De cometis

therefore what
Roman
favors
men

will thus induce and overshadow with prodigies, so that they might announce the prophet himself, and would strive to adhere to his laws as if they were divine, through fear or through the love that inflames them. And if the Fates desire it, they will greatly promote this, and they will direct their stratagems with glory, according to the state of the astronomical configurations that produce such impulses. Through this path, many sects arise, and the cultures of foreign things by new prophets, and men are deified. As it is read in the Historia Tripartita a 6th-century history of the church in the second book, thus: "Because it is indeed characteristic of pagans to deify men with the utmost facility." And after a few lines there it is said: "The people of Cyzicus indeed called the thirteenth god Hadrian. But even Hadrian himself deified his beloved Antinous. And Libanius a Greek sophist and rhetorician says that this is ridiculous and unwelcome." So also in other actions and observations of the world, changes occur in various ways according to the quality of the thing.

How the effects of a comet and the applications of the stars endure for many years after they have passed

For a very long time after astronomical configurations and the appearances of comets, even when they themselves have ceased entirely, their effects are accustomed to continue and be strengthened. Since, as was premised, in living creatures the foundation of all operations is from the heart and its spirits, as from a beginning, towards their impetuous alteration—as has been said—all spirits of the virtues are altered. The spirits generated are therefore also altered into the likeness of the properties of the celestial virtues. Whence an individual is generated, having within itself the properties of the celestial influx as a nature ingrained in it. And such a consequent process exists in successors according to the strength and state of the astronomical configuration. The knowledge of the living creature also has to alter the fetus with a strong alteration, with no other thought intervening for us. Gen. 30 Since Jacob was considering, he would not receive for his reward from the flocks of the sheep of his father-in-law, Laban, unless they were variegated and spotted in the fleece, Genesis chapter twenty-nine. He therefore placed peeled rods. And he peeled part of them in the channels of the waters before the eyes of the rams and the ewes, so that they might conceive in their contemplation. And it happened that they brought forth spotted and variegated ones and those dispersed with diverse colors. The same is also attested by Avicenna in the first book of the Canon, fen section two, regarding those things that proceed from animal motion, saying: "And it is also so when the body suffers because of animal affections; for many impress natural ones, just as it happens that a child resembles him whose form was imagined when the union took place. And so that his color may be close to the color of him whom he saw when the moment of the sperm occurred." Wherefore, with impulses existing in the common people, and various imaginations and estimations, and with the generative spirits also altered, individuals participating in similar things will be generated, as if in their own natures. Daily, also, in the fixed earth, as was predicted, exhalations of spirits are made that irrigate the air. Whence, by the likeness of their origins, the hearts of those born are renewed more easily than those of their parents, because their natures from generation are such, as was already said, having a symbol. By this path customs and manners grow. Laws arise, and sects are continued. In a similar way also, regional customs and properties arise and endure. For in them, the effects and significations of all astronomical applications are continued and perfected.