35. How then do these powers exert themselves?--for we have to retrace
our steps to give a clear explanation. What difference is exhibited by
the comparison of one triangle with another? What action does the one
exert on another, how is it exerted, and how far does it go? Such are
the questions we have to study, since we do not refer the production
of things here below to the stars, neither to their body, nor to their
will; not to their bodies, because the things which happen are not
simple physical effects; nor to their will, because it is absurd that
divinities should by their will produce absurd things.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE STARS CONSISTS IN THEIR CONTEMPLATION OF THE
INTELLIGIBLE WORLD.
Let us now recall what has already been established. The universe is
a single living being by virtue of its unity being sympathetic with
itself. The course of its life is regulated by reason; it is entirely
in agreement with itself; it has nothing fortuitous, it offers a single
order, and a single harmony. Besides, all the (star) figures are each
conformed to a reason and to a determinate number. The parts of the
universal living beings which constitute this kind of a dance--we mean
the figures produced in it, of the parts figured therein, as well
as the things derived therefrom--are the very actualization of the
universe. Thus the universe lives in the manner we have determined,
and its powers contribute to this state according to the nature they
have received from the reason that has produced them. The figures are,
in some way, the reasons of the universal Living being, the intervals
or contrasts (of the parts) of the Living being, the attitudes they
take according to the laws of rhythm, and according to the reason of
the universe. The beings which by their relative distances produce
these figures are the divers members of this living being. The
different powers of this living being act without deliberation, as its
members, because deliberation is a process foreign to the nature of
themselves or to this living being. Aspiration to a single aim is the
characteristic of the single living being; but it includes manifold
powers. All these different wills aspire to the same end as the single
will of the organism, for each part desires some one of the different
objects that it contains. Each wishes to possess something of the
other's possessions, and to obtain what it lacks; each experiences
a feeling of anger against another, when it is excited against that
other; each increases at the expense of another, and begets another.
The universe produces all these actions in its parts, but at the same
time it seeks the Good, or rather, it contemplates it. It is always the
Good that is sought by the right will, which is above passions, and
thus accords with the will of the universe. Similarly, servants ascribe
many of their actions to the orders received from their master; but
the desire of the Good carries them where their own master is carried.
Consequently, the sun and the other stars exert what influence they do
exert on things here below through contemplation of the intelligible
world.