quoniam non eodem temporis puncto editi sunt; peto, inquit, respondeant, cursum illum temporis transvolantis, qui vix cogitatione animi comprehendi potest, quonam pacto aut consulto assequi queant, aut ipsi perspicere et deprehendere; quum in tam praecipiti dierum noctiumque vertigine minima momenta ingentes facere dicant mutationes.”Noctes Atticae, bk. xiv, ch. 1, sect. 10.

199. Favorinus declares that the astrologers may congratulate themselves that he does not propose such a question to them as that of astral influence on minute animals; Cicero says that if all animals are to be subjected to the stars, then inanimate things must be too, than which nothing could be more absurd.“Illud autem condonare se iis dicebat, quod non id quoque requireret, si vitae mortisque hominum rerumque humanarum omnium tempus et ratio et causa in coelo et apud stellas foret, quid de muscis aut vermiculis aut echinis, multisque aliis minutissimis terra marique animantibus, dicerent? An ista quoque isdem, quibus homines, legibus nascerentur, isdemque itidem exstinguerentur.” Aulus Gellius,Noctes Atticae, bk. xiv, ch. 1, sect. 12.“Et si ad rem pertinet, quo modo coelo affecto compositisque sideribus quodque animal oriatur; valeat id necesse est etiam in rebus inanimis. Quo quid dici potest absurdius?”De Divin., bk. ii, ch. 47.Favorinus, however, does hint in one place that the sole evidence that we possess of any influence of the stars upon us is a few such causal connections as that between the phases of the moon and the tides of the ocean.

“Illud autem condonare se iis dicebat, quod non id quoque requireret, si vitae mortisque hominum rerumque humanarum omnium tempus et ratio et causa in coelo et apud stellas foret, quid de muscis aut vermiculis aut echinis, multisque aliis minutissimis terra marique animantibus, dicerent? An ista quoque isdem, quibus homines, legibus nascerentur, isdemque itidem exstinguerentur.” Aulus Gellius,Noctes Atticae, bk. xiv, ch. 1, sect. 12.

“Et si ad rem pertinet, quo modo coelo affecto compositisque sideribus quodque animal oriatur; valeat id necesse est etiam in rebus inanimis. Quo quid dici potest absurdius?”De Divin., bk. ii, ch. 47.

Favorinus, however, does hint in one place that the sole evidence that we possess of any influence of the stars upon us is a few such causal connections as that between the phases of the moon and the tides of the ocean.

200. Ptolemy made a fair retort to this argument by holding that foreknowledge, even if it could not enable us to avoid the coming event, at least served the purpose of breaking the news gently and saving us the more vivid shock which the actual event, if unexpected, would cause by its raw reality.

201. See T. Schiche,De Fontibus Librorum Ciceronis qui sunt de Divinatione, (Jena, 1875) and K. Hartfelder,Die Quellen von Ciceros zwei Büchern de Divinatione(Freiburg, 1878).

202. Bk. i, ch. 39. “Neque ante philosophiam patefactam, quae nuper inventa est, hac de re communis vita dubitavit; et postea, quam philosophia processit, nemo aliter philosophus sensit, in quo modo esset auctoritas. Dixi de Pythagora, de Democrite, de Socrate; excepi de antiques praeter Xenophanem neminem; adiunxi veterem academiam, peripateticos, stoicos. Unus dissentit Epicurus.” This trust in tradition, it may be here observed, formed one of the chief grounds for mediæval belief in magic as well.

203. Bk. ii, ch. 11. “Hoc ego philosophi non arbitror, testibus uti, qui aut casu veri aut malitia falsi fictique esse possunt. Argumentis et rationibus oportet quare quidque ita sit docere, non eventis, iis praesertim quibus mihi liceat non credere.”

204. Bk. ii, ch. 33. “Errabat enim multis in rebus antiquitas.”

205. Bk. ii, ch. 36.

206. As Tully (bk. ii, ch. 5) puts it, “Quae enim praesentiri aut arte aut ratione aut usu aut conjectura possunt, ea non divinis tribuenda putas sed peritis.”

207. Bk. i, ch. 50.

208. Bk. ii, chs. 3, 4.

209. We saw Pliny use “mathematicae artes” as an equivalent of divination or astrology.

210. Bk. ii, ch. 15.

211. Bk. ii, ch. 16. “Urbem philosophiae, mihi crede, proditis dum castella defenditis. Nam dum aruspicinam veram esse vultis, physiologiam totam pervertitis. Caput est in jecore, cor in extis: iam abscedet, simul ac molam et vinum insperseris; deus id eripiet, vis aliqua conficiet, aut exedet. Non ergo omnium interitus atque obitus natura conficiet; et erit aliquid quod aut ex nihilo oriatur, aut in nihilum subito occidat. Quis hoc physicus dixit unquam? Aruspices dicunt? His igitur quam physicis potius credendum existimas?”

212. Bk. ii, ch. 28.

213. Bk. ii, ch. 12.

214. Bk. ii, ch. 19.

215. Bk. ii, ch. 12. “Atqui divina cum rerum natura tanta tamque praeclara in omnes partes motusque diffusa, quid habere potest commune, non dicam gallinacum fel (sunt enim qui vel argutissima haec exta esse dicant) sed tauri opimi jecur aut cor aut pulmo, quid habet naturale, quo declarari possit quid futurum sit?”

216. “Deinde est hominum generi prosperus et salutaris ille fulgor qui dicitur Jovis. Tum rutilus horribilisque terris, quem Martium dicitis. Deinde subter mediam fere regionem Sol obtinet, dux et princeps et moderator luminum reliquorum, mens mundi et temperatio,”etc.

217. “Nam cum aetas tua septenos octies solis anfractus reditusque converterit, duoque hi numeri, quorum uterque plenus, alter altera de causa habetur, circuitu naturali summam tibi fatalem confecerint,etc.”

218. These recipes are given in Frazer’sGolden Bough, vol. i, p. 23, from theDe Medicamentisof Marcellus, bk. xv, ch. 82 and bk. xxxiv, ch. 100.

219. Ammianus Marcellinus.Rerum gestarum libri qui supersunt.F. Eyssenhardt recensuit. Berlin, 1871. Book xxviii, ch. iv, sec. 24. “Multi apud eos negantes esse superas potestates in caelo, nec in publico prodeunt nec prandent nec lavari arbitrantur se cautius posse, antequam ephemeride scrupulose sciscitata didicerint, ubi sit verbi gratia signum Mercurii, vel quotam cancri sideris partem polum discurrens optineat luna.” Very likely, however, Ammianus—whom we shall see defending divination in general—himself cherished a moderate trust in astrology and was rather satirizing the infidelity of the nobles—their inconsistency in so minutely ruling their lives by the planets when they denied the existence of “superas potestatesin caelo.” There is an English translation of Ammianus by C. D. Yonge (London, 1862; Bohn Library).

220.Ibid., bk. xxii, ch. xvi, sec. 18. “Pro omni tamen experimento sufficiat medico ad commendandam artis auctoritatem, si Alexandriae se dixerit eruditum.”

221.Ibid., bk. xxii, ch. xvi, sec. 17. “Et quamquam veteres cum his, quorum memini floruere conplures, tamen ne nunc quidem in eadem urbe doctrinae variae silent; nam et disciplinarum magistri quodam modo spirant et nudatur ibi geometrico radio quidquid reconditum latet, nondumque apud eos penitus exaruit musica nec harmonica conticuit, et recalet apud quosdam adhuc licet raros consideratio mundani motus et siderum, doctique sunt numeros haud pauci; super his scientiam callent quae fatorum vias ostendit.”

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