BOOK ONE

CHAPTER I. ARGUMENTS AGAINST ASTROLOGY BY ITS RIVALS.

FIRST, therefore, they The "rivals" or critics of astrology, likely referring to New Academy skeptics or certain Christian apologists. argue regarding the characters and complexions of men. They say: If human character and color are attributed to the mixtures of the stars—as if the courses of the stars compose the features of mortal bodies through some kind of painting and craftsmanship—that is, if the Moon original: ☽ makes men white, Mars original: ♂ makes them red, and Saturn original: ♄ makes them black: why are all people in Ethiopia born black, in Germany white, and in Thrace red? It is as if the Moon and Mars have no strength or power in Ethiopia, or as if the star of Saturn abandons its power and its license to shape forms in Germany and Thrace. Regarding character, they add this: If Saturn makes men cautious, grave, slow, greedy, and silent; Jupiter original: ♃ makes them mild, good, kind, and modest; Mars makes them cruel, treacherous, and fierce; the Sun original: ☉ makes them religious, noble, and proud; Venus original: ♀ makes them lustful, charming, and shining with the splendor of honest grace; Mercury original: ☿ makes them astute, clever, and turbulent with the shifting of a restless mind; and the Moon makes them sharp, splendid, elegant, and prevailing by the grace of popular favor: why are certain nations so formed that they are conspicuous, as it were, by a specific unity of character? The Scythians alone The Scythians were nomadic peoples of Central Eurasia, often stereotyped by Greeks and Romans as the archetype of "barbaric" ferocity. wander with a monstrous cruelty of ferocity. Italians are always brilliant with a regal nobility; Gauls are dull-witted; Greeks are fickle; Africans are deceitful; Syrians are greedy; Sicilians are sharp; Asians are always lustful and occupied with pleasures; Spaniards are perverse with a lofty spirit of boasting. Therefore, does Jupiter never mitigate the madness of the Scythians? Or will the Sun one day deny empire to the Italians? Does the star of Saturn not impose weight upon the fickleness of the Greeks? Is Asian lewdness not corrected by the sober moderation of Jupiter? Is the sharpness of the Sicilians never blunted by the cold strike of Saturn? Is the greed of the Syrians not tempered by the lustful radiations of Venus? original: "Venetis radiationibus," likely a variant or error for "Veneris" (of Venus). Nor will the saving star of Jupiter hinder the malicious deceptions and double-tongued minds of the Africans; nor can the sluggish light of Saturn humble the boasting of the Spaniards; nor will Mercury, that most wise star, sharpen Gallic dullness.

Meanwhile, their most powerful and vehement peroration A concluding part of a speech intended to inspire enthusiasm or, in this case, to deliver a final blow to an argument. placed against us is this: they say that according to the principles of this art, all duties of virtue are removed from human affairs. If temperance, fortitude, prudence, and justice are attributed to the decrees of the stars and not to our own wills, then we no longer depend on the constant pursuit of virtues, but on the influx of the stars alone. On the contrary, if anyone should break the bond of society and charity, neglect the laws of human conciliation, and hand himself over entirely to ferocity and treachery, following his own crime and the perverse desires of his mind, he may ascribe it to the judgments of the stars. Let him be unjust, let him be treacherous; let him be malevolent, let him be irreligious—because the constellation of Mercury with Mars accomplishes these envious evils—he may now attribute the fault not to himself, but to the driving stars. Why do we strengthen our minds with the study of fortitude? Why, formed with an upright mind, sublime constancy, and the mastery of divine virtues, do we despise death and pain when placed in bitter circumstances? If the Sun, in a favorable conjunction with Jupiter, bestows the praise of glory and the insignia of most powerful dignity upon us even when we do not seek it, then it is in vain that we suppress the vices of an erring mind through counsel; in vain do we temper the lustful allurements of desire; in vain, by the instinct of gravity, do we seek equity, modesty, and laws, if Mercury, tempered by the good radiations of Jupiter and the Moon, inflames us toward the desires and cravings of that very virtue.

They even address individual men with this line of argument: "You hold in vain, O good man, the choice of good things and the desire to flee from evil, if you feel yourself compelled toward them from elsewhere. Why do you fortify yourself with honorable provisions and the support of diligence, if Saturn or Jupiter provided all this to you, not through your own knowledge?" Let us therefore (if it seems right) despise the gods and make public the sacred and venerable ceremonies of religion with the sacrilegious heat of despair, if without their divine power, with only the stars helping, we can achieve everything. Why, O plowman, do you invoke the gods? Without the care of your deity, and by the influx of the stars alone, the furrow is made level for the spirit of the crop. You, who across the open ridges arrange the line of vineyards in distinct rows, in vain do you offer devoted vine-shoots to your Liber An Italian god of fertility and wine, often identified with Bacchus or Dionysus. with the religious trembling of anyone, if without his protection...