Part 5

Proclus, also, in his admirable Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato, observes, that the different ages of our life on the earth, correspond to the order of the universe. “For our first age (says he) partakes in an eminent degree of the Lunar energies, as we then live according to a nutritive and physical power. But our second age participates of Mercurial prerogatives, because we then apply ourselves to letters, music, and wrestling. The third age is governed by Venus, because then we begin to produce seed, and the generative powers of nature are put in motion. The fourth age is Solar, for then our youth is in its vigour and full perfection, subsisting as a medium between generation and decay; for such is the order which vigour is allotted. But the fifth age is governed by Mars, in which we principally aspire after power and superiority over others. The sixth age is governed by Jupiter, for in this we give ourselves up to prudence, and pursue an active and political life. And the seventh age is Saturnian, in which it is natural to separate ourselves from generation, and transfer ourselves to an incorporeal life. And thus much we have discussed, in order to procure belief that letters, and the whole education of youth, are suspended from the Mercurial series.”

[42] Firmicus calls the geniture of the world a _fabulous_ device, because it supposes the mundane periods to have had a temporal beginning, though they are in reality eternal. For in a fable, the _inward_ is different from the _outward_ meaning.

[43] In the greater apocatastasis of the world, which is effected by a deluge or a conflagration, the continent becomes sea, and the sea continent: “This, however,” says Olympiodorus, (in his Scholia on the first book of Aristotle’s Treatise on Meteors,) “happens in consequence of what is called _the great winter_, and _the great summer_. But _the great winter_ is when all the planets become situated in a wintry sign, viz. either in Aquarius or in Pisces. And _the great summer_ is when all of them are situated in a summer sign, viz. either in Leo or in Cancer. For as the Sun alone, when he is in Leo, causes summer, but when he is in Capricorn winter, and thus the year is formed, which is so denominated, because the Sun tends to one and the same point (ενιαυτος), for his restitution is from the same to the same,—in like manner there is an arrangement of all the planets effected in long periods of time, which produces the great year. For if all the planets becoming vertical, heat in the same manner as the sun, but departing from this vertical position refrigerate, it is not unreasonable to suppose, that when they become vertical, they produce _a great summer_, but when they have departed from this position, _a great winter_. In _the great winter_, therefore, the continent becomes sea, but in _the great summer_ the contrary happens, in consequence of the burning heat, and there being great dryness where there was moisture.” At the end too of this first book of Aristotle on Meteors, Olympiodorus observes, “that when _the great winter_ happens, a part of the earth being deluged, a change then takes place to a more dry condition, till _the great summer_ succeeds, which however does not cause the corruption of all the earth. For neither was the deluge of Deucalion mundane, since this happened principally in Greece.” See the volume of my Aristotle containing this Treatise on Meteors, p. 478, &c. Firmicus, therefore, is mistaken in asserting that a deluge follows a conflagration; since the contrary is true. For it is obviously necessary that places which have been inundated should afterwards become dry, or they would no longer be habitable.

[44] In the original, “positæ humanitatis ratio deserebat;” but for _positæ humanitatis_, it appears to me to be requisite to read, conformably to the above translation, _positâ humanitate_.

[45] Is not what is here said about the last period verified in the present age?

[46] Man, says Proclus, is a microcosm, and all such things subsist in him partially, as the world contains divinely and totally. For there is an intellect in us which is in energy, and a rational soul proceeding from the same father, and the same vivific goddess, as the soul of the universe; also an ethereal vehicle analogous to the heavens, and a terrestrial body derived from the four elements, and with which likewise it is co-ordinate. See my Translation of Proclus on the Timæus, vol. i, p. 4.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

[b] _Page 50._—Petosiris and Necepso were two of the most ancient writers of Egyptian astrology, which, in many respects, differs from that of the Chaldeans. The former of these celebrated men is greatly applauded by Manetho, who, in his Apotelesmatica, professes to be his follower, and calls him πολυφιλτατον ανδρα. Petosiris, however, was much prior to Manetho, as is evident from Athenæus, iii. p. 114, who says he is mentioned by Aristophanes. He is also noticed by Ptolemy (in Tetrabiblo) under the appellation ‘of an ancient writer’ (του παλαιου or του αρχαιου). According to Suidas, he wrote, among other things which are unfortunately lost, Περι των παρ’ Αιγυπτιοις μυστηριων, _Concerning the Mysteries of the Egyptians_, the loss of which work must be deeply regretted by every lover of ancient lore. He is also mentioned by Juvenal, vi. 580.

“Aptior hora cibo nisi quam dederit Petosiris.”

And in a Greek epigram (in Anthol. lib. ii. cap. 6.) on a certain person who had predicted his death from the stars, and, in order that the prediction might not be falsified, hung himself, it is said: αισχυνθεις Πετοσιριν απηγξατο και μετεωρος θνησκει, &c. i. e.

“Lest Petosiris should incur disgrace, Himself he strangled from a lofty place.”

Thus, too, it is related of Cardan, the celebrated physician and astrologer, that having predicted the year and day of his death, when the time drew near, he suffered himself to perish through hunger, to preserve his reputation. My worthy and most intelligent friend Mr. J. J. Welsh has furnished me with the following additional information concerning the death of Cardan, and other astrologers: “Respecting Cardan’s abstaining from food, in order to verify his prediction, Thuanus says: ‘Cum tribus diebus minus septuagesimum quintum annum implevisset, eodem quo prædixerat anno et die, videlicet XI. Kalend. Octobris defecit, ob id, ne falleret, mortem suâ inediâ accelerasse creditus.’ lib. lxii. p. 155. The same historian also relates, that Cardan brought astrology into repute by the success he had in calculating nativities. ‘Judiciaria quam vocant fidem apud multos adstruxit, dum certiora per eam quam ex arte possint plerumque promere.’ _Id. ib._ Cardan was not the only astrologer who foretold the time of his own death; for Martin Hortensius, Professor of Mathematics in Amsterdam, not only predicted the time of his own death, but that of two young men who were with him, and the result proved the truth of his prophecy. The fact is admitted by Descartes, while he ridicules the science and underrates the abilities of Hortensius. See the 35th of his Letters to Father Mersenne, in the second volume of that collection.

“When Ann of Austria, the wife of Louis XIII., was delivered of the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XIV., a famous German astrologer was in attendance to draw his nativity, but refused to say more than these three words, which give a true character of Louis the Fourteenth’s reign; _Diu, durè, feliciter_. See Limier’s Hist. du Règne de Louis XIV.

“I omitted to mention above, a curious circumstance related of Cardan in Lavrey’s Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 711, viz. that having cured the Archbishop of St. Andrew’s of a disorder which had baffled the most skilful physicians, he took his leave of the Primate in these words: ‘I have been able to cure you of your sickness, but cannot change your destiny, nor prevent you from being hanged.’ Eighteen years after, this Prelate was hung by order of the Commissioners appointed by Mary Queen Regent of Scotland.

“By the way, I am much surprised that Cardan’s autobiography has never been translated; for it is, without a single exception, the most extraordinary book of the kind ever published.”

We are informed by Fabricius, that Marsham, in Canone Chron. p. 477, has eruditely collected many things pertaining to Petosiris, and Necepso king of Egypt, from the most ancient writers on judicial astrology. We likewise learn from Fabricius, that Necepso, to whom Petosiris wrote, as being coeval with him, is believed to have flourished about the year 800 of the Attic æra, i. e. about the beginning of the Olympiads. He is praised by Pliny, by Galen, ix. p. 2. De Facultat. Simplicium Medicament., and from him by Aetius.

[c] _Page 56._—Proclus in Tim. lib. iv. p. 277, informs us, that the Chaldeans had observations of the stars, which embraced whole mundane periods. What Proclus likewise asserts of the Chaldeans is confirmed by Cicero in his first book on Divination, who says that they had records of the stars for the space of 370,000 years; and by Diodorus Siculus, Bibl. lib. xi. p. 113, who says, that their observations comprehended the space of 473,000 years.

Plato, in the Timæus, speaking of this greater apocatastasis, says: “At the same time, however, it is no less possible to conceive, that the perfect number of time will then accomplish a perfect year, when the celerities of all the eight periods being terminated with reference to each other, shall have a summit, as they are measured by the circle, of that which subsists according to the same and the similar [i. e. according to the sphere of the fixed stars].”

On this passage, Proclus, in his Commentary, observes as follows: “The whole mundane time measures the one life of the universe, according to which all the celerities are terminated of the celestial and sublunary circles. For in these also there are periods, which have for the summit of their apocatastasis the lation of the circle of _the same_ [i. e. of the sphere of the fixed stars]. For they are referred to this as to their principle, because it is the most simple of all, since the apocatastases are surveyed with reference to the points of it. Thus, for instance, all of them make their apocatastasis about the equinoctial point[47], or about the summer tropic; or though the joint apocatastasis should not be considered to be according to the same point, but with reference to the same, when, for instance, rising or culminating, yet all of them will have with reference to it a figure of such a kind. For now the present order is entirely a certain apocatastasis of all the heavenly bodies, yet the configuration is not seen about the same, but with reference to the same point. Once, however, it was about the same, and according to one certain point, at which if it should again take place, the whole of time will have an end. One certain apocatastasis likewise seems to have been mentioned; hence it is said that Cancer is the horoscope of the world, and this year is called Cynic, or pertaining to the Dog, because, among the constellations, the splendid star of the Dog rises together with Cancer. If therefore the planets should again meet in the same point of Cancer, this concurrence will be one period of the universe. If, however, the apocatastasis takes places in Cancer about the equinoctial point, that also which is from the summer tropic will be directed towards the summer tropic, and the number of the one will be equal to the number of the other, and the time of the one to the time of the other. For each of them is one period, and is defined by quantity, on account of the order of the bodies that are moved. In addition, however, to what has been said, it must be observed, that this perfect number differs from that mentioned in the Republic, which comprehends the period of every divinely generated nature[48], since it is more partial, and is apocatastatic of the eight periods alone. For the other perfect number comprehends the peculiar motions of the fixed stars, and, in short, of all the divine genera that are moved in the heavens, whether visibly or invisibly, and also of the celestial genera posterior to the Gods, and of the longer or shorter periods of sublunary natures, together with the periods of fertility and sterility. Hence, likewise, it is the lord of the period of the human race.”

“The year (says Macrobius) which is called mundane, is _truly_ revolving, because it is effected by a full convolution of the universe, and is evolved in the most extended periods of time, the reason of which is as follows: All the planets and the stars which are seen fixed in the heavens, the peculiar motion of the latter of which though the human sight has never been able to perceive or apprehend, are yet moved, and, besides the revolution of the heavens by which they are always drawn along, have an advancing motion of their own. This motion, however, is completed in such a length of time, that the life of man is not sufficiently extended to discover, by continual observation, their mutation to the place in which they were first seen. The end, therefore, of the mundane year is, when all the planets and all the fixed stars have returned from a certain place to the same place, so that no star in the heavens may be situated in a place different from that in which it was before, since all the other stars, when moved from that place to which they return, give a termination to their year; so that the luminaries [i. e. the sun and moon] also, together with the five wandering stars, may be in the same places and parts in which they were situated when the mundane year began. This, however, according to the decision of physiologists, will take place at the expiration of 15,000 years; hence, as the lunar year is a month, and the solar year consists of twelve months, and the years of the other planets are those which we have before mentioned, so the mundane year consists of 15,000 of such years as we now compute. This year, therefore, is called the _truly revolving year_, which is not measured by the retrogression of the sun, i. e. of one planet, but is terminated by the return of all the planets to the same place, under the same description of the whole heavens; from whence also it is called mundane, because the world is properly called heaven. Hence, as we not only denominate the progression of the sun from the kalends of January to the same kalends, the solar year, but also its progression from the day after the kalends to the same day, and its return from any day of any month to the same day, a year; thus, also, the beginning of this mundane year may be fixed by any one at any time he pleases. Thus, for instance, Cicero now, from an eclipse of the sun, which happened at the time of the death of Romulus, supposes the beginning of the mundane year to commence. And though frequently afterwards an eclipse of the sun may have happened, yet a repeated eclipse of this luminary is not said to give completion to the mundane year; but then this completion takes place when the sun, during its eclipse, will be in the same places and parts, and likewise all the planets and fixed stars, in which they were at the time of the death of Romulus. Hence, as physiologists assert, 15,000 years after the death of Romulus the sun will again be so eclipsed, that it will be in the same sign, and in the same part of the heavens, as it was at that time; all the stars likewise returning to the same place.”—_Macrob. in Somn. Scip._ lib. ii.

Hence, as the greater mundane apocatastasis consists of 300,000 years, and 15,000 years make a mundane year, the greater apocatastasis will consist of 20,000 mundane years.

This greater apocatastasis is also alluded to by Synesius in his treatise On Providence, and likewise in the Asclepian Dialogue ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus. The extract from Synesius, who informs us that his treatise is an Egyptian narration relative to Osiris and Typhos, is as follows:

“Some time after this, Typhos obtained the kingdom by fraud and force, and Osiris was banished: but during the evils arising from the tyrannical government of Typhos, some God manifestly appeared to a certain philosopher who was a stranger in Egypt, and who had received great benefits from Osiris, and ordered him to endure the present calamities, because they were months only, and not years, in which the Fates had destined that the Egyptian sceptres should raise the nails of the wild beasts[49], and depress the heads of the sacred birds[50]. But this is an arcane symbol. And the philosophic stranger above mentioned knew that a representation of this was engraved in obelisks and in the sacred recesses of the temples. The divinity also unfolded to him the meaning of the sacred sculpture, and gave him a sign of the time in which it would be verified. _For when those_, said he, _who are now in power, shall endeavour to make an innovation in our religion, then in a short time after expect that the GIANTS_ (meaning by these, men of another nation) _shall be entirely expelled, being agitated by their own avenging furies_. If, however, some remains of the sedition should still exist, and the whole should not be at once extinguished, but Typhos should still remain in the seat of government, nevertheless do not despair of the Gods. The following also is another symbol for you. _When we shall purify the air which surrounds the earth, and which is defiled with the breath of the impious, with fire and water, then the punishment of the rest will also follow, and then immediately expect a better order of things, Typhos being removed. For we expel such-like prodigies by the devastation of fire and thunder._ In consequence of this, the stranger considered that to be a felicitous circumstance, which had before appeared to him to be dreadful, and no longer bore with molestation a necessary continuance in life, through which he would be an eye-witness of the advent of the Gods; for it exceeded the power of human sagacity to conjecture, that so powerful a multitude as were then collected together in arms, and who even in time of peace were by law obliged to be armed, should be vanquished without any opposition. He considered with himself, therefore, how these things could be accomplished, for they appeared to surpass the power of reason. _But after no great length of time, a certain depraved fragment of religion, and an adulteration of divine worship, like that of money, as it were, prevailed, which the ancient law exterminated from cities, shutting the doors against impiety, and expelling it to a great distance from the walls._ Typhos, however, did not himself introduce this impiety, for he feared the Egyptian multitude, but for this purpose called in the assistance of the Barbarians, and erected a temple in the city, having previously subverted the laws of his country. When these things, therefore, came to pass, the stranger began to think that this was the event which divinity had predicted. ‘And perhaps,’ said he, ‘I shall be a spectator of what will follow.’ He likewise then learnt some particulars about Osiris, which would shortly happen, and others which would take place at some greater distance of time, viz. when the boy Horus would choose, as his associate in battle, a wolf instead of a lion. But who the wolf is, is a sacred narration, which it is not holy to divulge, even in the form of a fable.”

Typhos, however, through his tyranny, was at length dethroned, and Osiris recalled from exile; and Synesius, towards the end of this treatise, observes, “that the blessed body which revolves in a circle is the cause of the events in the sublunary world. For both are parts of the universe, and they have a certain relation to each other. If, therefore, the cause of generation[51] in the things which surround us originates in the natures which are above us, it follows that the seeds of things which happen here descend from thence. And if some one should add, since astronomy imparts credibility to this, that there are _apocatastatic_[52] periods of the stars and spheres, some of which are simple, but others compounded; such a one will partly accord with the Egyptians, and partly with the Grecians, and will be perfectly wise from both, conjoining intellect to science. A man of this kind therefore will not deny, that, in consequence of the same motions returning, effects also will return, together with their causes; and that lives on the earth, generations, educations, dispositions, and fortunes, will be the same with those that formerly existed. We must not wonder, therefore, if we behold a very ancient history verified in life, and should see things which flourished before our times accord with what is unfolded in this narration; and, besides this, perceive that the forms which are inserted in matter are consentaneous to the arcana of a fable.”

The following is the extract from the Asclepian Dialogue, a Latin translation only of which is extant, and is generally believed by the learned to have been made by Apuleius:—