General Uranometric Directory (Directorium Generale Uranometricum) (1632) - Page 9

Persians, Indians, Arabs, and Latins, as well as other nations, existed in ancient times, as diligent historians have passed down to us. From here also came the fables among the Poets about Atlas sustaining the Heavens on his shoulders, about Hercules leaning into the same burden, about Endymion sleeping in the embrace of the Moon, about the Lyre of Orpheus placed among the stars, and about the names of many heroes bestowed upon the stars. Indeed, those following the Stoics A school of philosophy that believed the universe was governed by divine reason and that the stars were living, rational beings. held astronomers in such regard that they even asserted they were gods, because they brought so much help to mortals by prophesying the future and moving the celestial spheres through countless ages. Therefore, many leaders, kings, and emperors held this science, worthy of the highest princes, in great esteem. For this reason, Julius Caesar testifies about himself in the works of Lucan:

...always in the midst of battles

I have found time for the regions of the stars and the Sky, and for the gods above.

original: "media inter prælia semper / Stellarum, Cœliq; plagis, superisque vacaui." From Lucan's Pharsalia, Book X.

The Emperor Hadrian was so delighted by these studies that he wished to write a Prognosticon A forecast or almanac, often used to predict weather or political events based on planetary positions. every single year. The Alfonsine Tables Astronomical tables providing data for computing the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets, named after Alfonso X of Castile. bear sufficient witness to Alfonso, King of Spain. The Emperor Charles V and his brother Ferdinand were refreshed by these matters in a wonderful way. There are many others whom I cannot recount here in a few words: for you will hardly find any among the Princes, upon whom the care of earthly things rests, who neglects the science of the heavenly things by which the earthly are ruled. Therefore, Homer most excellently painted the stars on the shield of Achilles; he described the pole of the Sky and its motion. Appropriately, Virgil also introduced Iopas with his long hair singing of celestial things at a Royal banquet in this way:

...long-haired Iopas plays upon his

golden lyre, what the greatest Atlas taught.

He sings of the wandering Moon, and the labors of the sun;

whence the race of men and cattle come; whence rain and fires;

Arcturus, the rainy Hyades, and the twin Triones;

why the winter suns hasten so much to dip themselves in the Ocean,

or what delay stands in the way of the slow nights.

original: "cithara crinitus Iopas / Personat aurata, docuit quę maximus Atlas..." From Virgil's Aeneid, Book I. The "Triones" refers to the constellations of the Great and Little Bears.

By these examples, the supreme lights of the Poets seem to have wanted to suggest that the science of the stars is most usefully employed among Princes both in battles and at banquets. I say nothing of so many Sovereign Pontiffs, such as Anacletus, Leo the Great, Hilarius I, Pius I, Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, Julius II, Leo X, Paul III, and finally Gregory XIII, who concerning the correction of the Calendar...