Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Zodiacal Influence; Origin of Sidereal Names.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter VI.—Zodiacal
Influence; Origin of Sidereal Names.
But since also they frame an account concerning
the action of the zodiacal signs, to which they say the creatures that
are procreated are assimilated,178
| 178
This was the great doctrine of astrology, the forerunner of the
science of astronomy. Astrology seems to have arisen first among
the Chaldeans, out of the fundamental principle of their
religion—the assimilation of the divine nature to light.
This tenet introduced another, the worship of the stars, which was
developed into astrology. Others suppose astrology to have been
of Arabian or Egyptian origin. From some of these sources it
reached the Greeks, and through them the Romans, who held the
astrologic art in high repute. The art, after having become
almost extinct, was revived by the Arabians at the verve of the middle
ages. For the history of astrology one must consult the writings
of Manilius, Julius Firmicus, and Ptolemy. Its greatest
mediæval apologist is Cardan, the famous physician of Pavia (see
his work, De Astron. Judic., lib. vi.–ix. tom. v. of his
collected works). |
neither shall we omit this: as, for instance, that one born in
Leo will be brave; and that one born in Virgo will have long straight
hair,179
| 179 Sextus
adds, “bright-eyed.” | be of a fair
complexion, childless, modest. These statements, however, and
others similar to them, are rather deserving of laughter than serious
consideration. For, according to them, it is possible for no
Æthiopian to be born in Virgo; otherwise he would allow that such
a one is white, with long straight hair and the rest. But I am
rather of opinion,180
| 180
Hippolytus here follows Sextus. | that the
ancients imposed the names of received animals upon certain specified
stars, for the purpose of knowing them better, not from any similarity
of nature; for what have the seven stars, distant one from another, in
common with a bear, or the five stars with the head of a
dragon?—in regard of which Aratus181
| 181
Aratus, from whom Hippolytus quotes so frequently in this
chapter, was a poet and astronomer of antiquity, born at Soli in
Cilicia. He afterwards became physician to Gonatus, son of
Demetrius Poliorcetes, king of Macedon, at whose court he rose high
into favour. The work alluded to by Hippolytus is Aratus’
Phænomena,—a versified account of the motions of the
stars, and of sidereal influence over men. This work seems to
have been a great favourite with scholars, if we are to judge from the
many excellent annotated editions of it that have appeared. Two
of these deserve notice, viz., Grotius’ Leyden edition, 1600, in
Greek and Latin; and Buhle’s edition, Leipsic, 1803. See
also Dionysius Petavius’ Uranologion. Aratus must
always be famous, from the fact that St. Paul (Acts xiii. 28) quotes the fifth line of the
Phænomena. Cicero considered Aratus a noble poet, and
translated the Phænomena into Latin, a fragment of which
has been preserved, and is in Grotius’ edition. Aratus has
been translated into English verse, with notes by Dr. Lamb, Dean of
Bristol (London: J. W. Parker, 1858). | says:—
“But two his temples, and two his eyes, and one
beneath
Reaches the end of the huge monster’s
jaw.” E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
