DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15#0326
ASTROLOGY. 313
the earth. Seeing that two among the orbs which
move upon the unchanging dome of the star-
sphere are thus potent in terrestrial influences, was
it not natural that the other moving bodies known
to the ancients should be thought to possess also
their special powers ? The moon, seemingly less
important than the sun, not merely by reason of
her less degree of splendour, but also because she
performs her circuit of the star-sphere in a shorter
interval of time, was seen to possess a powerful
influence, but still an influence far less important
than that exerted by the sun, or rather than the
many influences manifestly emanating from him.
But other bodies travelled in yet wider circuits if
their distances could be inferred from their periods
of revolution. Was it not reasonable to suppose
that the influences exerted by those slowly moving
bodies might be even more potent than those of
the sun himself? Mars circling round the star-
sphere in a period nearly twice as great as the
sun's, Jupiter in twelve years, and Saturn in
twenty-nine, might well be thought to be rulers of
superior dignity to the sun, though less glorious in
appearance ; and since no obvious direct effects
are produced by them as they change in position,
it was natural to attribute to them influences more
subtle, but not the less potent.
the earth. Seeing that two among the orbs which
move upon the unchanging dome of the star-
sphere are thus potent in terrestrial influences, was
it not natural that the other moving bodies known
to the ancients should be thought to possess also
their special powers ? The moon, seemingly less
important than the sun, not merely by reason of
her less degree of splendour, but also because she
performs her circuit of the star-sphere in a shorter
interval of time, was seen to possess a powerful
influence, but still an influence far less important
than that exerted by the sun, or rather than the
many influences manifestly emanating from him.
But other bodies travelled in yet wider circuits if
their distances could be inferred from their periods
of revolution. Was it not reasonable to suppose
that the influences exerted by those slowly moving
bodies might be even more potent than those of
the sun himself? Mars circling round the star-
sphere in a period nearly twice as great as the
sun's, Jupiter in twelve years, and Saturn in
twenty-nine, might well be thought to be rulers of
superior dignity to the sun, though less glorious in
appearance ; and since no obvious direct effects
are produced by them as they change in position,
it was natural to attribute to them influences more
subtle, but not the less potent.