Of such as allow this follie, I can commend _Plinie_ best, who saith, that the operation of these auguries is as we take them. For if we take them in good part, they are signes of good lucke; if we take them in ill part, ill lucke followeth; if we neglect them, and wey them not, they doo neither good nor harme. _Thomas_ of _Aquine_ reasoneth in this wise; The starres, whose course is certeine, have greater affinitie and communitie with mans actions, than auguries; and yet our dooings are neither directed nor proceed from the starres. Which thing also _Ptolome_ witnesseth, saieng; _Sapiens dominabitur astris_, A wiseman overruleth the starres. ♦_Plin. lib. natural. hist. 28. cap. 2._♦ ♦_Tho Aquin. lib. de sortib._♦ The 18. Chapter. _Fond distinctions of the heathen writers, concerning augurie._ The heathen made a distinction betweene divine, naturall, and casuall auguries. Divine auguries were such, as men were made beleeve were done miraculouslie, as when dogs spake; as at the expulsion of _Tarquinius_ out of his kingdome; or when trees spake, as before the death of _Cæsar_; or when horsses spake, as did a horsse, whose name was _Zanthus_. Manie learned christians confesse, that such things as may indeed have divine cause, may be called divine auguries; or rather forewarnings of God, and tokens either of his blessings or discontentation: as the starre was a token of a safe passage to the magicians that sought Christ; so was the cockcrowing an augurie to _Peter_ for his conversion. And manie such other divinations or auguries (if it be lawfull so to terme them) are in the scriptures to be found. ♦_C. Epidius._ _Homer. Iliad. 19._♦ The 19. Chapter. _Of naturall and casuall augurie, the one allowed, and the other disallowed._ Naturall augurie is a physicall or philosophicall observation; bicause humane and naturall reason may be yeelded for such events: as if one heare the cocke crow manie times together, a man may ghesse that raine will followe shortlie; as by the crieng of rooks, and by their extraordinarie using of their wings in their flight, bicause through a naturall instinct, provoked by the impression of the heavenlie bodies, they are mooved to know the times, according to the disposition of the weather, as it is necessarie for their natures. And therefore _Jeremie_ saith; _Milvus in cœlo cognovit tempus suum_. The physician may argue a strength towards in his patient, when he heareth him neeze twise, which is a naturall cause to judge by, and conjecture upon. But sure it is meere casuall, and also verie foolish and incredible, that by two neezings, a man should be sure of good lucke or successe in his businesse; or by meeting of a tode, a man should escape a danger, or atchieve an enterprise, &c. The xx. Chapter.