2. Should we consider the stars to be animated, or not? If they be
inanimate, they will be able to communicate only cold and heat; that
is, if[203] we grant the existence of cold influences. In this case,
they will limit themselves to modifying the nature of our body,
exercising on us a merely corporeal influence. They will not produce a
great diversity among the bodies, since each of them exercises the same
influence, and since, on the earth, their diverse actions are blended
into a single one, which varies only by the diversity of locality, or
by the proximity or distance of the objects. The same argument would
hold on the hypothesis that the stars spread cold. But I could not
understand how they could render some learned, others ignorant, making
of some grammarians, others orators, musicians or experts in various
arts. How could they exercise an action which would have no relation
to the constitution of the bodies, such as giving us a father, a
brother, a son, or a wife of such or such characteristics, or to make
us successful, or make of us generals or kings?[204]