ASTROLOGY. ALMANACKS. PRISCILLIANISM RETAINED IN THEM TO THIS TIME.
I wander 'twixt the poles
And heavenly hinges, 'mongst eccentricals,
Centers, concentricks, circles and epicycles.
ALBUMAZAR.
The connection between astrology and the art of medicine is not more
firmly believed in Persia at this day, than it was among the English
people during the age of almanack-makers. The column which contained
the names of the saints for every day, as fully as they are still
given in Roman Catholic almanacks, was less frequently consulted than
those in which the aspects were set down, and the signs and the parts
of the human body under their respective governance. Nor was any page
in the book regarded with more implicit belief than that which
represented the “Anatomy of Man's body as the parts thereof are
governed by the twelve Constellations, or rather by the Moon as she
passeth by them.” In those representations man indeed was not more
uglily than fearfully made,—as he stood erect and naked, spiculated by
emitted influences from the said signs, like another St. Sebastian; or
as he sate upon the globe placed like a butt for him, while they
radiated their shafts of disease and pain.
Portentous as the Homo in the almanack is, he made a much more
horrific appearance in the Margarita Philosophica which is a
Cyclopedia of the early part of the 16th century. There Homo stands,
naked but not ashamed, upon the two Pisces, one foot upon each, the
Fish being neither in air, nor water, nor upon earth, but
self-suspended as it appears in the void. Aries has alighted with two
feet on Homo's head, and has sent a shaft through the forehead into
his brain. Taurus has quietly seated himself across his neck. The
Gemini are riding astride a little below his right shoulder. The whole
trunk is laid open, as if part of the old accursed punishment for high
treason had been performed upon him. The Lion occupies the thorax as
his proper domain, and the Crab is in possession of the abdomen.
Sagittarius, volant in the void, has just let fly an arrow, which is
on the way to his right arm. Capricornius breathes out a visible
influence that penetrates both knees; Aquarius inflicts similar
punctures upon both legs. Virgo fishes as it were at his intestines;
Libra at the part affected by schoolmasters in their anger; and
Scorpio takes the wickedest aim of all.
The progress of useful knowledge has in our own days at last banished
this man from the almanack; at least from all annuals of that
description that carry with them any appearance of respectability. If
it has put an end to this gross superstition, it has done more than
the Pope could do fourteen centuries ago, when he condemned it, as one
of the pernicious errors of the Priscillianists.
In a letter to Turribius, Bishop of Astorga, concerning that heresy,
Pope St. Leo the Great says: “_Si universæ hæreses, quæ ante
Priscilliani tempus exortæ sunt, diligentius retractentur, nullus pene
invenitur error de quo non traxerit impietas ista contagium: quæ non
contenta eorum recipere falsitates, qui ab Evangelio Christi sub
Christi nomine deviarunt, tenebris se etiam paganitatis immersit, ut
per magicarum artium prophana secreta, et mathematicorum vana
mendacia, religionis fidem, morumque rationem in potestate dæmonum, et
in affectu syderum collocarent. Quod si et credi liceat et doceri, nec
virtutibus præmium, nec vitiis pœna debebitur, omniaque non solum
humanarum legum, sed etiam divinarum constitutionum decreta solventur:
quia neque de bonis, neque de malis actibus ullum poterit esse
judicium, si in utramque partem fatalis necessitas motum mentis
impellit, et quicquid ab hominibus agitur, non est hominum, sed
astrorum. Ad hanc insaniam pertinet prodigiosa illa totius humani
corporis per duodecim Cœli signa distinctio, ut diversis partibus
diversæ præsideant potestates; et creatura, quam Deus ad imaginem suam
fecit, in tantâ sit obligatione syderum, in quantâ est connectione
membrorum._”
But invention has been as rare among heretics as among poets. The
architect of the Priscillian heresy (the male heresy of that name, for
there was a female one also) borrowed this superstition from the
mathematicians,—as the Romans called the astrological impostors of
those times. For this there is the direct testimony of Saint
Augustine: _Astruunt etiam fatalibus stellis homines colligatos,
ipsumque corpus nostrum secundum duodecim signa cœli esse compositum;
sicut hi qui Mathematici vulgo appellantur, constituentes in capite
Arietem, Taurum in cervice, Geminos in humeris, Cancrum in pectore, et
cetera nominatim signa percurrentes ad plantas usque perveniunt, quas
Piscibus tribuunt, quod ultimum signum ab Astrologis nuncupatar._
These impostors derived this part of their craft from Egypt, where
every month was supposed to be under the care of three Decans or
Directors, for the import of the word must be found in the
neighbouring language of the Hebrews and Syrians. There were
thirty-six of these, each superintending ten days; and these Decans
were believed to exercise the most extensive influence over the human
frame. Astrological squares calculated upon this mythology are still
in existence. St. Jerome called it the opprobrium of Egypt.
The medical superstition derived from this remote antiquity has
continued down to the present generation in the English almanacks, is
still continued in the popular almanacks of other countries, and
prevails at this time throughout the whole Mahommedan and Eastern
world. So deeply does error strike its roots, and so widely scatter
its seeds; and so difficult is it to extirpate any error whatsoever,
or any evil, which it is the interest of any class of men to maintain.
And the rogues had much to say for themselves.
“Notwithstanding the abuses put upon the art of Astrology,” said an
eminent Professor, “doubtless some judgement may be made thereby what
any native may be by nature prone or addicted to. For the aspects of
the Planets among themselves, as also the Fixed Stars, 'tis more than
supposed, may cause many strange effects in sublunary bodies, but
especially in those that have been almost worn out with decrepit age,
or debilitated with violent or tedious diseases; wherefore this
knowledge may be requisite, and of excellent use to physicians and
chirurgeons, &c. for old aches and most diseases do vary according to
the change of the air and weather, and that proceeds from the motion
of the heavens and aspects of the planets.”—Who that has any old aches
in his bones,—or has felt his corns shoot—but must acknowledge the
truth that was brought forward here in support of an impudent system
of imposture? The natural pride, and the natural piety of man, were
both appealed to when he was told that the stars were appointed for
signs and tokens,—that “the reason why God hath given him an upright
countenance is, that he might converse with the celestial bodies,
which are placed for his service as so many diamonds in an azure
canopy of perpetuity,”—and that astrologers had a large field to walk
in, for “all the productions of Time were the subjects of their
science, and there is nothing under the Sun but what is the birth of
Time.” There is no truth however pure, and however sacred, upon which
falsehood cannot fasten, and engraft itself therein.
Laurence Humphrey, who was sufficiently known in Queen Elizabeth's
days as one of the standard-bearers of the non-conformists, but who,
like many others, grew conformable in the end as he grew riper in
experience and sager in judgement,—in his Optimates or Treatise
concerning Nobility, which he composed for the use of that class and
of the Gentry, observed how “this science above all others was so
snatched at, so beloved, and even devoured by most persons of honour
and worship, that they needed no excitement to it, but rather a
bridle; no trumpeter to set them on, but a reprover to take them off
from their heat. Many,” he said, “had so trusted to it, that they
almost distrusted God.” He would not indeed wholly condemn the art,
but the nobility should not have him a persuader nor an applauder of
it; for there were already enough! In vain might a Bishop warn his
hearers from the pulpit and from the press that “no soothsayer, no
palterer, no judicial astrologer is able to tell any man the events of
his life.” Man is a dupeable animal. Quacks in medicine, quacks in
religion, and quacks in politics know this, and act upon that
knowledge. There is scarcely any one who may not, like a trout, be
taken by tickling.