As a matter of fact, there is no living creature whose movement or 6 meeting with us does not foretell something. Of course, only some, not all, can be observed. The omen lies in the observation. So it concerns the person who directs his attention to it. But other things as well concern him, though they pass unheeded. For instance, the Chaldaeans confined their observation to the five great planets. But do you suppose that the influence of so many thousands of other bright stars is naught? The essential error of those who pretend to skill in 7 casting the horoscope lies in limiting our destinies to the influence of a few of the stars, while all that float above us in the heavens claim some share in us. Perchance the lower stars exert their force on us more directly; and[47] the same may be true of the stars that by reason of their more frequent movements turn their view upon man in a different way from that in which it is turned upon other living creatures. But even those stars that are either stationary or, from their velocity being the same as that of the world as a whole, seem to be so, are not without sway and dominion over us. Add one other 8 consideration and you have the subject set out with due arrangement of its parts:[48] it is not more easy to ascertain what the power of the stars is than justifiable to doubt that they possess such power. [47] Or, Turn their view upon man no less than on the other living creatures now from one point, now from another, _i.e._ under more varied aspects. The passage is doubtful. The general sense is plain: nearness, frequency of appearance, and variety of aspect severally are or may be special factors in determining a star’s influence on the fate of man. [48] The text is corrupt and the sense more or less conjectural. Ruhkopf suggests that the words may have been transferred from some other passage to this. One would be inclined to suspect that _adjice_ = add, instead of _aspice_ = see, regard, is the correct word at the beginning of the sentence. XXXIII To return now to lightning: the art relating to it falls into three divisions--its observation, its interpretation, its deprecation. The first has regard to the category in which it should be placed, the second to divination, the third to the propitiation of the gods, whose blessings we ought to ask and whose threats we must avert by prayer. We must ask them to fulfil their promises, pray them to remit their threats. XXXIV