6. Of the Divination by Astronomy

We seem then to have set forth these things also sufficiently. But since I consider that not one tenet of this earthy and grovelling wisdom has been passed over, I perceive that our care with regard to the same things has not been useless. For we see that our discourse has been of great use not only for the refutation of heresies, but also against those who magnify these things. Those who happen to notice the manifold care taken by us will both wonder at our zeal and will neither despise our painstaking nor denounce Christians as fools when they see what themselves have foolishly believed. And besides this, the discourse will timely instruct those lovers of learning who give heed to the truth, making them more wise to easily overthrow those who have dared to mislead them—for they will have learned not only the principles of the heresies, but also the so-called opinions of the sages. Not being unacquainted with which, they will not be confused by them as are the unlearned, nor misled by some who exercise a certain power, but will keep a watch upon those who go astray.

2. Having therefore sufficiently set forth (our) opinions, it remains for us to proceed to the subject aforesaid, when, after we have proved what we arranged concerning the heresies, and have forced the heresiarchs to restore to everyone his own, we shall exhibit (these heresiarchs) stripped (of all originality) and by denouncing the folly of their dupes we shall persuade them to return again to the precious haven of the truth. But in order that what has been said may appear more clearly to the readers, it seems to us well to state the conclusions of Aratus as to the disposition of the stars in the heaven. For there are some who by likening them to the words of the Scriptures turn them into allegories and seek to divert the minds of those who listen to them by leading them with persuasive words whither they wish, and pointing out to them strange marvels like those of the transfers to the stars alleged by them. They who while gazing upon the outlandish wonder are caught by their admiration for trifles are like the bird called the owl, whose example it will be well to narrate in view of what follows. Now this animal presents no very different appearance from that of the eagle whether in size or shape; but it is caught in this way. The bird-catcher, when he sees a flock alighting anywhere, claps his hands, pretends to dance, and thus gradually draws near to the birds; but they, struck by the unwonted sight, become blind to everything else. Others of the party, however, who are ready on the ground coming behind the birds easily capture them while they are staring at the dancer. Wherefore I ask that no one who is struck by the wonders of whose who interpret the heaven shall be taken in like the owl. For the dancing and nonsense of such (interpreters) is trickery and not truth. Now Aratus speaks thus:—

“Many and like are they, going hither and thither,
Daily they wheel in heaven always and ever [that is, all the stars]
Yet none changes his abode ever so little: but with perfect exactness
Ever the Pole is fixed, and holds the earth in the midst of all
As equipoise of all, and around it leads Heaven itself.”—

(Aratus, Phæn., vv. 45, 46.)

3. He says that the stars in heaven are πολέας, that is, turning, because of their going about ceaselessly from East to West and from West to East in a spherical figure. But he says there is coiled round the Bears themselves, like the stream of some river, a great marvel of a terrible dragon, and this it is, he says, that the Devil in the (Book of) Job says to God: “I have been walking to and fro under heaven and going round about,” that is, turning hither and thither and inspecting what is happening. For they consider that the Dragon is set below the Arctic Pole, from this highest pole gazing upon all things and beholding all things, so that none of those that are done shall escape him. For though all the stars in the heaven can set, this Pole alone never sets, but rising high above the horizon inspects all things and beholds all things, and nothing of what is done, he says, can escape him.

“Where (most)
Settings and risings mingle with one another.”—

(Aratus, Phæn., v. 61.)

he says, indeed, that his head is set. For over against the rising and setting of the two hemispheres lies the head of Draco, so that, he says, nothing escapes him immediately either of things in the West or of things in the East, but the Beast knows all things at once. And there over against the very head of Draco is the form of a man made visible by reason of the stars, which Aratus calls “a wearied image,” and like one in toil; but he names it the “Kneeler.” Now Aratus says that he does not know what this toil is and this marvel which turns in heaven. But the heretics, wishing to found their own tenets on the story of the stars, and giving their minds very carefully to these things, say that the Kneeler is Adam, as Moses said, according to the decree of God guarding the head of the Dragon and the Dragon (guarding) his heel. For thus says Aratus:—

“Holding the sole of the right foot of winding Draco.”—

(Phæn., vv. 63-65.)

4. But he says there are placed on either side of him (I mean the Kneeler) Lyra and Corona; but that he bends the knee and stretches forth both hands as if making confession of sin. And that the lyre is a musical instrument fashioned by the Logos in extreme infancy. But that Hermes is called among the Greeks Logos. And Aratus says about the fashioning of the lyre:—

“which, while he was yet in his cradle
Hermes bored and said it was to be called lyre.”—

(Phæn., v. 268.)

It is seven-stringed, and indicates by its seven strings the entire harmony and constitution with which the cosmos is suitably provided. For in six days the earth came into being and there was rest on the seventh. If, then, he says, Adam making confession and guarding the head of the Beast according to God’s decree, will imitate the lyre, that is, will follow the word of God, which is to obey the Law, he will attain the Crown lying beside it. But if he takes no heed, he will be carried downwards along with the Beast below him, and will have his lot, he says, with the Beast. But the Kneeler seems to stretch forth his hands on either side and here to grasp the Lyre and there the Crown [and this is to make confession], as is to be seen from the very posture. But the Crown is plotted against and at the same time drawn away by another Beast, Draco the Less, who is the offspring of the one which is guarded by the foot of the Kneeler. But (another) man stands firmly grasping with both hands the Serpent, and draws him backwards from the Crown, and does not permit the Beast to forcibly seize it. Him Aratus calls Serpent-holder, because he restrains the rage of the Serpent striving to come at the Crown. But he, he says, who in the shape of man forbids the Beast to come at the Crown is Logos, who has mercy upon him who is plotted against by Draco and his offspring at once.

And these Bears, he says, are two hebdomads, being made up of seven stars each, and are images of the two creations. For the First Creation, he says, is that according to Adam in his labours who is seen as the Kneeler. But the Second Creation is that according to Christ whereby we are born again. He is the Serpent-holder fighting the Beast and preventing him from coming at the Crown prepared for man. But Helica is the Great Bear, he says, the symbol of the great creation, whereby Greeks sail, that is by which they are taught, and borne onwards by the waves of life they follow it, such a creation being a certain revolution or schooling or wisdom, leading back again those who follow such (to the point whence they started). For the name Helica seems to be a certain turning and circling back to the same position. But there is also another Lesser Bear, as it were an image of the Second Creation created by God. For few, he says, are they who travel by this narrow way. For they say that Cynosura is narrow, by which, Aratus says, the Sidonians navigate. But Aratus in turn says the Sidonians are Phœnicians on account of the wisdom of the Phœnicians being wonderful. But they say that the Greeks are Phœnicians who removed from the Red Sea to the land where they now dwell. For thus it seemed to Herodotus. But this Bear he says is Cynosura, the Second Creation, the small, the narrow way and not Helica. For she leads not backwards, but guides those who follow her forwards to the straight way, being the (tail) of the dog. For the Logos is the Dog (Cyon) who at the same time guards and protects the sheep against the plans of the wolves, and also chases the wild beasts from creation and slays them, and who begets all things. For Cyon, they say, indeed means the begetter. Hence, they say, Aratus, speaking of the rising of Canis, says thus:—

“But when the Dog rises, no longer do the crops play false.”—

(Phæn. v. 332.)

This is what he means: Plants that have been planted in the earth up to the rising of the Dog-star take no root, but yet grow leaves and appear to beholders as if they will bear fruit and are alive, but have no life from the root in them. But when the rising of the Dog-star occurs, the living plants are distinguished by Canis from the dead, for he withers entirely those which have not taken root. This Cyon, he says then, being a certain Divine Logos has been established judge of quick and dead, and as Cyon is seen to be the star of the plants, so the Logos, he says, is for the heavenly plants, that is for men. For some such cause as this, then, the Second Creation Cynosura stands in heaven as the image of the rational creature. But between the two creations Draco is extended below, hindering the things of the great creation from coming to the lesser, and watching those things which are fixed in the great creation like the Kneeler lest they see how and in what way every one is fixed in the little creation. But Draco is himself watched as to the head, he says, by Ophiuchus. The same, he says, is fixed as an image in heaven, being a certain philosophy for those who can see.

But if this is not clear, through another image, he says, creation teaches us to philosophize, about which Aratus speaks thus:—

“Nor of Ionian Cepheus are we the miserable race.”—

(Phæn. v. 353.)

But near Draco, he says, are Cepheus and Cassiopeia and Andromeda and Perseus, great letters of the creation to those who can see. For he says that Cepheus is Adam, Cassiopeia Eve, Andromeda the soul of both, Perseus the winged offspring of Zeus and Cetus the plotting Beast. Not to any other of these comes Perseus the slayer of the Beast, but to Andromeda alone. From which Beast, he says, the Logos Perseus, taking her to himself, delivers Andromeda who had been given in chains to the Beast. But Perseus is the winged axis which extends to both poles through the middle of the earth and makes the cosmos revolve. But the spirit which is in the Cosmos is Cycnus, the bird which is near the Bears, a musical animal, symbol of the Divine Spirit, because only when it is near the limits of life, its nature is to sing, and, as one escaping with good hope from this evil creation it sends up songs of praise to God. But crabs and bulls and lions and rams and goats and kids and all the other animals who are named in heaven on account of the stars are, he says, images and paradigms whence the changeable nature receives the patterns and becomes full of such animals.

Making use of these discourses, they think to deceive as many as give heed to the astrologers, seeking therefrom to set up a religion which appears very different from their assumptions. Wherefore, O beloved, let us shun the trifle-admiring way of the owl. For these things and those like them are dancing and not truth. For the stars do not reveal these things; but men on their own account and for the better distinguishing of certain stars (from the rest) gave them names so that they might be a mark to them. For what likeness have the stars strewn about the heaven to a bear, or a lion, or kids, or a water-carrier, or Cepheus, or Andromeda, or to the Shades named in Hades—for many of these persons and the names of the stars alike came into existence long after the stars themselves—so that the heretics being struck with the wonder should thus labour by such discourses to establish their own doctrines?