The place of magic in the intellectual history of EuropeThorndike, Lynn
History
The place of magic in the intellectual history of Europe
Thorndike, Lynn
Magic -- Europe -- History
Bk. ii, ch. 12. “Atqui divina cum rerum natura tanta tamque praeclara
in omnes partes motusque diffusa, quid habere potest commune, non
dicam gallinacum fel (sunt enim qui vel argutissima haec exta esse
dicant) sed tauri opimi jecur aut cor aut pulmo, quid habet naturale,
quo declarari possit quid futurum sit?”
Footnote 216:
“Deinde est hominum generi prosperus et salutaris ille fulgor qui
dicitur Jovis. Tum rutilus horribilisque terris, quem Martium dicitis.
Deinde subter mediam fere regionem Sol obtinet, dux et princeps et
moderator luminum reliquorum, mens mundi et temperatio,” _etc._
Footnote 217:
“Nam cum aetas tua septenos octies solis anfractus reditusque
converterit, duoque hi numeri, quorum uterque plenus, alter altera de
causa habetur, circuitu naturali summam tibi fatalem confecerint,
_etc._”
Footnote 218:
These recipes are given in Frazer’s _Golden Bough_, vol. i, p. 23,
from the _De Medicamentis_ of Marcellus, bk. xv, ch. 82 and bk. xxxiv,
ch. 100.
Footnote 219:
Ammianus Marcellinus. _Rerum gestarum libri qui supersunt._ F.
Eyssenhardt recensuit. Berlin, 1871. Book xxviii, ch. iv, sec. 24.
“Multi apud eos negantes esse superas potestates in caelo, nec in
publico prodeunt nec prandent nec lavari arbitrantur se cautius posse,
antequam ephemeride scrupulose sciscitata didicerint, ubi sit verbi
gratia signum Mercurii, vel quotam cancri sideris partem polum
discurrens optineat luna.” Very likely, however, Ammianus—whom we
shall see defending divination in general—himself cherished a moderate
trust in astrology and was rather satirizing the infidelity of the
nobles—their inconsistency in so minutely ruling their lives by the
planets when they denied the existence of “superas potestates _in
caelo_.” There is an English translation of Ammianus by C. D. Yonge
(London, 1862; Bohn Library).
Footnote 220:
_Ibid._, bk. xxii, ch. xvi, sec. 18. “Pro omni tamen experimento
sufficiat medico ad commendandam artis auctoritatem, si Alexandriae se
dixerit eruditum.”
Footnote 221:
_Ibid._, bk. xxii, ch. xvi, sec. 17. “Et quamquam veteres cum his,
quorum memini floruere conplures, tamen ne nunc quidem in eadem urbe
doctrinae variae silent; nam et disciplinarum magistri quodam modo
spirant et nudatur ibi geometrico radio quidquid reconditum latet,
nondumque apud eos penitus exaruit musica nec harmonica conticuit, et
recalet apud quosdam adhuc licet raros consideratio mundani motus et
siderum, doctique sunt numeros haud pauci; super his scientiam callent
quae fatorum vias ostendit.”
Footnote 222:
Bk. xxii, ch. xii, sec. 8.
Footnote 223:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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