148 THE GREEK ASTRONOMY. 



rose in the evening when the spring began: this 

 would fix the origin of these signs 2500 years 

 before our era. 



It is clear, as has already been said, that fancy, 

 and probably superstition, had a share in forming 

 the collection of constellations. It is certain that, 

 at an early period, superstitious notions were asso- 

 ciated with the stars 32 . Astrology is of very high 

 antiquity in the East. The stars were supposed to 

 influence the character and destiny of man, and 

 to be in some way connected with superior natures 

 and powers. 



We may, I conceive, look upon the formation 

 of the constellations, and the notions thus con- 

 nected with them, as a very early attempt to find 

 a meaning in the relations of the stars ; and as an 

 utter failure. The first effort to associate the ap- 

 pearances and motions of the skies by conceptions 

 implying unity and connexion, was made in a 

 wrong direction, as may very easily be supposed. 

 Instead of considering the appearances only with 

 reference to space, time, number, in a manner 

 purely rational, a number of other elements, ima- 

 gination, tradition, hope, fear, awe of the super- 

 natural, belief in destiny, were called into action. 

 Man, still young, as a philosopher at least, had yet 

 to learn what notions his successful guesses on these 

 subjects must involve, and what they must exclude. 

 At that period, nothing could be more natural or 

 32 Dupuis, vi. 546. 



