Ten Treatises on Astronomy (Book of Astronomy)

...his goods by inheritance; and his goods might pass to those to whom the sick man would not wish them to go. Meanwhile, those to whom he did wish his goods to go might be deprived of them, and thus he might be slandered and blamed after death. For a man sometimes loves one of his heirs more than another; sometimes more a male than a female; and sometimes an illegitimate child as much as a legitimate one.

Likewise, for one about to go to sea, if an astrologer did not forewarn him, a future storm could be the cause of his peril; and thus it is good and useful to foreknow the future, and bad and harmful to be ignorant of it. Therefore, these causes and many others could be assigned to show that foreknowing the future is useful.

Similarly, there are certain specific future events that can be very useful to foreknow: such as if a person's birth [chart] is known, or if he has a universal or even a particular question In "horary astrology," a person asks a specific question, and the astrologer casts a chart for that exact moment to find the answer. about something he wishes to know, you will be able to see through some astrologer whether anything ought to happen to him regarding that matter. Hence, if damage threatens him, he will be able to avoid it; and if it promises him profit, he will be able to seize it, and that will be useful to him.

And if you see in any year of his revolution A "solar revolution" is a chart cast for the exact moment the Sun returns to its position at a person's birth, used to predict the year ahead. that some danger threatens him, he will be able to avoid it. For example, if it is an illness, you can predict the cause of the sickness to him, and he will set himself against it and turn his nature toward the opposite of that cause. [He will know] what kind of infirmity is destined to happen; so that if the infirmity does occur, it will either not overcome him, or if it does, it will harm him less. If he did not protect himself, such a sickness could come upon him that it might cause his death, or the sickness might become chronic and he could eventually die from it. If death is indicated, the astrologer can predict his death to him in that year, and he can put his affairs in order, just as was said [previously]. Thus, he would not be seized by sudden or unexpected death without the ordering of his affairs, both spiritual and temporal.

If it is the illness or death of brothers, or children, or father, or mother, each of them will be able to protect themselves in their own being. If it is the death of animals, and he possesses livestock both large and small, he will be able to sell them off before the arrival of the pestilence; thus, he will not suffer loss from it. All these things the astrologer understands through the significance of each house Astrological charts are divided into twelve "houses," each representing a different area of life, such as "the house of children" or "the house of enemies.".

Similarly, if someone asks out of fear that an enemy might launch an assault against him, you can predict for him whether the enemy is about to attack; then he can fortify himself with friends and weapons and such things so that he can repel the enemy. If he did not take precautions for himself, he could be killed or mistreated. These and many other particular causes could be assigned which can happen to men, which it is useful to foreknow—and it is not at all harmful, as some have wished to say.

Similarly, even skilled doctors, when they see at one time of the year a corruption of the air through some change—either through known winds, through much rain, or through any other occasion—predict future plagues, such as quartan fevers A recurring fever, often associated with malaria, that peaks every third day., acute fevers, headaches, hearing loss, eye infections, and similar things. Hence, men can prepare themselves to repel those future harmful accidents with medicines, diets, and by countering the causes from which those harmful accidents are destined to come. If they did not take precautions, they could fall into illnesses and pestilential diseases and the like.

Furthermore, doctors and even common people, because they have seen in their own times that heat grows strong in the summer, set themselves against the hot humors Medieval medicine believed the body was governed by four fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Health required keeping these in balance. in the spring. They draw them out with purging medicines so that the summer heat does not increase the sharpness of the hot humors and cause devastating illnesses. And thus the foreknowledge of future accidents is most useful; for just as a skilled doctor can preserve the bodies of men from the aforementioned imminent diseases, so too the astrologer

can turn away many horrible future things which are destined to come according to the significations of the stars. If these were not foreknown, they would be a cause from which much harm would follow for men. And so it is clearly evident that the science of the future is most useful and in no way harmful. Hence, those who wish to pretend they do not see the truth can clearly know that just as the astrologer can foresee future accidents, so too can he tell how their dangers might be avoided.

For the foreknowledge of future things is useful in two ways. First, because if a man foreknows that some adversity is destined to happen to him, he will be able either to avoid it entirely or to diminish it to a manageable degree. Second, if it is a useful event, the person to whom it is destined to happen will rejoice and be glad from the hour he knows he will obtain what he desires until the time in which he has obtained it. If he had not foreknown that he was to obtain it, and he feared he would not get what he desired, he would be sad and anxious, and he would grow weary and weary his friends; he would even spend his goods so that he could obtain it until the time of its arrival was complete.

But someone might object to this. They argue that the foreknowledge of something brings about boredom or sadness after it has been obtained, because the person no longer hopes to obtain it. To this, it must be said that such a person is far from the path of truth. For it would be true that if someone, after obtaining what he desired and completing his wish, were struck by boredom, then no one should ever use pleasurable things. For those things in which a man delights do not always last; yet a man is not sad after obtaining them—rather, his mind finds rest, because it has obtained what it wanted. For if it were true that one should be sad after obtaining what he wanted, then no one should use any delights: a man would not rejoice in the embraces of a beautiful woman, nor in feasts, nor in spices, nor in beautiful clothing, nor in the sound of music, nor in honors, nor in any of the things in which nature rejoices, because they do not always remain in the same state of joy.

For the perfection of joy is when the mind rests and is satisfied in what it desired. Before the attainment, there is not joy, but the hope of coming to the completion of the desired thing. Indeed, hope and joy differ just as fear and sadness do: for hope and fear concern things that are in "potential" [the future], while sadness and joy concern things that are "actual" [the present].

¶ Chapter ten against those who said that the judgments of the stars have no value, nor do elections have value, saying that an election can be chosen for an enemy just as well as for the one for whom it is chosen.

There is another argument of theirs: they say that the judgments of the stars have no value, nor do the elections Choosing a specific time to begin a task (like a battle or a wedding) to ensure success. which astrologers perform according to astronomy have value. It is no wonder if they say this, for they do not see the truth. Yet, in a certain way, what they say seems plausible, and this criticism seems to encompass and prevail over all the others mentioned above. It does not seem—nor do they believe—that it can be contradicted or resisted; rather, it seems as if it were impossible for things to be otherwise than they say.

For they say: "You, who choose for an army and for its revenge [the right time]—if you act at such an hour and with such a sign ascending The zodiac sign rising on the eastern horizon at a specific moment., you will prevail. But if the adversary moves his army at that same hour under that same ascending sign, who will prevail?"

You might say to them: "The one who is stronger and has a larger host."

And they will say: "Each is equally strong as the other, and has as great a host as the other, and equally strong and equally brave knights and footmen—who will prevail?"

You will say: "The one who leads his army more wisely."

They will say: "Each leads his army equally wisely—who will prevail?" You will say...