Ptolemy

“ The lord of the middle sphere, the sun, takes over the fourth age, which is the middle one in order, young manhood, for the period of nineteen years, wherein he implants in the soul at length the mastery and direction of its actions, desire for substance, glory, and position, and a change from playful, ingenuous error to seriousness, decorum, and ambition. After the sun, Mars, fifth in order, assumes command of manhood for the space of fifteen years, equal to his own period. ”

“ For when they are rising or angular the actions which they cause are independent, but if they are setting or declining from the angles, subordinate; when beneficent planets overcome them, great, glorious, profitable, unerring, and gracious; but if maleficent planets overcome them, mean, inglorious, profitless, and fallible. With Saturn in opposition, they bring cold and mixtures of colours ; with Mars, temerity and notoriety;' with both together, utter ruin of action. ”

“ Jupiter, allied with Venus, in honourable positions makes his subjects pure, pleasure-loving, lovers of the beautiful, of children, of spectacles, and of the domain of the Muses, singels, fond of those who reared them, of good character, benefieent, compassionate, guileless, religious, prone to athletic training, fond of competition, wise, affectionate, charming in a dignified way, magnanimous, fair, charitable, fond of learning, of good judgement, moderate and decorous in matters of love, fond of their kinsfolk, pious, just, ambitious, seekers after glory, and in general gentlemanly. ”

“ Sixth, Jupiter, taking as his lot the elderly age, again for the space of his own period, twelve years, brings about the renunciation of manual labour, toil, turmoil, and dangerous activity, and in their place brings decorum, foresight, retirement, together with all-embracing deliberation, admonition, and consolation; now especially he brings men to set store by honour, praise, and independence, accompanied by modesty and dignity. ”

“ For it is merely the case that if one of the luminaries is angular and one of the maleficent planets is in conjunetion with it, or in opposition, both in degrees and with equality of distance, while no beneficent planet bears any aspect, and if the lord of the luminaries is found in the places of the maleficent planets, the child that is born will not be reared, but will at once come to its end. ”

“ Further, we must consider the planets in aspect with them, or those of their own or of the opposite sect that overcome them. For when the planets which govern the Lot of Fortune are in power, they make the subjects rich, particularly when they chance to have the proper testimony of the luminaries; thus Saturn brings riches through building, or agriculture, or shipping ventures, Jupiter through fiduciary relationships, guardianships, or priesthoods, Mars through military operations and command, Venus through gifts from friends or women, and Mercury through eloquence and trade. ”

“ For a planet must from the beginning have familiarity with the place about which the inquiry is made, if it is going to exercise any effect upon it, and in general, if this is not the case, a planet which had no share whatsoever in the beginning can exert no great influence; of the time of the occurrence of the event, however, the original dominance is no longer the cause, but the distance of the planet which dominates in any way from the sun and from the angles of the universe. ”

“ The kind of future honour is to be divined from the quality of the attending planets; for if Saturn governs the attendance, he brings about power based on wealth and the amassing of riches, but Jupiter or Venus that which rests upon favours, gifts, honours, and magnanimity ; Mars brings power founded on generalships, victories, and the fears of subordinates, and Mercury that which depends upon intelligence, education, and the care and management of affairs. ”

“ But in an inquiry concerning nativities and individual temperaments in general, One can see that there are circumstances of no small importance and of no trifling character, which join to cause the special qualities of those who are born. For differences of seed exert a very great influence on the special traits of the genus, since, if the ambient and the horizon are the same, each seed prevails to express in general its own form, for example, man, horse, and so forth; and the places of birth bring about no small variation in what is produced. ”

“ For there are three classes of friendship and enmity, since men are so disposed to one another either by preference or by need or through pleasure and pain; when all or most of the aforesaid places have familiarity with each other, the friendship is compounded of all three kinds, even as the enmity is, when they are dissociated. But when the places of the luminaries only are in familiarity, the friendship will result from choice, which is the best and surest kind, and in the case of enmity the worst and faithless ”

“ For if we look to the goods of the soul, what could be more conducive to well being, pleasure, and in general satisfaction than this kind of forecast, by which we gain full view of things human and divine? And if we look to bodily goods, such knowledge, better than anything else, would perceive what is fitting and expedient for the capabilities of each temperament. ”

“ One might observe this same thing happening in all events whatsoever that have natural causes. For even of stones, plants, and animals, and also of wounds, mishaps, and sicknesses, some are of such a nature as to act of necessity, others only if no opposing thing interferes. One should therefore believe that physical philosophers predict what is to befall men with foreknowledge of this character and do not approach their task under false impressions; for certain things, because their effective causes are numerous and powerful, are inevitable, but others for the opposite reason may be averted. ”

“ In the following period of ten years, Mercury, to whom falls the second place and the second age, that of childhood, for the period which is half of the space of twenty years, begins to articulate and fashion the intelligent and logical part of the soul, to implant certain seeds and rudiments of learning, and to bring to light individual peculiarities of character and faculties, awaking the soul at this stage by instruction, tutelage, and the first gymnastic exercises. ”

“ The consideration of the length of life takes the leading place among inquiries about events following birth, for, as the ancient says, it is ridiculous to attach particular predictions to one who, by the constitution of the years of his life, will never attain at all to the time of the predicted events. ”

“ Since after all the others the inquiry concerning the quality of death remains, we shall first determine, through the means furnished by the discussion of the length of life, whether the destruction will be accomplished by the projection of a ray or by the descent of the significator to the occident. For if the destruction should come about through the projection of rays and occourse, it is fitting to observe the place of the occourse in order to determine the quality of the death, but if it occurs by the descent of the significator to the occident, we must observe the occident itself. ”

“ For up to about the fourth year, following the number which belongs to the quadrennium, the moon takes over the age of infancy and produces the suppleness and lack of fixity in its body, its quick growth and the moist nature, as a rule, of its food, the changeability of its condition, and the imperfection and inarticulate state of its soul, suitably to her own active qualities. ”

“ The more observant farmers and herdsmen, indeed, conjecture, from the winds prevailing at the time of impregnation and of the sowing of the seed, the quality of what will result; and in general we see that the more important consequences signified by the more obvious configurations of sun, moon, and stars are usually known beforehand, even by those who inquire, not by scientific means, but only by observation. ”

“ If Venus alone takes the domination of the soul, in an honourable position she makes her subjects pleasant, good, luxurious, eloquent, neat, cheerful, fond of dancing, eager for beauty, haters of evil, lovers of the arts, fond of spectacles, decorous, healthy, dreamers of pleasant dreams, affectionate, beneficent, compassionate, fastidious, easily conciliated, successful, and, in general, charming. In the opposite position she makes them careless, erotic, effeminate, womanish, timid, indifferent, depraved, censorious, insignificant, meriting reproach. ”

“ Since the account of the principal diseases of the soul, in a sense, follows upon that of the soul's characteristics, it is in general needful to note and observe the positions of Mercury and the moon relative to each other, to the angles, and to the planets whose nature it is to do injury; for if, while they themselves are unrelated to each other, or to the eastern horizon, they are overcome, or surrounded, or held in opposition by unfamiliar stars in injurious aspect, they cause the incidence of various diseases which affect the soul's character. ”

“ Why can he not, too, with respect to an individual man, perceive the general quality of his temperament from the ambient at the time of his birth, as for instance that he is such and such in body and such and such in soul, and predict occasional events, by use of the fact that such and such an ambient is attuned to such and such a temperament and is favourable to prosperity, while another is not so attuned and conduces to injury? ”

“ If Mercury and Mars together assume the lordship of action, they produce sculptors, armourers, makers of sacred monuments, modellers, wrestlers, physicians, surgeons, accusers, adulterers, evil-doers, forgers. If Saturn testifies to them, they produce murderers, sneak-thieves, burglars, pirates, cattle thieves, villains. If Jupiter testifies, they produce men-at-arms, duellists, energetic, clever persons, busybodies, who meddle in others affairs and thereby gain their living. ”

“ Thus, then, those who depart from life in the way described die natural deaths, whenever the lords of death happen to be in their own or in kindred natural characters, and if no planet that is able to do injury and to make the end more remarkable overcomes them. They die, however, by violent and conspicuous means whenever both the evil planets dominate the destructive places, either in conjunction, or in quartile, or in opposition, or also if one of the two, or both, seize upon the sun, or the moon, or both the luminaries. ”

“ For men it is necessary to observe the position of the moon in their genitures. For, in the first place, if she chances to be in the eastern quadrants, she makes men marry young or marry women younger than themselves; but if she is in the western quadrants they marry late or marry older women. And if she is under the rays of the sun and in aspect with Saturn, they do not marry at all. Then again, if the moon is in a sign of a single figure, or is applying to one of the planets, she makes them men of one marriage ”

“ For if these distinctions are thus made, it is dear that both in general and in particular whatever events depend upon a first cause, which is irresistible and more powerful than anything that opposes it, must by all means take place; on the contrary, of events that are not of this character, those which are provided with resistant forces are easily averted, while those that are not follow the primary natural causes, to be sure, but this is due to ignorance and not to the necessity of almighty power. ”