THEIR MYSTICISM. 311 



proceeded from the stars ; but the Chaldeans had 

 probably thought rather of the powers which they 

 exercised as deities. In whatever manner the 

 sun, moon, and planets came to be identified with 

 gods and goddesses, it is clear that the characters 

 ascribed to these gods and goddesses regulate the 

 virtues and powers of the stars which bear their 

 names. This association, so manifestly visionary, 

 was retained, amplified, and pursued, in an enthu- 

 siastic spirit, instead of being rejected for more 

 distinct and substantial connexions; and a pre- 

 tended science was thus formed, which bears the 

 obvious stamp of mysticism. 



That common sense of mankind which teaches 

 them that theoretical opinions are to be calmly 

 tried by their consequences and their accordance 

 with facts, appears to have counteracted the pre- 

 valence of astrology in the better times of the 

 human mind. Eudoxus, as we are informed by 

 Cicero 15 , rejected the pretensions of the Chaldeans; 

 and Cicero himself reasons against them with ar- 

 guments as sensible and intelligent as could be 

 adduced by a writer of the present day; such as 

 the different fortunes and characters of persons 

 born at the same time ; and the failure of the pre- 

 dictions, in the case of Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, to 

 whom the astrologers had foretold glorious old age 

 and peaceful death. He also employs an argument 

 which the reader would perhaps not expect from 

 '* Cic. de Div. ii. 42. 



