ORIGIN OF THE CALENDAR AND ASTROLOGY. 829 



nomena had made known, among other things, the cycle of eighteen 

 years, eleven days, in which the lunar eclipses repeat themselves in the 

 same order, and in which there occurs also the possibility of the 

 solar eclipses succeeding each other in nearly the same order. The 

 prediction of eclipses, based upon a knowledge of these periods, and of 

 phenomena which had no such regularity of occurrence as the funda- 

 mental chronological ones, and which seemed as frightful disturb- 

 ances among the heavenly bodies, naturally produced a deep impres- 

 sion, which, in many cases, has been pictured to us, and therefore 

 rendered the knowledge of the stars a peculiarly prophetic wisdom in 

 the eyes of the people. Hence it followed that the development of 

 the solar calendar and its connection with the position of the sun, 

 relative to certain fixed stars and constellations, necessarily produced 

 the conception of a particular influence of the stars upon the destinies 

 of men. 



The first appearance of a star in the morning twilight was consid- 

 ered as an indication of important earthly events, of wind and weath- 

 er, of moisture and dryness, growth and harvest, and its simple posi- 

 tion was held, in the popular belief, to be cajsable of exerting a great 

 variety of influences. 



Moreover, the advance made in the knowledge of the stars had 

 also led to more careful investigation of the movements of those five 

 bright stars which, like the sun and moon, changed their position in 

 the heavens, two of them seeming, like companions, to connect them- 

 selves with the sun ; so that these five planets which, on account of 

 their movements among the stars, seemed nearer the earth than the 

 stellar world, soon came to receive a share of the deification of the 

 sun and moon. 



They formed with the latter the sacred number of the seven heav- 

 enly powers. This number " seven " is supposed to have led to the 

 division of the interval between two successive changes of the moon, 

 forming the week of seven days. It was hence perfectly natural that 

 the mythical names which the planets soon came to bear, and their 

 positions in the heavens relative to one another and to important fixed 

 stars specified in the calendar, should be regarded as pregnant with 

 meaning, and especially so when the peculiar character of the planet 

 itself, as illustrated in Mars by its striking red light, rendered its 

 deification of increased significance. 



Thus, the prediction of eclipses and of other celestial phenomena, 

 as the only means of forecasting future events which had then been 

 attained, the explanation in the calendar of the rising and setting of 

 the stars and the mythical characterization of the planets, were all 

 the fruit of the strong desire in men to lift the veil of the future and 

 of a deep earnest reverence for the lights of heaven, which pursue 

 their eternal and unchanging courses above all earthly mutability. 



Another cause of the power which this mighty system of as- 



