[38] By _the companions of perpetuity_, Firmicus means the stars, whose
nature, and motions, and influences are perpetual. Hence, in the Orphic
Hymn to the Stars, they are invoked as
—— αει γενετηρες απαντων,
“Th’ _eternal_ fathers of whate’er exists.”
[39] Of the astrological Æsculapius, I have not been able to obtain any
information; and of Anubius nothing more is to be learnt than that he was
a most ancient poet, and wrote an elegy de Horoscopo. Vid. Salmas. de
Annis Climactericis, pp. 87, 602, &c.
[40] The feminine signs are, Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricornus,
and Pisces; but the masculine signs are, Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra,
Sagittarius, and Aquarius.
[41] It may not be altogether foreign to the purpose to adduce in this
place, what is said by Hermes in his Treatise de Revolut. Nativit.
lib. i. p. 215. A Latin translation only is extant of this work, and
it is uncertain whether the author of it was the celebrated Hermes
Trismegistus, or a Hermes of more modern times. This author says, that
“the dominion of the planets over the ages of man is as follows: The Moon
governs the first age, which consists of four years. Mercury governs the
second, which consists of ten years. Venus the third, and this extends to
eight years. The Sun the fourth, and this age consists of nineteen years.
Mars the fifth, and this consists of fifteen years. Jupiter, the sixth,
consists of twelve years: and Saturn governs the seventh age, and this
extends to the remaining years of human life.”
Proclus, also, in his admirable Commentary on the First Alcibiades of
Plato, observes, that the different ages of our life on the earth,
correspond to the order of the universe. “For our first age (says
he) partakes in an eminent degree of the Lunar energies, as we then
live according to a nutritive and physical power. But our second age
participates of Mercurial prerogatives, because we then apply ourselves
to letters, music, and wrestling. The third age is governed by Venus,
because then we begin to produce seed, and the generative powers of
nature are put in motion. The fourth age is Solar, for then our youth
is in its vigour and full perfection, subsisting as a medium between
generation and decay; for such is the order which vigour is allotted. But
the fifth age is governed by Mars, in which we principally aspire after
power and superiority over others. The sixth age is governed by Jupiter,
for in this we give ourselves up to prudence, and pursue an active and
political life. And the seventh age is Saturnian, in which it is natural
to separate ourselves from generation, and transfer ourselves to an
incorporeal life. And thus much we have discussed, in order to procure
belief that letters, and the whole education of youth, are suspended from
the Mercurial series.”
[42] Firmicus calls the geniture of the world a _fabulous_ device,
because it supposes the mundane periods to have had a temporal beginning,
though they are in reality eternal. For in a fable, the _inward_ is
different from the _outward_ meaning.
[43] In the greater apocatastasis of the world, which is effected by
a deluge or a conflagration, the continent becomes sea, and the sea
continent: “This, however,” says Olympiodorus, (in his Scholia on the
first book of Aristotle’s Treatise on Meteors,) “happens in consequence
of what is called _the great winter_, and _the great summer_. But _the
great winter_ is when all the planets become situated in a wintry sign,
viz. either in Aquarius or in Pisces. And _the great summer_ is when all
of them are situated in a summer sign, viz. either in Leo or in Cancer.
For as the Sun alone, when he is in Leo, causes summer, but when he is in
Capricorn winter, and thus the year is formed, which is so denominated,
because the Sun tends to one and the same point (ενιαυτος), for his
restitution is from the same to the same,—in like manner there is an
arrangement of all the planets effected in long periods of time, which
produces the great year. For if all the planets becoming vertical, heat
in the same manner as the sun, but departing from this vertical position
refrigerate, it is not unreasonable to suppose, that when they become
vertical, they produce _a great summer_, but when they have departed from
this position, _a great winter_. In _the great winter_, therefore, the
continent becomes sea, but in _the great summer_ the contrary happens,
in consequence of the burning heat, and there being great dryness where
there was moisture.” At the end too of this first book of Aristotle on
Meteors, Olympiodorus observes, “that when _the great winter_ happens,
a part of the earth being deluged, a change then takes place to a more
dry condition, till _the great summer_ succeeds, which however does not
cause the corruption of all the earth. For neither was the deluge of
Deucalion mundane, since this happened principally in Greece.” See the
volume of my Aristotle containing this Treatise on Meteors, p. 478, &c.
Firmicus, therefore, is mistaken in asserting that a deluge follows a
conflagration; since the contrary is true. For it is obviously necessary
that places which have been inundated should afterwards become dry, or
they would no longer be habitable.
[44] In the original, “positæ humanitatis ratio deserebat;” but for
_positæ humanitatis_, it appears to me to be requisite to read,
conformably to the above translation, _positâ humanitate_.
[45] Is not what is here said about the last period verified in the
present age?
[46] Man, says Proclus, is a microcosm, and all such things subsist in
him partially, as the world contains divinely and totally. For there is
an intellect in us which is in energy, and a rational soul proceeding
from the same father, and the same vivific goddess, as the soul of the
universe; also an ethereal vehicle analogous to the heavens, and a
terrestrial body derived from the four elements, and with which likewise
it is co-ordinate. See my Translation of Proclus on the Timæus, vol. i,
p. 4.