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victim like that which Prometheus offered in deceit to Jupiter. Prometheus, in the place of a real ox, brought to the altar the hide of an ox of great size and beauty, stuffed with straw and leaves and twigs. In like manner astronomy presents only the exterior of the heavenly bodies (I mean the number of the stars, their positions, motions, and periods), as it were the hide of the heavens; beautiful indeed and skilfully arranged into systems; but the interior (namely the physical reasons) is wanting, out of which (with the help of astronomical hypotheses) a theory might be devised which would not merely satisfy the phenomena (of which kind many might with a little ingenuity be contrived), but which would set forth the substance, motion, and influence of the heavenly bodies as they really are. For long ago have those doctrines been exploded of the Force of the First Mover and the Solidity of the Heaven, -the stars being supposed to be fixed in their orbs like nails in a roof. And with no better reason is it affirmed, that there are different poles of the zodiac and of the world; that there is a Second Mover of counteraction to the force of the first; that all the heavenly bodies move in perfect circles; that there are eccentrics and epicycles whereby the constancy of motions in perfect circles is preserved; that the moon works no change or violence in the regions above it: and the like. And it is the absurdity of these opinions that has driven men to the diurnal motion of the earth; which I am convinced is most false. But there is scarce any one who has made inquiries into the physical causes, as well of the substance of the heavens both stellar and interstellar, as of the relative velocity and slowness of the heavenly bodies; of the different velocity of motion in the same planet; of the course of motions from east to west, and contrary; of their progressions, stationary positions, and retrogressions; of the elevation and fall of motions in apogee and perigee; of the obliquity of motions, either by spirals winding and unwinding towards the Tropics, or by those curves which they call Dragons; of the poles of rotation, why they are fixed in such part of the heaven rather than in any other; and of some planets being fixed at a certain distance from the sun-such an inquiry as this (I say) has hardly been attempted; but all the labour is spent in mathematical observations and demonstrations. Such demonstrations however only show how all these things may be ingeniously made out and disentangled,

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not how they may truly subsist in nature; and indicate the apparent motions only, and a system of machinery arbitrarily devised and arranged to produce them,-not the very causes and truth of things. Wherefore astronomy, as it now is, is fairly enough ranked among the mathematical arts, not without disparagement to its dignity; seeing that, if it chose to maintain its proper office, it ought rather to be accounted as the noblest part of Physics. For whoever shall set aside the imaginary divorce between superlunary and sublunary things, and shall well observe the most universal appetites and passions of matter (which are powerful in both globes and make themselves felt through the universal frame of things), will obtain clear information of heavenly things from those which are seen amongst us; and on the other hand, from that which passes in the heavens he will gain no slight knowledge of some motions of the lower world as yet undiscovered; not only in as far as the latter are influenced by the former, but in as far as they have common passions. Wherefore this, the physical part of astronomy, I pronounce deficient; giving it the name of Living Astronomy, in distinction from that stuffed ox of Prometheus, which was an ox in figure only.

As for Astrology, it is so full of superstition, that scarce anything sound can be discovered in it. Notwithstanding, I would rather have it purified than altogether rejected. If however anyone maintains that this science is not based on reason or physical speculations, but on blind experience and the observations of many ages, and on that ground refuses the test of physical reasons (as the Chaldeans professed to do); he may on the same grounds bring back auguries, and believe in divination, entrails, and all kinds of fables; for all these are set forth as the dictates of long experience and traditions passed from hand to hand. But for my part I admit astrology as a part of Physic, and yet attribute to it nothing more than is allowed by reason and the evidence of things, all fictions and superstitions being set aside. To consider the matter however a little more attentively. In the first place what an idle invention is that, that each of the planets reigns in turn for an hour, so that in the space of twenty-four hours each has three reigns, leaving three hours over! And yet this conceit was the origin of our division of the week (a thing so ancient and generally received); as is very evident from the

alternation of days; for the ruling planet at the beginning of the succeeding day is always the fourth in order from the planet of the previous one, by reason of the three supernumerary hours of which I have spoken. Secondly, I do not hesitate to reject as an idle superstition the doctrine of horoscopes and the distribution of houses; which is the very delight of astrology, and has held a sort of Bacchanalian revelry in the heavenly regions. Nor can I sufficiently wonder how illustrious men and eminent in astrology have rested them on such slight foundations; for they say that as experience proves that the solstices, equinoxes, new moons, full moons, and the greater revolutions of the stars, exercise a great and manifest influence over natural bodies, it follows that the more exact and subtle positions of the stars must produce effects likewise more exquisite and secret. But they ought first to have excepted the operations of the sun by manifest heat, and likewise the magnetic influence of the moon on the half-monthly tides (for the daily ebb and flow of the sea is another thing), and then they will find the powers of the rest of the planets over natural things (as far as they are approved by experience) very weak and slight, and almost invisible, even in the greater revolutions. And therefore they should argue in a manner directly contrary; that as those greater revolutions have so little influence, these nice and minute differences of positions have no power at all. Thirdly, those fatalities, that the hour of nativity or conception influences the fortune of the birth, the hour of commencement the fortune of the enterprise, the hour of inquiry the fortune of the thing inquired into, and in short, the doctrines of nativities, elections, inquiries, and the like frivolities, have in my judgment for the most part nothing sure or solid, and are plainly refuted and convicted by physical reasons. It remains therefore to declare what I retain or approve of in astrology, and what is deficient in that which I approve. For this last it is (the pointing out of deficiencies) which is the object of this discourse; for otherwise (as I have often said) I cannot stay to censure. Among the received doctrines, then, I think that concerning revolutions has more soundness than the rest. But it will perhaps be better to lay down certain rules, as a standard by which we may weigh and examine astrological matters, so as to retain what is useful and to reject what is frivolous. First then, as I have before advised,

let the greater revolutions be retained, but the smaller revolutions of horoscopes and houses be dismissed. The former are like great guns, and can strike from afar; the latter are like little bows, and cannot transmit their force over much space. Secondly; the operation of the heavenly bodies does not affect all kinds of bodies, but only the more tender; such as humours, air and spirit; here however the operations of the heat of the sun and heavenly bodies must be excepted; which doubtless penetrates both to metals and to a great number of subterraneous bodies. Thirdly; every operation of heavenly bodies extends rather to masses than to individuals; though it affects indirectly some individuals also; such, namely, as are more susceptible, and of softer wax as it were, than the rest of their species; as when a pestilent condition of air seizes on the less resisting bodies and passes by those which have more power of resistance. The fourth rule is not unlike the preceding; every operation of the heavenly bodies sheds its influence and power, not on small periods of time or within narrow limits, but upon the larger spaces. And therefore predictions of the temperature of the year may possibly be true; but those of particular days are rightly held of no account. The last rule (which has always been held by the wiser astrologers) is that there is no fatal necessity in the stars; but that they rather incline than compel. I will add one thing besides (wherein I shall certainly seem to take part with astrology, if it were reformed); which is, that I hold it for certain that the celestial bodies have in them certain other influences besides heat and light; which very influences however act by those rules laid down above, and not otherwise. But these lie concealed in the depths of Physic, and require a longer dissertation. I have thought fit therefore (on due consideration of what has been said) to set down as a desideratum an astrology framed in conformity with these principles; and as I have termed Astronomy based on Physical Reasons Living Astronomy, so Astrology similarly grounded I call Sune Astrology. And though what I have already said will in no slight degree contribute to the rectification and completion of this art, yet according to my custom I will add a few remarks which will clearly explain out of what materials it should be composed, and to what end it should be applied. In the first place, let there be received into Sane Astrology the doctrine concerning the commixture of rays; that is the conjunctions,

oppositions, and other combinations or aspects of planets with regard to one another. And to this same part also I refer the passage of the planets through the signs of the zodiac, and their position under the same signs; for the position of a planet under a sign is a kind of conjunction of it with the stars of that sign. And in like manner also ought the oppositions and other combinations of the planets with regard to the stars of the signs to be observed; which has not hitherto been fully done. But these commixtures of the rays of fixed stars with one another, though useful in contemplating the structure of the universe and the nature of the regions lying below them, are of no avail for predictions, because they are always alike. Secondly, let there be received the approaches of each individual planet to the perpendicular, and its regressions from it, according to the climates of countries. For every planet, no less than the sun, has its summer and winter, in which as its rays fall more or less perpendicular, their force is stronger or weaker. For I have no doubt but that the moon in Leo has more power over natural bodies in our planet than when in Pisces; not because when in Leo the moon affects the heart, and when in Pisces the feet, as they talk; but by reason of her elevation towards the perpendicular and approximation to the larger stars, in the same manner as the sun. Thirdly, let there be received the apogees and perigees of the planets, with a sufficient distinction as to what is due to the inherent vigour of the planet, and what to its proximity to us. For a planet is more active in its apogee or elevation, but more communicative in its perigee or descent. Fourthly, let there be received (to speak summarily) all the remaining accidents of the motions of planets; what are the accelerations and retardations of each in its course; what their progressions, actions, and regressions; what their distances from the sun, combustions, increases and diminutions of light, eclipses and the like; for all these things help to make the rays of the planets act more forcibly or more feebly, and in different modes and with different virtues. These four remarks relate to the radiations of the stars. Fifthly, let everything be received which may in any way disclose and explain the natures of the stars, whether erratic or fixed, in their proper essence and activity; as their size, their colour and aspect, their twinkling and vibration of light, their situation with reference to the poles or the equinox, their

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