_Genethliaci._ (From γενεθλη, _origin_, _generation_, _nativity_.) These, so called in Astrology, are persons who erect Horoscopes; or pretend what shall befal a man, by means of the stars which presided at his nativity[10]. The ancients called them _Chaldæi_, and by the general name mathematici: accordingly the several civil and canon laws, which we find made against the mathematicians, only respect the Genethliaci, or Astrologers; who were expelled Rome by a formal decree of the senate, and yet found so much protection from the credulity of the people, that they remained unmolested. Hence an ancient author speaks of them as _hominum genus, quod in civitate nostra sempe et vetabitur, et retinebitur_. GENETHLIACUM, (_Genethliac poem_,) Is a composition in verse, on the birth of some prince, or other illustrious person; in which the poet promises him great honours, advantages, successes, victories, &c. by a kind of prophecy or prediction. Such, for instance, is the eclogue of Virgil to Pollio, beginning _Sicelides Musæ, paulo majora Canamus._ There are also _Genethliac_ speeches or orations, made to celebrate a person’s birth day. _Barclay’s Refutation of Astrology._ Astrological superstition, it is said, transcended from the Chaldeans, who transmitted it to the Egyptians, from whom the Greeks derived it, whence it passed to the Romans, who, doubtless, were the first to disseminate it over Europe, though some will have it to be of Egyptian origin, and ascribe the invention to CHAM; but it is to the Arabs that we owe it. At Rome, the people were so infatuated with it, the Astrologers, or, as they are called, the mathematicians, maintained their ground in spite of all the edicts to expel them out of the city[11]. The Brahmins introduced and practised this art among the Indians, and thereby constituted themselves the arbiters of good and evil hours, which gives them vast authority, and in consequence of this supererogation, they are consulted as Oracles, and take good care they never sell their answers but at a good price. The same superstition, as we have already shewn, has prevailed in more modern ages and nations. The French historians remark, that, in the time of Queen Catherine of Medicis, Astrology was in so great repute, that the most inconsiderable thing was not undertaken or done without consulting the stars. And in the reigns of king Henry III. and IV. of France, the predictions of Astrologers were the common theme of the court conversation. This predominant humour in the French court was well rallied by Barclay in his Argenis, lib. ii, on account of an Astrologer who had undertaken to instruct king Henry in the event of a war then threatened by the faction of the Guises.