Antonius Laurus of the Palaces, Paduan Doctor of Civil Law

When from my tender—as the Greeks say—little nails original: "Unguiculis" - a Latin idiom meaning 'from earliest childhood', beginning to devote myself to the literary studies of Pallas The goddess of wisdom, I recount in my mind: by Hercules, I do not open a book—as I now perceive—which does not carry upon its face a clear antonomasia A figure of speech where an epithet or title replaces a proper name of this most admirable and nearly divine Astronomy, the Princess and Queen of all liberal arts. And if anyone is perhaps ignorant, incapable, or incredulous of the sense and understanding of such a kernel—as often happens—letting pass Solon and other Greek sages, and the philosophers, Ptolemy and all the astronomers: if in the cause itself the judges or witnesses are suspected by the single law original: "L. Ne quis in sua causa" - a legal principle that no one should be a judge in their own cause regarding witnesses. How can he know, or be able, or dare to read and understand the first documents of grammar, or likewise P. Clergerius, Tully Cicero, Macrobius, Pliny, and the choir of poets? Then, gradually ascending to the first cradles of the Laws, did not our legislator Caesar Justinian command the sacred Institutions to be divided into four books in that same proem? Because just as all bodies are composed from the strengths of the four elements—namely earth, water, air, and fire (for earth corresponds to melancholy, water to phlegm, air to blood, and fire to red choler)—universally embracing the four humors of man, just as the year is wonderfully divided into the four seasons: which are spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Furthermore, did not our aforementioned Legist limit the time of this brief life of ours in the laws original: "l. h. c. de sa. san. eccle." - referring to the Code of Justinian there, unless they have exceeded a cycle of one hundred years? For that is the end of a long-lived man's life. And in the Authentica A collection of Justinian's Novels regarding the Roman Church, it is recognized that this time is often the end of a long-lived man. And in the Authentica concerning Monks, it says: "This which John, a man most famous in his way of life and beloved of God, recently announced to us from Lycia, being nearly in the one hundred and twentieth year of his age, yet strong in the virtues of the soul and the operations of the body," etc. And in the Authentica regarding things not to be alienated: "For what will be stable among men and so immobile that it suffers no change, when our entire state consists under perpetual motion?" Moreover, did not Paul of Padua, Prince of the Law-Givers, and Accursius the Florentine glossator, Bartolus and Baldus, and all the consultants of the Law, most prudently determine by their opinion at what hour we ought to begin the day? And to comprehend many things in few words: in the laws concerning Hermaphrodites, the seventh month, those who are not children, and Arethusa, regarding the status of men; do not Arithmetic, Music, and Astronomy contain within themselves the truth? For if anyone unskilled in Mathematics wishes to write against the Mathematicians, he will be open to laughter. If, therefore, the Monarchs of both Laws Civil and Canon Law have most prudently met in one opinion with the philosophers, physicians, and astronomers, what shall we say to these things, except: "The uncertain crowd is split into contrary pursuits" A quote from Virgil's Aeneid. How then shall a priest be able to announce the Moveable Feasts that preserve our Nazarene faith—varying by the course of the Moon—without any lunar observation? How can a sailor observe the North or South Pole, the regions of the world, the increase and decrease of the waters, give sails to the winds, or plow the seas, avoiding adverse waves and reaching the ports of safety without consideration of the heavens? How shall the farmer till the earth by sowing, planting, grafting, cutting, and gathering the fruits, according to that passage in the Georgics: "What makes the crops joyous, under what star it is fitting to turn the earth, Maecenas, and to join the vines to the elms; what care for the oxen, what cultivation for the flock, and how much experience for the thrifty bees—hence I shall begin to sing. O you brightest lights of the world, who lead the gliding year through the sky! Father Bacchus and nourishing Ceres," etc. Likewise, the most prudent physician, healing the bodies of the sick, healthfully forbids the suffering to receive bloodletting or pharmacy on the days of conjunctions and oppositions, or during the "dog days" The hot days of summer associated with Sirius, the Dog Star. Since, by the testimony of his own Hippocrates, Astronomy is no small part of medicine. And therefore it is necessary for Doctors to have the science of astronomy; whence doctors might administer medicine under a certain constellation which quickly kills, which yet in another could heal. Indeed, the cautious Surgeon will avoid touching a limb of the Microcosm The human body with a cautery or iron while the Moon is in the sign of that limb. For that would be to wound them and, by multiplying the inconvenience, to add affliction to the afflicted. How shall Princes be able to fortify citadels, foresee wars, and avoid the evil of epidemic and the penury of victuals, food, and drink—as the most wise Solon advised—unless they were made more certain through the annual prognostication of the Astronomers? Therefore, with greatest effort and cheerful study, receive our immense labors and midnight vigils contained briefly in this golden Little Work; how much Michael Scot and Guido Bonatti of Forlì and others magnify this, there is no one who does not know, both by their brief style and by the very clear experience of things and the greatest truth of many of their judgments. As I have often—I speak among the learned—seen the proof. Let, therefore, Albubather A reference to the 9th-century Persian astrologer Abu Bakr al-Hasan ibn al-Khasib be in the eyes of your Excellencies as delightful as a unique phoenix. According to the Satirist: "A rare bird on earth, and very much like a black swan." And if I see that this is to be deleted in your estimation, I shall take care to exhibit tomorrow another thing, also rare and distinguished, according to the strength of my narrow fortune and my talent, for the common utility, exercise, health, and cheerfulness of students.