1796.] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Or AN ARGUMENT FOR THE ANTI- 
QUITY OF Human CIVILIZATION. 
Seu Libra feu tyrannus, 
Hefperiz Capricornus unde, 
Utrumaue noftrum incredibili modo, 
Confentit. aftrum. Hor. 
Tee figns of the zodiac are called Aries; 
Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, 
Libra, Scorpio, Sayittarius, Capricorn, 
Aguarius, and Pifces. From obfervation, 
itis known, that at the vernal equinox 
the Sun formerly rofe in Taurus: he now 
rifesin Aries: he will rife in Pifces. This 
retrogade motion, or precefiion of the equi- 
noxes, takes place, according to Newton, 
at the rate of about 50 feconds yearly, or 
1 degree 12 minutes fecularly. he equi- 
nox recedes, then, in 72 years one degree ; 
in 2160 years, one fign; in 12,960 years, 
fix figns; and will have performed the 
whole cycle of revolurion in 25,920 years. 
After that period the equinoxes and fol- 
ftices will again occur in precifely the fame 
fins as at prefent 
Simple infpection fufficiently proves that 
thefe figns were invented and named at 
fome period when the folftice occurred 
during the fun’s flay in Cancer, and the 
equinox in Libra; the former emblem ob- 
vioufly alluding to the retrogade motion 
which the fun feems at that period to af- 
fume, the latter emblem to the equipoife 
of day and night, occurring at each equi- 
nox. The figns of the zodiac, then, 
came into ufe either about 900 years 
before the vulgar era, when the fummer 
folftice fell in the 15th deg. of Cancer, and 
the autumnal equinox in the middle of 
Libra, or about 13,860 before the vulgar 
gra, when the winter folftice fell in Can- 
cer, and the vernal equinox in Libra. No 
intermediate period will account for the 
choice of thefe two emblems. 
Which is the true date of the inyen- 
tion, authorities do not enable us to decide. 
Ariftotle (de Ceelo, |. ii. 12) merely {ays, 
that the A gyptiansand Babylonians had ac- 
cumulated many aftronomical obfervauons. 
Pliny (1. vii. 56.) repeats that fome afcribe 
the invention of aftronomy to the Affyrians, 
and fome to the /®gytians. Diodorus 
Siculus (1. i. 69.) decides for the fuperior 
claim of the latter, and (I. i. 81.) reports 
that the Babylonians were an /égyptian 
colony. Tatian (OQrat. ad Grec p. 23) 
fays, on the contrary, ‘that the A:gypuans 
went to fchool tothe Babylonians ior their 
aftronomy. Macrobius, and the author 
of the aftrological work aferibed to Lu- 
cian, point to Agvpt as the fource of aftro- 
Montuiy Mac. No. V. 

Antiquity of the Zodiac. 
377 
nomic knowledge. But Herodotus (lib. 11.) 
although he afcribes to their invention the 
divifion of the year into twelve months, 
does not mention the zodiacal figns. Thus 
much, however, feems clear, that the 
Greeks had their aftronomy ‘immediately 
from the AZgyptians. 
Since, then, external teftimony fails, ap- 
peal muft be had to internal evidence.— 
In the nomenclature of the figns, it is ob- 
vious to expect a calendar of nature, a de- 
{cription of the fucceffive phanomena of 
the year, a catalogue of agricultural la- 
bours praétifed in the country where this 
invention originated. Accordingly, if 
Cancer be fuppofed to have denoted ori- 
ginally the winter folftice, and Libra the 
{pring equinox, the whole appears to be 
fuch an almanac for the climate of Egypt, 
and for no other. ‘The Scorpion grows 
troublefome therein April. The time to 
begin warfare, to which the Bowyer feems 
to allude, was May, when the rifing of 
the Nile was about to render the men 
ufelefs at home. ‘The Capricorn was a 
figure half goat and half fifh, evidently 
defcriptive of the partial inundation which 
has taken place in June: the goats can 
then browfe upon the hills, while half the 
land is inhabited by fifhes. The inunda- 
tion continues through the watery fign of 
July. In Auguft the flood abates, denoted 
by fithes taking an oppofite direction. In 
September the Sheep can already be driven 
down into the meadow. In Oétober the 
Bull is yoked to the plough. The Twins, 
or rather the Children, are emblematic of 
rapid growth. The Crab denotes the re- 
trograde motion of the folftitial fun. The 
Lion indicates the tawny coleur which the 
ears in January aflume. And the Virgin 
is a gleaner crowned with corn, the fa- 
vourite emblem of harveft. Can thefe 
figns, therefore, be any thing but an 
ffgyptian almanac, and that more than 
15,000 years old? . —~ 
The fubfiance of the foregoing argu- 
ment was, I believe, firft broached by 
Baillie, in his Hiftory of Aftronomy, and 
has been reftated by Dupuis, in his Origin 
of all Worfhips. tis formed to make a 
{trong impreffion upon thofe who, with 
Toulmin, Monboddo, and others, incline 
to the doétrine of the eternity of the world. 
Thofe who receive the more probabie 
hypothefis of a recent * and fpecific begin- 
pi NG VSR SR ON GEES eR ia SIC aie ale el 
* Hume’s argument in this behalf, from the 
Gill imperfe diffemination cf uieful vegetables 
(Dialogues concerning Natural Religion, P. Vi 
Pp. 447) 1S very cogent. 
RAC ning 
