HANDBOUND AT THE UMVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS /Q / M. MAN^ILII ASTEONOMICON^ LIBER QVAKTVS M. MANILII ASTRONOMICON LIBER QVARTVS RECENSVIT ET ENARRAVIT A. E. HOVSMAN LONDINII APVD GRANT RICHARDS MDOCCCXX 114^':<^37 Although this Fourth book preaents more difficultiea of detail than any other of the five, and has exacted from me the writing of a very long commentary, it has not the essential difficulty, astrological or astronomical, of books ii and iii ; and the only parts of it which need to be explained or illustrated in a preface are the verses 294-386, 408-501, and 744-817. In II 693-737 we were apprised that each of the 12 Zyi-6oooni ooz? . .,..,,. ,» . ,,,11 signs is divided mto 12 portions called dodecatemories, and that the 12 dodecatemories in each sign are allotted to the 12 signs in order. But this device is not confusing enough to mantle the frauds of astrology; and the 12 signs, thus parcelled and mixed by twelfths, are now to be parcelled and mixed anew by thirds. Manilius calls this department of his art decanica. Every sign is divided into three parts consisting of 10 degrees each, 30 that the zodiac, with its 360 degrees, contains 36 of them. These 36 parts, beginning with the P' of Aries, are allotted to the dominion of the 12 signs, beginning with Aries himself, in regular succession and triple recurrence, so that each sign dominates three of them, and those three fall at the three angles of an equilateral triangle inscribed in the circle. VI M. MANILII The'signs are divided and distributed thus Aries Aries Aries Taurus Leo Taurus Gemini Gemini Cancer 1 Cancer Taurus Leo Virgo 2 Leo l3 Virgo Virgo '1 Libra 1 Libra Gemini 2 Scorpius Libra 2 Scorpius .3 Sagittarius .3 Sagittarius 1 Capricorn 1 Capricorn Cancer 2 Aquarius Scorpius 2 Aquarius 3 Pisces .3 Pisces Sagittarius Capricorn Aquarius Scorpius .3 Sagittarius '1 Capricorn Pisces 2 Aquarius 3 Pisces. Through confusion and negligence Manilius has disturbed the arrangement by allotting the T* and 2°'* parts of Pisces to Aries and Taurus instead of Capricorn and Aquarius. This division of the 12 signs into 36 parts measuring 10 degrees each is found in other astrologers, and by some of them the thirds are called SiKavol. But more commonly they use the term ScKavucr to signify, not 10 degrees of the zodiac, but a power presiding over them. This power is nowhere except in Manilius a zodiacal sign. It is natural to connect the triple division of a sign by decads with the similar though less accurate division of the month which is eflfected by the Egyptian week of ten days. A special name is assigned to each SeKavocr by Hephaestio l 1, and these names are easily recognised as Egyptian and as identical in many cases with the names assigned in Egyptian lists (Brugsch Geogr. Inschr. Altaegypt. Denkm. pp. 131-84, Daressy Annales du Serv. des ASTRONOMICON IV vii Antiqu. de 1'^gypte i pp. 79-90) to certain celestial beings, which however are not called by any Egyptian term akin to BtKavol, are not attached to zodiacal but rather to extra-zodiacal constella- tions, and are sometimes more or fewer than 36. Of their emblems figured by Lepsius Chronol. d. Aegypt. i pp. 66 sq. none presents or resembles a complete human form, but each consists of an assemblage of signs, among which a bird or a human head or limb is often to be recognised. The names of StKavoi in the Hermes of Pitra's analect. sacr. et class. v ii pp. 285-90 (codd. Mosqu. 415 et Vind. med. Gr. 23) are further removed than Hephaestio's from the Egyptian ; those in Firmicus math. iv 22 8-19 further still ; those in C.C. A.G. vi pp. 73-8 (codd. Vind. phil. Gr. 108 et Par. Gr. 2419) have no resemblance to them, and are said in the Paris MS to be given Kara XaXSatwv <f)(j}vda: To each name is attached in C.C.A.G. VI an emblem for inscription on an amulet of some special stone : these emblems are mostly arrangements of lines, with hooks at the ends, within circles. Pitra's Hermes gives a description of each StKavoa; and the forms described are for the most part human, often with the heads of lower animals. In C.C.A.G. ii pp. 153-7 (codd. Ven. Marc. 334 et Par. Gr. 2420) there is a chapter from the astrologer Achmes (saec. x) with a different set of descriptions derived from a tradition which has left its mark elsewhere. Of the P' Sexavoo- of Aries we read here «v t>/ X^V' avToi d^tvrj, i)v Kal OkXu diropplxpai, and again in Westermann's paradoxogr. pp. 147-8 (Psellus, quoting Teucer Baby- lonius) «iVi yap ev iKadTi^ Ttjv ^wStwv Tpeicr KaT£i,X.(yixivoL 8eKavol TTOLKLXop.Opf^Ot, 6 /ifV KaTC;i(COV TrkXiKVV, O S' €l<r dWo T6 l(T)(rjlXaTL(T- ixkvoa- dK6vLa-/j.a. This figure with the axe appears as the 1'* ScKavocr of Aries in Bianchini's so-called planisphere, perhaps of the 2'"' cen- tury after Christ (S. Reinach R6pertoire de la statuaire i p. 118, Boll sphaer. tafel v). Manilius, as I have said, is the only author who subjects these divisions of 10° to the dominion of signs of the zodiac. Astrologers for the most part allot them to the seven planets : Firm. ii 4 2 sq., Paul. Alex. fol. C 2-3, Porph. isag. pp. 199 sq., C.C.A.G. ii pp. 153-7, VI pp. 73-8, cod. Par. Gr. 2420 fol. 108 (Boll sphaer. p. 11). The planets succeed and recur in the usual descending sequence, Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury Moon (though in C.C.A.G. VI pp. 75-8 the scribe has made some blunders) ; but the series begins with Mars in the P* decan of Aries, and consequently (since 36 is 1 more than 7x5) it also ends with Mars in the S"^** decan of Pisces, so that Mars holds two consecutive decans, and one viii M. MANILII decan more tlian any other planet. In this connexion we encounter the term Trpoo-WTrov : Paul. Alex. C 2 irepl Siv cTrt^^ovo-i KttTa SeKavoK TT p o(r (aTT <av ev TOior i(i' ^u^Sioicr ot ^' dcrTepecr and to. Kara ^wSiov ck TTJ(T S€KavtKrj(r Stayuo/x^wacwo- Ttov eVTa dcTTe/JWV Trp6(ruyrra, iv oT(r \aLpov(rLV wrirep kir\ twv ISidiV oiKrjTTjpMV, Porph. isag. pp. 199 Sq. exovcTL 5e (ot ScKavoi) Kai TrpdcrwTra twv dcrTep^ov, aTiva crvixirdOeLav e^^ovcri TTpocr Tovcr €iriK€ip.€VOV(r avToicr d^rrepacr. olov VTTodov tov ijAiov elvai T p-oipif t', SeKavo) a', Trpoo-wwo) ^, C.C.A.G. II p. 153 4 sq. (KacrTov ^(^Siov Tpia TrpocruiTra lyeL ^toi Tpelcr SeKovovo", Kal cKao-TOV irpocruiTTOv TTpocr eva tu)v cTTTa dcrTepcjv (rvyyeveLav «x^'» V i p. 157 Tre/at twv TrapavaTeAAdvTWv €Vt eKao-TO) SeKavw, a (i.e. ScKavot) AeyovTai Kat Trpocrcojra do-Te/xDv. A Tr/jdo-wTrov is virtually a decan considered as the domain of a planet. In Bianchini's marble each figure of a decan has above it a medallion containing the head of one of the gods who give their names to the seven planets ; and their order is the same as in Firmicus and Paulus and the rest : Mars Sun Venus over the three decans of Aries, Mercury Moon Saturn over those of Taurus, Moon Saturn Jupiter over those of Libra : the remainder are lost. Paul. Alex. fol. Al ^x" ^^ '''^ ^qidtov deKavova fxh rpeia, ixoipacr S^ \'. C.C.A.G. I p. 150 5 sq. (from TeuKpoa- 6 Ba^vXuviod) lirriov 6ti. iv 'iKacrTov fySto»' SeKavovtr ^x^' rpeta' e/cacrrocr 5^ beKavb(r KeKXripuTaL fJLolpacr d^Ka. Leont. niech. Maass. comni. in Arat. pp. 569 sq. SiypTjixevov Se toO ^uiSiaKOv ctV t/3' ^ipSia ^rt Staipe^Tai ^KajTov tuv i^(f)Siuv etV noipaa X', etV SeKavovcr y'. SeKavbcr Si ecm S6vafj.i(r tlct SiKa /Moipacr irepiexovcra ev ti^ (^qiSiu}. In anon. irepl aetcrfj.Cji> Wachsm. Lyd. ostent. ed. 2 pp. 173 sq. SeKav6<T and SeKanoipia are used alternatively for ^ of a sign. Heph. Theb. i 1 (Engelbr. p. 48 7 sq.) eKdcTTOv ^(^iSiov Tpelcr a<f>d)pLcrav SeKavoi/cr Kara SeKaixoLpLalov Sid<TTr)iJLa: he gives their names for each sign, and the destiny awaiting those men who have each decan for their horoacope, /cara rb 6\o<Txepecr ovk dvTLTrpaTToi<rr]cr eripacr alTiacr : the signs, apart from their decans, he does not represent as affecting destinies. Firm. math. ii 4 1-3 singula siyna in trea partes diuiduntur, singulae autem partes habent singulos decanos, ut sint in singulis signis terni decani, qiLoriLm singiLli ex triginta partibus denas possident partes et dominium suiLm ac potestatem in x j)artes exerunt. srLiit autem injinitae potestatis et infinitae licentiae et qui fata hominum suae potestatis auctoritate designent. sed et ipsi decani singulis stellis deputantur, et si cum ipso decano stella fuerit, licet sit in alieno domicilio, sic est habenda quasi in siio sit domicilio constituta ; suo enim (^cumy decano constituta haec eadem perficit quae in signo suo constituta decernit. in Ariete primus decanus Martis et secundus Solis, tertiiLS Veneris ; Tatiri primus decanus Mercurii et secundua LtLnae, tertius Saturni ; and so the planets recur in descending order till in Piscibus . tertius Martis. iv 22 3 A'A'A' vi itaque decani omnem zodiacum possident circulum, et iier xii signorum mLmerum iste deoriLm numerus, id est decanorum, dixiiditur.