Etymologies & Works 3 part 3/3

The stars stand apart from the earth at various intervals from one another, and therefore appear more or less to our eyes with differing brightness. For many are greater than those we see as conspicuous, but being placed farther off, they seem small to us. 66. ON THE ORBITAL PERIOD OF THE STARS. The orbital number of the stars is that by which is said to be known in how much time each star runs through its circle, whether in longitude or in latitude. For the Moon is said to complete its circle in a whole year, Mercury in twenty years, Lucifer (the Morning Star) in nine years, the Sun in nineteen years, Vesper (the Evening Star) in fifteen years, Phaethon (Jupiter) in twelve years, Saturn in thirty years. When these are completed, they return to the beginning of their circle at the same signs and parts.

Certain heavenly bodies, hindered by the rays of the sun, become anomalous, or retrograde, or stationary, as the poet also records, saying (Lucan 10.201): 'The Sun divides the seasons of the age; it changes day into night, and with its powerful rays forbids the stars to go, and by its measure delays their wandering courses.' 67. ON THE PLANETS. Certain stars are therefore called planets, that is, wanderers, because they run through the whole world with varied motion. Hence, because they wander, they are called retrograde, or become anomalous, that is, when they add and subtract portions. But when they only subtract, they are called retrograde; and they make a station when they stand still. 68. ON THE PRECESSION AND FORWARD ADVANCE OF THE STARS.

The precession or forward advance of the stars is when a star seems to carry out its motion and goes forward somewhat beyond its custom. 69. ON THE WITHDRAWAL OR RETROGRADATION OF THE STARS. The withdrawal or retrogradation of the stars is that in which a star, while it carries out its motion, seems at the same time to be moved backward as well. 70. ON THE STATION OF THE STARS. The station of the stars is that by which, although a star always moves, yet in certain places they seem to stand still. 71. ON THE NAMES OF THE STARS, AND FROM WHAT CAUSES THEY RECEIVED THEIR NAMES. The Sun (Sol) is so called because it alone (solus) appears, all the constellations being darkened by its brilliance. The Moon (Luna) is called as if Lucina, with the middle syllable removed. Of her Virgil says (Ecl. 4.10): 'Chaste Lucina, be favorable.'

It took its name by derivation from the light of the sun, because it receives light from it and gives back what it has received. The stars (stellae) are so called from 'standing' (stando), because being fixed they always stand in the sky and do not fall. For what we see as it were gliding down from the sky are not stars, but little fires fallen from the ether; which come about when a wind, seeking the higher regions, draws the ethereal fire with it, which by its trailing imitates falling stars. For the stars cannot fall: they are immovable, as has been said, and are borne fixed with the heaven. Sidera are so called because sailors, by observing them, direct their plan for their course, lest by deceptive waves or winds they be carried astray.

But certain stars are called 'signs' (signa) because sailors observe them in steering their oars, contemplating their sharpness and brilliance, by which things the future state of the sky is shown. And indeed all men attend to them for foreseeing the qualities of the weather through summer and winter and the mildness of spring. For by their rising or setting at fixed stations they signify the quality of the seasons. The first of the signs is Arcton, which, fixed on the axis, is turned about with seven stars revolving upon itself. The name is Greek, which in Latin is called 'ursa' (bear); and because it turns in the manner of a wagon (plaustrum), our people called it Septentrio. For triones are properly plowing oxen, so called because they tread the earth (terant), as if 'teriones.'

The nearness of the axis causes the Septentriones (the Bears) not to set, because they are on it. Arctophylax is so called because it follows Arcton, that is, the Helice Bear. The same they also called Bootes, because it clings to the wagon: a sign notable for its many stars, among which is Arcturus. Arcturus is a star placed behind the tail of the Greater Bear in the constellation of Bootes. Whence it is called Arcturus, as if 'Arktou oura' (the Bear's tail), because it is placed at the breast of Bootes. It rises in the autumn season. Orion shines in the south before the footsteps of Taurus, and is called Orion from 'urina,' that is, from the inundation of waters. For rising in the time of winter, it troubles the sea and the lands with waters and storms.

The Latins call this one 'Iugula,' because it is armed like a sword, and terrible and most brilliant in the light of its stars; in which, if all these shine, fair weather is portended; if their edge is darkened, a storm is seen to threaten. The Hyades are so called 'apo tou hyein,' that is, from moisture and rains. For rain in Greek is called 'hyetos.' Indeed by their rising they produce rains. Whence the Latins also called them 'suculae' (little sows), because when they are born, signs of rains are shown. Of them Virgil says (Aen. 1.744): 'Arcturus and the rainy Hyades.' They are seven on the forehead of Taurus, and rise in the spring season. The Pleiades are named from plurality, because the Greeks call plurality 'apo tou pleiston.' For they are seven stars before the knees of Taurus;

of which six are seen, for one is hidden. The Latins call these 'Vergiliae,' from the signification of the season, which is spring (ver), when they rise. For by their setting they show winter, by their rising summer, and the time of the first sailing. The Dog-star (Canicula), which is also called Sirius, is in the very center of the sky in the summer months; and when the sun ascends to it, being joined with the sun its heat is doubled, and bodies are dissolved and made to steam. Whence from this very star the 'dog days' (dies caniculares) are named, when purgings too are troublesome. It is called 'Dog' (Canis) because it afflicts bodies with disease, or because of the whiteness of its flame, which is such that it seems to shine before the rest. And so, that they might know it the better, they called it Sirion.

The comet (cometes) is a star so called because it pours forth from itself locks (comae) of light. When this kind of heavenly body appears, it signifies either pestilence, or famine, or wars. The comets are in Latin called 'crinitae' (long-haired), because they scatter flames in the manner of hair; of which the Stoics say there are more than thirty, whose names and effects certain astrologers have written down. Lucifer (the Morning Star) is so called because it bears more light than all the heavenly bodies; and it is one of the planets. This one is properly also called 'iubar,' because it pours out manes (iubae) of light; but the splendor of the sun and moon and stars too is called 'iubar,' because their rays are extended in the manner of a mane. Vesperus (the Evening Star) is a western star, which they report was named after Hesperus, king of Spain.

And it too is one of the five planet-stars, leading in the night and following the sun. It is said that this star, rising, makes the morning star (lucifer), and setting, the evening star (vesper). Of it Statius says (Theb. 6.241): 'And one is spent in alternate rising.' The planets are stars which are not fixed in the heaven like the rest, but are borne through the air. They are called 'planetae' from 'apo tes planes,' that is, from wandering. For sometimes they are borne toward the south, sometimes toward the north, mostly against the world, occasionally with the world. Their Greek names are Phaethon, Phaenon, Pyrion, Hesperus, Stilbon. These the Romans consecrated by the names of their own gods, that is, of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Mercury.

For being deceived and wishing to deceive, in flattery of those who had bestowed some favor on them out of affection, they would point out the heavenly bodies in the sky, saying that that constellation belonged to Jupiter and that to Mercury; and thus an opinion of vanity was conceived. This opinion of error the devil confirmed, and Christ overthrew. Now those which by the very heathen are called 'signs,' in which the image of living creatures is also formed from the stars—like Arcton, Aries, Taurus, Libra, and other things of this kind—these men, who observed the heavenly bodies, moved by superstitious vanity, invented from the number of stars the likeness of a body, conforming both the images and the names from certain causes relating to their gods.

For they named Aries the first sign, to which, as to Libra, they assign the middle line of the world, on account of Jupiter Ammon, on whose head those who make images fashion ram's horns. This sign the heathen made first among the signs because in the month of March, which is the beginning of the year, they say the sun runs its course in that sign. They also place Taurus (the Bull) among the constellations, and it too in honor of Jupiter, because he was fabulously turned into a bull when he carried Europa across the sea. Castor and Pollux too they set, after their death, among the most famous constellations: which sign they call Gemini (the Twins). They named Cancer (the Crab) from this, that when the sun comes to that sign in the month of June, it goes backward in the manner of a crab, and makes the days shorter.

For this animal has an uncertain front part, and directs its step to either side, so that the front part becomes the rear and the rear the front. Hercules killed a huge lion in Greece, and on account of his valor set it among the twelve signs. When the sun reaches this sign, it renders excessive heat to the world, and produces the yearly Etesian winds. They placed the sign of Virgo among the stars for this reason, that in the same days in which the sun runs through it, the earth, scorched by the sun's heat, brings forth nothing. For this is the time of the dog days. They named Libra (the Balance) from the equality of that month, because on the eighth day before the Kalends of October the sun, running through that sign, makes the equinox. Whence Lucan too (4.58):

'To the weights of the just balance.' They named Scorpio and Sagittarius too on account of the lightnings of those months. Sagittarius (the Archer) is a man deformed with horse's legs, to whom they attach an arrow and a bow, so that by it the thunderbolts of that month might be shown. Whence he is called Sagittarius (Archer). They fashioned the figure of Capricorn among the constellations on account of the she-goat, the nurse of Jupiter; and they formed the rear part of its body into the likeness of a fish in order to designate the rains of that season, which the same month is wont for the most part to have in its final days. Furthermore, they named Aquarius and Pisces from the showers of the seasons, because in winter, when the sun is borne in these signs, greater rains pour down.

And wonderful is the madness of the heathen, who transferred to the heaven not only fishes, but also rams and he-goats and bulls, bears and dogs and crabs and scorpions. For they placed both the eagle and the swan among the stars of heaven, on account of the fables of Jupiter, for the sake of his memory. They also believed that Perseus and his wife Andromeda, after they had died, were received into heaven; so that they designated their images with stars, and were not ashamed to call them by their names. They placed also the Charioteer Erichthonius among the stars of heaven, because they had seen that he first yoked the four-horse chariot. For they marveled that his genius had approached the imitation of the Sun, and for this reason set his name among the constellations after his death.

Thus Callisto, daughter of King Lycaon, when she had been ravished by Jupiter and fabulously turned by Juno into the likeness of a bear—which in Greek is called 'arktos'—after her slaying, Jupiter transferred her name, together with her son's, into the Northern stars, and called her Arcton, and her son Arctophylax. Thus the Lyre was placed in heaven for Mercury; thus the Centaur Chiron, because he had reared Aesculapius and Achilles, was numbered among the stars. But in whatever manner of superstition these are named by men, they are nevertheless heavenly bodies which God created at the beginning of the world, and appointed to mark off the seasons by a fixed motion.

Therefore the observations of these signs, or nativities [horoscopes], or the other superstitious things which attach themselves to the knowledge of the heavenly bodies—that is, to the knowledge of fates—and which are without doubt contrary to our faith, ought so to be ignored by Christians that they may not even seem to have been written. But some, allured by the beauty and brightness of the heavenly bodies, have rushed with blinded minds into the errors of the stars, so that by harmful calculations, which are called 'mathesis' [astrology], they attempt to be able to foreknow the outcomes of things: whom not only the teachers of the Christian religion, but also, among the heathen, Plato, Aristotle, and others, moved by the truth of things, condemned with concordant judgment, saying that confusion of affairs is rather generated from such a persuasion.

For if the human race were constrained by the necessity of birth to its various deeds, why should the good deserve praise, or the evil incur the vengeance of the laws? And although those men [the pagan philosophers] were not devoted to heavenly wisdom, yet by the testimony of truth they deservedly struck down their errors. Now this order of the seven liberal disciplines was for this reason carried by the philosophers all the way up to the stars, namely that they might lead minds entangled in worldly wisdom away from earthly things, and set them in the contemplation of things above.