chapter 24

.

[2197] _De Genesi ad litteram_, XII, 22 and 17 and 12; PL 34, 472-3, 467-9, 464-5. See also the marvelous divinations of Albicerius recounted in _Contra Academicos_, I, 6; PL 32, 914-5.

[2198] _Sermones_ 199 and 374; PL 38, 1027-8, and 39, 1666. _Contra Faustum_, II, 15; PL 42, 212.

[2199] In _Quaestiones ex Novo Testamento_, Quaest. 63, PL 35, 2258, which is probably a spurious work but was cited as Augustine’s by Thomas Aquinas (_Summa_, III, 36, v), Balaam is said to have warned the Magi to watch for the star. It is also asserted, however, that “these Chaldean Magi watched the course of the stars, not from malevolence, but curiosity concerning nature” (_Hi Magi chaldaei non malevolentia astrorum cursum sed rerum curiositate speculabantur_).

[2200] _Enchiridion, sive de fide, spe, et charitate_, I, 58; PL 40, 259-60. _De civitate Dei_, XIII, 16; PL 41, 388. _De Genesi ad litteram_, II, 18; PL 34, 279-80.

[2201] _Orosii ad Augustinum Consultatio sive Commonitorium de errore Priscillianistarum et Origenistarum_, PL 31, 1211-22; also in G. Schepss (1889), in CSEL XVIII. _Augustini ad Orosium contra Priscillianistas et Origenistas_, PL 41, 669, _et seq._ Augustine also discusses the Priscillianists in _Epistle_ 237, PL 33, 1034, _et seq._, where he makes no charge either of magic or astrology against them.

[2202] This charge was later repeated by St. Leo, _Epistola XV_; see Withington, _History of Medicine_, 1894, p. 178; but the offense would seem a trivial one in any case.

[2203] _De principiis_, I, 7.

[2204] _De doctrina Christiana_, II, 29, in Migne, 34, 57.

[2205] _De Genesi ad litteram_, II, 16, in Migne, 34, 277.

[2206] _De civitate Dei_, XI, 30-31. He says about the same things concerning six and seven in _De Genesi ad litteram_, IV, 2.

[2207] _Sermo supposititius_ 21, in Migne, PL XXXIX, 1783, “De convenientia decem preceptorum et decem plagarum Egypti. Non est sine causa, fratres dilectissimi, quod preceptorum legis Dei numerus cum numero plagarum quibus Aegyptus percutitur exaequari videtur.”

[2208] _Cambridge Medieval History_, I, 9.

[2209] The Greek work, _Hermippus or Concerning Astrology_, however, can no longer be regarded as an example of Christian belief in astrology at this period, since F. Boll, _Heidelberger Akad. Sitzb._, 1912, No. 18, has shown it to be a fourteenth century work of John Katrarios, who makes use of a Greek translation of Albumasar.

[2210] For bibliography see F. Boll’s “Firmicus” in PW. It does not include my article written subsequently on “A Roman Astrologer as a Historical Source: Julius Firmicus Maternus,” in _Classical Philology_, VIII, No. 4, pp. 415-35, October, 1913. For bibliography see also Kroll et Skutsch, II, xxxiv.

[2211] The edition of _De errore profanarum religionum_ by K. Ziegler, Leipzig, 1907, is more critical than that in Migne, PL.

[2212] _Iulii Firmici Materni Matheseos Libri VIII_, ed. W. Kroll et F. Skutsch, _Fasciculus prior libros IV priores et quinti prooemium continens_, Leipzig, 1897; _Fasciculus alter libros IV posteriores cum praefatione et indicibus continens_, 1913. My references will be by page and line to this text, unless otherwise noted. Earlier editions, which I used for the later books before 1913, are the _editio princeps, Julius Firmicus de nativitatibus, ... Impressum Venetiis per Symonem papiensem dictum bivilaqua, 1497 die 13 Iunii_, cxv fols.; the Aldine edition of 1499 containing apparent interpolations, _Julii Firmici Astronomicorum libri octo integri et emendati ex Scythicis oris ad nos nuper allati...._; and the Basel editions of 1533 and 1551 by M. Pruckner which reproduce the Aldine text. See Kroll et Skutsch, II, xxxiii, for another reproduction of the Aldine text, printed in 1503, and p. xxviii for a partial edition of books 3-5 of the _Mathesis_ in 1488 and 1494 in _Opus Astrolabii plani ... a Iohanne Angeli_.

[2213] Kroll et Skutsch, I, 3, 27.

[2214] Boll in PW, VI, 2365.

[2215] _Hermes_, XXIX, 468-72. The treatise could not have been composed before 334 since Firmicus (I, 13, 23) refers to an eclipse in the consulship of Optatus and Paulinus which occurred in that year.

[2216] For instance, at I, 37, 25, “_Constantinus scilicet maximus divi Constantini filius_,” might as well be rendered, “Constantius, son of Constantine,” as “Constantine, son of Constantius.”

[2217] I, 1, 3, “Olim tibi hos libellos, Mavorti decus nostrum, me dicaturum esse promiseram verum diu me inconstantia verecundiae retardavit.”

[2218] I, 195-6.

[2219] Ammianus Marcellinus, XVI, 8, 5, “iubetur Mavortius, tunc praefectus praetorio, vir sublimis constantiae, crimen acri inquisitione spectari.”

[2220] Ziegler, p. 7, “Physica ratio quam dicis, alio genere celetur”; p. 9, “quod dicant physica ratione conpositum.”

[2221] Ziegler, p. 5.

[2222] Ziegler, p. 23.

[2223] Kroll et Skutsch, I, 86, 12-21.

[2224] Ziegler, pp. 15, 38, 39, 64, 67, 81, 82, “sacratissimi imperatores”; pp. 31, 40, “sacrosancti principes”; p. 65, “sanctarum aurium vestrarum.”

[2225] Ziegler, pp. 53-4.

[2226] Kroll et Skutsch, I, 17-18.

[2227] See my “A Roman Astrologer as a Historical Source,” _Classical Philology_, VIII, 415-35, especially p. 421.

[2228] I, 16, 20, “Summo illi ac rectori deo, qui omnia perpetua legis dispositione composuit....”

[2229] I, 16, 14; I, 57, 2; I, 90, 11, to 91, 10.

[2230] I, 280, 2-28.

[2231] Besides the prayer just quoted, see I, 18, 10-13. See also the long prayer at the end of the first book to the planets and supreme God for the successful continuance of the dynasty of Constantine.

[2232] I, 18, 25-9.

[2233] I, 85-89 (Book II, chapter 30 ).

[2234] I, 17, 2-23.

[2235] I, 10, 3-.

[2236] I, 11, 7-.

[2237] Book I, Chapter 4 (I, 11-15).

[2238] Book I,