Mars, if in signs of human form, and posited in quartile or in opposition to the Sun or Moon, and contrary in condition, will operate death by slaughter, either in civil or foreign war, or by suicide: if Venus add her testimony, death will be inflicted by women, or by assassins in the employment of women: and, should Mercury also be configurated with them, death will happen from robbers, thieves, or highwaymen. If Mars be in mutilated or imperfect signs, or near the Gorgon[268] of Perseus, he will produce death by decapitation, or by mutilation of limb. If found in Scorpio or Taurus, he will cause death by surgical amputation, burning or searing, or also by spasms or convulsions. Should he be found in the mid-heaven, either above or below the earth, death will be inflicted by crucifixion or impalement, and especially if he be in the vicinity of Cepheus or Andromeda. If descending, or in opposition to the ascendant,[269] he will produce death by fire: and, if in quadrupedal signs, by falls and fractures. Should Jupiter, however, bear testimony to Mars, and be at the same time afflicted, death will ensue from the wrath of princes and kings, and from judicial condemnation. If it happen that the malefics be in concurrence with each other in the first instance, and afterwards in mutual opposition, in any of the aforesaid situations, the evil character of the death will be yet further augmented; but its species or quality, and its dominion, will depend upon that one which may be in occupation of the anæretic place. And, if both the malefics claim prerogative in the anæretic places, the bodies of persons who thus die will be cast abroad without interment, and will be devoured by beasts and birds: these circumstances will especially ensue, when the malefics may be found in signs similar in form to beasts and birds; and provided not any one of the benefics should offer testimony to the place below the earth,[270] nor to the anæretic places. [268] Caput Medusæ. [269] Ανθωροσκοπων. _Vide_ note ³ in p. 135. [270] That is to say, the lower heaven, or imum-cœli. Whalley has translated it, “_above_ the earth,” instead of “_below_”; mistaking νπο for νπερ. Lastly, death will occur in foreign lands, when it may happen that the planets controlling the anæretic places may be posited in cadent houses; especially if the Moon be present in the said places also, or if she be found in quartile or in opposition.[271] [271] On this chapter Whalley makes the following annotations: “One direction, how malevolent soever, rarely kills; and, in most nativities, there is required a train of malevolent directions to concur to death: where several malevolent directions concur so together, without the aid of intervenings of the benevolents, they fail not to destroy life.”