Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos : Or, Quadripartite : Being Four Books of the Influence of the Stars
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EX BIBLIOTHECA FRANCES A. YATES EX LIBRIS HILLEL HOUSE LITERARY SOCIETY PTOLEMY'S TETRABIBLOS ! PTOLEMY'S TETRABIBLOS OR QUADRIPARTITE BEING FOUR BOOKS OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE STARS NEWLY TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK PARAPHRASE OF PROCLUS WITH A PREFACE, EXPLANATORY NOTES AND AN APPENDIX CONTAINING EXTRACTS FROM THE ALMAGEST OF PTOLEMY AND THE WHOLE OF HIS CENTILOQU Y TOGETHER WITH A Short Notice of Mr, Ranger s Zodiacal Planisphere AND AN EXPLANATORY PLATE By J. M. ASHMAND NEW EDITION " Ye stars, which are the poetry of Heaven H, in your bright leaves,— we would read the fate Of men and empires, 'tis to be forgiven." lord byron. London : PRINfED AND PUBLISHED BT W. FOULSHAM U CO., Ltd. DEALERS IN SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 10/11 RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.G. 4 Made and Printed in Great Britain TO THE AUTHOR OF ''WAVERLEY'' THIS TRANSLATION OF A WORK CONTAINING THE BEST ACCREDITED PRINCIPLES OF ASTROLOGY IS DEDICATED With the most profound admiration of his unrivalled talents WHICH COULD ALONE HAVE RESTORED INTEREST TO THE SPECULATIONS OF AN ANTIQUATED SCIENCE ADVERTISEMENT The use recently made of Astrology in the poetical machinery of certain works of genius (which are of the highest popu- larity, and above all praise), seems to have excited in the world at large a desire to learn something of the mysteries of that science which has, in all former ages, if not in these days, more or less engaged reverence and usurped belief. The apparent existence of such a general desire has caused the completion of the following Translation, and its pre- it originally sentation to the public ; although was undertaken only in part, and merely to satisfy two or three individuals of the grounds on which the now neglected doctrines of Astrology had so long and so fully maintained credit. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAP. BOOK I PAGE I. Proem i II. Knowledge may be acquired by Astronomy to a certain Extent . 2 III. That Prescience is useful ......... 8 IV. The Influences of the Planetary Orbs . · 13 V. Benefics and Malefics 14 VI. Masculine and Feminine ......... 14 VII. Diurnal and Nocturnal 15 VIII. The Influence of Position with regard to the Sun . , .16 IX. The Influence of the fixed Stars 16 X. Constellations North of the Zodiac 19 XI. Constellations South of the Zodiac ....... 20 XII. The Annual Seasons 21 XIII. The Influence of the Four Angles . .21 XIV. Tropical, Equinoctial, Fixed, and Bicorporeal Signs .... 23 XV. Masculine and Feminine Signs ........ 23 XVI. Mutual Configurations of the Signs ....... 24 XVII. Signs commanding and obeying 26 XVIII. Signs beholding each other, and of equal Power ..... 26 XIX. Signs Inconjunct 27 XX. Houses of the Planets .......... 28 XXI. The Triplicities ........... 29 XXII. Exaltations 31 XXIII. The Disposition of the Terms 32 XXIV. The Terms (according to Ptolemy) . «35 XXV. The Places and Degrees of every Planet 36 XXVI. Faces, Chariots, and other .similar Attributes of the Planets . 37 XXVII. Application, Separation, and other Faculties 38 BOOK II I. General Division of the Subject ........ 40 II. Peculiarities observable throughout every entire Climate ... 41 III. The Familiarity of the Regions of the Earth with the Triplicities and 43 THE Planets ........... IV. The Familiarity of the Regions of the Earth with the Fixed Stars . 52 V. Mode of Particular P^diction in Eclipses 52 VI. The Regions or Countries to be considered as liable to be comprehended IN the Event ........... 53 VII. The Time and Period of the Event ....... 54 VIII. The Genus, Class, or Kind, liable to be affected . «55 IX. The Quality and Nature of the Effect 58 X. Colours in Eclipses, Comets, and Similar Phenomena . , . .62 ix 1 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE XI. The New Moon of the Year 63 XII. The particular Natures of the Signs by which the different Constitu- tions OF THE Atmosphere are Produced 64 XIII. Mode of Consideration for particular Constitutions of the Atmosphere 66 XIV. The Signification of Meteors 68 BOOK III I. Proem 71 II. The Conception, and the Parturition, or Birth ; by which latter Event THE Animal quits the Womb, and assumes another State of Existence III. The Degree Ascending .......... 74 IV. Distribution of the Doctrine op Nativities 75 V. The Parents 77 VI. Brothers and Sisters 81 VII. Male or Female %% VIII. Twins 83 IX. Monstrous or Defective Births 85 X. Children not Reared 86 XI. The Duration of Life 88 XII. The Prorogatory Places 88 XIII. The Number of Prorogators, and also the Part of Fortune. 89 XIV. Number of the Modes of Prorogation 91 XV. Exemplification 96 XVI. The Form and Temperament of the Body 100 XVII. The Hurts, Injuries, and Diseases of the Body 106 XVIII. The Quality of the Mind . 107 XIX. The Diseases of the Mind 114 BOOK IV I. Proem 117 II. The Fortune op Wealth 117 III. The Fortune of Rank . .118 IV. The Quality of Employment 120 V. Marriage 124 VI. Children " 128 VII. Friends and Enemies 130 VIII. Travelling 132 IX. The Kind of Death 134 X. The Periodical Divisions of Time 137 no. APPENDIX I. Almagest, Book viii, Chap. 4 144 II. Extract from the Almagest, Book ii. Chap. 9 147 Table of Latitudes, from the Almagest 15 Extract from the Table of Ascensions, in the Almagest . .152 III. Ptolemy's Centiloquy 153 IV. The Zodiacal Planisphere, and plate l6l PREFACE all sciences, whether true or false, which have at any time OFengaged the attention of the world, there is not one of which the real or assumed principles are less generally known, in the present age, than those of Astrology. The whole doctrine of this is science commonly understood to have been completely overturned ; and, of late, people seem to have satisfied themselves with merely knowing the import of its name. Such contented ignorance, in persons, too, sufficiently informed in other respects, is the more extraordinary, since Astrology has sustained a most conspicuous part throughout the history of the world, even until days comparatively recent. In the East, where it first arose, at a period of very remote antiquity,^ and whence it ^ Sir Isaac Newton has the following remarks in regard to the origin of Astrology : — After the study of Astronomy was set on foot for the use of navigation, and the Egyptians, by the heliacal risings and settings of the stars, had determined the length of the solar year of 365 days, and by other observa- tions had fixed the solstices, and formed the fixed stars into asterisms, all which was done in the reigns of Ammon, Sesac, Orus, and Memnon," (about lOOO years before Christ), " it may be presumed that they continued to observe the motions of the planets, for they called them after the names of their gods ; " and Nechepsos, or Nicepsos, King of Sais," [772 b.c], by the assistance of Petosiris, a priest of ^Egypt, invented astrology, grounding it upon the aspects of the planets, and the qualities of the men and women to whom they were dedicated^ ; and in the beginning of the reign of Nabonassar, King of Babylon, " about which time the ^Ethiopians, under Sabacon, invaded ^gypt [751 b.c], " those ^Egyptians who fled from him to Babylon, carried thither the ^Egyptian year of 365 days, and the study of astronomy and astrology, and founded the " aera of Nabonassar, dating it from the first year of that king's reign [747 b.c], " and beginning the year on the same day with the ^Egyptians for the sake of ' their calculations. So Diodorus : they say that the Chaldisan in Babylon, being colonies 0f the Egyptians, became famous for astrology, having learned it from the " priests of JEgypt.^ —Newton's Chronology, pp. 251, 252. " Again, in p. 327 : The practice of observing the stars began in ^gypt in the days of Ammon, as above, and was propagated from thence, in the reign of his son Sesac, into Afric, Europe, and Asia, by conquest ; and then Atlas " " formed the sphere of the Libyans [956 b.c], and Chiron that of the Greeks B.C.] astrology [939 ; and the Chaldaeans also made a sphere of their own. But 2 It is maintained by astrologers, that the planets, having been observed, to produce certain effects, were consequently dedicated to the several personages whose names they respectively bear. xi ; xii PREFACE came to subjugate the intellect of Europe, it still even now holds sway. In Europe, and in every part of the world where learning had " im- press'd the human soil," Astrology reigned supreme until the middle of the 17th century. It entered into the councils of princes, it guided the policy of nations, and ruled the daily actions of individuals. All this is attested by the records of every nation which has a history, and was invented in ^gypt by Nichepsos, or Necepsos, one of the Kings of the Lower ^gypt, and Petosiris his priest, a little before the days of Sabacon, and propagated thence into Chaldaea, where Zoroaster, the legislator of the Magi, met with it : so Paulinus " ' Quique magos docuit mysteria vana Necepsos.'^ The arcana of Astrology constituted a main feature in the doctrines of the Persian Magi ; and it further appears, by Newton's Chronology, p. 347, that Zoroaster (although the aera of his life has been erroneously assigned to various remoter periods) lived in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, about 520 B.C., and assisted Hystaspes, the father of Darius, in reforming the Magi, of whom the " said Hystaspes was Master. Newton adds, p. 352, that about the same time with Hystaspes and Zoroaster, lived also Ostanes, another eminent Magus : Pliny places him under Darius Hystaspis, and Suidas makes him the follower of Zoroaster : he came into Greece with Xerxes about 480 B.C., and seems to be the Otanes of Herodotus.