5. Translation

               Line numbers in the translation below (and in the commentary in ß 6) refer to those in those in the left margin of the Romanization in the previous section. Since the manuscript contains a mostly unpunctuated series of conjoined phrases, the paragraph divisions below are designed to group every 5-10 lines into thematically-coherent passages. All divisions indicated by the scribe (as signaled by a line break and/or the use of larger letters[1]) are, however, reproduced here. Parentheses indicate material in the text that is superfluous to the translation, while square brackets indicate material not in the text that I have added for ease of translation.

 

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Having seen part of the wise books that deal with the judgments of the effects that the planets and other fixed stars preside over men and over temperaments and of the things in which men can profit from astrology, because I have not found a single book among the others that comprehensively treats all aspects of the influences understood by all these things, I began to compose this book from the sayings of others and from the things that I have learned and experienced through reason and through proof of fact in all the principles of this science, knowing and believing that there is one true God and prime mover and that he placed natural attributes in the planets and in the other fixed stars, attributes that act in the elements and in all things created and composed of them.

|¹³ Moreover, I know that he placed natural attributes in the elements and in the things created from them in order to receive the influences of the planets and of the other stars and that he placed attributes operating from their qualities from the elements that act the ones on the others, and that he placed attributes operating on the elements that preside over the things composed of them.

|¹⁸ And moreover, believing that it is in his power to do miracles, when he should consider it good beyond the reasons for all these things, so it follows that God did things in which men could know and understand something of his ordinances and of his powers according to nature, and retained in himself powers hidden from us in order to do miraculous works outside of all reasons that men could obtain by the five senses nor fit in the understanding of them.

|²⁵ And so since [as] men we have souls of reason and for reasons that the other animals do not have, we must work (ourselves) to understand (of) nature's works as much as we may be able to by human reason, by the things that the five senses achieve, which are in men according to the grace which by God be sent, and with this we will know something of God's works and we will make a[on]ras souls

 

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|³² near the angels, who know certain things about God's works. And nature's works we will be able to understand [them] by the stars that we see, which have various colors and orbits and altitudes, and because we see that the planets have various conjunctions or aspects according to geometry, which effect change in the weather and in the air in which are markedly changed the establishments and the states of man.

|³⁸ [So] by the sun's track we have only springs and winters and summers and autumns, and we have the fruits of the earth at known times, days long and short at known times, and the cold and the warmth at known times. And in the short days we have cold because the sun stays few hours over the Earth. And in the long days we have warmth because the sun stays many hours over the Earth, moreover that from time to time we see in long days a long cold and in the short days a long warmth. So from this we understand that others (are) in the sky (that) add to the heat of sun's light, and that there are other stars that hinder the warmth of the sun's light, and for this knowing we should follow the paths of the ancient sages from the things that they saw and experienced and from the things that we see and can experience by the vision of our eyes.

|⁵¹ And I want to make this book [have] seven parts. In the first part I will deal with how many are the heavens and that there are stars and the properties of the signs and of the boundaries and of the degrees that are in the starry sphere and of the large fixed stars that are in the eighth, which is the astral sphere, and the properties of the planets and of the houses and of the conjunctions of the aspects and of the transformations and of the receiving and of the eclipses of them and of the parts that are taken by them and of the properties of the new stars that appear sometimes and of the comets and of the scintillations and of the arcs that appear around the lights and above Earth and of the properties of the climates that are in the sites of the Earth and that which affects every one (of the) planet(s) and every sign and every house and the general principles and the sayings and the evidence of the

 

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sages.

|⁶³ And in the second part I will deal with the seasons of the year and with the succession of the years and with the effects of the eclipses and of the conjunctions and of the oppositions of the other aspects of the planets on the weather of each time of year and of the storms and of the planets in each year and in each land, and with the succession of kings.

|⁶⁷ And in the third part I will deal with the births of men and with lives and deaths and with riches and with the states of the duties and offices and with their properties and with the relations that they have to one another.

|⁷¹ And in the fourth part I will deal with the effects of the revolutions of the sun upon every man and with the fortunes that have to do with them at any time and the arrangements and the marriages and the wars and the quarrels and the entanglements and the peace-times and with the holdings and the earnings and with the pains and the joys and with the cloths and the cattle and the vassals and with the times that have to be fulfilled [and] the effects that the planets presided over in the births of men due to their arrangements.

|⁷⁸ And in the fifth part I will deal with the succession of reigns and with the laws and other general institutions and the populating of towns and the destructions of these things, with the general wars and the expulsions and the pilgrimages and whether sons inherit from kings and whether they will be disinherited and their successions and the good and the bad that befalls them.

|⁸³ And in the sixth part I will deal with questions and with the choices of times [at which] to do the works and the physical things, and with the wisdom of things, whether they are true or false, and what can be worked [on] and what will follow from things that are in doubt.

|⁸⁷ And in the seventh part I will deal with removing celestial pains such as fevers and moon-based pains and other pains and having evil desires and softening angers of the powerful and curing the intellects of men and removing storms from the air and killing locusts and other dangerous crawlers or making them flee from the place we [would] want [them].

 

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And since I proposed dealing with the natural virtues that God placed in the planets and in the other stars, I composed firstly of knowing of [the] thing or which things are nature, and from this I will deal with the essential properties that God placed in the planets and in the other stars according to their nature and not according to [the] natural virtues that are therein, virtues that obey the elements and the things composed of them, just as iron is obedient in cleaving to diamond-stone, without the iron nor the diamond-stone having any intention at all.

|¹⁰² For if the planets acted out of will and not out of [a] necessary nature, then we could not be certain of their effects, we could not know [whether] they want to work that which we heed that they work, whether or not by nature. But since we all are certain that they work by nature and not by will, then we remain certain of them that their effects are necessary and that they cannot fail, according to known nature, except for the miracles of God, which are above these natural effects.

|¹⁰⁹­ Thus it is appropriate that we keep [in our] minds and understandings the properties and the natures of these planets and stars and other things mentioned above, and, more generally, that we be able to, for if we are to not fall into error regarding the works lacking in our understanding, it is certain that we will not fall into error regarding the changes that occur in the substance of planets or other fixed stars.

|¹¹⁶ For in the substance of their bodies there occur no changes whatsoever; rather [it is] they, with their natural properties, their conjunctions, their aspects, their transformations, their movements, that appear (paräÁ) from some fixed stars and go to others, and with their estaron nearby above the earth and above water, that change the elements and the things created from them, and [that] make natural growth and decays.

|¹²³ Everything natural is [so] in two fashions. The first is naturing nature, and this is God, who gives (the) being

 

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of things. The second (nature) is natured nature, and it is the heavens, the stars, the planets, the elements, and the things created from them. And everything worked [on] is natural. It is natural either according to the secrets of naturing nature, as in miracles of God, or else it is natural according to what is manifested in natured nature, as in growth and decay, and other things that we see every day, whence there is no work that is outside of nature, for either it will be in either naturing nature or it will be in natured nature. Furthermore, there is nothing that is against nature, except that they can say that there are things that are to the contrary of what we know in natured nature.

|¹³⁶ But there is nothing that is contrary to naturing nature, for God almighty does not have contradiction, and if contradiction he had, he would not be powerful in that which contradicted him. He is almighty everything is in him, with no contradictor. He is the creator and the author and the giver of being, all that which is. And he created the heavens and the stars and the planets that we see and [whose] movements we understand and their works, because we come to understand something of the generalities that are to be seen. And he created the elements in which we see changes due to the influences of these celestial bodies, when they are in conjunctions or in certain aspects of geometry, and we understand what needs to take place in the elements when the planets are in similar conjunctions or aspects [at] other times.

|¹⁴⁸ This true wisdom of the astrologers, that we know something of the things that have to do with [it], we know it for three reasons: from the arithmetic calculation of the movements of the heavens and planets; the second, from the edicts of geometry, from diagrams of the heavens and from the aspects of the planets. The third reason, we know (it) from the comprehension of the planets and other stars, according to the natures of their colors, insofar as we see them through the view of the eye, and according to the sages who are passed [on] determined, such as

 

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the stars that are red in color, they understood that they were hot and dry in nature, such as Mars. And they understood by its colour that it presides over fiery things and over the limits and over bloods and that which resembles [all] this. And they found this so by proof of fact.

|¹⁶⁰ And furthermore the sages understood that the white stars like Mercury or the Moon, that they were cold and that they affected waters and snows and all assemblages of some things with others. And moreover, the sages understood that the stars [that were] yellow, of a golden color, those such as the sun or Jupiter or Venus that are by nature hot with humidity and that preside over metals and over the air. And moreover the sages understood that dark stars such as Saturn, which are cold and dry and that preside over the soil and other dung and other dead things, just as for these four colors, they came to understand (and) that the planets preside over the elements and over the things created from them, and they considered this as fact.

|¹⁷⁰ And they further understood that the planets that are by nature of air and of water, that they affected governance, like Jupiter or (the) sun or Venus and Mercury and the Moon. And further we see it as such, that all the animals are in (the) places of air and water. And they understood that the planets that are [by] nature of fire or of earth that affect decay, such as Saturn and Mars, and we further see it as such in the places of Earth where neither air nor water enters nor is raised any animal. And following this, similarly in fire. And for such reasons as these the sages came to understand something of the things that have to do with [this].

|¹⁷⁹ Whence I say that all things of nature are placed and [that] they have placement the ones with the others, due to one of four things, or two of them, or three of them, or all four. The first thing is proportion. The second thing is the relation. The third thing is composition. The fourth thing is completeness. And I say that the elements and the things created from them in these placements (konoinianÁias) with the

 

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stars especially with the planets, since they are closer to the elements, especially the Moon, which is closer to the elements, when we see that the conjunctions and oppositions, and to the quarters of the Moon, that the seasons are changed and that the winds and rains and snow(s) and ice(s) and sun are renewed. And thus it is understood that the elements have placements (konoinianÁias) with the planets and that they are obedient to them due to the four things cited. And that the elements are receptors of the influences of the stars, and those stars, with their influences are operators upon the elements.

|¹⁹⁵ Wherefrom it follows that any of these things of this natured nature can make, or in itself be made, a demonstration of the things that have to do with [them], by any of the four things cited above, due to the quantity of the propoes, that they have some things with the others in their compositions, that their completions, we can mainly take demonstrations of the things that have to do with [them] in the things of this natured nature in those. On this side the elements obey (by) nature, as it is said of iron, which is mobile, and attracted by the virtue of diamond-stone and by the four things mentioned, in those that are the first thing according the eye's view, and [a] third thing succeeding naturing nature and which among them move according to nature.

|²⁰⁵ I want to say the elements and all the things created from them, for certainly we see (that) the influences of the stars and of the planets that move the elements due to necessary cause, and (that) in some way they move the animals that are composed and created from the elements, chiefly in the bodies of men, since there are in them virtues related to the virtues of the planets, which [are] in none of the other animals. And for the reason that men are equipped to receive movements more rapidly than other animals, for these reasons the many virtues that are in men. I further say that every necessary thing, things preside over them, according to the nature of their influences and according to the natures of which men can receive

 

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from [their] influences, and further [that] in the planets and in the other stars we can take demonstrations of the movements that occur in bodies composed of the elements. For the planets and the other stars cause renewals and movements that occur in the elements by the pleasures that exist in the one, by the four things mentioned above, or by any of them. And so I will discuss the heavens and the other things I first proposed.

|²²³ Ten are the heavens in which we find virtues. The first sky is that of the Moon. The second is that of Mercury and it is above that of the Moon. The third sky is that of Venus and it is above that of Mercury. The fourth sky is that of the sun, it is above the sky of Venus. The fifth sky is that of Mars, and it is above [the] sky of the sun. The sixth sky is that of Jupiter, and it is above [the] sky of Mars. The seventh sky is that of Saturn, and it is above [the] sky of Jupiter. The eighth sky is that of the starry sphere in which the fixed stars are, and it is above the sky of Saturn. The ninth sky is the sphere that is called first or bebel and it is here [that] takes all the spheres mentioned from east to west. And it causes morning and nightfall in the seven climates and [as far as] the understanding of all the sages, it is clear and without stars, or with its stars not [in] their sightings. And we cannot deal with [them] unless [it is] from that which we achieve by the sight of our eyes or through natural reason. And the tenth sky is the fixed sphere in which are fixed the axes of the first noble sphere, and with the central zenith of this tenth sphere is fixed the center of the earth and each one of the nine mobile heavens in which there are stars.

|²⁴⁰ And the heavens in which there are stars contain the heavens in which there are stars.[2] And the heavens in which there are stars contain the diverse axes of the axes of the heavens in which there are not stars. And the heavens in which there are not stars, the majority of them move in the opposite [way] to the starry heavens. And the starry heavens that have other clear, very mobile heavens are the eighth sphere and the sphere of Mercury and the sphere of the Moon, which have other

 

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clear heavens that move from them in opposition [to that] which the heavens [do], and from them move the starry heavens. And the ninth sphere and the other heavens, without the three that we mentioned, they all have clear skies [in] which there are not stars, and the starry heavens are centered in the clear heavens. And the ninth sphere is centered on the center of the earth, which is in the center of the tenth sphere. And in the ninth sphere is the eighth starry sphere, also centered on the center of the tenth sphere and on the center of the earth.

|²⁵³ And because the earth is a very thick and hard element and by revolving it holds itself near its own virtues, [the] center of the tenth sphere is afirme fisa infinite. And because water is an element clearer than earth and it is cold and humid, and its own compressional qualities, and for [the] reason that all light is warm, and because water maintains itself in its form with the cold and dissolves with heat and loses its form and becomes a form of air, for all these reasons, water must flee to the place most distant from them and from the center of the ninth sphere. Thus is water in the center of the ninth sphere, because it is equally distant from all the fixed stars that are in the eighth sphere.

|²⁶⁵ And the eighth and ninth sphere are centered in the tenth fixed sphere, and the earth is in the center of the tenth sphere because the earth is of such property that heat does not remove much from it. Its form is thus; it must be by force of the water from the (excentric) center of the earth. And because earth and water have (the) distinct centers, the earth is not covered by water in some part.

|²⁷⁰ The earth is covered in water in the part that is its center outside the center of the earth. For if the earth and water both had one center, water (would) approach the valleys of the earth, and if water rained in the valleys of the earth, then one would find uncovered islands in all parts of the earth's roundness, and water would be [present on] less of the earth, and one finds for certain that it covers the earth more than 172 degrees of its roundness and that water has greater a proportion than

 

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earth. Thus [it is] understood that the center of water is outside the center of the earth, as I will show in the book of the sphere and (it is) not here to elaborate on this.

|²⁸⁰ And the eighth sphere is starried with many fixed stars, [of] which some appear large and some small to the eye's view. And some sages said that the large ones are near us and the small ones are far from us in the width of this sphere, and others had the opinion that each fixed star is its own sky apart and that the movement of each one is so small, given that there are still far from us, that in long periods we do not see any diversity or little in them, as though all of them were in one heaven, and if it were the one truth or another, that little change can be born to us from the little movements.

|²⁹⁰ And this eighth sphere, the sages divided it into 12 parts in the aes in their imaginations [and] placed a circle in which the planets run, and they named it the Zodiac and saw in each one of these twelve parts various stars, colors, and adding them the ones to the others. To each of these twelve parts they made various figures and named each part according to the name of the animals or things that they imagined in them, and they kept [their] minds on their natures and on their properties, and they found that those celestial forms that they imagined as having virtue over the animals that are similar to those forms.

|²⁹⁹ Whereupon Ptolemy said in the Centiloquium, [that] the faces of this world are submitted to the celestial faces and [they] named these twelve parts [as] signs, and began counting from the western wheel toward north, twelve equal parts in the zodiac and named [them] thus: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. And they determined [that] these signs [had] separate properties and diverse influences, [and] they divided the planets among the signs, and they determined that they came in threes by nature, such as Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, which are warm in nature of

 

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fire, and eastern, and are triplets of the sun in daytime and of Jupiter in nighttime. And that which presides over fire more properly is Leo. And Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn are dry in nature of earth, and southern, and triplets of Venus in daytime and of the Moon in nighttime, and drier is Virgo. And Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius are cold in nature of air, and western, and triplets of Saturn in daytime and of Mercury in nighttime; the coldest is Aquarius. And Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces are humid in nature, of water, and northern, and [a] triplicity of Venus in daytime and of Mars in nighttime. The most humid is Pisces. And they determined other things over which these signs preside, [e.g.] the glory of [the] king.

|³¹⁹ Aries presides over kings, reigns, and the kings' officials, and over justice and wars and peace and relations. And it presides over cattle, mainly meat cattle, and they preside over red, clear things. And it presides over the heads of animals. And it affects holdings and silver, and lances. And it is fiery and masculine and diurnal and eastern, and affects the establishments of kings and the succession of reigns. And whoever is born when this sign is ascendant will be angry and a quarreler and a fighter or warrior and ingenious of hand and covetous of gold and of silver and goldware and [he] will be lazy and heir to the king, [and] will have headaches, and they will cause his death, and he will be a seaman or adelantado and a slaughterer or butcher. And it presides over the palaces of the kings and their business.

|³³¹ Taurus presides over pearled [ones] and over ladies and maidens and those who wear items of gold on their heads. And it affects gold and silver and precious pearls and white items and items of noble dwellings and marriages and playing instruments of jesters and bells and herds of cattle. And it affects cities and the things that pertain to women. And it affects decapitations and pains in the throat and [it is] terrestrial [and] feminine and nocturnal. Its part is southern, and whoever is born in it will be very powerful if he is born at night. And if he is born in daytime he will be a liar and lazy and wounded by iron and a worker. And it presides over

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cities that are on terra firma, and on very large coins of gold and silver, and riches and inheritances and cities.

|³⁴² Gemini presides over companions and companies and peoples and populations and associations and brotherhoods and fraternities and friaries and brothers and religious folk and swords and fonts of knowledge and letters, and merchandise of things that are for giving and taking between men, and bills and writings and peons and stags and the philosophical sciences. And it presides over men's arms and over their hands and over knives. And it is of the air, and masculine, and diurnal; its part is western. And he who is born in it will be literate, or a scribe, or a geometer, or skilled of hand, and he will have honor in his hands, or will hold public office and will be touched by influence. And it presides over the seasonal fruits and veined clothing, and alliances and friendships and religious folk and hospitalities.

|³⁵⁴ Cancer presides over the sea and the great rivers and over ships and over seamen and over running springs, and over baths and over things that are taken from water, or that act in water, and over cities that are near the sea or very large rivers. And it presides over the laws and over the beliefs and over good faith and over good spirits and spiritualities. And it presides over seasonal cereals and over white cereals such as rice and flour and barley. And it presides over the white cereals and bedsheets and over pearl and silver and white metals and over companies, and affects dark things, and is aquatic and nocturnal, and its part is [the] north. He who is born in it will be honored and easy to teach, and honored over water. And he will gain his holding. And he will be ingenious in carpentry or in skills of boating. And it affects riches of furniture and of monies and of man's feats.

|³⁶⁸ Leo presides over the powerful who have powers over people and over prefects or mayors or lords of the people's cities, and acts

 

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over wheat and over gold and metals and bells and organs and energies and fires and candles and sparkling things and virtues and houses of prayer. And it presides over wild and very fierce animals, and candles and sparkling things and virtues and houses of prayer. And it presides over wild animals and the very brave ones. It is fiery and masculine and diurnal and eastern and it affects the color red with blackness. And he who is born in it or would have [a] light in it, in his birth will be powerful and honoured and a conqueror, and will have enemies or evil-wishers, and will be strong-willed and persevering in his works and presides over kings, and over counts and dukes and princes, and over strong men of great power, and over energies katedrais.

|³⁸² Virgo affects monasteries and the chaste(ned) and the religious and the religions, and books and celestial sciences of theology and the divine sciences and astrology, and over grapes and garden fruits, and it affects monies of gold and of silver, and black [monies], and it is terrestrial, nocturnal, feminine, its part is southern, its color brown or camel-colored. And he who is born in it will be of spacious heart and chaste and loyal and will not have children, and if he were to have them they would die on him in his life[time]. And he will be a knower of things to come, or an agrarian and literate or a scribe and geometrist. And he will have business in the house of the king or lord. And it affects sanctities and establishments and service(s) of God and [the] lineage of peoples.

|³⁹² Libra presides over laws and decrees and over prefects and priests and ecclesiastics and laypeople and over the possessions of weight and over quantities and over the labors of silk and over jewels and braces and purses, and over ladies and maidens, and over the things that pertain to women, and lengthy things and hung things and marriages and fears and balances and that which follows [all] this. And it is of air, masculine, diurnal, and its part is west, its color varies. And he who is born in it will be a workhorse and just and righteous and touched by influence, and he will be a fighter and a worker with weapons and a player

 

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of instruments and he will work [with] silver and [it] will cause his death, and [it] affects wealth of furniture and of merchants and of clothiers of many colors.

|⁴⁰⁴ Scorpio presides over wars and over evil-doers and over iron-smiths and those who work with [a] hammer and over those who plot treasons and lies, and over robbers and thieves and slaughterers and hunters and fishermen and butchers and over [those] who practice deceit, and over serangrikos and artisans of fire with water, and over the beaters, and over the confectioners and the adulterators, and over the alchemists. And it affects lusts and filths and falsehoods, and deeds and things false, and disorders and snakes and wells and poisons and taverns and lethal things. And it is an aquatic, feminine, nocturnal sign. Its part is southern, and its color red with blackness. And he who is born in it will be a liar and a deceiver and a traitor and will fall into [the] disfavor of the king or the people or everything, and he will be sickly and prideful and fighter and a battler and a slaughterer, and [it] affects entanglements and enmities and angers and wells and seas and mockeries, and vendettas and all illnesses and angers and poverties and avarices and wraths and anxieties and worries and homicides and jails and prisons.

|⁴²⁰ Sagittarius presides over horses and over beast-keepers and over weavers, and it affects armies and battles and horses and riches and all riches, and it is a sign[3] and it is a masculine sign of fire, [and] diurnal. Its part is east and he who is born in it will never be poor, and will have many ladyfriends and few lordfriends, and he will be wounded in the head and in the loins, and he will be joyful and a singer, and beasts of riding will be given to him, and he will be a crossbowman or an archer and a vinyarder or a vintner. And it affects riding animals and arms and indigo and camel-colored cloths and very large things and it presides over those of laziness.

|⁴²⁹ Capricorn presides over villages and laborers of the earth and over Moors and over the wanderers and over the pages and seamen and over thieves and over crafts and over mountains and lands and

 

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high places and the wildernesses and goat-chattel and the mountains and the wild beasts. And it is terrestrial and feminine and nocturnal and southern and its colour black. Its wealth is little, at times (of) great quantities and possession, at times poverty and want. And he who is born in it will be a worker and ingenious and skilled of hand, and he will be faithful and truthful and frivolous with women, and will have one and covet the other, and he will be moderate and broad-hearted and well-endowed in cattle and in wild horses. And if he is a king's son he will maintain the reign of his father by right. And if he is another man he will make long journeys and will die in distant lands and will be injured by iron or poison and his exaltation will be with kings and lords, and [it] will affect black monies and black clothing and all things black, short, and small, and darkness, shadows, smoothnesses, and things of ill odor. And it affects hermits and separated men.

|⁴⁴⁶ Aquarius presides over Jews and over serfs and old people and boatmen and gardeners and millers and others and mills and over places through which waters flow, which are above water. And it affects hidden holdings and hidden causes under ground. [It is] of air and masculine and diurnal and its part is west[ern]. And he who is born in it will be bereft of reason(s) and will have much bitterness in his heart and will experience many worries and poverties and will have enemies and foreign evil-wishers, and he will have pains in his feet and in his hindquarters and will have fortune of white and black horses, and his exaltation will be by law and by fact. And [it] affects animosities and business and with enemies of the law and it affects [the] laws of oratories.

|⁴⁵⁷ Pisces presides over seamen and over wanderers and over merchants and over boatmen and fisherman and physicians and spice vendors and over all things noble and of good odor. And it presides over queens and beautiful ladies, and precious things and noble and odiferous and medicinal things. And it affects marriages and [the] paths of rivers and fishermen and. [It] is aquatic and feminine and nocturnal and northern. And he who is born in it will be clerical or never will be poor, and will be honored and [a] lord. His earnings will be without work, and if he is of

 

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the king's lineage he will be king, and if he is another man his word will be heard and heeded, or he will be a shoemaker or he will have pain in his feet since this sign presides over the feet. And it affects monies and wealth of furniture and pacts and holdings and loves and friendships and accompaniments and honors.

|⁴⁷⁰ And these 12 signs, each one presides over the parts of man's body, according to [what] the ancients determined, as in Aries, which presides over man's head. And Taurus over the throat and neck, and Gemini the hands and over the arms. And Cancer over the chest. And Leo over the stomach. And Virgo over the male genitals and nature. And Libra over the hips. And Scorpio over the thighs. And Sagittarius over the knees. And Capricorn over the thighs. And Aquarius over the backs of the knees. And Pisces over the feet.

|⁴⁷⁸ And these 12 signs, 4 of them are said [to be] mobile, and they are Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. And they affect things that move and continue. And the other four of them are said [to be] fixed, and they are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, and they preside over misplaceable things and over stable things that do not move. And 4 of them are said [to be] inverted, and they are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. And they preside over things that move and invert in lightness, and they affect a thing of many bodies or of many things.

|⁴⁸⁵ And in this eighth sphere the ancients saw many stars, diverse in color and diverse in size, and Ptolemy arranged 6 orders of them by their sizes or by their altitudes, because some are higher [up] than others, and named many of them with distinct names, and named in general one order of them, and called the first ones because they appear the largest, as though they are lower than the others, and he named another order the quarters, and another order the fifths, and another order the sixths.

|⁴⁹³ And the Indians because they are in eastern and remote land[s] and there does not rise thick vapors from it, they can see clearer each day the little stars that we cannot. And the first order and the second one of these stars [they] placed names upon them and made books of their properties of every one of them. But

 

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they examined the third order and found that most of the fixed stars that are in each sign that are of various colors in each sign, and that their colors correspond to the colors of the planets. And they assigned each planet as a house to the signs [that] the stars in threes are similar to the colors of the planets.

|⁵⁰² And thus they assigned Capricorn and Aquarius to Saturn as houses. And they assigned Sagittarius and Pisces to Jupiter as houses. And they assigned Aries and Scorpio to Mars as houses. And they assigned Taurus and Libra to Venus as houses. And they assigned Gemini and Virgo to Mercury, as houses. And they assigned Cancer to the Moon as a house. And they assigned Leo as a house to the Sun.

|⁵⁰⁸ And to the Sun and to the Moon they did not assign more than single houses, because each one of them is similar to the other, and the one house is the greater house of the other, and each one of the other planets, for instance, to them they assigned two houses, they do not have as great a power, one as in the others, that the main house is that which has greater power ≠ Saturn and Aquarius. And the main house of Jupiter is Sagittarius, and the main house of Mars is Scorpio, and the main house of the Sun is Leo, and the main house of Venus is Libra, and the main house of Mercury is Virgo, and the main house of the Moon is Cancer.

|⁵¹⁷ And some Indians examined the fourth order of the fixed stars that are in the eighth sphere, and found moreover stars that several of them in some signs [that] resemble the planets in their colors. And they ordered that Libra was the exaltation of Jupiter mainly in twelve degrees, and that Cancer was the exaltation of the Sun mainly in 15 degrees, and Capricorn was the exaltation of Mars mainly in 21 degrees, and that Aries was [exaltation] of the Sun mainly in 19 degrees, and that Pisces was the exaltation of Venus mainly in 27 degrees, and that Virgo was the exaltation of Mercury mainly in the third degree, and the Taurus was the exaltation of the Moon mainly in the third degree. And the sages set their minds upon this, and said that the planets (that) were in their houses, as noted, and (that) they affect their best properties very much with great force, powerfully. And moreover they found that the

 

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planets that were in their exaltations, that affect exaltations and joys according to their natures, as I will speak of further on.

|⁵³² And moreover the sages set their minds on the fifth order of the fixed stars and saw that the stars of this order that are in Aries, and that are in Sagittarius and that are in Leo, that they were as [if] of one nature, and they named them a triplet, and thus of Taurus and of Virgo and of Capricorn, and thus of Gemini and of Libra and of Aquarius. And thus of Cancer and of Scorpio and of Pisces. And they ordered these triplets according to the first of this. And they found through proof of fact that the planet in its triplet affects the honor of the nature of its properties.

|⁵⁴¹ And moreover the sages set their minds on the sixth order of the fixed stars, which are in each sign directly from the Zodiac, and they found many small stars accumulated all as [if] of one nature, in each five parts of each sign, in [the] amount of various degrees. And they arranged limits for the five erratic planets in [the] amount of various degrees. Secondly they found that the stars were of colors similar to each planet, and fugironos by limits according to ten in the tables of them; they had their minds on these limits. And they found that each erratic planet in its limit that affects [the] sufficiency of things of its nature, and duties and charges and of its natures. And they also found further that when the lights are in between the fortunate [that] affect and works of the nature of the planets and whose limits of the unfortunates [that] affect poverties and wretchednesses of the nature of unfortunate in whose limits they stand.

|⁵⁵⁵ And the sages also demonstrated fortunate degrees that are in the eighth sphere, that those men who in their births have the lights or the fortunates in those degrees, [that] they come to their apogee in honor [of] these births, and that there occur to them foreign goods without cause of the other planets. And according to this they found unfortunate degrees and empty degrees and full degrees and light degrees and dark degrees and degrees pozos and masculine degrees and feminine degrees. And all of these, you will find then in the alka–beÁe, and you will find them in my

 

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tables. And when in the births and in the revolutions and in the conjunctions or in the other constellations the planets are in these degrees mentioned, know that they affect things the natures of which and the aspects of which they are in are by nature of its degrees in which they stand, according what you find in the tables.

|⁵⁶⁸ And some composed each sign in three phases. And they began with Aries and they gave the first phase to Mars and all the other phases to each planet, and so on in order according to the hours of the days and according to positions [of] the heavens of the seven planets. And I do not hold [this view] at all, because the it seems [to be a] composition that they placed and not a natural thing. Further, the fixed stars of the first order and of the second order, Ptolemy said [that the] fixed stars give great pains and remove [them] after for evil deaths.

|⁵⁷⁵ I wish to say that those who in their births or in their revolutions had lights or the other planets in the degrees of the great fixed stars, mainly of those that are near the Zodiac or the ecliptic wheel or aspects of them, or that these fixed stars are in the angles in the said hours, which affect great things of their nature. And remove it afterward for evil death or for evil destruction, and even according to this in storms as I will say further on.

|⁵⁸² And Ptolemy said [that] the fixed stars demonstrate the best fortune, and he wanted to say that the great effects and the great quantities and the strong fugamentos and the strong storms do not occur without the great fixed stars such as the first or the second, mainly those that are near the ecliptic wheel. And others said [that] the fixed stars give great pains and from poverty [they] exalt to great height[s], which planets do not do, and for this reason we must examine closely the fixed stars, as I have said.

|⁵⁹⁰ The great stars which are first are 16 and they are these: In Aries [there is] the Fin del rey and it is by nature Jupiter and of Mars. In Taurus, the Aldebaran, which is by nature of Mars, and then Orion, which is by nature of Jupiter and of Saturn. In Gemini, Alviot, which is by nature of Jupiter and of Mercury. And then Orion, which is by nature of Mars only. And Vail which

 

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is by nature of Saturn, and Abour which is by nature of Mercury and of Mars and of Venus. In Cancer, Canis Maior, which is by nature of Mercury and of Mars. In Leo, lion's heart, which is by nature of Saturn and of Venus. In Virgo, lion's tail, which is by nature of Saturn and of Mercury. In Libra, Aramino, which is by nature of Mars and of Jupiter. In Scorpio, scorpion's heart, which is by nature of Mars and of Jupiter and of Mercury. In Sagittarius, [is a] warm belly, which is by nature of Venus and of Saturn. In Capricorn [is a] flying belly, which is of combination of Mars and of Jupiter. In Aquarius, mouth of fish and of Saturn. And in Pisces is a horse's tail, which is of Venus and of Mercury.

|⁶⁰⁵ And there are 16 other stars fixed from the second ones, which are the greatest of the second ones. And in Taurus head of demon, and it is of combination of Jupiter and Mars. And in Gemini is the left heel, and it is by nature of Venus and of Mercury. And in Cancer the right heel, and it is by nature of Jupiter and of Mars. And in Leo is [the] light of the serpent, and it is by nature of Mars only, and the lion's hindquarters, which is by nature of Jupiter only. And it is sail of the ship, which is by nature of Saturn and of Mercury. And in Libra harvest, which is by nature of Mercury and of Saturn. And the crown, which is by nature of Saturn and Mercury. And the southern crown which is by nature of Saturn, and the northern headdress, which is by nature of Saturn and of Mars. In Scorpio are two in a pair by nature of Saturn. In Sagittarius is the zenith of Sagittarius, which is by nature of Jupiter and of Venus. In Aquarius, Capricorn's tail, which is by nature of Jupiter and of Venus, Mars and of Saturn. In Pisces, [a] horse's shoulder, which is by nature of Venus and of Jupiter and Palma rikenes, which is by nature of Venus only.

|⁶²⁰ All of these fixed stars that are by nature of Saturn only, or of Mars only, or of Saturn and of Mars, or of Saturn and Mercury, or of Mars and of Mercury, all [of them] are evil and affect evils and evil deaths and evil works and storms and damages of air. And those of Saturn affect stones and pains, and those of Mars iron and wounds, and those of Saturn and Mars, fire. And those of Mars and Mercury, toxicities and fogs and sheep. And those of Saturn and Mercury, ice and hail and that which resembles this.

|⁶²⁸ Those that are by nature of Jupiter affect gold; those that are by nature of Venus affect silver. And those that are of Jupiter

 

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and Mercury affect monies, and those that are of Venus and Mercury affect jewels, and those that are by nature of Jupiter and of Venus affect silver over gilded things, and those that are by nature of Saturn affect precious stones, and those that are by nature of Saturn and Venus affect pearl[s] and that which resembles this.

|⁶³⁴ All of these fixed stars generally affect bodies in [their] spirit and inanimate things, and their major influences are on the elements, and they preside over metals and over very large things and of large facts and the commerce of kings and reigns. And they affect large exaltations and coins of gold and silver and precious stones and things of high prices and high authority and great virtue, and the bad things among them affect bad deaths. And the planets are seven, these are Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. And God placed in the combinations and operative properties, in the elements and in the things composed and created from the elements according to nature.

|⁶⁴⁵ Saturn is cold and an impeder and confuser and remover and pain-maker and sickener and killer and contradictor. And it affects vain things and storms and torments and scarcities and wretchednesses and poverties and pains and quarrels and griefs and weepings and evil wishes and infirmities and impediments and disturbances and forgettings and losses and defriendings and displacements and removals and isolations and vanities and deceits and other business. And to give to other peregrinations and exiles and abhorrences and scorns and worries and thoughts and insipidities and anger and sadnesses and fears and delays and tardinesses and lack and laziness and foolishness and torpor and dirtiness and insanities and hunger and agedness and senility. Its good [qualities] are patience and chastity and counsel and purity and profundity and fervor and long cogitations.

|⁶⁵⁷ And it maintains antiquities, and it presides over laws and constitutions and over fathers and over ancient houses, and true things and past things and dead things and things [that are] useless and empty and ruined

 

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and contemptuous. And it presides over the most weak and the most oppressed among the people and the most dull and the most poor and the most enclosed and the malicious and the evil-quests and over servants and captives. And it presides over animals of large body and those that have large nostrils, and over old men and those who speak slowly as they pronounce words. And it presides over the sciences of divination and of dreaming and of prophesying, and astrology and forebodings and lots and dubious sciences. And it presides over weighty things and those of little movement. Its part is western, its metal is lead, its color is black, its odors are those that fuse, its flavor is bitter, its wound is by mallet or by fork or by stone. Its wind [is] shelter from rain and cold.

|⁶⁷² Aristotle said, "saturnus este banus infortinior en nobres pranetas meserian analdatur inimikos okÁidiur." Its locations are empty spaces and dirty ones and fearsome ones and dangerous ones and jails and dungeons. And it is masculine and diurnal and infortunate. And it affects disgraces and darknesses and blindnesses, and it presides over nickname[s] and over the spleen of animals.

|⁶⁷⁸ And Jupiter is warm and humid and it is a pleasure-maker and an enlivener and pacific and enriching, and it influences dignities and friendships and riches and earnings and palaces and abundances and mercies and purities and diligences and largesse and benignities and loyalties and truths and certainties and law and official[s] and judgment and justice and leisure and all good completions and goodnesses and pleasures and honours and noble clothing and good understandings and ascertained sciences and truths of reason and law. And it influences monies and gold and silver and precious stones. And it presides over the Pope and over emperors and over dukes and over knights and over prelates and over clergymen and over the majority of people, those who do or do not have [the] lineage.

|⁶⁸⁹ Aristotle said, "–gupiter este prosperius e dignus fertil amitius per nos dines benigus." Its locations

 

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are gardens and painted and luminous houses, and in the shops of noble merchants, and clean places. And it is fortunate and masculine and diurnal. Its part is northern, its color is red; its metal is brass and copper, its color is good and its flavor is sweet. And it creates the blood in animals, and it presides over the liver. And it affects sanities and health and honesties and all good things. And it presides over natural virtue and over intellectual virtue, over all good renewals over all novices, and over youth and over clergymen and over the rich and over the leisures of people and grace in speech and work. And it presides over sons and youth and new things.

|⁷⁰¹ Mars is dry and a fighter and a struggler and a battler and mover and a fortifier and a glutton and an evil-doer and a wounder and a breaker, an iron-wielder and a cutter and a warrior and a killer. And it affects urgency and alarms and pressures and cuttings and meltings and scatterings and angers and pridefulnesses and perturbations and fires and burnings and destructions and wraths and insanities and sudden deaths and evil wishes and enmities concealments and angers of the king and of the lord or of the people, and oppositions, contrarieties, and disagreements and poverty and lusts and vendettas, and warm illnesses and healths and fevers and flashes and meredi[]dades and duties of taking and killing and cutting and splitting and bleeding and surgery and animal healing and forges and iron-working and of fire and of hammer and humble trades. And it presides over all manners of weapons, and it presides over battlers and captains and office-holders and thieves and sayvais and butchers and liars and deceivers and the shameless and those bearing ill-will and the indiscrete and the ill-reputed.

|⁷¹⁷ Aristotle said, "mares este maligonus karminatur laturonus –gentre feitor rabator eratos beleatur." Its locations are roads and places where fire is born. And butcheries and fisheries and [places of] iron-working and [places] where [they] work on weapons and where [they] drain blood.

 

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And it is unfortunate, and it is masculine; its part is southern, its color is indigo, its metal is iron, its action [is] bad; its flavor bitter, and it creates gall in animals. And it presides over the trustworthy, and it presides over needs and over skills and over laborers and over wanderings and over castle-dwellers and over battlers and over chimneys and over chimney-sweeps and over light things and split things and broken things, and over beasts and over dogs and over hammered things. And it affects rays and hail and a gentle and dry wind. Its wound is by knife and by spear and by dart and by arrow and by sword.

|⁷³¹ The Sun is warm, benefactor of animals, according to [what] Ptolemy said in the Centiloquium, in which he said of the Sun [that] a vital spirit issues forth. And it presides over life according to nature and over understanding and over will and over the force of the heart. And it affects honor and power and kindness and liberty and fulfillment and happiness and subtlety and wisdom and choice. And it affects victory and knowing and authorizing and remembering and commanding and ruling and conquering and gaining, and affecting principality and power over people and reign and commerce with kings and with lords. And it presides over all corporeal virtues and willful virtues and virtues of the heart and over kings and prince and natural and powerful lords, and over wheat and rain and over the head and over pridefulness and over things that are present and over the beginnings of things and over complete things and over whole things and over entire things.

|⁷⁴⁶ Aristotle said, "sol este potestas treno pator rey virtud vereos onor amatur." The Sun establishes things to times of the year, and [is] the main rectitude of the elements of the world. And according to nature, it is guardian of submerging in water, and it gives the best completions and the best dominances and the best riches and the best nobilities. And the Sun is fortunate, major, and it is masculine and diurnal; its part is eastern; its color yellow, its metal is gold. Its class is good, its flavor

 

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like [a] sweet. And it presides over the hearts of animals and health and sanity and honor and honesty. And when the Sun rises to its zenith, fruits and plants grow. And when it descends from its zenith, plants and fruits dry up and fruits ripen. Its locations are the pleasures of lords and honored and luminous places. And it presides over the father.

|⁷⁵⁹ Venus is humid and warm and feminine and fortunate and nocturnal, and it affects fertility and marriages and creations and songs and joys and weddings and jesterly joys and jewels and cloths and riches and monies and vessels and silver and cloths mar–gomadas or veined or mixed, and paintings and instruments for playing and trebelyos and jumps and joys and loves and friendships and holdings and presents and gifts and compliments and flatteries and hoops and manteroun and beauties and cleanliness. And it gives the desire to breed.

|⁷⁶⁶ And it presides over queens and dames and damsels and over ladies and mercies and the good among them. And it affects naturally women and females and children and over all things recently born and over cloths of mar–gomados and of linen and of silk, and belts and purses and headdresses and things that pertain to the facts of women, such as combs and mirrors and garlands and golden jewels and rings and earrings and necklaces and hooped jewels and that which resembles this.

|⁷⁷³ Aristotle said, "venus este konfedeura –generees luÁidiura feamina dolÁeera –gudi[r]os prantira." Its locations are curtained bedrooms and beds, and it is fortunate, feminine, nocturnal; its part is southern, its color is green; its metal is tin, its odor is good, its flavor aromatic with sweetness. And it affects the organs of reproduction and [it acts] upon seed and the bed and cheese and butter and upon all humid things, and upon fruits and plants and all lovely and appealing things. And it affects fornications and lusts and dewfall and rain and snow, and it presides over mothers in the daytime. And Mercury is cold and dry, and it presides over men's speech

 

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and over the sciences and letters and monies, and it affects writing and counting and measuring and desfeitar and predicting and trading and reasoning [and] reading and searching and sitting and slander and merchandising and remembering and contradicting and conjecturing, and it presides over the understanding of animals and titles and postures and rules and orders vias and constitutions. Its sciences are arithmetic and geometry, astrology and philosophy, and all the long cogitations and logic and liberal arts and divinations and [their] subtleties and artificialities.

|⁷⁹¹ Aristotle said, "merkurius este pondenus eskriturius entremedeantur kon gutator letriatius e tremediatur luktorius." Its locations are schools and chapters, and places where men gather to trade or [to hold] councils. Its part is northern, its color is violet. Its metal is quicksilver, and it has no flavor nor odor. And it presides over the tongues of animals and over books and letters and monies, and it is masculine with males and feminine with females, and diurnal with diurnals, nocturnal with nocturnals, and it is fortunate with fortunates and unfortunate with unfortunates.

|⁸⁰⁰ And it presides over scribes and over money-changers and over merchants and over coin-changers and notaries and over astrologers and prophets and logicians and philosophers and geometers and cantors and the religious and over students and establishers and over all over all things in which there is weight and count and measure, and ingenuities and skills and envies. And it affects ice and hail and snow and the north wind.

|⁸⁰⁷ The Moon is humid, and it affects gatherings and peoples and servants and vassals, and it affects understandings and duties and roads and messages and messengers and speech. And it presides over the highest governments and over life partly and over the bodies of animals, and it affects preitos and information and movements and thoughts and volitions and memories and reputations. Aristotle said, "luah este poblus olontas korpos familya sereus eneÁiah mutios."

 

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And it is feminine and nocturnal. Its location is the fields and the entrances of houses. Its part is northern. Its color is white, its metal is silver. Its odor is good, similar to that of roses and of camphor. Its flavor is moderating. And it presides over barley and over rice and meal and over vegetables, and it presides over populations and over people and over cities and over chapters and over councils and over speech and over things that have to do [with these] and over the commissions of things and over secrets of the house. And over the waters of the ocean and of rivers and of springs and of wells and of waters, and over pearl and over crystal and over linen and over cotton and over all white things.

|⁸²⁴ And when the Moon rises in its zenith, tides increase, and when it descends they are lacking. And it presides over the seas and over ships and conveyances and accidents and linen cloths and worldly knowledge of business and transactions. The Sun presides over the heart, and the Moon over the brain and the mouth; Jupiter over the liver, Venus over the kidneys, and the organs of reproduction and creation; Mercury over the tongue; Mars over the lung; Saturn over the spleen. The head of the dragon of the Sun and Moon is by nature of the Sun and the Moon. And it increases in its good natures of the planets that are in it, and it presides over the head of all animals. And the tail diminishes goodness in the nature of the planet that is with it, and it presides over the tails of animals and only the [one] sex.

|⁸³⁶ Aristotle said, "kapor anegue soblemente e kaura meninu setrimetate." And each planet that is with the head affects its good properties with honor, and each planet that is with the tail affects its bad properties with dishonor.