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portents in the skies. When we read the doctrines of 

 Aristotle on the celestial beings, it is indeed somewhat 

 strange that upon him, upon Plato, and upon the lonians, 

 the "judicia astrorum" had even less hold than the myth- 

 ology : so truly poised, even in the infancy of science, 

 were the cosmic speculations of this wonderful race. 

 The Romans by their Etruscan tradition held to astro- 

 logy, chiefly derived from Chaldea and Egypt, and by 

 them it was mixed with grosser folk magic ; yet even in 

 Rome there were many to repudiate it, not only such 

 Grecian spirits as Cicero but also such Romans as 

 Juvenal ; as in Harvey's time it was assailed by the 

 irony of Pascal and of La Fontaine. Even in the twelfth 

 century John of Salisbury had not failed to turn his 

 light artillery upon astrology. 



This art of forecast naturally attached itself closely 

 to that of medicine ; and in its decrepitude still it clung 

 to medicine like a parasite. And as parasites in the field 

 of pathology, so astrology brought with it other noxious 

 superstitions and follies even worse than itself. In 

 England it survived till the witty attack of Swift killed 

 Partridge and astrology together ; yet to this day many 

 of its notions are embedded in our common speech. 



Ptolemy among his good services did one ill to 

 mankind by his Tetrabiblon or " Quadripertit," an 

 astrological treatise which was current with the Almagest 

 in the Western Schools. This authoritative treatise, 

 together with the Aristotelian conception of the heavens, 

 gave to astrology the aspect of a regular science with 

 its own principles and methods ; a science admired and 



