To this we answer that our astrologer attributes indirectly to the
stars all our characteristics: will, passions, vices and appetites;
he allows us no rôle other than to turn like mills, instead of
responsibility, as befits men, producing actions that suit our nature.
On the contrary, we should be left in possession of what belongs to us
by the observation that the universe limits itself to exercising some
influence on what we possess already thanks to ourselves, and which
is really characteristic of us. Moreover, one should distinguish the
deeds in which we are "active," from those in which we are necessarily
"passive," and not deduce everything from the stars. Nobody, indeed,
doubts that the differences of place and climate exert an influence
over us, imparting to us, for instance, a cool or warm-hearted
disposition. Heredity also should be considered; for children usually
resemble their parents by their features, form, and some affections of
the irrational soul. Nevertheless, even though they resemble them by
their facial features, because they are born in the same place, they
may differ in habits and thoughts, because these things depend on an
entirely different principle. In addition, we can adduce to the support
of this truth the resistance which the soul offers to the temperament
and to the appetites. As to the claim that the stars are the causes of
everything, because one can predict what is to happen to each man from
a consideration of their positions, it would be just as reasonable to
assert that the birds and the other beings which the augurs consult as
omens produce the events of which they are the signs.