Astronomicon, Book I

Aquarius in Ludw. Maxim. p. 108 22, Sagittarius in C.C.A.G. i p. 166 5, Aries, Taurus, Sagittarius in vii pp. 194-211, Aries, Taurus, Sagittarius, Aquarius in Vett. Val. i 2.

244-255 There are three running signs, Aries, Leo, Sagittarius; three standing, Gemini, Virgo, Aquarius; three sitting, Taurus, Libra (which is sometimes shown not as suspended but as sunk into a heap), Capricornus; three lying, Cancer, Scorpius, Pisces. This classification seems peculiar to Manilius.

The walking and creeping [signs], into which the terrestrial irrational untamed or ferae terrenae [terrestrial wild beasts] are divided in Ptol. Tetrabiblos comm. p. 67, are quadrupeds and reptiles, and the division is one of nature and not of posture. The accusation of Mr Bouché-Leclercq Astr. Grecque p. 151 n. 3 that Manilius ‘confounds the signs that walk or run, like the Lion and the Archer, with the “rapid” signs that rise quickly on the horizon, like the Ram,’ and his statement that ‘the Ram is not represented running, but at rest,’ are false, as may be seen from the Farnese globe or the Bianchini planisphere or the Leyden Germanicus.

256-264 Four signs are maimed: Scorpius, whose claws have been cut off to form the constellation Libra; Taurus, which limps and has one leg doubled under it; Cancer, which is eyeless; and Sagittarius, who is one-eyed.

Here again Manilius stands alone. The limb-cut [signs] of C.C.A.G. i p. 166 9 sq. include indeed Taurus, Cancer, Scorpius, Sagittarius but include also Aries, Leo, Capricorn, Pisces; the list of Ludw. Maxim. p. 109 3 sq. is Aries, Taurus, Leo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Pisces, of C.C.A.G. v iii p. 97 20 sq. Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Scorpius, Capricorn, Pisces; in vii pp. 194-211 Aries, Taurus, Leo, Capricorn, Pisces are so called, in Vett. Val. i 2 Taurus and Pisces only. The epithet half-finished, given to Taurus, Sagittarius, Capricorn, has nothing to do with this matter, and has been noticed at verses 167-172.

265-269 Pisces, Aries, Taurus belong to spring, Gemini, Cancer, Leo to summer, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius to autumn, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius to winter. Such at least is the natural interpretation of Manilius’ words, and it accords with what he has said in verses 176-196 about the four signs which he here places at the head of the seasons; but most astrologers begin the seasons with the tropical signs.

Ludw. Maxim. p. 105 19-22: "Spring: Aries, Taurus, Gemini. Summer: Cancer, Leo, Virgo. Autumn: Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius. Winter: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces," Paul. Alex. A-A 4, C.C.A.G. vii pp. 194-213, iv p. 152 20. In Anthologia Latina Ries. 864 (P. L. M. Baehr. v. p. 379) there is a third system: the vernal signs are Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, the summer begins with Taurus, and so on. Hephaestio i 1 bestows the names of the seasons on the tropical signs alone.