ASTROLOGY IN ROMAN LAW

AND POLITICS

FR ED E R IC K H. CRAM ER
Professor of History
M ount Holyoke College

THE

A M E R IC A N ' P H I L O S O P H I C A L
IN D E P E N D E N C E SQ U A R E
P H IL A D E L P H IA

S O C IE T Y

Copyright 1954 by the American Philosophical Society

TO
THOSE WHO ARE NO MORE
BUT
Library of Congress Catalog
Card No. 54-6119

PRINTED

IN

THE

UNITED

STATES

OF

WILL ALWAYS BE WITH ME

AMERICA

BT J . H. FURST C OM PA N Y , BALTIM O RE, M ARYLAND

ASTROLOGY IN ROME UNTIL THE END OF THE PRINCIPATE

ft

Is perhaps the historians travail more profitable? They lost more time
and oil. The thousandth page, indeed, tops the preceding ones, and the
expensive paper pile is still growing. The enormous amount of subject
matter and the rules of the profession insist on that What, however,
have they to show for it. what fruits of the wide world? Who would pay
a historian even the trifle paid to a mere reader reciting the daily
newspaper!
Juvenal, Satires, 7, vv. 98-104.

CON TENTS
PAGE

P art I. T he R ise

I.

...............................

P r e f a c e ...............................................................................................................................................

The rise of astrology in the hellenistic w o r l d ....................................................................

1.
2.
3.
4.

II.

l
III.

of

A strology

in th e

L atin W o

rld

The meaning of scientific a s t r o l o g y ..........................................................................

The origins of horoscopal a s t r o l o g y ................................................................................
The rise of Hellenistic a s tro lo g y .......................................................................................
Some tenets and techniques of scientific astrology..................................................

3
4
9
19

B . C . ) .............................................................

44

The arrival of astrology in the Latin world (250-170 B . C . ) ............................................

An age of reason ( ca. 170-139 b . c . ) .................................................................................
The triumph of astrology in republican Rome (139-44 b . c . ) .....................................
The last great sceptics of the Roman r e p u b l i c ..............................................................

44
50
58
69

Astrologers the power behind the throne, from Augustus to D o m i t i a n .........................

81

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

IV.

T r ium ph

The conversion of republican Rome to astrology (250-44

1.
2.
3.
4.

and

I n t r o d u c t i o n ............................................................................................................................
81
The age of transition: 44 b . c . - a . d . 2 .................................................................................
82
The decay of Augustan s c e p t i c i s m ................................................................................
90
Thrasyllus and A u g u s t u s ...................................................................................................
92
Thrasyllus and Tiberius ( a . d . 1 4 - 2 2 ) ................................................................................
99
Thrasyllus at the zenith of his power ( a . d . 2 3 - 3 6 ) ........................................................
104
7. Ennia T h r a s y l l a ......................................................................................................................108
8. Balbillus and C l a u d i u s ......................................................................................................... 112
9. Balbillus and N e r o ............................................................................................................... 115
10. Balbillus and his house under the Flavian r u l e r s .............................................................. 131
11. C o n c l u s i o n ............................................................................................................................ 144

Astrology in Rome from Nerva to the death of Severus Alexander (96-235)

146

1. I n tr o d u c tio n ............................................................................................................................ 146

2. Astrology in the reigns of Xerva and Trajan ( 9 6 - 1 1 7 ) ............................................149
3. Astrology in Latin literature at the turn of the first c e n t u r y ......................................154
4. H adrian: another astrologer on the throne ( 1 1 7 - 1 3 8 ) ..................................................162
5. The retreat of the champions of astrology in the second c e n t u r y ............................... 178
6. The astrological literature of the later p r in c i p a t e ........................................................ 184
7. Foes of astrology in the later p r i n c i p a t e .................................................................... 195
8. The twilight of scientific " a s t r o l o g y ..........................................................................208
9. The decline of rationalism and the rise of star w o r s h i p ..................................................217
10. Conclusion: Friends and foes of the sun-cult at the end of the principate . . .
224
ix

PAGE
P

art

II.

str o lo g y

in

om an

aw

u n t il

th e

nd

of

th e

r in c ip a t e

P r e f a c e ................................................................................................................................................ 232
PART I.
V.

Expulsion of astrologers from Rome and I t a l y .....................................................................233

1. I n tr o d u c tio n ............................................................................................................................. 233
2. Republican form s: Expulsion hv praetorian edict and city ordinance . . . .
234
3. Imperial methods ( a . i>. 16-52) : Expulsion by senatits c o n s u l t a ............................... 237
4. Imperial methods ( a . d . 66?-176?) : Expulsion by imperial e d i c t s ............................... 241
5. C o n c l u s i o n ..................................... .................................................................................247

VI.

Empire wide legal restrictions of astrology and other divination during the principate

248

1. The Augustan edict of a .d . 1 1 ..............................................................................................248

2. The evolution of the Augustan edict in legal practice ( 1 1 - 4 9 ) ............................................251
3. Violations of the Augustan edict during the later principate (52-205) . . . .
261
4. Astrologers in court for violations of the Augustan e d i c t ............................................ 270
5. Legal restrictions of divination during the p r i n c ip a t e .................................................. 276
Co

n c l u s io n

I ndex

................................................................................................................................................281

......................................................................................................................................................284

THE RISE AND TRIUM PH OF ASTROLOGY IN THE LATIN WORLD

PR E FA C E 1
It is not often realized to what extent symbolism and
languages have preserved concepts and terms of GraecoRoman astrology. Astronomers speak of conjunction
and opposition of planets; one freely discusses the
aspects of a given problem. People thank their
lucky stars for escaping from a danger. An unsuc
cessful venture is ill starred. The stars " of the
realm of arts, or that of sports are those who rose to
prominence in their respective field of endeavor. The
flag of many a nation reflects astrological symbolism.
The rising sun of Japan, the Crescent and Star of
the Ottoman empire, as well as our own flag, in which
each state of the Union is symbolized by a bright star,
all of which in turn are set into a blue field, encompass
ing them as heaven does the stars these are but a few
instances chosen almost at random from the numerous
national flags l>earing witness to the continued popu
larity of astral symbolism. The possibility of the eleva
tion of a human soul and its transformation into an
eternally shining star was a belief which left a profound
impact on artistic style. Roman rulers beginning with
Julius Caesar were ceremoniously catasterized. i. e.
the soul of the departed officially reported as having
ascended skywards. H is effigy thus became the first of
any Roman to bear a star-shaped halo, a symbol trans
formed into the haloes of the images of countless saints.
To the development and to the theories of ancient
astrology the Romans contributed next to nothing, but
were it not for the long and enthusiastic i)elief of Roman
devotees, the Renaissance would hardly have l>een calla
ble of using in its art so many astrological elements. The
names of the days of the western week are those of the
Latin star-gods. We still speak of jovial," saturnine.
or mercurial temperaments. Moreover the bulk of
our extant Greek astrological literature stems from the
first five centuries of our era, when Roman emperors
controlled the Mediterranean world. W ithout the stead
fast interest of the Roman upper class, especially during
the first three centuries, these Greek writers of the
Roman empire would hardly have found enough patrons
to encourage and propagate such literary efforts. And
even when originality and zest began to fade from

astrological literature there remained enough compilers

to preserve much of the work of their predecessors.
Men like Hephaestion of Thebes, the Anonymus of 379,
Julianus. Palchus. or Rhetorius were largely responsible
for the preservation of the bulk of our extant Greek
astrological texts. W riting as they did in the twilight
period of pagan culture, in the fourth and fifth centuries,
they saved for us not only a wealth of ancient materials,
but also a great deal of information of astronomical,
sociological, and historical value. Owing to the diffi
culty of gaining access to much of this wealth and to the
natural tendency to concentrate on the classical authors
of Greece and Rome, few philologists have hitherto
availed themselves of these sources of information.
In 1933 Ernst Riess, in an address entitled The
influence of astrology on life and literature at Rome,
exhorted American scholars:
The labors of investigators during the last forty-five
years, among whom it may suffice to name Franz Boll,5
Franz Cumont.:l and Wilhelm Kroll,4 have served to place
in sharp relief the many relations of the influence of astrol
ogy in all spheres of ancient life and literature. Yet our
editions of classical authors are strangely silent about this
influence. . . . This paper intends to arouse, if possible,
a renewed interest in the subject.5

A complete bibliography of F. Bolls numerous and widely

dispersed writings was compiled by K. Meister and published in
.Whc Jahrbuecher (tier IVissenschaft und Jugendbildung, 1, 1925:
329 f .; see also F. Boll, Kleine Schriften :ur Stemkunde del
A ltcrtnins: xxv ff.. Leipzig, Koehler & Amelang, 1950.
3 F. Cumonts publications prior to 1936 are listed in Melanges
. . . . Cmnont. eJ. A. and L. Delatte, Anmtaire de philologic
orientate. 4: vii-xxxi, Brussels, Secretariat de I'Institut, 1936.
Anions; liis suhseqiiEn; itnportan writings are L Egypte des
astrologucs. Brussels. Fondation egyptologique reine Elisabeth,
1937, and, together with J. Bidez, Les mages hellenises, 2v.,
Paris, Societe d'editions Les Belles L:ttres, 1938; L ux perpetua,
Paris. Librairie orientalisle Paul Geuthner. 1949.
* Among Krolls important contributions are numerous articles
in the !<h. liis joint edition with Skutsch of Firmicus Maternus
Mailtcsis. 2 v Leipzig, Teubner. 1897 and 1912, the first edition
of the Antholagiae of Vettius Valens, Berlin, Weidmann, 1908,
the edition of volumes 5 ( 2 ) and 6 of the Cat., as well as many
articles widely distributed in scholarly periodicals.
"Translated hv Charles Knapp in Classical W eekly 21 (10),
1 The two works always quoted in abbreviation are RE, i. e. Dec. 1933:73-78. The above quotation is from 73 f. Compare
Pauly-Wissowa, Rcalensyklopaedie ties klassiscitcn Altcrtums,
also an American contribution in this field. L. Thorndike, A
2nd ed. Stuttgart. 1894 ff.. and Cut., i.e. Calulntius codicum
Roman astrologer as a historical source: Julius Firmicus Ma
astrologorum graecorum. Brussels. 1898 ff.
ternus. Jour. Class. Philo1.. 8, 1913:415-435.

T H E R IS E AN D T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

This appeal by and large fell upon deaf ears in this

country until recent years. Not even a popular classic
like Boll-Bezold-Gundels Sternglaube tind Stentdcu
tting (4th ed., Leipzig, Teubner, 1931) has appeared
in an English translation. The unsurpassed handbook
of A. Bouche-Leclercq, entitled L'astrologie grecque
(Paris. Ernest Leroux. 1899) is equally inaccessible to
the English or American reading public. It also con
tains the best available summary of the role of astrology
in the Roman world (ch. x v i: 543-627). The late R.
Eisler's book on The royal art of astrology (London,
Joseph. 1946) was an attempt to fill the gap, but unfortu
nately the work cannot be considered as reliable. In
stead the slender volume of lectures by F. Cumont,
Astrology and religion among the Greeks and Romans
(London and New York, G. B. Putnam's Sons, 1912)
still remains the only commendable popular publication
on this subject in English. A valuable treatment of the
scientific background, i. e. of mathematics and astron
omy, in Egypt and Mesopotamia (whence Hellenistic
astrologers imported the roots of their craft) has just
been published in O. Neugebauer's The exact sciences
in antiquity (Copenhagen. 1951). Meanwhile the pro
tracted labors of a number of scholars have brought to
completion the monumental Catalogus codicum astrologorum Graecorum (abbreviated C at.Y It revealed
for example some second-century horoscopes, includ
ing that of the emperor Hadrian, as well as numerous
fragments from the works of Greek astrologers, many
hitherto wholly unknown. The fragments also con
tained synopses and texts by two historically important
astrologers, Thrasyllus, friend and adviser of Tiberius,
and Balbillus, son of Thrasyllus, who in turn served
Gaudius, Nero, and Vespasian as court astrologer and
confidential consultant. Some of this recently revealed
knowledge prompted F. Cumont to present a new ap
praisal of Hellenistic and Roman Egypt in his L 'E gypt
des astrologues. A vast amount of work remains to be
done. A t last the Latin astrological manuscripts are the
target of an effort, paralleling the one now so happily
terminated in the completion of the Cat. A compre
hensive catalogue of astrological Latin illustrated manu
scripts is, under the auspices of the W arburg Institute,
now in the process of publication.
For the philologist the mass of materials thus made
accessible will be of great importance, although but few

of them seem to be availing themselves as yet of this

new opportunity. Historians in turn may be called upon
to reappraise certain aspects of Roman history. The
present study does not presume to delve into the prob
lem of astrological influences in Graeco-Roman litera
ture. It confines itself mainly to the impact of astrology
on Roman upper-class society, an impact not without
consequence at times upon the course of political or
military events. Since fatalist astrology required of
its devotees a fatalist Weltanschauung, attention must
needs be given to the ceaseless struggle between the
champions of fatalism and those of free will.
A separate bibliography has been omitted, since it
would practically have to include the historical litera
ture devoted to more than four centuries of Roman
history. On the other hand, it seemed advisable to pre
sent much of our material unadorned, in the form of
direct quotation. In many instances the English version
as given in the Loeb Classics series has been used, but
never uncritically.
The study will be continued in order to deal with the
role of astrology in the later Roman empire, in particular
in the period from the fall of Severus Alexander to the
death of Justinian I (235-565). It is for this reason
that the present volume has the subtitle I. Astrology
in Rome until the end of the Principate.
The authors gratitude is expressed to the Social
Science Research Council and to the American Philo
sophical Society which made the research possible by
several grants-in-aid, and to the Society for its decision
to publish this study. Mr. Robert Haynes of W idener
Library at all times did everything in his power to
facilitate the research without which this book could
not have been completed. Professor George Sarton of
H arvard on several occasions opened to me most gen
erously the sesame of his private library. To Professor
Alice Farnsworth of Mount Holyoke College the author
is indebted for the computation of some Greek horo
scopes. Professor A. J. Sachs, and, more than anyone
else. Professor O. Neugebauer of Brown University
were indefatigable in their competent and vitally helpful
advice, in particular for the first chapter. Finally it is
due to Elizabeth Cram ers unflagging zeal in keeping
the mountainous files of notes and in retyping with
infinite patience page after page that this ridiculus mus
could be born at all. Even if the excuse in magnis
magna voluisse sat should not be pleaded, the author is
* Vol. 9 of the Acta Historica Scicnttamm Naturalium ct painfully aware of many chinks in his armor. Yet if
Medicinalium. Of special importance is Neugebauers demonstra American scholars begin to take a greater interest than
tion of the relatively late origin of horoscopal astrology which
hitherto in an important and still largely neglected field
antedated the hellenistic era only by less than a century. On
of studies, our labor will not have been in vain.
the value of the investigation of pseudo-scientific texts, see his
The study of wretched subjects, Isis, 42, 1951: 111.
Brussels, Lamertin, 1898 ff. Only vol. 9 (2), the last of the
series, was published in 1953.

F. H . C.
October 1, 1953

I. T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD
1.

already Hesiod was credited with an Astronomy * which

was still known in the days of Augustus.7 Thales was
said to have fallen into a well while astronomizing. *
In the fifth century b . c . , however, a more profound
meaning was given to this term. Socrates, according
to Plato, defined astronomy as the discipline devoted to
investigating the movements of the fixed stars, the sun
and the moon, and the relation of their respective speeds
with each other.9 He did, nevertheless, according to
Xenophon, reject purely theoretical astronomical specu
lations and research.10 Plato, on the other hand, had
Socrates pronounce himself in favor of the most abstract
kind of astronomical studies against the pragmatic atti
tude of Glaucon.11
The old term did not find favor with the generation
of Aristotle. The founder of the Peripatetic school
himself steadfastly used the word astrology where his
predecessors had spoken of astronomy.11 H e did
distinguish applied astrology for example navigation
by the use of stars positionsfrom the type of purely
theoretical and mathematical investigations by which
the preceding century had added so much to the scope
of earlier Greek astronomy. 13 Aristotle's astrology
paid special attention, indeed, to those very geometrical
hypotheses by which his contemporaries were trying to
explain the movements of the stars. The influence of
the Stagirite was great enough to lend a long life-span
to this usage of the term astrology. The rapid develop
ment of Hellenistic astrology (in our sense of the word)
eventually led to the adoption of a separate term for
astronomy. The terminus technicus for it now became
mathematics. But soon this term in turn was usurped
by the Hellenistic star-redes and thus lost its original
meaning. Finally towards the end of antiquity the circle

T H E M E A N IN G O F S C IE N T IF IC A STROLOG Y

Scientific astrology has rightly been called the

product of a m arriage of religion and science. 1 Bom
and slowly developed in Mesopotamia the first extant
horoscope dates only from 410 b . c . it reached its ulti
mate development in the Hellenistic era.2 Then Egypt,
especially Alexandria, became a renowned center of such
studies. This led both Greek and Roman authors to the
mistaken concept, still encountered in many a modem
treatment of the subject, that Egyptian astrology was
either older, or at least coeval with Mesopotamian
astrology and developed parallel with but independent
from it. Scientific astrology in contrast to omina,
omen-astrology and the likewas based on the investi
gation of planetary positions at the time of birth (or
conception). It was founded on a fatalistic concept of
the cosmos. Side by side with it flourished catarchic
astrology which merely assumed non-fatalistic astral
influence on mundane enterprises like travel, marriage,
or business decisions.3 There was obviously a logical
contradiction between the one type of astrology and
the other. F or either stars and constellations exercised
an immutable, or merely an avoidable, influence on
earthly affairs. To the ancients, however, this distinc
tion usually was by no means clearly apparent. In
any case fatalist astrology was the youngest of several
similar forms of divination of which for example
astro-meteorology4 was a wide-spread, by no means
exclusively Mesopotamian forerunner.
For many centuries astrology was considered as a
legitimate branch of applied astronomy. The terms
astronomy and astrology were actually used synonym
ously. It has even been suggested that astronomy
originally merely denoted the connecting of astrometeorological phenomena with the risings and settings
of certain stars and constellations. An astronomer thus
would be a meteorologist who assigned (from the
Greek viiuo) either individual stars or entire constella
tions their weather-making roles, presumably of
course on the basis of accumulated observational data.5
It can therefore not be surprising that for instance

* Athenaeus, 11, f. 491; compare Philip (of Opus ?), Epinomis,

f. 990a: I shall pronounce one word . . . astronomy. The true
astronomer must notlike Hesiod and others like himconfine
his observations only to the risings and settings of the sun."
On the degree to which oriental ideas may be reflected in Platos
Laws, esp. ff. 893 B ff., compare the rabidly pro-Hellenist W. ].
W. Koster, Le mythe de Platon, de Zarathoustra ct des Chaldeens, Mnemosyne, suppl. 3, 1951: 59 ff.
7 Hyginus still knew i t ; see Pliny, Nat. Hist., 7, 48, 153.
1 Riess, loc. cit.
- Compare the nine-page summary by M. P. Nilsson, The rise
* Plato, Theaetetus, f. 174 A.
* Plato. Gorgias, f. 451 C.
of astrology in the Hellenistic age, Historical notes and papers,
10 Xenophon, Memorabilia, 4, 7, 4.
18, Lund Observatory, 1943.
3 About Egyptian iatromathematics see for example the resume
11 Plato, Republic, 7, ff. 527 D ff.
15 More than a thousand years later Suidas still defined
of Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, 1. 3, 15 f . ; also 3, 1, 103 ff.
astronomy as aarptnr iiaro/tif.
* For a survey see R. Eisler, op. cit., ch. x ix : 154-161.
11 Hipparchus (ca. 160 b. c . ) called astronomers mathematicians.
3 See on the subject P. Tannery, Rcchcrchcs stir Vhistoire de
Iastronomie ancienne, ch. i : 1-25; ch. i i : 26-55, Paris, GauthierThree hundred years later the great astronomical work of
Ptolemy was entitled luithmaTiKii avrraitt. Both scientists did,
Viilars et Fils. 1893; more recently E. Laroche. Les noms grecs
de lastronomie, Revue de Philologie 73, 3rd ser., 20, 1946: 118- however, include astrology as a scientific application of as
tronomy.
123.

T H E R ISE AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

was completed : Once again astronomy came to denote 14 in Greek literature and learning began to stir in Rome.
as it still does man's purely scientific endeavors to As the century drew to its close, not only Greek plays,
find a rational explanation for the nature and motions epics, and lyrical poetry came to be appreciated by a
of the stars. Xot until the age of Newton, however, small but growing number of aristocratic Roman
did this readopted term definitely exclude irrational humanists, but also scholarly works, especially in the
offshoots like scientific astrology."
field of historiography, found enthusiastic Roman
In Hellenistic and Roman times astrology in the readers. Simultaneously, however, a wave of eastern
minds of scholars and laymen alike tended to l)e accepted cults inundated Italy, some of them star cults. Their
bv a growing number of people as the scientific, the chief appeal at first was with the lower Roman strata.
rational method of divination. The arguments in its There too astrologers found their first devoted clientele.
favor looked impressive, indeed. The vital effect of the Not until the last century of the republic did they suc
sun upon terrestrial life was obvious and was constantly ceed in winning over Rome's upper class. In the end,
cited as incontrovertible evidence of astral influence however, not scientific astrology but a star cult, sunacross space. Painstaking and prolonged observations worship. became (in the third century a .d .) the domi
had, astrologers asserted, obtained corresponding proof nant official creed, paving the road for the ultimate
of the influence of lesser stars upon all life on earth. triumph of Judaeo-Christian monotheism. So strong
In essence the principles on which these theories rested was the belief in the Invincible Sun (Sol Invictus) 17
were scientifically valid.15 Manilius in his magnificent that for example Constantine I (d. 337), himself at first
Astronomica (early first century a . d . j stressed this a devotee of the sun cult, found it. indeed perfectly com
aspect of astrology time and again. His famous
patible with his pro-Christian sympathies to authorize
his own portrayal as Helios. And in 354 the ascendant
Fata regunt orbem, certa stant omnia lege! la
Christian church in the reign of his pious but unsavory
(Fate rules the universe,on immutable law everything son. Constantius II. found it prudent to change the cele
rests.)
bration of the birth of Jesus from the traditional date
formulated the basic axioms of all science. Fatalistic (January 6) to December 25, in order to combat the
astrology thus two thousand years ago preached the pagan Sun gods popularity his birthday being
mechanistic creed that cause-and-effect relations alone December 25.
The story of star worship in the Roman empire has
determined organic, as well as anorganic processes com
pletely, and beyond that sphere also all human thought been competently dealt with by a number of modern
and action. In spite of such Simon-pure rationalism scholars, especially F. Cumont.18 but the all-pervading
Hellenistic astrology from the very beginning was per influence of scientific astrology during the era of
meated with religious elements too. Greek astrologers the late Roman republic, and particularly under the
for example were responsible for the eventual identifi principate, does not yet seem to have attracted the de
cation of all planets with specific deities, while in pre- tailed attention it deserves. It therefore became the
Heilenistic Mesopotamia only some, but by no means object of this study. Inevitably related activities, in
all, planets had been associated with divinities. The volving the use of magic and witchcraft, will have to be
Greeks labeled planets with a variety of names, among touched upon on occasion, but the history of secular,
which lesser divinities like Heracles were also repre '* rational." i. e. scientific, astrology in the Roman
sented. Eventually, however, a standardized system empire will form our main topic of discussion.
evolved in which the planets were uniformly referred
2. T H E O RIGIN'S O F H O R O SC O PA L A STR O LO G Y
to as, for example, the star of Kronos," " the star of
Ancient and modern literature on this topic has
Aphrodite,-' the star of Zeus. and so forth. U lti
mately one simply identified each planet with its par wavered between accepting Chaldaean. i. e. Mesopo
ticular divinity, for example, Hermes. Aphrodite. Ares. tamian. or Egyptian priority claims on behalf of the
Zeus, and Kronos. The Latin terminology of this invention of astrology. If. however, the term is used
nomenclature. Mercury, Venus. Mars, Jupiter, and in the strictest sense of the word. i. e. applying to horoSaturn, became that of western astronomy until the scopal techniques, thus excluding henierology, omens,
astro-magic, etc., the evidence now available is in favor
present day.
The third century b. c . was the one in which an almost of Mesopotamian priority in this field. But even for
explosive development of Hellenistic astrology took place.
Compare H. Usener, Sol invictus, Rheinisches Museum, 60.
It was the very time at which the first serious interest
1905 : 465-491; F. Cumont. La celebration du Natalis Invicti en
14 Fur instance in the writings of the Alexandrian Pappus
( fourth century a . d . ) .
15 On the interrelationship between science and religion, see
F. Cumont. Les rcli<jious orientates dans le paganisnte romain,
4th ed .: 151 If., Paris. Librairie orientaliste. Paul Geuthner, 1929.
* 4 :v . 14, ed. Tli. Breiter. Leipzig, Th. Weicher, 1907.

Orient, /?. hist. re!. 82. 1920 : 229-240. La theologie solaire du

paganisme romain, Ac. dcs Inscr.. 12, 1909:447-479.
l!l See n. 15; also his Astrolouy ami relit/ion among the Greeks
and Romans, London and N'ew York. G. B. Putnam's Sons,
1912; Le mysticisme astral dans l'antiquite. Bull. Ac. Bely.,
1909: 256-286: L u x pcrpctua, Paris. Librairie orientaliste, Paul
Geuthner, 1949.

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W ORLD
Mesopotamia the extravagant claims of ancient and
modern sources about the antiquity of Mesopotamian
scientific astrology, claims already occasionally suspected
in ancient times, have had to be modified considerably.
Prezodiacal astrology, i. e. astrology practiced prior to
the introduction of the zodiacal system of constellations,
cannot be regarded as " horoscopal astrology," but only
as a form of star omen technique, whose predictions
had the primitive character illustrated in the following
sample of Mesopotamian hemerologv:
W hen on the first of the m onth of N isan the risin g sun
appears red like a torch, w hite clouds rise from it. and the
w ind blows from the east, then th ere will he a solar eclipse
on the 28th o r 29th day of the month, the kin g will die that
very month, and his son will ascend the th ro n e.19

Omens of this type were common, but, after the evolu

tion of horoscopal astrology, came to be frowned upon
by scientific Chaldaean astrologers.20 The era whence
the above-quoted example stemmed, probably the seventh
century b . c . , has also furnished us with the names of
some court astrologers like Asharidu, Bullutu, Balasi.
Ishtar-shumerish, Nabuachiriba, Nabu-shumishku, and
Nergaletir. They had no known Egyptian predeces
sors or contemporaries. Mesopotamian astronomy did
not arrive at a firmly established zodiacal system until
the middle of the fifth century b. c., when Mesopotamia
was part of the Persian empire and Athens enjoyed
the Pertclean era. On the other hand, for a long time
astronomical observations had been made in Babylonia,
for instance about the appearance of Venus and the
positions of this and certain other planets in relation to
each other. Sun and moon were of course included
among the planets. Eventually the technique of de
scribing a planets position by means of the particular
zodiacal sign in which it was at the time could not
but further the evolution of horoscopal astrology.-1
The earliest zodiacal horoscope known so far is a
cuneiform text in the Bodleian Library at O xford."
It dates, according to a recent computation, worked out
on the basis of the planetary longitudes, from April 29,
410 b. c. Inasmuch as the zodiacal system had been
established only a short time before, this horoscope
clearlv belongs to the earliest period of horoscopal
astrology. Although a gap of almost one and a half

centuries separates this horoscope from the next one,

which stems from the year 263 b. c..-3 it can hardly be
doubted that Mesopotamian astrology continued its
steady development during the interval. No parallel
phenomenon took place in Egypt during this era. so far
as we know at present. In view of the relatively late date
at which zodiacal astrology liecame possibleduring the
time of the Peloponnesian war in Greecea long-stand
ing dispute alxmt the time when the Hellenic world first
became aware of oriental astrology is reduced to the
question to what extent Greek intellectuals familiarized
themselves with this recent Mesopotamian development
during the century preceding the death of Alexander
the Great (d. 323 B.C.) Prior to the recent computa
tion of the above-mentioned dates the division of opinion
had greater leeway. An earlier view assigned the in
vasion of the Greek world by astrology to the time of
Alexander.-4 More recently, on the other hand, it was
suggested that Greek scholars acquired at least a smat
tering of Mesopotamian astrology centuries before.25
Such knowledge, however, as we now know, could until
the time of Socrates and Plato be confined at best to
omen-astrology, hemerologv, astromagic, or astrometeorology only. Fatalistic horoscopal astrology developed
even in Mesopotamia only after the establishment of the
zodiacal system, towards the end of the fifth century b. c.,
the oldest extant horoscope (as noted above) dating
from 410 b. c. (when Socrates was about sixty and Plato
about seventeen years old). The infiltration of some
knowledge of Mesopotamian developments towards horo
scopal astrology is quite probable. It would merely con
stitute part of the natural contact between Greek and
oriental civilizations. Taken in this general sense the
claims of later authors of antiquity may contain a grain
of truth, although of course assertions like the one which
insisted that Pythagoras was a disciple of the Chaldaean
Zaratas (Zoroaster;,-6 or that he himself was the author

April 4( r) ; no. 1870, Morgan Libr. Coll. A. J. Sachs has

computed this day by means of the lunar longitude. Another
cuneiform horoscope contains both the conception and the birth
horoscopes, dating from March 17 and December 15. 258 ii. c .;
Brit. Mus. Rm. IV 224; published by F. Kugler, Sternkund:
und Sterndienst in Babel. 2: 558-562, Mueuster, 1924; J. Schaumberger, ibid.. Eri). 3: pi. 7, no. 14. Another cuneiform horoscope,
dating from June 3, 235 b. c., is found in no. 2190, Morgan Libr.
Coll. N'o. vet printed is Brit. Mus. Rm. IV 299. dating irom
July 3( ?) 230 B.C.. while Sp. I l l 22. dated March 1. 142 b. c.,
18 Boll-Bezold-Gundel; 14.
30 Strabo, 16. 1, 6 (f. 739) : " In Babylon a settlement is set was published by F. Kugler, op. cit., 2: 554-558.
For this opinion see for example Riess in R E 2 : c. 1802 ff.,
apart bv the local philosophers, the Chaldaeans, as they are
18"6; Jessen. ibid.. 8 :c . 62 ff.; v. Oefele. Sun, moon, and ;tars.
called, who are concerned mostly with astronom y; but some of
Hastings Encyclopaedia of rdiqion and ethics, 12. 1921; F.
these, who are not approved by the others, profess to be genethCumont. Babylon und die griechische Astronomic. Xcuc Juhrb.
lialugis:s. This passage was written in the Augustan era.
f. d. /class. Alt.. 27. 1911: 1-10; cf. Boll-Bezold-Gundel. 85 f.
51 On the subject see the important articles of A. J. Sachs.
J" W. Capelle. A elttste Spuren der Astrologie bei den Griechen.
Babvlonian mathematical texts, 1-3. Jour, cuneiform studies 1.
Hermes 10. 1925 : 373-395; H. Gressmann, Die hellenistisclte
1947 ; 219-240; 6, 1952:151-156. and his Babylonian horoscopes,
Gcstirnrcliijion,
Der aitc Orient, Beihefte, 1925.
ibid.. 49-75.
Hippolytus, Elcnchus 1, 2. 12 ; Diodorus. 1. 98 (.about
Inventory no. AB 251. R. Campbell Thompson suggested
Egyptian influence on Pythagoras) ; cf. Th. Heath. Aristarchus
that the text was an astronomical note. H e published it m
of Samos, the ancient Copernicus. Oxford, Clarendon Press,
Lute Babylnnicn tablets in the Bodt. Library Oxford, pi. 2,
1913;
on the alleged contacts of Pythagoras with the Orient,
London, 1927.

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

I- ti;. 1. AB 2S1: Horoscope of April 29, 410 b.c.: BM 33667 ( Rm. IV 224) : Horoscope of December IS. 258 b .c.; BM 35516
y. I l l 22) : Horoscope of March 1, 142 B. c .: BM .>4567 ( Sp. 11 39) : Horoscopes ( ?) of three persons Juiy 3. 114 b. c January
116, b.c.. December 27, 154 B . C . ) . From A. Sachs, Babylonian Horoscopes, Jour, of Cuneiform Studies 6, 2 (1952) : 50-57.
Fir.. 2. M LC: Horoscope of April 4, 263 b .c.: MLC 2190: Horoscope of June 3 (m orning), 235 B.C.; BM 33741 (Rm. IV
299) : Horoscope of July 3. 230 b. c. The tablets shown in figs. 12 and 13 were computed, translated, and commented upon by A. J.
Sachs of Brown University. These illustrations and texts were published in his Babylonian Horoscopes, Jour, of Cuneiform
Studies 6, 2 (.1952) : 50-75.

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

of astrological handbooks.'-7 must be dismissed as fables.

Nor should one make too much of the intensification
of Greek cultural relations with the Orient during the
era of the Persian wars. Even if " Chaldaean priests.
including the renowned magus Osthanes -s did accom
pany the Persian host to Greece in -KSO a Chaldaean
sage at that time was said to have accurately predicted
to Euripides' father the glorv of the new-born child '-9
we may safely assume that only small groups like the
Pvthagoraeans
or similar circles of scholars would
readily benefit from such opportunities of cultural con
tacts.31 But the pre-Socratic Greek physicists of the
fifth century, among them Democritus (the founder of
the atomic theory of m atter) and Anaxagoras, a close
friend of Pericles and the formulator of the theory that
stars were merely glowing pieces of matter, and that it
was not possible for m atter to be annihilated by divi
sion 32 men of this type were intellectually at least
as closely related to the earlier Greek natural philoso
phers as they were to their own oriental contemporaries.
But at any rate, in the age of Democritus and A nax
agoras, Mesopotamian scholars established the fixed
arrangement of constellations which we call the zodiac,
whose earliest known appearance occurred in a cunei
form text of 419 b . c.3s
The rapidly rising Greek interest in astronomy pre
pared the ground for the future development of Hellen
istic astrology. Already towards the end of the fifth
century the study of astronomy had become an integral
part of higher studies to such an extent that A ris
tophanes in the Clouds (427 b . c . ) ridiculed it along
compare J. Bidez. Eos ou Platon et I'Orient, ch. ii, Brussels,
I-inprim. de I'Ac. Royale Bclg., 1945.
For examples ot Pythagorean tracts, see Cat. 8 (4) : 13;
7 :21. One author (Cat. 1:128, 5-6) considered Pythagoras
reputation as an astrologer equal to that of Petosiris or H erm es;
cf. Orphicorum fragmenta, ed. 0 . K ern : 267-296, 1922. On
Pythagoras familiarity with oriental cosmology, s e e P.
Duhem, Le systeme du mondc 1: 5-27, esp. 5 (., Paris. A. H er
mann et Fils, 1913: also E. Frank, Plato und die sogcnannten
Pythagoracer, Halle. M. Niemeyer, 1923. Frank's t h e s i s t h a t
the Pythagorean Philolaus taught a complete astrological s y s t e m
as early as the fifth century B. c. was rightly r e j e c t e d b y BollBezold-Gundel : 90.
=* Pliny, .\rat. H ist. 30. 2. 8; on Osthanes, see F. Cumont and
J. Bidez. Les mages hcllcnises. Zoroastre. Ostancs, et Hystaspc,
2 v., Paris, 1938; also K. Preisendanz in R E 18, 2, 1, 1942: c.
1610-1642.
Aulus Gellius, 15. 20. 2 lias transmitted this legend.
30 Compare A. Delatte, Etudes sur la litterature pythagoricienne, 217. Publ. Bibl. d. Hautcs Etudes. Paris. 1915. About the
relations between Pvthagorean and Orphic circles, see K. Ziegler,
R E 18. 2, 1. 1942: c. 1400-14C4.
11 Compare P. Schnabel. Berossos. 224; on the problem in
general, see F. Boll, Die Erforschung der antiken Astrologie,
Jahrh. f. d. klass. Altertum . 21, 1908: 103-126.
!2 Hippolytus, Elcnchus. 1, 8, <>; compare H. Diels, Die Fragmentc der Vorsokratiker, 1:314; 316; 321. and 384; also 29 ff.
J3 O. eugebauer. The exact sciences . . . . 97; cf. A. Rehm,
Parapegmastudien, Abh. d. Bavcr. Ak Phil.-Hist. Abt., N\ F.
19. 1919 : 22 f.

with other pursuits of the new intelligentsia of Athens.34

At the head of the movement Aristophanes placed
Socrates ( to whom legend subsequently ascribed the
receiving of a Chaldaean's prediction of his future
fate) .35 If Plato can be trusted. Socrates not only
resented the charge of scientific atheism.3* but on occa
sion even worshipped the sun.37 a far cry from the
scientific materialism of Anaxagoras. During the
life-time of Plato (427-347 B . C . ) it would no longer
have been necessary to undertake prolonged voyages to
the O rient in order to acquaint oneself with the evolu
tion of the sciences in that part of the world. Plato
might for example have learned about Chaldaean and
Indian ideas on the immortality of the soul38 without
necessarily ever leaving Greece.39 Long voyages were
of course ascribed to Ijoth Plato and Eudoxus 40 as they
had been to Herodotus or Pythagoras, but it is difficult
to prove actual journeys and their duration.
The whole problem in recent years has undergone a
reappraisal, sometimes from purely extraneous motives.
Simultaneously no fewer than four authors, most of
them unaware of each others activities, have reinvesti
gated P latos alleged oriental voyages. Of these writers
J. Bidez tended to accept the tradition of Plato's travels
in the O rient.41 A. Festugiere showed himself more
sceptical on this point,42 while J. Kerschensteiner in her
doctoral dissertation4* and more recently W . J. W.
Koster have completely denied not only the taking place
of any such travels, but (particularly in the case of
Koster) any oriental influence at all on Plato's phi
losophy.4* This shrill protest of enraged philhellenes
against the contamination of Platonic thought by
oriental ideas was in itself a reaction to more than two
decades of increasing emphasis of the indebtedness of
fifth and fourth century Greeks to oriental religious and
cosmological views. The historical truth undoubtedly
lies somewhere between the two extremes. At any rate
Greek conceit concerning the inferiority of barbarian
cultures may have been less pronounced in scientific
3* Aristophanes. Clouds, esp. vv. 180 ff.
33 A ristotle is the alleged source of this sto ry ; Diogenes
Laertius, 2, 5, 24; F. Cumont, Cat. 8 (4) : 199, n. 1.
3* Plato, Apology. 5; 14.
37 Plato. Symposion, 36.
38 Pausanias. 4. 32, 4.
3* The Persian Mithridates. for example, may have been
among the companions of Plato. He did. indeed, commission a
statue of the great philosopher. Silanion sculpted i t ; Diogenes
Laertius, 3, 25; compare on the matter A. Festugiere. Platon et
l'Orient, R ez\ de Philnlogie. 73. third series, 21, 1947: 9. Until
1939 a copy of this bust was in Berlin.
F or example Strabo. 17. I. 29 (i. 806) ; Diogenes Laertius,
8, 87. The length of the alleged journeys varied from sixteen
months to thirteen years.
J. Bidez, Eos . . . . esp. ch. iii: 21 ff.
*' A. Festugiere, op. c it.: 5-45. esp. 44 f.
* J. Kerschensteiner. Platon und dcr O rien t: 44 ff.; 192 ff.,
Stuttgart. Kohlhaminer. 1945.
W . J. W . Koster, Le mythc de Platon . . ., esp.: 82 ff.

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD
circles than among political orators and social scientists
of antiquity.
Even without personal contact with eastern scholars,
however, the Platonic circle would have had ample
opportunity of familiarizing itself with oriental develop
ments in the realms of astronomy, astrology, and cos
mology. Fanatical philhellenes most recently have of
course denied any serious influence of this kind upon
the Academic group or other contemporary Greek
scholars. They have stressed the Greek contempt ot
barbarian wisdom, characteristic for the declining
era of Greek intellectual development. They are firm
in their ridiculing the tradition ascribing the infiltration
of oriental learning into the Greek world of the fourth
century (and before) through extended travel of Greek
scholars in the near east.45 W hether or not, for ex
ample. Eudoxus of Cnidus (ca. 408-355 B . C . ) , the
greatest mathematician of his time and author of an astrometeorological handbook entitled Phaenomena, owed
his scientific erudition to travel or other contacts with
the O rient49 is immaterial in view of the fact that this
influential member of the Academy (which he joined
after 370 b . c . ) was definitely aware of Mesopotamian
hemerology, probably also of omen-astrology, and per
haps already of fatalistic astrology'. Said Cicero (from
Greek sources) :
Let us now arrive at the performances of the Chaldaeans.
On them Eudoxus, a student of Plato, who according to
the judgment of the most learned men was by far the most
eminent scholar in the field of astrologia. has left his opinion
in writing: One must least of all believe the Chaldaeans
with regard to their detailed prediction of a person's life
on the basis of the day of his birth. 47
Cicero, in using this passage as an introduction to his
scathing attack on astrology as a technique of divina
tion, probably overlooked the fact that in the days of
Eudoxus the word Chaldaean did notas in Cicero's
dayconnote astrologer only, but also the priestly class
of Babylon, or even the population of the area in gen
eral. From the very text itself it is clear that, while
paying due respect to other achievements of the Chal
daeans, Eudoxus took exception only to their predic
tions based on the day of birth. Such predictions may
therefore have been merely the age-old omen astro
logical ones of hemerology. W hether or not Eudoxus
meant to refer to the then new development of horo
scopal astrology cannot be decided on the basis of this
isolated passage. The almost universal assertion there
fore that Eudoxus knew and opposed astrology as such
could safely apply only when the broadest possible
definition of astrology is used. As evidence for a spe
cific knowledge of horoscopal astrology on the part of
See above, ch. i, n. 34.
Compare Aristotle, de caelo 2, 12 (f. 292 A, 7; Strabo, 17.
1, 29 ( f. 806) ; Bidez, Eos . . ., ch. iv; Festugiere, op. cit., 17:
44; Koster, op. cit. : 25 ff.
* Cicero, de divinatione, 2, 87.

Eudoxus the above passage cannot be quoted. Simi

larly the Epinomis, added by the editor of Platos Laws,
probably Philip of Opus,48 does not contain any passage
which would allow us to assume with certaintv that
Plato and his circle had been made familiar with horo
scopal astrology. N or can any conclusions to that effect
be drawn from the fact that another disciple of Plato,
Heraclides of Pontus, was familiar with the arrange
ment of the planets based on their revolutions.
Aristotle, the most illustrious heir of the Platonic
legacy, expressed in his early writings the cosmological
mysticism which characterized the late Academy. His
subsequent drift towards rationalism can be clearly dis
cerned by a comparison of his fragmentary early dia
logue On philosophy with his later treatise On heaven.**
Aristotelian empiricism was not likely to take kindly to
the revelatory character on which much of Mesopo
tamian pre-zodiacal or even of the more recent scien
tific astrology was probably based. Assuredly, how
ever, he did contribute to some extent to the evolution
of some astrological concepts of the future. His em
phasis for example on the importance of the sphere of
the fixed stars would lend some support to subsequent
astrological tenets.5 His acceptance of the geocentric
system may not have necessarily strengthened the scien
tific astrological theory of Hellenistic days, but at least
psychologically, if not scientifically, it helped support it
by asserting our planets singularly important central
position in the universe. Thus it became easier for
astrologers to insist that the fixed stars, as well as the
planets had as one of their chief functions the control
of mundane affairs. Aristotelian teleology and his ac
ceptance of the prevailing theories on comets also were
subsequently used to give weight to astrological claims.51
Altogether it can hardly be doubted that by the middle
of the fourth century b . c . elements of pre-zodiacal and
even of horoscopal astrology' had become known to at
least a number of Greek scholars.
3.

T H E R IS E OF H E L L E N IS T IC ASTROLOGY

The invasion and destruction of the Persian empire

by Alexander the Great (336-323 b . c . ) intensified but
did not inaugurate the cultural exchange between east
and west. Later legend actually went so far as to insist
Diogenes Laertius, 3, 37, stated that Philip finished the Laws.
His authorship of the Eptnomis, asserted by Suidas, is not
uncontested. Philip of Opus was perhaps identical with Philip
of Medma, a disciple of Plato and by him diverted to mathe
m atics ; Proclus, in Euclid . . . I, ed. Friedlein: 67: cf. I.
Thomas, Selections illustrating the history of Greek mathematics,
1: 155.
** W. Jaeger, Aristoteles, esp.: 136 ff.; 156 ff.; 158 f., Berlin,
Weidmann, 1923.
'* Boll-Bezold-Gundel: 21; compare also Cumont-Bidez, Les
mages hcllcnises, 2:247, f. 19, n. 1; of ancient authors, see
Pliny, A'at. Hist. 30, 2, 3; Diogenes Laertius, 1. pr., 8.
51 Aristotle, de meteor. 1, 6; VV. Gundel, RE , 11, 1922: c.
1143 ff.

10

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

that Philip of Macedon and Olympias, the parents of

Alexander, had employed an Egyptian [Wc/] astrologer,
Nectanebos, as earlv as 356 b . c . when their son was
about to Ik - lx>m. a practice not infrequent in subsequent
times with well-to-do parents. Nectanelx>s at the bed
side of queen Olympias advised her to protract the birth
so that her child would be bom at the precise moment
when the most auspicious; constellation possible would
prevail, thus assuring the new-!x>m infant a splendid
future.5- Olympias bravely retarded the birth, hence
guaranteeing the glory which was to be Alexanders.
When he invaded the Persian realm, the Persian
king's diviners were of course hard put to explain
the conquerors successes. The Chaldaeans for instance
shrewdly warned Darius I II that the Persian empire
would fall to those whose arms he had copied. 5S
Inasmuch as Darius had tried to imitate Greek methods
of warfare his fall .could now be satisfactorily accounted
for. W ith the successful conquest of the Persian em
pire the relations between the Chaldaeans and their new
ruler, Alexander, were soon established on a friendly
basis. True to his cosmopolitan ideals, Alexander went
out of his way to woo and cajole the influential priestly
groups throughout his realm. In turn, the Chaldaeans,
at least according to Hellenistic tradition, were willing
to put their divinatory prowess at Alexander's disposal.5*
The common source (from which Diodorus, Pomponius
Mela (middle of the first century a . d.), and A rrian
(second century a . d.) excerpted what apparently had
become by then a standard illustration of Chaldaean
astrological warnings to A lexander)55 emphasized, on
M For an English translation of the Syriac version of PseudoCallisthenes whence the figure of the astrologer Nectanebos
stems, see A. W. Budge, The history of Alexander the Great',
Cambridge, 1889; compare also Ryssel, A rchiv fuer die neueren
Sprachen 90, 1893; A. Hilka. D er Zauberer Neptanebus nach
einem bisher unbekannten E rfurter Text, Festschrift cur Jahrhundertfeier der koeniglichen Uniz'ersitaet su Breslau: 197 and
elsewhere, Breslau, 1911; O. Weinreich, Der Trug des S e k tanebos; Berlin and Leipzig, 1911; F. Boll, Sulla quarta ecloga
di Virgilio, Memorie delle science dell Istituto di Bologna. Cl.
di scienze morali. second series, 5-7, 1920-1923: 1 ff.; Boll-BezoldG undel: 153; 196 f . ; W. Kroll, Alexanders Geburt im Roman.
Hermes 59. 1924 : 474-477. The historical romance of Alexander
is variously ascribed to the late Ptolemaic period or to the first
century of our era. Alexander is blamed for the death of the
astrologer whom the young princeat the age of twelveis said
to have pushed off a wall in order to demonstrate to the scholar
the futility of his astrological craft which had not forewarned "
him of such a fate; compare on this episode A. H . Krappe,
Tiberius and Thrasyllus, Amer. Jour. Phil. 48, 1927 : 359-366,
esp. 363.
Q. Curtius Rufus, 3. 3, 4.
54 They were often referred to as magi; see for example Justinus, 12, 13; Appian, 11, 9, 58; compare E. Tavenner, Studies
> magic from Latin literature: 1 ff., New York, Columbia Univ.
Press. 1916.
Justinus. loc. cit.: Diodorus, 2, 31, 2; 17, 112, 2 ff.; A rrian,
7, 16 f .; Q. Curtius Rufus, 5, 1, 19 and 22. For the friendly
relations between Alexander the Great and oriental priests, see
for instance A rrian, 3, 16, S; 7, 11, 8; cj. E. Komemaim, Die

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W ORLD

the other hand, the conflict between Greek rationalism,

represented by the philosopher Anaxarchus and his
colleagues in Alexander's entourage, and the Babvlonian
priests, who maintained in the very face of the victor
the superiority of their age-old divinatory tech
niques. Diodorus described the scene, probablv fol
lowing Ptolemy I s or Aristobulus account, in great
flourish:

Babylon remained the topic of a standard classroom

recitation."2
A t any rate there can be little doubt that Alexander
and his political heirs received their full share of prophe
cies.6" many of which undoubtedly were made by astrol
ogers.'54 Antigonus for example in his incipient struggle
with his rival, Seleucus, rejoiced when in 316 b . c .
Seleucus fled to Ptolemy:

W hen [A lex an d e r] w as 300 stadies from Babylon the

so-called C haldaeans who have obtained the h ighest rep u
tation in astrology being accustom ed to p redict the fu tu re
on the basis of age-old observations chose from th eir m idst
the oldest and m ost experienced men. because they knew
th rough the prediction of the stars (rUv currtpmv /xavreui?)
th a t the kin g 's death w ould occur in Babylon, an d instructed
[those m en] to reveal to the k in g the d an g e r and to u rg e
him to en ter the city no t a t all. no m a tte r from w hat d ire c
tion. H e m ight, how ever, escape the dan g er, if he w ould
rebuild the tomb of Belus w hich h ad been destroyed by the
P ersian s if he then approached the city on the planned
route.5

B ut then the Chaldaeans came to him and foretold th a t

if he ever let Seleucus escape from his hands, the conse
quence would be th a t all A sia w ould become su b ject to
Seleucus. and th a t A n tigonus him self w ould lose his life
in a battle ag a in st him . . . . A lth o u g h A n tigonus w as a c
custom ed to despise prophecies of this kind on o th er occa
sions. he was not a little troubled a t this time, bein g d is
turbed by the rep u tatio n of the men. F o r they a re reputed
to possess a g re a t deal of experience and to m ake the m ost
ex act observations from the stars."5

Alexander, however, suspected that this was merely

a ruse to prevent him from interfering with their ac
tivities in Babylon.57 Nevertheless he seems to have
changed his route of approach and actually entered the
city from the west.18 More important still, he left the
town without any harm soon afterwards having thus
proved the falsity of the prophecy of the Chaldaeans. 59
Hellenistic romanticism was not satisfied with this. It
dramatized the episode in typical fashion. Thus the
head of the Chaldaean embassy, not daring to speak to
Alexander directly, imparted his warning to the king's
trusted friend, Nearchus, who in turn informed Alex
ander. The Macedonian, greatly perturbed, was unde
cided what to do. Thereupon, Anaxarchus and some
other Greek philosophers successfully prevailed upon
him to shake off this weak-kneed faith in prophecies,
especially Chaldaean ones, observing that if things
were fixed by Fate, they were unknown to mortals, and
if they were dependent upon the course of nature, were
unchangeable. ,l0 Nor can it be surprising that ro
mance and legend endowed Alexander himself eventu
ally with divine, or at least magical powers. This repu
tation became so formidable that the emperor Septimius
Severus ( a . d . 193-211). himself a fervent believer in
astrology, ordered a large collection of magical writings
to be enclosed in Alexander's tomb which he had
opened.*1 Meanwhile for centuries A lexanders scepti
cism concerning the warnings about his entry into
Alexandergeschichte des Koenigs Ptolemaeus von Aegypten,
Leipzig and Berlin. Teubner, 1935.
Diodorus, 17, 112, 2 ff.
57 A rrian, 7, 17, 1 ff.
Loc. cit.
Ibid.. 7, 22. 1.
Justinus, 12, 13; in greater detail Diodorus, 17, 112, 3ff.
Cassius Dio, ep. 76 (75), 13, 2.

I t may be noted that the source of Diodorus mentioned

the general scepticism of Antigonus in order to con
trast it with his worried acceptance of the astrological
warning.
Similarly Antigonus foe. the most successful of the
late Alexanders commanders. Seleucus Nicanor (321281 B.C.), must have pondered whether or not Chal
daean astrologers possessed some strangely accurate
fore-knowledge derived from their observation of the
skies, when he saw the body of his opponent, Antigonus,
prostrate on the battlefield in 301 b . c."6 Seleucus,
moreover, was reported to have consulted Babylonian
astrologers (called magi by our late source of informa
tion in the second century a . d . ) when founding his new
city Seleuceia not far from Babylon. The Chaldaeans
may have feared and rightly that Seleuceia would
eventually eclipse Babylona development which led to
the complete abandonment of the ancient metropolis in
the first century.67 Seleucus asked the magi to name
an auspicious hour for the official founding ceremonies.
H e thus evinced his belief in at least catarchic (from
the Greek aptf beginning) astrology", which did not
consider the influence of constellations as irrevokable,
but merely as favorable or unfavorable to the success
of specific human undertakings under a particular astral
configuration.68
The magi decided to trick the king. They gave him
an unluckv hour as the time to lay the comer-stone.
Had Seleuceia been founded according to their advice

11

it would at least according to astrological opinion

never have developed into the long-lived and flourishing
city as which we know it. Fatalistic astrology as op
posed to its catarchic sister was. however, in this in
stance. brilliantly vindicated."9 Inexplicably, inspired by
a contagious enthusiasm, the workmen suddenly began
building operations prior to the appointed h o u r:
. . . T h e heralds who tried to stop them w ere not able
to do so. . . . Seleucus. being troubled in his mind, again
m ade inquiry of the m agi concerning his city, and they,
h av in g first secured a prom ise of im punity, replied. T h a t
w hich is fated, o king, . . . neith er man no r city can change,
fo r th ere is a fate for cities, as well as for m e n ! 70

The concept that cities like kings and empires had

a predictable future was a logical development of earlier
Mesopotamian omen astrology and hemerology. The
introduction of horoscopal astrology would necessarily
add to those traditional techniques an emphasis on the
constellation of the decisive moment, be it the moment
of conception or birth for human beings, or the official
founding of a new city. Even if the- Seleucus incident
were a later legend, the casting of city-horoscopes at
the end of the Hellenistic era had become a recognized
astrological technique. This was attested by Cicero and
subsequently by Plutarch. They recorded the suc
cessful attempt of L. Tarutius Firmanus. a friend of
both Cicero and Varro, to reconstruct ( !) from the
glorious history of Rome the constellation which must
have prevailed at its official establishment.71 To what
extent the growing interest in stars and constellations
in Hellenistic times became responsible for the coining
of money, bearing planetary or zodiacal symbols, may
be conjectural, but the coinage of Syrian cities72 and
Hellenistic mints, especially the one at A lexandria73 did
produce numerous examples of this type of emblem.
Even the most confirmed sceptic should allow that
purely scientific enthusiasm for astronomy alone would
hardly account for this phenomenon although the direct
connection, if any, between astrology and this numis
matic development still remains to be ascertained.74

Seleucus was destined to found a city which would

prosper.
70 Appian. U, 9, 58; compare Diodorus, 2, 31, 2; BoucheLeclercq : 368, n. 1 doubts with good reason, the authenticity of
this story. For another foundation of Seleucus. the city of
Antioch, we do possess a, much later, natal constellation; com
pare Cat. 9, 2 (1953): 178. The city was allegedly officially
founded on May 22, 300 b . c .; Malalas (3d. Bonn) 8: 209.
71 Cicero, de divinatione 2. 47, 98; Plutarch, Romulus, 12, 3.
*5 Seneca, Suasoriae, 4, dealt with it in detail.
F o r a sample of natal horoscopes of cities, see the horoscopes
A rrian. 7, 18; Diodorus, 2, 31, 2.
of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Gaza. Caesarea. Nepolis
*4 Diodorus, 17, 112, 2 ff.
(in Palestine) in Cat. 9, 2 : 177-179. See also note 74.
05 Ibid. 19, 55, 6ff.
7S Compare F. Cumont. Astrology and religion: 81.
99 Compare for example Diodorus, frgm. 21, 1, If f .; Plutarch,
71 Cf. L. Anson, Xumismata Graeca 6: I f f .; nos. 126 ff.,
Eumcncs, 19, 2.
London. 1916: Saglio-Potter, s.v. zodiactts: 1048; J. Vogt, Die
07 Strabo, 16, 1, 6 (f. 739) ; Cassius Dio. ep., 68, 30. 1.
alexandrinischen Mnensen, 1: 118 ff.. Stuttgart. \V. Kohlhammer,
48 A poem repi Karapxv* by Maximus (of Ephesus( ? ) , fourth
1924, dealt with such coinage in the reign of Antoninus Pius
century a . d.) survives. It gives a good idea of the astrological
(a .d . 138-161). The gradual ascendancy of the sen cult was
characteristics of this superstition. The author ascribed a deci
reflected also in the coinage of the later Roman empire.
sive catarchic influence to the moon; compare F . Bolt, R E 10,
74 The founders of Bagdad, Omar el Tabari and Ibrahim el
1921, s .v . Karapxii, c. 2484; Bouche-Leclercq: 458-511.

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D
VI
Sun.

P A R T S C IE N C E

Zodiac. Aquarius. Aries. Cancer. Oemini.

AND
Lao.

THE

A R T S . A

U r a so p o U * (X m d o n sa ).

*3 3 -

A M I O c k (S * I n c is u d

, a 7.
P ta r ia ).

Places. S agittarius. Scorpio. Taurus.

A le x a n d r ia (E g y p t).

C onstellation.

S ag ittariu s,

A a * t r U < P * p h U * o n ia ) .
,3 3 .

P I. u .

stro n o m y .

Aquarius* 9ifn o f

t o .* 6,

. a , to U i.
, 3o

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

sig n o f

A le x a n d r ia (E g y p t!

E u c a r p e l a ( P h r ? * ,.).

137 > <4>- Alexandria (Egypt).

Fig.

Coins decorated with the sun and various constellations. From L. Anson, Numismata Grncca, pt. 6, pi. ii.

Architecture and painting too l>egan to pay tribute

to the intensified interest in the heavens. The Ptolemies,
in temples like the one at Esna, or the one at Denderah,
reproduced what may be the earliest surviving examples
of Egyptian starmaps. definitely emphasizing the zodi
acal constellations.75 Ptolemy H I (246-221 B.C.), who
may have been the first Ptolemaic ruler responsible for
the reconstruction of the Denderah temple, was in
another instance also credited with setting a fine ex
ample of official Hellenistic gullibility in matters astral.76
He had married Berenice, a first cousin and a young
lady of uncommon energy. She had at first been be
trothed to him by her father. After his death her mother
preferred a match between Berenice and Demetrius, son
of Demetrius Poliorcetes. W hen the fiance arrived at
Cyrene, however, he soon transferred his affections
to his prospective mother-in-law. Berenice thereupon
seems to have been an active participant in the plot
which culminated in the assassination of Demetrius.
This happy event at last enabled her to m arry Ptolemy
I II in 246 b . c. Soon afterwards her husband went off
on a Syrian campaign. The disconsolate bride vowed
to sacrifice her far famed hair if he would only return
safely. H e did, but was furious to find his wife sans
cheveux. Upon hearing her story he called the priests,
who were involved, to account, but they succeeded in
calming the irate monarch. They persuaded him that
the curls had mysteriously vanished from the shrine,
whereupon the astronomer, Conon, quickly chimed in
by announcing to the king that he had discovered in the
skies a new constellation, The hair of Berenice,
which, he claimed, had just appeared between Virgo,
Leo, the Big Dipper, and A rcturus.77 And there every
star-catalogue of our own day still lists this constellation.
A contemporary of Ptolemy III, A ttalus I, had among
his most influential advisers a Chaldaean by the name
of Sudines.78 H e was a Chaldaean diviner (xoA&iuk
/mvtk ) and participated with his royal m aster in the
war against the Galatians (240 b . c.). It is hardly de
niable that Sudines must have mastered astrology as
at least one of his divinatorv techniques.70 The lesser
Hellenistic princes followed the example of the great

13

rulers. Not only the Selettcids. Lagids, Attalids sur

rounded themselves with court astrologers, but for ex
ample the dynasty of a small state like Commagene also
gave ample proof of its belief in astrology. Although
our earliest evidence to that effect belongs to the very
end of the Hellenistic era. i. e. to the first century b . c
the penchant for astrology seems to have been a family
tradition. A relief found in Samosata portrays a con
junction of planets (though without the moon) in Leo.
For a long time this constellation was thought to repre
sent the conception horoscope of King Antiochus I
Epiphanes of Commagene (July 17, 97 B.C.).80 More
recently, however, it has been convincingly shown that
the date depicted was July 6 or 7, 62 b . c . , the corona
tion date of Antiochus I whom Pompev at that time
had reinstated.81 A descendant of Antiochus I, A ka(?)
of Commagene, married the far-famed Alexandrinian
astrologer, Thrasyllus, about sixty years later.82 A
grand-daughter of this couple was to marry the son of
Antiochus IV. the last king of Commagene, probably
during the last years of Nero's reign.83
The interpenetration of east and west which had been
so greatly intensified through Alexander the Greats
conquests was not confined to Macedonian and Greek
kings, officers, soldiers, and settlers who sought their
fortune in Asia and Egypt. In smaller numbers, but
not insignificantly, orientals also migrated, choosing the
Aegean and mainland Greek world as their new domi
cile. The infiltration of eastern ideas, already so notice
able in the age of Plato and Aristotle, was of course not
carried on solely through newcomers from the Orient.
The founder of Stoicism, Zeno, coming to Athens from
Cyprus on the very frontier of the two worlds, incor
porated in his philosophy important oriental ideas,
including for example the fundamental belief in pre
destination. Not only man, but the universe and every
thing in it were assumed to move according to the
preconceived and immutable laws of Fate (alias Nature).
The rise of Stoicism in the Greek world greatly facili
tated the growth of Hellenistic faith in the science of
fatalist astrology. The first oriental apostle according
to Graeco-Roman tradition was a Babylonian priest,
who left Mesopotamia to settle on the Greek island of
Cos. long famous for its school of medicine. His name
was Berossus.
He was credited with revealing to the Greek world
the hitherto secret priestly astrology of Babylonia.84
He was further said to have established a veritable
school of astrology at Cos,85 whence this craft then

Habib, the earliest Arabic w riter on astrology, may have

followed Graeco-Roman custom when founding Bagdad at an
"au sp icio u s moment; Suter, Die M athcmatiker und Astronotnen dcr Araber: 3, n. 1; 7, Leipzig, Teubner, 1900.
;s See Bertha P orter and Rosalind Moss, Topical bibliography
of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic texts . . , 6 : 118 f.. Oxford.
Clarendon Press, 1939; O. Neugebauer, The exact sciences . .
82 ff.; esp. 84 f.
A Latin version of Callimachus work was composed by
Cf. Bouche-Leclercq : 439.
Catullus (66). For an excellent modern presentation of the
" O. Neugebauer and H. B. van Hoesen, no(-61) of their
famous story, see L'. v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorf. Rcdcn and
forthcoming edition of Greek horoscopes.
Vortracyc 1; 197 ff.. Berlin, Weidmann, 1925.
3 E. Honigmann, Zu CIG 4730, Hermes 59, 1924 ; 477 f.
77 Justinus. 26, 3 ff.
See below, the family trees, pp. 95 and 136.
78 See W. Kroll. R E . 2. Reihe. 4. 1. 1931 : c. 563.
Josephus, contra Apionem, 1, 129.
70 His astronomical prowess was widely and lastingly acclaimed.
85
Vitruvius, de arcliitectura, 9, 6. Schwarz, R E 3, 1899: c.
Almost four hundred years later Vettius Valens still used his
309, no. 4, is unduly sceptical about th is; compare P. Schnabel,
lunar tables; Antholoyiac, 9, 11; ed. K roll: 35. 4.

14

T H E R IS E AN D T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

spread to the far corners of the Graeco-Roman world.

Berossus unquestionably was a man of considerable
intelligence and learning. One may discard the legend
which made him the father of the prophetic Sibyl, yet
Plinv the Elder could report that Athens had honored
Berossus with a golden-tongued statue on account of
his divine prophecies. 36 On more substantial grounds,
however, rests his reputation as a historian. T rue to
what he seems to have considered his mission to impart
to the Greeks the wisdom of his ancient homeland
he wrote about 280 b . c . a tripartite history of his
country, the Babyloniaka. Often mistakenly referred to
as the Cltaldaika. the work was dedicated to the Seleucid
Antiochus I, son of Seleucus Nicator. The ancients
seem to have considered this a thorough and scholarly
work on Mesopotamian history. The elder Plinv,
Flavius Josephus, Alexander Polyhistor, as well as
Christian fathers like Tatian and Eusebius, were among
the grateful perusers of the Babyloniaka.
About a generation later another Babylonian, the al
ready mentioned Chaldaean diviner Sudines, spent much
of his time in Pergamum, capital of Attalus I, and not
far from Cos. Inasmuch as we have ample testimony
to the astronomical achievements of Sudines his lunar
tables survived for centuriesST there can be little
doubt that his reputation as a diviner (/idyri<s) was
largely due to his use of astronomical knowledge for
astrological purposes. Like Berossus he too was far
from being narrowly specialized. H is commentary of
A ratus Phaenomena38 would still belong to the general
sphere of astronomical philology. But more than three
hundred years later the elder Pliny included Sudines
also among his authorities for the nature and properties
of pearls and precious stones like onyx, crystals, amber,
chrvsophal, and astolos.aa He must, therefore, also have
written a lapidary. An interest in the natural and super
natural properties of precious stones was not infrequent
among astrologers. Thus, Tiberius friend, the astrolo
ger Thrasyllus, for example, has also been credited with
a lapidary.90
Men of such calibre would cast long shadows across
the Greek world. Even if Berossus was neither the
first nor the only Babylonian to reveal the details of
his priestly knowledge of horoscopal astrology to his
Bi-rossos, 1923; F. X. Kugler, Sternkunde und Stem dienst in
Babel, 2, 2: 603-630, Muenster, 1924.
* Pliny, N at. H ist. 7, 37, 123.
'S e e Vettius Valens (ca. a . d . ISO), Antliologiae, 9, 11.
E. Maass. A ra tca : 140 and 143.
Pliny, N at. Hist. 9, 56, 115; 36, 7, 59 ; 37, 2, 25; 2. 34;
6. 90; 8. 114. W . Kroll. R E . 2. Reihe. 4, 1, 1931; c. 563, rightly
suggested that probably a good deal more of Sudines might be
discovered in Plinys w o rk ; cf. Schnabel, Bcrossos: 130 and 132;
Oder in Susemihl, Gcsch. d. alex. Litt., 1: 861.
'* Compare H. Martin, Recherches sur les quatre personnages
appeles Thrasyllus, Annali di science mathematiche, 8. 185 :
458 ff. W. Gundel. R E , 2. Reihe, 6, 1, 1936: c. 581, no. 7, esp.
c. 583.

Greek contemporaries, his name was the first one

associated with such a trend. Two of his disciples in
astrology were, according to Vitruvius, Antipatrus and
Achinapolus.01 No trace of their writings seems to have
survived, but we know at least one of the astrological
tenets which they advocated: the moment usually con
sidered decisive by horoscopal astrologers was the one
of birth. Scientific logic, however, began to insist that
the moment of conception was the truly decisive one.
although, of course, in practice it could be determined
only hypothetically. Practical difficulties, however, did
not faze the two disciples of Berossus. For they were
ardent champions of the conceptionist theory. T hat on
occasion during that era astrological practice actually
used this method also is shown by a cuneiform horo
scope now in the British Museum. Compiled at the
very time when Antipatrus and Achinapolus joined the
conceptionist faction, it represents a compromise, using
both March 17, 258 b . c . , the hypothetical date of con
ception, as well as December 15, 258 b . c . , the actual
time of birth.92
N ot only horoscopal astrology, but also its older
sister, hemerology, may have been taught at Cos.03 and
a number of Greek tenets on the subject have survived.94
The earliest Greek astrologer of whose writings at least
fragments have come down to us was Critodemus, who
was said to have derived his knowledge directly from
Mesopotamian sources.95 perhaps from Berossus him
self. He may therefore have been a contemporary of
Antipatrus and Achinapolus, flourishing approximately
between 290 and 250 b . c . H e was definitely believed
to have been one of the pioneers of astrology in the
Hellenistic world. For Vettius Valens (ca. a . d . 150)
blamed him for being, like other pioneers, too cryptic.96
Firmicus M atem us (ca. a . d . 335) included him with
a wildly assorted group of legendary fathers of astrol
ogy, for example Hermes, Orpheus, Abraham, Petosiris, and Nechepso.97 But the caution necessary with
regard to the assigning of passages to early astrologers
by later Greek compilers was again demonstrated re
cently in the case of a fragment ascribed to Critodemus
by Vettius Valens (second century a . d . ) or a copying
scribe. I t contained a number of horoscopes which, if
,l Vitruvius, de architcctura, 9, 6, 2. V. Rose suggested that
Achinapolos should read Athenodoros, a Stoic, but our three
best mss. clearly say Achinapolos; Riese, R E , 1, 1894: c. 245.
MB rit. Mus. Rm. IV 224, publ. by F. X. Kugler, op. cit., 2,
2:558-562, Muenster, 1924; J. Schaumberger, ibid., 3rd Erg.,
pi. 7, no. 14; the dates recomputed by A. J. Sachs of Brown
University.
* Herondas. 3. 54; cf. Boll-Bezold-Gundel: 96.
** F or example, Papyri graecae magicac. ed. and tr, Preisendanz, 1928.
,I1 Pliny, N at. Hist., 7, 57, 193; cf. Boll, RE , 11, 1922; c. 1928,
no. 4, c. 1930.
** Vettius Valens. Anthologiac, ed. K ro ll: 301, 27; compare
150, 22. In this text the name of Critodemus occurs first on 142.
*7 Firmicus Matemus, Mathesis, *. t>r.

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD
actually from the pen of Critodemus, would be the
earliest Greek horoscopes extant. They have, however,
been computed by O. Neugebauer and stem from the
years a . d . 87-115!98
Two of Critodemus astrological treatises are known
by name and partly by content. One, the Horasis
(V ision), was composed in the popular form of this
type of hellenistic literature. Like most hermetic writ
ings the Horasis purported to reveal a divine visionary
message.99 Since its synopsis has been found.100 it has
become clear that, among others, Vettius Valens (ca.
a .d . 150) and the astrologer, Rhetorius (who wrote
ca. a .d . 500), both knew that treatise and borrowed
heavily from it.101 The other known work of Crito
demus was entitled Pinax. It was mentioned as late
as the fourth century a. d. by the astrologer, Hephaestion of Thebes.102
Another important figure that might well belong to
the same generation of Hellenistic pioneers of astrology
was Apollonius of Mvndus (fl. 225 b . c.? ).103 His views
on comets were said to be derived from oriental con
cepts and in any case exercised an important influence
upon Greek and Roman tradition.104 The time to which
he belonged is uncertain. An earlier suggestion that he
was a contemporary of Seneca and thus lived in the age
of Nero ( a . d. 54-68)105 has been seriously questioned
in the light of recently found evidence which tends to
support the belief that Apollonius of Mvndus flourished
in the third century b . c., not long after Berossus.106
Similarly uncertain is the date of another hellenistic
astrologer. Epigenes of Byzantium. He also claimed
* The horoscopes, ascribed to Critodemus in another manu
script of Vettius Valens work (Cat., 5 (2 ): 120f.), are also
found in Krolls edition of the Antliologiae. The ascription may
be of long standing. F o r an extant synkephalaiosis of a work of
Critodemus lists a chapter on horoscopes which presumably
would be the source of Vettius Valens Critodemian horoscopes;
Cat. 8 (3) : 102. Unfortunately, however, the horoscopes in the
Anthologiac, supposedly taken from Critodemus' work, have
shown themselveson computation by O. Neugebauerto refer
to constellations which occurred only about three hundred years
atfer the time of Critodemus.
** Vettius Valens, Anthologiac 3, 12: 150. ed. Kroll. and 9. p r .:
329, 18, ed. Kroll. On the mystic tendencies of the work, com
pare F. Cumont, Le mysticisme astral dans lantiquite, Bullet.
Ac. Bclg., 1909 : 256-286.
100 Printed from cod. Paris, gr. 2425 in Cat.. 8 (3) : 102.
101 Vettius Valens, 4, 17: 189-200, ed. K ro ll; for Rhetorius see
Cat. 8 ( 1 ) : 257 ff.; 8 (4) : 162, n. 1; 199 and a 1; 270 (.index).
103 Hephaestion, 2, 10; see Cat.. 8, 2: 64, n. ad lineam 24. On
various aspects of Critodemus theories, see F. Boll. R E 7. 1912,
s. v. hebdomas, 1912: 11. 1922: c. 1928, no. 4; Zur babylonischen
Planetenforschung, Zcitschrift fuer Assyriologtc, 25. 1911: 372;
28, 1913 : 340 f.
1,1 O. Neugebauer, The exact scicnccs: 183. suggests about
200 B. c.
144 Seneca, quaestiones naturales 7, 17. 1; also 4, 1; Cat.. 1: 80,
8; 113, n. 1; compare F. Cumont, R E , 2, 1896: c. I ll , no. 114;
W. Gundel. R E , 11, 1922: c. 1143-1193.
F. Boll, Sphaera: 368, Leipzig, Teubner, 1903.
1M W . Kroll, R E , suppl. 5. 1931: c. 115.

15

to have studied directly under the Chaldaeans 107 and

has. therefore, been considered by some as a disciple
of Berossus himself.108 More recently a somewhat later
period, approxim ately 200 b . c . . 109 has been suggested
for him. This date has been arrived at largely on evi
dence that he was apparently a younger contemporary
of Apollonius of Mvndus.110
The writings of these early Hellenistic astrologers
were largely theoretical and speculative. They did not
normally lend themselves to popular usage with suffi
cient ease to survive in other but fragmentary form.
Other important fragments of early Greek texts have
reached us without the name of their authors. Works
of this kind included for example the most popular
astrological handbooks of antiquity. The fictitious, usu
ally Egyptian, names of their authors, assigned to a
hoary past, fanned the dispute about the priority of
Mesopotamia or Egypt as the cradle of scientific as
trology. An educated layman like Pliny bypassed the
question by simply recording that some considered Atlas,
others Mesopotamian, still others Egyptian sages as the
inventors of astrologia,111 but scholars would never be
satisfied with such a pragmatic approach. The priority
of Mesopotamia, once unchallenged, came to be con
tested in Hellenistic times, and especially in the Roman
era. largely because Hellenistic astrology in its almost
explosive evolution found in Egypt a far more sympa
thetic atmosphere and a more fertile climate than in
Mesopotamia.
The hermetic literature pouring out of Egypt after
the beginning of the third century b . c . strengthened the
arguments of those who ascribed to Egypt, if not the
priority, at least an evolution of astrology parallel with
that which had taken place in Mesopotamia. There
may still be surprises ahead of us in regard to the dis
covery of such early Hellenistic texts,112 but funda
mentally the Mesopotamian priority claim seems even
more definitely established today than in antiquity. That
107 Seneca, quacst. natur. 7, 4, 1.
I0* Bouche-Leclercq: 575.
l0* Rehm. R E , 1909,6: c. 05 f. He sees in Epigenes Varro's
source for Pliny the Elder and Censorinus (de die natali, 17, 4).
Rehm also ascribes the spreading of Epigenes teachings to
Posidonius (ca. 100 B.C.), through whom Aetius obtained his
reference to Epigenes; Doxographi gracci, ed. D iels: 224 f.,
Berlin. Reimer, 1879.
ll* This is to be inferred from Seneca, qu. nat. 7, 4, 1.
1,1 Pliny, Nat. Hist. 7, 57, 203. Pliny speaks of Atlaos.
118 W. Gundel. for example, found in the Bodleian Library a
Latin translation of a Greek hermetic work dating back perhaps
to the third century B. c . ; see his Neue astrologische Texte des
Hermes Trismegistus. Abhandl. d. Bayer. A k. d. IViss., Phil.hist. Abt.. N. F., 12, Muenchen. 1936. O. Neugebauer, The exact
scicnccs : <>8-70. discusses its star-catalogue. On hermetic astrol
ogy in general compare Scott, Hermes Trismcgistos, esp. 3: 177,
225. 363-368. 518 ff., 1926; also A.-J. Festugiere, La revelation
d'Hermes Trismegiste, 1: L astrologie et les sciencej occultes,
Paris, Librairie Lecoffre, J. Gabalda et Cie editeurs, 1944; and
together with A. Nock his French translation of philosophical
hermetic texts (2 v.. Paris, 1945).

16

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

cuneiform writing died out about a . d . 75 may have

contributed in later Roman times to the obscuring of
Mesopotamia's importance, while, on the other hand,
Egyptian demotic horoscopes (side bv side with Greek
ones ) at that very time reached the peak of their short
lived popularity, which was apparently confined mainly
to the first half of the principate. i. e. from Augustus
(d. a . d . 14) to Hadrian ( d . a . d . 138).115 Unless this
evidence is misleading, it would show that it took Egyp
tians a long time after introduction of the GraecoBabvlonian zodiac into the Nile valley to apply it to
horoscopal astrology. Moreover these demotic papyri
relied on computation from tables, not on actual observa
tions.114 A recently published translation 115 ot a demo
tic astrological papyrus stemming from Roman times
may illustrate the nature of such m aterial:

other matters than affairs of state or events of nation

wide economic ini]>ortance, and this long after cuneiform
astrological writings had already begun to develop
personalized " astrology.
Altogether, in spite of some recent agitation to the
contrary.11 the pendulum of prevailing opinion has
firmly swung back to the recognition of Mesopotamian
priority in the development of horoscopal astrology.117
The large number of pre-zodiacal astrological tablets in
the possession of the British Museum alone has no
known counterpart for that or even a later Egyptian
period. There can be no denying, on the other hand,
that in Hellenistic times the importance of Egypt as a
center of astrological studies far exceeded that of Meso
potamia. The raging debate whether for example one
of the most influential astrological manuals of Hellenistic
times was of Mesopotamian or Egyptian origin, may
(1)
The influences of Sothis [i.e. Sirius] If it rises illustrate the controversy. The text in question is a
when the moon is in Sagittarius; . . . grain in the field . . .
(2) in the country of the Syrian. . . . death will occur . . . work, variously entitled Salmeschoiniaka, Salmeschwill abound in weakness by night and day . . . will (3) niaka, or Salmesachanaka.lli W eird hypotheses have
tried to assign this book, surviving only in Greek frag
go . . . and he [it] will be tilled.
If it [Sothis] rises when Saturn is in Sagittarius: The ments, to Mesopotamian sources.11* Philologicallv, how
king [will] fight . . . of his and he will . . . (4) prince in ever, there can be very little doubt about the Egyptian
Egypt. Pharaoh . . . will go to . . . The inundation will
come to Egypt . . . (5) will occur in the country of the origins of this work, although the date of its earliest
version,120 which Gundel suggested, cannot possibly be
Parthian.
If it [Sothis] rises when Jupiter is in Sagittarius: The correct.
king of Egypt will rule over his (6) country. An enemy
A longish fragment possibly related to the Salmeschwill be [his and] he will escape from them again. Many niaka (and perhaps a second one of this type) was
men will rebel against the king. An inundation which is found about half a century ago.121 Its Greek text con
proper is that which comes to (7) Egypt. Seed (and)
grain will be high as to price (in) money, which is . . . . tained certain definitely Egyptian elements. The primi
The burial of a god will occupy in Egypt. (8) . . . [will tive character of this type of literature122 is shown by
come] up to Egypt and they will go away again.
an excerpt chosen at random:
If it [Sothis] rises when Mars is in Gemini: (9) Some
ll* W. Gundel in particular was a valiant champion of Egypt
men will rebel [against the king of] Egypt in the country
of the Syrian. The king will proceed to them (10) with in this battle.
111 O. Neugebauer, The exact sciences: 95.
his army. He will fight. The sky abundant with rain will
111 The problematic nature of this work is debated in several
not be able to [occur] in the country of the Syrian (11)
writings of F. Boll, for instance in his Salmeschoiniaka
. . . distress for five months.
(A nfrage), Zeitschrift fuer aegyptische Sprache 39, 1901: 152 f . ;
If it [Sothis] rises when Venus is in Gemini: . . . (13)
The king will do a good thing for Egypt. . . . come at the Sphaera: 378; and together with C. Bezold in Eine neue
end of this year . . . judgment (14) of Sachmet will babylonisch-griechische Parallele (zu Berossos), Aufsaetse :ur
Kultttr- und Spracltgcschichte vornehmlich des Orients, Ernst
occur after . . . months. . . .
[If it [Sothis] rises when] Mercury is in Gemini. The Kuhn geuridmet: 226-235. Breslau, 1916; compare Pieper in
whole earth will . . . (18) Grain will be high as to price Orientalische Literaturzeitung, 1927: c. 1048, and ibid., 1928:
c. 187; R. Eisler. The royal art of astrology: 128 f . : W. Kroll,
[(in) money . . . ] . . . .
If it [Sothis] rises [when the sun] is in Sagittarius. R E , suppl. 5, 1931: c. 843-846; W. Gundel, Dekane: 86 and n. 1,
1936; compare F. Cumont. L'Egyptc des astrologues, 1937:14,
(19) The king of Egypt will do . . . in . . .

The character of these post-zodiacal astrological tenets

is strongly reminiscent of the much earlier prezodiacal
Mesopotamian hemerological or star-omen forecasts.
The above demotic text, although written during the
principate, still was wholly devoid of any reference to
113 O. Neugebauer, The exact sciences: 85.
114 Loc. cit.; for literature on demotic papyri, especially on
astrological ones, see G. R. Hughes. A demotic astrological text.
Jour. S c a r Eastern Studies 10 ( 4) Oct. 1951: 256 ff., esp. n. 1-12.
113 Hughes, op. cit.: 253 f. The papyrus is in the Egyptian
museum at Cairo (pap. Cairo 31222). but is very badly pre
served. Hence the many lacunae.

n. 1.
" F o r a specimen see R. Eisler, op. c it.: 128 f.
120 W . Gundel. D ekane: 27. The date suggested on page 92
in a stemma is conjectural and apparently much too early.
1=1 Pap. Oxyrh., ed. Grenfell and H unt, 3, 1912: 126 ff.; see
also the partial ed. and tr. by F. Boll in A. Laudien. Griechische
Papyri aus Oxyrhynchus, 1912: 44; Sudhoff, Iatromathematisches
auf Papyrusblaettern, Archiv fuer die Geschichte der Naturziissenschaftcn 11, 1909 : 471 ff.: a German tr. in W . Gundel,
D ekane: 413 f .; compare his Individualschiksal, Menschentypen
und Berufe in der antiken Astrologie, Jahrbuch der Charakterolot/ie. ed. E. Utitz. 4, 1927: 135-193. esp. 176 ff.
123 The lack of many of the later hermetic trimmings in the
Salmeschoiniaka was already criticized by Jamblichus in the
fourth century of our era; de mysteriis Aegypt., 8, 4, ed.
H o p tn er: 342.

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O RLD
T h e L ord of Flam e. H is im age is an u p rig h t statu e of
a m an w ith the face of a . . . tow ards the back, how ever, th a t
of a piglet having a snout in fro n t of its lace. H a v in g
sw ords in his hands, four, and a knife. H is tongue and
the face of fire. H e indicates th a t this period makes m any
find th e ir livelihood as advocates, others as w izards, m am
as singers of gods and kings, and m any as tra n slato rs of
languages and m any in- . . . ed and from place to place
m ig ratin g and men ea rn in g much w ithout labor n o r w orry
how it was earned . . . a re eaten up. M any, how ever, also
consum e the substance of o thers. H e makes m any passive
hom osexuals and m any cohabiting w ith their aunts and
stepm others so as to debauch them. . . .

The hermetic character of the Salmescliniaka was

widely imitated by subsequent writers on astrology.125
The Horasis of Critodemus has already been mentioned.
Revelations of Hermes to august listeners seem to have
been among the most popular type of pseudoscientific
and philosophical literature.124 Asclepius himself on
occasion was named as one of those who had received
divine revelations of this kind, the same Asclepius. who
was the first formally imported foreign deity of Rome.12'
In the realm of astrological manuals the most popular
of all of them was couched in hermetic form. W riting
between 200 and 150 b . c., its anonymous author bor
rowed from the Salmeschniaka, a fact well known to
ancient authors in this field.12 The work went under
the authors nom de plume, Petosiris. He claimed as a
priest to have received the contents through a revela
tion from Nechepso, an Egyptian, who in turn allegedly
had been the beneficiary of divine revelations on the
subject. A king named N echepso127 was, indeed, by
133 An interesting example of this kind of astrological litera
ture is a letter, supposedly addressed by H arpocration to the
emperor, Augustus, but more probably w ritten half a century
later and addressed to Claudius or N ero; see F. Cumont, Ecrits
hermetiques, I I : Le medecin Thessalus et les plantes astrales,
Rez-ue de Philologie 42, 1918 : 85-108; also his Lettre de Thes
salus (Pseudo-H arpocration), Comptes rcudus de VAcademic
des Inscriptions 1918: 225 f . ; compare Cat. 8 (3) : 135 f . ; 8 (4) :
235 f . ; S. Reinach, Hermes 25, 1900 : 367 : compare PietschmannPagel. Handbuch dcr Geschichte der Mcdtzin 1: 335.
134 Cat. 5 (1) : 118; 5 (3) : 140; 7: 87; Bouche-Leclercq: 556;
576-578; F. Boll. Aus der Offenbarung Johannis. Stoichcia 1:
4 ff., Leipzig und Berlin. 1914 ; R. Reitzenstein, Hellenistischc
Mystcricnrcligioncn, 3rd ed., Leipzig. Teubner, 1927; also his
Poimandrcs, Leipzig, Teubner. 1904; cf. Boll-Bezold-Gundel:
97; and especially A.-J. Festugiere. La revelation d Hermes
Trismegiste 1: L'astrologie et les sciences occultes, Paris. 1944,
esp. ch. i-iv for hermetic literature, and ch. v ff. for astrological
hermetic texts. F or a list of some of these writings, compare
L. Thorndike and P. Kibre. Catalogue of hicipits, 1937: c. 850 f.
Much work remains to be done in this field.
l~s See below, p. 45.
I3 Hephaestion of Thebes (quoting the physician-astrologer
A ntigonus), 2, 18 (Cat. 8 (2) : 86, 34-87. 12: compare 8 ( 1 ) :
16 f.) ; German tr. in W. Gundel, Dekane. 412.
127 Manetho, Aegyptiaca. ed. and tr. W. G. Waddell, frgm. 68
(from Syncellus) named Nechepso as the second ruler of that
dynasty and allotted to him a reign of six years. In trgm. 69<i
and 69b an Ethiopian kin", Ainmeris, heads the list, consequently
relegating Nechepso to the third place in the sequence of rulers
of the twenty-sixth dynasty.

17

the Hellenistic historian Manetho 128 listed among the

rulers of the twenty-sixth dynasty (663-522 B.C.).
There is no shred of real evidence.129 however, that this
king, Nechepso. ever dabbled in astrology or that in
his reign Babylonian astrology had permeated Egypt.
Nevertheless it has been suggested 13,1 that the fictitious
priest Petosiris may have actually used some sixth
century n. c. Egyptian m anuscripts!
The search for the real author of the manual which
became so popular with Greek and Roman astrologers
may still produce some surprising results. In 1920 for
instance the tomb of a high priest of Toth (whom the
Greeks identified with Hermes) was discovered near
Hermo[>olis. City of Hermes. The high priests
name was Petosiris. He lived in the fourth century,
prior to the Hellenistic era.131 Inevitably the opinion
was advanced that he might have been the author of
the famous astrological work.132 Was he not associated
with the very divinity whose prophecies and alleged
revelations formed the bulk of the vast hermetic
literature of Hellenistic times? Indeed, some hymns to
the Sun were found on the walls of his tomb.133 Yet a
more cautious view has come to prevail.1X4 The dead
high priest demonstrably enjoyed a considerable post
humous reputation as a worker of miracles. Many
flocked to his tomb. Some left their graffiti. That may
have been the reason why in the second century b . c .
the astrologer Petosiris intentionally utilized the
popularity of the old high priest to boost the sales o f
his new book.185
The extant fragments and they are amazingly numer
ous of the Nechepso-Petosiris treatise in any case d o
not antedate the second century b . c . According t o t h e
astrologer Antiochus, who lived in the second century
a . d ., the mathematicus Timaeus ( ca. first century a . d . ) ,
considered Nechepso together with Hermes as o n e
of the earliest astrological authors136 (of the Hellenistic
133 Ed. A. Koechlv, Leipzig, 1858: compare F. Boll, Carminis
astrologi Manethoniani tragmenta novaOperis astrologici de
planetis fragmentum, Papiri della Socicta Italiana 3: Iff-,
Florence.
13 Manetho, Apotelesmata 6 : v. 738: dated by R. Garnett;
see G arnett and Downing. On the date of the 'A*w\Tiira
of Manetho, Jour. Philol. 23. 1894 : 238-240; W. Kroll, R E 14. 1,
1928: c. 1102, no. 2, c. 1106; compare ibid.. 14, 2. 1942: c. 2582.
Kroll erred in believing the period of about a . I). 100 to be too
early. One of Manethos chief sources was Nechepso; see Cat.,
7: 178; 5 (2) : 143; 8 (4) : 131 f. and index: 271.
130 W. Gundel. Dekane : 92.
131 On the date, see Wreszinski, Schriftcn dcr Koenigsberger
gelchrten Gesellschajt 4. 1927: 2. About the discovery itself,
G. Lefebure. Annales du service daiitiqiiitcs dc IEgypte 20: 41
and 207.
133 Spiegelberg, Eine neue Spur des Astrologen Petrnsiris,
Sitzungsbcrichtc dcr Akadcmie Heidelberg, no. 3, 1922: 1 ff.
133 G. Lefebure, Le tombcau dc Petosiris 1: 95 ff., Paris. 1924.
134 Ib id : 9.
133 Compare Pieper. R E 16, 2, 1925 : c. 2160-2167.
138 Cat. 8 (3) : 116. 9-11; compare Kroll. R E . suppl. 4. 1924:
c. 32. no. 68, c. 33: suppl. 5, 1931 : c. 2: F. Cumont. Antiochus

18

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

period). Riess published magical and astrological frag

ments of Nechepso-Petosiris about fifty years ago.137
Meanwhile, numerous additional excerpts by later astrol
ogers have come to light, making a new edition highly
desirable. Among others. Vettius Valens and Antiochus
(both second century a . d . ) . as well as Thessalus (first
century a . d . ) used the work extensively.138 So great
was the fame of the mysterious author that he was
often simpiv referred to as Nechepso or Petosiris
(or Petosiris and Nechepso ). Frequently the two
were simply called the ancients or the Egyptians.
The gradual transformation of astrology from a quasi
religious to a quasi-scientific discipline in hellenistic
times raised inevitably the question on what basis the
alleged physical influence of the stars and constellations
had been established. Revelation satisfied the religious
as it had appealed to astrologys earliest devotees. F or
rationalists, however, scientific observations over ex
tended periods now were claimed to have furnished the
proof for the particular influence of each star or
constellation. Fantastic figures were quoted. Berossus,
for example, was said to have spoken of 432,0001,8
or even 468,000 years,140 a figure close to the round
number of 470,000 years mentioned by Cicero,141 or
the 473,000 years reported by Diodorus.142 Epigenes
of Byzantium insisted that the Babylonians had tablets
for 730,000 years of astronomical observations against
the more modest 490,000-year period apparently sug
gested by his contemporary, Critodemus.14* Finally,
towards the end of antiquity, Simplicius calmly stated
that Chaldaean observations had extended over more
than 1,440,000 years.144 These fantastic figures con
trasted sharply with the report of the luckless Callisthenes, a relative of Aristotle, executed for Use majeste
dAthenes et Porphyre, Melanges . . J- Bides, Annuatre de
Philologie orientate 2, 1934: 135-156; compare Cat. 8 (3) : 111,
n. 2.
13T Wechepsonis fragmento magica, diss., Bonn, 1890; Neckepsonis et Petosiridis fragmenta magica, Philologus, suppl. 6,
1894: 325-394.
See F. Boll, Sphaera: 372 f.; 144, n .; 146. n .; Boll-BezoldGundel : 23 f .; Darmstadt, de Xechepsonis-Petosiridis isagoge
quaestiones, diss.. Breslau. 1916; W. Kroll. Aus der Geschichte
der Astrologie, .Wit* J ahrbnecher fuer das klassische Altertum ,
7, 1907 : 559-583: F. Cumont, Babylon und die griechische
Astronomie, ibid. 27, 1911: 1-10. On Thessalus see above, n. 123.
Boll came to the conclusion that the latest date at which the
compilation of Nechepso-Petosiris could have been written
was prior to 146 b . c. The more recent suggestion of Eisler
(op. cit.: 193 f.) that in view of the risings of Sirius listed in
the work for the month of Epiphi a date after 132 b . c. was more
likely cannot convince.
13* Fraam. yracc. hist. 2 : 499.
1,0 Ibid. : 510.
141 Cicero, dc ditinatioue 1, 19. 36.
l4! Diodorus, 2, 31. 9.
141 Pliny, A'at. Hist. 7, 57, 193 (also 160) : Censorinus, de die
natali, 17. 4.
144 in Arist. de caelo comment. 1, 3, ed. I. L. Heiberg, Berlin,
Prussian Academy, 1894: 117, 26 f.

by Alexander the Great. Possibly 31,000 years,145 but

more reasonably 1900 years before Alexander were
mentioned as the figures which Callisthenes had received
from Mesopotamian scholars.148
Nevertheless. Egyptian astrologers in Hellenistic days
were, of course, not willing to concede priority in m at
ters astrological to their Mesopotamian rivals. They
claimed for the Nile valley equally impressive periods
of scientific observation of astral influences on human
affairs. From a relatively modest 48,863 y ears147 up
to 400.000 years 148 or even 630,000 years 149 did Egyp
tian tradition ascribe to such activities. Lay folk
thus were assured by both Egyptian, as well as Meso
potamian astrologers of a supposedly solid rational
basis of the extravagant claims made by these pseudo
scientists. It may seem incredible today, but m ust be
accepted on the basis of historical evidence, that even
the most profound scientists of antiquity, men like
Hipparchus and Ptolemy, as well as Galen, were firmly
convinced of the scientific validity of astrology, although
they might well doubt some of its tenets.
I t can be said with reasonable certainty that Greek
contacts with oriental hemerology and rudimentary as
trology (including astrometeorology) dated back at
least to the sixth century b . c . Thereafter the fifth and
fourth centuries witnessed a slow increase of Greek
familiarity with oriental developments in this field.
Towards the middle of the fourth century, however,
Greek intellectuals rapidly acquired a more profound
knowledge of astrological theory and practice. Between
300 and 150 b . c . Hellenistic scholars finally gave horo
scopal astrology its ultimate refinement. The emergence
of Egypt as the most important center of astrological
activities in the Hellenistic era obscured the preceding
long and solid Mesopotamian contributions. A svncretistic complex of astrological literature, hermetic as
well as scientific, now widened immeasurably the
possibilities of applying astrological techniques to every
field of human endeavor. Not only the individual human
being, but also the separate parts of the body were now
scientifically connected with astral influences. Stones,
plants, and animals, as well as any human undertaking
were credited with astral affinities. The mass of devo
tees, however, always preferred the mystical revelatory
explanation of astrology, given in writings like the
145 Ibid. 2, 12, ed. H eiberg: 506, 13-15. Simplicius quotes
Porphyry as his source. Proclus, in Plat. Timaeum comment.,
ed. Diehl, 1: 100, 29 f. (f. 31), Leipzig, Teubner, 1903, quotes
Hipparchus (ca. 160 B, c.) to the effect that such observations
had been continued for 270,000 years, and adds that Jamblichus
moreover credited the Chaldaeans with having acquired during
this period a complete knowledge concerning the seven lords
of the universe ( noanoicpiToptt).
14,1 Simplicius, in Arist. de caclo comment. 2: f. 123.
147 Diogenes Laertius, 1.
2.
118 M artianus Capella. 8: t. 812.
141 Simplicius, in Arist. de caelo comment. 1, 3, ed. H eiberg117, 25 f.

Salmeschniaka or a manual like that of NechepsoPetosiris. Nevertheless, there also developed a dif
ferent kind of astrological literature, trying to base its
systems on astronomical and mathematical foundations.
Men like Hipparchus (second century b . c . ) or Ptolemy
( second century a . d . ) represented the best prototypes
of this group. But they lived long after the age of
Hellenistic pioneers of astrology.150
4.

S O M E T E N E T S A ND T E C H N IQ U E S OF
S C IE N T IF IC A STROLOG Y

W ithout going into the almost innumerable ramifica

tions of Hellenistic astrology one can distinguish two
essentially different approaches. They expressed them
selves in fatalistic and catarchic astrology. The one

assumed that the constellation prevailing at birth (or

at conception) inexorably determined the character and
the future destiny of each human being. The other,
starting from the same axiom of astral influences on
mundane life, merely assigned to individual planets,
fixed stars, or entire constellations a strong but not
inescapable power over the .course of events. By ascer
taining the preponderant influence for specific days,
hours, or even minutes catarchic astrologers thus be-

19

lieved themselves able to advise their clients to plan or

avoid specific undertakings at certain times. Human
nature being what it is. the harsh principle of fatalistic
astrology was appealing to a sober scientific-minded
minority only. Most of those believing in astrology at
all preferred the catarchic doctrine permitting man to
outsmart the heavens. As for the masses, starworship and catarchic astrology with them remained
popular at all times from the Hellenistic era to the end
of paganism in the Roman empire.
An educated Roman laymans summary of fatalistic
astrology contains its basic axiom and some mention of
its techniques;
In the sta rry belt w hich the G reeks call the Zodiac there
is a ce rtain force of such a n atu re th a t every p a rt of th at

belt affects and changes the heavens in a d ifferent way,

according to the stars th a t a re in this o r in an ad jo in in g
locality a t a given time. T h is force is variously affected
by those stars w hich a re called planets o r w an d erin g
stars. B u t w hen they have come into th a t sign of the zodiac
u nder w hich someone is b o m , o r into a sign h aving some
connection o r accord w ith the n atal sign, they fo rm w h at is
called a trian g le o r sq u are. 151 N ow since th o u g h
the procession and retro g ressio n of the stars the * '" it
v ariety and change of the seasons and of tem peratu.
,;e
place, and since the pow er of the sun produces such
-ts
as a re before ou r eyes, they believe th at it is not .i.^rely
150 A tentative chronological sequence of the founders of probable, but certain , th a t ju s t as the tem perature of the
hellenistic astrology would read as follows:
a ir is regulated by this celestial force, so also children a t
th eir b irth a re influenced in soul and body and by this force
ca. 280 B. c.
Berossus
th e ir minds, m anners, disposition, physical condition, career
Sudines, Antipatrus,
in life and destinies are determ ined.152
ca. 250 B. c.
Achinapolus, Critodemus
ca. 250 b . c .
Salmcschniaka
Apollonius of Mvndus.
lst An obvious misinterpretation of the astrological theory of
ca. 220 d. c.
the aspects.
Epigenes of Byzantium
ca. 150 b. c .
Nechepso-Petosiris "
113 Cicero, de d h inatione 2, 42, 89; compare almost a century

20

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

In Cicero's resume the traditional Hellenistic pattern

of fatalistic astrology was thus summarized as follows:
(1) Onlv the twelve zodiacal constellations and the
planets were normally being taken into account. Cicero
oversimplified matters, however. For non-zodiacal con
stellations ami single stars, the so-called paranatellonta.1were often also reckoned with, although perhaps
not vet in the days of Cicero.1'4
(2) Cicero paid no attention to the conceptionist
theory but quoted only the more generally accepted
one. in which the zodiacal sign rising in the east at the

Heptagram of the weekday gods.

From Boll-Bezold-Gundel: 67.

F ig . 5.

time of birth was the natal sign in which the H oro

scopal Point lay. This was the most important con
stellation for the entire horoscope.

constellation), were looked upon as astrologicallv of

great importance. In each horoscope two sets of car
dinal points were vital. They were al>out ninety degrees
from each other and were called Horoscopus (or Horo
scopal P oint). Mesuranema. Dysis. A nti-\ 1esuranema
or Hypogaeum (iiniun cacli).
(4) Cicero definedhis use of fingcre ( weave )
also showed it fatalistic astrology onlv, the decisive
pattern !>eing " woven " unchangeably at the moment
of birth.
Himself a disciple of the New Academy, Cicero pro
fessed great scepticism about astrology.15' but he was
fair enough to include the basic argument of hellenistic
scientists on behalf of astrology: the sun was a star
whose paramount influence on earth and all its creatures
was undeniable. Beyond that astrometeorologv every
where ascribed weather-making powers to certain indi
vidual stars or constellations. O ur modern reference
to dog-days of July heat, for instance, goes back to
the time when Sirius, called dog-star by the ancients,
was believed responsible for Mediterranean summer
heat. It has already been shown to what fantastic fig
ures the claim of scientific verification of the theory of
general astral influence on human life had led hellenistic
astrologers.188 In his brief treatise On divination
Cicero neither intended nor was able to present astro
logical techniques in detail. Nor did he dwell on the
attempt of astrologers to explain away the prem ature
death of children and young people (to whom they had
promised long life) by the assertion that the souls of
these biotltanatoi would find no rest, until the
astrally appointed time of their death would have
arrived.157
The refinement of celestial subdivisions in Hellenistic
astrology provided an almost inexhaustible number of
possibilities. Having reconciled the Egyptian decani
with the Babylonian zodiacal system.158 astrologers
arrived at the following arrangement:

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W ORLD

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7
X

nl 3
Y 21

7 15
O 28
ny 2 7 0

7 28

X 27

np 1 5 0

X 15

F ig. 6. Table of houses, exaltations, and depressions according to Boll-Bezold-Gundel: 59.

(3)
Each 10-degree sector was in turn subdivided
into smaller sectors, ruled bv subdccani. A system
of minute subdivisions covering only fractions of one
degree was called myriogenesis.0
MC

TA B LE 1
A

S a m p i.e

of

N c m e ro lo g ic a l

Ia tr o m a th e m a tic s *

(ascribed to Thrasyllus)6
A tried method of calculation concerning patients
and other problems.
Put down the day, when the patient went to bed ill. or when
the child was born, or the fugitive escaped, or someone departed,
in short of anything about which you want certainty. Count then
from May 18 until that particular day. Divide that number as
often as possible by 36. Take into your hand the final rest and
address yourself to the table. If you find the number in the first
line, then announce that the patient will live . . . . the traveler
will have a good journey, the fugitive will be captured, the new
born will live long, etc. If the number is found in the second line,
then the patient will long be ill but in no peril of death, the
fugitive will be recaptured eventually, the traveler will encounter
bad weather etc. If the number occurs in the third line, then
death carries off the patients, the fugitive will never be recap
tured etc.
Life
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 happy end
Medium 2 5 8 11 14 17 20 23 26 29 32 35 long end
Death
3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 bad end

F i g . 7 . The squared circle of the twelve loci in relation to

the four cardinal points (Horoscopal Point. Mesuranema. Dysis,
Hypogaeum) : loc. cit.

(1) The 360 degrees of the zodiacal circle were sub

(3)
Other zodiacal signs, arrayed in geometrical divided into twelve 30-degree sectors, each allotted to
patterns with each other and the horoscopal constella one of the twelve signs of the zodiac.
tion. were next in importance. Of their mutual aspects
(2) Each of these 30-degree sectors was subdivided
those in which they or the planets, respectively would into ten-degree sectors, called decani, and each decanus
be in diametrical, hexagonal, trigonal, or quadratic pat w-as considered master " of his own 10-degree sector.159
terns (or planets grouped together in the same zodiacal

In all. therefore, the single zodiacal circle without any

consideration of the paranatcllonta or the individual
planets offered anywhere from 360 to 21.600 (perhaps
even more) different sectors to be used by the astrologer.

See below, p. 71 f .: on the anti-fatalism of the New Aca

demy, compare D. Amand. Fatalisine et liberte dans Iantiquite
tjrccquc 19, Recueil de travaux dhistoire et de philologie, 3rd
ser., Louvain, 1945.
See above, p. 18.
ir,T On this subject, see F. Cumont. L u x pcrpctua, ch. v ii:
Lastrologie et les morts prem atures: 302-342 ; 417 f.
1,"' A pictorial record lias survived, the so-called Bianchini
tablet, discovered in 1705 on the Aventine hill in Rome. It shows
a correlation of the Babylonian dodckahoros. i. e. the division of
the zodiac into twelve loci, with the decani; compare O. Neuge
bauer, The exact sciences : 81 f.
ir' W. Gundels Dekane represents the most important recent

monograph on the subject. The author errs, however, in

ascribing to prehellenistic Egypt a zodiacal or ecliptical arrange
ment of the dccani.
180 The smaller figure of 21.600 is based on a corrected reading
by O. Neugebauer of pap.. Lond. 130 which must replace the
earlier reading on which Bouche-Leclercq: 291. n. 1. based his
figure of 21,600.000 subdecanal sectors. For practical astrol
ogy the m atter was irrelevant, although Firmicus Maternus in
the fourth century of our era was so much interested in the
subject that he hoped to write a monograph on the topic of no
less than twelve books: ila th csis 5. 1. 38: 8. 1. 10; also 6, 2, 8:
8, 18 about myrioycncsis and single minutes.

later, Seneca rhetor. Suasoriac 2, 2: At birth to all the day

of death is set." O r on a tombstone: This house [the tomb]
the Fates gave you at b ir th ; Corpus fnscriptionum Latinarum
( C IL ), 12: ti71, no. S271.
111 See below, ch. i. n. 167.
l5 Teucrus ot Babylon ( tirst century b . c . or a . u r t did much
to develop and transm it the system of the paranatcllonta, a
further refinement of Hellenistic astrology. P. Nigidius Figulus
( praetor in 58 n. c .) already quoted a treatise which listed tor
each degree of the zodiac the corresponding paranatcllonta.
Whether or not Xigidius' close friend Cicero knew them cannot
be determined.

19 0

Y 19
3
& 21
G 15

21

From cod. Paris, yr. 2419 (ed. P. Tannery, Xotices et ex

traits des inaintscrits. 31. 2 (1886 : 240-250) ; cf. W. Gundel,
D ekane: 405. A similar table tor prophecies is found in cod.
Paris, yr. 2327: see Berthelot. Collection <les alchemistes yrecs,
introd. ( Paris. 1887) : 87: for an Egyptian method see cod.
Xcafiol. i/r. II C 33 (15th century) r. 3 11v i Cat. 4: 56 ); com
pare Gundel. D ekane: 405.
b Gundel, loc. cit.. refused like Tannery to believe that a scholar
of the rank of Thrasyllus wrote such a crude numerological work,
but his scepticism has been challenged recently by St. W einstock;
see Cat.. 9. 1: 14.

The nomenclature of Hellenistic astrology was at first

variegated.11*1 Eventually, however, the divinities still
used today ( in their Latin equivalent) by astronomer
and astrologer alike were identified with the respective
planets. Babylonian traditions assigned divinity to some
planets but not to all. Hellenistic terminology wavered.163
1,1 F. Boll. Sphaera : 60 ff.: 472 ff.. reconstructedchiefly from
Y'ettius Valenswhat he believed to be Eudoxus list of Greek
divinities equated with the twelve signs of the zodiac.
A.-J. Festugiere. Platon et I'Orient. Rev. de Phil. 73. 1947:
18. suggests that Eudoxus was responsible for introducing the

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

Text* der saitiichen Z e it.

n b e k a a n te N ebenquelle

U a b e k a a n te N e b e a q u e lle

Archetypo* da*
Defcankataloge* im
Testa mcntum Salomon's
n
(a. Jahrh. v. C hr.)''

Aphroditcaemaioa
j

/
j y

Necbepeo
Necbeceo nod Patoairi*
(a. Jahrh. v. Chr.)
Sphaera barbarica
(1. Jahrh. .Chr.)

Chairemon
(Mitt* 4 . 1. Jahrh. n. Chr.)
Celaus-Origene*
(a. Jahrh. n. Chr.)
Zowmoa von Panopoii*
(3. - 4. Jahrh. a. Chr.)

Tewkroe M Babyloo
(1. Jahrh. a. Chr.)

(1 j. Jahrh. a. Chr.)"

Satya (4. Jahrh. a. C h r . ) ''^

SiddhlnU^^

1. Halite d ai j . Jahrh. a. Chr.)

Varahamihira
(6. Jahrh. n. Chr.)

Koema* von Jerusalem

(8. Jahrh. a. Chr.)

Muhammad I t a M M
(Mitt* de* 8. Jahrh. X T h r . ) ^ /
(1. H tlite de*
I
___Ap&maar
9. Jahrh. n. Chr.)
(9. Jahrh. a. Chr.) (9. Jahrh. n. Chr.)
AchnMt dar h w
\ 1I bo Wahilja (?)
de* 10. Jahrh. a. Chr.)
(9- Oder 10. Jahrh. a. Chr.)
(1. Halite <
Abenragel
P*. Ptdeaaau* liber da im afim bai ~~~Picatrix
(10.1a. Jahrh. a. Chr.)
(II. Jahrh. n. Chr.) (11. Jahrh. a. Chr.)

< dir at n d M a tr tmd orin ltUtcktn LUtrutw

Papyrustext der Salmc*cboiaiaka>

(3. Jahrh. n. Chr.)

Archetypi der griechlachen

und lateiniachen Dekanlbten
(1. Jahrh. v. Chr.)

_^6andt
ib td M da*
-'

Dit BUdtr da Mmm

SyakretktiadM Dekaaliste
d a Zonaiter
und tuner Sohne
(i. Jahrh. v. Chr. ()

Tierkreis-

x Oxeaa

I
Mittdgnechiich*
Johanne* Hiapalanu*
Zothoro* Zaparus Fendalu*
Obenetzanf
(Lateiniich)
(la. Jahrh. n. Chr.)
(11.11. Jahrh. a. Chr.) (ta. Jahrh. n. Chr.)
Obenetter aabekanat

I bo E*ra
(Avenariaa. Hebrtiach
ta. Jahrh. n. Chr.)

Leopold von OsUrreich

(13. Jahrii. n. Chr.)

dtt Dl

Hagin voo Macheln

(Frant0*i*ch.
1172 n. Chr.)
Martin d'Osca (KaUlaaiieb,
14. Oder I). Jahrh. n. Chr.)
Giovanni Fontana
(Mittc de* 15. Jahrh. n. Chr.)

Petrus von Abano

(Lateiniich 1193 n. Chr.)

QttrbUek ibtr dit Wtnitrwtf

Hermannui Dalmata (lateiniich)

(1. Htlftc de* la. Jahrh. n. Chr.)

Astroiabium Ptanum
da* Petros von Abano
(13. Jahrh. n. Chr.)

Ludovicus de Anfulo
(Lateiniich. 13. Jahrh. n. Chr.)

Jean de Beauvais
(Fr*nittich, 13. Jahrh. n. Chr.)

Galatien

A 't J *

3 Lydian

Germanien und
Bastanien

Zwillinge

Krebs

1 Meder

Kykladen

3 Amaxonen

Seekilate Klmnanwi*

3 Semiramiden ( = Baby
lon ?)

Kypern

1 Teukrer (Troas)

Hyrkanien

3 Peraia

Armenian

3 Parthian

Mantiane

1 Syrian

Phrygien

3 Awyrien

Bithynien

3 Athiopien

Kolchike

1 Indian

Italics

LOwe

a unbekaonte* Land

Gallien

1 - 9 .0

3 unbekannte* Land

Apulien and Sizilien

Waage

6r*

Skorpion

$ c .o * p to
SchfltM

1 Arabian

Babylonien

3 Armenian

Mesopotamien

3 Elephantine

Aa*yrien

1 Agypten

Baktrianien

3 Tracbonitrum (Trachonitia?)

Kaspien

3 Libyan

Serike

1 Faustina, P h tn iU n

Syrien

3 Kilikian
Kommagene
3 Kappadokien, Galatien,
Kappadokien
Phrygien
t Achaia. Pamphylien
3 Meer von Nikere
3 Alrika

1 Mauretanien
Stembock 3 Pannonien
3 Galatien

Acrippa von Nettesheim

(13.16. Jahrh. n. Chr.)
Fiache
ftie e S

Athanaaia* Kbchar
(17. Jahrh. a. Chr.)
1) t)ber die venchiedenen Obenetxungen de* arabiachen Apomasartextea orientiert DyroM bei B oll. Sphaera 4*4, Raphael Levy,
The astrological work* of Abraham Ibn Ena. The John* Hopkina Studies in
Literature* and Unfuafe* VII (19*7) '9 - end
S a rto a . Introduction I 5O8, II 187K.
iG. 8.

A stemma of \V. Gundel ( Dckane 92 f.) of the historical transmission of the Egyptian-Hellenistic descriptions of the dccani.

Etrurien
Kelten
Spanien

Sauromatien
Oxiane
Sogdiane

1 Britannien

Lydien
Kilikien

3 Cbauldlikaonien,
Etrurien, Italian and
Kampanien

Penien

Babylon

Kappadokien

Armenian

Kleinaaien

Hellas and Ionien

Libyen and Kyrene

Italien

Kilikien. Kreta

Makedonien od. Indien

Syrien
Trakien Oder Ariane
Illyrien Oder Gedroaien

1 Syrien
3 Germanien
3 Sarmatien
3 Dakien

Paulua Alexandrinua

Britannien

3 Vactricani (Baktrer?)

WaaierUKtin

Scalifer
(Lateiniich. 16. Jahrh. n. Chr.)

Tetrabibios II esp. 3

Widder

Jungfrau

Steinbuch
de* KOaif* Alfoo* X.
(13. Jahrh. n. Chr.)

Latexnuche Lute dea

Hermes Triamegiatos

Agypten

Rotes Meer
Pamphylien

Fig. 9. Allocation of the decani to particular geographical areas.

From W. Gundel. Dckane: 312.

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

TABLE 2
T abula

A r is t o b u l i*

( A sample of the use ot oracles through decani)

If someone will enjoy a love-affair just begun
If lovers love each other or are feigning love
If someone should get married this year .
If someone in marriage will gain what he seeks
Which one. husband or wife, will survive the other
Who of a married couple loves more faithfully
If a pregnant woman will give birth to a boy or to a girl
If a divorced wife is pregnant or not
If a girl is a virgin or not
If he is jealous or not
If a young man will be prudent or a fool
If a young man will be rich or poor
If someone will find his advantage in a business transaction
If someone will carry out his plan
If a dream bodes good or ill
If the stolen property will be recovered or not
If a change of domicile is advantageous
If it is good to continue the voyage
If someone will return from abroad or not
If a messenger (? ) will fulfill his mission
If someone will make a good end or not
If someone will live long or not
In what field someone will prosper most
If a tie is faithfully kept or not
If someone will have faithful triends
If someone has someone pregnant by him
If he has big gains from his property
Which one of the boxers will win
If a patient will recover or not
If a prisoner will be liberated or not
If someone will be able to pay his debts or not
If someone will get back what was owed him
If someone will win his law-suit in court
If a priest will be moved or not
If a priest stolis perficiet vci non
If a planned journey will be profitable or not
If rumors someone heard are true or not

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36

27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36

Bendonc
Mensour
Carexon
Gisan
Tourtour
Ballat
Farsan
Vaspan
Parquia
Panem
Catarno
Hellors
Jarea
Effraa
Havas
Angaf
Bethaphen
Baroche
Zercuris
Baham
Pieret
Haziza
Nacy
Alleinac
O rtusa
Daha
Satan
Eracto (E ro )
Salac
Seros
Tonghel
Anafa
Simos
Achaf
Larvata
A jaras

1
5
9
2
6
10
3
7
11
4
8
12
13
18
23
28
14
19
24
29
15
20
25
30
16
21
26
31
17
22
27
32
33
35
34
35

From cod. Pal. lat. 1367. ff. 149M52 published in German translation by W . Gundel,
D ekane: 407.
The consecutive thirty-six numbers in two columns and the names of the decani which follow
them present no problem. They indicate the childishness of this kind of numerological-astrological superstition, but also the kind of questions most likely to be asked by the gullible public.
The numbers in the last column remain the unknown authors secret; compare W. Gundel,
op. c it.: 406.

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD
Finally, however, the crude and obvious method of
simply identifying the divinity with its particular planet
prevailed. It had from the astrologers point of view
the obvious advantage of allowing him to define the
planets influence in terms of the powers which tradi
tionally had been ascribed to the Greek divinity involved.
Thus Kronos (Saturn) was baleful. Zeus (Jupiter)
lordly, Venus determined ones love-life and so on. To
each planet was furthermore assigned at least one
zodiacal sector in which its influence was considered
dominant." Since there were only seven planets to
distribute among the twelve zodiacal constellations, a
planet would normally be Lord (Snro-n^. dominus)
in more than one zodiacal sector. To this somewhat
unsatisfactory, but arithmetically unavoidable, arrange
ment another element was added; the concept of cosmic
cycles. In Stoic philosophy this theory took the form
of an eternal sequence of fiery deaths (mtp<u<r') and
rebirths (iraA lyyenpm ?) of the entire cosmos. The in
terval between a palingenesis and the next eh-pyrosis
was often called great year."
This term in Hellenistic times was. however, used for
other spans of time also.183 It might for example apply
occasionally to the periodicity of a given planetary con
stellation. Such spans of time would have potential
astronomical and certainly astrological importance, but
would not necessarily have anything to do with the
rebirth and death of the universe. One specific hypo
thetical planetary constellation, however, was eventually
defined in astrological literature as the thema rnundi,*
the constellation which had prevailed at the teginning
of the present cosmos, and when recurring would bring
about the next el;pyrosis. Firmicus M atemus for ex
ample related that Mesopotamian cosmologists dated
the beginning of the present era 473.000 years prior to
Alexander the Great.1*5 The constellation said to have
prevailed at that palingenesis was Mercury in Virgo.
Venus in Pisces, Jupiter in Cancer, and Saturn in Libra.
The date of the beginning of the great year " of this
type was assigned by Nechepso-Petosiris to the time

25

when Cancer was in the Horoscopal Point.166 As Hel

lenistic astrology developed, it added another set of
astral powers to those already m entioned: signs outside
the zodiac. They were integrated into the earlier pattern
by assigning them to the particular zodiacal signs in
whose sector they rose. In this manner the paranatcl
lonta 1117 ( simultaneously rising signs ) became another
astronomical factor to be considered bv astrologers.
Few practicing astrologers, however, actually concerned
themselves with them."1*
Hand in hand with the development of theoretical
refinements of this kind went an effort of equal import
ance to astronomy and astrology alike: 1" the estab
lishment of a universal nomenclature for the major
visible stars and constellations. This was not too diffi
cult for the few planets and the most brilliant fixed
stars. For many constellations and individual stars,
however, ancient Mesopotamian or Egyptian groupings
differed from those of the Greeks, oreven when they
did agree with each other in the case of constellations
used different mythological or animal names. The result
of the homogenization process is by and large our
present nomenclature of astronomy, which is descended
from the sphaera graecanica. the (heavenly) sphere
of the Greeks." In Hellenistic times, however, nonGreek constellations were still well known. At least
one sphaera barbarica existed side by side with its
Greek sister.
Actually there were in all probability at least two
barbaric spheres." a Mesopotamian and an Egyptian
one, both known in some degree to the Greeks in Hel
lenistic times. Berossus and some of his Chaldaean
contemporaries may have familiarized their Greek audi
ence with the one, the Hellenistic scholars, engaged in
early Ptolemaic days with a mass-translation of Egyp
tian texts into Greek.170 would have encountered the
other. The burial of barbaric spheres in oblivion
did not progress rapidly. As late as the first century
b. c. a widely-read Roman aristocrat himself a prac
ticing astrologerstill knew what seems to have been a
composite of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian " spheres."
To this Roman senator Nigidius Figulus.171 praetor in
58 b . c., we owe a great deal of our knowledge about
non-Greek constellations and star-names. From extant
fragments of his Latin work on the subject he seems to
have dealt methodically with both the " Greek " and the

religious element into the Greek nomenclature of the zodiac.

On Eudoxus knowledge of Zoroastrian theories a violent dis
agreement prevails. In favor of assuming it, see for instance.
Reitzenstein, Vortraeye . . .: 30 ff. ; firmly against his view
W. J. \V. Koster, Le my the de P laton: 25 ff.
103 Compare for example P. Tannery, Memoircs scicntifiques.
ed. J.-L. Heiberg and H. G. Zenthen, 2 ( 2 ) . no. 60 : 502 ff.,
Paris. 1883-1898.
1,4 Firmicus Matemus, Mathesis 3, 1; compare also 2, 2. l Pictorially shown in the Denderah pattern.
,,T For a detailed study of them, see \V. Gundel. RE . 18. 1949,
Firmicus himself did not believe in this theory which predicted
2, 3: c. 1214-1275.
an end of the world when the constellation allegedly existing at
1,18 Aratus knew them ( Phaenomcna: vv. 559 ff.). Ptolemy,
the moment of its creation would recu r; see Bouche-Leclercq:
187. This concept has been triumphantly revived by modern
however, in his Tctrabiblos, 2. 3. referred only very briefly to
them. Astronomers in any case were familiar with the parana
cosmologists who now are telling us that " our universe began
tcllonta.
about two billion years ago and is likely to end at some time
in the distant future: compare on the thema imindi Weinstocks
10" Compare on this point O. Neugebauer. The exact sciences :
statement (Cat. 9. 2 (1953) : 177, n. 7) that Egyptian astrologers
164; The fundamental doctrines of astrology are pure science.
170 On this project see Ritschl. Die alexandrinischen Bibltorepeatedly transmitted the thema mimdi since the second century
theken: 34; also Opuscula 1: 30; cf. F. Boll, Sphaera : 370.
B. c.The thema inuitdi itself ibid.: 177.
171 See below, p. 63 f.
103 Diodorus, 2, 31, 9.

26

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

barbaric spheres, expounding also their mythological

and astrological peculiarities.172 Additional information
about this svncretist larbaric sphere is still en
countered in Greek astrological texts, especially those
of the first and second centuries of our own era. Extant
fragments of Teucrus the Babylonian 173 (first century
a .d .? ) , Antiochus.171 and Vettius Valens 17:1 (both sec
ond century a. d . ) contain references to that sphere,
proof that it had not vet been wholly superseded by its
Greek rival. Firmicus M atemus (fourth century a .d .)
still knew tbe sphaera barbarica. Of surviving horoj
scopes, however, only a few contain data pertaining to
it. among them a papyrus dating from a. d. SI in which
an astrologer by the name of Titos Pitenios drew up
the horoscope of a certain Hermon.176
The ultimate victory of the sphaera graecanica, i. e.
its complete acceptance by the Greek and later the
Roman world, was due in no small measure to two
pioneers: Eudoxus of Cnidus (fourth century B .C .)
and Aratus of Soli (third century B . C . ) . Eudoxus,
the greatest mathematician of his time and an out
standing cosmologist177 in the days of Plato, did much
to lay the foundations for the glorious rise of Greek
mathematics and astronomy.178 His impact on the
Academy (which he joined about 367 B .C .) has already
been mentioned.179 Although it is doubtful whether or
not he was also the actual author of Euclids fifth book
or the inventor of the terrestrial globe,180 his authorship
of two works, the Enoptron and the Phaenomena, can
hardly be questioned. These two dealt with celestial
phenomena, including the signs and planets. According
to Hipparchus (second century B . C . ) , himself an out
standing astronomer and mathematician. it is on the
latter that Aratus bases his poem. 181 W ithout this
171 F. Boll. op. cit. : 3S7 if.; 411 i. is a locus classicus on this
subject.
173 Boll. Sphaera: 16-21; 41-52: 416, n. 2: 380 ff.; 545; Cat. 7:
194-213; compare W. Gundel, R E . 2. Reihe, 5, 1. 1934: c. 11321134.
174 Substantial fragments of his writings have been published
in the C at.; see below, ch. iv, n. 330. Riess, R E 1, 1894: c. 2494,
no. 68: F. Cumont, ibid., suppl. 1. 1903: c. 92; W. Kroll, ibid.,
suppl. 4, 1924: c. 32: suppl. 5, 1931: c. 2 f.
173 H is very popular compilation, which he himself called
modestly Anthologiae, was published by W. Kroll, Berlin, Weidmatin. 1908; see also Cat. 5 ( 2) : 27-129: S (3) : 110-112: 113,
8 ff.; 117, 7 ff.: 8( 31 : 203 ff. and elsewhere: compare W. Christ,
Handbuch des klassischen Altertum s 7, 2, 2; 906, 6th ed.,
Muenchen, 1924.
178 Cf. F. Boll. Sphaera : 388.
177 Ib id .: 472 ff.
178 Cicero, de republtca 1, 14, 22.
1711 See above, p. 9.
180 A very doubtful claim ; see F. Gisinger, Nachtraege in
A. Schlachter, Der Globus. Seine Entstehnng und V eruiendung
in der Antike. Stoicheia 8 : 107 ff. with reference to 11, Leipzig
ind Berlin. 1927.
Hipparchus, 1, 2, 2. According to an old tradition the
alendar of Eudoxuslike the Roman peasant calendardated
-he beginning of summer from May 18: W. Gundel, D ekane:
313.

popularizer the scholarly prose-work of Eudoxus might

never have exerted the lasting influence which it achieved
in the Greek and Roman world.
Aratus of Soli was a younger contemporary of Euclid
and Berossus. He received his early education at
Ephesus. It is quite likely that from there he also
visited Cos, then the center of Berossus newlv estab
lished astrological circle. About 291 b . c . he went to
Athens, the unmatched seat of higher learning of that
era. At first he frequented the Peripatetic school of
Aristotle's disciples, but soon transferred his academic
allegiance to Zeno's new Stoic teachings. Inevitably he
must have encountered there the fanatical faith in Fate
which characterized this creed and made it so staunch
a supporter of fatalistic astrology. From Athens, A ratus
eventually went forth to join the court of Antigonus,
the Macedonian king. He may have owed this patronage
to the influence of his teacher Zeno. It was for this
royal patron at any rate that Aratus undertook to versify
the Phaenomena of Eudoxus, perhaps about 276 b . c . 182
The poem became an instant success with the Greek
reading public. Time did not affect the popularity of
A ratus work which provided for generation after
generation of Greek and later also Latin readers a pleas
urable introduction to the nomenclature and the phe
nomena to be observed in the skies. Although never
intended for that purpose the book became a standard
text in Greek and Roman classrooms. Latin transla
tions made it accessible to those unable to read it in
Greek. Cicero for instance began such a translation in
his youth and completed it in 60 b . c ., proof of the dura
bility of his youthful enthusiasm for this poem.183 Of
his translation about 670 verses survive. Ciceros con
temporary, P. Terentius Varro Atacinus (82-37 b . c . ) ,
also produced a Latin translation of A ratus Phaenotnena.1** Ovid patterned his own Phaenomena after
the Greek classic.185 The de astris of Julius Caesar
also had been inspired by A ratus poem. Germanicus
(d. a . d . 19) was so ardent a fan of the Greek poet
that during the last years of his brief life he not only
wrote a Latin version of the work, but actually went
beyond the original text and paraphrased it.186 A t about
the same time the mysterious so-called Manilius wrote
his poetic torso, the Astronomica, which clearly showed
his indebtedness to Aratus. Towards die end of the
1,1 Suidas, s. v. 'Aparot, and the four Aratus vitae, ed. A.
Westermann, Biographoi: 52 ff., Braunschweig, 1845. are our
most important sources for the life of Aratus. E. Maass gave
us the most recent scholarly edition of the poem and of its
commentaries in his Aratea, Berlin. 1892, and his Commentariorum in Aratum reliquiae: 77, 19 ff.; 146, 13 ff., and else
where. Berlin, 1898.
** Cicero (de republtca 1, 14, 22; cpist. ad Atticum, 2, 1, 11
(June, 60 B.C.)) refers to this undertaking; see also his de
natura deorum 2, 41, 104.
1.4 Servius, ad Verg. georg. 1, 375 and 397.
1.5 Ovid, de arte amat. 1, w . 15 f . ; compare R E 2, 1896 c
391 ff.
* About 857 lines survive; ed. A. Breysig, Leipzig, 1899.

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD
first century a . d . the rhetorician, Quintilian, still had
to admit that the work of A ratus was indispensable
reading for anyone aspiring to a higher education,
although he criticized the poem for its dry subjectm atter.187 As late as the fourth century a . d . Firmicus
M atemus in his astrological handbook. Mathesis, re
ferred to Aratus with great respect. According to
Firmicus. Aratus was a poeta disertissimus , 188 Within
the rising Christian church, the apostle Paul was thor
oughly familiar with the Phaenomena,18 and after him
a number of church fathers, including Jerome and
Augustine. A t the very time when Christianity tri
umphed. Festus Avienus. proconsular governor of Africa
in a . d . 366, paraphrased the poem, then more than six
hundred years old, in no fewer than 1878 Latin lines.10
Aratus began his versification of Eudoxus treatise
with a description of the polar axis and an account of
the zodiacal and other constellations, listing first those
north of the ecliptic, then those south of it. Instead of
following this section with an account of the planets,
however, he preferred to discuss next in considerable
detail heavenly circles like the Milkv Way, the tropics
of Cancer and Capricorn, the equator, and finally the
zodiac, in whose vicinity his seven planets (Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, as well as Sun and
Moon) did move. In the concluding part of his poem
the author dealt with the paranatellonta whose astro
logical significance has already been mentioned.181 Be
sides mythological and astronomical material the Phae
nomena contained some astrometeorology, an ancient
precursor of scientific astrology. F or instance:
W hen th ro u g h the d ark n ig h t shooting stars fly thick and
leave behind w hite tracks expect a w ind from th a t direction
too. If oth er shooting stars m ove from the opposite direc
tion. others still from d iffe re n t angles d a rt be on thy g u ard
for winds from every q u a r te r ! 19-

This passage was clearly based on the primitive as

sumption that the meteors were blown along the skies
bv winds prevailing at high altitudes which subsequently
would reach down to the level of the earth. Less obvious
is the scientific reason (if any) for the following:
If the M anger dark en and both stars [n ex t to it, i. e. the
A sses] rem ain unchanged, they herald rain .193

Smacking of fears of comets was A ratus warning:

M any com ets herald a season of d ro u g h t.194
187 Quintilian, de itistit. oratoria 10, 1, 55.
188 Firmicus, M aternus. Mathesis 8, 5, 3.
ls Socrates, hist. eccl. 3, 16 (end) from Acta, 17, 28.
100 Ed. A. Breysig, Leipzig, 1899.
1,1 See above, p. 25.
1,s vv. 925 ff. (193 ff.). The long-standing controversy
whether or not the last section of the poem was originally a
separate work need not concern us here. Both sides are presented
by E. Maass. A ra tea : xxv, and G. Kaibel. Aratea. Hermes 29,
1894 : 82-123.
19:1 Phaenomena. vv. 903 ff. (171 ff.).
1,4 Ibid.. vv. 1090 f. (359 f.).

27

Finally his faith in astrometeorology culminated in

the advice to meteorologists, based on truly scientific
principles:
Study all the signs to gether thro u g h o u t the year and never
shall thy forecast of the w eather be a random guess ! 135

More than two thousand years later our meteorologists

though following A ratus admonition diligently are still
far from the goal which Aratus. or probably alreadv
Eudoxus, promised th em : flawlessly accurate weather
forecasts.
The immediate popularity of Aratus' Phaenomena
greatly contributed to the rapid fixation of a generally
accepted Greek nomenclature of stars and constellations.
The poem also inspired numerous Greek and Roman
commentators and translators, eventually blossoming
forth even in Arabic.19* Among the most important
early Greek commentators were Attalus of Rhodes
( third century B. c .), Hipparchus ( second century b . c .) ,
and Geminus of Rhodes (first century b . c . ).107 When
the Roman world adopted Aratus, the Greeks did not
forget him and continued to produce new commentators
of his work.198 While A ratus fame spread, mathe
matical and astronomical progress in the hellenistic
world added methodological underpinnings to the grow
ing structure of horoscopal astrology. The most im
portant contribution to this founding period. approxi
mately 300-150 b . c., was the evolution of highly spe
cialized astrological techniques which permitted the
casting of individual horoscopes in the most democratic
fashion for every Tom, Dick, and H arry.189 Actually
it may even be said that, while Mesopotamian astrology
on the eve of the fourth century b . c . had crossed the
threshold towards individual horoscopes,-00 it was left
to Hellenistic astrologers to develop this pseudo-science
to a perfection whichat least in the realm of western
civilization it has never surpassed.
Platos Timaeus contains what may have been the first
European allusion to Chaldaean horoscopal astrology:
. . . a t ce rtain tim es such a p lanet cam e to place itself
betw een such an o th er s ta r and us, and . . . the eclipses
" Ibid., vv. 1152f. (421 f.).
1,8 Definitely established by E. Honigmann. Isis 41, 1950: 30 f.
107 On Attalus, see E. Maass, Comment, in Arat. rel.: 1 ff. In
his Comment, in A rati cl Eudoxi Phaen. 1. 1, 3 Hipparchus
praised Attalus as the best among the earlier commentators.
On Geminus, compare E. Maass, op. cit., proleg.: xxv-xxviii,
lxix, n.
Among them Achilles ( a. d. 200). Theon (fourth century
a. D), and Leontius (ca. a.d . 600?) ; see Maass, op. cit.: 2 5 ff.;
146-151; 555. n .: proleg.: x x x i; 561 ff.
1M If a quotation of Proclus from Theophrastus could be
trusted (see below, ch. i, n. 202), Chaldaean astrologers already
before 300 b . c . made predictions to ordinary individuals: see
also Diodorus, 2, 30, 5; cf. F. Cumont, L et religiont orientates,
4th ed .: 153 ff.
4
Recently proven by A. J. Sachs of Brown University, who
computed the oldest hitherto known cuneiform horoscope to date
from 410 b . c.

28

T H E R IS E A ND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

W hat else is the belief in inevitable effects of natural

phenomena other than the first groping approach to the
concept of scientific laws of nature? The axiom. no
This passage, however, showed at best Plato's knowl effect in nature without a natural cause, has become
edge of Mesopotamian astrology in general. This sup the core of all scientific creeds.
In accepting this final contribution of ancient Meso
position is strengthened by the fact that no cuneiform
text prior to 410 b. c. has as yet l>een found to contain potamia. Hellenistic Greece went forward to conquer
an individual horoscope. Since we now know such a new ground. Astrology seemed to those generations
horoscope dating from 410. there would of course be one of the most impressive manifestations of cosmic
the chronological possibility of Plato's learning also rationalism. Modem conceit has claimed for our own
about the latest development of Babylonian astrology, age the establishment of this proud concept. But
but neither the alx>ve-quoted passage, nor any other already Zeno, the founder of the Stoic creed, insisted
section of Plato's writings can be interpreted as reveal about 300 b. c. that immutable Fate controlled the uni
ing unequivocally such knowledge on his part. At any verse inexorably. The link of cause and effect could,
rate, henceforth there can be no doubt that the tradi according to these harsh tenets, never be broken, just
tional ascription of this type of astrological technique as. indeed, a law of physics cannot brook exceptions.
to the hoary Mesopotamian (or Egyptian ) past has This was a philosophy fit for a scientific era. It can,
been an error plaguing historians of science until the therefore, evoke no particular surprise that Stoicism
embraced wholeheartedly the principles of astrology
very present.
It is idle to speculate how far Mesopotamian astrol and saw in their assumed manifestations convincing
ogers would have developed the democratization of proof for the validity of the belief in Fate. The hol
lowness of astrological tenets, on the other hand, was
their craft. T hat they did at least initiate this process,
however, cannot be denied. The measure of their recognized only by a minority, but this minority through
" progress in this direction can perhaps be gleaned out antiquity could not shake the adamant faith of the
from a passage penned about eight hundred years later fatalists, who denied free will to men as they denied it
to all other pieces of matter. Not until Christianity
by the neoplatonic philosopher Proclus. In quoting the
finally conquered the Roman empire did the belief in
greatest disciple of Aristotle, Proclus asserted:
mans free will become dominant once more.
The great battle between Stoic fatalists and their
Theophrastus tells tis that his Chaldaean contemporaries
possessed an admirable theory about this subject This opponents was firmly joined by 200 b . c . at the latest,
theory predicted every event, the life and the death of see-sawed for four hundred years, and ended about
every hum an being, i It did not merely foresee general
a . d . 200 in a hopeless deadlock.
While Greek intel
effects as for example good and bad weather.***
lectuals in the second century b . c . introduced a grow
Embedded in theblogical or magical disguise Baby ing number of Roman noblemen to this battle of the
lonian astrology thus pioneered a formidable new W elt minds, eastern religions inundated Italy, many of them
anschauung which to the Greeks of the fourth century bringing with them mystical elements of star worship
was a revelation, opening the gates of a new world, and oracular revelations. The new cults soon became
hitherto concealed i{i priestly precincts or within eso popular with the lower strata of Roman society, and as
teric sects. It was !the world of scientific rationalism. early as 200 b . c . some, like the Bacchanalia, already
penetrated the ranks of the nobility also, which on the
whole still looked upon astrology with the scepticism
Plato, Timaeus, f. 40 C -D : . . . <fio0ovi nai ni/uia rwr /ura
inspired bv the New Academy and other philosophical
r a v r a y e p i f a o f t e n a r t o i s o v S v r a f x t r o u \o y i $ e f f d c u ir i fiw o v * t . . . ;
compare on the relation between the Timaeus and the tenth book
standard-bearers in the fight against Stoic fatalism. The
of the Lati'S, J. Kerschensteiner. Platon und der O rient: 77 ff.;
older Cato, staunch Roman of the old school and still
183 ff., Stuttgart, Kohlhammer, 1945; J. Bidez, Eos . . . , ch. x :
violently anti-Greek, was in 196 b . c . elected consul.
78
If.; P. Duhem, Le systcme du monde. 2. 1:274. Paris. 1914;
One-hundred-and-fiftv years later Julius Caesars new
I A. Festugiere, Platon et POrient, Rev. de Philol., 73, 3rd series,
calendar, the Julian calendar, went into effect for
21. 1947: J if f .: W. J. VYr. Koster. Le mythc de Platon: 48 ff.
[ (ch. viii: a polemic against Reitzenstein).
the entire Roman empire, an event representing the
Proclus. in Plat. Timaeum comment., ed. E. D iehl: 3, 151.
symbolical climax of the gradual conquest of Rome in
Leipzig, Teubner, 1906; P. Duhem. op. cit., 2, 1:275. The
this interval by eastern astronomy, accompanied inevi
treatise of Theophrastus from which Proclus quoted was entitled
tably by its illegitimate daughter, Hellenistic astrology.
TCfii (TTfftfUav.

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

29

;ind the reappearances w hich follow them caused te rro r and

gave to those incapable of com puting them an indication
of events which w ere to follow such phaenom ena. . . .-ol

CRESCENT

No.

1
2

P lacb

Vestini.
Picenam.

Bull's head,
above, -

R evemse

facing; VEV Crescent.

Uncertain. Crescent.
Acs Grave.
Cent Italy.

3
4

Obverse

Crescent.

Crescent ?

Metal
Size W t .

D enom .

P late

/E. 1147 Sextans.

I 74.32
39
A . 1< 254
27.5 16.45
/ .7 5 139
19 9.00

R webexci

B. M. Italy, p. 43,
No 1.
,,

p. 60, No 46.

Triens.

,,

p. 61, No 47.

Luceria.
Apulia.

Tliyrsos w ith fillet, on Crescent, on raised field.

raised field.

/ .9 5 493 Semiun24 31.94

cia.

,,

p. 138, No 20.

H alf thyrsos w ith fillet; Crescent, on raised field.

beneath, t ; on raised
field.

, .7 5 115
19 7.45

,,

p. 140, No 53.

Venusia.
Apulia.

Thespiae.
Boeolia.

C rescent, horns upw ards Crescent, horns upwards, - .7 5 118

within >.
19 7.04

, , p. 150, No 10.
Carclli. X /. V.,
T. LXXXIX-14.

Boeotian shield.

O E V Crescent, horn* up /R . 4
wards.
10

Similar.

Similar.

/f t . 25 3 Tetarte6
.19 morion.

8*

H alf Boeotian shield.

Similar.

yft.25 5 .7
6
.35

Date

Athens.
Attiea.

Head of Athena r. (eye AOE- Incuse square, w ith

in profile) in crested
in which crescent, horns
helmet adorned with
upwards.
th ree upright olivcleaves.

15
2

13

Obol.

B. C.
:W7374

B.

,,

'

Hemiobol.

2 ' Tetarle.15 morion.

M. Cent. Gr.,
p. 90, No 5.
.,

No 8.

Pro lies li-0sten,AroA.

Z eil., 1849,tf. IX13.
B. C.

430322

1*1. 1 B. M. Attica, p. 19.

<1
No 199.

10 Zacynthus. Head
of
Dionysiac IA - C rescent: below, t r i yft.55 32*
Hemi- B . C .
Nvnipli r., crowned
dent.
14 2.09 drachm . 250Xff*.
w ith vine.
191

PI. 1 B. M. Peloponnesus,
10
p. 99, No 60.

11

PI. 1
11

P akt.

Head of Helios r., ra X.

diate.

Crescent.

jE .

4
10

,,

p. 101, No 76.

V I.

Fic. 10. List of Hellenistic and Roman coins with stars and constellations (L. Anson, Numismata Graeca 6, 1916: 1 ff.).
Although of course since the publication of this table additional coins of this kind have been found, it constitutes a good sample
of such Greek and Roman coinage.

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

CRESCENT
No.

P i.ack

AND

R everse

OnvERSE

Mctai
W t.
S i/ e
Al.45
II

13

A .5 5 25
14 1.62

14

15

16

Cresceut.

IA

Cydonia. Head of young Dionysos K Y

C rtlt. ,
r., w earing ivy-wreath. a n
Sigeum.
Tf u i .

Head of Athena r., i 1

w earing crested hel r e
met.

Alexandria. Head of (iaius r . ; in TAI

Egni>t.
front, r .
OY

Cresccnt.

Crescent.

Crescent, horns
upwards.

ei

12 Zacyntlius. T rip o d ; in incuse square. C resccnt.

PetujMinhr*11*.
Similar.

CRESCENT AND STAR

LEAF
D ate

Pl.ATK

R efer K3CK

Triobol. llcfore
a. c.
431

PI. 1
12

B. M. Peloponnesu*.
p. 94, No <J.

1It.NOM.

Babelon, 7". M .G .R .,
.p . <J05, No 1265.
B. M. C rete, p. 31,
No :w>.

B. C.
200.67

4i.

JE. 4
10

cent.
B. C.

PI. 1
15

Ne
phew
of
Au
gustus
A. D.
4

/E .45
11

B. M. Troas, p. 88,
No 21.
B.

M. Alexandria,
p. 5, No 34.

Carrhae.
Mnopot*-

H u n t e r i a n C o ll
p. 301, No 1.

L. Verua.

-K AIA O YK .A VH O VH KAPH NCONOIAOPCOM : i .6 5

CON-Crescent w ith horns 16
POCB u tt of L.
upw ards placed upon a
Venis r., laur., in cui
(;lobe which rest* on a
rass and palud.
basis of tw o stages.

Crcscent and Labyrinth

CnoMUt.
Crete.

9 160* Stater.
Head of D emeter or labyrinth of Mueander pat
te rn ; in centre, crescent. 22.5 (0 .3 9
Persephone r., w ear
ing earring and neck
lace; hair rolled and
bound
w ith com w reath.
Similar
ed).

(countermark- Labyrinth of Maeander pat A .

te rn ; in centre, s ta r ; |M
outside each limb of La 26
byrinth, crescent.

C.
500431

B.

Pefo/joaiwIB * .

grows au ivy-lcaf.

A . 5 20*
12.5 1.89

PI. I
20

B. M. Peloponnesus,
p. 94, No 8.

D emon.

Date

Populonia. Head of Pallas, full face, Y<M- Crescent, horns up /R.85 129*
Etruria.
tow ards 1., wearing
w ards, enclosing
star 21 8.38
earring, necklace, and
of four rays. Ihc whole
Athenian helmet with
within a border of dots
th ree
c re s ts ; hair
hair off the co in ; to the
lo o se; Ixtrder of dots.
1., outside of this border,
are traces of the obversetype and Imrder of ano
ther specimen, incusc,
also half oir the coin ; the
two borders form tangent
semicircles.

P late

R eference

Venusia.
A/iulia.

B. M. Italy, p. 301)
No 1.

Ar.. 1789 Triens

1 IIS. M
49

Bust of Helios, full-face, Crescent, horns upw ards; y. 7 38

ra d ia te ; border of
w ithin, star of sixteen 17.5 2.46
dots.
ra y s ; beneath, S >;
plain border.

Sexuncia.

Gordianus
Pius.

25

Nicopolis. AVKAI CEVHPOC

NIK ITflNTTPO CICTPHead of Sept. Severus
Mottia Inf.
Crescent and star.
r., laur.

>.65
16

Sept.
Seve
rn*.

26 Byzantium. Head of Artemis r., in BVZAN T IH N .

above j .7 5
Thracr.
front, b o w ; behind a
crescent; beneath, pellet. 19
quiver.

Ho
man
domi
nion.

,,

p. 57, No 13.

..

p. 153, No 28.

B. M. Thrace, p. 38,
No 83.

,,

p. 43, No 17.

Mionnel.vol, I, p.378,
No 95.
B. M. Thrace, p. 87.
No 43.

27

"

Similar.

Sim ilar; no pellet.

/E .75
19

Mionnel. vol. II, S .,

p. 243, No 231.

28

Sim ilar; w ithout bow.

Similar.

JE. d
20

B. M. Thrace, p. 96,
No 40.

29

Crescent, JE. 7
MAMAIA AVr Hum of BVZANTIHN.
Julia Maniaea r.. drap
and star above it.
17.5
ed.

Julia
Mamaea.

Hadrinno- .ITTrETACK i'<)

i .6 5
AAPIAN 0 :- A lT n N
polia.
Bust of Gela r., laur.,
Cresccul, within which 16
Thraer.
in cuirass and palud.
star.

Icln.

H u n te r i a n C o ll .,
p. 441, No 6.

b.

Head, H itt. N u m .,
p. 183.

31
B. c.
431

Mitai
S i/ k W r.

Marciano- A M A N TnN TOPAI

/E.65
MAPKIAN OTTOAI Npolis.
ANO- Ilead of (iorCrescent, wilhin which 16
Mottia Inf.
dianus r ., laur.
star.

30

Diobol.

R everse

24

156*
10.14

Crescent and Leaf

O bverse

22 Aes G rave. W heel of eight spokes, C rcscent;above w hich,star

Central
each term inating iu
of eight ra v s ; beneath,
Italy.
double hook.
.
23

Crescent upon Globe

P lace

Crescent and Star

21

/E .65
16

No.

LTranopolis. OYPANiAAN
S tar on a orescent.
Mactthunt. n O A E H t
1 rama
in Stola " seated ou
globe 1., in the r.
hand aceptre; wearing
cap.

12.5

300

,,

p. 105. No 99.

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

32

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

CRESCENT AND STAR

No.

32

33

Pharcadon. Horse r., feeding.

Thenalij.

R ev erse

36

Magnesia
ad
Maeandrum.
Ionia.

After
B. c.
168

K Y
Star within cres- /E. 9
Head of
Apollo r., la u r.; bor A f l
c e n t; border of 22.5
der of dots.
dots.

20067

flAIinN.

A TT ('). Owl r . ; border Similar ; no border of dots.

of dots.

39

40

Orodes 1
king1of
Part hi.i.

41

42

43

"

6
15

AYTK M AN TOPAIA MArNHTHN. " i l l . stars . 8 5

between letters of in s c r.; 21
NOC Bust of Gorcrescent w ith star bet
diau r., laur., w ear
ween horns.
ing cuirass and palud.

Magydus. Bust of Athena wear MATY- Star in cresccnf.

ing Aegis.
Carrhae.
Mesopota
mia.

C.
400344
B.

5
12.5

Pamphtjljn.
38

Da te

KAKO M H nOA-A- Star

A K M A Y P . ANTONwithin crescent.
Head of Elagabalus
laur.
AYTO
KAIcalla
bare;

K ANTTETAC KOAMHTPOnOAIC
KAPPHNnN-Star within
Heads of Caracrescent.
laur. and Geta
back to back.

Bust of Orodes I 1. ; BAOAEOC BACIAEHN. r.

close b eard ; wears
APCAKOV. in ex.. EYPdiadema. spiral neck
TETOV
AIKAIOV. 1.
lace, and euir;<-s. bor
ETIIOANOVC
0IA EA der of dots.
AHNOC
within
cresccn l ; in T. r., JR.
Similar.

Similar.

Similar.

Similar.

P late

PI. I
32

PI. 1
33

p. 182, No 118.

,,

Imhoof. Mon. Gr.,

p. 333. No 51.
PI.
Supp.
XXI
38

/ .

Caracalla.

1*1.
Supp.
XXI
39

> .4 5

s. c.
5738/37

PI. 1
40

,,

10

41

/C .4 5

PI. I

11

42

. c.

PI. I

3 8 /3 7
3 /2

43

P lace

vol. 1, No 30.

45 A rtabanus
III
kin); o f
Parthia.

46

R ev erse

47

Bust of Artabanus III I., S tar w ithin crescent.

w ith pointed beard
and flowing hair re
presented by wavy
lines; w ears diadem
spiral necklace and
cuirass; border of dots.

M btal

Sue

W t.

D en o m .

/E . 5
13.5

P late

s. c.

PI. 1 B .M . P arthia, p. 130,

44
No 31.

3 /2

i .5 5
14

Bust of Gotarzes 1 ., w ith Crescent, within w hich, A . 5

s ta r ; on r., : whole in 13.5
long beard, and flow
w reath.
ing h a i r ; wears dia
dem , earring, spiral
necklace and cu irass ;
border of dota.

C arrhae.
ileaopotamia.

A. 8
AVTKAI...OYHPOC- AOVKIA A -KAPPACrescent upwards, upon 30
Bust of Septimus Se
a cushion; between the
vern* r., laur., wear
horns, star of six rays.
ing cuirass and paiudam entuiu.

Sept.
Seve-

KAPKOAMHTPOTTOAIC- A . 8
AVKMA..NTCON...
Grescent upwards, rest 30
Bust of Elagabalus r.,
ing, on globe, and having
rad ., w earing cuiraaa
eight-rayed star between
and palud.
h o rn s ; the whole placed
on p edestal; two fillet*
bang down over globe
and pedestal.

Ela
gaba
lus.

48

R etebeu cs

a . d.

C rescent upw ards, contain-, JE. 7

49 Ptolemaeus REX PTOUEMAEVS
ing star of six ra y s ; 17 5
Head of Ptolemaeus
king of
border of dots.
l., diadem ed: border
Mauretania.
of dots.

A. D.

40/4151

PI. I
45

,,

p.. 153, No 5 .

PI. 1
46

,,

p. 177, No 185.

PI. I
47

H u n te ria n C o ll.,
p. 301, No 3.

ru s.

45

PI. 1
48

A . D.

,,

p. 303, No 14.

,,

p. 617, No 9.

33-40

B. M. Alexandria,
p. 3, No 8.

Au
gus
tus.

50 Alexandria. KAI 2AP- Head of Au I E 8 AI T * J - Crescent and , .5 5

star.
14
gustus r ., laur.
Egypt.
,,

D a te

Gotarzes
king of
Parthia.

B. M. P arthia, p. 78,
No 83.

p. 79, No 90.

O bverse

44 P hraates V Bust of Phraataces 1., S tar w ithin crescent.

king of
w ith pointed beard,
Parthia.
w ears diadem and spi
ral necklace; on each
side of head, Nike
flying to crow n k in g ;
border of dots.

Vaillant, vol. II, p. 78.

P I. 1

/ . 4

No.

No 24.

B. M. Ionia, p. 172.
No 96.

Gordia11 us
Pius.

Elagabalus.

PhraateslV Bust of Plira.iles IV 1., Same inscr. ; with 2 ins m . 4

10
tead of C- Cresccnl and
with pointed beard :
king of
sla r; in f. r..TK.
wears diadem, ncckParthia.
lace and cuirasi; beh
ind head, eagle 1., with
w reath in beak crow n
ing king's head ; bor
der of dots.

,,

,.

II

B. M. Thessaly, p. 42,
No 9.

B. M. Crete, p. 31,
No 23.

B. C.

i . 1*
37.5
j

R eferen ce

"

j D enom .

35

CRESCENT AND TWO STARS

'

Cydonia.
Crtle.

M eta l
W t.
S ize

0APKA Ci'csccnt, invert- - .65

AONIflN
ed : beneath, 1C
star of eight points.

Leucas. Stag standing r . : above AEYKAAIflN-Cresccnl and

star.
Actrnania.

34

37

O b verse

P lace

33

No 91.

Crescent and two stars

,,

p . I 2 1 . N o 177.

51

53

Iguvium.
Umbria.

<rNOYXI- Crescent bet C rescent two stars and

spear-head and three pel
w een four star*, and
lets.
counterm ark |.

Silandus.
Lydia.

CIAAN AOC- B j s I of CIAANACHN- S tar of six /E. 6

rays within crescen t; 15
City-goddess r., lurreabove, another star of six
te d ; border of dots.
ra y s; border of dots.

Mionnet, vol. II,

p. 309, No 84.

As.
2
61

Sept.
Severu s o r
Caracalla.

PI. I
53

B. M. Lvdia, p. 280,
No u :

1
34

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

CRESCENTS
No.

P lace

Obverse

TWO

CRESCENTS TWO AND STARS

BACK

Metal
Size W t.

R everse

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

53 Stectorium. Bust of Helios r., drap CTK TO PHNflNM. 6

Crescent, w ith horns 15
ed and radiate; in
Phrygia.
upw ards; above, Iwo
front, blazing torch.
stars, one over the o ilie r:
beneath, bucrauium.

Denom.

Date

P late

R eference

No.

P uck

Imp.
Time.

PI. 1
53

H u n t e r i a n C o ll.,
p. 493, No 3.
B. M. Phrygia, p..W3.
No 4 (vai\).

61

Iceni.
Urn,nn.

62

Crescent and ** Three Stars

54

55

Diadti*
im'iiian

M arciano- M O nEAA IO CAN Tnrci MAPKIANOTTOAEITQN- /E .7

Crescent, within which 17.5
polis.
NOC- Bust of DiaduMoetia Inf.
three stars.
menianus r., in cui
rass and palud: head
bare.
Philippo- AVKAI CVHPOC
polis.
Head of Severus
Thrace.
laur.

Si*|limti*
Sew*
ru*.

K.. 7
56 Nicomedia. AVTKAICAP ANTH
M H T K H A inP flT
Bithynia.
Crescent, with 17.5
NINOC- Head of An NIKO-horns upw ards; w ithin it.
toninus Pius r., laur.
three stars.

57

Paulalia.
Thrace.

Philippopolis.
Thrace.

.,

Ingots.
Tw o cresccnts, back to Similar to obverse.
Cent. Italy.
back.

Tlicspiae. Boeotian shield.

Uoeotiii.

p. 165, No 32.

>e.75
AV KAC C6VH. Head OVATTIAC OAVTAAIAC
Crescent, w ithin w hich,
19
of Sept. Severus r..
four stars.
laur.

A .2S
6

3
.19

|- |J t3 0 Two crescents, A . 4
back, to back in incuse 10
circle.
i

10.
.64

Crescents, two

A. I>.
5ii

Septi
mus
Seve
rn*.

B. M. Thrace, p. 143,
No 19.

06 Tarentum . Two crescents, back to Two crescents, back to A . 3

Calabria.
back; a ro u n d , four
back; w ithin horns, KA
7.5
dots.
above and beneath, a dot.

3*
.21

67

3*
.22

.,

p. l65,N o33.
68

PI. 1
:>o

H u n te r i a n C o ll.,
p. 607, No 6.

Crescents two back to back

Two crescents baric to N . 75 32s
back, w ith groups of 19 5 .:
pellets round them : all
on a sunk part of licld.

1*1. 1
60

Ohol.

a. c.
367374

B. C.
334

Same type; w ithin cres Same type ; in 1. crescent, A . 3

cents, A P a b o v e and
K ; above and beneath, a 7.5
beneath, a dot.
dot.

Same type; in licld,!.. |

PI. I
64

B. M. Cent. G r., p.90,

No 3.

PI. I
69

Evans, Coins of Ta
rentum ,
./Yam.
CAron.,1889, pl.V ,
8. p. 84, No 111.
B. M. Italy, p. 143.
No 4.
,,

p. 216, No 457.

>

,,

p. 217, No461.

B. C.
300212

Same type, but no dots bet /L1 345

ween rays; beneath, . 26 22.34

71 Tarentum . Two crescents, back to Same as obverse.

b ack ; around, four
Calabria.
stars of eight rays.

*. 3
7.5

3*
.19

72

ft 3
7.5

3
.19

''

Hunterian Coll.,p.84.
No 177.

a. c.
400272

Same type, but around, Similar, around, fTOAYfour small crosses, in

(lie angles of which
are dots.

p .2l9,N o486.

"

69 Aes Grave. Two naked figures, dan Two crescents, horns out / . I 625 Semis.
cing, that u r. w ith
Central
wards, in each of which a 32.5 40.50
drapery over 1. arm :
Italy.
star of eight rays, w ith

dots between rays ; ben

in field, r. t
eath, '

p. 727, No I.

H u n t e r i a n C o ll .,
p. 729, No 15.

fourth
and
Ihird
cent.
B. C.

Head of Pallas r., wear Tw o crescents, back to i .4 5

ing crested h elm et;
back; around, four dots. II
border of dots.

70
A. 0.
50

1*1. 1
1

B. M. Italv, p. 66,
No 4.

Bust of Helios full face PY on either side of two A . 35 5*

radiate and w earing
crescents, horns out
9
.36
chlamys.
w a rd s ; above AA; bet
ween crescents, two clots.

Crescents two and * Stare

4.V
2.92

Kefkremce

back to back and Dots

65

"

Pl.ATK

JE.4' 9445
2 .3 610.03

H u n te r i a n C o ll.,
p. 253, No 6.

i . 7
lA in n o n o A E iT f iN AVKAC CVHPOC
C rescent; above which 17.5
Head of Severus r.,
are nine -tars, and ben
laur.
eath, two.

Horse prancing r . ; above, three groups of

triangularly arranged
p ellets; each group
contains three pellets,
and the central one is
surrounded by a rin g ;
beneath, star of six
rays ; in front, annulet
containing a pellet.

Xs
.54

Anti
nimi
Pius.

llubi.
Apulin.

l>EM>tl. 1) VTK

Stars

9 Uncertain. Female head 1., wearing Laurel-w reath, containing M .7

crescent d o w n w a r d s , 17.5
It. behceen
slephane. earring and
w ith small disk between
necklace, with pen
Africa and
horns ; border of dots.
Sicily.
dants; in front. thvmiate rio n ; border of dots.

Iceni.
Britain.

Mm,
Si*i: W t.

f f B i beneath ; lirst mo- Similar, degradation of lau A . 4

nogr. partly formed of
rel wreath.
to
1. hindleg of horse).
Similar.

Crescent in laurel-wreath

60

Ht-VKRSt

63 Tarentum . Two crescents, back to Similar to obverse.

Calabria.
back; above and ben
eath, a d o t; plain bor
der.
64

JE.75
o iA in n o n o A iT U N .
Crescenl, horns upw ards; 19
above, three stars.

Crescent and

B; M. Thraoc. p. 33,
No 41.

Oavensi.

,,

Qua
drant.

,.
1 . c.
400272

p. 61, No 48.

,.

No 49.

,,

p. 217, No462.

,,

.,

No 463.

36

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

CRESCENTS THREE AND STARS

No.

P lace

R evibke

Osvebse

iI e t a i .

1S ize W t.

1)kkom.

STAR
Datk

Hd e id k i

P late

No.

P lace

Crescents three
73

Caelia.
Apulia.

c.
288200
Qua
d ran t.

.5 5
14

Venusia.
Apulia.

Cockle-shell.

Three crescents, horns out i .

w ards ; w ithin upper 1
34
m ost, m on. \ .

75

Croton.
Bnmltii.

Each letter within /E .85

Head of Persephone r., (P O a crescent, horns out 21
w earing w reath of
wards.
corn.

s. c.
420300

76

Cydonia.
Crtle.

Y outhful head r . ; hair K ; around, three crescent; A . 4

to
border o f dots.
short (somewhat bar
barous).

20* Trihem i- a. c.
obol.
4001.31
300

77

78

Young head r., w reath Three crescents, back to A .4 5

11
back, in centre a dot.
ed; border of dots.

7*
.49

Hemiobol.

79

Tanus.
Crete.

Head of young Dionysos TAN- Pellet between three j& .5

12.5
crescents.

17
1.10

Obol.

80

Athens.
Attica.

Head of Athena r., in _ A _ . Three crescents, A . 3

O
7.5
dose fitting crested E horns
inwards.
helmet, adorned w ith
floral ornament.

8
.51

74

Simitar 1., ivy-wreathed. Similar.

B. M. Italy, p. 134,
No 7.

1.

le a d of P allas, r., w ear IC Al A IN O N . Three .5 5

crescents, horns out 14
ing crested Corinthian
w ards, w ithin each ;
helmet, necklace.
plain border.
Similar.

Head, H ist.
p. 38.

/R .45 14*
.92
11

Thebe.
Myaia.

Venusia
Apulia.

82

83

Head of Hera 1., wear Three crescents, horns out

wards ; in each, star ol
ing stephane and veil
sixteen rays ; plain bor
in front, monogr. 1
der.
behind, | ; border o
dots.

m .y s

24

Metal

R ev erse

S iz e

W t.

D en o m .

D a te

P late

.,

Female head r., wearing OHB- Three crescents uni >. 4

sakkos.
ted.
10

4U.

R efeien cx

Millingen's Sylloee,
p. 68. pi. IV, No 43.
Dumersan's Descript.,
Allier de Hauteroche, p. 80, pi.
XIII-19.
B. M. Mysia, p. 179,
No 1.

cent.
B. c.

M am .,

B. M. Italy, p. 150,
No 8.

s. c.
292250

579
17.51

84

Crescents three forming Triskcles

(See Triskeles of Crescents)

p. 336, No 116.

Crescents three within Wheel

B. M. C rete, p. 29,
No 10.
,,

,,

85

N o ll.

PI. I
78

H u n t e r i a n C o ll .,
p. 179, No 5.

B. C.
400300

PI. 1
79

Head, H itt. N a m .,
p. 406.

T ritarte- s c.
moria.
430322

PI. I
80

B. M. Attica, p. 18,
No 187.

Uncertain. Archaic wheel, having Wheel w ith axle, but w ith

Aes Grave.
long straight bur, cros
out spokes; within it,
Etruria.
sed by two bars, curv
three crescents, horns
ing outwards.
outw ards;around, m n w

A . 884
1 57.28
49

Semis.

B. M. Italy, p. 17,
No I.

Crcsccnts lour
86

Athens.
AUica.

Head of Athena r. (eye AOE- Incuse square, within JR. 3

in profile) wearing
which four crescents 7.5
crested h elm et; the
back to back.
front adorned with
three upright oliveleaves.

8*
.55

Obole.

H. c.
430322

Hemiobol.

h. c .
3S0300

Pi. I
86

B. M. Attica, p. 17,
No 180.

Crescents four and Dots

87

Heraclea.
Luca nix.

EH- Club and strung l'our crescents, back to A .3 5 | b3

bow, both upwards,
back: in the cent re and
9
.33
crossed.
within each, a dot.

38

Megara.
Megan*.

Head of Apollo 1., laur. META and H '.between M lift. 55 N*2

and E) in the intervals 14 3.25
between live crescents;
plain border.

89

Mnlaca.
Ilitpania
ulterior.

Crescents three and Stars

81

O sv ebse

Crescents three united

Mead of Pallas, e e

73

37

178
11.53

Similar.

S im ilar; but stars of twelve <. 1 84

25 5.44
rays.

Head of Zeus, 1., laur.

behind, | .

Three crescents, horns out zfi.9! 264

w ards ; w ithin each, star 24 17. If
of tw elve rays; plain bor
der.

Qua
dra ns

Crescents five

K. M. Italy, p. 152,
No 24.

,,

,,

,,

p. 150. No 12.

IB. M. Italy, p. 226.

No 11.

No 25.

H. C.
400338

PI. I
88

B. M. Attica, p. 118,
No 2.

Secntl
or
first
COIlI.

PI. I
89

H u n te r i a n C o ll.
p. 658, No 5.

Star

P abt . V I.

Bust of He- S tar of eijjht rays enclosed /K.85

yycx.
phaistos r., draped,
within wreath.
21
wears Hat cap; border
of dots.

90

Semis.

T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

38

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

STAR
No.

90
91

92

93

P lace

R ev erse

O bverse

STAR
M et a l
W t.
S iz e

94

Luceria.
Apulia.

95

96

Syracuse.
Sicily.

M ionnel, 1, S ., p. 168,
No 144.

JE. 15.98
1.8 ioa.M
45

Qua
dra ns.

- T N i m i - Crescent bet Star.

ween Tour stam and
the counterm ark |.

iE .
2.7
70

Aes
Grave.

M ionnel, 1, S ., p. 209,
No 82.

&.
1.65
42

Same inscr. Cresccnt.

Similar.

Dolphiu, 1.; beneath, S tar of six ravs, on raised JE. 1475

1.85 95.57
field.
on raised field.
46
Dolphin, r . ; above, ; Similar.
beneath, ^ ; on raised
field.

M.
369
1.1 23.90
27.5

Female head 1., wearing Incuse square of four quar iC .65

ters in different planes, in 16
earring and sphenthe centre of which is an
d one.
ornamented
incuse circle containing a
behind w ith star of
star of sixteen rays.
eight rays, and having
in front <t>PV indis
tinct ; plain border.

98

Pantica- Tripod-lebes.
paeum.
Tauric.
Chertonete.

"

R eference

P late

Barley corn : in Held, r., S tar of sixteen rays.

U ncertain. X - Bull 1., b utting; S tar of sixteen ravs, the JE.

alternate ones lo n g e r; 1.3
plain border.
Sicily.
32.5
plain border.
TUNTIKATT. S tar of eight . 6
15
ra y s ; letters of inscr.
between rays.

,,

Star.

Otbia.
Sarmatia.

OABIO-

101

Achillea.
I, o f
Sarmatia.

AXIA between the spo Similar.

kes of a wheel.

Dolphin.

,,

No 83.

B. M. Italv, p. 137,
No 10.

Qua
dra ns.

,,

"

B. C.

P I. I

412345

96

103

104

P lace

Issa.
h . Illyria.

IZZA-

106

"

Similar inscr. Head of S tar w ith eight ray s; in i .8 5

Artemis r.
field ?
21

107

In gen.
Eitirut.

Caps of the Dioscuri A m iP flT A N w ritten bet JE. 7

surmouiited by stars.
ween the rays of th e star. 17.5

JE. 5
12.5
JE. 7
17.5

,,

p. 32, No 138.

"

O n ON
bunch of O within star of sixteen <R. 4
grapes on either side
rays; border of dots.
10
of Amphora.

8*
.51

Hemiobol.

AO KP- Amphora to Similar.

1. grapes, to r., ivyleaf.

102

Mionnel, III,
p. 174, No 1125-

Itauus.
C rtlt.

"

S im ilar; border of dots. Similar.

Star.

A. 4
10
/E.65
16
.5
13.5

p. 361, No 20.

c. Part. 1 B.M . Thessaly, p. 128,

300- PI. VII
No 225.
433
229

B. C.

387369

A .45 I05
11
.66

Head of Pallas 1., in S tar of sixteen rays.

crested helmet.

Head, H u t. N um .,
p. 268.

B.

B. C.

369338
B. C.

338300
B. C.

387374

between the rays of a , .4 5

star.
11

115 G am brium . Head of Apollo r., laur. TAM.

Myaia.
116

alternate rays AL. 6

15

Orchome- Boeotian shield, along EPXO

* the alternate <.55
nus.
which ear of corn.
spaces of a star of eight ' 14
Botolia.
rays.
A

p. 305, No 250.

,,

Obol.

Asteria. Beardless head r.

(between
Ithaca and
Cephalonium .)
It o f Elis.

,,

Mionnet,
III. S.,
p. 358, No 13.

12*
.*9

113

R eterence

Mionnet, III,
S .,
p. 174, No 1126.

4"*
cent.
B. c.

Z r
A m phora; an
Circle of d o ts ; w ithin of Al.45
star of sixteen ra y s ; bor 11
0 .0
ivy-leaf on either side
der of dots.
of Amphora.

114

(la s -

M. 9
22.5

LocriO punti.
Locria,

4
Kantliaros to r., Star, the
pedum.
longer.

P late

109

112

p. 22, No 83.

sander

Star.

D a te

Time
of
Cassande

Corey ra.
la. Epirut.

B. M. Thrace, p. 10,
No 48.

P I. I

I2 IA -

DexOM.

108

111

of

Female head.

W t.

-.55
14

105

p. 237, No 2.

M ionnet, 11,6'., |>. 11,

No 65.

M eta i
S iz e

Man nude
retaining 0E P A - S tar in the middle A . 7
horse which is running
of incuse square.
17.5

110

Time

R ev erse

rran o p o lis. OYPANIAEHN TTO

Star.
Macedonia.
A EflZ - I'rania
in
stola " seated on a
globe 1., in the r.,
hand sceptre and wearing cap.

345275
A fter
Alex.
the
G reat.

O bverse

Plicrae.
Thntahj.

p. 139, No 40.

,,

Uranopolis OTPANIAZ FTOAEnZ- Star as a sun of eight ravs ; , .6 5

border of dots (see sun 16
Kemale figure Artemis
Macedonia.
as a star of eight rays).
seated on a globe 1.,
holdind in I., hand
spear.

No.

B. M. Sicilv, p. 182,
No 241. '

,,

B. C.

Head of Pan 1., behind Sim ilar: in field bow and jE .95
24
0.
A-

100

102

D ate

B. M. Ilalv, p. 31.
No 7.

97

99

D em o n .

U ncertain. Crescent radiated or in Star, in the middle of con /V. 0

Gallia.
side of a shell.
cave field.
Iguvium.
Umbria.

39

Part. I B. M. Centr.
PI. I
p. 1, No 3.
80
P art. I
PI. V
284

,,

p. 5, No 35.

Part. I
PI. V
281

,,

p. 6, No 48.

PI. I
112

,,

p. 56, No 36.

P I.

7*
.46

B. C.

400300
B. C.

3*
rent.

G r.,

Harw ood,
Gr., p. 7.

N n m it.

PI. 1
114

H u n te r i a n C o ll.,
p. 100, No 8.

PI. I
115

9. M. Mysia, p. 63,
No 2.

PI. 1
116 1

,,

,,

No 11.

40

No.

117

P lace

Colone.
Troas.

118

Salamis.
Cyprus.

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

SU N

ZODIACS

REV EH Sr

O b v e r se

Head of Athena r., wear KOAflNAflNeight r a y s .

ing crested helmet.

S iz e

Star of

D exom .

D ate

II. c .
400310

A iA ft
16

JE. 4
10

Similar.

Similar 1.

Wt.

/ft. 35
9

Head of Athena 1. in S tar of eight rays.

crested Athenian hel
met.

R eference

P la t e

P I. 1
117

P I. I

O b o l.

No.

P lace

O bvebse

B. M. Troas, p. 47,
No 2.
,,

,,

No 5.

118
&
00 ^

119

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

361351

W t.

D exom .

D ate

P late

R if e b e x c b

The suu and Moon, (a starl/E . 5 I

of eight rays within cres- 1 2 .5
c e n t); border of dots.
|
|

1
|

i Time ,
f
Istnderl

i ft

Macedonia
p. 134, No 5 .

Sun surrounded by Crescents and five stars

126

B. C.

Mitai.
S ize

Sun and Moon as star within Crescent

1 2 5 1 Uranopolis.l Similar.
1 Macetionia.

B. M. Cyprus, p. 60,
N o 68.

ra s II
c irc a

R kvkiisk

41

OYPANIAAN- Similar; I Radiated sun,

crescent /ft. l '| 212 I Tetrain field I., A beneath,! above, and surrounded
Idrachm.
lighted torch.
| by live stars.

300
a. c.

PI. II | Imhoof, Mon. Gr.

126 I p. 96, No 135.

J.
Mae
sa.

PI. II
127

Stars
120

Tomi.
Moetia Inf.

Zodiac, Signs of

B. M. Thrace, p. 54,
No 3.

Dr fore
| to .

Rude head of Zeus r., TOMI- Two stars of live /E.t>5

16
points below which. .
la u r.; border of dots.

mun
domi
nion.

127

Amastris. IOVAIANMAICAN
/ .
AMACT PIANflNPaphlagoHera (?) and Zeus, hold 1.25
CEBAC- Bust of Julia
nia.
Maesa r. (as Demeter);
ing sceptres standing fac 31
in r. hand, ear of c o rn ;
ing one another; around,
in 1., corn and poppy
the signs of the Zodiac ;
in ex., H(counterm ark,
fO Bust of Gordian III r.)

128

Aegeae.
Cilicia.

Stars wilh Ears of Corn and bunch of Grapes

121

Populonia. Mask-bearded facing

Etruria.
Cam arina.
Sieity.

Eckel had attributed

these to Populonia
(15truria'iand Mion
net followed him
correcting himself
in liis recueil des
planches page 62 as
belonging; to Camarina.

Two stars; another star M .lb

19
between a bunch and
ear of corn.

B. M. Ponthus, p.
No 34.

Zodiac surrounding head of Meduse

AYKAITT...
lerian.

AIT AinN-NEHK-NAY-ET / . 1*
T r ( = 303 year). Head 30
of Meduse surrounded by
the signs of Zodiac.

Valeria11us.

PI.

Sr s -

Mionnet, V ll
167, No 78.

Sun as Globe

123

Sim ilar; in licld I., Mar, Similar.

r., A (?j.

PI. II

107*
6.95

122 Uranopolis. OYPANIAflN- Aphro The Sun as a globe encir

cled by ra y s; border of
dite Urania, clad in
Macedonia.
dots.
chiton and peplos fas
tened on r. shoulder,
seated, facing, on
globe; on her head a
spike surmounted by
s ta r; she holds in r.
long sceptre, ending
above in circle fof the
universe? ..from which
hang two lillets: in
field 1., a pyramidal
object
surmounted
by star.

B.

122

129

OYPANIAflN
rO A E n i
Similar
type ; no symbol.

Alexandria. AYTKTAIAAAP
Zodiac, within w hich,circle M . 1>
of the epouy mous gods of 32.3
Egypt.
ANTCONdNOC C
the days of the w eek;
BVC- Head of Anto
busts of Saturn r., Sun
ninus Pius r.. laur.
r.. Moon r.. Mars 1 Mer
cury 1.. Jupiter 1., Venus
1.: in upper partof circle.
LH ; in inmost circle. Bust
of Sarapis 1., wears niodius.

Anto PI. 11 B. M. Alexandria,

ninus
129
p. 127, No 1079.
Pius.

Zodiacs tw o. one within the other enclosing busts of Sarapis and Isis
/ft. 8

20

PI. 11 Imhoof, Mon. Gr..

123
p. 96, No 136.

120
7.70

Sun as a star of eight Rays

124

Zodiac within which eponymous gods of days of week

M. Macedonia,
p. 133, No 1.

The sun as a star of eight 1/15.651

ravs; border of dots (sec 16
also star).
I
I

I
I

|B .

M. Macedonia,
p. 134, No 2.

130

Similar.

Two Zodiacs, one within JE. I1

the other, each sign coin 32.5
ciding ; williin, liu>ts of
Sarapis wearing niodius.
anil I>is. wearing gloln*
and horns, jugate I. (com
mencement of Sot Iliac
Cycle).

PI. II
130

,,

p. 126, No 1078

42

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

T H E R IS E O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E H E L L E N IS T IC W O R LD

CAN C ER

No.

P lace

A q u a r iu s

131

Antioch
Head of Zeus r., laur.
Seleucit anti
Pieria.

s ig n

P late

R eference

No.

53 a .

O bv erse

R ev er se

i .
1
31

M etal
W t.
S iz e

D exom .

D ate

P late

Time
of

PI. II

R e t e r k ic x

Gemini sign of
Anto
ninus
Pius.

PI. 11 H u n t e r i a n C o ll .,
131
p. 460, N o 467.
B. M. Alexandria
p. 128, No 1088.

136

Ha

drian.

Leo sign of
137 Alexandria. AY T K A IA A A P
B ust of Helios radiate, r . ; / . 1
beneath, Lion rushing r . ; 32.5
Egypt.
ANTCONEINOCCC
BYC- Bust r., lau r., of
above head, slarbenealh.
A ntoninus Pius.
LH (The Sun in Leo).

H u n te r i a n C o ll.
p. 150, No 64.

Au
gus
tus

A Y T K T A IA A A P AN
TCONINOCCCB CYC

Head of Antoninus
Pius r., la u r.

Nero.

PI. II
133

,,

Anto PI. II B. M. Alexandria,

ninus
137
p. 127, No 1064.
Pi os.

Pisces sign of

p. 155, No 96.

Bust of Zeus r., laur.; JE. 1*1

across r. shoulder, scep 32.5
tr e ; in front ,sta r; beneath,
fishes r and 1. ( Jupiter
in Pisces); in field, LH-

PI. II
138

Sagittarius sign of

o.).

AVTO KKM ANTO PAIA CCTTKOA ONCCIBIMH

TP- Bust of Tyche of
NONCABTPANK-city r., draped, veiled
NAC6B- Bust, face to
face, of Gordian III r.,
and tu rre te d ; above her

P la ce

Eucarpeia. CVKAPTK ON- Bust C nm C AIAC . CCKOYNA ifi.651

Phrygia.
of Hermes r . , bare
HC- Bucranium surmoun 16
headed, shoulders dra
ted by large cresce n t;
ped, caduceus behind
above which are two
n e c k ; border of dots.
stars, one over the other,
connected by vertical line
(the G em in i?); border of
dots.

o ).

AP (=*

laur., w earing cuirass

and palud., and of
Tranquillina 1., drap
ed and w earing stephane.

D ati:

of

ANTlOXEflN- Head of ETTIKOYAAPATOY. Ram y-65 085

leaping r., w ith head 16 6.37
Tyche r., veiled arid
turned back ; above, star
turreted.
of six rays; beneath, d a te ;
Nisibis.
Mnopota-

Deno.u .

of

ANTIOXEHH M HTPono vC.75 119

AEftZ- Kara leaping r-, 19 7.71
with head turned b a c k ;
above, star of eight r a y -;
beneath, date BM (11-12
a.

33

.34-

s ig n

Alexandria. AYTKTAIAAAP
Bust of Kronos 1., wearing AE. I 5
Egypt.
veil and globe on head, 32.5
ANTCONINOC CBY
at 1-. shoulder t'alx; in
Bust of Antoninus
Pius r., laur.. in cui
front sta r; beneath youth
swimming 1., looking
rass and palud.
back and holding inver
ted ja r on his hands ben
eath date LH (144-145
a . d .) (Saturn in Aqua
rius).

A rie s

132

TA URU S
Metal
W t.
S ize

R evi:r$e

O bverse

43

Gordianus
Pius.

,,

B ust of Zeus r., la u r.; ben JE. 1*

A Y T K T A IA A A P
eath, C entaur galopping 32.5
ANTCONINOCCCB CYC

p. 310, No 3.

Similar.

PI. 11
139

r., drawing bow ; above

head, star (Jupiter in Sa
gittarius) ; beneath, LH-

head, sign of constellation

Aries r . ; before and
behind her, a star.

Scorpio sign of
140

Similar.

ilelm eted bust of Ares I.; JE. 1* 413

in front, s ta r; beneath 35 26.90
Scorpio I. (M an in Scor
pio) ; in field, LH (*** 1 4 4 -

,t

PI. II
140

H u n te r i a n C o ll .
p. 468, No 462.

1 4 5 A . D .).

Canccr sign of
135 Alexandria. A Y T K T A IA A A P AN
Bust of Selene r . ; in front. i . 1*
s ta r ; beneath, crescent 32.3
Egypt.
TC0N INOCC6 BCYCmoon ; beneath all. Crab
Head of Antoninus
(the moon in Cancer); in
Pius r., laur., in cui
rass and paludara.
lield, LH-

Taurus sign of
Anto- PI. 11 B. M. Alexandria,
p. 127, Nol082.
135
niuus
Pius

141

Bust of Aphrodite I., w ean JE. 1*

stephanc; beneath. Bull 32.5
butting I., above, star
(VC- Head of Antoni
(Venus in Taurus); in ex..
nus Pius r., laur.

A V T K T AIAAAP
ANTCONCINOC CEB

LH-

PI. II
141

B.

M. Alexandria
p. 127, No 1060.

T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

44

No.

P lace

O b v erse

R e v erse

M e ta l
S ue

W t.

D enom .

D ate

P late

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E TO A STROLO GY

R eferen ce

Constellation of the Ploughman

Ploughman ploughing w ith JE. I5
141* Alexandria. AVTKA IAAAP
yoke of oxen I .; he w ears 32.5
Egypt.
ANTCONINOC C6B
conical cap, chlainys and
(VC- Head of A ntoni
short kirtle, w ith r.,
nus Pius r., laur.
goads farther ox, w ith I.
guide plough; the ground,
a ploughed field (the
Constellation
of
the
Ploughm an): in ex.. L-

Anto PI. 11 B. M. Alexandria,

ninus 141*
p. 128, No 1091.
Pius.

Constellation of the Reaper

142

Similar.

Reaper r ., w earing short / . 1J

kirtle, w ith r. cuts three 32.5
corn stalks w ith sickle,
holding them w ith his 1.;
on I., tree, which rises
over Reaper's head (the
constellation of the Reap*
er); in f., LE-

t>

PI. II
142

No 1003.

II. T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E T O A STR O LO G Y

(250-44 B .C .)
1. T H E A R RIV A L OF A ST RO LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN
W O RLD (250-170 B .C .)

Early Rome was primarily a nation of farmers. Like

all peasant societies it possessed an ancient and primi
tive system of astrometeorology. Beyond this, however,
Roman knowledge of and interest in celestial affairs
remained steeped in religious lore and oracular disci
plines until the third century b . c . Roman contacts with
three surrounding Mediterranean cultures. Etruscan,
Carthaginian, and Greek, did not arouse in Rome a
noticeable scientific interest. Even after the aristocracy
finally began to acquire a taste for Hellenistic civiliza
tion. no marked enthusiasm developed in the Latin west
for those abstract rational pursuits which had fascinated
the best Greek minds since the days of the Ionian phi
losophers. The awakening interest of a relatively small
group of Roman noblemen since the middle of the third
century b . c . remained confined to Greek literature and
the finished formulae of Greek philosophy. The same
receptive rather than creative attitude prevailed in the
realm of religion. Eastern cults inundated Italy, while
Roman religion failed to develop any new strength of
its own.

The small band of Roman humanists for reasons

to be discussed later at first received scientific
astrology with considerable scepticism. Its apostles were,
however, more warmly welcomed by the low'er strata
of Roman society. Meanwhile, in the realm of religion
high and low alike joined in the enthusiastic worship
of newly imported eastern cults, some of which included
star worship. Among the eastern deities who between
300 and 150 b . c . arrived in Rome and acquired a sub
stantial following there were Asclepius, the Great
Mother Cybele of Pessinus, Bacchus, Isis, and Mithras,
to name only the most important imported divinities.
Jehovah too reached Rome apparently in that era.1 Of
these arrivals a few were official, for example the im1 On the subject compare for instance W. Hoffmann, Rom
und die griechische W elt im vierten Jahrhundert, Philologus,
suppl. 27, H eft 1, 1934; W. Kroll, Die Kultur der ciceronischen
Zcit., ch. v : Religion und Religiositaet, 2 : 1-25, 27, Das Erbe
der Alien, 2. Reihe, ed. O. Immisch, Leipzig, 1933; F. Cumont
Les religions orientates dans Iempire romain, 4th ed., Paris,
1929; Astrology and religion among the Greeks and Romans,
London and New York, G. B. Putnams Sons, 1912; H . H.
Scullard, Roman politics, 220-150 B. C., Oxford, Clarendon
Press, 1951.

portation of Asclepius and the Great M o th er; i. e. these

were formally invited to come to Rome, transported
from their eastern homes to the banks of the Tiber and
given official status with a state-supported college of
priests.
This kind of adoption was not a peculiar Roman
custom, but one common to ancient city-states. W hen
ever in a crisis the traditional local divinities seemed
unable or unwilling to grant relief, foreign oracles or
domestic ones were consulted. In many cases they ad
vised the importation of some specific deity to allay the
current troubles. In the case of Asclepius a plague,
which about 300 b . c . harassed Rome, caused the gov
ernment, after consultation of the Sybilline books, to
establish the first sanctuary of Asclepius in Rome (291
b . c. ?), a most appropriate gesture, indeed.- For Ascle
pius was the great healer among the Hellenistic gods.
He was, however, one of the latest arrivals on Mount
Olympus,3 his medical knowledge ascribed on occasion
not even to divine inspiration but to the teachings of
the legendary Centaur Chiron,* a sort of pre-historic
school-master in Greek mythology.5 When installed in
Rome, Asclepius had not yet added to his reputation
the role of a fountainhead of astrological revelation.
This he acquired soon afterwards during the third cen
tury b . c . in the Hellenistic east. Thereafter in many
an astrological treatise he appeared as the recipient of
astrological wisdom imparted to him by Hermes who
in Greek mythology was usually equated with the
Egyptian god Toth.8
Inevitably, therefore, Asclepius became the patron
saint of iatromathematics, a system of medicine which
applied astrological theories to medical treatment. The
individual parts of the body, its organs and their dis
eases were brought into definite relation with the influ
ence of certain stars or constellations. Hand in hand
with this development went the ascription of critical
days to individual patients or specific diseases7 and
the creation of pharmaceutical prescriptions based on
astrological botany the use of herbs believed to repre
sent and contain the powers of individual planets.3
5 Livy, 29, 11, 1; Orosius, 3, 22.
1 Originally merelylike Heraclesa semidivine heros.
Schol. ad Germanici Phaenomena, 291.
Loc. cit. Chiron was also credited with teaching Heracles
the art of astrologia. According to another tradition, however,
Heracles owed his knowledge of it to A tla s; Festus, epit., s. v . :
Hercules astrologus dictus, quod eo die se tlammis injecit, quo
futura erat obscuratio sol is; cf. Bouche-Leclercq: 576, n. 1.
* Sometimes also with Eshmun. A typical tract ot this kind,
for example, was entitled roi) 'Ep/iou rpos 'AirxXijtiok \eyopArn
iepa
ed. P itra, Analecta sacra 5 ( 2) : 284-290; a better
edition by Ruelle in R e n te dc Philologie 35, 1909 : 250 f f.;
German transl. by W . Gundel, D ekane: 374-379.
7 Cf. Bouche-Leclercq: 516 ff.; P. Duhem, Le systcme du
monde 2 ( 1 ) : 366-369. F or a typical treatise of this sort, see
Galens tract On critical days.
* F o r example 'Ep/wi t o v Tpuriur/iarou vpot 'A.<iK\riTrio repi
oravur t <5 i;'doreptvv; ed. Pitra. Analecta sacra 5 (2) : 291 ff.;

45

The drugs concocted from such plants were expected

to give the patient the direct benefit of the astral influ
ence needed to combat the particular disease. How
much, however, of this Hellenistic astrologization of
Asclepius was actually transmitted to his priests in
Rome, after his establishment on an isle in the Tiber
during the third century, cannot be determined. From
the humbler role of recipient, Asclepius eventually rose
to that of divine dispenser of astrological revelations.
For example in an astro-botanical treatise ascribed to
Harpocration, but actually written bv the phvsician
Thessalus and addressed either to Claudius ( a. d. 4154) or his successor Nero ( a. d. 54-68),5 the author,
when asked from whom he would like to receive divine
revelations, at once named Asclepius.10
Although the first Roman contacts with hellenistic
astrology remain shrouded in the inevitable twilight of
hieratic and obscure secular contacts, a word like considerare (possibly of astrological origin)11 was already
in common usage by the middle of the third century.
Nor did the Roman comedy-writer Plautus (ca. 253184 b . c.) feel any scruples in introducing to his Roman
audience a star as speaker of the prologue in his Rudens.
In adapting a Greek comedy for Roman use he opened
the play with the appearance of the star, Arcturus,
whose words may in part be quoted, because they indi
cate what the Roman public was then expected to
understand and be impressed by. Said A rcturus:
I am a fellow countrym an of him in the realm of heaven
who moves all the lands and the seas. A b rilliant star am I,
as you see me, a sign which always prom ptly rises a t its due
tim e both here and in the heavens. A rctu ru s is my name.
A t n ig h t I shine in the sky am idst the host of gods, a t 'day
tim e I w ander about on earth am ong m ortals. O ther stars
too descend to earth.
Jove, L ord of gods and men, sends us throughout the
w orld, one this way, one elsewhere so that we m ight espy
the deeds of men. th eir conduct, piety, and loyalty, and w hat
use they m ake of riches.
T h e nam es of those who p erju re themselves before the
ju d g e professing innocence o r falsely testify to claim w hat
is n o t theirs, such nam es we lay before Jove.12

The finesse with which Arcturus was described as

not himself divine but dwelling in the company of the
gods and serving the all-highest as a spy on earth
also 279-284; F. E. Robbins, A new astrological treatise, Michi
gan Papyrus, no. 1, Jour. Class. Philoi. 22. 1927: 1-45; Housman,
The Michigan astrological papyrus, ibid.: 257-263; Cat. 8 (3) :
153-165.
" Compare Cat. 8 (3) : 134-151; 8 (4) : 254 ff.
10 Ibid. 8 ( 3 ) : 136, 31; 8 ( 4 ) : 257, 1. On the temple of
Asclepius in Thebes, see W. Otto, Pricstcr und Tempel im
hellenistischen Acgypten 1: 135 f., Leipzig, Teubner, 1905; about
the appearances of Asclepius before mortals. O. Weiiireich,
Antike Heilungsxmtndcr: 1, n. 3, Giessen, 1909; cf. Cat. 8 (4) :
181. 20; 257, n. 1.
II Plautus, Trinmnmus: v. 404; on the astrological roots of
this word, see E. Riess, Classical W eekly 27 (10), Dec. 18, 1933:
74, and Knapp in n. 21.
12 Plautus, Rudens: vv. 1 ff.

46

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

smacked of Greek subtlety rather than of Roman re

ligious concepts. It did. however, obviously not seem
out of place to Plautus for Roman audiences, a sign of
the rapid progress of the penetration of third-century
Rome hv Greek star-lore.
The Roman generation to which Plautus belonged
was the first one which showed definite signs of the
impact of Hellenistic culture upon Rome. This influence
manifested itself most noticeably in the realm of dra
matic or epic literature in which Plautus and Livius
ndronicus pioneered bv introducing interested Romans
adapted or translated Latin versions of Greek epics
and plays. It may well be that Plutarch's assertion
that Rome's first school accessible to all who would pay
the modest fee of its teacher was opened in 235-234 b . c . 13
is not trustworthy. But the spirit of that era at least
would favor the transplanting to Rome of the Greek
prototype of elementary schools. W ith Naevius the
indigenous Latin epic was bom. Simultaneously the
first Roman historians appeared on the scene at the end
of the third century b . c . They were not annalists of the
old school, but men discovering for themselves the ap
proach and the methods of Greek historians. These
Roman pioneers, among whom Q. Fabius Pictor, L.
Cincius Alimentus (both Hannibals contemporaries).
A. Postumius Albinus (consul 151 b . c . ) , and C. Acilius
(fl. 155 b . c.) were the most renowned ones, felt inca
pable of expressing themselves adequately in Latin,
and hence wrote their accounts of Roman history in
Greek.14 Those who dared write in Latin might be
^raised by men like the older Cato (234-149),15 but
iiore competent later critics condemned all earlier Latin
aistorians in general, a. verdict reaffirmed authoritatively
by Cicero.16
The infiltration of philhellenism into Roman aristo
cratic circles inevitably aroused a measure of opposition
if which tradition (though not quite accurately) made
:ae older Cato the living symbol. Among the most
enthusiastic families adopting the new outlook was the
Scipionic branch of the Cornelian gens. The conqueror
of the great Hannibal, the older Scipio Africanus, was
himself among the leaders of the movement. The degree
IJ Plutarch, quaest. Rom., 59: It was a long time before they
began to teach for pay, and the first to open an elementary
school tor pay was Spunus Carvilius, a freed man of the Carvtiius who was the first to divorce his wife (for barrenness,
"
14). It does seem incredible, however, that no divorce of
th is kind should have occurred in Rome prior to that date, i. e.
235 b. c.
14 F or example Aulus Postumius A lbinus; Cicero, Brutus,
20, 81.
,s Polybius, frgm. 39. 1 ff. related Cato's violent criticism of
Albinus for his apologetic statement that he lacked the complete
mastery of the Greek language (in which he wrote his history)
m<l the rigorous Greek training necessary tor the writing of the
-tury. For an incident, characteristic of the philhellenism of
stumius during his praetorship in 155, see Cicero, Acad., 2,
137.
Cicero, de leyibus, 1, 2, 5-6.

of his philhellenism can be gauged from the shocking

story circulated alxnit him in Rome on the eve of his
invasion of North Africa (which won the Second Punic
W ar for Rome). While preparing the expedition from
his Sicilian headquarters Scipio was reliably reported
to have succumbed to the Greek milieu to the extent of
actually donning Greek dress and moving about in it
in public, a daring feat, indeed, for a Roman commanderin-chief of the third century b . c . 17 Yet in the very
same year (204 b . c . ) his future political opponent, the
older Cato himself, showed his good judgment of liter
ary promise by bringing home with him from Sardinia
(where Cato had landed on his return from Africa
en route to Rome during his quaestorship) a South
Italian soldier named Ennius.18 Although a later legend
to the effect that Cato actually during his stay in
Tarentum had been imbued with Pythagorean wisdom
must not be taken seriously, there is no doubt that as
he became older his robust anti-Hellenism mellowed,
perhaps to such an extent that at the end of his long
life he actually began to learn Greek himself. This
triumph of the old spirit of the era over the staunchest
defender of old Roman ways was also reflected in Cato's
own efforts as a writer. H e might deny to his own son
the benefit of the learning of his Greek slave Chilo, but
he had no scruples to hire the man out to other Romans
who were eager to have Chilo instruct their children.
In his surviving treatise On agriculture and in his
written speeches Cato presented an excellent example
of the influence of the new humanism on the evolution
of Latin writing.10
Parallel with this secular Hellenization of the Roman
nobility ran the tide of religious penetration of Roman
society by eastern cults. During the darkest time of
the Second Punic W ar a sudden fervor to worship
Saturn broke out in 217 b . c .- W as it, as has been
suggested,-1 due perhaps to the astrological identification
of the baleful planet, Saturn, with this divinity which
inspired the frantic attempts to propitiate him at this
time? Towards the end of the long war the official
importation of another eastern deity took place, almost
a century after the advent of Asclepius in Rome. This
newcomer was the Great Mother Cybele of Pessinus
in Asia without whom, according to the Sybilline books,
the dreaded Hannibal could not be made to leave Italy.22
The black stone, symbol of this divinity, had, it was
said, fallen from the skies, a tradition commemorating
perhaps its meteoric origin.
17 Valerius Maximus, 3. 6, I f . ; compare H. H . Scullard:
Roman politics. 113.
"Cornelius Xepos. Cato. 1. 4; Jerome. Chron., Abr. 1777.
Compare in particular. Cicero, Brutus, 17, 68-18, 69; P lu
tarch, Cato maior. 4, 1; 25, 1; 24 8.
50 Livy, 22, 1, 19 f .; for prodigies also 1. 8 ff.
21 Bouche-Leclercq: 546, n. 1.
21 Cf. G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Roemer, 2nd e<L,
1 : 317 ff., Muenchen, Beck. 1912.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E TO A STRO LO G Y
Less than twenty years after this official introduction
of another eastern divinity to Rome, a scandal exposed
the extent to which oriental cults had taken hold in
Rome. In 186 b . c . unspeakable orgies connected with
the exotic cult of Bacchus caused the senate to impose
by a lengthy Senatus Consultmn ( S C ) not only on
Roman or Latin citizens, but even on Rome's allies
stringent regulations concerning such rites.-3 F ortu
nately a large section of the text of this decree itself
has been discovered as part of an official letter in which
the two consuls of 186 b . c . notified the people o f the
Teuranian district in South Italian Bruttium of the new
SC which also was to apply to all allies of Rome. Since
this unique document characterizes the still overwhelm
ingly conservative outlook of Rome's upper strata at
the time, it may in part be quoted:
In the matter of the orgies of Bacchus they passed a
resolution that the following proclamation should be issued
to the focderati:
Let none of them be minded to keep a Bacchanal.
Should there be some who insist that they must neces
sarily have one, they must come to the praetor urbanus in
Rome, and when they have had a hearing the Senate shall
make the decision provided that at least 100 senators be
present when the matter comes up for discussion. Let no
man. be he a Roman or a Latin citizen, or one of the allies
be minded to attend a meeting of Bacchant women unless
they have first approached the praetor urbanus and he have
authorized them by a vote of the Senate to do so, provided
that at least 100 Senators be present when the matter comes
up for discussion. Passed.24
1
The ambiguity of the Latin text lies in the use of the
word Bacanal which might denote a shrine of Bacchus,
as well as the rites connected with the cult. In view of
the last passage quoted above it seems more likely that
the S C was directed against excesses rather than against
the cult itself. This was even more clearly shown by
the detailed instructions which followed. They were of
the same pattern, making all exceptions conditional
upon the twofold approval of the praetor urbanus and
a meeting of the Senate with a quorum of 100:
Let no one be minded to hold ceremonies in secret
whether in public capacity or in private, or be minded to
hold ceremonies outside the city, unless (etc.). . . .
Let no single person in a company beyond five in all,
men and women, be minded to hold ceremonies, and let
men not more than two, and not more than three women
be minded to attend there, unless (etc.). . . .-5
2:1 Livy, 39, 8-18; cf. Remains of Old Latin 4 : 254, n. 5.
C IL 1, 1; 43 f., no. 1%; 1, 2, 2 : 723, no. 581; cf. Remains
of Old Latin 4 : 256 f.
25 Ib id .: 258 f. To actual shrines of Bacchus special exemp
tions were granted; besides the text of the inscription itself,
compare also Livy, 39. 8 IT., esp. 18, 7; 41, 6 ; 40, 19, 9; Valerius
Maximus, 1, 3, 1; cf. F. Cumont, Les mysteres de Bacchus a
Rome, Les religions orientates . . , 4th e d .: 195 ff.. Paris, 1929;
compare also E. Fraenkel. Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus.
Hermes 67, 1932 : 369-396; VV. Krause, Zum A utbauder Bacchanalien-Inschrift, Hermes 71, 1936 : 214-220; M. Gelzer. Die
Unterdrueckung der Bacchaualien bei Livius. Hermes 71, 1936:

47

The importance attached to these regulations by the

Roman government was apparent from the punishment
to be imposed upon violators of this decree:
. . . They resolved that should there be anv persons
who act contrary to the purport of the proclamation as
recorded above, proceedings for capital offence must be
taken against them. . . . -
This was not a mere passing mood.27 For at least two
more centuries Rome's conservatives fought a valiant
rearguard action against the avalanche of eastern cults,
one of which, Christianity, was eventually to triumph
over all its rivals in the Roman empire. Cicero, almost
one and a half centuries after the decree of 186 b . c.,
restated the traditional conservative Roman point of
view. In his Lrnvs he laid down the following basic
regulations for an ideal society:
No one shall have gods to himself, either new gods or
alien gods unless recognized by the State___ No sacrifices
shall be performed by women at night except those offered
for the people in proper form. . .
The worship of private
gods whether new or alien brings confusion into religion
and introduces ceremonies unknown to our priests.2"
In this connection Cicero well remembered the decree
of 186 b . c. whose spirit he incorporated into his own
ideal legislation.2 But he too admitted to official wor
ship in his ideal state Liber (Bacchus) and Asclepius
among other deities which originally had been adopted
into Romes official divine hierarchy.30
The S C of 186 might succeed in curbing some of the
most flagrant and objectionable symptoms of the inva
sion from the east, but it could not stem the tide itself.
In its wake came itinerant astrologers who cast primi
tive and highly suspect horoscopes for small compensa
tion. They found an eager clientele, not only among
the curious urban mob gathering for fairs or festivals,
but even in the Italian countryside, where at least the
newly arrived hosts of slaves from the east not only
nostalgically welcomed those oriental soothsayers, but
may also have helped to introduce Italian estate mana
gers to the awe-inspiring infallible" astrological pre
dictions of such traveling astrologers.
Their oriental origin was clearly indicated by the
older Cato, who (by warning a good overseer (vilicus)
275-287; A. H. McDonald, Rome and the Italian Confederation
(200-186 B. c.), Jour. Roman Studies 34, 1944: 11-33, esp. 26 ff.;
cf. H. H. Scullard. Roman politics: 147, n. 2.
Loc. cit.
21 For years continued investigations were deemed necessary;
see H. H. Scullard, Roman politics: 154 f.; 171 f. Apart from
the revival of objectionable Bacchanalian rites in Apulia (Livy,
40, 19, 1-10), an official autodafe was ordered of certain oracular
writings, the so-called Books of Nuroa (Livy, 40, 29, 3-14).
21 Cicero, de leyibus 2, 8, 19 ff.
2* Ibid. 2, 15, 37.
** Ibid. 2, 8, 19. Also included were Hercules, Castor and
Pollux, Quirinus, and the four cardinal virtues: Intelligence,
Virtue, Piety, Loyalty.

48

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

against consulting Chaldaeans) 31 implied that to patro

nize such foreign divination, while permissible for slaves
and lowly folk, was definitely not to l>e indulged in bv
more responsible people: interest in astrology (in the
eyes of Cato ) would discredit them. The same outlook
is found in some fragments from the writings of Ennius,
apparently the first Latin poet to use the term astrol
oger in its present meaning (Ijorrowing it in all likeli
hood from Greek sources of course). Ennius numbered
amongst his friends the aristocratic humanists of his
day, almost all of whom frowned on the abstract scien
tific and philosophical endeavors of the Greeks as
unworthy of being pursued by Roman gentlemen. This
attitude lingered in the Latin orbit until the end of
antiquity (a few exceptions merely proved the rule)
and may account for the survival of some passages from
Ennius, approvingly quoted by Cicero, in which the
ex-soldier from Rudiae expressed his own, or at least
his noble friends', sentiments about astronomy and
astrology. For. as has been mentioned before, the term
astrologns from the days of Aristotle to those of Ennius
(239-169 B.C.) and l>eyond was generally' used to de
scribe both fields.1* There is sufficient evidence, how
ever, for the personal independence and integrity of
Ennius friend of Rome's great he refused to accept
more than the minimum of the financial support which
they offered him and died in the most humble circum
stances to take his attacks at astronomers and astrol
ogers at face value. His friend, Aelius Sextus, often
used to quote his verses ridiculing the star gazer:
He observes the signs of the astrologi what happens in
the sky, when the goat or the scorpion or the name of some
other animal of Jove rises. Not one of them pays attention
tp what lies before his feet. Raptly they gaze at the realms
of heaven.3*
This jibe rang the same note as the earlier attacks
in the Clouds of Aristophanes (fifth century b . c . )
against the astronomical observations of the Athenian
intellectuals of his time. Perhaps the mood of Ennius
was inspired by Greek writers of this school of thought.
On the other hand, the role of the constellations was
described in almost identical terms with those used by
Plautus for Arcturus' prologue in the Rudens. The
animal-named constellations were called Jove's animals.
W ithout being divine in their own right they were thus
intimately connected with the supreme ruler of the
world. The ambiguity of the text which might poke
fun at astronomers and astrologers alike was absent,
however, from another passage, possibly also from the
pen of E nnius:

village haruspices. astrologers of the circus. Isis prophets,

or dream-interpreters.34
Here the typical low class astrologer was unmis
takably the kind alluded to by Cato also. Moreover,
in this sequence of quacks, a neat historical order was
maintained. Marsian augurs and village haruspices
were traditional Italian institutions, while astrologers.
Isis priests, and professional dream interpreters, on the
other hand, were just as clearly oriental arrivals of
more recent vintage.
The Roman sense of humor was particularly aroused
by the contrast between the grandiloquent manner of
such prophesying folk and the very modest fees for
which they were willing to w o rk :
But superstitious bards, soothsaying quacks, averse to
work, or mad. or ruled by want, directing others how to go,
anti yet what road to take they do not know themselves:
from those to whom they promised wealth they beg a
drachme.35 From what they promised let them take their
drachme as toll and pass the balance on.36
Not all Roman contemporaries of Cato and Ennius,
however, identified Greek scientific achievements with
the activities of such mercenary quacks. Marcellus.
the conqueror of Syracuse in the Second Punic W ar
(212 b . c . ) refused to take from the enormous booty
anything except the magnificent model of the celestial
spheres which had been found in the house of Archi
medes, who himself was slain when the city fell.37 This
model (together with an even more perfect one later
exhibited publicly in R om e)38 he brought home where
it was admired, and apparently actually used later on
at least one occasion. The learned C. Sulpicius Gallus
demonstrated on it to his friend Marcellus, a grandson
of the conqueror of Syracuse, the astronomical causes
of eclipses.30
W hether or not Ciceros account stretched historical
truth somewhat in favor of his utopian discussion in
the Republic may be argued. But that the generation
of Roman noblemen, born between the First and Second
Punic W ars, produced at least some men seriously
interested in Greek scientific achievements can hardly
be doubted. L. Aemilius Paulus, son of the consul
who fell in the battle of Cannae (216 b . c . ) against
Hannibal, was one of the leading figures in the small
circle of Roman humanists after 200 b . c .40 His greatest

34 Cicero, de dhnnationc 1, 58, 132.

36 On the small value of the drachme at the time, see Ch.
Knapp, Classical W eekly 27 (10), Dec. 18, 1933 : 74, n. 25a.
3 Probably also tram Ennius; Cicero, dc divinatione 1. 58. 132.
JT Polybius, 8. 37: Livy, 25, 23 ff.; Plutarch, Marcellus, 19,
4-6; and especially Cicero, dc rcpublica 1, 14, 21-22.
In fine, I say. I do not care a fig for a Marsian augur.
34 Cicero, toe. cit.
Cicero may have stretched somewhat the fabric of reality ;
for the reputation of Sulpicius Gallus. however, see Cicero,
31 Cato, de re rustica 1, 5, 4.
Brutus.
19, 77: Gallus . . . maxime omnium Graecis litteris
' See above, p. 3 t.
33 Cicero, de rcpublica. 1, 18, 30: cf. Plato, Tlieaetetus, f. 174 A ; studuit.
40 Cf., for example, Cicero, Brutus, 20, SO; Plutarch, Aemilius
the Latin verses quoted by Cicero may stem from Ennius
Paulus, 17, 5.
Iphitjenia.

T H E C O N V ER SIO N O F R E PU B L IC A N R O M E TO ASTROLO GY
military triumph, the victory of Pydna over King
Perseus of M acedon41 actually was due to a combina
tion of Roman military and psychological leadership.
On the eve of the battle (June 21, 168).
. . . when night had come, and the soldiers, after supper,
were betaking themselves to rest and sleep, on a sudden
the moon, which was full and high in the heavens, grew
dark, lost its light, took on all sorts of colors in succession,
and finally disappeared.4This phenomenon was of course equally visible to
both armies. That the Roman host should be frightened
and resort to traditional techniques of propitiating the
apparently irate deities of heaven was hardly' surprising:
The Romans, according to their custom, tried to call her
light back by the clashing of bronze utensils and by holding
up many blazing fire-brands and torches towards the
heavens. . . ,43
This ritual remained, indeed, standard Roman prac
tice long after the scientific explanation of eclipses had
become common knowledge amongst Romes educated.
Cicero referred to these practices, and Tacitus described
in detail a similar incident at the beginning of the reign
of Tiberius ( a . d. 14).44 Evidently the scientific ex
planation never became generally known to the ordinary
people of the Latin west. Yet the Greek east did not
demonstrate a more enlightened populace at large either.
One should have expected for example that the eclipse
on the eve of the battle of Pydna would be easily ex
plained to the Macedonian host, or might even have
been scientifically predicted to occur. F ar from it!
. . . the Macedonians . . . did nothing of the sort, but
amazement and terror possessed their camp, and a rumor
quietly spread among many of them that the portent sig
nified the eclipse of a king.45
This crude astrological superstition seems to have
been unknown to the Roman soldiers. F or Rome being
a republic, they would in all likelihood not have worried,
but would interpret the moon's disappearance as an
omen of the impending fall of their enemy, King Perseus.
But they could also and did consider the eclipse as a
bad omen for themselves in general. In contrast, how
ever, the leaders of the Roman army were apparently
better informed than their Macedonian counterpart on
the scientific reason for the lunar eclipse of June 21,
168 b . c . They took steps to impart this rational ex
planation to their soldiers. According to one version
the commander-in-chief himself, L. Aemilius Paulus
was not altogether without knowledge and experience of
the irregularities of eclipses, which at fixed periods carry
the moon in her course into the shadow of the earth and
41 Livy, 44, 40 ff.
" Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus, 17, 3.
41 Ibid., 17, 4.
44 Tacitus, Annals 1, 28.
41 Plutarch, Aemilius Pauhis 17, 4.

49

conceal her from sight. . . . However, since he was very

devout and given to sacrifices and divination, as soon as
he saw the moon emerge from the shadow, he sacrificed
eleven heifers to her.46
His behavior typified the reluctance of this Roman
generation to accept completely the wholly rationalistic
Greek explanation of natural phenomena. He thus con
tinued to offer traditional sacrifices to appease the
heavenly powers, although he was already familiar with
the mechanical theory of lunar eclipses. Among younger
officers in his camp the scientific approach to this prob
lem seems to have carried greater conviction. If Ciceros
fictitious dialogue in the Republic can be relied upon
to contain a real historical account of this episode, the
Roman legate, Sulpicius Gallus, already mentioned, not
only would have gone far beyond his superior, Aemilius
Paulus, in understanding the scientific cause of the
eclipse, but would also assuredly with the consent of
his commander have used his knowledge to allay the
fears of the legions. The hero of Cicero's Republic,
the younger Scipio Africanus, himself a son of Aemilius
Paulus, regaled his audience with the following recol
lection of the Macedonian campaign in which he, about
nineteen years at the time, had personally participated:
I myself loved the man [Sulpicius Gallus], and . . . he
was also greatly esteemed by my father Paulus. For in
my early youth, when my father, then consul, was in
Macedonia, and I was in camp with him, I recollect that
our army was on one occasion disturbed by superstitious
fears because, on a cloudless night, a bright full moon was
suddenly darkened. Gallus was at that time our legatus . . .,
and on the next day he unhesitatingly made a public state
ment in the camp that this was no miracle, but that it had
happened at that time, and would always happen at fixed
times in the future, when the sun was in such a position
that its light could not reach the moon.47
It may be noted that no mention was made of the
fact that the battle of Pydna was fought on the day
following the eclipse. Gallus would thus have addressed
the legions immediately before the battle itself, provided
Ciceros story is true. In that case the action of Gallus
would demonstrate the progress of Roman humanism
since the Second Punic W ar. This progress was still
confined to a small circle of Romes nobility. The com
mon man remained as superstitious as ever. Yet the
scientific explanation proffered by Gallus to the Roman
soldiers was at least an attempt to bridge this gap.
Normally the aristocratic Roman contempt for the
misera plebs did not believe in the wisdom, or even the
possibility' of such efforts. Educational snoblierv was
being added to the traditional social one. This mood
was clearly brought out by Cicero in the somewhat
incredulous question, addressed to the raconteur. Scipio,
by Quintus Aelius Tubero, nephew of the main speaker
4* Ibid., 17, 5. The Roman commander ordered moreover
special sacrifices and rites before the battle of Pydna.
41 Cicero, de republtca, 1, 15, 23; compare on the astronomical
interests of Gallus. Pliny, .Vat. Hist. 2. 53, 83.

50

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

of the Republic, grandson of Aemilius Paulus. and

himself an expert in the field of Greek learning:
D o you really m ean to say that he could convince men
who w ere little m ore than simple peasants of such a thing,
or th a t he dared even to state it before the ig n o ra n t? 4*

The timeless contrast between the aristocratic and

the democratic concept of man was thus succinctly
stated. Of Scipio's answer all but the beginning and
the end is lost, but its tenor is clearly discernible from
the fragments which have survived:
H e certainly did. and w ith g reat success. . . . H is speech
showed n either a conceited desire to display his know ledge
( insolctis ostcntatio ) nor was it unsuitable to the character
of a man of very g re a t dignity ( hom inis g ra vissim i) : in
fact he accom plished a very im portant result in relieving
the troubled minds of the soldiers from foolish superstitious
fear.49

This attitude se non e vero e ben trovato always

remained a minority view. The gap lietween well
educated upper class Romans and the uneducated masses
of the west was never deemed worth closing. The whole
episode, at any rate, was in keeping with what might
be expected from at least some of the most enlightened
minds of second-century Rome. Soon after the above
dialogue, ascribed to 129 b . c . by Cicero, a comet ap
peared, later said to have heralded the death, probably
by assassination, of Scipio Aemilianus, Romes first
citizen at that time.50
The lunar eclipse prior to the battle of Pvdna and
the scientific explanation of it by Sulpicius Gallus were
long remembered. The incident symbolized the rapid
growth of Hellenistic culture grafted onto the branches
of more and more Roman aristocratic families. In a
sense it also marked the end of an era and the arrival
of another. The flow of prisoners-of-war, now enslaved
in Italy, filled the country with large numbers of often
well educated Greeks and orientals since the beginning
of the eastern wars of Rome,51 i. e. after the turn of
the third century. This sorry tide after Pvdna con
tinued to flow westward unabated. To it were added
those Greek social and political leaders, whom Rome in
167 claimed as hostages for the future good behavior
of the restless Greek tlwarf-states. Among these arrivals
in Italy was Polybius, the first great historian to record
Romes rise to power in the Meliterranean world. The
lot of those hostages was far superior to that of their
enslaved fellow-Greeks. For not only did they remain
free men. but in many instances they also succeeded in
joining the households of humanist noblemen as honored
* Cicero, de republican 1. IS, 23.
" Ibid. 1, 15, 23-24.
Cicero, dc natura dconnn 2. 5, 14; cf. 3, 23, 80. Papirius
Carbo was strongly suspected ot having instigated the deed,
perhaps even to have perpetrated it himself, but the event was
:iever cleared up.
Jl Among them was a learned oriental slave, Antiochus, to
vhom Pliny ascribed, although erroneously, the introduction of
astrology to Ita ly ; .Vat. Hist. 35, 17, 199.

guests, and sometimes even as personal friends. That

Greek culture was appreciated bv the Latin barbarians,
was welcome news to the Hellenistic states which rapidly
sank to the level of Roman satellites. W henever there
was need for an embassy to treat with the senate, hellenistic governments now selected their most renowned
scholars to plead the particular business at hand.
Inevitably therefore the Roman humanists were thus
introduced to the great debate then waged in the e a s t:
W as man the captain of his soul, free to make his own
decisions, or was he, as the hellenistic astrologers
claimed, merely Fate's puppet?
2. AN A GE O F R EA SO N ( ca. 170-139 B. C.)

The era which began with the campaign of L.

Aemilius Paulus in Greece and ended with the consu
late of Laelius (140 B . C . ) was the first period during
which the aristocratic humanists of Rome became aware
of the fact that Hellenistic astrology was not merely a
fraud practiced by unscrupulous foreigners from the
east on the credulous amongst the lowest strata of the
population. The main reason for this change of atti
tude was the participation of the best contemporary
Greek scholars in the then raging battle between
Stoicism, the potent philosophical ally of fatalistic as
trology, and the revived scepticism, whose fountaiahead
now was the New Academy of Athens. A resume of
the great Greek debate for and against the axiom of
free will may help to explain its impact upon Rome's
intellectuals in the middle of the second century.52
Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, not only had defended
on principle divination of every k in d ; he had also pro
fessed a very definite interest in astronom y53 and cos
mology. The Stoics accepted among other theories
those of the spherical shape of the stars and the earth,
but in contrast to the Aristotelian concept of the infinity
of time and space they professed the belief in ekpyrosis
and palingenesis, i. e. in the periodical fiery death of
the universe following its rebirth and that of all living
species.54 This dreary concept of an endless sequence
of worlds bom only to lie destroyed 55 in order to recom
mence another cycle of the same kind stood in stark
contrast to the Aristotelian theory of the infinity of
matter, space, and time (which might admit an occa
sional cosmic catastrophe, but not an unending series
of them ).5
03 A summary of the problem and its history in antiquity is
given by D. Amand, Fatalisme ct liberte dans Iantiquite grecque,
Louvain, 1945.
F or instance in his treatise On the Whole-, Diogenes Laer
tius, 7, 145 f.
The end of the world was to occur when the seven planets
would again occupy the (hypothetical) positions which they
were said to have been in at the creation ot the present cosmos.
This is not too different from the more recent views of
modern cosmologists.
* As Einstein puts i t : " I cannot believe that God plays dice
with the world.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E TO A STR O LO G Y
Of the successors of Zenon.57 Chrysippus ( ca. 282206 b .c .)a native, incidentally, of Soli, the very town
where his older contemporary, Aratus, was lx>rnnot
only reorganized the Stoic school successfully, but also
gave Stoicism a more sceptical slant on divination, in
cluding astrology. H is attitude for example was ex
pressed in a repartee to the Academic philosophers of
his time in which Chrysippus. himself a writer on
dreams and their interpretation, admitted at least that
appearances seen when we are awake are much more
distinct and trustworthy than those seen in dreams. 58
A note of caution about divination thereafter became an
accepted Stoic deviation for about a century, until
Posidonius successfully preached a return to the uncom
promising views of the early Stoics on matters like
fatalism, ekpyroseis, and palingeueseis.
The ultimate issue inherent in Stoicism the belief
in Fate (ftap/u*Vjj ,5" or its rejection was skirted
neatly by Chrysippus. He could not abandon the scien
tific Stoic creed of an immutable cosmic Fate governing
by the law of cause and effect every single action, in
cluding of course those taken bv man. Desirous of
allowing for some leeway of human decision, Chrysippus
established a distinction between Fate and Necessity.
F or him the human conscience became a factor to be
reckoned with. W ithout admitting a minimum of free
dom of choice, one could not account for the existence
of man's inner voice. Chrysippus, therefore, created
what might be called the concept of a conditional
Fate, itself a contradiction in terms. Fate thus Ixxame
the totality of all effects, allowing also for those which
would only occur conditionally upon the occurrence of
some other cause.1,0 Prim ary and secondary causes
together would shape the course of human events. Mans
own free decision in many cases thus was the necessary
secondary cause to be added to the primary one of Fate
in order to produce the occurrence of a specific effect.11
Cleanthes, Zenos successor as the head of the Stoic
school, coined the immortal phrase for the Chrvsippean
concept, a phrase better known in its Latin version
which Seneca quoted from Cicero: Ducunt volentem
fata, nolentem trahunt
( Fate guides the willing,
drags along him who resists).

51

Even before Chrysippus Cleanthes saw in the stars

the interpreters of cosmic rationalism. He
. . . gave four reasons to account for the form ation in
m en's m inds of th eir ideas of the gods. . . . And the fourth
and m ost potent cause of the belief . . . was the uniform
motion and revolution of the heavens, and the varied
gro u p in g s and o rdered beauty of the sun, moon, and stars,
the very sig h t of which w as in itself enough to prove that
these things a re not the m ere effect of chance.113

From this point of view, which undoubtedly was in

harmony with the still existing Chaldaean centers of
priestly learning,84 Chrysippus had taken his cue. Be
fore. however, condemning his futile efforts to square
cosmic slavery with human liberty, we should take heed.
The Newtonian mechanistic concept of nature and its
modern substitute, the cosmic field-theorv, allow equally
little room for the concept of free will. Similarly our
totalitarian states have applied the paradoxical precept
of Cleanthes to society. Man according to them has
onlv the choice of submitting willingly to the red, black,
brown, green, or yellow dictatesthe only freedom
left a totalitarian subject or to l>e dragged along ac
cording to the inscrutable designs of a despotic govern
ment. This is. indeed, a much more ignoble rule to
submit to than the one the Stoics asked their followers
to acknowledge. For their supreme divinity, Fate, was
conceived as rational and impartial towards men and
matter, something no human government, least of all a
totalitarian one, can lav claim to.
The man who eventually succeeded Chrysippus as
head of the Stoa was Diogenes of Babylon.5 Himself
satisfied with treading faithfully in the smooth path
laid out by Chrysippus, Diogenes became an important
interpreter for second-century Rome in the great Greek
debate concerning the compatibility of fatalism with
the doctrine of human free will, a dispute of decisive
importance for the acceptance or rejection of Hellenistic
astrology by Roman humanists. The arena was trans
ferred to Rome, whenever one of the numerous Greek
scholars came to Rome privately or to transact political
business at the Italian capital. Naturally Roman con
servatives did not relish this invasion." As early as
173 two Epicureans were ordered to leave the city, and
in 161 b. c. an SC forbade all ( foreign!) philosophers
37 Cf. Diogenes Laertius, 7, 1-202, where he deals with the and rhetoricians to remain in Rome.06 It was, however,
Stoic philosophers from Zeno to Chrysippus; on the relation
less easy to get rid of official Greek embassies composed

between these two Stoics, see M. Pohlenz, Zenon und Chrysipp,

Machrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wisscnschaften zti Goettin
gen, Phil.-H ist. Klasse, Neue Folge, Fachgruppe I (Altertumswissenschaft), 2, 1938: 173-210.
58 Cicero, de divinatione 2, 61. 126.
* Compare W. Gundel, R li 7, 1912: c. 2622-2645.
* On the extant texts, see A. Gercke, Chrysippea, Jahrbuechcr
fuer klassische Philoloyic, suppl. 14, 1885 : 699 f., and ed. H. v.
Arnim. Stoicornm vcteruin fraym cnta; cf. F. Barth and A.
Goedeckemeyer, Die Stoa, 5th ed., esp.: 77-83, Stuttgart, F.
Fromann, 1941; D. Amand. Fatalisme ct liberte: 6-12; L.
Robin, La morale antique: 64 ff., Paris, Alcan, 1938.
*' Compare Cicero, de fato, 19, 44 f .; also 20. 7-11.
* Seneca, epist., 107, 10; for the Greek quotation compare

Epictetus, Discourses 2, 8, 4; cf. if . Pohlenz, Kleanthes Zeushymnus, Hermes 75, 1940: 117-123.
Cicero, de natura dtorum 2, 5, 13-15; dc fato, 12, 28-13, 30;
for the somewhat different attitude of Chrysippus see Chalcidius,
in Tim. comment., 160-161, Leipzig, 1876.
** Details in J. Bidez, Les ecoles chaldeennes sous Alexandre
et les Seleucides, MeUmyes . . . Capart: 41-89, Brussels, 1935.
**The Index stoic. Hercul.: c. 48, lists him as a student of
Chrysippus; cf. M. Wellmann, R E 5, 1905: c. 773, no. 45,-c. 776.
Diogenes of Babylonhis native town was the cradle of ancient
astrologywas frequently referred to in Greek and Roman
literature.
Suetonius, de rhetoribus. 1; Gellius. 15. 11. 1.

52

T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

of scholars. Of such emissaries five Greeks between 170

and 140 B. c. were chiefly responsible for introducing
Roman audiences to the current Greek philosophical
views."7 The live were : (1) Crates of Mallos, eclectic,
often tending towards Stoicism, (2 ) Diogenes the Baby
lonian. Stoic. (3 ) Cameades of Cvrene, Academic.
(4) Critolaus of Phaselis, Peripatetic, (5) Panaetius
of Lindus on the island of Rhodes, Stoic. Of these men.
Crates and Carneades, as well as Panaetius, had at one
time or another been enrolled as students under Diogenes
the Babylonian
who may therefore be said to have
influenced directly the whole group except Critolaus.
Diogenes himself had accepted the modified fatalism
of Chrvsippus and did impart it to his students in turn.
Crates, although himself not a full-fledged Stoic," re
tained strong Stoic tendencies. Panaetius definitely
denied the validity of astrological fatalism.70 Cameades.
however, became the outstanding champion of free will.
His ringing voicelike Socrates he left no writings to
posterity formulated both old and new arguments
against fatalism and fatalist astrology with such acid
vehemence that ever after pagan and Christian writers
were unable to add much if any new arguments to his
onslaught on the doctrine of an all-governing Fate.71
Critolaus finally was a clear-thinking, unemotional Aris
totelian,72 quietly but firmly opposed to fatalism.
One could hardly have selected a more representative
group of Greek thinkers in the second century b . c . for
the introduction of Roman intellectuals to the burning
philosophical problem of those days. In chronological
sequence not Diogenes of Babylon, but his erstwhile
student, the grammarian Crates, was the first of the
five to appear upon ithe Roman scene. Destined to go
down in history as the inventor of the Homeric
globe, a stylized sphere, divided into four continents by
two circular bands representing the Ocean,73 Crates
had become the head of the Pergamenic school, the
*TCompare H. H . Scullard, Roman politics: 223 f.
** F o r Crates see the vita in Suidas, s. v . ; cf. W. Kroll, R E
11, 1921: c. 1634, no. 16, c. 1642; on Carneades, Cicero, Acad.,
2, 98; Index Stoic. Hercul.: c. 51; Pohlenz, R E 18, 2, 2, 1949;
c. 418, no. 5,c. 440.
* Zellers opinionhe saw in Crates a S toic; 3, 1 ; 49has
been challenged by \V. Kroll, R E 11. 1921: c. 1634, no. 16, ff.
70 Cicero, de divinatione 2. 42, 88; compare 47, 97; on Panae
tius scepticism towards divination in general, see Acad., 2,
33. 107.
71 D. Amand, op. cit., ch. ii, made a great effort to reconstruct
the anti-tatalistic arguments of Carneades, a task which due to
its very nature could at best be only partly successful.
T= Cf. v. Amim. R E 11. 1921: c. 1930, no. 3,c. 1932.
73 Strabo, 2, 5. 10 ( f. 116) ; also 3, 4, 4 (f. 157). By means
of allegorical interpretation Crates tried to impute to Homer
a Stoic concept of geography; Macrobius, sown. Scip., 2, 9, 7;
compare A. Schlachteit, Per Globus. Seine Entstehung und
I'cru cndnng <n der .-intike, Stoicheia 8; Ilf. , Leipzig and
Berlin. 1927; see however, ibid., F. G isinger: 107 ff.; H. J.
Mette, Sphairopoiia. Uiftersuclmngcn sur Kosmologie dcs Kratcs
von Pcryamnn. Muenchen, Beck. 1936, also contains all known
fragments of Crates' writings.

university of Pergam unv* in relatively young

years.75 H e thus liecame a distinguished figure in the
capital of the Attalid kingdom. In this capacity he was
entrusted with a diplomatic mission to Rome. The date
of his sojourn cannot be fixed with certainty. On one
hand, he was said to have come as ambassador for
King Attalus II. who did not liegin to reign until 159
B. c .; on the other hand his presence in Rome has l>een
suggested as early as 169 b . c . 70 Since Attalus himself
was sent to Rome about 167 b. c . to represent his reign
ing brother, Eumenes. at that crucial period in the Latin
capital, it may be that Crates either went to Rome prior
to the arrival of Attalus, or was sent to Rome after
Attalus' return to Pergamum.
His reputation as an outstanding philologist, espe
cially as a commentator of Homer, probably preceded
Crates to Rome. While he lacked originality, he had
a great deal of interest in cosmological and geographical
problems,77 including of course astronomical and in
line with his Stoic training unquestionably astrological
tenets. It was therefore no accident that later on Posi
donius, the future reviver of strict Stoic fatalism, pre
served the cosmology of Crates thus making it possible
for writers like Strabo, Plutarch, or Geminus to refer
to it. The tendency of Crates to read into earlier Greek
literature suitable astronomical or geographical allusions
was of course not always successful. In his commen
tary on Euripides Rhesus, for example. Crates excused
the author's ignorance of elementary astronomical facts
with the youthful age of the poet at the tim e!
This consummate Hellenistic philologist seems to have
met with an accident on the primitive streets of Rome
after his diplomatic mission was completed. H e broke
his leg in a fall and was laid up for some time. F ar
from sympathizing with his misadventure, however,
Romes philhellenes crowded his sickroom, eager to
listen to his discourse. Although Suetonius in record
ing this episode78 probably exaggerated in asserting
that thus for the first time did educated Romans become
directly acquainted with that Hellenistic branch of studies
pursued by the so-called grammarians, it can hardly be
doubted that, prior to the advent of Crates, no gram
marian of such calibre had held forth in Rome. In that
sense at least the statement of Suetonius contained an
element of truth. To what extent he discussed astro
nomical and possibly astrological subject matter cannot
T* Strabo, 14, 5, 16 (f. 676) about Crates birthplace and his
being Panaetius teacher.
75 According to Suidas, s. v., Crates lived from about 200 to
140 b. c.( ?) ; compare Strabo, 13, 1, 54 (f. 609) on Pergamon.
* Cf. \V. Kroll, RE U . 1921: c. 1634, no. 16, ff.
77 See for example, Doxographi tjraeci, ed. Diels, 345, 9 and
383, 22, Berlin, Reiiner, 1879; compare Macrobius, somn. Scip.,
2, 9, 3 for Crates views on the relation between the stars and
the tides.
Suetonius, de grammat., 2. It took apparently at least forty
more years for a Roman public school for such studies to
make its appearance.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N RO M E TO A STR O LO G Y
be ascertained, but it was perhaps due to the generally
favorable impression which Crates created amongst
Rome's ruling group that the senatorial decree of 161
b . c . which expelled philosophers and rhetoricians79
did not include grammarians also.
The Crates episode, however, was merely the Roman
introduction to the serious philosophical debate con
ducted soon afterwards amongst the most renowned
Greek philosophers of the time before Roman audiences.
The decadence of Greece in the political sphere ludi
crously contrasted on this occasion with the impressive
intellectual levels preserved in her great philosophical
schools. Athens had pillaged Oropus and then refused
an arbitration of the damage by a panel of Sicvonians.
Rome, the policeman on the Greek beat. promptly
imposed upon the culprit a fine of about 500 talents.80
Thereupon the Athenian government selected three
ambassadors to plead with the senate that the fine be
remitted. In recognition of the humanist susceptibilities
of influential Roman noblemen, a truly formidable trio
was chosen in 156 b . c . to go to R om e: Diogenes the
Babylonian, head of the Stoic school in Athens. Car
neades. head of the Academy and founder of the socalled New Academy, and Critolaus, head of the
Peripatetic school.31 The senior member of the group
was undoubtedly Diogenes the Babylonian. Six years
later, in 150 b . c ., he apparently was no longer among
the living,82 having reached an age of eighty-eight.83
Consequently, he would have been bom about 240 B. c.
and thus, at the time of his arrival in Rome in the
consulate of P. Scipio and M. Metellus, well above
eighty years old.
Critolaus, scholarch of the Peripatetic school at
Athens, belonged to the younger generation, being ap
proximately of the same age as Cameades (ca. 214/13129 B . C . ) . In contrast to the fiery Academician, how
ever, Aristotles disciple was a cool dialectical speaker,
as befitted a Peripatetic.34 None of the three am
bassadors apparently was able to converse in Latin.
The senate, on the other hand, would not treat in any
other language. The problem was eventually solved
when the senator Gaius Acilius volunteered to act as
interpreter. Even before the case could be heard
officially, however,
7 Suetonius, de rhetor., 1; Aulus Gellius, IS, 1, 1. Gellius errs,
however, in beliving that the decree was directed against Latin
philosophers and rhetoricians. In 161 B. c. too few o f these if
any would be found in Rome to w arrant senatorial action.
a0 Plutarch, Cato maior. 22. 1; Polybius, 33. 2, 8-9; Gellius.
6. 14, 8.
81 Cicero, Acad. 2, 45, 137; de oratore 2. 37, 155; epist. ad A tt.
12. 23; Tuscul. disp. 4, 3, 5; Pliny, Nat. H ist. 7, 30, 18; Gellius,
17, 21, 48.
M Cicero's ( fictitious) dialogue with the older Cato as the
chief speaker was supposed to have taken place in 150. B. c. In
it Diogenes is already referred to as deceased, de sencctutc. 23.
83 Ps.-Lucian. macrobii, 20.
"* On his views compare Philo, de aeternitate mttndi. 11, 55 ff.;
14, 70 ff.; 15, 74 ff.

each of them had spoken before huge crowds to exhibit

lus skill
Carneades . . . spoke with vehemence and
power. Critolaus with art and polish. Diogenes with res
traint and sobriety.85
We know little of the personal appearance of the three
philosophers, except that Carneades apparentlv was so
deeply imbued in his studies that he forgot to trim his
hair and clip his nails.88 His supreme power as a speaker
was attested by the rare fact that Athenian professors
of oratory would close their own classes on occasion
in order to attend the lectures of their philosophercolleague.8 It is hardly surprising therefore that of
the three scholarly ambassadors Carneades attracted the
most enthusiastic Roman audiences;
All the most studious youth im mediately waited on the
three philosophers,88 and frequently w ith adm iration heard
them speak. But the gracefulness of C arneades' oratory,
whose ability was really greatest, and his reputation equal
to it. g athered large and favorable audiences, and ere long
filled, like a wind, all the city w ith the sound of it.8*

The conquest of her conqueror by Greece was so mani

fest on this occasion that the enthusiasm of the Greek
author to whom we owe this account mav be forgiven
for stretching the limits of credibility somewhat;
So th at it soon began to be told th a t a Greek famous even
to adm iration, w inning and ca rry in g all before him. had
im pressed so stran g e a love upon the young men, that
quittin g all th eir pleasures and pastim es, thev ran, mad as
it w ere, after philosophy.8*

While obviously Cameades was the most enthusi

astically acclaimed of the group, his colleagues were no
less intent upon addressing the Roman humanists.
Obviously these Roman audiences were not only familiar
with the Greek language, but had mastered it even to
such an extent that the philosophical terminology, inevi
tably used by the Greek scholars, was familiar to the
young barbarians (all Romans were considered
barbarians by the Greeks).91 The Roman respect
for impressive old men must have expressed itself par
ticularly in their contacts with Diogenes of Babylon,
the venerable octogenarian, a mood perhaps reflected
"G ellius, 6, 14, 9-10; Polybius, 33, 2. 9-10.
** Diogenes Laertius. 4. 62.
,7 Loc. cit.
Laelius, described as a student of Diogenes the Babylonian
(Cicero, de jinibus. 2, 24, 87), may have encountered the venerahle Stoic for the first time on this occasion.
* Plutarch, Cato maior, 22. 2 ; cf. on Carneades, Strabo, 17,
.1 22 (f. 838).
Plutarch. Cato maior, 22. 3; on his oratorical and other
talents, see Cicero, de oratore. 2. 38. 161; 3 18. 68; de finibtu,
3. 12. 41.
01 This rankled the Romans considerably. Cato in complete
ignorance of the H ippocratic oath " believed for example that
Hippocrates alleged refusal to treat the Persian king, because
he were a barbarian, was a common policy applied by Greek
physicians in their dealings with all barbarians. i. e. nonGreeks, including the Romans. Therefore Cato warned his son
never to trust a Greek physician : Plutarch. Cato maior, 23, 3-4.

54

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

in Cicero's respectful praise of the Stoic philosopher."3

Critolaus seems to have made the least impression upon
the Roman humanists, perhaps because his measured
and careful Aristotelian approach was less spectacular
than the a|>odictie and polemical manner of his fellovvscholars."3 The sudden rage for Greek philosophy in
Roman aristocratic circles which alone possessed an
adequate knowledge of Greek at the time was senti
mentally exaggerated by later Greek authors one of
whom insisted that this phenomenon
indeed much pleased the Rom ans in g e n e ra l; nor could they
but w ith much pleasure see the youth receive so welcomely
the G reek literatu re, and frequent the com pany of learned
m en.94

For the republican Rome of 156-155 b . l\ . a Rome whose

senate had expelled philosophers and rhetoricians only
a few years earlier, this was certainly a gross exaggera
tion, to say the least. Greek philosophy in particular
remained always somewhat suspect even to educated
Romans as a useless hair-splitting pastime of the graeculi, admissible for Romans only in times of enforced
retirement from worthier activities, especially from
political or military careers. This attitude, aptly ex
pressed by Cicero in fhe discussion of the ideal state in
the Republic as that of educated Roman leaders like
the younger Scipio and Laelius, was shared by Cicero
himself who desperately busied himself during the last
years of his life with philosophical studies, when his
political ambitions had been shattered. If a Roman
gentleman of Ciceros stature had to defend his pursuit
of philosophical studies as late as the forties of the
irst century b . c., admitting that they were at best a
pastime for idle hours, it cannot possibly be assumed
that the Roman gentry of 155 viewed (as Plutarch sug."sted) overwhelmingly with enthusiasm the stampede
its sons to the lodgings of Greek ambassadorial
Uosophers.
3f the topics discussed we know nothing, but one
cident may illustrate the easy give and take between
.ue Greek ambassadors and Roman officialdom ;
When Carneades and the Stoic Diogenes were on the
Capitol attending on the senate, Aulus Albinus [the philhellene Roman historian criticized by Cato] who was praer at the time . . . said to Carneades in jest: In your
>v, Carneades. I am not a real praetor . . . , nor is this
eal city. . . .
In the opinion of our Stoic friend here
u are not, replied Carneades.95
I bis joke about the then fashionable tendency to quesfion the validity of everything implied that even Diogenes
Cicero, de officiis 3, S I ; (Diogenes) magnus et gravis
'toicus. Grmntas was a virtue highly esteemed in republican
Rome.
M Nevertheless he was long remembered by Roman philhellenes
also; Gellius, 11, 9, 1-2; 10, 1.
Plutarch, Cato maior, 22, 3.
Cicero. Acad. 2, 45, 137.

the Stoic had been infected with the spirit of his time.
He would have l)een the natural champion of fatalism
and fatalist astrology before Roman audiences, but ob
viously he had !>een straying from the path of his Stoic
predecessors in the direction of scepticism. This trend
can be traced and apparently was intensified during these
last years of his long life. Earlier he had computed a
great year, demonstrating his acceptance of the doc
trine of ekpyroscis and palingeneseis. H e also had
paid tribute to Cleanthes' astral pantheism and identi
fied. for instance, Apollo with the sun, and Artemis
with the moon.97 On the favorite Stoic topic of divina
tion Chrysippus and A ntipater had each written two
books, and Posidonius subsequently compiled no fewer
than five; Diogenes, however, deemed a single book on
the subject sufficient.98 Towards the end of his life he
seems to have developed even some doubts about the
validity of the traditional Stoic theory of ekpyroseis
and palingeneseis." A note of cautious scepticism was
also sounded in his attitude towards astrology, an atti
tude which, however, still remained too favorable to
please Cicero, when he demolished divination:
Diogenes the Stoic makes some concession to the Chal
daeans. He says that they have the power of prophecy to
the extent of being able to tell the disposition of any child
and the calling for which he is best fitted. All their other
claims he absolutely denies. He says, for example, that
twins are alike in appearance, but that they are generally
unlike in career and in fortune. Procles and Eurysthenes,
kings of the Lacedaemonians, were twin brothers. But they
did not live the same number of years, for the life of Procles
was shorter by a year than that of his brother and his deeds
were far more glorious.104
The twins argument was a stock piece of antiastrological warfare. It is, therefore, significant to find
it used by the very head of the Stoic school to refute
astrological fatalism. Assuming that the trend towards
a more sceptical attitude took place towards the end of
Diogenes long life, one may suspect that during his
sojourn in Rome, only a few years prior to his death,
his outlook on astrology may have been presented to
Roman audiences in alx>ut the manner shown in the
aliove fragment, stemming probably from his essay On
Divination.
W ith ekpyrosis and palingenesis, as well as the tenet
of astrological fatalism being abandoned, albeit reluct
antly, by the titular leader of Stoicism himself, Diogenes
peripatetic fellow-ambassador, Critolaus, surely could
** Aetius in Doxographi graeci, ed. Diels, 345b, 7, Reimer,
Berlin, 1879.
,T Philodemus, ibid., 549b.
* Cicero, de divinatione, 1, 3, 6.
Philo, de aeternitate mundi, 15, 77.
*Cicero, de divinatione 2, 43, 90-91. Cicero commented:
But for my part I say that even this concession which our
excellent friend Diogenes makes to the Chaldaeans in a sort of
collusive way (quasi quadam praevaricatione) is in itself
incomprehensible.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E T O A STR O LO G Y
not be expected to carry the torch for astrology to
Roman audiences. W e know that, in any case, he op
posed both ekpyrosis and palingenesis and defended the
Aristotelian concept of the eternity of the universe.101
Altogether, however, Critolaus was not averse to ac
cepting certain other Stoic and Academic doctrines.
A middle-of-the-road scholar of his type was in any
case unlikely to excite any audience, be it Greek or
Roman. N or was he likely to carry the torch on behalf
of Hellenistic astrology. Cameades, finally, could be
relied upon to bring his great influence fully to bear
against it. It was Cameades, the arch foe of all divina
tion, whom (perhaps via Panaetius) Cicero, a follower

55

tion of its validity. Since the anti-astrological argu

mentation of Cameades not only was destined to become
the standard system of attacking astrology in pagan
and Christian times, but also in all likelihood may
have been presented at least in part to his Roman
hearers in 155 b . c ., it deserves some attention.10* Car
neades apparently m aintained: (1) It is impossible to
make precise observations of the heavens at the moment
of birth (or conception).104 (2) People bom at the
same moment under the same constellation have dif
ferent destinies.105 (3) People born neither at the
same moment nor under the same constellation die at the
same time.100 (4) Animals too would be subject to

Caraeadea-ClitomacbiM

P ia k liii
(bl Cie. <U
diT. n 87 ff.)

C ic #
d folo

U rse h rift
F a T a v la a *
d e r P .-C U s .
0U iw
B k o fo iXIV I)

(W abrseheie- A u f a t t i n
Itoh durob
da d r . d6
m U U ta f
V 1
iM M n<U g ia.
pU toaiktr*:)
Utt. I I 2?

ft

. d U l O f M <(

M trotoft*
I t 4 a. 5

ftts ta a

H ip p o ljtn

JaL

iafc omn.

yirmioas

IV IB .

I * ff.

hava.

JUtoraat

Bo k a

A a b r o iiu i
b*x*emroa

G ro g o ria t
N jim bm ,

P r o k o p iu i
r. U r n

F ig . 11. From F . Boll; compare D. Amand. Fatalisme et liberie dans

I*antiquity grecque: 1-28.

of the Academy, chose a century later probably as his

chief source of arguments against divination in general
when in his own essay on the subject he left the defense
of it to his brother, Quintus, reserving for himself the
presentation of the essentially Cam eadic101 refutaPhilo, de aeternitate mundi, I l f .
1,1 P. W endland, Philos Schrift ueber die Vorsehung: 37, n. 2,
Berlin, 1892; compare the review by F. Cumont in Bullet, crit.,
1893 : 64-66. Although Cicero himself said (de divinatione 2,
47, 97) that he was following the argumentation of Panaetius
rather than that of Carneades, he probably meant merely the
Panaetian version of Carneades views, since Carneades himself
left no writings.
*** D. Amand, Fatalisme et liberte: 49-68, reconstructs in
detail what he considers as the anti-astrological arguments of
Carneades.
1,4 Repeated by F av o rin u s; Gellius, 14, 1, 26; in more detail
by Sextus Empiricus, adv. mathematicos, 5, 50-87; Firmicus
Matemus, M athesis, 1, 3, 2. Philo, de providentia, 1, 87, seems,
however, to go too far in insisting that even if the exact moment

the same fate as human beings born at the identical

moment.107 (5 ) The diversity of races, customs, and
of conception were known, no astrologer could compute the
constellation which had then existed. Actually the astronomical
tables available at the time would have made this
quite
easy; cf. Amand, op. cit.: 50, n. 1. The impact of pagan antifatalistic arguments upon the Christian fathers will be dealt with
in my forthcoming study of Astrology in the later Roman
empire, from Diocletian to Justinian I.
1M This anti-astrological barb obviously antedated Carneades;
see Augustinus, de cwitate d ti 5, 1 (e n d ) ; L. C. P. J . de Vreese,
Augustinus en de astrologie: 23-47, M aastricht, 1933; compare
Gellius, 14, 1, 29 (F a v o rin tu ); Cicero, de divinatione 2, 47, 97;
Sextus Empiricus, adv. mathematicos 5, 88-89; cf. Amand.
op. c it.: 52 f.
IM Gcero, de div. 2, 47, 97; Sextus Empiricus, adv. math. 5,
91-93; compare Gellius, 14, 1, 27 (F avorinus); Philo, de
providentia 1, 87; Gregory of Nyssa, de fato, ed. Migne,
Patrologia Graeca, 45: c. 165, 2-37.
*
,M Sextus Empiricus, adv. math. 5, 94; compare Cicero, de
divinatione 2, 47, 98; Augustinus, de cwitate d ti 5, 7 ; cf. Gellias,

56

T H E R IS E AN D T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

creeds regardless of whether or not people were born

at the same moment under the same constellation, is
incompatible with astrological tenets.108
Astrologers at all times tried with varying success
co answer these arguments, often with very ingenious
easoning,10" but never fully succeeded in overcoming
he resistance of an intellectual minority of sceptics
who continued the liasic opposition developed in the
second century b . ('. by Cameades. Ironically enough,
however, even this great foe of astrology did not escape
its- taint -completely: - His death was -said to-have coin-icided with a lunar eclipse and one might well say
(added Diogenes Laertius) that the brightest lumi
nary in heaven next to the sun thereby gave token of
her sympathy. 110 W hy the moon in 129 b . c . should
grieve so deeply over the death of the belittler of
her powers. Diogenes Laertius preferred to leave
unexplained.
The strong impression created by the three ambassa
dors from Athens amongst the young nobles of Rome
finally roused the champion of conservatism, Marcus
Porcius Cato, to energetic action; Cameades in par
ticular was said to be his targ et:
Seeing the passion for words flowing into the city, from
the beginning he took it ill. fearing lest the youth should
be diverted that way. and so should prefer the glory of
speaking well before that of arms and doing well. And
when the fame of the philosophers increased in the city
. . . Cato resolved to have all philosophers cleared out of
the city; and coming info the senate, blamed the magistrates
for letting these ambasisadors stay so long a time without
being dispatched, though they were persons that could easily
persuade the people to what they pleased; that therefore
in all haste something) should be determined about their
petition, so that they flight go home again to their own
schools, and declaim to the youth of Greece, and leave that
of Rome to be obedient, as hitherto, to their own laws and
governors.111
But when Cato had his wish we still do not know
for that matter whether or not Athens finally had to
pay the fine of 500 talents it was too late. Roman
humanism had received another great boost. In so far,
however, as acceptance of Hellenistic astrology by the
14, 1, 31 (Favorinus) ; Diodorus of Tarsus in Photius, Bibl.,
cod. 223, ed. Migne, Pair. Gr., 103: c. 853 C-857 B : Amand,
op. cit. -. 61, n. 1.
**' Cicero, de divinatione 2, 46, 96-97; Sextus Empiricus, adv.
math. S, 102; Firmicus Matemus, Mathesis 1, 2, 1-4; compare
Philo, de proi-idcntia 1, 84-86; P. Wendland. Philos Schrift
ueber die Vorsehung : 35 f .; F. Boll, Studicn ueber Claudius
Ptolemaeus-. 181-188; Amand. op. cit. : 55-60.
l** Astrological geography, for example, was developed speci
fically to explain the differences between races, nations, and
customs: compare V ettiuj Valens, Anthologiae 1. 2, ed. K roll:
614 ff., Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 2. 3; Paulus of Alexandria, f. A,
2 ff.; Hephaestion of Thebes, 1, ed. Engelbrecht: 47, 20; cf.
F. Cumont in Cat. 2: 85, and La plus ancienne geographie
astrologique. Klio 9, 1909: 263-273.
1,0 Diogenes Laertius, 4, 64.
111 Plutarch, Cato maior, 22.

Roman intelligentsia was concerned, the famous visit of

the three wise men from the east, had certainly not
helped. The general note was one of scepticism, vary
ing from the dignified doubts of Diogenes to the shrill
blasts of Cameades. It could not but confirm with
Roman audiences the misgivings, already prevalent,
about the validity of astrology. Hitherto, however, the
contempt of astrologers had contained a large element
of social snobbism. but from now on Roman humanists
also possessed potent philosophical arguments against
tlie claims of fatalistic astrology. This frame of mind
received its strongest support, not long after the de
parture of the Athenian embassy, with the arrival in
Rome of an eclectic Stoic from Rhodes, Panaetius, the
first important Greek philosopher to acquire complete
mastery of Latin.112 thereby widening considerably the
scope of his influence upon the Roman humanists.
Apart from the copious references to him in the
writings of Cicero, two sources more recently discovered
have added considerably to our understanding of his
background and our knowledge of his activities: the
badly damaged Index of Greek philosophers found on
a damaged scroll in Herculanum,113 having survived
almost two thousand years under the layers poured on
the luckless town in a . d . 79 by Mount Vesuvius, and
the thorough excavations conducted at his native town
of Lindus on the island of Rhodes.114 Descended from
a wealthy family (a monument in whose honor has
been unearthed) he was with an annual income of five
talents115 (ca. $6,000 pre-1933) completely inde
pendent. Like many a well-to-do Greek before and
after him, he preferred philosophical studies to a politi
cal or military career in his native state. At one time
or another Panaetius was enrolled among the students
of Crates of Mallos,116 already mentioned as one of the
pioneers of Hellenistic philology in Rome. Inevitably,
however, Panaetius gravitated to Athens. Bom proba
bly between 190 and 180 b . c ., Panaetius may have first
arrived there in the sixties, and was well received.117
He later studied under Diogenes of Babylon,118 and
finally under Antipater, the Stoic successor of Dioge
nes.11 F or almost tw-enty years he divided his time
u * Compare Cicero. Tuscitl. dispnt. 4, 4 : Panaetius was con
sidered competent enough to judge Latin literary style. Else
where Cicero referred to him as well-nigh the greatest ot the
Stoics (princeps prope . . . Stoicorum) ; Acad. 2, 33, 107.
111 Col. 55-77 (badly dam aged). The text is derived from
Stratocles history of the S to a ; cf. M. Pohlenz, R E 18, 2, 2,
1949: c. 418, no. 5, -c. 440, for a recent treatment of Panaetius.
* Strabo, 14, 2, 11 (f. 635) and elsewhere; compare Blinkenberg-Kinch, Lindos, fouilles et recherches, 1902-1914 2, 1 and 2:
46, Copenhagen and Berlin, 1941, for a family tree and a bio
graphical sketch of Panaetius by Blinkenberg.
tls Index stoic. H ercul.: c. 63.
Strabo, 14, 5. 16 (f. 676).
lt Index stoic. H ercul.: c. 68.
118 Index stoic. Hercul. : 51.
,l Cicero, de dhnn. 1, 3, 6; de officiis 3, 12, 51; Index stoic.
H ercul.: 60.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N RO M E TO A STRO LO G Y
between his studies at Athens and travels to his native
town 1=0 or other places.
It can be assumed with certainty that in Athens the
returning philosophers in 155 B .C . dwelt proudly on
their Roman triumphs. If not before, Panaetius must
then have received the impression of a Roman aris
tocracy, in which a number of young and middle-aged
noblemen professed an enthusiasm for philosophy, simi
lar to that which had brought to Athens the young
patrician from Lindus himself. An opportunity to visit
the new capital of the Mediterranean world offered itself
when the Greek statesman and historian, Polybius, after
many years of exile in Rome, finally had received per
mission to return to Greece.1-1 Polybius, on a visit to
Athens, recognized in Panaetius a Stoic of calibre and
a social equal of his great Roman friends in Italy.
Apparently at the instigation of Polybius, Panaetius
went to Rome, perhaps in 146 or shortly afterwards.
He soon became one of the most intimate friends of the
conqueror of Carthage and was as warmly received into
the Scipionic circle of humanists as Polybius had
been.12- Until about 130 Panaetius seems to have spent
most of his time in Rome, but undertook a number of
voyages to Athens and. on one occasion (140-139 b . c.).
a journey to Asia Minor as Scipios personal companion
on an official mission.123
The Achaean hostages of 167-166 for the most part
had been well educated men, some of them brilliant,
but Panaetius seems to have been the first important
Greek philosopher who voluntarily chose to spend a
considerable part of his life in Rome among that strange
Latin race whose leaders, victorious on every battlefield
over the armies of Hellenistic states, listened humbly to
words of wisdom addressed to them by a leading scholar
of the politically declining east. Among the numerous
friends Panaetius made amongst the Roman humanists
were Scipios friend Laelius
and his sons-in-law.
Fannius and Q. Mucius Scaevola.125 and also of the
younger generation, Q. Aelius Tubero. an enthusiastic
disciple of Panaetius ( who dedicated some writings to
his favorite Roman student " ) . t2U Lucilius. Rome's
1=0 Blinkenberg-Kinch, op. cit., inscr. no. 223, 17, names Pauaetius ca. 149 a. c. among the local itpoSvrai.
1=1 See Polybius. 35, 6; Plutarch, Cato maior, 9. 2-3, on the
final granting of permission to the Achaean hostages to return
to Greece: compare F. W. Walbank, Classica et Medlaevalia 9.
1948: 172, n. 2; cf. H. H. Scullard, Roman politics : 239.
1:2 Cicero, dc repubttca 1, 21, 34: (Panaetius and Polybius are
called) two Greeks, who were perhaps the best versed ot
them all in politics ; Index stoic. H ere.: c. 56: compare
Velleius Paterculus, 1, 13, 3; Pliny, Nat. H ist. 5, 1, 9; cf.
Cichorius, Panaetius und die attische Stoikerinschrift, Rhein.
Mus. 63, 1908': 197-223, esp. 220 ff.
151 For the close ties between both men, see Cicero, pro
Murcna, 31. 66: Tusc. disp. 1, 33, 81; epist. ad A tt. 9, 12, 2:
dc officiis 1. 26. 90; Velleius Paterculus, 1. 13. 3, and the entire
beginning of Ciceros dc republica.
Cicero, dc finibus 4, 9. 23; cf. 2, 8, 24.
Cicero. Brutus. 26. 101: cf. 31. 118.
2* Cicero, dc oratore 1, 45; cf. 43 and 75; Acad. 2. 44, 135.

57

first major satirist, also came under the Rhodian

Stoic's influence. If Ciceros idealized Scipio spoke
truly in the Republic, it was Panaetius habit to make
careful investigation of . . . celestial phenomena, 121
an interest in which Tubero was to take after his
master.128 Consequently, in the Republic Tubero was
entrusted with the defense of astronomical research
which Scipio like Socrates according to Xenophon129
tended to question.
Towards fatalist astrology Panaetius attitude was
even more sceptical than that of his teacher, Diogenes
the Babylonian. In the trend away from the strict
fatalism of Zeno and the early Stoics, Panaetius repre
sented the climax. W ith his eminent pupil, Posidonius,
the pendulum was to swing back to the full acceptance
of fatalism. Meanwhile, in his rejection of astrological
claims. Panaetius was influenced by a close friend, an
astronomer named Scylax:
Scylax of Halicarnassus, an intimate friend of Panaetius.
and eminent in astrologia (excellent in astrologia) . . .
utterly repudiated the Chaldaean method of foretelling the
future.110 . . . [Consequently] Panaetius . . . was the only
one of the Stoics to reject the prophecies of the astrologi. . . ,131
Scylax was not the only astronomer of this era who
refused to recognize astrology as a legitimate branch of
applied astronomy. H is colleagues, Anchialus and Cassander132 (in contrast to their renowned contemporary,
Hipparchus), shared his views. Panaetius, however,
seems to have borrowed most of his arguments against
astrology not from astronomers, but from Cameades1,4
who himself left no writings. Cicero, to whom we owe
our only knowledge of these astronomers, used the
term astrologia comprehensively for both astronomy
and astrology.134
Panaetius, himself a Stoic, questioned not only the
traditional Stoic faith in astrology, but also abandoned
the Stoic tenets of ekpyrosis and palingenesis.1** He
favored instead the Aristotelian incolumitas mundi.
Another dogma, which the eclectic Stoic from Rhodes
questioned, was at least indirectly connected with as
trology : the Stoic axiom that all men were created
equal. The corresponding astrological tenet was the
tsT Cicero, dc republica 1, 10, 15.
Ibid. 1, 10, 16.
Perhaps in an attempt to erase the unfavorable impression
created by Aristophanes presentation (in the Clouds) of Socrates
as the head of a subversive school, indulging in astronomical
studies. Xenophon repeatedly ( Memorabilia 1, 1, 11-12; 1. 1. 16;
4, 7, 2-4) tried to minimize Socrates' interest in the stars.
110 Cicero, dc divinatione 2, 42, 88.
Loc. cit.
' 3! NTo other reference to any of the three astronomers has
survived.
ls" P. Wendland, Philos Schrift ueber die Vorsehung: 37, n. 2.
1:14 See above, p. 3 f.
Cicero, dc natura dearum 2, 46. 118; Philo, dc aet. mundi,
15.76.
l5 Philo, de aetemitate mundi, 15, 76.

58

T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A S T R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

assertion (attacked by Carneades and others) that m ans

destiny depended solely on the constellation of the
moment of his conception, or birth respectively, i. e.
!>efore the stars all men were equal. W ealth or poverty
of one's parents, race or religious traditions were at the
most considered to be secondary factors in the shaping
of a man's character a|nd his success or failure in life.
In denying the validity of such theories Panaetius, the
patrician, undoubtedly touched a harmonious chord
within the members of the Scipionic circle. W hile not
blind to the' growing social tensions in Rome, most of
i!:e;se humanists still opposed the nascent reform move
ment. Panaetius' friend Laelius, for example, in 140
b. c. cautiously withdrew his land reform bill, when
conservative opposition to it became violent.111 A year
later by praetorian edict astrologers were expelled from
Rome for the first time in history.138 The tenor of this
I edict breathed the traditional contempt of astrology
I already manifest in the) earlier fragments of Ennius and
[ in the Catonic warning. The devastating attacks of
Carneades, and more recently of Panaetius, however,
assuredly fortified this |long standing Roman upper-class
scepticism.
i Conversely one m iy suspect an alliance between
astrologers and the reform-party in Rome. T he edict
of 139 expelling troublesome foreigners gave, at least
as the official reason, the Cameades-Panaetius-inspired
argument that the astrologers were merely exploiting
iriilible Romans by i fraudulent craft. The simul
taneous expulsion, however, of the devotees of Jupiter
Sai>azios from the capital131 tends to strengthen the
feeling that the ruling conservatives tried to remove
, u-ntial foreign troublemakers from the already restive
~uy. Nor was Rome the only part of the Roman domain
vhich the smoulderihg fire of social discontent threatd to break into open flame. W hatever the hopes of
e aristocratic government were in 139 to escape the
withering storm, they were futile. The ensuing cenIt'y of revolution, which in 133 began with the Gracchi
and ended with the death of Antony and Cleopatra in
>0 b. c.. not only destroyed the old Roman order. I t also
rought alKiut the triumph of Hellenistic astrology which
iily conquered the very citadel of its western foes:
Roman nobility.
T H E T R IU M P H OF A STRO LO G Y IN R EPU B LIC A N
RO M E (139-44 B .C .)

The ninety-six years from the consulate of Scipio's

'wmanist friend Laelius (140 b. c.) to the death of
iiius Caesar were filled with revolutionary wars and
1,1 Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus. 8, 4.
13' Valerius Maximus. 1, 3, 3; compare F. H . Cramer,
''spulsion of astrologers from ancient Rome, Class, et Med. 12
-2 >. 1951: 14-17.
s See F. Cuuvmt, A propos (le Sabazios et du Judaisme.
.>!usee .Beige 14. 1910: 53-60.

culminated in the destruction of the ancient aristocratic

republic. Its most intelligent defenders persistently urged
a series of badly needed reforms, but these farseeing
noblemen were invariably lynched by their die-hard
blue-blooded fellow-aristocrats, unless like Laelius
they wisely abandoned their reform plans. Hand in
hand with the decline of the old political institutions
went the growing indifference to the ancient state cults
in whose place oriental creeds attracted increasing hosts
of devotees. T he Roman intelligentsia remained to some
extent immune at first to the lure of these eastern re
ligions. I t preferred the Greek philosophical systems
of which Stoicism, having gained a head-start thanks
to the influence of Panaetius and being most congenial
to the Roman mind, became the favorite creed of upperclass Romans during this era. A small but important
m inority chose Epicureanism, another selected the Aca
demic school of thought as its Weltanschauung. Men
like Julius Caesar, Lucretius, Vergil, and Horace,140
as well as Tibullus,1*1 were strongly impressed by
Epicures teachings, while, for example, Cicero became
the ranking champion of neo-Academic views in Rome.
Rarely, however, did a Roman intellectual subscribe
fully to the tenets of any single Greek school of phi
losophy. O n the whole a good deal of eclecticism char
acterized the philosophical attitude of Roman humanists
at all times, and especially during this hectic century'.
Those f e w who, like the pedantic younger Cato, ac
cepted a single philosophical creed were exceptions.
The attitude towards astrology was usually deter
mined by the intensity with which a Roman humanist
adhered to Stoicism. The closer to it he moved, the
more unquestionably would he in this era accept fatal
istic astrology. The more he tended towards Epicurean
or neo-Academic views, the more sceptical would his
outlook become. Stoicism itself had undergone a pro
found change in its attitude towards divination in gen
eral, and astrology in particular since the days of
Diogenes the Babylonian and his even more sceptical
Stoic disciple, Panaetius. It had returned to the origi
nal Stoic views of Zeno and his immediate successors,
largely through the efforts of Panaetius pupil Posi
donius of Apamea (ca. 131-51 B . C . ) . Before his in
fluence was fully felt, however, a twilight period of
anti-astrological scepticism prevailed in Rome during
the concluding decades of the second century B. c.
The expulsion of astrologers from the Latin center
of the Roman empire in 139 b . c . neither quelled the
restiveness at home nor could it in any way soothe
elsewhere the mounting revolutionary mood of the nonLatin poor and the new hosts of slaves.M-' Although it
140 E. Zeller, Philosophic der Gricchcn 3, 1. 4th ed .: 387 f.
1,1 F. Jacoby, Tibulls erste Elegie. Rhein. Mus. 64, 1909:
600 ff., esp. 627; cf. W. v. Christ. Gesch. der griech. Lilt., 6th ed.
W. Schmid and others. 2, 1 : 313. Muenchen. 1920.
14S A useful, though strongly biased, work on the subject is
R. v . Poehlmann, Geschichte der sozialen Frar/e und des Sozta-

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E TO A STROLO GY
took sixty more years for a formidable slave rebellion
to break out in Italy itself, adjacent Sicily for example
produced two very serious slave wars within the last
four decades of the second century. The humanist
nobility of Rome, still inspired by the Hellenistic scepti
cism of the second century, so ablv represented by
Panaetius in Rome, might frown on astrology and
coarse forms of eastern superstitions, but the lowly
knew no such scruples. Although our chief source of
information is the fragmentary account of Diodorus
who in turn probably leaned heavily on Posidonius
history of these events,143 the facts speak for themselves.
The two most important leaders of the two Sicilian
slave-wars were men who owed their position largely
to reputed prophetic powers, the Syrian Eunus, and
the Cilician Athenio. As effective examples of the
exploitation of lower-class credulity their careers may
briefly be recorded.
Eunus, apparently already at least middle-aged, was a
slave of Antigenes of Enna. A Syrian from Apamea,144
he was credited with having gained his m asters favor
by demonstrations of prophetic gifts and certain magical
tricks.1'15 As his source of prophetic inspiration Eunus
named a Syrian goddess. His reputation as a prophet
(with or without the use of some popular astrology)
became so great that some slaves sm arting under a
Simon Legree m aster by the name of Daniophilus asked
him to predict whether a rebellion they were planning
might meet with success. According to the rhetorical
report of F loras:
E unus . . . co u n terfeitin g an inspired frenzy and w aving
his dishevelled h a ir in h o n o r of the S y rian goddess, incited
the slaves to arm s an d lib erty on the p retence of a com m and
from the gods. In o rd e r to prove th a t he w as ac tin g u nder
d ivine insp iratio n , he secreted in his m outh a n u t w hich
he had tilled w ith su lp h u r and fire, and by b reath in g gently,
sent fo rth a flame as he spoke.14

Prophesying success to the rebellion he placed himself

at its head, probably in 136 b . c . 14T Styling himself
Antiochus. King of the Syrians, he raised his concubine
to the rank of queen.
Scores of freemen joined his band which rapidly
grew from an initial strength of 2,000 to over 60.000.148
Local leaders, among them a certain Cleon in western
Sicily, voluntarily submitted to the leadership of this
listnus in der antikcn W ell. 2 v., Muenchen, 1912: for this period
in particular, compare ibid. 2. 2. ch. iv : 493 ff.
Eunus and Posidonius were both natives of Apamea in
Syria. This may explain Posidonius special interest in the
career of Eunus.
F or the proud history of the town, see Strabo, 16. 2, 10
(f. 753).
115 Diodorus, frgm. 24. 2. 5 ff.. ed. Dind.. 5: 86.
1 Floras, 2. 7 (19), 4.
147 F or an intelligent discussion of the date, see Muenzer. RE
6. 1909: c. 1143-1145.
115 Livy, epit. 56: Orosius, 5, 6, 4. speaks of 70,000. Diodorus,
frgm. 34. 5. 16. and Florus. 2. 7 (19). 6, agree on more than
60.000.

59

divinely inspired prophet. Personally anything but

warlike. Eunus defeated the Roman levies time and
again so that the Roman government finally for three
successive years (134. 133, 132 b . c . ) sent consular
armies against him. The last of the three consuls com
manding these forces. P. Rupilius. finally quenched the
rebellion. The followers of Eunus killed each other
rather than fall into Roman hands. Eunus with four
servants, however, surrendered. He was kept in cap
tivity and died soon afterwards, either at Murgentium
or on the way to Rome, of a skin disease.uy It seems
that even the Roman victors were to some extent
impressed with the reputation of the Syrian miracleworking diviner.
Astrology, at least according to our scanty sources,
can at best have played a minor role in the repertoire
of Eunus. H is successor. Athenio.150 the leader of the
second Sicilian slave rebellion, however, was actuallv
an astrologer of sorts. This Cilician worked as a shep
herd slave for two very wealthy brothers and was not
only a fearless fighter, but also an expert astrolo
ger. 151 Apparently he used his reputation as a star
gazer to persuade his fellow slaves of inevitable
success if they rebelled. For himself
he insisted that the gods through the stars had revealed to
him that he would become the king of all of Sicily.151
F or a while this astrological prediction did not seem
likely to be fulfilled. For another slave leader by the
name of Salvius, self-styled King Trypho. was so much
more powerful that Athenio found it prudent to bow
to his authority.153 From 104 until 102 Salvius Trypho
retained his commanding position, while Roman armies
were unable to quell the rebellion. Then he died, and
Athenio became the sole leader of the slave army. His
bands roamed through Sicily at will and almost suc
ceeded in capturing Messina. Finally, however, the
consul Manius Aquillius restored Roman authority.
In personal combat he killed Athenio, receiving himself
a severe w ound 154 (101 or 100 b . c . ) .
The fact that two relatively severe disturbances close
to the heart of the Roman empire were led by men
whose claim to leadership was largely if not exclusively
l>ased on their reputation as prophets illustrates the
14 Diodorus, frgm. 34, 2, 22-23.
lM Cf. Klebs, R E 2, 1896: c. 2J39-2041.
1.1 Diodorus, frgm. 36, 5, 1, eJ. Dindorf. 5: 129-130: rijt
iarpoiuurTiKrii roXXqr I x " ' i^rttpian.

1:1 Ibid. 3 6 , 5, 3. One of his predictions, revealed to him by

the gods and the stars, was for example that within five days
the number of his followers would grow from two hundred to
more than a thousand (which proved true). Similarly he
claimed that the gods (or stars) had advised him to break off
the siege of Lilybaeum. Again events justified this course of
action; Diodorus. 3 6 , 5, 1 and 3-4.
1.2 Ibid. 36. 7, 1-2.
ls Ibid. 36, 10; cf. the brief reference in Florus,2, 7 (1 9 ),
9-12. According to Florus, however. Athenio was tom to
pieces by his captors.

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T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

hold which divinely inspired seers and astrologers had

obtained 011 the lower classes composed of impoverished
freemen and slaves. In Rome and Italy in all likelihood
similar prophets also flourished among these strata at
this time, although they did not succeed in fomenting
a general rising.
The connection between the oppositional social ele
ments in Rome and those of the outer empire was
demonstrated on more than one occasion during the
last half of the second century b . c . In 133 Kincr Attalu?
I l l of Pergamum. dying without legitimate heirs, 1k*queathed his wealthy country to the Romans. Not
unnaturally his subjects disliked the prospect of Roman
exploitation and rose in rebellion. Their leader in the
fight for independence was Aristonicus. an illegitimate
son of the late king. For almost four years he held
the Romans at bay before his movement collapsed.
One of his chief advisers was a South Italian intellec
tual by the name of Blossius, a former fellow student
of Panaetius.1'5 Eventually both men had gone to Rome.
There Panaetius became the intellectual center of a
group of conservative leaders, while Blossius joined the
" radicals and becanie one of the brain-trusters of
the ill-starred Tiberiijs Gracchus. The close nersonal
friendship l>etween the Roman reformer and Blossius
was widely known, j Even after Tiberius had been
lynched in 133 b . c . Blossius. at a time when the Greek
advisers of his late friend were executed in droves,
proudly refused to deny his close association with his
fallen friend.156 His loyalty and courage apparently
were respected to the extent that his life was spared.
He fled and joined the nascent movement of Aristonicus
in Asia Minor. Whether or not it was due to his radical
influence that this Greek leader finally proclaimed the
emancipation of slaves157 and enrolled them in the
eitizen-lists of a fictitious Sun-Citv (Heliopolis') cannot
be ascertained. Utopian states, sometimes of communist
vintage, had become a popular literary topic in Hellen
istic times.158 Jambulus for example had emphasized
the special astral interests of his slaveless utopia139
whose patron-saint and ruler was the Sun.10 But
Aristonicus revolutionary undertaking alienated most
of his other supporters. His movement finally col
lapsed (129 b . c . ) and Blossius perished with it.

While waves of social unrest slowly undermined the

foundations of the old Roman order, the penetration
of Romes ruling class with Greek ideas continued
unabated. Among the friends of Panaetius in Rome
one of the most devoted ones was Q. Aelius Tubero.11
As a grandson of the victor of Pvdna. L. Aemilius
Paulus.162 he was a nephew of the younger Scipio,13
and at the same time thereby related to the two
Gracchi.184 Scipios first cousins (by adoption). Tuberos
political career was not sensational, but befitting the
scion of a great Roman family. He was prior to 129
b . c. a tribune of the plebs. and then competed without
success for a praetorship.185 On a later occasion he
may have met with lietter luck at the polls, for he was
said eventually to have reached the consulate.1* H e was
at any rate an independent-minded man. For he did
not hesitate on occasion to oppose Scipio, as well as
Tiberius Gracchus (who directed a special oration
against T ubero).107 A man of studiously simple living
habits 148 he met in the SciDionic circle Panaetius who
henceforth became his intellectual mentor.
If not before, Tubero now became a confirmed Stoic
under the influence of the Greek scholar.109 in whose
company he spent whole days and nights. 1,0 Among
the books which Panaetius advised his disciple to learn
by heart was Crantors On grief.171 After Panaetius left
Rome, at the latest shortly before the death of Scipio
in 129 b . c., he continued an intimate correspondence
with Tubero and sent him some of his essays, for ex
ample a treatise on H ow to suffer pain , 172 The scholarly
contacts were extended to other disciples of Panaetius
too. men who may well have been younger than
the Roman humanist. Hecato of Rhodes for instance
dedicated to Tubero a work in several books entided
On moral duty ( de officio).173 At least one essay from
the pen of Panaetius greatest disciple Posidonius was

1,1 Cf. Klebs, R E 1. 1894: c. 535-537; W. Kroll, R E , suppl. 6,

1935: c. 1-2.
I'* Cicero, Brutus, 31, 117.
ia Loc. cit., compare de oratore 2, 84, 341.
1.4 Cornelia, a sister of Scipio Aemilianus adoptive father,
was the mother of Tiberius and Caius Gracchus.
Cicero, pro Murena. 36. 75.
Digests 1. 2. 2, 40. Pomponius, however, cannot be con
sidered as a reliable authority in this instance.
135 Both were among the disciples ot the Stoic Antipater, who
1,7 On one ocacsion Tubero refused to render judgment
had succeeded Diogenes the Babylonian as head of the Stoic
according to Scipios evidence given in court. H e broke with
school at Athens. Panaetius favored the sanctity of private
the Gracchi on political grounds and attacked one of them in a
speech; Cicero, Brutus, 31. 117: Laeiius, 11, 37.
property, while Blossius wanted the assets of the nation to be
used lor the greatest good of the greatest number.
Cicero, pro Mnrcna, 36. 76; Valerius Maximus, 7, 5, 1;
11-1 Cicero. I.aclitis. 11,37; Plutarch. Tiberius Gracchus, 20, 3-4.
Seneca, epist., 95, 72 f .; 98. 13; 1C4, 20; 120, 19; Athenaeus, 6.
Diodorus, frgm. 34, 26.
108; Seneca rhetor: Controv. 2, 1, 8.
1Euhemerus wrote o le of the most popular utopias of this
1,0 Tacitus. Annals 15, 22; Digests 1. 2, 2, 40 where one should
read Panaeti in lieu of Pansae.
kind. Ennius' Latin translation made it easily accessible to the
170 Cicero, de oratore 3. 23. 87.
Roman reading public early in the second century B. c. Its popu
larity endured until the end of antiquity.
171 Cicero, Acad. 2, 44, 135. Crantor was a follower of the
Old Academy, not a Stoic.
,s" Diodorus accepted Jambulus travelogue" as straight
history and thereby preserved substantial elements of it foi
171 Cicero, de finibus 4. 9, 23; Tuscui. disp. 4, 2, 4 where
posterity: see 2. 57. 3 on the astral interests in that sun-state.
Panaetius recommended to Tubero a Pythagorean poem.
Ibid. 2, 59, 2.
1.5 Cicero, de officiis 3, 15, 63.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N RO M E T O A STR O LO G Y
also addressed to Tubero.174 The profound influence
of these Greek Stoics on the Roman gentleman of con
summate excellence and sagacity 175 was also manifest
in the disdain in which Tubero held the then fashionable
art of public speaking.170 According to Cicero Laeiius
had to write for Tubero the funeral oration in honor of
Scipio Aemilianus when this special occasion called for
an effective public speech.177
In the light of this evidence the conclusion seems
inescapable that Tubero in contrast to the humanist
dilettantes of the Scipionic circle178 took a deep inter
est in the intellectual offering of the Hellenistic east.
He certainly emerges as the most serious-minded of
the group, and the role assigned to him by Cicero in
the Republic conforms to that picture. There Tubero
acts in the absence of Panaetius as the authoritative
advocate of Greek astronomical views. Actually it is
he who, before the other partners in the discussion
arrive, suggests as its topic a recent phenomenon in the
heavens: the appearance of a second sun. A brief duel
ensues in which Scipio criticizes and Tubero defends
the great intensity with which Panaetiusand Tubero
devote themselves to the study of astronomical prob
lems.179 The suggestion that Tubero himself composed
an astrometeorological work cannot be definitely proven
or disproven,180 but a reference in Pliny's Natural
History 181 and possibly another one by Alexander of
Aphrodisias 182 may be construed as an indication that
Tubero, perhaps the first Roman to do so, compiled a
parapegma,183 i. e. weather calendar relating meteoro
logical phenomena to certain planets, fixed stars and
constellations, respectively.
In themselves these peasant-calendars were far
removed from the esoteric circle of Hellenistic scientific
astrology. Nevertheless by listing in great detail the
real or apparent connection between the stars and the
seasons the Dog-Star ( Sirius), for example, ushering
in the dog-days of midsummer these almanacs
strengthened the general belief in sidereal influence on
mundane affairs. This attitude received a considerable

61

emotional boost through the magnetic personality of the

Stoic Posidonius, probably the most universal thinker
the Greek world produced since the days of Aristotle.184
A disciple of Panaetius this great Stoic chose Rhodes
to establish his own school after the death of his Rhodian
master, perhaps alxmt 97 b. c . . 185 whose own academic
establishment in Rhodes he may have inherited. He fol
lowed the example of his predecessor also by making
extensive voyages throughout the Mediterranean world
sometime between 100 and 70 b. c . , 188 using these ven
tures also for scientific observations of geographical and
astronomical phenomena, including the tides and their
astral causes. Like most outstanding Greek scholars
of this era, Posidonius did not escape an appointment
as (Rhodian) ambassador to Rome, proof of his high
standing at Rhodes, which had been attested also by
the fact that he was made a Rhodian citizen and even
elected to the highest office, that of a prytane.187
When Posidonius (together with a fellow-scholar
M olo)188 reached Rome the city was in the throes of
a violent revolution. The conservatives had been over
thrown, the consul Octavius being slain when Cinna and
Marius took Rome by force in 86 b . c . Octavius him
self seems to have been among the first Roman aristo
crats to have relied whole heartedly on astrological pre
dictions (which had promised him that all would l>e
well). Consequently he had remained in the capital
and was slain. On his dead body was found the astro
logical diagram that had lured him to his death.189
Posidonius now encountered the new masters of Rome,
of whom the old Marius was unquestionably the most
colorful figure.100 His well established contempt of
higher learning cannot have made the task of the two
Rhodian ambassadors any easier, but undoubtedly they
also met Roman humanists while staying in Rome,
among them perhaps young Julius Caesar and Cicero.101

1,4 Strabo, 16, 2, 10 (f. 753) ; Galen, de Hippocr. et Plat. 8, 1:

K. Reinhardts Posidonius, Muenchen, 1921, is a warning
example of a German school, which carries the worship of
Posidonius to indefensible extremes. A sober appraisal of
Posidonius' scientific contributions is found in J. L. Heiberg,
A atnncisscnschaften und Mathematik im klassischen Altertum,
1,4 Ps.-Plutarch, dc nobilitate . . . . 18, 3.
Leipzig, 1912.
175 Cicero, de oratore 3, 23. 87.
l'" Panaetius seems to have died after 99 b. c.; Cicero, de
1T* Cicero, Brutus. 31, 117 f.
nfficiis 3, 2, 7-8.
177 Cicero, de oratore 2, 84, 341; the schol. B o b .: 283 ascribe
l9* Strabo, 13, 1, 67 (f. 614) ; 1, 17 Cf. 4) ; 2, 21 (f. 29) ; 3.
the delivery of the speech written by Laeiius to Q. Fabius
9 ( f. 53) and 12 (f. 55) ; 2, 1, 1 ff. (ff. 94-96) ; compare the vita
Maximus.
in Suidas. s. v.
For the contrast, see Crassus in Cicero, dc oratore 3. 23. 87.
"7 Strabo. 14, 2, 13 ff. 665) ; cf. Christ, op. cit.: 347 f.
l7* Cicero, de republica 1, 9. 14-10. 16.
1M Cf. Schmid, RE 2. 1896: c. 141, no. 85-c. 144. Molo was
1" Ingeniously suggested by O. Cuntz, Strom atcis: 49, Graz,
opposed lo philosophy and was also an antisemite. For his
1909; see, however, W. Kroll. RE, suppl. 6, 1935: c. 1 f.
influence compare Suetonius, Caesar, 4, 1; Plutarch. Caesar, 3;
1,1 Pliny, Xat. Hist. 18. 66, 235; V III Kal. (F ebr.) Stella Cicero. 4; Quintilian, de instit. oral. 3, 1, 16.
regia appellata Tuberoni in pectore I.eonis occidit matutina:
Plutarch. Manns. 42, 1-5.
but compare ibid. 18, 68. 271. Pliny may have taken both
180 Posidonius visited him on official business, when the old
passages from Julius Caesar's de astris. or had read the reference
warrior, in the throes of alcohol and pleurisy, was approaching
to Tubero's work elsewhere.
his end: Plutarch. Marius. 45, 4.
,M In Aristot. meteorol. comment. . 152. 10. where Gcmiuus
1,1 On the influence of Posidonius on Roman intellectuals ot
and Aelius are cited.
that period, especially on Cicero, Julius Caesar, V a.ro. SailusCf. A. Rehm. RE 18. 2. 3. 1949: c. 1295-1366: suppl. 7.
tius. and Lucretius, see F. Ueberweg. Grundriss der Geschichte
1950: c. 175-198.
der Philosophic 1, 10th e d .: 104.

62

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

Since the days of Panaetius Rhodes had been a popular

place with young Romans going east to complete
their education, or to use the pretext of such studies as
a politic excuse for leaving Rome for a while when
one risked trouble with the rapidly changing political
authorities of these turbulent times.
After the Marian and Sullan tempests had run their
course, the eastward migration of Romans in search of
their final intellectual polish continued. Cicero in 78
b . c. enlisted as one of Posidonius students at Rhodes
and thereafter continued to hold the Greek scholar in
high esteem. Not only did he subsequently ask Posi
donius in 60 b . c. to write the history of the dramatic
consulate of 63,192 a task for which Posidonius H is
tory 193 may have seemed sufficient qualification, but
Cicero also referred frequently to the opinions and
writings of the great Stoic in the philosophical treatises
with whose composition the Roman humanist occupied
himself during the last years of his life. Posidonius thus
became in Roman literary tradition one of the most
popular Greek thinkers after Panaetius, in spite of the
fact that his views iti important points were diametric
ally opposed to those of Panaetius. Politically Posi
donius like Panaetius was a staunch adherent of Romes
conservative faction (eventually also of Pompey). P er
haps his personal experiences in Marian Rome had
strengthened his natural antipathy against leftists.
Intellectually Roman humanists joined him in the philo
sophical opposition to his more sceptical Stoic prede
cessors, Diogenes of Babylon and Panaetius.
Posidonius was about a generation older than Cicero
: a Julius Caesar, amd the turning of the tide in favor
fatalistic astrology both in Greek philosophical circles
d in the Latin west coincided remarkably with his
vn emergence as the most renowned scholar of his
ne. The fatuous faith of the consul Octavius (bom
rior to 126 b . c . ) in Chaldaean (and other) divinatorv
wisdom has already been mentioned. His contempoary Sulla, generally known as a sceptic rather than a
.eiiever. was another example of the first generation of
Roman aristocrats persuaded of the truth of astrological
claims. Whether he acquired this faith prior to his
expedition to the east, or during his sojourn in the
Orient in the war against Mithradates, cannot be deternined. But on his return he was certainly in possession
his horoscope. It contained the prediction of his
ath date, and so firmly did Sulla apparently trust in
ne infallibility of fatalistic astrology that he concluded
his Memoirs when that date approached.**4 The im;cation that he actually died at the precise time fored by the Chaldaeans must, however, be dismissed as
Cicero, epist. ad Attic. 2, 1, 2.
11 These urropuu in fifty-two books continued the history of
- Mediterranean world from where Polybius had ended his
-n account (144 b. c.) until 86 B.C., the year of the first suestul anti-senatorial revolution in Rome.
Plutarch, Sulla. 37, 1.

one of the many similar fabrications tending to prove

the accuracy of astrological methods of divination.18*
While men like Octavius and Sulla were among the
first aristocratic exceptions to the previous rule of
scepticism regarding astrology, the generation which
followed them came under the full impact of the changed
attitude of Stoicism concerning astrology. That politi
cal leaders like Julius Caesar, Crassus. or Pompey re
ceived the most flattering (though inaccurate) horo
scopes from obsequious astrologers196 was merely a
symptom of the new era. More truly indicative of the
influence of Posidonius, that staunch advocate of fatemaking stars. 197 upon Roman minds of this period
was the emergence of the first m ajor Roman authority
on divination in general and astrology in p articular:
Publius Nigidius Figulus. H e represented the newcosmic emotionalism of Posidonius who envisaged the
universe linked in all its parts large and minute by one
all-embracing power, the so-called sympatheia. F or the
sage from Apamea ekpyrosis and palingenesis had again
become accepted scientific dogma. His observations
on the influence of the moon and the sun on the daily
tides were linked by him with the general doctrine of
astrology. F or him astrology was a valid branch of
applied astronomy, in which he was interested to an
extent which caused posterity to refer to Posidonius
as a philosopher-astrologer or a great astrologus
and philosopher also. 108 The fixed stars in the manner
of Cleanthes hymn were once more raised to the rank
of gods and therefore endowed with the power of pronoia. This view made them rulers of the sub-lunar
realm, not mere signs revealing the future (as
Panaetius had at the most conceded), and saw in them
the makers of the destinies of men and nations.1*9
Posidonius seems to have added an astrological clim a
tology to the arsenal of the Chaldaeans, 200 i. e. a
counter-attack against the anti-astrological argument
that under the same constellation men and customs in
different regions varied greatly in spite of the identity
of their respective horoscopes. Of the enormous liter
ary output of the Stoic m aster his famous treatise on
Plato's Timaeus may largely be responsible for the
subsequent overemphasis of this single cosmological
essay of Plato and the growing neglect of Platos other
works.201
1M F or some later instances of such literary technique in favor
of making out astrological forecasts as accurate, while they
demonstrably had been false at the time, see p. 134, n. 492.
1 Cicero, dc divinatione 2, 47. 99.
1,1 Augustinus, de cwitate dei 5. 2 : multum astrologiae deditus
. . . fatalium siierum assertor . . . philosophus astrologus . . . .
tM Ibid. 5, 5: magnus astrologus idemque philosophus.
* Compare E. Pfeiffer. Studien sum antiien Stemglauben
63 ff.: 77 ff., Berlin, 1916.
s See F. Boll, Studien ueber Claudius Ptolemaeus: 211 f. (in
Jahrb. f. class. Philol.. suppl. 21, 1894). Bolt considered Posi
donius as a main source of Ptolemys Tetrabiblos.
O ther cosmological writings included a work rtpi totrnov.
and one
\6*yoi.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N RO M E TO A STR O LO G Y
In paving the way for the Roman surrender to the
faith in astrology Posidonius placed great importance
on the theory of an all-pervading cosmic sympathy.
He therefore also contributed much to the rise of
Graeco-Roman mysticism, which looked towards magic
and mystery cults as redeemers from the inexorable
fatalism reimposed by the great Stoic. In contesting
correctly the possibility of comprehending the cosmos
through reason alone, Posidonius thus opened the flood
gates to the torrent of anti-rationalism which in the end
was to triumph over the age of reason in antiquity.
From the days of Posidonius onward the anti-astrological majority of Roman humanists began to shrink
until it became a minority of very small proportions.
The sceptics fought their rearguard battle magnificently
during the first half of the first century b . c. Fighters
against astrology of the calibre of a Lucretius or Cicero
(as well as the smilingly sceptical Julius Caesar) made
a fine but losing stand against the swelling hosts of
educated Roman believers in fatalistic astrology. With
the death of these champions of free will, however, an
era began which from Augustus to Domitian displayed
only a small current of anti-astrological sentiment. Not
until the second century a . d . occurred a final and
shortlived revival of the earlier scepticism.
The juxtaposition of the trends in Roman intel
lectual life was for the first time represented with
striking clarity by two contemporaries, both flourishing
in the first half of the first century b . c., both ranking
members of Roman society, both intellectuals of wide
horizons, both deeply devoted to the cultural values of
the east: Publius Nigidius Figulus (ca. 99-45 b . c .),20-'
and Marcus Tullius Cicero (Jan. 3, 106-December, 43
b . c .).
They were not merely contemporaries, but also
personal friends and political allies. During Ciceros
consulate for example Figulus was already a senator
and one of Ciceros closest advisers during the crisis of
the conspiracy of Catiline in 63 b . c. :
W hile C icero was in this perplexity, a sign w as given t j
the women who w ere sacrificing. . . . T h e sacred virgins
bade T e ren tia the w ife of C icero . . . to tell him to carry
o u t his resolutions in behalf of the country. . . . So T c rentia . . . g av e him this m essage and incited him against
the c o n s p ira to rs ; so likew ise did his b ro th er Q uintus, and
Publius N igidius. one of his philosophical companions, of
whom he m ade the m ost and g reatest use in his political
u n d ertak in g s.2#s

During those hectic days Nigidius Figulus was also

officially in charge of the minutes of the senate when
the revelation of the innermost secrets of the plotters
was laid before this body.204 So great was the renown
,< For the date of his death, see Jerome, Chron., Abr. 1972 ;
N. Figulus Pythagoricus et magus in exsilio m oritur: cf. R.
Helm. Philologus, suppl. 21. 2, 1929 : 54; W. Kroll, RE 17, 1,
1936: c. 200, no. 3,-c. 212.
3M Plutarch, Cicero, 20, 1-2; compare A n s e n i. . . ,2 7 , Cicero,
epist. ad famil., 4, 13, 2, 7.
* Cicero, pro Sulla, 14, 42.

63

of his astrological prowess that (falsely!) he was

credited with having prophesied the future grandeur
of Octavius Octavianus, bom on September 23 of that
fateful year. The child's father, arriving late at a senate
meeting, was said to have excused his belated appear
ance because of the birth of a son. Thereupon Nigidius
Figulus arose and predicted to the astonished Octavius
when he learned the reason of the delay and the hour
of the birth that in that hour the ruler of the world had
been born. 205 In more detail a later historian related:
H ard ly had the child been born w hen N igidius Figulus.
u senator, straig h tw ay prophesied fo r him absolute power.
T h is man could d istin g u ish m ost accurately of his con
tem p o raries the o rd er of the firm am ent and the differences
betw een the stars, w hat they accom plish when by them
selves and w hen together, by th eir conjunctions and by the
intervals, and for this reason had incurred the charge of
p ractisin g some forbidden art. H e, then, on this occasion
met O ctavius, w ho, on account of the b irth of the child,
was som ew hat late in reach in g the senate-house . . . and
upon ask in g him why he w as late and learn in g the cause,
he cried out, Y ou have begotten a m aster over us. A t
this O ctavius w as alarm ed and w ished to destroy the infant,
but N igidius restrain ed him , saying th a t it w as impossible
for it to suffer any such fate.20

This story is at variance with the facts. For on Sep

tember 23 neither was the Catilinian conspiracy on the
agenda nor would a regular meeting of the senate (as
Dio implied) fall on that date of the Julian calendar.*'
We are, therefore, apparently confronted with another
falsification of fact by Dio for the greater glory of
astrological accuracy.
In contrast to the brilliant political career of Cicero,
that of Nigidius Figulus was slow. He became an
aedile, probably after Cicero's consulate,** and finally
praetor (58 b . c . ) . 210 H e never reached the consulate.
His strongly conservative political convictions kept him
inevitably attached to the senatorial faction during the
first triumvirate. His last major official task seems to
have been an embassy to the east on which Cicero
encountered him in Ephesus when he himself was en
route to his post as governor of Cilicia.211 During the
great civil war Nigidius exposed himself politically to
a greater extent than his more pliant friend, Cicero.*1
3,5 Suetonius, Augustus, 94, 5.
3M Cassius Dio, 45, 1, 3-3; cf. Cat. 8 (4) : 99.
7 Drumann-Groebe, 3 : 785; compare W. Kroll, R E 17, 1.
1936: c. 200, no. 3,-c. 212.
3M F or another example, see p. 134, n. 492.
* Perhaps in 60 b. c. In that year (December ?) Cicero
wrotein connection with the trial of C. Antonmsto A tticus:
In a public meeting Nigidius threatens to serve a summons on
a juror who does not attend ; epist. ad A tt. 2, 2, 3.
I0 In a letter written between October 25 and December 10.
59 Cicero mentioned Nigidius among the praetors designated
for the following year, whom he considered most friendly
(amicissimos) inclined towards himself; epist. ad Q. fratrem 1.
2, 66.
311 Cicero. Timaeus, 1, 2.
4
3,3 Compare Cicero, epist. ad Att. 7, 24 (Febr. 10, 49 B. c.) ;
Lucanus, Pharsalia 1; v. 639.

64

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

In consequence he payed a heavier penalty. Julius

Caesar ordered him into exile. Apparently Nigidius
Figulus asked his luckier friend to intercede with the
dictator on his behalf. Thereupon in August or Sep
tember, 46 b. c., Cicero wrote him a long letter, perhaps
the swan-song of the correspondence between the two
old friends.-13 The letter itself is a curious mixture of
heartfelt expressions of sympathy, diplomatic attempts
at consolation, and vague promises of continued efforts
on behalf of the exiled humanist.
That Caesar would eventually have pardoned a man
of Nigidius scholarly reputation (as he did pardon
Varro) can hardly be doubted. Meanwhile, Cicero
concluded his letter with a few sentences whose pro
phetic overtones proved accurate:
I have been asking niyself for some time past w hat I hail
best w rite to you. . . . I have no prom ise to make, for.
hum iliated as I am by a m isfortune like your ow n, it is
onlv by extraneous assistance that I bear the w eight of
my afflictions. . . . But lately I was richly blessed in
popularity, influence, and fame, of all that there is nothing
left me. I ilo continue to enjoy C aesar's extrem e courtesy
to m e ; but th at cannot counterbalance violence and revolu
tion in every other relation of life and in the tim es them'elves . . . I am not only a nuisance to others, . . . but
even to myself.
A nd w hile h itherto I have been in a position to offer
my assistance to obscure o r even guilty men, I ;mi now
not in a position to make even a prom ise of kindness to
P. N igidius. incom parably the most learned and most
virtuous of men. a t one time a universal favorite, and to
me assuredly the best of friends. . . .
W hat conduct is w orthy of a brave and w ise m an. w hat
is im peratively dem anded of you by your dignity, your
loftiness of mind, yotir past history, the researches and
accom plishm ents for iwhich you have been distinguished
from yo u r boyhood il l that you will see for yourself. It
only rem ains to me tp com fort you. . . . T h e very m an
who has m ost to say in the m atter is decidedly disposed to
sanction your restoration.
My la st w ord is tn is : I beg and beseech you to be of
good courage, and to bethink you not only of tlv* discoveries
for w hich you are indebted to other g reat men of science.
but also of those you yourself m ade by your ow n genius
and research. If you m ake a list of them, it will give you
every good hope. . . .

Of all Roman humanists, Nigidius Figulus was the

first to spread into the Latin world the newly revived
cosmic mysticism preached so eloquently by Posidonius,
although the Greek Stoic does not seetn to have influ
enced him directly. Under the name of Pvthagoreanism
a veritable school arose in Rome at whose center was
the universalist Nigidius. His connection with magic
was naturally suspected. A Roman Dr. Faustus, he
was apparently accused finally of magic practices.215
Cicero, who staunchly defended Carueadic and Panaetian scepticism, did not hesitate to attack these aspects
of his friends new sect at Rome. He accused, for ex
ample, in an oration Vatinius, a self-styled Pythago
rean,:i of contacts with those who evoked the spirits
of the dead, or, raising their hands to the gods,
slaughtered bovs. A scholiast explained this Ciceronian
passage by adding:
T h e re lived in those days a ce rtain N igidius, a m an o u t
stan d in g in know ledge and scholarly learning. V ery m any
sought him out. T his group by his d etracto rs w as criticized
as an objectionable faction, although they them selves w anted
to be considered as P y th ag o rean s.-17

A pseudo-Ciceronian accusation reproached the voung

Sallustius. the future historian, of having been tried
twice for joining the brotherhood of Nigidian sacri
lege (sodalicum sacrilegii Nigidiani) , - 18 The super
stitious masses did not, like Cicero, comprehend the
spiritual quality of neo-Pythagoreanism. Legend, for
example, ascribed to Varro, an older contemporary and
a fellow-Pythagorean, an account of a sucessful Nigi
dian treasure hunt which through magic chants of a
boys' choir revealed to a certain Fabius where a sum of
500 denarii (which he had lost) were buried.210
Of the numerous writings of the Roman scholar22"
one work, On the Gods, combined the Persian doctrine
of the magi about the different eras of the world with
with the Stoic tenets of ekpyrosis and palingenesis,221
thus giving young Vergil an opportunity of acquiring
these ideas which he so poetically expressed some years
after Nigidius' death in the famous fourth eclogue. On
divination Figulus wrote copiously.222 Meteorology also
The two friends :ver saw each other again. Before evoked a treatise of four books from the busy pen of
Caesar's well known mercy had time to extend itself to
Nigidius the exile cied. As was fitting, Cicero wrote
115 Cassius Dio, 45, 1. 3 f.
** Cicero, in Vatinium. 14.
his epitaph into the very beginning of the Timaeus, the
2lT Schol. ad Ciccr. in Pat., 14.
cosmological treatise in which he endeavored to explain
sl* Ps.-Cicero, in Sallust, controv., 5, 14.
Pythagorean and PU.Itonic cosmology to the Latin world.
sl* Apuleius, Apologia. 42. A weird tale!
* Fragments ed. A. Swoboda, Vienna, 1889; compare M.
M uch has been Written against the physici in our

Academ ica, and much has often been discussed w ith P.

N ig id iu s: F o r that man was a t the same tim e graced
w ith all o th er arts 'vhich befit a free man. as well as
him self an eager and diligent investigator of those m atters
w hich seem by n a tn f e cryptic; in all I hold th a t after
those lofty Py th a g o r;;:ans. whose sect, having flourished
for several centuries n Italy and Sicily, somehow became
extinct, he arose, who was to revive it.514
Cicero, epist. ad faniil., 4, 13 (August or September, 46 b. c.).
Cicero, Timaeus, 1

Hertz, de Xigidii studiis atque operibus. Berlin. 1845; J. Klein.

quaestiones Nigidiatiac. Bonn, 1861. The users of Nigidius'
writings were especially investigated by A. Roehrig, dc Xigidic
Fitjulo, Leipzig, 1887.
3,1 Compare Geffcken. Die H irten aut deni Felde, Hermes 49.
1914: 321 ff., esp.: 327-337: J. Kroll, Posidonius und Vergils
Ekloge. Hermes 50. 1915 : 137-143.
A t least two books on the auqurium privatum ; Gellius, 7.
6. 10. as well as a work dc c.rtis-, ibid. 16, 6, 12, and one or two
treatises on brontoscopy: John Lydus, de ostentis: 99, 17: com
pare. however, Bezold-Boll, Sits.-Ber. . Ik. Heidelberg 7, 1911 : 11.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E TO ASTROLO GY
the Roman senator. Geography seems to have l>een
covered by a work On countries, while zoology was
dealt with in a book On animals.22* By far the most
lasting and important contribution made to posterity by
this Roman scholar, however, were twro works on the
heavenly sphere, one devoted to the oriental sphaera
barbarica, the other to the Greek sphaera graecanica.2-*
Astronomers no less than astrologers were indebted to
Nigidius who. at a time when the ultimate triumph of
the sphaera graecanica ( the Hellenistic terminology for
stars and constellations) was close at hand, preserved
in his sphaera barbarica a then still well known com
posite oriental nomenclature.225 Together with M.
Terentius V arro (116-27 B.C.22) P. Nigidius Figulus
represented the first generation of Roman research
scholarship. Both men were universalists in the scope
of their interests and were to live jointly in the memory
of posterity as the greatest Latin scholars.227 The basic
difference between them was one of accent, but the
vagaries, which preserved some works onlv and con
signed others to oblivion, did not facilitate a valid
comparison between the two men. Said Servius for
exam ple:

65

This problem posed a peculiar question. Catarchic

astrology would furnish auspicious dates for the found
ing of cities, but the claims of fatalistic astrology now
had gone far beyond that. It maintained that from the
very history of a man or a city the constellation could
be computed which must have existed at the moment
of his conception or birth, or at the time of the formal
founding of the city. This absurd hypothesis was ac
cepted by many, including Varro and Firmanus:
In the tim e of V a rro the philosopher . . . th ere lived
T a ru tiu s. a friend of his, who besides being a philosopher
and m athem atician, had applied himself to the a rt of casting
n ativities, in ord er to indulge a speculative tu rn of mind,
and was thought to excel in it.-'32

According to Cicero who knew him well

. . . ou r good friend Lucius T aru tiu s of Firm um , who
was steeped in Chaldaic lore, made a calculation, based
on the assum ption th a t our city's birthday was on the
F east of Pales [A p ril 21] ( a t which tradition says it was
founded by Romulus,), and from that calculation T arutius
even w ent so far as to assert th at Rome w as born when
the moon was in the sign of L ibra and from th at fact
unhesitatingly prophesied our destiny.233

N igidius, how ever, is after V arro unique. W hile V arro

excels in theology.--'' the o th er is an o u tstan d in g u n i
versalis!.229

Plutarch recorded a tradition which maintained that

Romulus founded the city on the thirtieth of the month,
and that

Evidently V arros magnum opus, the Antiquities,

human and divine, by then had already completely
eclipsed the earlier and more modest treatise of Nigidius
On the Gods. In so far as astrology was concerned
V arros attitude changed as he grew older. At first he
shot an occasional barb at astrological superstition,230
but eventually shared Nigidius profound faith in as
trology which was characteristic of this generation of
Roman humanists. W hen it came to technical knowl
edge of this art, however, Varro was unable to cast
actual horoscopes and. in contrast to Nigidius, had to
rely on the technical skill of others. He asked for
example a reputed expert in astrology. L. Tarutius
F irm anus,-'1 to compute for him the horoscope of
Romulus and of the city of Rome which Varro wanted
to include in either his magnum opus or one of his
lesser works.

on th a t day there w as a conjunction of the sun and the

moon, w ith an eclipse. . . . T o this man V arro gave the
problem of fixing the day and hour of the b irth of Romulus,
m aking his deduction from the conjunctions of events
reported in the m an's life, ju s t as the solutions of geo
m etrical problem s a re d e riv e d ; for the sam e science, he said,
m ust be capable not only of foretelling a m an's life when
the time of his b irth is known, but also from the given facts
of his life, of h u nting o u t the tim e of his b irth .2

The application of the mathematical principle of the

reversibility of functions to the realm of astrology bore
even more miraculous fruit than Varro had bargained
for when asking for the horoscope of Rom ulus:
. . . T a ru tiu s . . . when he had taken a survey of the m ans
experiences and achievem ents, and had brought together
the tim e of his life, the m anner of his death, and all such
details, . . . very courageously and bravely declared that
Romulus was conceived in his m other's womb in the first
year of the second O lym piad [772-771 B.C.] in the month
Choeac of the E gyptian calendar, on the tw enty-third day.
and in the th ird hour, w hen the sun was totally eclipsed;
and th at he was born in the m onth T hoth, on the twentyfirst day, a t s u n -ris e ; and th a t Rome was founded by him
on the nin th flay of the m onth Pharm uthi, between the
second and th ird h o u r.235

Pliny, Xat. Hist. 1 in the list of authors for 7-11; compare

Servius, ad Very. Acn. 11, 715.
See above, p. 25 f.
2=5 F or an excellent evaluation of both works, see F. Boll,
Sphaera : 349 ff.
Compare H. Dalilmann, R li, suppl. 6, 1935: c. 1172-1277.
5,1 Cf. Gellius, 19, 14, I f . : * The time of M. Cicero and C.
Although Plutarch dutifully cited the astrological theory
Caesar . . . in encyclopaedic learning and in the varied sciences
which thought that a city's fortune, as well as that of
by which humanity is ennobled . . . possesses two towering
figures in M. Varro and P. Nigidius.
a man, has a decisive time, which may be known by the
4M A somewhat lopsided verdict!
JS* Servius. ad Verg. Acn. 10, 175.
:J5 Plutarch, Romulus, 12, 3 ff.
330 For example in the Sat. Menipp., Lex Maenia, 6, 1, ed.
133 Cicero, de dh inatione 2, 47, 98.
Riese: 154.
331 Plutarch. Romulus. 12 4.
:3! Cicero, de dhinatione 2, 47, 98.
335 Ibid.. 12, 5-6.

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D
jxisition of the stars at its very origin, he concluded
his account of T arutius astrological feats 011 an even
more sceptical note than the one in which he had
reported th em :
These anti similar speculations will perhaps attract readers
hv their novelty and extravagance, rather than offend them
hv their fabulous character.-30
One hundred and fifty years earlier Cicero, a good
triend of Tarutius. had commented even more acidly:
What stupendous power delusion has! And was the citys
natal (lav also subject to the influence of the stars? 237
Although obviously respected as an astrological ex
pert by Varro, Tarutius seems to have been an extremist
in his theories, although a measure of them was recog
nized by more temperate astrologers also. H is use of
the Egyptian names for the months 238 was in line with
the syncretistic practice of his time.
The so-called neo-Pythagorean movement whose most
renowned Roman leiader, if not founder, was Nigidius
Figulus had gained greatly in strength through the
conversion of Rome's (next to Cicero) most influential
scholar, Terentius Varro. Men like Nigidius Figulus
and Terentius Varrp. who specialized in the rational
historical explanation of religious cults and their divini
ties. ironically enough themselves became captives of a
new mystique which blended in the manner of Posi
donius rational and irrational elements in its strange
doctrines. Young Varro had joked, Are not astrologi
those men who scribble away depicting the heavens ? 253
But as he grew older, V arro moved from a youthful
scepticism more and more deeply into the realm of
Xigidian mysticism. His final wish was to be buried
according to Pythagorean ritual,240 and when he died,
almost ninety years old. it was probably fulfilled.
Inevitably his later Writings were affected by such senti
ments. In his Hebdomades he celebrated the mystic
number S even241 for whose astronomical and astro
logical values V arro seems to have relied on informa
tion supplied by his friend Nigidius.242 Numerological
concepts ascribed to Chaldaeans led to the fear of cli
macteric years, i. e. all multiples of seven (and nine).243
I11 his main work, the Antiquities, six books (14-

19) of the forty-one books 244 were devoted to units of

time {de temporibus). Three of these six books were
entitled On days. On months, On years.2** These w rit
ings (which undoubtedly contained a large measure of
numerological mystique and probably also astrological
applications of it) became, like the rest of the A nti<iuitics. for centuries a standard source for other writers.
Plinv the Elder, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Suetonius,
(jellins. Festus. Censorinus. Nonius, and Macrobius
have preserved most of what is known of the entire
work today.
Astrological references permeated V arros ceuvre in
general. For example in his de gente populi Romani
he restated the ancient Pythagorean doctrine of rein
carnation. a theory maintained by certain genethliaci,
that the rebirth of human beings followed a cycle of
440 years for each individual palingenesis. V arro may
have been led by his neo-Pythagorean faith towards at
least quoting without disapproval such an astrological
hypothesis. For which of his works V arro commis
sioned L. Tarutius Firm anus to compute his strange
horoscopes remains uncertain. The most likely treatises
would seem to be the Antiquities, the Life of the Roman
nation, or the Origins of the Roman people.2*9 V arros
first weather calendar, the Ephemeris navalis, was
written in 77 b . c . It was either revised or followed by
another such work after 46. Undoubtedly it included
a good deal of astro-meteorology. W hether another
essay, the de gradibus, confined itself to degrees of
familv-relationship only, or also dealt with num ero
logical or astro-numerological subject matter is being
disputed.2" but it is certain that of the numerous Logistorici at least the five books entitled Tubero 248 de origine
humana dealt with Pythagorean topics.24
Inevitably V arro payed his tribute to Pythagorean
doctrine by writing nine books de principiis numerorum,
a subject on which in almost every work he liked to
dwell.250 A special chapter de astrologia was included
in his de disciplinis which was so completely absorbed
by a host of later writers that of its original text next
to nothing remains. Its intention, to be a compendium

Augustinus, dc civitatc dci 6. 3 ( part of a section based on

V arros w ritings).
2* Cf. L. Hahn, dc Cettsorini fontibus: 17 ff., Jem , 1905.
z,t No work of V arro published after 43 b . c . could be the one
Loc. cit.
for which Tarutius Firmanus horoscope might have been
Cicero, dc divinatione 2. 47. 99.
requested. F or Cicero, who died in December, 43, knew it,
The triumph of the Egyptian astrological manual of
referring to this astrological feat more than a year earlier.
Xechepso-Petosiris over its rivals may have been a main
A limited scope is suggested by Dahlmann, R E , suppl. 6,
cause of such usage.
1935: c. 1255, a wider one by M. Schanz. Beitraege zur ros: Varro, Sat. M enipf.. Marcipor, 12 (19), ed. Riese: 163.
mischen Litcraturgeschichte, Rhein. Mus. 54, 18S9: 23 ff.
310 Pliny, W it. H ist. 35, 12. 160: M. V arro Pythagorio modo
2 L. Aelius Tubero, a friend of both Cicero and Varro.
in mysti et oleae atque populi nigrae foliis (condi maluit) ;
** Censorinus. de die natali, 4-8, dealt with the topic of birth.
quoted perhaps from V arros lost autobiography; compare
Ibid., 9 begins w ith : Hac Chaldaeorum sententia explicata tranCharisius, ed. Grammatici Latini 1: 29, 28.
seo as opinionem Pythagoricam Varroni tractatam in libro qui
vocatur Tubero.
l I A synopsis in Gellius. 3. 10: on hebdomas, especially its
astrological connotations, see F. Boll, R E 7, 1912: c. 2547-2578.
The fragments of V arro. referring to Pythagoreanism, have
:,J Gellius, 3. 10, 2.
been collected by A. Schmekel, de Ovid. Pythagor. doctrinae
=* Ibid. 3. 10. 9.
adumbratinne : 76 f f.; cf. Dahlmann, R E , suppl. 6, 1935: c. 1261.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E TO A STR O LO G Y
of the knowledge then considered necessary for an edu
cated Roman, may have been an outgrowth of that
humanist view, so aptly expressed by Cicero a number
of years earlier:
. . . the whole content of these liberal and humane arts
( ingenuarum et Im m anarum a rtim n ) is encompassed by a
single bond of union.211
The most important users of the work included the
elder Pliny, Suetonius. Gellius. and especially Martianus Capella. Cassiodorus. Augustinus, and Isidorus
of Seville. Like Cicero, Varro used astrologia to denote
the entire field of astronomy which in his opinion of
course also included astrology'. This was clearly indi
cated by Cassiodorus (sixth century a .d .) . In the
seventh chapter of his brief de artibus ac disciplinis
liberalium litterarum, inscribed de astronomia, he men
tioned the following pagan au th o rs: Senecas de forma
mundi, Ptolemys M inor et major astronomus, while
the most investigative V a rro ( curiosissimus Varro)
was referred to twice, both times in regard to the de
disciplinis, once to book IV (de geometria), and once
to book VI (d c astrologia) 2i2 It does seem probable
that from the latter stemmed the detailed list of the dif
ferent subdivisions of what Cassiodorus called astro
nomia. None of these was astrological, but with an
almost audible sigh, Cassiodorus at the end of his
discussion of these branches continued:
The remaining subject matter, however, which is con
nected with the knowledge of the stars (cognitio siderum).
is unquestionably contrary to our [Christian] religion and
must therefore be so completely unknown that it should
seem as if nothing on this topic had been written at all.253
He thus omitted what was probably the astrological
part of V arro s de astrologia, and quoted from Basilius
Hexameron (homilia 6) and Augustinus de doctrina
Christiana (2) the condemnation of any interest in or
knowledge of astrology. Cassiodorus then concluded his
chapter on astronomy resignedly. Having stated from
l)ook IV (de geometria) of V arros de disciplinis the
theory on the egg-shape of the earth, he added quickly:
But for us it suffices to know only as much as can be
read in the holy scriptures.2*4
A younger contemporary of Cassiodorus, John Lvdus,
preserved in the middle of the sixth century a. d. some
fragments, including at least one astrological passage,
from the aeuvre of another Roman adept of divinatory
mysticism and astrological lore: C. Fonteius Capito.285
751 Cicero, de oratore 3, 6, 21.
Cassiodorus, de artibus ac disciplinis liberalium litterarum,
~ in Migne, Pair. Lat. 70. c. 1217 D ; c. 1218 D.
Ibid., c. 1218 C-D.
M4 Ibid., c. 1218 D-c. 1219 A.
St. Weinstock. C. Fonteius Capito and the Libri Tagetici.
Papers of the British School at Rome, 18, N. S., 5, 1950 : 44-49,
suggests that two authors, Capito and Fonteius, both quoted

67

This author has only recently been identified with some

plausibility as a well known figure of the end of the
Roman republic. Lydus had called him a contempo
rary of Sallustius and V arro.256 If the new conjecture
is correct. C. Fonteius Capito, a spiritual member of
the Nigidian circle, to which also men like Varro or
L. Tarutius Firmanus belonged, was the one who when
al)Out thirty-six years old became a pontifex, perhaps
a t the time when after Julius Caesar's assassination
the triumvir M. Lepidus was made pontifex maximus.
Capito seems to have been a keen partisan of Antony.
For the triumvir obtained another post for him, possibly
the tribunate, and Capito was in Antonys entourage
when the triumvir went east. Again, in 37 b . c Capito
may have played an important role in the short-lived
reconciliation of Antony and Octavianus. Immediately
afterwards he returned to Egypt and subsequently ac
companied Cleopatra to Syria.257 In 33 Capito reached
the summit of his career: he became consul stiff ectus.1
The surviving fragments of his writings dealt, as
could be expected from the context in which they ap
peared, chiefly with divinatory lore, but also with some
calendarv matters. Like other members of the Nigidian
and Varronic circles. Fonteius Capito was obviously
interested in supposedly archaic religious wisdom. Fol
lowing perhaps the version developed earlier in the
first century b . c . by the renowned specialist in Etruscan
antiquities, Tarquitius Priscus,250 Capito ascribed the
origins of haruspicial techniques to a revelation received
by Tarchon, while ploughing, from Tages who before
him arose from the earth to instruct him in these mat
ters. Revelatory wisdom was of course a stock item in
most divinatory writings, including hermetic literature
and in the realm of astrology for example the farfamed manual of Nechepso-Petosiris. Of Capitos
astrological writings a mutilated fragment has been pre
served by Lydus. It begins th u s:
The Moon [probably the Sun] in Capricorn. If it thun
ders in daytime, a tyrant will arise in the countries from
the Narrow [Red.'] Sea to the Nile but will fail in his
undertaking. There will be a shortage, especially in pro
visions. The Nile will subside, children will disagree with
their parents, and there will be trouble in some districts
with the rulers. The Persians and the nations of western
Europe will lead a careless life. If it thunders at night,
barbarian races will attack one another, and those [or the
foundations] of the Roman peace will be shaken because of
some doctrines [or decrees]; the enemies will occupy some
districts of the state for a short period. Rulers will appear
repeatedly by John Lydus, were one and the same person.
Lydus similarly referred to P. Nigidius Figulus sometimes as
Nigidius, elsewhere as Figulus. Tacitus too called what seetns
to have been the same astrologer in one passage Ptolemy, in
another Seleucus; Histories 1, 22; 2, 78.
* S t Weinstock, op. cit.: 44 and notes.
S,T Plutarch, Antony. 36, 1.
** C IL 1, 2nd ed.. Fasti Venusini: 66.
Compare W. Kroll, R E , 2. Reihe, 4, 2, 1932: c. 2892, no. 7,c. 2394.

68

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

from the W est and conduct the public affairs in a lawless

way. Most people will be unhappy, the storm s of the w inter
severe, anti th ere will be shipw recks and perilous tossing
of the sea.-110

The crude form of these prophecies and the Egyptian

setting of the whole passage do not evoke great respect
for Capito as a writer on such topics. The whole sec
tion of Capito's Tonitruale, may, however, in its general
mood of impending doom, have constituted his adapta
tion of standard texts of this kind to the historical
crisis of the time at which it may have been written
perhaps a!>out 32 8. c., when the final war between
Antony and Octavianus had become inevitable and
Egypt might well tremble before the possible collapse
of the pax Romana and the occupation of Egypt by a
ruler from the west.
A Greek contemporary of Nigidius Figulus. Varro,
and Fonteius Capito was Diodorus the Sicilian. In his
voluminous Universal H istory he accepted indiscrimi
nately many items, including travelogues about fictitious
countries, as historical fact. Nevertheless his account
of the origins and nature of astrology in the Mediter
ranean world reflected the generally held views of his
era, i. e. the very opinions which the Roman writers on
astrology were then exposed to and probably accepted
in most cases. Diodorus was already aware of the
Egyptian claim to priority in matters astrological:
And according to them [i. e. the E g y p tian s] the Chaldaeans of Babylon, bejing colonists from E g y p t [ j i c /] enjoy
the tam e which they have for their astrology because they
learned that science from the priests of E g y p t.281

But Diodorus realiz'ed the dubiousness of such assertions. Speaking of the Chaldaeans, he said (obviously
quoting a different a u th o r):
. . . They [the C haldaeans] spend th e ir en tire life in
study, their g reatest renow n being the field of astrologia
. . . [and a g reat maliy other divinatory disciplines also],
. . . A nd since they have observed the stars over a long
period of time and have noted both the m ovem ents and the
influences of each of them w ith g reater precision than any
other men. they foretell to m ankind m any things th a t will
take place in the future.382

In spite of his extravagant claims of having travelled

widely in Asia and Europe, it seems most doubtful that
Diodorus ever penetrated further than Egypt. Meso
potamia and Athens remained apparently beyond his
ken, but he insisted on having spent a good deal of time
in Rome, and he wfts certainly fully conversant with
Latin. W hat contacts if any he had in Romewhere
he may have lived between 60 and 40 b . c. we do not
know. But his very mediocrity would make him prone
to confine himself to the more generally accepted works.
' John Lydus. dc ostentis, ed. W achsmuth: 88, 13 ff.; transl.
and emendations by St. Weinstock, op. cit.: 46 f.
Dioiorus. 1. 8!. 6.
Ibid. 2. 29, 2; 30. 2-3.

For that reason his garbled account of Chaldaean as

trology, written perhaps not long before Cicero penned
his anti-astrological On divination,263 probably tried to
present the quintessence of the m ajor Hellenistic tra
dition on this subject:
But above all in im portance, they say, is the study of the
influence of the five sta rs know n as planets, w hich they call
" In te rp re ters when speaking of them as a group, but, if
re ferrin g to them singly, the one nam ed K ronos by the
G reeks [i.e . S a tu rn ], which is the m ost conspicuous ( ? )
and presages m ore events and such as a re of g re a te r im por
tance than the others, they call the s ta r of H elios, w hereas
the other four they desig n ate as the sta rs of A res, A phrodite.
H erm es, and Zeus as do o u r astrologi.-94

The source on which Diodorus drew was not, how

ever, another Stoic one. For
These ( p la n ets) alone . . . point out fu tu re events, thus
in terp retin g to m ankind the design of the gods. . . . They
. . . w ork both benefits and harm , not only to whole peoples
o r regions, but also to kings and to persons of priv ate
station. . . . T hese stars . . . e x e rt the g reatest influence
for both good and evil upon the n ativ ity of m en ; an d it is
chiefly from a study of them th a t they know w h at is in
store for m ankind. . . . N ow, as the C haldaeans say. the
world is by its n atu re etern al, an d n eith er had a first
beginning nor will at la ter tim e suffer destru ctio n , . . .
and . . . w hatever takes place in the heavens is in every
instance b rought to pass, not a h aphazard, . . . but by some
fixed and firm ly determ ined divine decision.285

These views did not allow for the appeasement of divine

wrath by proper ritual, but expressed the tenets of fatal
istic rather than catarchic astrology. In form, but not
in substance, orthodox Jewish and later Christian
opinion, as well as the views of Plotinus neo-Platonism
(third century a . d . ) were not dissimilar. They also
considered stars as signs from which to read divine
plans, but did not believe that those plans were inexor
able and immutable, nor did they accept the idea that
the stars themselves were destiny-making. Definitely
non-Stoic was the concept of an imperishable universe
(quoted by Diodorus) governed without ekpyroseis
and paltngeneseis by divine providence. It is obvious
that, whatever the ancient Chaldaeans actually believed
or did not believe, the Hellenistic writer from whom
Diodorus clipped his disjointed passages on Chaldaean
astrology was in sympathy with the modified views of
the New Academy or even the Panaetian era of Stoicism.
Astral influence was acknowledged as was the revela
tory function of the heavenly bodies. Denied, at least
by implication, was, however, the concept of the unbreak=4'1 Ciceros much briefer summary of Chaldaean astrological
theory has been quoted above: 58; see de diznnatione 2, 42, 89.
Diodorus. 2, 30, 3. In calling Saturn most conspicuous
Diodorus seems to have confused some passage in his source.
-** Ibid. 2, 30, 4-5; 31, 1; 30, 1-2. Here the garbled syncretism
of Diodorus appears at its worst in the confused account of the
decani and subdecani, and in the description of the lords of the
twelve houses: ibid. 2. 30. 6-7; 31. 4ff.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E PU B L IC A N RO M E TO ASTROLOGY
able chain of cause and effect to the exclusion of
free will on both the divine and the human level.
That Diodorus accepted this point of view was in a
sense a sign of the lingering scepticism in both Greek
and Latin intellectual circles. Nevertheless, Diodorus
source mentioned accurate astrological prophecies
made to Alexander the Great, Antigonus, and Seleucus
Nicator. Diodorus (i.e . his source) also stressed re
peatedly 266 that not only the captains and the kings
were deemed worthy of astral attention, but also private
citizens of ordinary station:
M oreover they [th e Chaldaeans] also foretell to men in
priv ate statio n w hat will befall them, an d w ith such accu
racy th at those who have m ade trial of them m arvel a t the
feat and believe th a t it transcends the pow er of man. . . .
T h is point, how ever, a m an m ay fittingly m aintain, th at
the Chaldaeans have of all men the g re a te st g rasp of
astrologia.-87
4.

T H E LA ST G R EA T S C E P T IC S O F T H E ROMAN
R EP U B L IC

The cause of astrology, championed by men of the

calibre of Nigidius Figulus and M. Terentius Varro.
made rapid progress amongst the Roman humanists of
the first century b . c . Shrouded in Pythagorean or
quasi-Pythagorean mysticism, astrology combined the
attractiveness of rationalism with that of religious
conviction. But the adversaries of fatalist astrology",
although fighting a losing battle, were not yet ready to
abandon the struggle. A t the end of Rome's republican
era two men stood out in opposing the claims of scien
tists and quasi-scientists who asserted that astrology,
as an established branch of applied astronomy, rested
on rationally unshakable foundations. The two men
who led the dwindling chorus of sceptics in Rome were
Cicero and Lucretius. It was significant that neither
of them was a scholar like Nigidius or Varro. Cicero
was a successful lawyer turned politician who harbored
a deep affection for philosophy, Lucretius, on the other
hand, while also an upper-class Roman, seems to have
shunned public life, devoting himself fervently to Epicu
rean philosophical doctrines which eventually he pro
claimed in immortal Latin verse. In the battle against
astrology (which for both men was but a part of their
general attack on divination as a whole) Cicero em
ployed the armament of his favorite school, the New
Academy, Lucretius that of the Epicureans. The chief
difference between them was that the scepticism of the
New Academy was basically nihilistic, while that of
Epicureanism possessed a constructive value in trying
to free men from fear by advocating a materialistic
concept of nature.
The attitude of Cicero towards religion in general,
and divination in particular, was molded by his own
innate reaction to his age and the external intellectual
3M [bid. 2. 30. 5; compare above, p. 10t.
7 Ibid. 2, 30, 3 and 8.

69

influences to which he was ex|M>sed. As a voting man

he encountered in Rome the rhetorician Apollonius
Molo ^ who in 87-86 had been .sent there as ambassa
dor from Rhodes. Since Posidonius was the other
Rhodian ambassador on this occasion.-1'9 it is most
likely that young Cicero at this time also made the
acquaintance of the great Stoic. Subsequently Molo
once more went to Rome on an embassy, this time not
to the revolutionary rulers of Rome, but to their counter
revolutionary conqueror Sulla with whom he dealt in
81 b . c.2T0 Meanwhile, however, Cicero had alreadv
found that the philosophical sect most congenial to his
temperament was the New Academy. The Mithridatic
W ar had raged in Greece some years before, involving
Athens deeply and leading to the final ruin of Greece
at the hands of Sulla. Among the .scholars who fled
from the scenes of carnage and devastation was the
head of the Academy, Philo, who sought refuge in
Rome while Athens was forced to side with Mithridates
in 87. Cicero looking back upon those remote years of
his youth still remembered that in S7 b . filled with
enthusiasm for the study of philosophy I gave myself
up wholly to his instruction. 271
Thus in the same year 87-86 the main representatives
of Stoicism and Platonism, Posidonius and Philo, as
well as the outstanding Greek rhetorician. Molo. were
in Rome, accessible to the twenty-year-old Cicero. To
what extent the enthusiasm then kindled in the breast
of Cicero influenced his decision to prepare a Latin
translation of A ratus Phaenomena
must needs re
main conjectural, but that the project aroused his
interest again and again mirrored the growing interest
of educated Romans in the popular astronomical litera
ture of the Greek east. At a time when his friend,
Nigidius. delved ever more deeply into the lore of
eastern astrology, Cicero remained content with trans
lating this popular Greek work on astral nomenclature
and related meteorological topics. Nevertheless. Cicero
too must have become familiar at least with the philo
sophical debate of fatalism versus free will, and possibly
also with the astrological defence of fatalism. For be
tween 87 and 81 Cicero recalled:
D u rin g all this tim e I spent my days and nights with
studies of every kind. I w orked w ith Diodotus the Stoic,
who m ade his residence in my house, and after a life of
long intim acy died th ere only a short while ago [59 b. c.] .2T3
* Cicero, Brutus. 89. 307. The suspicion, arising from his
failure to mention Posidonius. Molo's fellow ambassador, that
Cicero only met Molo when the rhetorician came to Rome alone
in 81 b . c., cannot be proven.
s* See above, p. 61.
370 Cicero. Brutus. 90, 312.
371 Ibid.. 90. 306; Tuscul. disp. 2, 3, 9; 11; 26; Acad. 1. 4. 13;
2, 4, 11; 6, 17; de natura deorum 1, 7, 17.
3,5 Frgm. ed. Baiter-Kayser, 11: 101 ff.; B. Tauchnitz. Leipzig.
1869.
373 Cicero, Brutus, 90, 309; on Diodotus, see also Acad. 2, 36.
115: de natura deorum 1, 36; epist. ad Attic. 2, 20. 6 (July, 59
B. c.) : Diodotus is dead. He left me about $440,000. [ ']

70

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IX T H E L A T IN W O R LD

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E TO A STR O LO G Y

71
Acknowledging his allegiance to the Academy,*4 attitude on this basic point of Stoicism and fatalistic
Cicero joined Philo in assuming the probability of astrology. The essay itself has survived only in frag
things against the certainties of Stoicism, the genial mentary form. It was written after the two other works
nonchalance of the Epicureans, and the belief of the related to it, On the Nature of the Gods, and On D ivi
Peripatetics in empirical verification, while the nihilism nation ,287 The time of its composition was the spring
of the Cynics was too apodictic for the Roman sceptic. after the assassination of Julius Caesar.288 although an
One wonders, however, whether Cicero did not at outline or a draft may well have existed before then.
an earlier stage in his development feel more friendly In abandoning the Platonic form of the dialogue Cicero
towards astrology than in his dc divinatione which he himself became the sole speaker.-89 He promptly attacked
wrote at the very end of his life. In the years follow (although respectfully) Posidonius' defence of omens
ing his consulate he wrote a poem On my consulate and other forms of divination, exclaiming:
he had held that office in 63 b . c . and in the second
If th ere w ere no such w o rd a t all as fate, no such thing,
book of this poem had the Muse, Urania, address him.
no such force, and if eith er m ost things o r all things took
the ex-consul, as follows:
place by m ere casual accident, would the course of events

But Diodotus. wIki in the age of Posidonius in all likeli \Iolo with whose teachings Cicero had already come in
hood defended astrology against its Academic enemies, touch at Rome and who now cured him of his youthful
the others interpreter was
.lid not convert Cicero. Dreaming of an active career oratorical exuberance:
in the law courts aim eventually in ]x>litics he must Posidonius the Stoic. If Cicero had also met him in
have found the concept of man Iteing the maker and in 87-86 h. c. in Rome, they now renewed their acquaint
large measure the master of his own life far more attrac- ance. Otherwise, they met for the first time. Cicero
:ve than the one of dreary submission to an inexorable was greatly attracted by the philosopher's magnetism,-82
but even Posidonius was unable to persuade him to his
immutable Fate.
Political reasons and his apparent inability to sus- own wav of thinking. The apodictic certainty with
lin the strain which his forensic oratory imposed upon which the Stoic insisted on his concepts of the universe,
mi persuaded Cicero to leave Rome and, like other on the all-pervading cosmic " sympathy,'' the fated
atin humanists of his kind, betake himself to the course linking original causes with ultimate effects, and
istern fountainheads of oratorical and philosophical hence upon the validity of fatalistic astrology, antago
arning.-74 On this vovage which lasted from 79 to 77 nized the Roman sceptic, already fortified with the
c. he first spent about six months in Athens. There teachings of the New Academy.
For Ciceros final stand in the realm of the sp irit283
c attended the lectures and discussions of the new
-ad of the Academy. Antiochus of Ascalon.275 but was one must look to the philosophical treatises which he
>en-minded enough to frequent also the auditoria of composed in the last three years of his life, especially
.:;icureans like Phaedrus and Zeno.-70 Demetrius the the Tuscitlan Disputations, On Duties, On Divination.
m a n was his favorite professor of rhetoric.-77 In the and On Fate. The Nature of the Gods and some earlier
lilosophical center pf the Greek world Ciceros passion works, for example the Republic, also shed some light
r philosophy apparently reached such height that he on this point. But real caution is needed in an attempt
is on the point of devoting himself henceforth mainly to identify Cicero with specific views proclaimed in
. its pursuit, a decision from which Antiochus of his writings, even in passages where he himself is the
scalon was said to have dissuaded him.-78 It reflected speaker in his dialogues. Altogether, however, there
e spirit of Romefs young humanists that Cicero's can be no doubt about his fundamental attitude that no
;low-students at Athens included. I>eside his own definitive truth about anything could ever be incontroother Quintus, a cousin Lucius. M. Pupius Piso. vertibly established by man. His didactic aim of familiar
<i Cicero's life lorig friend, the future banker, Titus izing Latin readers with the gist of the major trends in
' unponius Atticus.-f8 who already then was an ardent Greek philosophy caused Cicero to draw freely on the
'hucurean and vainly tried to transfer Cicero's alle- writings of men whose intellectual importance he
:ince from the Acaflemv to his own school. It should fully appreciated without, however, agreeing with their
noted that these Roman students were mature men. Weltanschauung. At all times men like Cicero, and his
rero himself (having been Iwm on January 3, 106 philosophical antipodes, V arro and Nigidius Figulus,
:.) being twenty-seven years old when he set out for considered a fanatical insistence on their own brand of
philosophy as unworthy of a Roman gentleman. Nigi
:hens.
From Athens Cicero proceeded to Asia Minor after dius, the mystic, thus remained to the end of his life
a journey through the Peloponnesus, and there devoted an intimate friend of Cicero, the rationalist. V arro's
himself chiefly to the study of rhetoric.280 but his voyage Pythagorean speculations and his faith in astrology and
ached its educational peak upon his arrival at Rhodes. numerology did not bar close contact with Cicero either,
There he found the most profound gratification of his who made Varro one of the main figures in the Acatwo great loves: the art of rhetoric and the realm of demica and dedicated it to Rome's greatest scholar in
philosophy. The one was represented by Apollonius return for the promised dedication of Varro's On the
Latin Language to Cicero. In short, these Romans
were gentlemen Ibefore everything else, devoted as
Cicero. Brutus, 91, 313 f .; cf. Plutarch. Cicero. 3, 6; 4. 4.
humanists to the pursuit of the best in Hellenistic civili
Cicero, Brutus. 91, 315; Acad. 2. 31. 98: 35. 118; cf. I, 4.
!3; Tuscul. disp. S, 8. 21 f .: dc uatura dcorum 1. 3, 6; Plutarch.
zation as they saw it. Their philosophical preferences
Cicero. 4. 1-4; Cassius Dio. 4 6 . 7. 21.
remained their personal affair and did not interfere
Cicero, dc finibns 1, 5. 10; Tuscul. disp. 3, 17, 38 ; .-Jcud. 1,
with their mutual political or scholarly relations. Being
12. 46.
receptive rather than creative they wore their GreekCicero. Brutus. 91, 315.
inspired creeds gracefully if not lightly.
178 Plutarch, Cicero. 4. 3.
Cicero, dc finibns. 5. 1. 1 ff.; Acad. 1. 4, 14; dc legibns 1.
20-21: 54; Sallustius, in Cicer. 1. 2.
=-1 Cicero. Brutus, 91> 315 t . ; 95. 325 t . ; pro Plancio, 34, 84;
cf. pro Cluentio, 11. 32; Plutarch. Cicero, 4, 4-7; Caesar. 3, 1:
compare U. v. Wilamowitz-Moellemlorf. Der Glaubc der Hellencn. 2 : 436; cf. M. Gelzer. RE. I. Reihe. 7. 1. 1929; c. 287.
no. 29 ff.

Cicero, dc Tuscul. disp. 5, 29, 83, lets the speaker M. reply

In A.their identities remain uncertain: Let me then use the
freedom allowed to my school of philosophic thought [i. e. the
Academy | alone.
-s'' Cicero, de divinatione 1, 11. 17-18.
Ibid. 1. 13. 22.

21,1 Cicero, Brutus. 91. 316.

2,2 Cicero. Tusc. Disp. 2, 25, 61; cf. de fin. 1, 2, 6 ; dc nat.
dear. 1, 2, 6; de dti'iii. 1, 3, 6; 2, 21, 47; de fato, 3, 5 (where
Posidonius is called mai/istcr).
For a summary ot" Cicero s philosophical views, see Philippsoii. RE , 2. Reihe, 7. 1, 1939; c. 1180 ff.

A nd when you should w ish to learn the m otions and

stray in g orbits of the planets ( ste lla r u m ), w hich a re located
in the seat of the constellations [of the zodiac}, stars which
acco rd in g to th e ir nam e and to the false voices of the G reeks
a re vagabonds, but in tru th a re m oved along by fixed
distance and speed then you will alread y behold everything
revealed by a d ivine sp irit (d iv in a ineiite nota ta ).
F o r you too also first d id st see. w hen you w ere consul,
the sw ift movem ents and the g rav e and in th e ir glow con
flicting co n junctions of the stars, w hen you ascended the
snow y top of M ount A lba and d id st sacrifice w ith joyous
m ilk a t the L atin festival. [T h e n also d id st you see] the
com ets trem ulous w ith th eir b rig h t glow .285

be d ifferent from w hat it is now ? 280

After enumerating countless portents of the approach

ing Catiline peril, the Muse Urania concluded her
addess to Cicero as follows:

Cicero apparently drew most of his philosophical am

munition from Cameades.201 It is wrong to assume
the lacunae in the extant version being what they are
that Cicero, writing uncomprehendingly on this difficult
topic, had presented a garbled mixture of arguments.
For not for the first time did he tackle in 44 b . c . the
question of free will versus fate. A letter addressed to
Varro in 46 b . c . revealed that he had discussed this
problem with his Stoic friend the philosopher Diodotus
( who had died in 59 b . c . ) , 202 at least fifteen years
before the composition of On Fate. In reference to
fatalistic astrology, already refuted in the earlier On
Divination, Cicero had this to say:

Y ou have devoted the tim e w hich w as free from official

business (patriae v a c a t) to studies and to us [i.e . to the
study of the h ea v en s].286

. . T he condition of the heavenly bodies may, if you

will, influence some things, but it certainly will n o t influence
e v ery th in g .298

Did Cicero perhaps turn from a Saul who had wor

shipped at the shrine of astrology into a Paul who later
attacked it ? Any reproach, however, that Cicero did
not develop a consistent system of philosophy mistakes
both Cicero's intentions in writing his philosophical
treatises and the Roman humanist approach to phi
losophy which was eclectic and by nature opposed to
systematizing. So far as Ciceros final attitude towards
astrology and other forms of divination is concerned,
we may confine our appraisal to tw'o essays, one On
Fate, and the other On Divination, although references
to fatalism and divination abound in other works of
Cicero also.
Inasmuch as fatalistic astrology was based on the
axiom that an immutable Fate governed the destinies
of nature, and that the stars were responsible for forg
ing each mans lot at the moment of his conception or
hirth, On Fate gives an unmistakable clue to Cicero's

This statement was not at variance with his expressed

denial of the validity of fatalistic astrology which it
again ruled out. Catarchic astrology might, however,
pass, and certainly the effect of the sun on the growth of
plants and that of the moon on the tides was so well
known that no general objection to sidereal influences
was tenable.
With Chrysippus as his (or better Carneades') main
target Cicero reiterated his opinion that all divination,
and especially fatalistic astrology, presupposed an inevi
table sequence of events, a thesis which he rejected:
I
do not believe th at those who p ractice divination dis
pense entirely w ith the use of observation in foretelling
3,7 Cicero, de fato, 1; compare de divinatione 2, I, 3: cf. 1, 56,
127; 2. 7, 19.
2*" Cicero, de fato, 1, 2 : also epist. ad Attic. 14, 12, 2 (April 23,

c' ) : n 2 (April 21,44 c->: 22' 1

14- 44 B-c>-

-" Cicero, de fato, 1, 1-2, explains his reason for abandoning

his usual dialogue pattern.
* Ibid., 3. 6.
A. Loercher, dc compositione et fonte libri Ciceronis gui
est de fato, esp.: 375-384, Diss., Halle. 1907; cf. D. Amand.
Fatalisme . . .: 78-80.
2M Cicero, epist. ad famil. 9, 4, 1.
*
Cicero, de fato, 4, 8.

72

T H E R ISE AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

fu tu re events, any more than do the practitioners of all the

o th er sciences in pursuing their own function. W ell then,
here is a specim en of the observations of the astrologers :
If (fo r instance) a m an was born at the risin g of the dogs ta r [S iriu s ], he will not die at sea. 294

Thereupon this assertion was demolished" in the

next paragraphs. With ice-cold logic the fallacy be
tween the if and an immutable fate is exposed.-'''
and another blow struck at such Chaldaean methods.
The Epicurean compromise, that atoms by swerving
unpredictablv from- their appointed downward -motion,
queered fate by the exercise of free will, was deemed
superfluous.298 in line with Cameades trend of thinking
of which Cicero gave the gist:
C am eades refused to accept this class of things entirely.
. . . H is arg u m en t ran like th is : If everything takes place
in a closely k n it web of natural in terconnection; if this is
so. all things a re caused by a n ecessity : if this is tru e
no thing is in our power. B ut som ething is in our pow er.
Y et if all events take place by fate, there a re antecedent
causes of all events. T herefore it is not the cause th a t
w hatever events take place take place by fate.297

In siding heartily with this argument Cicero took

his definite stand with the New Academy in rejecting
both the belief in fate and the faith in divination.298
The attempt of Chrysippus to arrive at a compromise
between strict Stoic fatalism and the doctrine of free
will was deemed a failure.
In his essay 0 $ Divination 299 whose publication
immediately preceded On Fate, Cicero, although pro
fessing to rely on Panaetius200 rather than on Carneades, pressed his attack against astrology in greater
detail. Beginning ,vith a general statement, My con
tention is that there is no divination, 501 Cicero, taking
up' one kind of divination after another, arrived at as
trology (de div., 2. 42, 87, 3, 47, 99). In general he
used in this discussion the ancient term Chaldaean for
astrologers and their craft. Occasionally, however, he
included Chaldaean prophetic claims among those
made by astrologi, j. e. astronomers. As his chief sup
porters in his stand (against astrology Cicero named the
great mathematician. Eudoxus (fourth century B.C.),
the Stoic Panaetius (second century B.C.), and Panae
tius contemporaries the astronomers, Anchialus, Cassander, and Scylaxj apparently a minority of anti-

astrological astronomers in on era when even a man

like Hipparchus considered astrology as a legitimate
branch of astronomy (de div., 2. 42, 8 7 f.). Of these
crown witnesses Eudoxus, at least in the quotation of
Cicero, did not specifically refer to horoscopal astrology
at all. His words seem directed against hemerology
and star omens. Cicero, however, may have reworded
Eudoxus original statement loosely.'102 The fundamental
theory of fatalistic astrology (de div.. 2, 42. 89 ) that the
constellations prevailing at the time of birth determined
every childs future was snortingly rejected: W hat
inconceivable m adness! 303 And again : W hat utter
madness in these astrologers. . .
304
The arguments borrowed by Cicero from his Greek
sources (but spiced with additional examples of the
futility of fatalistic astrology taken from Roman history
or Roman conditions) were the following:
(1) Twins have different destinies although horn
under the same constellation (de div., 2, 43. 90 f.).
(2) The sense of sight needed by the astrologers
for observations of the heavens is fallible (2, 43. 91).
(3) Contrary to the tenets of fatalistic astrology,
not all people born on earth under the same constella
tion have identical fates (2, 44. 9 2 f . ; 45, 9 5 ).305
(4) If the stars, then surely winds and the weather
in general also may influence a child at b irth ; 306 i. e.
not the stars alone (2. 45, 94).
(5) The parental seed also is an important fac
tor in the future looks, habits, gifts, and outlook of a
child (2, 45, 94). Hence the stars alone cannot deter
mine such characteristics.
6) M an's own exertion, or medical prowess often
cure natural defects with which a child is born (2.
46, 96).
(7) Milieu and local traditions make men different,
whether or not they are bom under the same constella
tion (2, 46, 96 f.).
(8 ) The assertion of age old observations providing
the scientific proof of astrological claims is fraudulent
(2, 46, 97).

As an epilogue of his own Cicero added as examples

the fate of the Romans who on one and the same dav
died at Cannae, the ridiculous astrological labors of
Tarutius Firmanus, and the demonstrably false astro
*** Cicero, de fato. 8,| IS.
5,5 Ibid.. 8. 15-16: for example: There are many ways of logical forecasts of a happv end for Pompev, Crassus,
and Julius Caesar each of whom perished by unex
stating a proposition, and none is more twisted around than this
one. which Chrysippus hopes that the Chaldaeans will accom pected violence (2, 47, 97-99).
modate the Stoics by accepting. Yet none of the Chaldaeans
really use that [Stoi(|] language, for it is a bigger task to
familiarize oneself with these contorted modes of expression
than with the risings akid settings of the constellations.
* Cicero, de fato, 10, 22 ff.
4,7 Ibid., 14. 31.
Ibid., 14, 32 ff.
* Compare Philipp*)n, RE , 2. Reihe, 7, 1, 1939: c. 1156-1161.
*** Panaetius' On proi'idence was probably the source referred to.
1,1 Cicero, de divinatione 2, 20, 45.

302 See above, p. 9.

IM Cicero, de divinatione 2, 43, 90.
104 Ibid. 2, 45, 94.
3 Astrologers countered this challenge by developing an
astrological geography of their o w n ; for instance Ptolemy,
Tetrabiblos 2, 1 and for details. 2-5: compare F. Cumont. La
plus ancienne geographie astrologique, Klin 9, 1909: 263-273.
J0 Again the astrologers countered such objections: see for
example Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 1, 10; 2,2.

T H E C O N V ER SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E TO ASTROLO GY

73

In Cicero the scepticism of Cameades and Panaetius for her oriental prototype, the goddess of fertility, than
shone brightly for the last time in Rome at the end of for the Graeco-Roman Aphrodite-Venus. Thou alone
the republican era. Except for a short-lived renaissance guidest the cosmos ( naturam rerum ), the poet pro
of anti-astrological sentiment in the second century a . d . claims. For this reason she is asked to l>ecome Lucre
paganism thereafter overwhelmingly on all levels of. tius' partner in the enterprise, a rather strange con
society accepted to a greater or lesser degree the dogma cession to convention, considering the fact that the
of fatalistic astrology, or, on the lower social levels, whole work is to be devoted to an annihilating blast
religious concepts of star worship. The most profound against the gods and religion in general. The remainder
and moving expression of late republican scepticism, of book I is largely filled with Epicurean cosmology
however, did not come from Cicero, but was formulated which in itself opposed the gloomy Stoic tenet of
for posterity bv someone else.
periodical ekpyroseis and palingeneseis. Not only mat
M. Tullius Cicero's brother Quintus, the ardent ter, composed of atomsno distinction is made between
defender of divination in the first book of the de divi them and molecules but also energy is imperishable
natione. received (some ten years before the treatise (vv. 483-634). Nothing is bom from nothing, and
was written ) from a friend 307 a manuscript. Its author, nothing vanishes into nothingness (w . 164-328). The
a melancholy poet, had killed himself in a fit of insanity book concludes with a triumphant presentation of the
at the age of forty-three.308 The manuscript itself was Aristotelian concept approved by Epicure that the uni
a torso. Furtherm ore, Quintus found numerous repe verse is infinite and eternal (vv. 921-1109).
titions and other indications that even the finished parts
In logical progression book II unfolds the argument
were not readied for publication. Nevertheless he re in favor of free will as against fatalism. The law of
ceived a strong impression of the poem and sent the nature governing the motion of all atoms, i. e. of all
manuscript to his brother. Marcus, whom rightly he con matter, is not completely dominant (as the Stoics and
sidered a real connoisseur of Latin literature. Cicero s astrologers m aintained), but atoms unaccountably and
extant verdict was pronounced in his reply to his brother. unpredictablv do swerve at will from their appointed
On February' 10 or 11, 54 B.C.. almost four months p a th s:
after the author's death, Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote:
T he poems of L u cretiu s a re ju s t as you w rite w ith
frequent flashes of genius, and yet exceedingly artistic.
B ut w hen you com e . . . [w e can discuss the m atter
fu rth e r].309

There is little doubt that Lucretius de rerum natura

owed its survival to this Ciceronian appraisal. W ith
great tact the two brothers entrusted the publication of
the torso to Atticus, himself like Lucretius a disciple
of the Epicureans.310
Lucretius' presentation of the Epicurean attitude
towards fatalistic astrology centered on a discussion of
the nature of the cosmos and the question of free will.
The tragedy of the poet was that, after convincing him
self and his readers time and again of the satisfactory
solution of m ans fundamental problems by means of a
serene Epicurean rationalism quite different from the
somersaulting scepticism of the followers of Cam eades!
in the end he could not overcome his own gnawing
pesssimism about the ultimate validity of mundane
things.
The poem opens with an invocation of Venus, the
legendary ancestress of Rome through Aeneas the
Trojan. She is described in glowing terms more fitting
307 See F. Muenzer. Ein roemischer Epikureer, Rhein. Mus. 69,
1914 : 625-629. Saufeius may have been the man who gave ihe
poem to Q. Cicero.
* On the age and other dates of Lucretius (97-55 b . c.), see
Mewaldt, R E 13, 1927: c. 1659 ff.
3* Cicero, epist. ad Quint, fratrem 2, 11 (9), 3.
510 Mewaldt, loc. cit.

A gain, if all motions are co-linked. and from the old

ever arise the new in fixed order, and prim ordial seeds
produce not by th eir sw erving some new sta rt of motion
to su n d er the covenants of F ate, th at cause succeed not cause
from ev erlastin g , w hence this free will for creatures over
the lands, whence is it w rested from the fates this will
w hereby we step rig h t forw ard w here desire leads each
m an on, w hereby the same we sw erve in motions, not as at
some fixed time, no r at some fixed line in space, but where
the m ind itself has u rged ? F o r out of doubt in these affairs
'tis each m an s w ill itself th a t gives the start, and hence
th ro u g h o u t ou r limbs incipient motions a re diffused (2, vv.

251-262).
It is easy to dismiss this reasoning in the light of
our modem scientific knowledge of biochemical and
hereditary material influences which physically con
dition man. Yet ultimately what drearier aspect of
the human species and the world at large is there than
to view everything as a gigantic clockwork or as the
puppet-show of a supreme puppeteer or clockmaker?
Fortunately the very atoms of Democritus and Epicure
now help to dispel such notions by their weirdly inex
plicable, and seemingly wholly irrational behavior. Yet
fatalism in the guise of scientific conceit struts as dan
gerously today as it did when cloaked behind the
venerable facade of supposedly age-old scientific
astrology in the time of Lucretius.
Linked with-the-question whether or not the human
body was a mere machine, a point of view again ex
pressed for example in Lamettries L homme machine
in the eighteenth century and often repeated since, was
to Lucretius the problem of the freedom of mans mind.
In ringing verses which in our own age of rampant

74

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E PU B L IC A N RO M E TO A STR O LO G Y

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

statism have a particularly melancholy sound, the poet

hoped:
. . . seest thou not. how though ex tern al force drive men
before, and often m ake them move onw ard against desire,
and headlong snatched, yet there is som ething in these
breasts of ours stro n g to combat, stro n g to w ithstand the
same w herefore no less w ithin the prim al seeds thou m ust
adm it, besides all blo\lvs and w eight, some other cause of
motion, whence derives this pow er in us inborn, of some
free act. Since n au g h t from nothing can become, we see.
. . . But . . . m a n s Blind itself in all it does hath not ,a
fixed necessity w ithin, nor is it like a conquered thing,
compelled to b ear and suffer. . . . (2, vv. 277-291).

W hat with Chrysippus had been a feeble attempt of

distinguishing between inexorable laws of nature and a
small separate sphere of free will, was systematically
developed by the Epicurean concept of a twofold nature
of each atom and thence all their combinations. Subject
to the cosmic law of motion each particle of matter
nevertheless contained within itself a measure of free
will, a view apparently confirmed by the behavior of
our mesons, protons, neutrons, neutrinos and their kin.
Lucretius rejection of fatalism and astrology did not
blind his sensitive soiul to the wonders in the heavens:
Lock u p w ard yonder at the b rig h t clear sky and w hat it
holds the stars th a t Wander over, the moon, the radiance
of the splendor su n : Y et all, if now they first of m ortals
w ere. . . . w hat m ight there be m ore w onderful to tell,
w h at th a t the nation^ would before have dared less to
believe m ight b e? I fancy, naught so strange had been
the m arvel of th a t sig h t (2, vv. 1023 ff.).

Astronomical problems like lunar or solar eclipses

were dealt with in an undogmatic manner, a Chaldaean
(w rong) theory of the moons surface, for example,
peacefully juxtaposed with the (correct) Greek hypothe
sis (5, vv. 509-768 arie devoted to astronomy, vv. 720 ff.
dealing with the Chaldaean and Greek opinions on the
surface of the m oon). Mundane phenomena like light
ning, meteors, and earthquakes were discussed in the
last extant book, the sixth, but nowhere was the slightest
concession made to faitalist astrology. Astrometeorology
at best might be accepted by Lucretius as it was by
Cicero, the translator of Aratus Phaenomena.
Lucretian Epicureanism denied basic popular con
cepts. It frowned on all religion, believed the very soul
>t man to l)e as mortal as his body. Such views would
ever hold with a majority among Romes humanists,
not to mention the hi)i polloi. Neither society at large,
nor the Roman government could prosper or even func
tion without religious institutions of some sort. No one
realized this more clearly than the man, confronted
with the enormous task of reorganizing the Roman
empire after the cataclysm of the revolution, which had
begun with the Gracchi in 133 b . c . and now had finally
iestroyed the foundations of the old aristocratic order.
:> Julius Caesar crystallized an attitude which was
vpical of the best gentlemanly traditions of the late
>man republic in so far as acceptance or rejection of

astrology was involved. T hat Caesar believed in his

star," or better in Fortunas favoring him, may have
inspired the anecdote, according to which he encouraged
a timid skipper ( who wanted to turn back to port
during a tempest ) to press on, since with Caesar and his
Fortuna ( T ych e)"u on board no harm could possibly
l>efall him.
The disdain of omens and divination Caesar shared
with men like Cicero and Lucretius. The horoscopes
which astrologers cast for him, promising him a peace
ful death at the zenith of good fo rtu n e /1- did not im
press him. For on the last evening of his life he hoped
for an unexpected death, i. e. obviously not for one
forecast to the hour by astrologers. The fearful dreams
of his wife, Calpurnia, and the (probably astrological)
warning of the haruspex S purinna313 to beware of the
Ides of March did not change his decision to attend
the fateful senate meeting. His hesitation to do so was
caused by his regard for Calpurnia, not by fear of
omens, dreams, or horoscopes. Nevertheless, it would
be a mistake to assume that Caesar remained wholly
unaffected by the tidal wave of faith in Hellenistic as
trology which swept across his generation. He seems
for example to have applied astrological principles in
the selection of Taurus, the house of Venus (the
legendary ancestress of the Julian family), as the
standard for his legions, thus setting a precedent for
subsequent choices of signa for the military forces of
the empire.514 Yet Caesars character was of so wellbalanced a nature that one should not read into this
action more than what was perhaps a skillful exploita
tion of his soldiers faith in astrology rather than a proof
of his own unquestioning belief in the lucky stars of a
constellation especially assigned to Venus.
The epochal contribution of Julius Caesar in the his
tory of calendar-refomis was, however, a definite indi
cation of his interest in astronomical matters. The solar
year had long been known in Egypt. It had been
adapted by Hellenistic astronomers who established a
solar-lunar calendar.3'''1 It is possible, although it cannot
be proven, that Caesar became aware of its merits during
his prolonged sojourn in E g y p t218 after the battle of
Pharsalus. At any rate he decided in 47 b . c . that the
old Roman calendar had become so inaccurate that it
111 Oil Fortuna. see Otto. RE 7, 1912: c. 12-42; on Tyche G.
Herzog-H auser, ibid., 2. Reihe, 7, 2. 1943: c. 1043 ff.
11* Cicero, de divinatione 2, 47, 99.
313 Compare Muenzer, R E , 2. Reihe, 3. 1929: c. 1838.
311 This theory, developed by A. v. Domaszewski, Die Tierbilder der signa, Archiv f. epiyr. Mittcil. 15, 1892: 182-193; 17.
1, 1894 ; 34, has been seriously questionedan:I with gou I
reasonby Bouche-T.eclercq : 554, n. 2.
310 O. Neugebauer, The exact sciences : 80 ff.
31" Cassius Dio. 43, 26, 2 ; Appian. bell. ciz. 2, 21. 154; Macro
bius. Saturn. 1, 14, 2: [Caesar] post hoc imitatus Aegyptios . . .;
16, 39: Julius Caesar ut siderum motus. de quibus non indoctos
libros rcliquit, ab Aegyptiis disciplinis h au sit; comparc Lucanus.
Pharsalia 10: vv. 185 ff.

should
on the
was to
purely

be replaced by an empire-wide calendar, based

best available astronomical data. This calendar
include the transition from the luni-solar to the
solar year. Accordingly

. . . C aesar laid the problem before the best philosophers

and m athem aticians, and out of the m ethods of correction
w hich w ere already at h and com pounded one of his own
which w as m ore accu rate than an y .317

It would have seemed superfluous to call upon a com

mittee if Caesar already knew how to compound existing
methods into a working new calendar. Perhaps Pliny,
who injected one passage on the calendar reform into
his Natural History, supplied an explanation:
. . . T h e re w ere th ree m ain schools, the Chaldaean. the
E g yptian, and the G reek : and to these a fo u rth was added
in ou r country by C aesar d u rin g his d ictatorship, w ho w ith
the assistance of the learn ed astronom er Sosigenes (S o s igene pcrito scientiae e itu a d h ib ito ) b ro u g h t the separate
y ears back into conform ity w ith the course of the sun.315

If the committee, described by Plutarch, was actually

convened and there is little doubt that it was its
recommendations were probably sifted by Sosigenes
and then submitted to Caesar.
Some details were added bv Cassius Dio who,
however, failed to mention either the commission or
Sosigenes in connection with the calendar reform.
According to Dio:
. . . C aesar also established in th e ir present fashion the
days of the y ear, w hich had g o t som ew hat out of order,
since they [th e Rom ans] still a t th a t tim e m easured th eir
m onths by the m oons rev o lu tio n s: he did this by adding
sixty-seven days, the n um ber necessary to b rin g the year
o u t "even. H e g o t this im provem ent from his stay in A lex
an d ria. save in so fa r as the people there reckon th eir
m onths as of th irty days each, and afterw ard s add the five
days to the y ear as a whole, w hereas C aesar distrib u ted
am ong seven m onths these five along w ith tw o o th er days
w hich he took aw ay from one m onth [F e b ru a ry ], T h e one
day. how ever, w hich results from the fourths he introduced
into every fo u rth y ea r [as F eb ru ary 29]. . . ,319

The reason for Caesar's deviation from the simple

Alexandrinian scheme must have been a desire to pre
serve as much conformity as possible with the traditional
Roman pattern of the months and their well established
dates for festivals and memorial dates. The results, for
example the fact that December and January, as well
as Julv and August, are two consecutive months of
thirty-one days each, are still with us today.
As pontifex maximus Caesar was directly responsible
311 Plutarch, Caesar, 59, 3.
318 Pliny, Mat. Hist. 18, 57. 210 f. It has been suggested that
Sosigenes had nothing to do with the calendar reform, but was
employed by Julius Caesar only as collaborator for the dc astris.
a Latin parapegma: A. Rehm. RE. 2. Reihe. 3. 1929: c. 1153.
no. 6-c. 1157. It seems incredible, however, that Caesar shoul l
not have submitted the committee's recommendations also to a
specialist of his own choosing.
3l* Cassius Dio, 43. 26, 1-3.

75

for the maintenance of an accurate calendar. His prede

cessors out of ignorance or lack of interest had allowed
the Roman calendar to disintegrate to such an extent
that, for example, the Floralia. the great spring festival,
now had to be celebrated in the summer. " A less
courageous reformer might have Ijeen satisfied with
the correction of the sixtv-seven day error then exist
ing, but Julius Caesar once and for all decided that the
best scientific calendar available should be adopted,
allowing only for modifications which did not alter the
basic astronomical span of the solar year in which twelve
originally lunar months were retained for the sake
of tradition and convenience.'1'1 No educated Roman
could deny that a radical calendar reform was overdue.
In his Laws (begun probably in 52. but not completed
until the time of Caesar's reform ) Cicero, no political
friend of Caesar, admitted the gross laxity of previous
pontifices in permitting the Roman calendar to become
now obsolete. 522 Nevertheless, it was a bitter pill
for him. and even more so for Rome's more violent
anti-Caesareans. that the hated dictator was now reap
ing the glory of so important an achievement.323 The
resentment, whether aimed at the new calendar or at
the treatise de astris of Caesar, found an expression in
Ciceros well known joke transmitted by Plutarch:
. . . W hen some one rem arked th at L y ra would rise on
the m orrow . [C icero] said : Yes, by decree.'' implying
th at men w ere com pelled to accept even this dispensation.321

The key role of Sosigenes, although Caesar, working

with only one scribe. M. Flavius, was credited with the
final drawing up of the great scheme.325 was of a dual
nature. In working out the details of the transition on
the basis of a committee report, he not only was instru
mental in assuring the final success of Caesars great
enterprise.326 but also provided the dictator with the
materials for the dc astris. a new Latin parapegma. An
earlier attempt on the part of Ptolemy Euergetes in 239
b . c . to introduce a " fixed " year in Egypt had come
to naught, but now the new Julian calendar at the end
of 46 b . c. began its triumphal march across the entire
world. While the preparation of this project undoubtedly
added to Caesar's astronomical knowledge, he remained
the layman whose political power was merely used to
impose the improved calendar on the Roman world.
Yet at this very time was also published a treatise de
astris whose authorship from the very first was attri
buted to Caesar. It was a new version of the old Roman
330 Suetonius, Caesar, 40, 1-2.
331 The legendary king Numa was credited with having estab
lished the year of twelve m onths; Livy, 1. 19; Plutarch. Caesar.
59. 2; Cicero, de let/ibus 2, 12, 29.
321 Cicero, /or. cit.
3=3 Plutarch. Caesar. 59, 3.
321 Plutarch. lac. cit.
335 Macrobius, Saturn. 1, 14, 2.
*
3 Macrobius, /or. cit.: cf. Censorinus. dc die natali. 23. Bot'i
authors may have relied on Suetonius' de anno Romanorum.

76

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IX T H E L A T IN W O R LD

" F a r m e r 's A lm a n a c w hich p ro v id e d its re a d e rs w ith

w h at w as co n s id e re d reliab le in fo rm a tio n o n th e c o n
n ectio n b etw een th e s ta rs ' m o v e m e n ts a n d th e seaso n s,
as w ell as th e w e a th e r to be e x p e c te d .3-7
T h a t C ae sa r h im se lf e n g a g ed in a s tro n o m ic a l o b s e rv a
tio n s fo r th e p u rp o s e of c o m p o sin g his dc astris m a y
be co n sid e red as a p io u s m y th . M o re p ro b a b ly h e h ad
read as a y o u n g m a n th e Phaeuomena of A ra tu s , a n d
w h en d ec id in g u p o n his n ew a s tro n o m ic a l c a le n d a r
u n d e rto o k a t th e sam e tim e to p r e p a re a p arallel w e a th e rca le n d a r. T h e m a te ria ls fo r th is a lm a n a c w e re p r o b a
bly g a th e re d fro m h ellen istic m o d e ls by S o sig e n e s.328
A m o n g th e u s e rs of th e lo n g -liv ed de astris w e re C o lu
m ella (m id d le of th e firs t c e n tu ry a . d . ) , h is c o n te m p o
ra ry . th e eld er P lin y , a n d su b se q u e n tly P to ie m v , p e rh a p s
also F irm ic u s M a te m u s , a n d d efin ite ly , as la te as th e
six th c e n tu ry a . d ., J o h n L y d u s in h is de ostentis .32
I t seem s th a t S o sig en es soon a fte r th e p u b lic a tio n of
th e de astris su g g e s te d in th re e su ccessiv e tre a tis e s
im p ro v em e n ts o f th e alm an ac .230 W h ile th e A le x a n d rin ia n sch o la r h a d su p p lie d th e o rig in a l d a ta (w h ic h
th e a lread y m e n tio n e d scrib e M . F la v iu s m a y h a v e p u t
to g e th e r in to a L a tin d r a f t ) ,231 C a e sa r h im se lf to o k th e
re sp o n sib ility fo r thp final official L a tin v e rsio n w h ich
he p ro b ab ly w ro te him self. T h is w o u ld b e sufficient
reaso n fo r th e p u b licatio n of th e de astris u n d e r h is
ow n nam e.
I f M o m m sen 's su g g e stio n is c o rre c t, th e J u lia n ca le n
d a r a n d C a e sa rs de astris w ere officially in tro d u c e d a t
th e sam e tim e. T h $ c a le n d a r re fo rm th u s w o u ld h av e
co n sisted o f tw o paijts, th e o ne a s tro n o m ic a l, th e o th e r
a s tro -m eteo ro lo g ica l. I t bespeaks th e re p u ta tio n w h ich
th e de astris still eijijoved m o re th a n a c e n tu ry a f te r
C a e sa r's d ea th th a t iPliny chose to follow it in p r e f e r
ence to an y o th e r parapegma w h e n p re s e n tin g (Nat.
Hist.. 8. 56. 201 f f . ) his ow n co n d e n se d alm an ac . S a id
he (18, 57. 214) : " W e follow m o stly th e o b s e rv a tio n
of C a e sa r." S o m e sam p les m a y b est illu s tra te th e
n a tu re of C a e sa r's de astris. F o r in s ta n c e :
VV'e will sta rt from the sow ing-tim e of w heat, th a t is
from the m o rning setting ot the P le ia d s : and we need not
in terru p t our explanation and increase the difficulty of the
subject by m entioning the m inor stars, inasm uch as it is at
the sam e date th a t the storm y constellation ot O rion sets
357 For a Greek parallel, compare the section on weather signs
in A ratus Phaenomena (vv. 733 1154, or 1-422 if counted as a
separate w ork). Theophrastus too wrote a work rtpi cimtiur.
His authorship has been questioned, however.
Research by Sosigenes, as well as Cidenas about the
limit of Mercury's elongation may have been incorporated in a
book on planets, but did not affect the calendar and the de astris;
Pliny, Nat. Hist. 2, 6, 39.
3S* Ptolemy, pltascis ( tpdffeu airXdyui* aarepwp cai w a y u y ii
trw tytaiuv), ed. Halma. P aris: 67. 9: cf. John Lydus de ostentis,
ed. Wachsmuth: 155, 7; 191; see Groebe, R E io, 1919: c. 259,
no. 131. ff., esp. c. 266.
P liny, .Vat. Hist. 18, 57, 212: cf. A. Rehm, R E , 2. Reihe.
3: c. 1154. 1929.
357 Compare Th. Mommsen, Rocmische Geschichte 3 : 550, n. 1.

after its extensive course. . . . F o r nine clays after the

risin g of the C row n th ere is an alm ost ce rtain expectation
of rain. . . .:,3::
T o w h a t e x te n t th e w e a th e r m a k in g p ro p e n s itie s of
som e c o n s te lla tio n s in flu en ced th e eco n o m ic ac tiv itie s in
R o m e w as a m u sin g ly illu s tra te d by a n e x a m p le in v o lv
in g th e s e ttin g of th e P le ia d s o n N o v e m b e r 10:
Even clothes dealers go by th at constellation, and it is
very easy to identify in the sk y ; consequently dealers out
to m ake money, who are careful to w atch for chances, make
forecasts as to the w inter from its s e ttin g : thus by a cloudy
setting it foretells a w et w inter, and they a t once raise
the prices for cloaks, w hereas by a fine w eather settin g it
foretells a hard w inter, and they screw up the prices of
all other clothes.333
A sim p le c o u n try m a n n o t le a rn e d in a stro n o m y
(indocilis caeli) w o u ld , h o w e v e r, h a v e to rely o n sim
p le r p ro g n o s tic s. A g a in a n d a g a in P lin y re fe rre d to
C a e s a rs o b s e rv a tio n s ," ?34 esp ecially fo r th e w e a th e rc a le n d a r a f te r m id -w in te r. A n o th e r e x a m p le m a y be
q u o te d :
Betw een the period of w est w ind and the sp rin g equinox.
F eb ru ary 16 for Caesar m arks th ree days of changeable
w eather, as also does F eb ru ary 22 by the appearance of the
Sw allow and on the n ex t day the risin g of A rctu ru s in the
evening, and the sam e on M arch 5 Caesar noticed th a t this
bad w eather took place a t th e risin g of the C rab, b u t the
m a jo rity of authorities put it a t the settin g of the V in
ta g er on M arch 8 a t the risin g of the n o rth e rn p a rt of the
Fish, and on the n ex t day on the risin g of O rio n . . .
Caesar also noted M arch 15 the day th a t w as to be fatal
to him as m arked by the settin g of the Scorpion, b u t stated
th a t on M arch 18 the K ite becomes visible in Italy and on
M arch 21 the H o rse sets in th e m orn in g .335
T h e de astris in e v ita b ly m u s t be u sed as o n e o f o u r
ch ief s o u rc e s of in fo rm a tio n o n C a e s a r s a ttitu d e to w a rd s
a s tro lo g y . A ss u m in g th a t h e d id n o t p ro m u lg a te th is
w e a th e r c a le n d a r fo r p o litic al re a so n s on ly , b u t also
b ec au se he b eliev ed in th e scien tific th e o rie s of a s tro m e te o ro lo g v . o n e m a y p e rh a p s find in P lin y 's a lm an ac
a re fle c tio n o f C a e s a r's beliefs. F o r e x a m p le in th e
Natural History (18. 68. 2 6 8 -2 7 1 ) th e te x t re fe rre d to
th e de astris as fo llo w s :
Betw een the solstice and the settin g of the L yre, on June
26 by C aesar's reckoning, O rio n rises, and O rio n 's B elt on
Ju ly 4. . . . O n Juiy 14 O rio n ceases risin g for the
E gyptians, and July 17 Procyon rises for A ssyria, and then
three days la ter the g re a t constellation . . . w hich we call
the risin g of the D og star . . . this occurs on the 23rd day
a fter m idsum m er. I ts rising influences both the sea and
the lands . . . nor is this constellation less reverenced than
the stars that are assigned to va rio u s gods [i. e. the planets].
. . . O n July 20 the E ag le sets in the m o rn in g for E gypt.
331 Pliny, .Vat. Hist. 18, 223.-60. 224.
*" Ibid. 18, 60, 225-226. The passages authenticity has been
suspected.
334 F or instance, ibid. 18. 64 : 234 ; 6S, 237 ; 66, 246 f . ; 248 ;
67. 255 f .; 68. 268.
333 Ibid. 18. 65, 237.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E TO ASTROLO GY
and tlie breezes th at h erald the seasonal winds begin to blow,
w hich in G iesar's opinion is perceived in Italy on July 23.
. . . A nd the Royal S ta r in the b reast of the Lion rises,
acco rd in g to C aesar, on the m o rn in g of July 30. . . . On
A u g u st 11 the settin g of the L y re b rings the beginning of
autum n, acco rd in g to C aesar's note, b u t a tru e calculation
has discovered th at the d ate of this is really A ugust 8.
W ith C a e sa r re f e r r e d to tim e a n d a g a in in th e ab o v e
p a s s a g e P lin y m ay w ell h a v e ta k e n th e italicized p a s
sag e o u t of th e v e ry te x t of th e de astris, a n d ev en if he
d id n o t. b u t m e rely in te r je c te d it as h is o w n re m a rk ,
he co u ld n o t h u t e x p r e s s th e o p in io n s ta te d in th e
alm a n a c of S o sig e n e s -C a e sa r. Im m e d ia te ly a fte rw a rd s
(A r. H ., 18, 272) P lin y w r o te :
In this in terv al the crisis for the vines occurs, the co n
stellation w hich we have called the L ittle D og deciding the
fate of the g rapes.
T h e c o n s te lla tio n is r e f e r r e d to as decretorio sidere,
a llo w in g fo r n o d o u b t of its s u p p o se d ly d ecisiv e p o w e r
o v e r th e v in e y a rd s . E la b o r a tin g o n th e to p ic of s in is te r
a s tr a l p o w e rs o v e r c e rta in c ro p s . P lin y d iv id e d it in to
tw o sectio n s ( N. H. . 18, 69. 2 7 8 f.)
. . . T h e re a re tw o kinds of dam age done by the heavens.
O ne we entitle tem pests, a term understood to include hail
storm s, h u rrican es, an d the o th e r things of a sim ilar nature,
the occurrence of w hich is term ed exceptionally violent
w e a th e r; these take th e ir o rig in from certain noxious con
stellations, . . . fo r instance A rctu ru s, O rion, the K ids. T he
o th er is [due] [to ] those [phenom ena] w hich occur w hen
the sky is quiet.
B y e m p h a s iz in g th a t h e, P lin y , w as th e firs t o n e to tr e a t
th e seco n d c a te g o ry h e m a d e it p la in th a t th e firs t ty p e
h a d b ee n th e s u b je c t of e a rlie r tre a tis e s , in c lu d in g
u n d o u b te d ly th e de astris, P lin y s fa v o rite so u rce on
a s tro m e te o ro lo g y .336
A lto g e th e r th e de astris w as a p p a re n tly n o t im b u ed
w ith a b elief in fa ta listic a s tr a l p o w e rs N a tu r e r e
p e a te d ly w as c a lled m e rc ifu l b u t w ith th e a s s u m p tio n
o f a s tr o n g a n d o c c a sio n a lly d ec isiv e in flu en ce e x e rte d
by s ta r s a n d c o n s te lla tio n s u p o n th e p la n t-life o n e a rth
by m e an s of th e w e a t h e r ; i. e. th e a s tr a l in flu en ce w as
in d ire c t, b u t it w as c a u sa lly a c k n o w le d g e d . In trin sic a lly
a c e rta in a s tr a l in flu en ce o n h u m a n a ffairs w as also
a d m itte d . F o r , as in th e e x a m p le of th e te x tile m e r
c h a n ts . th e c h a ra c te r o f a s e a s o n m ig h t in flu en ce h u m a n
lieh av io r as w ell, a fact w h ich th e seaso n al in c id en ce of
c e rta in d isea se s w o u ld d e m o n s tr a te ev en to th e lay m an .
In th e a b sen ce o f a n y co n c lu siv e ev id en ce to th e co n
tr a r y , o n e ca n o n ly a d m it a b elief o n th e p a r t of C a e sa r
in th e w e a th e r-m a k in g p ro p e n s itie s of th e s ta rs . E v e n
th is p o w e r w as n o t h eld to b e a b so lu te , b ec au se d iffe re n t
c o n s te lla tio n s m ig h t c a n cel e a c h o th e r s in flu en ce, o r a t
le ast w eak en it. I f C a e s a r, th e re fo re , b eliev ed in an y
k in d of a s tro lo g y , h e c o u ld a t th e m o s t te n d to w a rd s
33 During the latter part of this section Pliny quotes chiefly
from Varro, but beginning with Nat. Hist. 18. 4, 309 ff.,
Caesar's de astris again becomes Plinys major source.

77

catarchic astrology. He was not like his noble but

dreary opponent, the younger Cato, a Stoic. Nor would
he feel like a mere puppet of fate. His entire career
belied such an interpretation of life. Only by the exer
tion of his own ingenuity, courage, and worldlv wisdom
had he arrived at the supreme power. He might assume
that benevolent Fortuna stood invisibly by his side, but
not that he was a pawn on Fate's chess-board.
Julius Caesar thus was one of the last humanists of
the kind which a hundred years earlier men like Q.
Aelius Tubero and the members of the Scipionic circle
had represented. Welcoming the scientific achievements
of the hellenistic world, he nevertheless retained a salu
tary dosis of Roman scepticism towards the extravagant
claims of diviners, including astrologers. There can
hardly be a doubt that the already mentioned celebrated
haruspex Spurinna arrived at his famous prophecy by
means of astrology. He may have been the same sum
mits haruspex who warned Caesar in 46 b . c . not to
cross over to Africa before the winter solstice. 3>T
Caesar had then disregarded his prophecy and won the
campaign. Cicero, who knew Spurinna personally quite
well,'38 vented his scepticism about all divination when
referring to him. In any case it is not likely that a
prophecy like the one of 46 was arrived at solely, or
even chiefly through haruspicial techniques. Astrology,
or at least astrometeorology was the likelier source of
such a prediction. Even more definitely must this be
assumed with regard to Spurinnas warning that Caesar
should beware of the Ides of March. Catarchic astrol
ogy, not haruspicial arts,30 would lead to this kind of
a prophecy:
He should beware of a danger which would not threaten
him beyond the Ides of March. . . .3* [Spurinna] had
foretold C. Caesar to beware of the next thirty days whose
last one was March 15 as deadly dangerous ones (quasi
fatales) ,341
Plutarch too reported this prophecy without, how
ever, naming Spurinna.3*2 When the Ides of March
had arrived, Caesar, remembering countless similar pre
dictions which he had disregarded without evil conse
quences, happened to see Spurinna on the morning of
the fateful day. He chided him, only to receive the
well-known reply that the Ides were not yet over.343
Posterity, as usual, chose to remember one of the few
accurate prophecies and forgot the false ones which
had preceded it. The inconvenient memory of men
3"7 Cicero, de divinatione 2, 24, 52.
338 Cicero, epist. ad fatnil. 9, 24, 2.
3M Suetonius, Caesar, 81, 2.
340 On an earlier occasion Spurinna had given Caesar another
haruspicial w arning; Cicero, de divinatione 1, 52. 119; 2. 16, 37;
Pliny, Nat. Hist. 11, 71, 186 f.; Valerius Maximus, 1. 6, 13.
341 Valerius Maximus, loc. cit.
341 Plutarch, Caesar, 63, 3; cf. Appian, bell. civ. 2, 16, 116;
21, 153.
343 Plutarch, loc. cit. ; Suetonius, Caesar, 81, 4; Valerius
Maximus, 8, 11, 2-3.

78

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

like Cicero was the exception, not the rule. A fervent

believer in all kinds of divination. Cassius Dio eventually
provided a triumphant explanation of Caesar's reckless
disregard for omens and other predictions as being due
to Caesar's fatalist concept of life:

The traditional interpretation of the significance of

comets was overwhelmingly unfavorable. W ar. drought,
or pestilence, or the death of kings and other great
men of state, was Ixdieved to be heralded by comets.
F or the first time in Roman history there was now a
wide-spread mood which saw in a comet the physical
But since it w as fated that he should die at that time,
proof of a catasterism. i. e. of the elevation of a mortal
he not only paid no attention . . . . hut would not even
listen to some one who was offering him inform ation on
to Income a star among stars.47 In Greek myths those
the plot.'144
favored by the gods in such a manner were usually at
This allusion to the scroll, on which the Greek proL least demi-gods. Gradually, however, mortals too were
fessor, Artemidorus. had written a warning and given held capable of such elevation. The Roman rulers ap
the names of some of the conspirators a last minute parently were the first men thus honored, at least by
chance offered to Caesar to uncover the plot provided their flatterers. 4S and Julius Caesar would thus l>e the
the natural climax to Dio's fatalist version of Caesars first Roman to be elevated in this manner. A poetic
death. Taking his special seat in the senate chamber a description of the process was subsequently supplied by
'.ew minutes after encountering Spurinna and Artemi O v id : 340 Venus, the ancestral divinity of the gens
dorus. the dictator was trapped. A few minutes later Julia, lifted the soul of Caesar from his assassinated
body to bear it upwards towards the eternal stars.
iie lay dead at the fejet of a statue of Pompey.
The death of Caesar led to that of Cicero. W ith these During her flight she became aware of the souls be
two men an important era in the history of astrology ginning luminosity. Escaping from the arms of Venus
in the Latin W est came to an end. No longer did great the soul of Caesar soared on above the moon and shone
sceptics raise powerful voices against the champions of as a bright star with brilliant hair traversing the heavenly
astral fatalism. The disciples of Nigidius Figulus and orb. Religious sects and popular belief extended such
Varro. men of the type of Tarutius Firmanus for ex views, until eventually epitaphs and literary texts not
ample. began a long reign. Caesars death, however, infrequently also transposed the souls of the lowlier
did not revive the ancient republic. The new monarchy, dead as stars into the heavens. The sceptical Plinv
often piously referred to as a dyarchy, which Caesars might scoff: Plague take i t ! W hat is this mad idea
grand-nephew, Octavius, launched on the road to that life is renewed by death! 350 But the future be
success, ushered in an era of almost universal accept longed to a faith which expressly believed in that very
ance of astrology by the Roman upper class. Octavius thing. The popular view during the imperial era was
himself inaugurated this period fittingly, and his suc a simpler one. The greater one's status on earth, the
cessors were devoid of even the remnant of gentlemanly brighter a star did the soul l)ecome in the heavens.
scepticism which Octavius had still possessed. Noth Great men were destined to become bright stars, lesser
ing perhaps could indicate his attitude at the age of folk could at best hope to be transposed as a small star
eighteen more clearly than an event which symbolically shining inconspicuously in the skies, as they had been
commenced a new era of general faith in astrology in inconspicuous during life. Even a good Christian like
Pope Gregory I ( a . d . 590-604) assumed that at least
the w est: His utilization of the comet of a . d . 44:
virtuous men would live on as stars.351
[C aesar] was b ro u g h t into the num ber of the gods, not
The catasterism of Julius Caesar was technically a
by m eans of the fiat of those in power, but by the conviction
feat belonging to the realm of religious, not scientific
of the com m on people. F o r when d u rin g the gam es which
astrology. Nevertheless, it provided an opportunity for
his heir A u gustus first consecrated to him and gave to the
public a com et shone to r seven consecutive days, rising
the exploitation of a natural phenomenon, the comets
tow ards the eleventh hour, it was believed that this was the
appearance, by the unscrupulous, but highly intelligent,
-oul of C aesar being received into heaven/145
eighteen-year-old Octavius. Reported Plinv the Elder
An interesting trace of conflicting opinions about the more than a century later:
meaning of the comets appearance has been preserved
by Cassius D io:
found in Plutarch, Caesar. 69, 3: . . . There was the great
. . . A ce rtain s ta r appeared in the north tow ards evening,
w h x h some called a com et, claim ing that it foretold the
usual o ccurrences, w hile the m ajority, instead of believing
:li'.s. ascribed it to C aesar, interpreting it to mean that he
had become im m ortal aiiid had been received into the num ber
ot sta rs.348
z" Cass.us Dio. 45, 18, 3; compare for a similar mood Plu
tarch. Caesar, t>3, 1.
311 Suetonius, Caesar, 88.
3 Cassius Dio. 45. 7, 1. A brief description of the comet is

comet which showed itself for seven nights in great splendor

after Caesars murder and then disappeared.
147 W. Gundel. Sterne und Sternbilder im Glauben des Altcrtums mid der Neuzcit, ch. v : 104-126, Bonn and Leipzig, K.
Schroeder, 1922.
" I b i d . : 109 IT.
340 Ovid, .1/ clamor ph. 15: vv. 843-851.
330 Pliny, S a t. Hist. 7. 55, 189.
301 Gregory. Moralia 17. 16 (Migue. Patrnlo()ia Latina 76.
c. 21-22). Similar ideas are found in Plutarch's Moralia:
Gregory professed, however, to derive his views from the
gospels.

T H E C O N V E R SIO N O F R E P U B L IC A N R O M E TO A STR O LO G Y
T h e only place in the whole w orld w here a com et is the
object of w orship is a tem ple at Rome. H is late M ajesty
A ugustus had deem ed this com et very propitious to h im se lf:
as it had appeared at the begin n in g of his rule [.sic/], at
some gam es which n o t long after the decease of his [adop
tive] fath er C aesar, as a m em ber of the college founded by
him. he was celeb ratin g in honor of M other Venus. In fact
he m ade public the jo y th at it gave him in these w o rd s:
" O n the very day of my Games a com et was visible for
seven days in the n o rth e rn p art of the sky. It w as risin g
about an hour before sunset, and was a b rig h t star, visible
from all lands. T h e common people believed th at this star
signified the soul of C aesar received am ong the sp irits ot
the im m ortal g o d s.'1 . . . T h is w as his public u tterance,
but p rivately he rejo iced because he in terpreted the comet
ns h av in g been born fo r his own sake and as containing
his ow n b irth w ithin it: and to confess the tru th , it did
have a health -g iv in g influence over the w orld.35-'

The star of Bethlehem, believed by some also to have

been a comet, shone less than fifty years later. To what
extent the earlier episode, so skillfully exploited by
Octavius, was responsible for the account of the star
of Bethlehem, must remain conjectural. Certainly,
however, the comet of 44 b . c . and. if it was a comet,
the one at the birth of Christ were among the few to
be remembered as omens of good rather than bad for
tune. It may be noted that in his own proclamation
Octavius carefully limited himself to saying that the
comet signified the soul of Caesar, while the common
herd took the matter more literally. A t any rate it could
not be expected that the political foes of Caesar and his
house would accept the popular interpretation unchal
lenged. According to Baebius Macer a certain haruspex
by the name of Vulcatius went before a popular assem
bly proclaiming that the new comet indicated the end of
the saeculum.35S This was always a major event, but
especially in this case, because according to official
reckoning the saeculum, now pronounced ended, had
been the ninth, and many looked forward with super
stitious dread to the tenth. It did. indeed, bear out
Etruscan prophets whose divinatory wisdom underlay
the haruspicial prophecy of doom. For it was. for the
Etruscans at least, a disastrous era. For in this tenth
saeculum, whose beginning Vulcatius proclaimed, the
Etruscan language became extinct. The gods, however,
apparently took issue with Vulcatius' unfavorable pre
diction and sided with Octavius, for the luckless hams/Hx collapsed and died in that very assembly/154
That settled in the minds of the people the meaning
of the comet, leaving Octavius in the enviable position
of having only to agree with the popular opinion:
A ugustus C aesar, w hen celeb ratin g the funeral gam es
for his fath er, confirm ed upon the appearance of a star in
the m iddle of the day th a t it was the one of his father.
[ He ] him self insisted ( v o lu it) th at it was the soul of his
rather and erected in his honor on the Capitol a statue above
a.-.s piiny .Yu/. H ist. 2. 23, 93-94.
See on this topic, Nilsson. R li. 2. Reihe. 1, 1914: c. 1643 !i.
Servius, ad Very. ccl. 9, 46 f.

79

w hose head he placed a golden star, while on the base the

following inscription was en g rav e n : " T o the demigod
C aesar." : 55

At the time Octavius seemed among the contenders

for the political power the least significant. Few would
have suspected that this youth of eighteen was to win
the race for ]x>litical supremacy. The appearance of the
comet of 44. however, marked the turning point. From
that time on the position of Octavius began to im
prove steadily. This was perceived and clearly stated
by Cassius D io :
A nd when this act also was allowed, no one trying to
p revent it through te ar of the populace, then a t last some
of the oth er decrees already passed in honor of C aesar
w ere put into effect. T h u s they called one of the m o n iiJulv after him. . . . F o r these same reasons the soldiers
also . . . readily took the side of C aesar.350

The potency of popular astral beliefs, so evident on

this occasion, marked probably the first time in Roman
history when a major political change was inaugurate:!
by popular superstition of this kind. Octavius had
with a grain of scepticism used the mass psychosis for
his own advantage. H e did not himself succumb, how
ever, to religious hysteria or folk myths about the
stars, but the Augustan poets subsequently unequivocally
accepted the official version. Said V ergil:
. . . W hy scatinest the risin g s of the ancient stars?
Now peereth D ionaean C aesars star.
T h e s ta r th a t comes to bless the field w ith fruits
A nd flush on sunny hills the reddening grape.357

Horace might tease the old witch Canidia that she

would eventually move amongst the stars, herself a
golden sta r." 3r'8 but he took great pains to attest his
own faith in the officially proclaimed catasterism of
Julius Caesar. In a poem dedicated to Augustus him
self he flattered the prince f s :
. . . T h e Ju lian star com petes am ongst the stars, as Luna
does am ong the lesser lights. F ath er of the hum an race and
gu ard ian set over S atu rn . U pon you has been bestowed by
F ate the protection of the g re a t C aesar [A u g u stu s]. May
you reign. C aesar [A u g u stu s], ceding the first place to him
alone.35u

How coldly and cleverly the catasterism of Julius

Caesar was politically exploited that star was be
lieved to lie Caesars, Augustus having done the per
suading 3,10 has been convincingly transmitted by
our sources. It was not long, however, until court
3i'3 Baebius Macer in Servius. ad Verg. eel. 9, 47. On the star,
placed behind the head of Caesar's statue, see also Suetonius.
Caesar, 88; Pliny, Nat. H ist. 2. 23, 94; Cassius Dio. 45, 7. 1.
Cassius Dio, 45, 7, 2.
Vergil, ccl. 9: vv. 56 ff.
'"s Horace, lipodcs. 17: v. 40 f.
Horace, Odes 1, 12: vv. 46 ff.; compare also nv. 13 ft.
"S erv iu s, c.d Very. Acn., 681: quod sidus putatum est
Augusto persuadente.

80

T H E RISE AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

poets and other flatterers began to address emperors

and the members of their families even while alive as
sun, and star "; in our own era we speak of stars
of stage, screen, television, and the major sports. The
siiltis JuUum has much to answer for. F ar more touch
ing than such an official catasterism was the firm faith
in a stellar life after death which we encounter in a
small number of inscriptions. For exam ple:
M other, do not weep, w hat use are thy tears ? M arvel
and ad m ire! F o r I have become a star am ongst the gods.3"1

This Attic inscription found its counterpart in the

epitaph of an eight-year-old child:
Thou hast reached an age of eight years and hast been
privileged to see the ether and now a r t shining am ongst
the eternal stars.362

In another inscription it dates from the reign of

Augustus the deceased reappeared to tell his grandfather that he did not descend into Hades, but had been
carried by Venus [as Julius Caesar had been!] towards
the luminous heights of heaven.363
The ninety-six years from the consulate of Laeiius
(140 b .c .) to he death of Julius Caesar encompassed
the crucial period in the history of astrology in the
Roman republic, In 139 b . c. astrologers had been
summarily expelled as undesirable and highly suspect
foreigners. Their cruft was considered as a fraud prac
ticed on the gullible masses. The overwhelming majority
of educated Romans, and that meant then the aristo
cratic humanists, would have none of astrology. Neither
its religious nor its scientific variant appealed to
them. Their scepticism had been reenforced by Greek
philosophers of that time. With even the leaders of
Stoicism in the second century b . c . abandoning the
strict fatalist arguments. Roman philhellenes, onlv re
cently introduced to higher learning, were manifestly
unable to set themselves against their overwhelmingly
anti-fatalist Greek teachers.
With Posidonius, however. Stoicism returned to a
rigid belief in fatalism and fatalist astrology. The time
was now ripe for a breach in the hitherto solid phalanx
of Romes sceptical humanists. The battle royal be
tween Roman believers and disbelievers in astrology
l>egan in the first half of the first century b . c . Cham
pioned by the first generation of major Roman scholars,
men like Nigidius Figulus or Terentius Varro. the popu
larity of astrology among educated Romans increased
W . Gundel, de stcllhrum appellationc: 222, Giessen, 1937;
compare B. Haussoulier, itrrrjp iytroiair, Rcz. de Phil. 35, 1909 :
333: 1 ff.
116.
1.1 W. Gundel. loc. cit : also his Sterne
1.1 C IL 6, 3 : 2244. no. 21521.

rapidly. By the time of Julius Caesar's death the

m ajority of Rome's upper class had been converted.
This triumph of astrology in the last century of the
Roman republic was largely the result of its two-faced
appeal. To the humanist who believed in rationalism,
in the governance of nature by immutable laws linking
cause and effect, scientific" astrology presented the
link between mundane causality and the cosmic laws
which regulated the movements of the stars and ruled
the universe. That the observational basis of as
trology was more than shakv. was overlooked in the
burning desire of Roman intellectuals to find an allencompassing unity, embracing the mundane micro
cosm, as well as the celestial macrocosm. Like all
rationalism, however, this Roman attitude in the last
analysis also rested on faith.
The longing for a holist interpretation, however, was
not confined to Roman rationalists. The mystic con
nection between the realm of the spirit and that of
m atter lent credence to the claims of astrologers even
in the minds of those Romans who were not attracted
by the purely mechanical concept of fatalistic astrology.
Many Hermetic writings, hand-books like that of
Petosiris-Nechepso, some Orphic and a torrent of
similar revelatory literature emphasized npt the ration
alist but the religious character of astrological revela
tions. Eternal verities, not proven by fantastic periods
of scientific observations, but directly imparted by the
gods to privileged listeners, exercised a magnetic attrac
tion upon Roman minds, impervious to the rationalist
appeal of scientific astrology. On this emotional
basis contact was established between the more primi
tive views of the lower classes, which cheerfully accepted
the most diverse varieties of star-cults and revelatory
astrology, and the attitude of those upper-class Romans
who reviving what they believed to be ancient Pythagoreanism accepted a welter of numerological and quasi
religious tenets, including those of astrology.
Roman rationalists and mystics thus came to accept
astrology in its scientific or revelatory form. This con
version of Romes leading humanists spearheaded the
almost general acceptance of astrology by Romes upper
class. The last outstanding defenders of the lost bas
tion of scepticism made a valiant stand, but they were
fighting a losing battle: Cicero, Lucretius, and Julius
Caesar were the last m ajor representatives of the earlier
humanist traditions of republican Rome. The eager
bowing of Octavius in 44 b . c . to popular superstition
was a symbolical end of the era of Roman scepticism.
A new era was now at hand, an age of almost boundless
reliance on astrology. This new faith was to reach its
zenith with the rulers of the Julian-Claudian house and
the Flavian emperors.

III. A STR O LO G ER S T H E P O W E R B E H IN D T H E T H R O N E FRO M A U G U STU S TO

D O M IT IA N
1.

IN T R O D U C T IO N

From the death of Julius Caesar to that of Domitian

one hundred and forty years elapsed. In the long his
tory of the Roman empire one may look upon this era
as the one in which the transition from republican to
monarchic forms was completed. Transition it was in
the sense that in the beginning the forces of republi
canism among the senatorial aristocracy still strongly
hoped for a return to their previous power, while at the
end of this period monarchy had come to be generally
accepted, albeit grudgingly, even by the ranking clans
of Rome. During the first half of this span a restora
tion of the republic seemed not only desirable but even
possible to a substantial number of senators. At the end
for most of them the only question was who would
assume the imperial purple. Two instances may illus
trate this change: In a . d . 41 Caligula was assassinated.
The senate, caught by surprise, rallied in an ephemeral
attempt to revive the defunct republic. In a . d . 96.
however, the assassination of Domitian brought a sena
tor, Nerva, to the throne. W hatever his own inten
tions may have been of reestablishing the power of the
senate, the dangerous grumbling of the military forced
him at once to select a successor able and willing to
continue the imperial monarchy: T rajan.
Even then, however, nostalgic dreams of restoring
the aristocratic libertas of the long dead republic were
not entirely relinquished. More than a century later
on occasion feeble efforts were made to assert the sena
torial authority over that of the army and its imperial
leaders. But in normal times the average Roman noble
man after a . d . 96 resigned himself to the principate.
Since the days of Philippi (42 b . c . ) the senate had
failed consistently of winning over the praetorian guards,
or any large section of the regular arm y.1 The civil
wars of the first three centuries of our era were there
fore fought between rival contenders for the throne
only, not between champions of monarchic or republican
forms of government, respectively. Before, however,
the hopelessness of a restoration of the ancient republic
was generally admitted, plotting for its restoration was
still a favorite pastime and often a serious preoccupation
of the Roman senatorial nobility. The statistical record
surely was not discouraging. Julius Caesar had been
successfully despatched. Of his successors. Caligula
and Domitian also owed their violent end in large
measure to senatorial opposition. Claudius. Nero. Galba.
Otho, and Vitellius came to grief before their time
(although not by senatorial efforts), while persistent
gossip had it that even Augustus. Tiberius, and Titus
had gone to heaven or Hades by outside assistance.
Vespasian alone seems to have been generally credited
with having died of purely natural causes.
1 Tacitus, Annals 1, 2. gave this melancholy resume.

81

The welter of poisonous passions, intrigues, murder,

and violence within the imperial circle was assiduously
enlarged bv Romes ever-wagging senatorial tongues.
High ranking families throughout the first century pro
vided a well-nigh endless number of plotters, traitors,
and innocent victims of imperial suspicions as well.
Yet beyond this maelstrom of turgid activity the mil
lions of the empire lived for the most part peaceful,
hard-working, and decent lives. To govern Italians and
provincials alike as equitably and fairly as possible was
a fundamental imperial policy laid down by Julius Caesar
and faithfully observed by his successors. Admittedly
even the very worst rulers of the principate provided
an imperial administration far superior to the ruthless
colonial exploitation of the late republic. Another im
perial policy was the steadfast encouragement of the
gradual leveling process which slowly eliminated the
barrier separating the privileged Roman citizen from
the provincial. The average Italian might helplesslyresent this gradual change; the haughty nobility of
Rome, however, was powerful enough to oppose the
new order openly. The chief credit for firmly estab
lishing this leveling policy of Julius Caesar unques
tionably belonged to Octavianus. the future Augustus
and founder of the principate. who bequeathed this
tradition to his successors.
A fter the successful coup of catasterizing in 44 b . c .
his late adoptive father, Octavianus emerged from the
whirlpool of civil wars after Caesar's death as a member
of the second triumvirate which besides him included
M ark Antony, a staunch Caesarian, and the insignificant
Lepidus, now pontijex maximus. W ith the end of major
military republican resistance at Philippi the three men
divided the empire amongst themselves, Lepidus receiv
ing the meagre reward of controlling Africa, while the
lions share fell to his two partners. Antony inherited
the eastern half of the empire and Cleopatra, Octavianus
the remainder, including Rome and Italy. Circum
stances forced Octavianus into the not unwelcome role
of a champion of Latinitv against the Orient. The more
Antony succumbed to the lure of the east with its
traditional preference for divine despotism, the more
was Octavianus able to pose as the defender of the old
Roman wav of life which abhorred divine monarchy.
A t the same time the ruler of the west (who soon de
prived Lepidus of Africa and added the territory to his
realm) professed some of the traditional aristocratic
scepticism concerning eastern cults and forms of divina
tion. During most of his reign he combined the by now
fashionable belief in Hellenistic scientific astrology with
a certain dose of scepticism, thus continuing the attitude
of the average Roman gentleman of the middle of the
first century b . c .
The last decade of his long reign, however, witnessed

T H E R IS E A ND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD
a profound change. From then on until the death of
Domitian in 96 the faith in astrology acquired a strong
hold over every ruler, a hold so firm that during this
era the influence of coiurt astrologers rose to an unprece
dented |ieak. The first empire wide legal curb of astro
logical (and other divinatory) practices was introduced
by Augustus himself in a. d. 11. H is successor Tiberius
(14-37) was a practicing astrologer and adamant be
liever in this pseudo-science. Caligula. Claudius, and
Nero, as well as Gallia. Otho, Yitellius. Vespasian, and
his sons. Titus and Domitian. all of them maintained
lose ties with astrologers. Vespasian alone seems to
have tempered his faith in the stars with an occasional
grain of scepticism.2 while Vitellius revealed his super
stitious fear of the accuracy of unfavorable astrological
predictions bv a merciless persecution of astrologers.3
Although it is usually difficult to appraise the full meas
ure ot the court astrologers' influence in a given case,
there can be little doubt that often the very life of
members of the imperial family, or of influential Roman
noblemen depended upon the interpretation of their
horoscopes by the erriperor and his trusted astrological
advisers. For the mo$t part the names of these gentle
men are buried in oblivion, and those known by name
remain shadowy figurles at best.
Two men, father afld son, however, emerge from the
host of nameless or little known court astrologers of
the first century. Their influence began in the reign of
Augustus and extended into that of Vespasian, and pos
sibly even that of Titus (d. a . d . 81) : Tiberius Claudius
Thrasyllus (d. a . d . 36) was the father, Tiberius Claudius
Balbillus the son (d. ca. a . d . 81?). Thrasyllus was a
Greek scholar who bwed his Roman citizenship to
Tiberius whose friendship was not only instrumental
in gaining for the Alfexandrinian grammarian the still
coveted boon of Roniian citizenship, but also for the
introduction in a . d . 2of this outstanding astrologer
into the innermost circle of the aging Augustus wherein
the newcomer soon began to exercise a profound influ
ence upon the Roman ruler and his court. Thrasyllus
daughter was to m atry a Roman knight, as did his
granddaughter Ennia Thrasvlla, who gambled for the
position of an emperors wife. Thrasyllus son, Bal
billus. inherited the fathers potent role at court. An
intimate personal frielnd of the emperor Claudius he
also became a trusted adviser of Nero, and finally courtastrologer of Vespasian. The fortunes of this family
continued to flourish. A daughter of Balbillus, Claudia
Capitolina, first married a royal heir designate, A nti
ochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus IV of Commagene,
and later it seems a Roman knight Junius Rufus who
became prefect of Egypt. Of the children of Claudia
and Antiochus two reached high station. A son, C.
! Suetonius. Vespasian, 14.
1 Suetonius, Vitellius, 14, 4; cf. Cassius Dio, ep. 64(65), 1, 4;
naras, 11. 16.

Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus, became con

sul in 109a sign of T rajan s favora daughter, Julia
Balbilla was ladv-in-waiting of H adrians wife, Sabina,
in 130.4
Less durable but at times very important was the
influence of men like Chaeremon. an Egyptian Greek,
whose scholarly reputation earned him a place as one
of the tutors of young Nero. An expert on astrology,
this savant flourished for some years at the Roman
court. Meanwhile, a fellow Egyptian, by the name of
Pammenes, at about the same time (or a few years
later) acquired an impressive clientele among the lead
ing men of Rome in the reign of Nero. Seleucus and
Ptolemy, two names probably belonging to one and the
same astrologer of that era, figured prominently among
the chief advisers of the emperor Otho before and
during his brief reign. The reputation of Ptolemy
Seleucus survived the fall of Otho and earned him a
court role under Vespasian. The counterpart of such
astrological advisers to Roman rulers were astrologers
who like Pammenes and Ptolemy Seleucus under Nero,
or Asclation under Domitian used their craft to en
courage the oppositional nobility. They therefore risked
their freedom and often their lives in the pursuit of their
profession. Vitellius, for example, executed a number
of them for their oppositional activities in a . d . 69.
The phenomenon of astrological influence upon the
conduct of the most important affairs of state was a
peculiarity of the early principate. Beginning in a . d . 2
with an initial period of transition, the unquestioning
acceptance of astrological dicta by the rulers and the
leaders of Roman society continued at least until the
end of the first century, and with somewhat diminished
intensity until the end of the principate.5
2.

T H E AGE O F T R A N S IT IO N ': 44 B. C.-A. D. 2

From the catasterism of Julius Caesar to the arrival

of Thrasyllus in Rome almost half a century elapsed.
It was an era which produced the definitive trans
formation of the Roman government from republican
to monarchic some call them dyarchic institutions.
From a series of civil wars arose Octavianus who
mindful of the deep-rooted Roman opposition to the
oriental pattern of divine despotismfinally camouflaged
his supreme power with a quasi-republican faqade, the
so-called principate, inaugurated in 27-26 b . c . His
attitude towards astrology, as has been said, during the
greater part of his life still bore the stamp of the
gentlemanly acceptance of this pseudoscience by the
Roman humanists of the late republic, an acceptance
mingled with a modicum of scepticism. H is horoscope,
4 CIG, no. 4730; compare Peek in Mittcilungen des Instituts
fuer aegyptische Altertum skunde 5, 1934 : 96 f. On her relation
to Thrasyllus see the family trees, below, pp. 95 and 136.
3 For the era after the principate a detailed study by the
author is in preparation.

T H E P O W E R O F A ST R O L O G E R S FRO M A U G U STU S TO D O M ITIA N

as was becoming the rule with new-born Roman noble
men of that time, had l>een cast at his birth on Sep
tember 23. 63 l). c. by no less an astrological authority
than the senator. Nigidius Figulus.n Subsequently
Octavianus had received a reaffirmation of his splendid
nativity during his student days at Apollonia where he
was to await Julius Caesars expedition against the
Parthians. Together with his faithful triend. the young
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Octavianus visited Theogenes (or Theagenes), a renowned astrologer in the
tow n:

83

The issuing of coins of this kind could clearly take

place only years after the visit at Apollonia which
occurred in the winter of 45-44 b . c.. while Cassius
Dio.9 always keen on astrological subject-matter, far
more convincingly assigned the publication of the
Augustan horoscope to the year a . d . 11, when rumors
of the immediately impending demise of the emperor
created such unrest at Rome that the aged ruler decided
to publish his horoscope, in order to prove" a real
measure of his complete faith in astrology at this date
that he was not destined to die quite yet. During the
first four decades of his ascendancy, however, the first
princcps was no more credulous in matters of divina
tion, including astrology, than the average Roman

gentleman of his day. He had. however, had ample

opportunity to observe the mass addiction to astral lore
during the hysterical popular reaction to a comets ap
pearance in 44 b. c. Such sentiments on occasion
might boomerang against him. while at that time they
had fortuitously helped his political fortunes.
A situation of this kind arose in 33 b . c . The final
showdown between Octavianus. master of the west,
and Mark Antony, lord of the east, was close at hand.
It may safely be assumed that the great majority of
orientals in Rome favored the cause of their champion
Antony. The bulk of ordinary astrologers, soothsayers,
and sorcerers in Rome at this time would still consist
of eastern elements. Their influence upon the Roman
masses would now- be overwhelmingly exercised in favor
of Antony, i. e. against Octavianus. Roman credulity
being w'hat it was. Octavianus had good reason to con
template drastic action against such disturbing elements.
To woo back the Roman population and to curb the
general restiveness he adopted an extraordinary meas
ure. He made his most reliable friend, Agrippa. aedile,
although Agrippa had already held the higher office of
praetor. The new aedile, certainly in concert with
Octavianus, expelled from the capital both astrologers
and sorcerers,10 a left-handed tribute of the govern
ments respect for their hold on the population. Some
years later Agrippa built the Pantheon which was
formally dedicated in 25 b . c . W hether or not its seven
niches were meant to harbor the seven planetary divini
ties Mars and Venus at least were among the deities
included cannot be determined with certainty. The
present roof and perhaps most of the walls stem from
the reign of Hadrian. The circular central opening
and the decorations of the vault therefore would reflect
not the ideas of Agrippa or his architects, but those of
Hadrian, himself a passionate practitioner of astrology.
Cassius Dio at least, always eager for astrological inter
pretations, explained the name of the Pantheon (which
he knew of course only in the Hadrianic restoration)
as follows: " . . . But my own opinion of the name
is that, because of its vaulted roof, it resembles the
heavens. 11
The professional opinion of the Augustan era cer
tainly demanded of Roman (and G reek) architects at
least a smattering of astronomical knowledge. While
the walls of the Pantheon began to rise, an engineer in
the employ of A ugustus12 by the name of Vitruvius
wrote his famous treatise On Architecture. Like Cicero
and Varro he used the term astrologia for both astron
omy proper and its improper application in astrology.
In the ninth book of his manual he prefaced the instruc

Suetonius. Augustus. 94, 5; Cassius Dio, 45, 1, 3-5.

; Suetonius. Augustus, 94, 12.
" Loc. cit- : compare W. v. Voigt, U nter welchen Gestirnen
wurden Caesar. Agrippa und Tiberius geboren? Pltilologus 58
(N . F. 12). 1899: 170-204.
Cassius Dio, 56, 25, 5.

10 Ibid. 49, 43, 4; compare F. H. Cramer, Expulsion of astrol

ogers from ancient Rome, Class, et Med. 12, 1-2, 1951: 17-21.
11 Cassius Dio, 53, 27, 2-3.
15 Vitruvius referred to the victory of Octavianus( over Mark
Antony (1, de architectura, pr.), but never used the term
Augustus. Hence he probably wrote between 31 and 27-26 b. c.

A g rip p a w as the first to try his fortune, and w hen a

g re a t and alm ost incredible c a re er w as p redicted fo r him.
[O ctav ian u s] p ersisted in concealing the tim e of his b irth
aw l in refu sin g to disclose it, th ro u g h diffidence and fear
th at he m ig h t be found to be less em inent. W hen he at
last gave it unw illingly and h esitatingly, an d only after
m any u rg en t requests, T h eag en es sp ran g up and threw him
self a t his feet.7

This episode must have been characteristic of many

similar ones enacted by young Romans studying in the
Greek east. Undoubtedly most astrologers ran little
risk in prophesying to such aristocratic Roman clients
a brilliant future, but only truly faithful Roman devotees
of astrology would accept such predictions as infallible.
Nevertheless, with the belief in astrology waxing ever
stronger amongst upper-class Romans in the middle of
the first century b . c ., few young men w'ould have com
pletely disbelieved such flattering forecasts. It was,
however, an error on the part of Suetonius to ascribe
to this episode an immediate and decisive influence
upon Octavianus attitude towards astrology. Said h e :
From th at tim e on A u gustus had such faith in his
destiny, th a t he m ade his horoscope public an d issued a
silver coin stam ped w ith the sign of the constellation C ap ri
corn u nder w hich he w as b o rn .s

84

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STROLO GY IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

tions for the building of dials and clocks with a longish

survey exalting the historical contributions of the great
scientists and thinkers of Greece from Pythagoras and
Democritus to Archimedes and Eratosthenes. Acknowl
edging his indebtedness to Lucretius, Cicero, and Varro,
Vitruvius addressed again Octavianus13 in presenting
the topic of his ninth book:
in the present volume I will expound the methods of
D ialin g ; how they w ere discovered from the rays of the
sun in the universe. . . .14 T he ideas of scientific w rite rs
who a re absent in the body, old and yet ever new, come to
our counsels and investigations. . . .16

Vitruvius then dealt first with the universe, the con

stellations and the planets. His approach was animated
by an intensity of feeling reminiscent of Lucretius and
anticipating Manilius. Having already spoken of the
magnificence of the universe and its stars ( m u n d i e t
a stro ru m m a g n ific e n tia },16 he seemed to express Posidonian views in referring to a divine sp irit ( d iv in a
m e n s ) evoking the admiration of mortal onlookers at
the cosmic organism;17 There was nothing astrological
in his terse discussion of the zodiac and the planets, nor
any unbecoming conceit. Vitruvius humbly admitted
the causes and numerical relations by which they pass
from sign to sign, [and their revolutions . . . I have
learned from my masters. 18 But when proceeding to
the explanation of the phases of the moon Vitruvius
at once revealed his reliance upon Chaldaean sources,
especially Berossus.10 But he also used Greek authors
including Aristarchus of Samos (whom Heath in our
time has aptly called a Greek Copernicus). Continuing
his astronomical survey, Vitruvius described the course
of the sun through the signs of the zodiac and then
briefly listed constellations to the north and to the south
of the zodiac. He concluded this long introduction to
the mechanical section of book IX on dials and dialing
with a brief chapter \on astrology proper. His unques
tioning acceptance of what purportedly was Chaldaean
astrological theory was stated in the following term s:
A s for the rem ainder of astrologia [i. e. astronom y and
astro lo g y ], to w it the effects pproduced by the tw elve signs
on the hum an course of life, the five planets, the sun and
moon, we m ust accept the calculations (ratiocinationes)
of the C haldaeans, because the science of astrology (ratio
genethlialogiae) is th e ir specialty so th a t they can explain
the past and the future from astronom ical calculations
13 Vitruvius, de architectura 9, pr., 18.
'* Loc. cit.
15 Ibid. 9. pr., 17.
Ibid. 2 ,1 ,2 .
lT Ibid. 9, 1, 1; similarly later Manilius, Astronomica 1. vv.
247 ff.
13 Vitruvius, de architectura 9, 1, 16.
'* Ibid. 9, 2, 1. Vitruvius quoted the same erroneous Baby
lonian hypothesis about the moon which Lucretius (de natura
rerum S, vv. 720 ff.) hajd also cited. The Epicurean poet, how
ever. did not take sides when stating this, as well as the (correct)
Greek view : compare also Stobaeus, Eclogues 1, 26, 12.

( raUocinntionibus a stro ru m ). T h o se who have sp ru n g

lrom the C haldaean nation have handed on th eir discoveries
about m atters in which they have approved them selves of
great skill and subtlety.-0

Two things appear from this passage. Vitruvius

unhesitatingly followed the older Hellenistic tradition
which assigned the origins of astrology to Mesopotamia,
not to Egypt. Furtherm ore he was absolutely convinced
of the rational, scientific character of this branch of
astronomy. The factual and sober approach of this
Roman engineer and architect to the vast subject with
which he was dealing not only was evident in his out
look on astrology, but may also be taken as a sample
of the prevailing attitude towards astrology among
Roman architects and other men of science, the m ajority
of whom may be assumed to have considered astrology
as a perfectly legitimate branch of applied astronomy.
Not many, however, would perhaps use Greek sources
as thoroughly as Vitruvius who, for example, was the
only ancient writer to transmit to us the names of two
otherwise wholly forgotten early Hellenistic astrologers,
Antipatrus and Achinapolus, and their theory that
conception, not birth, was the decisive moment whose
constellation determined the fate of the human being
involved.21
The degree to which astronomy and astrology were
becoming part of a general educational background
could be gauged from the fact that no longer specialists
alone laid a claim to writing on such subjects. Roman
grammarians, i. e. professors of literature and philology,
began to interest themselves also in at least the rudi
ments of astral lore and astronomical facts. Among this
group C. Julius Hyginus, a freedman of Augustus,22
was one of the most universalist writers. H e came to
Rome as a boy about 47 b . c ., approximately the same
time at which his fellow-countryman Seneca rhetor was
sent from Spain to the capital. Succeeding probably
Pompeius Macer who seems to have been the first direc
tor of the new Palatine Library in Rome,23 Hyginus held
this post for many years, possibly as late as a . d . 10,24
when Ovid apparently appealed to him against the ban
of his works from the public libraries. If Hyginus was,
indeed, the one to whom Ovid addressed himself, it
w'ould be a sign of his influence in the literary world,
and probably also with the emperor. The grammarian
was then already an old man. possibly close to seventy,
but in spite of his reputation he was very poor. Thus he
probably continued his teaching activities until his
death.25
50 Vitruvius, de architectura 9, 6, 2.
51 Loc. cit.
11 Suetonius, de grammaticis, 20.
33 Suetonius, Caesar, 56.
* Ovid, Tristia 3, 14, w . 1 and 7.
Suetonius, de gramm., 20; cf. Diehl and Tolkiehn, R E 10,
1919: c. 628, no. 278,-c. 651; Verrius Flaccusafter a . d . 10
was the first author known to us who quoted from Hyginus.

T H E P O W E R O F A ST R O L O G E R S FRO M A U G U ST U S TO D O M ITIA N

85

The versatility of the prolific grammarian was greater and other diviners in Rome. Following the general
than his scholarly depth, but Vergil, who was one of ban of astrologers from the capital in 33 b . c ., the next
his students,2* probably owed much of his knowledge expulsion order of this kind which we know of was
on agriculture and horticulture, as well as apiculture directed against a renowned mystagogue. Anaxilaus of
Hyginus was the first Latin writer on bees to this Larissa. The date of the blow against him is not alto
widely informed teacher. Needless to say, Hyginus gether certain. Jerome did record it as of 29-28 b . c . , :!wrote such works not from practical experience, as for but one may wonder whether perhaps he was not already
example the older Cato had done, but at the book- banned with the sorcerers, expelled, along with the
covered desk of his study. Similarly his lengthy treatise astrologers, from Rome by Agrippas ordinance of 33
On astronomy the title varies in the manuscripts, B. c.33 Anaxilaus whose native Thessaly was rightly
where it occurs for example as de astrologia, or de or wrongly renowned for its inhabitants proficiency in
astronomia, or de signis caelestibus was not based on magic arts was certainly no ordinary charlatan. A lead
his own observations. H e dedicated the work, which ing neo-Pythagorean he was even credited (though on
in modern editions is usually divided into four books, dubious authority) with having been something like
to a M. Fabius. The introductory section 27 laid down the grandmaster of an Alexandrinian order of neothe table of contents: Hyginus intended to give an Pythagoreans. A treatise On philosophers was also
exposition of the basic subject-matter by means of a ascribed to him.3*
description of forty-two constellations and their myths,
W hat did arouse the Roman government perhaps
dealing (1 ) with an explanation of the cosmos and the more than his esoteric neo-Pythagoreanism was his
celestial sphere and its sections (Introduction and eight proficiency in alchemy and its related disciplines,
chapters) ; (2 ) with the stories of the heavenly con astrology and magic. W e have for example reason to
stellations (forty-three chapters) ; (3 ) with the forms believe that Anaxilaus was suspected of possessing a
of the constellations (forty chapters) ; (4 ) with the method of making silver, a recipe borrowed from the
rotation of the five circles amidst the heavenly bodies notorious Bolos of Mendes (second century b . c . ? ) .
and with the planets (the end is m issing).28
For more than a century after his expulsion from Rome
It seems established that Hyginus knew and used the he was remembered as an authority in the realm of
Phaenomena of Aratus, the most popular work on astral science. His reputation was great enough to induce,
mythology.29 He also had access to commentaries of for example, the older Pliny to have recourse to Anaxi
the poem, as well as to other authors, possibly Eratos laus as one of his sources in a number of books of his
thenes.30 H e furtherm ore availed himself of a celestial Natural H istory.3 About a century later the Thes
globe. Unfortunately, as a grammarian Hyginus was salian was still remembered, but was less highly regarded
too much interested in mythology and too little in by both pagan and Christian authors.37 Even towards
astronomy. H e was also handicapped by the limita the end of the fourth century a . d . Jerome deemed him
tions of his knowledge of Greek. Moreover, as might worthy of mention in his adaptation of Eusebius
be expected from so prolific a writer, his accuracy left Chronica. Following perhaps Suetonius the great Chris
much to be desired. Small wonder that his work was tian humanist referred to Anaxilaus as a Pythagorean
long neglected.31 Isidorus of Seville (early seventh and a magus. 38
century) was the first later scholar to quote it, inaugu
Jerome, Chron., 01.188 (Abr. 1989) : Anaxilaus Larissaeus
rating perhaps thereby its popularity, for our manu
scripts date from the eighth to the fifteenth century. Pythagoricus et magus ab Augusto urbe Italiaque pellitur. The
information may stem from Suetonius.
Like the work of his contemporary Vitruvius, that of
33 This is suggested by R. Helm, Philologus, Suppl. 21: 62,
Hyginus too was evidence of the mounting interest in but if Jerom es urbe Italiaque pellitur is literally correct, then
the heavens which characterized the late republic and Anaxilaus cannot have been banished by Agrippa's aedilian
ordinance of 33 b. c., because such a decree would have been
the Augustan era.
valid only for Rome, but not for Italy as a whole.
The belief in astrology in particular was now so firm
Diogenes Laertius, 3, 2, and possibly 1, 107.
33 Papyrus Holm, 3, 13 Lag., prefaced a recipy with ti
that Octavianus himself felt it necessary to continue the
Am^tXaos avatpipti xai rode. M. Wellmann, Die
policy of watching carefully the activities of astrologers <t>vtTina, des Bolos-Demokritos,
Abh. A k. Berlin. 7. 1928 : 40 ; 48;
Columella, de re rustica 1, 1. 13, referred to Hyginus as deceased
for a quite long time.
Columella, de r. r., loc. cit.
27 Ed. Bunte : 19, 3-10.
28 Ibid., p r .: 21 and 27.
See above, p. 26 f.
Compare A. Rehm, Mythographische Untersuchungen ueber
Sternsagen: 6; Muenchen, 18%.
31 Toikiehn. R E 10. 1919: c. 644; ibid., c. 649-651 on other
works of this kind, possibly also from the pen of Hyginus.

esp. 52-54, assigns three works to A naxilaus: <frwiica. Balnea.

Ilai'yrta. W. Kroll, R E , suppl. 6, 1935: c. 5-7, is less enthu
siastic about Anaxilaus.
Pliny cited Anaxilaus among his sources very frequently;
see Nat. Hist. 19; 21-26; 28-31. He also quoted him ibid. 19.
1. 20: 25, 13. 154; 28. 11, 181; 30. 8. 74 ; 32. 10. 141: 35. 15, 175.
57 Irenaeus, 1, 13: Anaxilai ludicra cum nequitia eorum qui
diccntur magi commiscens [M arcus] ; cf. Ps.-Cyprianus. 3, 184:
compare Sextus Empiricus, Pyrrhon. hypothes. 1, 46, as well as
Pliny, Nat. Hist. 32, 10. 141.
33 Jerome. Citron.. Abr. 1989 ( 01.188).

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

A man who cast such a long shadow across almost

half a millennium cannot have been an insignificant
figure in his own day. It may also safelv be assumed
that Anaxilaus like the earlier Roman Pythagorean
Nigidius Figulus was deeply versed in astrology, whose
tenets were so widely accepted by the neo-Pythagoreans
that astrological writings were actually ascribed to
Pythagoras himself,30 If the Thessalian philosopher
and wizard was actually the special target of an indi
vidual expulsion order emanating from Augustus in
28 b . c.. the reason, in all probability must have been
that in the uneasy years preceding the establishment
of the principate in 27 b . c . the Larissan had encour
aged oppositional elements by his predictions of political
developments to come.
The general unrest was certainly not lessened by the
fact that Octavianus had no sons and only a single
daughter, Julia. When in 27 he was proclaimed Augus
tus by the senate, ttye new princeps was still beset with
the knotty problem of the succession. Julia was twelve
years old, barely marriageable according to Roman law.
Although Augustus himself was only in his mid-thirties,
he had no way of knowing whether or not his life would
be suddenly terminated by political assassination, the
fate of his predecessor Julius Caesar. The rulers
divorce from Julia's mother, Scribonia, and his hasty
m arriage with Livia added two step-sons, Tiberius and
Drusus, to the imperial family, but both of them Livia
was only eighteen at the time of her marriage into the
Julian house were in their teens during the mid
twenties. N or would Augustus prefer these scions of
the Claudian gens to direct descendants of the Julian
line whom young Julia might eventually produce.
The most important thing therefore was to have Julia
suitably married. Vijpsanius Agrippa already was linked
to the Julian gens through marriage with Marcella, a
niece of the emperor. Moreover, he was a generation
older than Julia. A t any rate, Augustus selected as the
first husband for his only child young Marcellus, a con
sumptive lad and her first cousin. H e was seventeen
years old when he married Julia. The bride was sixteen.
Two years later she was a widow. No children had
resulted from the short-lived match. To what extent
astrological advice contributed to the choice of Mar*-ilus as Julias husband we have no way of knowing,
t seems, however, very likely that favorable astrological
predictions were obtained and, at least to a certain de
gree, helped to encpurage Augustus in arranging this
ill-starred marriage.
The death of Marcellus apparently overrode all other
considerations with regard to the succession. In the
very year in which Julia had lost her husband Marcellus,
A g rip p a , th e most trusted friend of the emperor, was
p e rs u a d e d to d iv o rc e h is wife Marcella, and marry
See for example Cat. 1: 128, 5-6; 5, 3: 114, 9-13; 8, 4: 13;
21: 5. 1: 3 (f. 328') j 8, 1; 26 (f. 3 2 ); 64 (f. 21) ; 65 (f. 43) ;
. if. 163' ; 166) ; 71 (f, 90) ; 131, 4.

Julia, a lively bride of eighteen for a staid statesman

of forty-two. This marriage lasted for almost eleven
years and produced a number of children, including the
older Agrippina and the younger Julia, as well as Caius,
Lucius, and the younger Agrippa (the last one born
after his fathers death and therefore called Postum us).
This promising crop was not destined, however, to
bring forth a successor to A ugustus: Caius and Lucius
died as young men long before their grandfather, while
Agrippa Postumus proved to be hopelessly deranged.
Moreover, at the time of M. Vipsanius Agrippas death
in 12 b . c . his children in any case were far too young
for the imperial succession. F or many years to come,
therefore, Augustus again had to wrestle with the
thorny problem of the imperial succession.
His friends and foes alike were only too well aware
of this difficulty, and it is hardly surprising that the
year 12 b . c. was again one of particular restlessness in
Rome. Soothsayers and prophets as usual capitalized
on this psychological state. T hat the government did
not remain impervious to the tide of rumors, predic
tions, and oracular revelations became clear from a
drastic action which Augustus took in that year to curb
the flood of spurious divinatory literature purporting
to offer to high and low alike infallible predictions.
H e had at last (after the death of Lepidus, his erstwhile
colleague in the trium virate) obtained the office of
pontifex maxim us in that very year. Among his first
measures was an order to collect and scrutinize all
writings of this kind. Thousands of works were duly
surrendered and promptly sentenced to a fiery death.
T he Sibylline books alone were exempted from this
general autodafe.40
T hat certain astrological texts were among those thus
destroyed can hardly be doubted. F or not only obscure
writings of this era, but also its very finest were per
meated in varying degrees with divinatory lore, and
especially with astrological references. The great poets
of the Augustan era alone furnished conclusive evidence
to that effect. Their oldest and most renowned repre
sentative was Vergil (bom 70 b . c.). Of him Suetonius
reported that among other studies he gave attention
also to medicine and in particular to mathematics
(m a th e m a tic a e )41 Inasmuch as the term mathematicus in the days of Suetonius had become the usual
one for astrologer (and was thus often used by Sue
tonius himself in his Lives of the Caesars), it might
well have been that not only ordinary geometry and
elementary algebra, but also astrology was seriouslystudied by young Vergil. H e surely also received the
general education of his day which included at least a
smattering of astronomy and astral mythology. In his
writings, however, there was but little evidence of astro
logical lore. H e did, indeed, bow to the official Augus
40 Suetonius, Augustus, 31, 1.
41 Suetonius, vita Verg., 15.

T H E P O W E R O F A S T R O L O G E R S FR O M A U G U ST U S TO D O M IT IA N
tan version of the catasterism of Julius Caesar,42 and
he also made, for example, magnificent poetic use of
the traditional Stoic belief in palingenesis, as well as
of the hallowed theory of successive saecula.43
F or the moment in our own day Einsteins concept
of a finite space seems to prevail, having successfully
replaced the earlier Euclidean assumption of an
infinite void filled with an infinite number of stars,
comets, and nebulae. At the same time this modem
finite universe appears to expand into nothingness at a
rate defying rational understanding. W hether or not
this cosmic catastrophe will affect our small planet
within the brief span allotted to the human race we do
not know, but the prospect of an all-encompassing catas
trophe in space is today perhaps less incredible than it
was to the sceptics of antiquity. Vergils pious dream
of a new era following such a disaster was not original
with him, but found lasting poetic expression in his
fourth eclogue in which a better age was to be launched
by a child redeemer.
Yet withal Vergil refused to accept blindly the astro
logical belief in an inexorable fate. H e did no more
than pay lip service to the fashionable interest in natal
constellations and planetary influences: Aeneas flattered
Helenus as a man who knew the stars,44 while elsewhere
the natal sign of Augustus, Libra, was referred to by
the poet,45 an indication of his being at least conversant
with the more common terminology of astrology.
Of the Augustan circle, Horace and his patron
Maecenas shared the gentlemanly attitude combining
astrological consultations with at least some grains of
scepticism, an outlook characteristic for the upper
Roman society of the late republic and the early
principate.
In an ode written in 26 b . c ., when Agrippa was
building the Pantheon in Rome, Horace made full use
of the astrological terminology of that era. H e empha
sized that both Maecenas and he had the same chronoc ra to r48 in their respective horoscopes. Their fate was
thus linked.47 The almost miraculous escape of Mae
cenas from death on a certain occasion was blandly
ascribed by the poet to the fact that in his patrons
horoscope Jupiters benign influence had been stronger
than the baleful one of Saturn. Yet the earthy common
sense of the poet was not to be entirely befogged by
such astrological claims. Jokingly he ascribed his own
escape from recent peril not to any zodiacal sign, be it
Libra, Scorpio, or Capricorn, or any other that might
See above, p. 78 ff.
See above, pp. 25. 27, 50 ff.
*" Acneid 3, v. 360: qui sidera sentis.
Georgies 1, vv. 33 ff.; compare W. v. Voigt, U nter welchen
Gestirium wurden Caesar, Agrippa und Tiberius geboren.
Philolorjus 58 (N . F. 12), 1899: 170-204.
** The chronocrator is the dominant planet in the natal
constellation; see Bouche-Leclercq: 491. n. 1; 491 ff.
,T Odes 2. 17. vv. 21 f .; compare F. Boll, Zu H oraz' Oden. 2,
17. Zeitschrijt fuer das Gymnasiaischulwesen 65, 1911: 765.

87

have been dominant at the hour of his birth, but to the

good old god Faunus.48 H is unwillingness to accept
the dreary creed of fatalistic astrology led Horace to
prefer a quasi-religious type of catarchic astrology. He
expressed his belief in a divine genius capable of modi
fying astral power.49 H e thus was still far from accept
ing the iron clad mechanistic concept which, a genera
tion later, so eloquently emerged from the Astronomica
of Manilius, a concept shared by a number of rulers of
the first century a . d . Horaces friend Maecenas simi
larly questioned the accuracy of astrological predictions.
Instead of accepting Horaces interpretation of their
common fatal star which would mean the death of
one to occur closely after that of the other, Maecenas
on his deathbed in the fall of 8 b . c . recommended his
friend, Horace, to the emperor Augustus. But less than
two months later, on November 27, Horace also died.
Ever afterwards readers of Horaces ode of 26 b . c . must
inevitably have been impressed with the accuracy of
his astrological interpretation of the horoscopes of both
men.
F ar more firmly convinced than Horace had been of
star-fated human destiny was his younger contemporary
Propertius. Although he seems to have died earlier
than Vergil and Horace there is no record of his sur
viving the year 16 b . c.his faith in fatalistic astrology
was already much stronger than that of his two older
fellow-poets. He expressed his contempt for the legend
ary seer Calchas, since that Greek prophet had been
ignorant of astrology.50 The most detailed revelation
of Propertius attitude towards astrology itself was
written into an elegy, published towards the end of his
life, probably about 16 b . c . In the second half of this
poem appears an oriental astrologer, Horos of Babylon,
said to be the son of a great sage Horops of fabulous
ancestry.51 Propertius himself seems to admit having
dabbled in making astrological predictions (die ere fata),
apparently without too much success. For Horos, with
the grandiloquence characteristic for his calling, chided
Propertius for these attempts. H e himself, on the other
hand, insisted (as might be expected) that he himself
of course had written nothing but the precise truth in
his own (presumably astrological) works. The priestly
art of the ancient Orient he said was, indeed, nowadays
grossly abused by unworthy men eager to gain filthy
lucre. The slanting signs32 of the zodiac together with
Horace, Odes 2, 17, w . 17-20; 2 7 1 : utrumque nostrum
incredibili modo consentit astrum, stresses the astral parallelism
which (the poet believes) exists between his own life and that
of his patron Maecenas.
4* Horace, epist. 2, 2, v. 187; compare on his scepticism con
cerning numerology Odes 1, 11, v. 2. An astrological interpre
tation of Odes 1, 28, v. 5, however, is too far fetched; see
Bouche-Leclercq: 551, n. 4.
Propertius, 4, 1, v. 109.
4
51Ibid., w . 7 7 ff.; compare F. Boll, Zu Propertius IV, 1,
Rhein. Mus. 5 5 , 1900 : 219 f.
Propertius 4. 1, v. 82: obliqua signa iterata rotae.

88

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

benign Jupiter, predatory Mars, and baleful Saturn,

Pisces, Leo, and Capricorn, all of them, alas, were used
as money-making assets by such charlatans.
The terminology used by Propertius was so techni
cal in this instance that it presupposed an astounding
familiarity with astrology among his readers.53 The poet
himself apparently even knew enough about astrology
to be capable of practicing it on occasion. His astrologer
Horos at least speaking perhaps for Propertius him
self claimed to have prophesied to a certain Arria-:
a friend of the poet that her twins would never attain
full manhood, but were destined to die a violent death
before reaching it, a prediction which apparently came
sadly true. Furthermore, deriding the ancient methods
of oracular divination which in the time of Propertius
had suffered a great eclipse of popularity, the poets
spokesman cast ridicule on the Libyan Jupiters cave,
on the priests prophecies from entrails, on the flight of
birds, and even on necromancy which with magic waters
raised the spirits of the dead. None of these traditional
methods of divination could compare with the scientific
accuracy and the Wisdom of the astrologer: The path
of heaven is to be Studied and the true road amidst the
stars. Confidence must be sought from the five zones. 5*
The palm of course belonged to the astrologers own
writings.55 After a renewed attack on Greek prophets,5
Propertius turned to his own horoscope now analyzed
by H o ro s: I now shall deal with your own stars. Be
bravely ready for new tears, a reference to the poets
own unhappiness. There followed a brief autobiography
of the poet. In his native Umbrian Assisi his family,
empoverished by wholesale confiscations, led a harassed
life after his fathers early death. It was his fate that
the girl dearest tq his heart would betray him, her
cupidity being a birth mark of people bom under the
sign of Cancer.57 Apparently the luckless and exploited
lover had also investigated the horoscope of his mistress.
Ovid, youngest of the great poets of the Augustan
age, became familiar with astrology in his school-days,
but not necessarily enamored of it. One of his pro
fessors of oratory, for instance, was the sceptical Arellius
Fuscus, a Greek who had migrated from Asia Minor
to the lusher professional fields of the capital. A modern
ist, he introduced the new works of Roman writers like
Vergil into the classroom,5 although he himself pre
ferred to discourse in his native Greek. Personally he
was a sceptic of the Cameadic tradition, but he, never
theless, was well vejrsed in the astrological terminology
of his time. There Was in those days among the standard
classroom topics one which called for a speech on Alex Compare Bouche-Leclercq: 552, n. 1.
'* Propertius 4, 1, vy. 107 f .: aspicienda via est caeli verusque
per astra trames, et ab zonis quinque petenda fides.
Ibid.. v. 102: librij est data palma meis.
s* Ibid., w . 109 fi.
57 Loc. cit.
Seneca rhetor, Stiasoriae 4, 5.

ander the G reats deliberation whether or not to heed

the warning of a Babylonian augur (whom everyone
now took for an astrologer) not to enter Babylon.58
According to the doctrine of fatalistic astrology Alex
ander should have had no choice in the matter, accord
ing to the tenets of catarchic astrology, on the other
hand, he should merely avoid an unauspicious moment
and select a favorable time for his entry into the Chal
daean capital.
In dealing with this popular topic Arellius Fuscus
ridiculed the blind faith in astrology, alluding even
ironically to the catasterism of Julius Caesar by the
present ruler:
Who is he who claims a knowledge of the future? . . .
He may set his sires amid the stars and claim descent
from heaven. . . . No narrow span of years can be his:
his soul must be exempt from fate who proclaims the
futures secret to the world, if these auguries are true,
why then do we not devote all our days to the pusuit of
this lore . . . since the stars are an open book to us, and
we may hold converse with divinities? If this is so, then
why do we thus labor in the pursuit of an eloquence which
is useless . . . ? Surely genius will thrive best on this
knowledge of the future. Can there be a better guarantee
of its growth ?
To this ironic evaluation of astrology young Ovid
may well have listened, happily unaware of the sad lot
which in days to come Augustus would bestow on him.
One wonders, indeed, whether or not such foreknowl
edge of the future would have benefited the young poet
at all. N or would the older Seneca, to whom we owe
the preservation of the arguments of Arellius Fuscus,
have relished any insight into the tragic destiny await
ing his own brilliant sons.
T he inherent presumptiousness of astrologys axiom
that the celestial bodies were concerned with individual
mortals was exposed by Arellius Fuscus also:
Those who as they assert have probed the secrets of fate
enquire into the days of our birth and count the first hour
of our life the index of all the years to come: they calculate
the motions of the stars at that hour, the direction of their
various paths, decide if the sun stood steadily adverse, or
shone calmly upon us: if the moon was full, or its light
only waxing, or if it hid its head in the gloom of night;
whether Saturn welcomed us at birth to the life of a farmer,
or Mars as warriors to a life of arms, or Mercury to the
busy pursuit of wealth, whether with sweet smile Venus
beckoned to us, or Jupiter raised us from low to high
estateall these gods thronging and crowding round on
single head! 81
It may be noted that Fuscus simply identified the
stars with their name-giving divinities. H e also in this
passage subscribed to the crude custom of merely im
puting to the particular planet the influence charac
teristic of its deity. H e concluded this discussion of
astrology with a scathing stock argument of the Car'* Ibid., 4.
60 Ibid.. 1.
** Ibid.. 2.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FRO M A U G U ST U S TO D O M ITIA N

neadic school of thought, the same one which Cicero
(ascribing it to Panaetius) in his On divination 62 had
also applied:
To many these seers have foretold long life: and while
they thought of no danger the day of doom overwhelmed
th e m : to some they have announced that death was near,

yet these have long survived to useless days: to others they

have promised happy years, yet every form of misfortune
fell swiftly upon their heads. Our lifes destiny is un
knownThese predictions are but arbitrary fictions of the
seers, no treasures from the m ine of true knowledge.63
Like Vergil and Horace, Ovid too seems at least to
have retained a certain reserve. H is teachers words
apparently did not leave him entirely unimpressed, and
his familiarity with astrology without a fanatical belief
in fate, however was demonstrated in his Ibis. In this
poem Ovid showed his acquaintance with the jargon
of astrologers and the weather-omen interpreters. Re
ferring to an enemys horoscope he proclaimed:
You are born to be unfortunate. Not a single star was
propitious and gentle at your birth. Venus did not shine
at that hour nor Jupiter. Neither Sun nor Moon was in a
favorable position, and what the resplendent Maja received
from great Jupiter has not made her fires helpful to you.
You are weighted down by the star of Mars, which pre
sages brutal things only and never anything peaceful, and
by the one of the old man with the scythe [Saturn]. To
make everything doleful the day of your birth began with
bad weather and was darkened by a bed of clouds.64
Only the degrees of the planetary positions were
lacking to make this part of a professional horo
scope.65 It may also be noted thatperhaps owing to
poetic license some planets were identified with the
particular divinities, while others were referred to only
as the stars of their respective divinities. The identifi
cation of the influence of the planet M ars with the
powers attributed to the god M ars again typified the
simplicity with which ancient astrologers transferred
divine powers to the planets without even the pretext
of a scientific explanation.
W hen Augustus lost his step-son, Drusus. in 9 B. c.,
an unknown poet addressed a consolation to the be
reaved mother, Livia, wife of the emperor. In glowing
terms he reminded her that even the skies were mourn
ing with her. Bright Lucifer had abandoned his cus
tomary course, refusing to rise on the day preceding
the death of Drusus. Venus, ancestral divinity of the
Julian family, was also in mourning.6 All in all, during
the greater part of the reign of Augustus the late re
publican attitude towards astrology thus persisted. A
gentleman had to be familiar with the names and the
myths of stars and constellations, as well as with the
0> Cicero, de divinatione 2, 47, 97 ff.
" Seneca rhetor, Suasoriae 4, 3.
** Ovid. Ibis, vv. 207-216.
" Bouche-Leclercq: 552.
" Poetac Latini minores, ed. Baehrens, 1: 104-121, esp. w .
405 ff.

89

basic astrological terminology. Poets writing for the

educated upper class of Rome could presuppose such
knowledge amongst their clients.67 Yet there still
lingered a final reserve, a remnant of scepticism about
astrology among Romes intelligentsia.
This spirit was shared by a Greek author, Strabo,
whose popularity was great enough to assure the sur
vival of the bulk of his substantial Geography. A con
temporary of Augustus he lived from about 66 b . c .
to about a . d . 24 and expressed the modified acceptance
of astrology by the middle of the ro ad intellectuals
of the Augustan era. For example his repeated state
ment that Egyptian priests were greatly devoted to
philosophy and astronomia (a term which could include
astrology as w ell)68 and that they ascribed to Hermes
the revelation of such wisdom* was presented without
comment. That Strabo definitely also meant astro
nomical activities, not merely astrological ones, was
attested by his ascription of the 365^-day calendar to
Egyptian inventiveness.70 A note of scepticism again
was injected into Strabos report, dutifully rendered,
that the Phoenicians of Sidon in particular had trans
mitted to the Greeks the first knowledge of astronomia
and arithmetic.71 Strabo, hailing as he did from the
southern shores of the Black Sea, tended to side with
the tradition which assigned to Mesopotamia the priority
of astronomical and astrological pursuits. Said h e :
The greater part of Babylon is . . . deserted. . . . In
Babylonia a settlement is set apart for the local philosophers,
the Chaldaeans, as they are called, who are mostly con
cerned with astronomia. But some of them, who are
not approved by the others, profess to be astrologers
( 7 \iaXo7 ). There is also a tribe of the Chaldaeans,
and a territory inhabited by them, in the neighborhood of
the Arabians. . . . There are also several tribes of the
Chaldaean astronomers. For example, some are called
*7 F. H arder, Astrognostische Bemerkungen zu den roemischen
Dichtern. Progr., Berlin, 1893, while excluding obvious Latin
works like translations or adaptations of A ratus Phaenomena,
Ovids Fasti, or Manilius Astronomica, counted from Plautus
to Claudianus, i. e. over a period of about six and a half cen
turies, for example no fewer than 132 references to the planet
Venus and 270 to the Big and Little Dipper.
** Compare P. Tannery, Recherches sur Ihistoire de Iastronomie ancienne: 1-55; Paris, 1893.
** Strabo, 17, 1, 3 (f. 787) ; 1. 29 (f. 806). In the mid-twenties
b . c. Strabo accompanied the Roman governor of Egypt. Aelius
Gallus. on a voyage up the Nile. A Chaeremon who also belonged
to the group of travelers cannot possibly have been the same
scholar who in a . d . 49 was appointed tutor to Nero.
0
Ibid. 17, 1, 46 (f. 816). Speaking of the priests at the shrine
near the Memnon colossus Strabo said: The priests there are
said to have been, for the most part, astronomers (itrrpcroiun)
and philosophers; and it is due to these priests also that people
reckon the days, not by the moon, but by the sun, adding to the
twelve months of thirty days each five days each year; and, for
the filling out of the whole year, since a fraction of the day
runs over and above, they form a period of time from enough
whole days, or whole years, to make the fraction that run over
and above, when added together, amount to a d a v : cl. also
17. 1, 29.
Ibid. 16, 2, 24 (f. 757)

71

90

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

Agrippa Postumus, would never be fit to succeed to

the empire. Under such circumstances the balanced
appraisal of life which had been so conspicuous during
the preceding decades of the Augustan era was under
mined. The old Roman values to which the ruler
seemed or at least professed to be so firmly attached,
values which in the realm of Roman family life he had
This passage illustrates the hopeless confusion pre tried to maintain by extensive legislation, were openlyvailing in the Augustan age about the meaning of the flaunted by his daughter, Julia, and her daughter of
term Chaldaeans. Already the word mathematici the same name. Also the ever present doubt whether
once chosen to denote the difference between astronomy or not the delicately balanced regime instituted in 26
and astrology came to acquire the meaning of astrology b . c. would survive its founder gnawed day and night
also. That this combined sense was the one which at the restive mind of the emperor. Years in which
Strabo used it is cfear from his mentioning Sudines optimism seemed warranted time and again were fol
among the mathematici. While the other names, espe lowed by years of renewed anxiety. The death of
cially those of Cidenas (K idinnu) and Seleucus, re Agrippa, for example, had made it necessary in 12 b . c .
ferred to renowned astronomers, Sudines, a contempo to seek a temporary solution of the succession question,
rary of king Attalus^ I (ca. 240 b . c.), was definitely an until Agrippas young sons would come of age. The
astronomer, as well as a Chaldaean diviner (/uLvtk), unfortunate expedient to which Augustus now resorted
i. e. in all likelihood an astrologer.7* The acknowledg had important consequences for Roman history in gen
ment of astronomy as a fundamental part of geography eral. In particular, however, it was to affect the role
was expressed by Strabo on numerous occasions. In played by astrologers in Roman political affairs.
In 12 b . c. the obvious choice of a potential regent
particular the astronomical subdivision of the heavens
into climata he considered applicable to the surface of was the rulers oldest step-son Tiberius , 77 an experi
our planet , 74 a theory of long standing and treated enced general and proven adm inistrator, who at the
occasionally in poetic form. That Strabo wrote pri time was thirty years old. From every point of view
marily for laymen who were interested in acquiring a he seemed a suitable third husband for the twicegeneral knowledge itather than for scholarly specialists widowed, twenty-eight-year-old Julia. T hat Tiberius
had to divorce his present wife in order to m arry Julia
was admitted by the author himself:
seemed of little importance. F or Roman marriages were,
. . . E v en in th e case of the p arts of the inhabited w orld
at least in high society, merely a legal convention to
the m an of affairs (4 n-oXi-rucAt) need not be ta u g h t the
which many payed only scanty attention. In this case,
n a tu re an d num ber of these things [i. e. the n atu re and
however, the exceptional had happened: Tiberius was
nu m b er of th e d iffe re n t aspects of the celestial bodies]. F o r
deeply attached to his wife, a daughter of Agrippa by
th a t is d ry read in g .7'
an earlier marriage, and therefore very unwilling to
Men in public life, to whom Strabo referred, were, divorce her for the sake of Julia, whose immoral con
indeed, not only his Greek readers, but especially that duct he knew far better than did her wholly deceived
circle of Romans to which men like Cicero, Julius father.7* The dazzling prospect of becoming his im
Caesar, and subsequently Augustus and the Augustan perial step-fathers son-in-law did not greatly attract
poets belonged: educated Roman gentlemen whose ac him. He was, however, too much of a man of the world
ceptance of astrology remained tempered with scepticism. not to realize that to refuse the hand of Julia would be
politically suicidal, and even personally dangerous. He
3. T H E D ECA Y O F A U G U STA N S C E P T IC IS M
therefore reluctantly divorced his wife, Vipsania, and
The decade from the death of Agrippa (12 b . c . ) to married Julia.
From the very first his position was an unhappy one.
ne ruin of Augustus only child, Julia, saw the emperor
the zenith of his good fortune. Thereafter the scandal H e longed for a pretext to leave Rome. In 9 b . c . his
tiich destroyed Julia and the successive deaths of brother, Drusus, died during a German campaign. Now
Augustus two grandsons and prospective heirs, Caius Tiberius went forth to complete the pacification of the
ind Lucius, dealt the emperor shattering blows. Finally
77 See Velleius Paterculus, 2, 96, 1; Suetonius, Augustus, 63.
he had to realize also that his last surviving grandson, 2 ; Cassius Dio, 54, 31, 1-2. clearly suggests that the match

O rch en i, others B orsippeni [obviously those residing at

the tow n of B orsippa] and several others by different nam es,
a s th ough divided into different sects w hich hold various
differen t dogm as about th e same subjects. A nd the m athem a tici m ake m ention of some of these m e n ; as for exam ple
C idenas and N ab urianos and Sudines. Seleucus of Seleucia
is also a C haldaean, as a re also several other notew orthy
m en.15

* Ibid. 16, 1, 6 (f. 739).

71 W . Kroll, R E , 2. jReihe, 4, 1, 1931; c. S63. T hat he like
Hipparchus combined astronomy with astrology may be assumed
from Vettius Valens, Antliologiae 11, 11 (ed. W . K roll: 35, 4).
r Strabo, 2. 5, 2 ff. (ff. 110-112).
71 Ibid. 14, 1, 25 (f. 642).
''Ibid. 2, 5. 34 (f. 132).

was merely meant as a political provisorium, until the

young sons of Agrippa and Julia, the grandsons of Augustus,
would grow up. The betrothal took place in the year 12, the
marriage in 11 b. c . ; Cassius Dio, 54, 35, 4.
7* Julia apparently had already made advances to Tiberius
when both of them were still married to other spouses. Tiberius,
although no Joseph, had spurned this Roman Potiphar, only to
find himself now forced into m arriage with her.

T H E P O W E R O F A S TR O LO G ER S FRO M A U G U ST U S T O D O M ITIA N
German tribes between the Rhine and Elbe and to fetch
his brothers body for burial in Rome. Meanwhile Julia s
escapades continued to keep Romes ever-busy tongues
awagging. W hen Tiberius returned to Rome, he was
highly honored by the grateful emperor. H e was made
consul (7 b . c.) and granted a triumph. But life with
Julia had become intolerable. Divorce was unthinkable.
It would have mortally affronted Augustus had Tiberius
opened the doting fathers eyes to the conduct of Julia.
Tiberius was a Roman gentleman. He chose a curious
way out of his dilemma. A laughing stock of Romes
gay blades he asked formally for Augustus permission
to withdraw to Rhodes, ostensibly for the purpose of
resuming his studies . 79 The strange request was
granted with ill grace . 80 All that Livia could obtain
for her son from the irate emperor was a face-saving
appointment which made him a Roman ambassador
(legatus) to Rhodes . 81
W hen Tiberius with a very small retinue left for the
Greek island in 6 b . c ., he was still the most logical
successor to Augustus whose grandsons were far too
young to be seriously considered for the throne in case
Augustus should die during the next decade. The open
estrangement between the emperor and Tiberius, on the
other hand, encouraged malcontents who still hoped to
restore the old senatorial regime of the late republic.
Fully aware of the serious weakening of the dynastic
position the ruler did what he could to bolster it. He
adopted both Caius and Lucius and pursued tenaciously
his policy of arranging intra-family marriages. Of these
the match between Tiberius nephew Germanicus, son
of the late Drusus. and Julias daughter Agrippina (the
elder) proved fateful for the future fortunes of the
dynasty. F o r from it descended the emperor C. Caligula,
his sister, the younger Agrippina, and through her the
emperor Nero. Also married by Augustan arrange
ment during these years was Julias other daughter,
the younger Julia. The husband selected for her was
L. Aemilius Paulus, whose mother, Cornelia, had been
immortalized by Propertius, and who herself was a halfsister of Augustus. W ith the imperial family thus
cemented by all conceivable kinds of marital ties, the
princeps reached the zenith of his political career when
on February 5 .2 b . c . he was solemnly voted the highest
honor which could be bestowed upon a R om an: the title
of pater patriae. At the zenith of his fortunes fate struck
him down.
H is eyes were suddenly opened to the true character
of his beloved daughter, Julia, and the life she was
leading. Even the hard-boiled and anti-imperial his
torians of the first century admitted the King Lear
7* O ur sources more or less agree on the real reasons; see
Velleius Paterculus, 2, 99, 1-3; Suetonius, Tiberius, 10-11:
Tacitus, Annals 6, 51 (57) ; cf. 1, 53; Cassius Dio. 55, 9. 5-8;
(or the pretext of further studies. ibid. 55. 9, 5.
" Suetonius. Tiberius, 10f.
M Ibid.. 12. 1.

91

depths of his despair . 82 For a time he pondered whether

or not to execute his only child, then banished her forever
to an island, where many years later the aging
Julia, despairing of her fate, killed herself . 83 During
these dark months Augustus seems to have begun the
composition of the official record of his stewardship of
the empire, the so-called Monumentum Ancyranum, or
better the res gestae divi Augusti. Moreover, he proba
bly changed his will by making a new one sometime
after February 5, 2 b . c . 84
On September 23, 1 b . c . Augustus entered his sixtythird year, the most dreaded one of the so-called
climacteric years to which numerology and especially
the neo-Pythagoreanism of those days ascribed a cli
mactic role in the life of each human being. 85 Under
the existing circumstances it can cause no surprise that
Augustus was deeply worried about the impending year.
His long-standing scepticism about such superstitions
was weakening. It no longer fortified him sufficiently
to stave off a sentiment of foreboding. In order to as
sure a secure hold of his family on the administrative
machinery in case something happened to him, he se
lected the consuls for the year a . d . 1 with special care.
One was to be young Caius, his grandson and heirdesignate, the other his granddaughter Julias husband.
L. Aemilius Paulus.
L. Aemilius Paulus (and perhaps his wife also)8*
were eventually involved in a plot against Augustus.
A recent conjecture, although admittedly a tenuous one,
has tried to assign this abortive conspiracy to the cli
Suetonius, Augustus, 63 f., on the intra-family m arriages;
ibid., 65 on the series of disasters within the imperial house,
beginning in 2 b. c and on Augustus reaction to them ; com
pare the comment of Seneca, ad Polyb. consol., 15, 3: Nemo
magis ex omnibus mortalibus hominem esse se dum inter homines
erat sensit.

Augustus divorced wife Scribonia, the mother of Julia, vol

untarily accompanied her into exile; compare Velleius Pater
culus, 2, 100, 5; Suetonius, Augustus, 65, 2-3; Tiberius, 11, 4;
50, 1; Tacitus, Annals 3, 24; cf. 1, 53; Cassius Dio, 55, 10, 14 f. 13, 1; 56, 32, 4 ; 40, 6 ; 57, 18, la.
** Compare W . Ensslin, Zu den res gestae divi Augusti, Rh.
Mus., 81. 1932 : 334-365, esp. 359; E. Komemann, Gnomon 14.
1938 : 499; E. Hohl, Zu den Testamenten des Augustus, Klio 30
(N . F. 12), 1937 : 323-342; Der Leistungsbericht des Augustus.
Meue Jahrbuecher fuer A ntike und deutsche Bildung 3, 1940,
H eft 4 : 136-146, esp. 142f.
On tlw entire subject, see the classical work of Salmasius,
de annis climactericis, 1648. Ancient authors dealing with this
topic were for example Varro, quoted by Gellius, 3, 10, 9;
Vettius Valens, Anthologiae 3, 8 and 11; 5, 12 (where Crito
demus and Nechepso are cited as authorities); ed. W. Kroll :
143, 5 ff.; 147; 234, 31 ff.; Censorinus, de die natoli, 14, 13-15:
Firmicus Matemus, Mathesis 4, 20, 3; cf. Bouche-Leclercq: 526529; F. Boll, R E 11, 1921: c. 843 f.
H er marriage apparently took place in 4 b. cl In a . d . 8 she
w a s relegatedo r perhaps transferred from a previous place of
banishment t o the island of Trimerus, where she died twenty
y e a r s later: compare Tacitus, Annals 4, 71; cf. J, 24. Irre
s p e c t i v e of whether the p lo t of her husband Paulus took place
in a . d. 1 o r 14, it is hardly likely that Julia was ignorant of
his conspiratorial activities.

92

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

macteric year, while traditionally a much later date has

been assumed. That Paulus left his office on July 1
he was replaced by Herennius Picens 87 is shown by
the fasti consularcs. This change from a member of
the ruling family to an outsider in the middle of the
climacteric year would seem almost inexplicable except
for the gravest reasons of state. It may have been the
very belief that this climacteric year would be fatal for
Augustus which helped to stir the ambitions of Paulus.
Was not Tiberius safely away in semi-exile? W ere not
Caius and' Lucius two immature boys to be pushed
aside with relative ease? If the plot which cost Paulus
his life 88 actually occurred in a . d . 1 and not in a . d . 14
one could understand all the better the deep feeling of
relief with which Augustus celebrated his birthday at
the end of the perilous year. On that day (September
23, a . d . 1 ) he wrote to his grandson, Caius, a letter
reflecting perhaps tihe relief about his escape from a
concrete, not merely a general danger during the cli
macteric year:
Greeting, my dear Caius, my dearest little donkey
<asellus), so help me! I constantly miss you whenever
you are away from lin e . But especially on such days as
today my eyes are eager for my Caius, and wherever you
have been today. I hope you have celebrated my sixtvtourth birthday in health and happiness. For as you see,
I have passed the dimateric (<a<*muctw) common to all
old men, the sixty-thjird year. And I pray that whatever
time is left to me I raav pass with you safe and well, with
our country in a flourishing condition, while you are
playing the man and!preparing to succeed to my position
( dr6paya0o\>vTwr

Ofiwy xku dtaSexofJ-crutr stQ tio n em m e a n t ) .99

The note of seriousness in the second part of this

letter is in stark contrast to the jocose beginning. The
emperor's hope to live long enough to see his grandson
groomed for the succession was strengthened by his
having survived the climacteric year and its perils. Yet
with his daughter's disgrace still fresh in his mind and
perhaps a recent plot within his inner family circle as
added evidence of lurking perils Augustus had lost
much of his earlier confidence in his good fortune. Had
not Julius Caesar, his predecessor, experienced an even
more incredible amount of good fortune only to be
hurled to a violent death from the very summit of
power? In this somber mood, his faith in his family
and triends severely shaken, the aging ruler met the
greatest astrologer of his time. Thrasyllus.
87 Fasti consularcs imperii Romani, ed. W. Liebenam: 409;
compare Fasti Capitoiim, C IL 1, 2nd ed.: 164 and 340.
Suetonius. Augustus. 19, 1; cf. Cassius Dio, 55, 27, 1-2.
The Plautius Rufus mentioned by Suetonius would not, according
to Hohl, the advocate of the hypothesis that the plot belongs to
a . d . 1, be the rabble rouser ot a . d . 6 , but the M. Egnatius Rufus,
whose conspiracy was discovered in 19 B. c.
** Aulus Gellius. 15, 7j 3.

4.

T H R A SY L L U S A N D A U G U ST U S

The towering figure of Thrasyllus has hardly received

the attention it merits. Encyclopaedias and scholarly
accounts of this period, especially when dealing with
the reign of Tiberius, invariably mention him as a close
friend of this ruler. Every study o f the era refers to
him more or less briefly, but the full scope of his politi
cal influence has apparently never been fully probed.
Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio agree in assigning
to Thrasyllus considerable personal power, based chiefly
on his intimate friendship with Tiberius whose astro
logical adviser Thrasyllus became while Tiberius lived
in self-imposed exile on Rhodes. Actually, astrology
was but one of many fields in which this Alexandrinian
scholar, a grammarian by profession, proved himself.
His interest in astrology (and numerology) in no way
contradicted the seriousness of his intellectual pursuits.
From Hipparchus (second century b . c . ) and Ptolemy
(second century a . d . ) to Johannes Kepler (d. a . d .
1630) scientific brilliance was very often coupled with
deep-rooted faith in astrology.
T hat a man of Thrasyllus' calibre selected Rhodes in
which to pursue his academic career was undoubtedly
because of the high reputation which Rhodes enjoyed
in both the Greek and Roman orbit as a center of learned
studies . 90 Ever since the days of Panaetius a steady
stream of Romans had visited the island in pursuit of
learning. Cicero claimed to have received there his
decisive training in oratory. Julius Caesar too had
followed the path to the auditoria of Rhodes. Both had
gone there attracted, at least in part, by the fame of
Panaetius successor, the renowned Stoic Posidonius
of Apamea. The reputation of Rhodes for scholarly
pursuits drew, perhaps about half a century after the
death of Posidonius, the Alexandrinian grammarian,
Thrasyllus. On the other hand, the tradition (dating
back to the days of the Sullan terror) of Rhodes as an
honorable voluntary retreat for Romans, who at the
time were politically personae non gratae in the capital,
may have induced Tiberius to chose this retreat when
life with Julia in Rome had become intolerable.
After his arrival on the island in' 6 B. c, -.Tiberius at
once began to frequent the auditoria of the local scholars.
It is most probable that in this academic atmosphere
he first encountered Thrasyllus, then already a wellknown figure in learned circles. The scope of his intel
lectual interests was well-nigh universal, and his own
publications covered an amazingly wide range. As an
author of astrological writings he also cast a long
shadow. More than a century later Vettius Valens
(second century a . d . ) used them . 91 Again a century
later Porphyry in his Isagoge mentioned a controversy
which Apollinarius and Ptolemy had waged against
'* Compare on Rhodes in antiquity the monograph by H iller
voii Gantringen. R E . suppl. 5. 1931: c. 731-840.
M Anthologiae 9, 11; ed. W . K roll: 352, 24.

T H E P O W E R O F A ST R O L O G E R S FRO M A U G U ST U S TO DOM ITIA N

their predecessors in the realm of astrological literature,
Thrasyllus and Petosiris . 32 Surely to lie ranked along
side the most renowned albeit mythical astrological
author of Ptolemaic times was a token of the reputation
which the Alexandrinian grammarian still enjoyed long
after his death. Finally Hephaestion of Thebes (late
fourth century a . d . ) still knew Thrasyllus . 03 Of his
writings long believed wholly lost the epitome of one
astrological treatise has been rediscovered in a single
manuscript, filled with a collection of synopses of an
cient astrological texts.9* This pinax of Thrasyllus
was dedicated to a certain Hierocles, perhaps a fellowastrologer . 95 Among the authors cited by Thrasyllus
were such legendary figures as the inevitable Petosiris,
Nechepso, and Hermes Trismegistos.3*
In the other pseudo-sciences so popular in this era
of renascent Pythagoreanism Thrasyllus also pub
lished some writings of which his treatise on numerology
was still a widely used handbook on the subject a hun
dred years after his death . 97 There has also been more
recently the suggestion that he, not the Thrasyllus of
Mendes, may have been the author to whom an essay
on the properties of stones, a so-called lapidary, should
be ascribed . 98 Those lapidaries were more than mere
lexicographical discourses on the properties of rare
stones. Very frequently they also listed the astrological
affinities of each stone with zodiacal signs or planets .09
Magic medical powers of such stones were thus coordi
nated with those ascribed by astrology to specific con
stellations or planets. Often each stone was assigned a
particular day of each month.
F ar more important, however, than his contribution
in those marginal fields of ancient science were T hra
syllus efforts in his particular sphere, philology. A de
voted Platonist. Thrasyllus (together with Derkvllides)
published an edition of Platos works which became
the standard edition for the future. H e arranged the
Platonic dialogues in tetralogical order, the one in which
they have come down to us . 100 W hether or not Thra" Ed. E. Boer and St. Weinstock, Cat. 5, 4, 1940: 185-228.
Thrasyllus is referred to twice: 203, 4. and 212, 15.
Cat. 6 : 100, 11; cf. 8. 2 : 49, n. 1.
Ibid. 8. 2 : 99-101.
41 Ibid. 8, 2 : 99. n. 1.
Ibid.: 100, 19; 101, 16-7.
Juvenal. 6, v. 576.
** Compare H. M artin, Recherches sur les quatre personnages
appeles Thrasyllus, Annali di science matematiche e fisiche di
Tortolini 8, 1857 : 428 f f.; W. Gundel, R E , 2. Reihe, 11. 1936:
c. 581. no. 7,-c. 584, esp. 582 f.
** No astrological lapidaries are included in Les lapidaircs
grecs; ed. F. de Mely and Em. Ruelle. Paris, 1898. See. how
ever, A. Delatte, Traite des plantes planetaires d'un manuscrit
de Leningrad, Melanges . . . H enri Gregoire, 1949: 145-177.
and elsewhere.
ll> Albinus, Isagoge. 6: Diogenes Laertius. 3. 56 ff.; 9, 37:
schol. Juven. 6, v. 576; W. Christ, Geschichte der griechischen
Literatur ( Handbuch der klassischen Altcrtum sw issenschaft) 7,
2. 1-2. 1920/1924: 668; Zeller, Philosophie der Griechen 2, 1:

syilus was also responsible for a similar arrangement

of the writings of Democritus is less certain . 11 While
the New Academy, claiming spiritual descent from
Plato, had since the days of Carneades become a center
of Greek scepticism, being therefore firmly opposed to
all divination including, of course, astrology, this Platon
ist tried to revive the mysticism which had been part
of the early Platonic tradition. In that respect Thra
syllus may be looked upon as a forerunner of Plotinus
who two hundred years later founded neo-Platonism
along similar lines.
Apart from his labors in preparing what came to be
the standard edition of Plato's and perhaps also of
Democritus works Thrasyllus in his own right earned
a considerable reputation by his writings on the princi
ples of Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy. In the
third century a . d . Porphyry still considered him among
the important authors who had written on this subject.1"
One Thrasyllan treatise entitled On the seven tones
(Trtpi Tu>v ejrra roviay) was occasionally referred to by
later authors , 108 but no fragment of this (or any other
philosophical writings of Thrasyllus) seems to have
survived. The title, however, indicated the deep pre
occupation of its author, with a topic dear to Pythago
reans and Platonists alike. Viewed in this perspective
Thrasyllus interest in astrology and numerology seems
but a natural consequence of his Weltanschauung.
Surely Thrasyllus the Alexandrian must be considered
not only as one of the most versatile, but also one of
the most profound scholars of his era. His universalist,
intellectual pursuits were based on serious philosophical
convictions, and his preoccupation with what today are
recognized as pseudo-scientific subjects was based on a
quite generally accepted view that these were truly
scientific disciplines.
The private life of Thrasyllus prior to his meeting
with Tiberius at Rhodes is virtually unknown beyond
the fact that he hailed from Alexandria. If he had
previously been married, he must have lost his wife by
divorce or death. Nor is there any record of children
of Thrasyllus before his sojourn at Rhodes. In spite
of his growing reputation the Greek scholar was not
yet a Roman citizen at that time. One must assume,
however, that at Rhodes he was recognized as one of
the outstanding academic figures, although no direct
reference to his teaching or lecturing activities at Rhodes
has come down to us. It is well known, on the other
hand, that Tiberius as soon as he had arrived at Rhodes
began to frequent the lectures of the local professors. 104
195; 3 (4th ed.) : 633, n .; W. Gundel, RE , 2. Reihe, 11. 1936 .
c. 581, no. 7,-c. 584.
Diogenes Laertius, 9, 38; 41; 45-49; cf. W. Christ, op. cit.:
344; W . Gundel, loc. cit.
101 Porphyry, vita Plotini, 20.
1M Fragm. H ist. Graec. 3 : 501, ed. C. M ueller; Achilleus. 16;
19, ed. E. Maass : 43, 9; 46, 30: Porphvry. ad Ptolemaci harmon..
266.
'** Suetonius, Tiberius. 11, 1-3.

94

T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

His political fortunes were then at such low ebb that

a lampoon openly called him an exile . 105 while Diogenes,
one of the renowned professors at Rhodes, went so far
as to refuse the Roman access to his weekly Saturday
iemire. an impudence which Tiberius repaid with inter
est many years later . 108 It is surely most probable that
~;berius met Thrasyllus in an academic setting. Soon
the two men became friends.
One may dismiss as fable the story according to
which Tiberius, deeply worried about his own future,
<jan to consult astrologers, but, fearful of their revealng such consultations, had them hurled to their death
immediately afterwards. Thrasyllus, according to this
version, surprised Tiberius by discovering from the
'ir s his own imminent danger and thus convinced
e Roman of his superior astrological prowess . 107 He
u s saved his own life and, it is said, created a lasting
.pression upon Tiberius. Actually the sensational
-lory must be discounted. For neither would Tiberius
ive dared under the circumstances to engage in a
issacre of astrologers at Rhodes, nor would a man of
irasyllus' stature have accepted an invitation whose
mgers he would have been fully aware of. A far more
aural explanation of the growing friendship between
e two men would be the friendlessness of Tiberius
no in the seclusion of Rhodes had habituated him-<rlf to shun society.1 108 Many travelers in turn did
t think it prudent to visit the fallen magnate. W hen
officer like Quiriijius stopped to see him, Tiberius
nembered this gesture for long years to come. 109
>r did he forget those who had avoided him at
.odes. 110
in the solitude of his voluntary exile Tiberius must
. e been particularly attracted by the brilliant Greek
:ose company helped to while away many hours
uch might otherwise have been empty. Thrasyllus
iduallv not only became the friend of Tiberius but
-o his teacher. Among the subjects which the two

men cultivated astrology seems to have been the one

in which Tiberius took the liveliest interest. Although
his parents had of course obtained his horoscope soon
after his birth , 111 no evidence has come down to us
attesting to a previous personal interest in astrology on
the part of Tiberius. Now, however, the disillusioned,
somber, and embittered Roman and the Greek mystic
who searched the skies in quest of the eternal verities
of Fate spent much time in astrological studies. Tiberius
did not remain a passive recipient of such knowledge,
but learned from Thrasyllus the technique of casting
horoscopes himself, an art which he continued to prac
tice during the rest of his life. 112 W hen finally T hra
syllus predicted accurately the impending arrival of
momentous good news to be brought by an approaching
ship, he was sustained by the facts. Tiberius was recalled
to Rome ( a . d . 2 ) . 118 Lucius Caesar was dead, and
Caius Caesar died in a . d . 3. W hether he liked it or
not Augustus now had no choice but to adopt Tiberius,
thus formally designating him as his heir ( a . d . 4 ) . 114
As soon as he was able to do so, i. e. at the latest
after his return to Rome in a . d . 2, Tiberius rewarded
his faithful friend by obtaining for him the still impor
tant boon of Roman citizenship. The Greek scholar
henceforth became known as Tiberius Claudius T h ra
syllus. 115 Perhaps Tiberius was also instrumental in
winning for Thrasyllus the hand of princess A k a ( ? )
of Commagene . 118 This minor dynasty was long known
for its interest in things astrological, 111 but it hardly
seems likely that it would have agreed to the marriage
of one of its female members to a Greek scholar, had
he not possessed very influential connections to recom
mend him. Since we definitely know a son and a
daughter of Thrasyllus (see the family tree on p. 95)
and furthermore that this daughter must have been
married not later than about a . d . IS, it would appear
that (if both children were borne by Aka ( ? ) ) the m ar
riage between Aka (? ) and Thrasyllus dated at the
very latest from the year a . d . 2 , twelve years being

Ibid., 59, 1.
:0 Ibid., 32, 2.
111 Suetonius, Tiberius, 14, 2.
07 Tacitus, Annals 6, 21; Suetonius, Tiberius, 14, 4 ; Cassius
111 Tacitus, Annals 6, 21; Cassius Dio, 55, 11, 1.
o. 53. 11, 2-3; Anonymus Byzant., cod. Paris, gr. suppl. 607 A.
lls Tacitus, loc. cit.-, Cassius Dio, 55, 11, 3.
- ' r. ed- Cat. 8, 4: 99 f; compare A. H . Krappe, Tiberius and
111 Suetonius, Augustus, 65, 1; Velleius Paterculus, 2, 103.
rasyllus, Am er. Jour. PhUol. 48, 1927 : 359-366; C. Cichorius,
118 Corpus Inscriptionum Graecorum (C IG ) 3, no. 7107, con
miscke Studien: 390tf.. Leipzig and Berlin, Teubner, 1922.
firmsaccording to C. Cichorius, Roemische Studien: 396, and
"* Tacitus, Annals 4, 37; compare 1, 4.
Rhein. M us. 76, 1927: 103Hirschfelds suggestion that Tiberius
Ibid. 3, 48, and especially 4, 15. Suetonius, Tiberius, 12, 2,
may already have been able to obtain the Roman citizenship
res that at first all Romans of importance made a point of
for Thrasyllus even before both men left Rhodes.
ling on Tiberius whep passing through Rhodes, but ceased
1,8 This name has been reconstructed by E. Honigmann. Zu
io so after the succession of C. and L. Caesar seemed assured.
CIG 4730, H erm es 59, 1924 : 477 f., while Peek (op. cit. above,
. after 2 b . c . ; see ibid.. 12, 3; 13, 1.
ch. iii, n. 4) prefers to assume that the missing letters added
10 Tacitus. Annals 2. 42. On one occasion, however, Tiberius up to a2pa, not "Aica.
:.ad forgotten the name jof an old Rhodian friendwith tragic
111 Compare a first century b . c. relief, showing Antiochus I
=ults: ibid. 6, 10. On the episode involving Archelaus. compare
of Commagene and the Sun-god M ithras; F. Cumont. Les
i Suetonius. Tiberiusi 36; Cassius Dio. 57. 17, 3 ff. Velleius
religions . . .: 133. The tomb of the king was decorated with
Paterculus 2, 99. 3-4; liOO. 1; cf. 103, 1. for o!>vious reasons
his coronation horoscope of July 6 or 7, 62 b . c . when Pompey
-rred only to the first years of Tiberius' sojourn at Rhodes;
had reinstated him. F o r astrological epitaphs in Syria and Asia
inpare on Archelaus Tail W . E. Gwatkin. Cappadocia as a
minor, compare for example F. Cumont, Inscriptions du Pont.
'' n a n procuratorial province. Cnk'. of Missouri Studies 5 (4)
no. 33; F. Boll, Akrostische Inschrift von Sinope. Arc kip fuer
v'l: 7-16.
Religionswissenschaft 13, 1910 : 475-478.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O L O G E R S FR O M A U G U ST U S T O D O M IT IA N

95

Antiochus III ( ? ) (d. a . d. 17)

Ti. Claudius Thrasyllus of A lexandria-------- m. (ca. a . d. 2 )---------Aka ( ? ) , princess of Commagene
Ti. Claudius Balbillus---- m. (ca. 50?) (wife)
(d. ca. 81?)

(C laudia) m. (fa. 15)L. Ennius.

'
Roman knight

C. Julius Antiochus------m. ( l) ( c a . 64)-C laudia-m . (2) (ca. 85?) (M . M ettius?)

Ennia Thrasylla-m. (30?) C. Naevius
Epiphanes of Commagene|
Capitolina
Junius Rufus.
(d. 38) Sertorius Macro
___________ |_____________
Roman knight
(d. 38)
i
several children
C. Julius Antiochus
Julia Balbilla
(d. 38)
Epiphanes Philopappus
(d. after 130)
(consul 109, d. ca. 114)

the minimum age for a girls legal marriage according

to Roman law.
T his family tree expresses the m ajority opinion11*
which identified the Roman knight, who was a friend
of Seneca and prefect of Egypt under Nero, as well as
Claudius companion on the expedition to Britain, with
the Balbillus known to have been the son of Thrasyllus
and a favorite court astrologer of Nero and Vespasian,
as well as an astrological consultant to the younger
Agrippina. A stubbornly defended minority view 119
which refuses to agree to the identification seems un
tenable. The female line of the house of Thrasyllus,
so far as we know-, terminated in 38 with his great
grandchildren, bom to Ennia Thrasylla and her husband
Macro, a Roman knight. The male line, on the other
hand, continued through Balbillus andafter a break
resumed with his grandson Philopappus. It still existed
in the second century of our era, but we have no evidence
of its further fate beyond the generation of Philopappus
and his sister Julia Balbilla.
I t is difficult to appraise the inner reaction of T hra
syllus to his good fortune. Although the friendship
between him and Tiberius endured until the very end
of their lives and became a classroom example of a
famous friendship , 120 there may have been some
writings in which Thrasyllus dissociated himself from
Tiberius. F or the emperor Julian (d. 363) contra
dicted the popular tradition of this friendship between
prince and scholar:
Thrasyllus by becoming intimate with the harsh and
naturally cruel tyrant Tiberius would have incurred indeli
ble disgrace for all time, had he not cleared himself in the
writings that he left behind him and so shown his true
character. . . . 121
118 E. Honigmann, R E , suppl. 4, 1924: c. 986; W. Kroll, R E ,
suppl. 5, 1931: c. 59 f . ; Stein in P I R 2, 2nd ed.; 1936, no. 1086:
262.
118 Mainly led by S tein ; see P IR 1, 2nd ed., 1933, no. 38 : 349,
and 2, 2nd e d .; 1936, no. 813 (xxi, no. 813) ; 184 f . ; also
Aegyptus 13, 1933: 123-136 ; 331 f.
130 Themisius (fourth century a . d . ) refers to it a number of
tim es: or. 5; 8; 11; 34, ed. D in d o rt: 76, 1; 129, 15; 173, 6;
451, 7.
'Ju lia n , epist. ad Themistium, f. 265 C-D. But Julian may
merely have meant the general excellence of Thrasyllus oeuvre.

T hat the Alexandrian sage viewed the Roman ruler

less emotionally than Tiberius attached himself to T hra
syllus seems borne out by some of the extant records.
Thrasyllus prediction of a . d . 36, for instance, of ten
more years of life for the ailing Tiberius a few months
before his very death was said to have been made for
political reasons and against the astrologers better
knowledge. 122
Meanwhile a new chapter in the history of astro
logical influence in high places began with Thrasyllus'
arrival in Rome in a . d . 2. The gendemanly accept
ance, mixed with some grains of sound scepticism,
which had been the aristocratic attitude during the late
republic and was still adhered to by Augustus, now
gave way to an unquestioning faith in the irrevokable
fate of men and institutions. A lofty scientific concept
of the inexorable laws of nature emanated from the
Alexandrinian Greek and soon pervaded the Augustan
circle. W ithin hardly more than a decade the new spirit
manifested itself in two works written by members of
this group, the Astronomica of Manilius and the Latin
version of A ratus Phaenomena from the pen of Tiberius
nephew (and adopted son), Germanicus. 123 Of these
two the Astronomica was by far the more original effort.
The authors name, tentatively given as Manilius, is not
certain, but his proximity to the circle of Augustus and
Tiberius can hardly be questioned. Thus he certainly
came in frequent contact with Thrasyllus, and one might
expect that some of Thrasyllus fairly novel astrological
theories like the thema mundi, the heptazonos, the doc
trine of the twelve places and the physis of zodiacal
signs and planetsall of them formerly believed to be
of much later origin than the time of T hrasyllus 124
1:5 See below, p. 105 ff. Compare with Cassius Dio, 58, 27, 3
also the very similar passage of an Anonymous Byzant. in Cat.
8, 4; 100, as well as Suetonius, Tiberius, 62, 3.
1,3 Ed. Breysig, Leipzig, 1899. Of the many editions of Mani
lius Astronomica the unpretentious but reliable edition (and
commentary) of Th. Breiter, Dieterichsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Leipzig, 1908, surpasses many more ambitious efforts.
151 His familiarity with them is revealed in a summary of one
of his w orks; see Cat. 8, 3: 99-101; compare F*. Boll, Die
Lebensatter, Neue Jahrbuecker fuer das klassische Altertum 31.
1913 : 89-146, esp. 114 and 130, n. 1.

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

made their way into Manilius poem. On the whole,

however, Manilius seems to have spumed the mysticism
of Thrasyllus. The degree of Thrasyllus influence upon
Manilius astrological concepts remains uncertain , 125
but its existence can hardly be doubted.
The poem itself, a landmark in scientific Latin poetry
hardly inferior to Lucretius de natura rerum, was dedi
cated to an emperor, probably Tiberius. Its proud
opening lines were no wholly empty boast:

which was chiefly devoted to topics of a historical and

astronomical character, appears a long list of heroes
who after death were elevated to the heavens . 130 In this
catalogue of catasterisms a somewhat mixed Greek
group included Lvcurgus. Solon. Socrates, and Plato,
as well as Themistocles. These were followed by a large
number of thoroughly unintellectual Roman men of
action. The crowning glory, however, was reserved
for the Julian and Claudian families:

In this poem I undertake to reveal to the w orld the

heavenly arts and the s ta rs w hich know and vary the m ani
fold lives ot m en.126 a w ork of celestial reason ( r a tio n is ).
I am the first to m ove the H elicon w ith new songs . . .
b rin g in g w ith m e sacred offerings unknow n to any of an
ea rlier g en eratio n .127

F rom an cestral V enus descended th e J u lia n house from

heaven, and it has in tu rn tilled heaven w hich A ugustus
rules together w ith his colleague [Ju liu s C aesar] who th u n
ders across the constellations. . . .1S1

The Astronomica, however, was not only dedicated

to an emperor (as Valerius Maximus dedicated his
Varia to T iberius ) , 128 but apparently directly com
missioned by him:
C ourage for this u n dertaking you give me, and the
stren g th to sing of th in g s so g reat you arouse, O C aesar,
ruler and fath er of the country ( patriae princeps pater q u e ),
you who rule an obeflient w orld and a universe, g ran ted
to your fath er, w ith a u g u st laws and deserve yourself the
rank of god.129

H ot controversy tyas arisen over whether these lines

were addressed to Augustus or Tiberius. The strongest
argument in assuming that Augustus was the Caesar
referred to is the accurate mention of his two titles.
princeps and pater patriae. Augustus was voted the
latter in 2 b . c., Tiberius, however, throughout his own
reign steadfastly refused to accept it. Nevertheless,
since the events alluded to in the poem, extend as far
as a . d . 22 or 23. i. e. into the middle of the reign of
Tiberius, it seems unlikely that a work, not even finished
then, would be dedicated to a ruler long since deceased.
While, indeed, parts of the work may have been recited
in the presence of Augustus, it seems perhaps more
reasonable to assume that pater patriae, applied to
Tiberius, was a flattering figure of speech rather than
a statement of fact. The allusion that the ruler's father
(or better adoptive father) reigned in the universe
would fit both Augustus (who had his adoptive father.
Julius Caesar, elevated to the rank of a god) and
Tiberius, whose adoptive father. Augustus, was declared
<1ivus in a . d . 14. Again and again Manilius wove
references to the imperial family into the fabric of his
poem. Towards the end of the first book, for instance.
ls* F. Boll. Zur hippokratischen Schrift von der Siebenzahl.
Wochcnschrift fuer klassische Philologie 30, 1913, c. 929 f..
remained sceptical, but rtiore recently v. Wageningen, R E , 14, 1,
1928: c. 1115, no. 6,-c. 1133. left the question open.
,M Astronomica 1. v. 59, intensifies this statement: reddita
eertis fatorum ordinibus sua cuique potentia formae.
111 Ibid., 1, vv. 1-6.
,ss Valerius Maximus, pr.
Astronomica 1, vv. 7-10.

In spite of his adulation of the reigning house, how

ever. Manilius paid some tribute to the wide spread
republican sentiment still alive in many of Rome's
ranking families. He included for example Caesars
adversary Pompey among the Roman saints together
with Julius Caesar himself:
Pom pey, conqueror of the w orld, w en t to heaven. So did
he w ho reigned after threefold triu m p h s before he became
a god [i. e. Ju liu s C ae sa r].132

A passage of this kind, if written under Tiberius,

contradicts the Tacitean view that the Tiberian era no
longer showed the same degree of imperial leniency in
the realm of free speech which had prevailed under
Augustus, who on account of the historians political
views called, tor example, Livy a Pompeian, but did
not break off their friendly relations . 133 Although the
reins of literary censorship were gradually tightened
during the last years of the reign of Augustus and the
first decade of Tiberius, Manilius during that period
apparently still felt free to express his admiration of
Pompey in a poem written probably for the very inner
circle of the court itself. 134
To Tiberius personally Manilius addressed a magnifi
cent appeal to reason to which the imperial disciple
of Thrasyllus might well be expected to respond:
Do not seek the quantity of m atter, but look for the forces.
Reason, not w eight, controls them . R eason conquers all.
D o not hesitate to ascribe divine perspicacy to m an. A lready
you yourself create gods and send a soul ( n urnen) to the
stars, and under the rule of [th e deified] A u gustus heaven
will expand.1"5
130 Ibid. 1, vv. 771 ff.
131 Ibid. 1, vv. 798 ff. The comet of 44 b . c. officially identified
with the genius of Julius Caesarwas noted as the only one to
have in its course traversed the constellations.
I3a Ibid. 1. vv. 793 f.
' Tacitus, Annals 4, 34.
1:u Astronomica 1. v. 799. seems to indicate that this passage
was w ritten after the death o f Augustus. In a . d . 25 Cremutius
Cordusmodern attempts to whitewash Tiberius to the contrary
notwithstandingwas ruined, chiefly it seems for his pro
republican historical writings in which for example he called
Cassius and Brutus the last Romans.
133 Manilius, Astronomica 4, w . 931-935.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FRO M A U G U ST U S TO D O M IT IA N
The spirit of this passage is akin to that of Lucretius,
and the proud ratio omnia vincit would hardly be
considered a contradiction to the neo-pvthagorean and
platonic mysticism espoused by Thrasyllus. For reason
was thought to be the foundation of their concepts also.
The assumption that Augustus, having greatly expanded
the territory of the Roman empire during his lifetime,
would similarly after his death expand the heavenly
realm also, was of course a piece of gross flattery, but
it was in keeping with the rhetorical ecstasies of the
period.
In the same vein Manilius after describing the civil
wars against Brutus and Cassius, and against Mark
Antony and Sextus Pompeius, as well as the shattering
defeat of Roman armies under Varus in Germany ( a . d .
9 ), exclaimed:
B ut this will have been enough for the F ates. Now the
w ars will quieten dow n, and D iscord, chained w ith adam ant
fetters, is eternally leashed in h er prison. Be there an
invincible fath er of the co u n try ( pater in victu s pa tria e),
and be Rome [invincible] u nder h im : Since he gave a god
to heaven, she need n o t seek one on earth .13*

Since Augustus had been suffering the defeat of

d . 9 which Manilius mentioned, he could hardly be
called invincible. Tiberius, however, ordered the
termination of the German campaigns after some tactical
victories, and while not pater patriae as yet, might soon
be voted this title. The god he gave to heaven was
thus the deified Augustus, and the advice to Rome not
to seek a living god would correspond to the adverse
feelings of Tiberius on the subject of divine mon
archy, as well as to the sentiment of the majority of
Romans.
The horoscope of Augustus was of course public
knowledge. For the emperor himself had definitely
published it in a . d . I I . 1*7 It is therefore hardly sur
prising that Manilius referred to the zodiacal sign under
which Augustus was conceived and to the one under
which he was born, i. e. to Capricorn and Libra , 138
respectively:
a

C apricorn . . . w hat, indeed, is it m ore rem arkable for

than th a t it was blessed ( fe l i x ) by shining w hen A ugustus
was conceived. . . ,133 B ut w hen the autum nal chelae begin
to rise, the blessed ( fe lix ) b irth occurred u nder the w eight
of L ibra. A s ju d g e he w ill w ield (s is te t) pow er over life
and death. H e will lay his yoke upon the countries and
will proclaim the laws. B efore him cities and kingdom s
will bow ( trem en t) and be ruled by the nod of a single man.
an d after [his life on] e a rth [h is] will rem ain the rule of
heaven.140
13 Ibid. 1, w . 922-926.
13T Cassius Dio, 56, 25, 5.
138 Compare W . v. Voigt, U nter welchen Gestirnen wurden
Caesar. Agrippa und Tiberius geboren?. Phtloloijus 58. N. F.
12. 1899: 170-204; A. E. Housman, Manilius. Augustus. Tiberius,
Capricornus and Libra, Class. Quar. 7, 1913: 109-114.
13 Manilius. Astronomica 2, w . 507-509.
*** Ibid. 4, vv. 547-552.

97

The place where Thrasyllus and Tiberius had met

was praised as a blessed isle. Manilius had no qualms
about referring to Rhodes in glowing terms:
U nder the chaste V irgo, blessed ( fe l i x ) on land and sea.
lies hospitable Rhodes, dom icile ( h o sp itiu m ) of the future
ruler <r e c tu n p rin cip is), and in those days truly the house
of the sun. 141 to whom the whole island became dedicated
( sacrata t, w hen it received the sh in in g lig h t [i. e. T iberius]
under the ru ler (C aesare) of the whole w orld [i.e .
A u g u stu s].142

As an astrological handbook the Astronomica was

useless, although after an astronomical introduction in
book I Manilius began to deal with the power which
linked mens fate with the stars. Book II treated the
twelve signs of the zodiac in their general astrological
importance, while Manilius in book I II settled down
to astrological detail. Having already (at the end of
book II) described the twelve houses of the ecliptic,
he now demanded the utmost scientific accuracy in the
determination of the risings and settings of stars to the
very minute and discussed the arrangement of the place
of Fortuna and the " Horoscopal Point within a horo
scope. Connected with Pythagorean numerology was the
arithmetical value assigned to individual planets from
which the life span of the infant could be * exactly
calculated . 148 Popular practice, however, inevitably
caused grievous disappointments, attested by funeral
inscriptions cursing the mendacious (or fallible) as
trologer who had promised a much longer life to the
deceased . 144
The fourth book of the Astronomica treated the
decani 145 and the special features of each zodiacal sign,
as well as astrological geography. The fifth (and last)
book remained a fragment. Perhaps the whole work
was never completed. The extant section of book V
described the power of some fixed stars and at con
siderable length the paranatcllonta.I4 It did not.
however, deal with the simultaneous settings of con141 The term house is also an astrological one. The phrase
thus is a word-play, possessing both an astrological, as well as a
literal meaning.
141 Astronomica 4, vv. 763-766.
141 Cf. Astronomica 4, v. 16; Seneca rhetor, Suasoriae 2, 2:
Statuta nascentibus in finem vitae dies est. The wide spread of
such beliefs is attested by numerous inscriptions; see for example
C IL 6 : 1643, no. 13782; 3 : 437, no. 3397; Carmina epiqr., ed.
Buecheler, nos. 1092; 1536; 1021; and supplem., ed. Lommatzsch,
nos. 1968; 1992 ; 2013; Dessau, Inscr. sel., nos. 9093 ; 9094; cf.
F. Cumont, Les religions orientales . . ., 4th ed .: 286, n. 16-18.
144 A gladiator, for instance, complained, CIL 5: 354. no. 3466 :
Planetam suum properare vos moneo; in Nemesi lie (idem habeatis; sic sum deceptus; or C IL 6 : 2743, no. 28044: L. Valerio
infanti. Raptus est subito, quo fato non scitur. Natus noctis
hora VL vixit diebus LX X I, abit noctis ab hora V I . . . ; CIL.
6, 4 : 2675, no. 27140: Decepit utrosque maxima mendacis fama
mathematici (who had promised a great future to a child that
died at the age of four). Astrologers tried of course to tend off
such accusations: see F. Cumont L u x perpetua : 303 ff.; 318 f.
14 See above, p. 21. esp. n. 159.
l* See above, p. 25. esp. n. 167.

:*8

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

steUations idyseis) and broke off after a discussion of

"he varying brilliance of different stars. The most glar" omission, of course, was that of a section describing
_ astrological powers of the planets. W ithout it the
m remained useless for practical astrological pur
ges if. indeed, it was ever meant to be so used. This
ompleteness might also account for the fact that only
e ancient writer, Firmicus Matemus, is known to
ve used the Astronomica.
The lofty level of this magnificent torso was indicae of the spirit prevailing in the inner circle around
jerius and Thrasyllus. Manilius lent winged words
the deep-rooted faith in a rational universe where no
icurcan-Luci-etian atoms swerved at will, but one
: which scientific natural laws reigned supreme and
Fite merely signified the immutable application of such
a vs. Tiberius fully shared these views:
He w as neglectful of the gods and th e ir cults, being an
L'i'lict of astrology ( addictus m atkem aticae) and firmly
lvinced th a t everything w as in the hand of F a te (cuticta
0 a g i) .1*7

t in his close association with men like Thrasyllus

1 Manilius the emperor may well have gone further,
ond the cut and dried traditional fatalism of the
lies. Reason mighlt. indeed, rule the universe, but in
unfathomable depth of cosmic infinity a still greater
wer might be hidden:
. ut w hat use is it to gaze a t the universe w ith feeble
son, w hen everyones m ind is a t v ariance w ith itself,
tear g rasp s hope and from the dom e of heaven destroys
Som ething by najture dwells, indeed, in v ast space
:sto recessu) and escapes our m ortal vision and our
r t a l senses. N o r can it [the unknow n pow er] help us.
' all is governed by the F ates, while F a te rem ains hidden
m atter w h at method is tried.14

Manilius thus drew a line between the Fates which

rxrely executed the laws of nature and a supreme
.ower remaining forever inaccessible to the searching
:-nrt or mind. The mysterious force was Fate itself:
The Fates rule tlje world, all is based on fixed
.v i 4
in transmundane space Fate ruled the
-.tes in turn. The amor fati, the humble but joyous
eptance of this supreme power, was the creed preached
eloquently by Manilius. It did in all probability
present the sentiment of the Thrasyllan circle. A t the
-y end of the poem Manilius drew a parallel between
: Roman and the heavenly community:
A nd as the people a re distributed am ongst larg e cities,
and the senate retains the upperm ost ran k and the equestrian
r ier the n e x t highest), the sw arm of the knights, and as
u m ig h t behold beloW this group the in ert m ass and the
ho?i alread y nam eless, th u s there exists a kind of republic
also in the universe, a republic of g re a t dignity. N atu re
,\<is crea ted it. she whoj h as founded the heavenly city. . . ,150
1,1 Suetonius, Tiberius', 69, 1.
'** Manilius. Astronomica 4, w . 866-872.
l>* I bid. 4, v. 14: F ata regunt orbetn, certa stant omnia lege.
!S0 Ibid. 5. w . 734-739 ; 740 ff. describe an elaborate celestial
hierarchy paralleling that of Rome: compare also 2, w . 466-469.

Thrasyllus, Tiberius, Manilius, and their intimates

were fully aware of the unpopularity of their esoteric
views. Again Manilius may well have spoken for all
members of this group in avowing:
T h is I w an t to ra ise w ith div in e b reath to the stars, but
I shall not w rite hym ns ( ca rm in a ) am id st the crow d (in
tu rb a ) n o r for it.151

This attitude corresponded with the Horatian odi profanum vulgus et arceo and was shared by almost the
entire Roman aristocracy (and any other aristocracy
anywhere at any tim e). In strange contrast to such
caste feelings, however, Manilius poem was permeated
with certain manifestations of the Stoic spirit, revital
ized by Posidonius, especially the belief in a cosmic
sympatheia. an all-pervading harmony . 152 The deeply
religious longing for an orderly universe expressed the
very essence of what seems to have been Thrasyllus
Weltanschauung, which he so successfully imparted to
the Augustan inner circle.
This influence must have begun soon after his arrival
in Rome (presumably together with Tiberius) in a . d . 2.
It cannot have been long before Tiberius introduced
his teacher and friend to the emperor himself. The
somewhat paradoxical attitude of these men who, on
one side, became increasingly sceptical about the oldfashioned methods of divination and, on the other, were
with increasing firmness addicted to the infallible
scientific revelations of astrology was of course not con
fined to the imperial court. It was to a growing degree
shared by educated men throughout the Roman empire.
The common people, however, continued simply to add
new methods of divination to the long familiar Latin or
Etruscan ones. Until the end of pagan antiquity they
patronized devotedly the diviners of both the older and
the more recent techniques. So strong was the popular
faith in seers and prophets, for example, that Augustus
in a . d . 7 found it prudent to feign belief in some crude
superstition for the benefit of the restive populace of
Rome:
H e m ade a vow w ith reference to the M egalenian gam es,
because some w om an had cu t some letter on h er a rm an d
practiced som e so rt of divination. H e knew w ell to be sure
th a t she had not been possessed by a divine pow er b u t had
done this th in g d eliberately : b u t inasm uch as the populace
w as terrib ly w ro u g h t up over both the w ars and the fam ine,
. . . he. too, affected to believe the common re p o rt an d p ro
ceeded to do an y th in g th a t w ould m ake the crow d m ore
cheerful, re g a rd in g such m easures as necessary.1*3

This attitude was reminiscent of his cold-blooded

exploitation of the popular hysteria concerning the
catasterism of Julius Caesar in 44 b . c . One might also
have expected a repetition of the expulsion of inflamma1,1 Ibid. 2, w . 136 f.
l Nevertheless there was, according to Manilius, a nice
gradation of social strata throughout the universe a lso :
Astronomica S. w . 734 ff.
*** Cassius Dio. 55. 31, 2-3.

T H E P O W E R O F A ST R O L O G E R S FR O M A U G U ST U S TO D O M IT IA N
torv elements in the manner in which Agrippa in 33
b . c. on behalf of the government had purged from Rome
astrologers and sorcerers. But during the restive years
which followed the Augustan vow of a . d . 7 no measure
of this kind was recorded.
Instead in a . d . 11 a wholly novel type of restriction
was imposed upon diviners, a restriction particularly
applicable to the practitioners of astrology. Augustus in
an edict proscribed on an empire wide basis, not merely
in Rome and Italy, all consultations on certain topics.
The death of any person should never again be the
subject of divinatory curiosity. N or should, to assure
observance of this ruling, any seance take place d deux,
i. e. between the diviner and his client alone . 154 One
may well wonder to what extent Thrasyllus, by now a
friend of long standing of both Augustus and the heir
designate, Tiberius, was responsible for inaugurating
this novel legal policy of the imperial government. The
immediate reason for the edict of a . d . 1 1 may easily
be guessed: a persistent and wide spread rumor, fanned
by diviners to please their clients, that the aged ruler was
about to die and great changes might be impending . 155
Augustus after issuing his edict challenged his foes
directly in their own arena. He himself published his
horoscope to p ro v e that his demise was not immi
nent. The familiarity of Augustus and Thrasyllus
during the last years of the reign was shown by an
incident from the very end of the Augustan era. The
scene was Capri, the island destined to become Tiberius
refuge in years to come. Augustus, Tiberius, and T hra
syllus were at dinner. Torches were seen burning in
the distance near the tomb of Masgabas, a former
favorite of the emperor. Jokingly Augustus
. . . recited w ith a loud voice the follow ing G reek verse
which he w as im p ro v isin g :
T h e founder's tomb I see revealed by torches b rig h t.
T h ereupon he tu rn ed to T hrasyllus, a G reek belonging to
T ib e riu s entourage, w ho w as u n aw are of the fact [th a t
the verse w as im provised] and asked him from w hat poet
in his opinion the v erse w as taken. S ince the man was
unable to guess, he quickly added ano th er o n e: D o you not
see. 't is M asgabas w ho thus is honored ? 156

This gave Thrasyllus the needed clue. For he now

remembered the link between the late favorite and the
imperial poet and said:
' N o m atter who the au th o r m ight be, the verses are
excellent. A u g u stu s laughed loudly and w ent on w ith
jfood-hum ored b a n te r.157
Loc. cit. ; compare F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the
stars, Sem inar 9. 1951: 1 ff.
Cassius Dio, 56, 24, 4. The comets whose appearance Dio
reports obviously contributed to the popular restiveness. W.
Gundel assigns them to a . d . 11, i.e. the very year in which
Augustus circumscribed the activities of all diviners, including
astrologers: see Gundel. R E 11, 1921: c. 1187f.
Suetonius. Augustus, 98, 4.
Loc. cit.

99

The little episode revealed the sharpness of the Greek

scholars mind and showed him in the role of an accepted
member of the Augustan court during the last years of
the reign.
The end came in a . d . 14. heralded by the traditional
omens, at least according to our extant sources. A total
eclipse of the sun, fire and glowing embers falling from
the sky, and comets of ill omen foretold the death of
Augustus . 158 His reign marked a turning point in the
legal treatment of astrology by the government. It also
inaugurated the ascendancy of a new and austere faith
in the imperial circle, a short-lived faith which, however,
inspired men like Tiberius, Germanicus, and Manilius
among others. The apostle of this syncretist scientific
mysticism appears to have been Thrasyllus.
5.

TH R A SY L L U S A ND T IB E R IU S (A .D . 14-22)

The accession of Tiberius in a . d . 14 raised his in

separable friend, Thrasyllus, to an even higher level of
influence and power. The first to benefit from this
good fortune was apparently his daughter. Although
Thrasyllus was but a naturalized Roman and his wife
an oriental princess whose family seems also to have
been endowed with Roman citizenship in the reign of
Augustus , 158 the Roman aristocracy of either the sena
torial or the equestrian rank would hardly have been
willing to have one of its sons marry into the family of
Thrasyllus, had it not been for his extraordinary posi
tion at the court of Tiberius. A marriage was now
arranged between Thrasyllus daughter, the only one of
whom we know, and a Roman knight named L. Ennius.
The match may have been concluded in or about a . d . IS,
for a daughter resulting from it, Ennia Thrasylla, was
married approximately fifteen years later . 160 This means
that her parents wedding must have taken place during
the first years of the reign of Tiberius, i. e. shortlv after
a . d . 14.
Of L. Ennius little is known. In a . d . 22, i. e. some
years after his marriage to Thrasyllus daughter, he
was haled before the senate on a charge of maiestas.
The specific indictment alleged that he had melted down
a statue of Tiberius and used the material for household
purposes. Today a similar accusation might still be
deadly in totalitarian countries, and even in the nontotalitarian Roman principate grave consequences could
result from acts of this kind . 11 Ennius, however, was
saved by the direct intervention of Tiberius himself who
stopped the proceedings and quashed the indictment.
* Cassius Dio, 56, 29, 2-6.
*
Honigmann, R E , suppl. 4, 1924: c. 986, suggests th a t
Aka ( I I ) may have been a daughter of Antiochus II (d. 29 b. c.),
and a granddaughter of Antiochus I of Commagene who died
after 38 b. c. But chronologically assuming s h e did not marry
Thrasyllus much earlier than a . d . 2Antiochus III, who died in
a . d . 17, may have been her father with greater probability.
10l> See below, p. 105.
1,1 Compare R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 70.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FROM A U G U ST U S TO DOMITIAN'

100

T H E R IS E AN D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

The son-in-law of Thrasyllus probably had to thank his

fortuitous marriage for this escape. A servile warning
from Ateius Capito that such clemency might encourage
other malcontents tell on deaf imperial ears . 162 Perhaps
the proceedings against Ennius were begun in the hope

soon after Tiberius accession. The legions stationed

in Pannonia were in an ugly mood and ready to mutiny.
The situation was so serious that the new emperor sent
his only son, Drusus, to quell the incipient rebellion.
But all danger of an open outbreak suddenly vanished
owing to a lunar eclipse:
An accident quieted the menace of the night, ripe with
the foreboding of impending crime: For on a suddenly
clearing sky the moon seemed to languish. This the average
soldier, ignorant of the true cause, took for an omen con
cerning- the present troubles; ascribing the eclipse of the
celestial body to his troubles, he believed that his plans
would prosper, if the splendor and light of the goddess ( !)
could be restored. Therefore, there arose a great noise
from the clanging of brass, the simultaneous blowing of
tubac and horns. In proportion to the brightening and
darkening of her light, they rejoiced or saddened. And
when at last clouds came up and obscured the vision, giving
rise to the belief that the goddess had disappeared in com
plete darkness, they beganwith the suddenness peculiar
to minds once permeated with superstitionto bewail the
fact that this were a portent of their being condemned to
endless labors, and that the gods had turned away with
horror from their crimes.1**
Almost two centuries earlieron the eve of the battle
of Pydnasome educated Roman officers had prevented
a similar panic by warning their troops in advance of
the impending eclipse and had furnished the men with a
scientifically accurate explanation of the lunar eclipse.1*
Yet Roman soldiers even now were still as ignorantly
superstitious as they had then been. And this was the
kind of army commanded by Germanicus, translator
and adaptor of A ratus Phaenomena, and himself of
course a member of the Thrasyllan group. Germanicus'
intellectual fiber, however, was hardly comparable to
that of Thrasyllus or Manilius with whom he probably
shared a firm belief in magic and witchcraft. During his
final disease in a . d . 19 Germanicusand his wife, the
older Agrippina became convinced
that he w as poisoned by Piso. And there was found under
neath the floor and instde the w alls diverse relics of human
bodies, charms and spells, and the name of Germanicus
engraven upon sheets of lead, 165 as well as half-burnt cinders
covered with filth and other magical objects ' (maleficia) by
which it is believed that souls are dedicated to the divinities
of death. . . . These things were received by Gemanicus
with ire no less than with fear. . . ,1**

Fic. 12. Tiberiusi (14-37). From A. Hekier. Greek and

Roman portraits'. 1179. London. \V. Heinemann. and New
York. G. Putnam's Sons. 1912.

Tacitus, fervent partisan of Germanicus, did not hesi

tate to ascribe superstitious fear of magic to his hero.

of thereby shaking Tiberius' confidence in Thrasyllus.

but if that was the goal it certainly was not reached.
The hold of the Greek astrologer on the emperor re
mained as strong as before.
The abyss which separated the two friends and their
inner circle (which included men like Manilius) from
the raw Roman levies enrolled in the armies of that era
was illustrated drastically by an incident which occurred

Tacitus, Annals 1, 28.

1,4 See above, p. 48 ff.
l"3 Tabellac dcp.rionum on which the names of the prospective
victims of magic are inscribed have survived. A summary ot
the most important literature on the subject, prior to 1929, is
found in F. Cumont, Les religions . . . , 4th ed .: 292 f n. 74-75.
1,10 Tacitus, Annals 2, 69. I t is an established fact that some
times firm believers in magic and witchcraft die for no other
ostensible reason than that they believe themselves bewitched.
The death of Germanicus, although in all probability due to
purely physical causes, may at least have been hastened by his
superstitious fears.

" Tacitus, Annals 3. 70.

101

Lucius Caesar (whose death had paved the wav for

Tiberius accession to the throne) had also been his
relatives . 170 W hether or not Firmius Catus (as Taci
tus asserted) acted as Tiberius' agent provocateur and
drove the young and light-headed man into a web of
Chaldaean promises, sacred rites of the magi, and inter
preters of dreams 171 is immaterial. There is no doubt
that Libo Drttsus consulted such men about his prosspects and received from astrologers, magi, and inter
preters of dreams alike reassurances and promises of
future wealth and glory . 172 He also consulted a cer
tain Junius, a necromancer, claiming to be able to evoke
the spirits of the dead . 173 There seems to have been
no mode of divination which Libo left untried. In doing
this and probing into the political future Libo Drusus
clearly violated the Augustan edict of a. d . I I .17* A note
book with mysterious, perhaps magical, ciphers helped
to seal his doom. The pleas of his powerful relatives
were in vain. No sign of imperial mercy was forth
coming, and the defendants guilt clear enough. About
to be arrested the luckless conspirator committed suicide
on September 13, a . d . 16. The date was made by the
senate a day of public thanksgiving .175
The traitors estate was divided among three men
who had jointly undertaken the prosecution in the
Tiberius . . . was forever in the company of Thrasyllus senate: Fulcinius Trio, Fonteius Agrippa. and Gaius
and made some use of the art of divination (jiawrtia j every
day (I) , becoming so proficient in the subject himself, that Vibius.17* Firmius Catus too reaped his reward. After
when he was once bidden in a dreamf !) to give money to wards Tiberius asserted that he would have spared
a certain man. he realized that a spirit
) had been Libos life . 177 But the trial at any rate was continued
called up before him by deceit, and so put the man to even after his suicide and the awards made to the prose
death. ,6 9
cutors following a formal verdict of guilty . 178 The firm
Obviously Tiberius assumed that magic had been stand of the emperor in this case may have been due
practiced on him to persuade him to pay a sum of money at least in partto the warning of Thrasyllus that ex
to the practitioner. If he would permit the sorcerer cessive imperial leniency in the matter of forbidden
to continue this practice, he might find himself forced divinatory activities, including of course consultations
to do someone elses bidding on a more important occa with astrologers on topics banned by the Augustan
sion. The sorcerers death would not only prevent future edict of a . d . I I , 170 would encourage malcontents to seek
dangers of this kind, but also, according to ancient belief , assurance from the stars and other more fallible sources
terminate the particular demons power over the victim of revelation that their subversive projects were des
of his magic. Thrasyllus" advice in this instance seems tined to be crowned with success. In accordance with
to have strengthened the emperor's opinion and fortified such suggestions from his astrological adviser the emthe fatal decision.
170 Compare R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials : 13-r.
How closely astrology and magic were linked in the
171 Tacitus, Annals 2. 27.
minds of that age was shown by an afx>rtive plot to
172 Libo actually had inquired from the diviners if he were
overthrow Tiberius in a . d . 16. Marcus Scribonius going to be wealthy enough to pave the road from Rome to
Libo Drusus. the chief instigator of the conspiracy, was Brindisi with gold; Tacitus, Annals 2, 30: cf. F. H. Cramer,
described by writers hostile to Tiberius as an empty- The Caesars and the stars. Seminar 9, 1951: 15 ff.
173 This wizard, a certain Junius, turned state's evidence
headed young fool without enough support to make him against Libo: Tacitus, Annals 2, 28.
really dangerous. Actually, however, Tiberius had
171 See above, p. 99: F. H. Cramer. <>/>. cit.: 1-6.
173 Cf. Fasti Amiternini, C IL 1, 2nd ed .: 244; Tacitus. Annals
thought well enough of him to make him praetor in
a . d . 15.
Libo. unaware of course of his hopeless 2 32.
17' Tacitus, loc. cit.
mediocrity, could, indeed, point with pride to the fact
177 Ibid. 2. 31.
that Pompey was his great-grandfather while Caius and
17S Compare on the legal aspects R. S. Rogers. Criminal trials :

a fear generally felt by high and low alike. Not only did
Tacitus in the above passage indicate his own acceptance
of these popular views, but the emperor Tiberius also
had been possessed by anxieties of this kind. Thrasyllus,
possibly himself the author of a lapidary,I6r seems to
have strengthened rather than discouraged this belief.
This was not at all strange, for magic, like astrology,
was looked upon as an accurate science. The precise
combination of physical ingredients and the repetition
of exactly the same formulae were held to bring about
the same results in every instance and at any time . 168
Anyone possessing the proper formula would thus be
able to produce infallibly the desired magical result.
A scientific mind like that of Thrasyllus therefore had
no reason to disbelieve in magic or to inculcate scepti
cism concerning it in the minds of disciples like Tiberius
and Germanicus. T hat Tiberius himself acquired some
knowledge of magic and its techniques is well estab
lished. W ho else but Thrasyllus could have been his
instructor in this dangerous craft ? Astrology and
magic were sister " sciences. Thrasyllus had certainly
taught Tiberius the one, and most probably the other
as well. T hat both men practiced these two arts jointly,
was asserted by Cassius D io :

1117 See above, ch. ii, n. 98.

Cf. F. Cumont, Les relit/ions . . . . 4th ed .: 170 ff.
'"Cassius Dio. 57, 15. 7-9.

12 tf.
17' Thrasyllus was perhaps also in sympathy with Ti'xjrius'
renewal of the technical restrictions imposed on haruspices;
Suetonius, Tiberius, 63, 1.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O L O G E R S FRO M A U G U ST U S T O D O M IT IA N
T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D
102
. . . were . . . disturbed by an utterance of the Sibyl, which
peror may have pressed tor at least temporary curbs of although it did not fit this period of the citys history at all,
astrological activities in the disturl>ed capital. A t any was nevertheless applied to the situation then existing.
rate within less than four months after the death of It ran
When thrice three hundred years have run their course,
Lil>o Tiheriits, certainly not without previous consulta- Civil strife upon Rome destruction shall bring, and the folly,
'ions with TlirasylluB. instigated two senatus consulta too. Of Svbaris. . . .
Tiberius, now. denounced these verses as spurious and
spelling astrologers and other diviners from Rome . 180
made an investigation of all the books that contained any
1' wo men. perhaps diviners who had been more actively
prophecies, rejecting some as worthless and retaining
participating in Libos plot than merely by inflammaothers as genuine.185
-orv predictions, were executed: L. Pituanius and P.
W ho could doubt that in this scrutiny Thrasyllus
XLarcius, Roman citizens both . 131 T heir death apparntly occurred soon after the trial and the senate's ban had a leading part? W hile less radical than the great
it astrological practice in Rome and Italy. O n the other purge of Augustus in 12 b . c ., Tiberius action proved
hand, it may have been due in part to the influence of the ever-recurring need of curbing the violent faith in
Thrasyllus also that Tiberius expressly permitted astrol divinatory revelations, however unwarranted.
In the same year, the one in which (as has been said)
ogers who gave up their profession to remain in Rome , 12
i clear indication that the purely scholarly pursuit of Germanicus died believing himself the victim of witch
craft. Tiberius also proceeded severely against a t least
astrology was not to be curbed.
The limits of the influence of Thrasyllus over his two oriental cults and their adherents in Rome. Once
imperial patron and: friend were, however, indicated more the Jew s were expelled, apparently for too suc
by his inability to prevent the fall of the kingdom of cessful missionarizing amongst the Romans . 186 Young
Commagene. T his little realm, important as a buffer- Jews, four thousand of them, were conscripted and sent
state on the upper Euphrates between the Parthian to Sardinia, known for its m urderous climate, to work
( kingdom and the Roman empire, was in a . d . 17-18 in the quarries. Some kindly senators expressed the
j incorporated into the Roman province of Syria upon prevailing feeling that even if all of them fell victim to
' the death of its king Antiochus I I I (d. 17). It was not the climate it would be no great loss. Those Jews,
a special blow aimed at Commagene in particular. F or however, who foreswore their religion, received the
already Augustus haidas early as 25 b . c.embarked same lenient treatment granted to penitent astrologers
on a policy aimed at eliminating Roman satellite kings in a . d . 16: They could remain in Rome.18T
A t about the same time, certainly in the same year
in Asia Minor and to establish a firm Roman border
again . ' 1 he Parthiart kingdom. In a . d . 17 Tiberius a . d . 19, the tempie of Isis, the divinity by some con
re-'::!'
because of the faltering sidered more powerful than Fate itself, was razed, the
Ron
"
-ample, the aged priests executed, and the idol itself thrown into the
king
ordered Tiber. Although a scandalous incident provided the
to Rome, on.
. *
eased to immediate reason for the governments action, intrinsic
rule.1** In Commagene the death ol - U u u x a ; u s I I I in ally the motive was similar to the one prom pting the
the same year made things even easier. If Thrasyllus expulsion of the Jew s: the success of the priests of Isis
could do anything to soften the blow it may have been in missionarizing amongst the great of Rome. It also
his suggestion made to Tiberius to await at least the added, if further proof were needed, another example
death of the king before annexing Commagene. The to those attesting the limitless credulity of even Romes
personal interest of Thrasyllus in the m atter was of best educated society. Satum inus, a Roman knight,
course due to the fact that Antiochus I II was by m ar and his young and fair wife, Paulina, were known as
riage related to him, being perhaps his father-in-law . 184 one of those rare couples who though m arried were
In Rome itself the vigorous action of the government devoted to each other. Both had joined the cult of
n a . d . 16 seems t o have curbed for some years a t least Isis. Another Roman knight, young Dicius Mundus,
le activities of astrologers and their colleagues. But was strongly attracted to Paulina, but his advances
were so firmly repulsed that he determined to end his
; a . d . 19 another wave of unrest swept the capital,
oking from Tiberius a counter-measure, reminiscent life by starving himself to deathafter an outright offer
t the great antodaje of oracular literature which Augus- of 2 0 0 , 0 0 0 drachmae for her favors (a fine sidelight on
Roman social mores in the Tiberian age!) had been
:us had held in 12 B.C.: The people of Rome
flatly rejected by the virtuous Paulina.
C o m p a re F. H . Cramer, Expulsion of astrologers from
The old nurse of M undus saw his plight and asked
m c ie n t R o m e . Classiid et Mediaevalia, 12, 1-2, Copenhagen,
about its cause. Being told she promised the melan
1!5 1 : 21-28. f o r a detailed analysis of these SC.
choly Mundus that for only 50,000 drachmae she would
Tactius, Annals 2, 32.
" S u e t o n i u s . Tiberius, 36.
' 3 C o m p a re f o r a summary of imperial policies in A sia during
is period, Th. Mommsen, Roemiscke Geschichte 5, 10th e d :
J ff.. Berlin, Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1927.
'* See the family tree above, p. 95.

1 Cassius Dio, 57, 18, 4-5.

1,4 Josephus, ant. Jud. 18, 3, 5.
t,T Suetonius, Tiberius, 36; Cassius Dio, 57, 18, 5a.

103

obtain for him what he desired. Having little to lose the trial of Aemilia Lepida by Tiberius son, Drusus.
Mundus gave her the sum. The wilv woman went Actually, the two men exchanged blows on one occa
forthwith to the temple of Isis and persuaded the some sion ,11,2 and, although an outward reconciliation was
what reluctant high priest to cooperate in a scheme effected, Drusus remained hostile to Sejanus. His
based on his greed and Paulina's religious devotion. jealous nature may have reacted in a similar manner
A down payment of 25,000 drachmae with the promise to Tiberius preferment of Thrasyllus in whom the
of another 25,000 if the plan succeeded pacified the haughty Drusus probably saw nothing but a noxious
Greek parasite. Little was needed, therefore, to bring
none too tender conscience of the priest.
about a political alliance !>etween Sejanus and T hra
Paulina was duly informed, with considerable cere
syllus. Indeed, one may wonder whether at least in
mony no doubt, that none other than god Anubis
part the rise of Sejanus had not been due to support
himself had fallen in love with her and desired her
received from Thrasyllus who possessed a unique posi
company at midnight in the temple. Being a dutiful
tion of vantage for influencing Tiberius decisions.
and loyal wife, Paulina reported the proposition to her
Elevated to the position of praetorian prefect Sejanus,
husband. H e, too, felt highly honored by the divine
an energetic, hard-working man, carried through
interest in his spouse and not only permitted, but urged
with imperial consent, of course an innovation of
her to accept the invitation. The wife of a Roman
far-reaching political consequence: the concentration of
knight went to the temple at midnight. The mistress
the praetorian guards in a single camp outside the gates
of a god returned to boast before her friends about the
of Rome . 103
glory that was hers. Unfortunately, however, Dicius
In dealing with Sejanus, Thrasyllus found himself
Mundus met Paulina a few days later. Unable to hide
his trium phant mood any longer he jokingly informed in a dilemma. His chief interest lay of course in main
her that for a mere 50,000 drachmae he had obtained taining Tiberius in power as long as possible. There
what he had been willing to pay 2 0 0 , 0 0 0 drachmae for. fore. he would hardly ever support any projected coup
A completely crestfallen Paulina at once confessed to by Sejanus. The hostility of Drusus, on the other hand,
her husband the impudent fraud whose victim she had augured ill for the future of Thrasyllus and his house.
been. The irate Satum inus hurried to Tiberius to Tiberius, already an old man by Roman standards,
invoke imperial vengeance against the guilty. I t was might die in the foreseeable future, leaving Thrasyllus
forthcoming. The nurse was crucified. So were the exposed to the antagonism of Drusus. Nevertheless,
priests. The temple, as has been said, was destroyed, Thrasyllus must have been far too prudent to assume
and Dicius Mundus barely escaped with his life. H e a part in the tragedy developing between a . d. 2 0 and 23:
Sejanus seduced the wife of Drusus, Livilla. She be
was banished .188
came so madly infatuated with him that, with the help
A year later one of the highest-ranking matrons of
Rome, Aemilia Lepida, was haled into court in another of two members of her household, she poisoned her
husband in a . d. 23.194 Twin boys (one of whom died
trial, meant perhaps to intimidate the Roman nobility,
many of whose members were only too eager to over in that very year) inherited their fathers claims, but
the surviving child, Tiberius Gemellus, was barely four
throw the ruling Julio-Claudian family. 180 She was
indicted for high treason, committed by astrological years old at the time and clearly incapable of assuming
consultations . 190 Tiberius as in the case of Libo was the heavy responsibilities of the throne for many years
to come.
firmly set on her not undeserved ruin. N ot to add to
Altogether the first nine years of Tiberius reign
the pent up fury of the large following of the defendant,
however, he forbade his son, Drusus, to make the witnessed the rise of Thrasyllus to the summit of influ
formal motion for a verdict of guilty, perhaps to avoid ence. In a sense he had come to be the power behind
increasing Drusus' already established reputation for the throne. F o r his astrological predictions, his intimate
harshness . 191 Aemilia was convicted. Once more a converse with the emperor day after day, and his shrewd
violation of the Augustan edict of a . d . 11 had proven advice based on his own keen appraisal of men and
things could not but carry great weight with Tiberius.
exceedingly costly.
The year a . d . 20 was pregnant, however, with a far Moreover, the imperial family, Drusus alone excepted,
more important development: the emergence of Sejanus seem to have been on friendly terms with the powerful
as imperial favorite. H e now was given the office of astrologer. H e had succeeded in marrying off his
praetor, a definite sign of imperial favor. The rise of daughter to a Roman knight. A granddaughter, Ennia,
the new' favorite had been bitterly resented before had been bom to the couple and was named after him
ls Josephus, ant. Jud. 18, 3, 4.
Compare R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 51 ff.
Tacitus, A nnals 3, 22.
1,1 R. S. Rogers, op. c it.: 55; see also his Drusus Julius
Caesar, Studies in the reign of Tiberius: 151.

1.1 Tacitus, Annals 4, 3; Cassius Dio, 57, 14, 9; 22, 1.

1.1 Tacitus, Annals 4, 2. Hitherto some praetorian units had
been stationed in the capital itself, but die majority of the
guards had been distributed throughout the adjacent communities.
' Tacitus, Annals 4, 7 1

T H E PO W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FRO M A U G U ST U S TO D O M ITIA N

104

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IX T H E L A T IN W O R LD

him and to Livillas steadfast infatuation. A marriage

which the guilty couple hoped for was, however, rejected
by Tiberius, although the emperor couched his refusal
in most diplomatic and flattering terms in a letter ad
dressed to Sejanus.*"" Thus thwarted, at least for the
time !>emg. the imperial favorite bidet! his time. His
political p o sitio n was clearly on the side of Tiberius
Gemellus. Consequently, he was committed to work
against Agrippina and her sons.
In this deadly underground struggle Thrasyllus would
of course be a very valuable ally for either side. W ith
the stakes being as high as they were the wily Greek
was bound to hesitate before committing himself irrevokablv. Prior to 23 he probably supported Sejanus
o T H R A SY L L U S AT T H E Z E N IT H O F H IS P O W E R
against the hostility of Drusus. One may well wonder
(23-36 A. D.)
whether the astrologer had not even been privy to the
The roots of the disasters which overtook the Julio- machinations against the life of the heir designate. At
Claudian dynasty during the latter part of the reign of any rate after the deed his excellent sources of informa
Tiberius went backi to the year 23, i. e. to the death tion must soon have provided the court astrologer with
of the emperors bnly son and heir designate, the fairly accurate accounts of what had really happened.
The political realignment after the death of Drusus
younger Drusus. 'i'he young manhe has been called
a prototype of the j absolutistic ruler later represented forced Thrasyllus to continue, even to intensify his
by D om itian 198 was murdered at the instigation of alliance with Sejanus. For the praetorian prefect might
his own wife (and first cousin), Livilla, and her power be expected to remain a staunch supporter of T hra
ful paramour, Sejanus, then the favorite of Tiberius . 1" 1 syllus patron Tiberius, while Agrippina and her sons
Of the twin sons whom the habitually adulterous Livilla bore the old ruler a deepening grudge and were less
had borne one died in infancy, the other, Tiberius likely to promote the fortunes of the Alexandrian
Gemellus, was still in his teens when the old emperor favorite of the emperor. One important bit of circum
died in 3 7 and was perhaps not without reason sus stantial evidence, dating from the years immediately
pected of being a bastard . 198 Of other family candidates following the death of Drusus. supports the assumption
for the imperial succession only the sons of the late of a working alliance between Sejanus and T hrasyllus:
the unshakable resolve of Tiberius arrived at in a . d . 26.
Germanicus (a nepjhew and adopted son of Tiberius)
were serious contenders: Nero, Drusus. and Caius to leave Rome and never to set foot in the capital again
nicknamed Caligula. The year 23 therefore inaugurated as long as he lived (although he ventured within sight
a 'quiet but deadly struggle between Sejanus, Livilla, of Rome on several occasions). Such an important
and Tiberius Gemellus on the one side, and the widowed decision could not possibly have been reached without
older Agrippina on the other, on behalf of her own previous astrological consultations in which inevitably
Thrasyllus must have played a vital part. W hether or
sons. 199
In this contest the extreme youth of Tiberius Gemel not he warned Tiberius from honest astrological con
lushe was barely four years old in a . d . 23 was a viction. the chief beneficiary of the self-imposed im
handicap which favpred the cause of Agrippina's sons perial absence from Rome was clearly Sejanus who
who were by many years Gemellus seniors, andowing during the years which followed assumed well-nigh
to their descent from Germanicusenjoyed a popularity complete control of affairs in the capital.
The balance of power " which in the mid-twenties
in Rome which the1 young son of the haughty Drusus
could never match, Sejanus. paramour of Gemellus' prevailed in the struggle for the succession between
mother Livilla, owed his important part in the struggle the Sejanus-Livilla-Tiberius Gemellus-Thrasyllus fac
for the succession to Tiberius growing affection for tion and the camp favoring the cause of the sons of
Germanicus proved unstable as could be expected. The
older Agrippina's reckless temper alienated Tiberius
1,5 See below, p. 105.
more and more, anti Sejanus used this to poison the
R. S. Rogers, Studies in the rcit/n of Tiberius : 89 ff., esp.
1-46 ff.; 153; Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, 1943.
emperor's mind increasingly against her and her sons.
1,7 [bid. : 137-145 a, good evaluation: cf. Rogers, Criminal When her shrill complaints were ineffective, and her

Thrasvlla. The crisis created by the death of Drusus,

however, became a turning point. No longer was Thra<vllus able to balance Sejanus against Drusus. Although
th e political alliance between the astrologer and the
praetorian prefect survived for the time being, the warv
Greek would sooner or later have to come to a decision
whether or not to back Sejanus against Tiberius. When
the time came. Thrasyllus. swayed by personal loyalty
and self-interest, refused to betray his imperial friend
and, apparently, became instrumental in weaving the
net in whose T n e s h e s 'Sejanus was eventually trapped
in a . d . 31.195

trials : 119 ff.

JM Born a . n . 19. he lost his twin-brother in a . d . 23, shortly
after his father's death. Thus in a . d . 37 he was only about
eighteen years old. On the old emperors doubts about his
grandson's paternity, see Cassius Dio. 58, 23, 2.
1 Compare the reasoned account by F. B. Marsh, The reign
of Tiberius: 160-199. London. Oxford Univ. Press, 1931.

Tacitus. .Annuls 4. 39-41. W hen the emperor finally allowed

ail official engagement between Sejanus and Livilla or her
daughter Julia in 31, he may have merely done so to lull his
erstwhile iavorite into a talse sense of security; cf. Cassius Dio,
58, 3, 9; Zonaras, 11, 2.

intimate friend and second cousin, Claudia Pulchra.

was tried and probably convicted of inniestas.-01 Agrip
pina's wrath exploded so venomously that Tiberius
caustically asked h e r: Do you think you are wronged
if you do not r u le ? " - 0" From then on one may sus
pect the scheming and plotting of her camp intensified
to an extent which made it possible for Sejanus to force
a showdown in 29. He engineered a state trial for high
treason against Agrippina and her oidest son Nero.-',;i
Tiberius remained ominously silent. This a tremhling
senate interpreted as an imperial refusal to intercede
for his kin and convicted both defendants, sentencing
them to deportation to islands. Agrippina was sent to
Pandataria. Nero to Pontia . - 04 H er second son Drusus
remained unmolested at the time, but was subsequently
imprisoned, and finally, perhaps in an understandable
fear of being killed by his keeper, starved himself to
death.
Nero's wife. Julia, and his mother-in-law
Livilla, Sejanus' mistress, survived him. His youngest
brother. Caius. continued to live at Tiberius' Caprean
court together with his young rival, Tiberius Gemellus.
The inevitable and immediate result of the catas
trophe which all but destroyed the house of Germanicus
was not the ascendancy of the still very young Gemellus
but the rise of Sejanus' power to such heights that
many began to consider him the logical successor of the
old emperor. W hether or not Sejanus himself was nowturning traitor is still a matter of debate . ' 08 but that he,
a Roman knight, might be sufficiently dazzled by his
prospects to attempt the throne by a coup prior to
Tiberius' demise is not unlikely. Moreover. Livilla
would prefer the role of an emperor's wife to that of
an heir designated mother. Besides, the more time
elapsed until Tiberius would die a natural death, the
less likelihood there would be that Sejanus would marry
a fading beauty. Meanwhile the house of Thrasyllus
by another advantageous marriage became even more
firmly anchored in Roman society. A t about this time,
perhaps in a . d . 29 or 30, Ennia Thrasvlla, a daughter
of L. Ennius and Thrasyllus- own daughter, was mar
ried to an up and com ing" Roman knight, Naevius
(MR. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 92 f.
20S Tacitus, Annals 4, 52 f .; Suetonius, Tiberius. 53, 1.
3IWR. S. Rogers. op. c it .: 98 ff.. rightly assumes that the official
charges which were preferred against her were not pressed home
with the utmost vigor because of the governments fear of an
open outbreak in the capital in favor of the defendants. The
fundamental issue was of course the struggle between the two
factions about the imperial succession.
Cf. Philo, in Flacatm , 3, 9 : Pliny, X at. H ist. 8. 61, 145:
Suetonius. Tiberius, 53 f .; 64; Caliiptla, 15; Tacitus, Annals S.
3 ff. Nero was starved to death.
-'"3 See Suetonius, Tiberius. 54; if. Tacitus. Annals 6. 23-25;
Suetonius, Tiberius. 53 f .; Cassius Dio. 58. 23, 6 ; ef. 22. 4.
F. B. Marsh. The reign of Tiberius: 304 ff., defends the
minority view that Sejanus ivas guiltless of the charge to have
plotted a coup. The stronger counter-argument, however, is
effectively presented by R. S. Rogers. Criminal trials: 111 ff.

105

Sertorius Macro. Thus Thrasyllus now acquired a

Roman knight as a grandson-in-law after already having
had an equestrian son-in-law for perhaps fifteen years.
That Thrasyllus himself was consulted about the choice
of a husband for a granddaughter named after him is
highly probable. He may even have selected the bride
groom. For through his close association with the em
peror he was undoubtedly the most illustrious figure in
the whole family. The bride herself if our earlier
conjecture that her parents married during the first
years of Tiberius' reign is correctwas about fourteen
years old at the time, an age not unusual for Roman
marriages.
As head of his family Thrasyllus must have been
eager to promote the career of his new grandson-in-law.
He found an opportunity when the ambitions of Sejanus
liegan to reach out for the imperial power itself. Since
the great astrologer's fortunes were firmly linked with
those of the Tiberian family a successful coup by Sejanus
seemed a threat to the continued prosperity of the Thrasvllan clan. Consequently Thrasyllus would have had
ample reason for discontinuing his long-standing politi
cal alliance with the now over-ambitious praetorian
prefect. At the same time the imperial favorite was so
firmly entrenched that his overthrow short of civil
warcould only be achieved by the most skillful tactics.
The deft hand of Thrasyllus may have been active
behind the scenes in launching the amazingly successful
imperial counter-coup which destroyed Sejanus. At the
same time Thrasyllus grasped the opportunity of further
ing the rise of his grandson-in-law. Macro. He might
suggest to Tiberius that this man, linked as he was to
the loyal house of Thrasyllus. would make an excellent
and safe replacement for Sejanus in the vital post of
praetorian prefect.'-07 At any rate when Macro left
Capri with the secret instructions which brought about
the fall of Sejanus he also carried with him already the
appointment to that coveted post. His clever handling
of the crisis at Rome mayat least in parthave been
due to the sound advice received from Thrasyllus.
Thereafter Macros position in Rome during the last
five and a half years of Tiberius' reign resembled that
of Sejanus at the height of his career and made Ennia
Thrasvlla. a Greek astrologer's granddaughter, one of
Rome's most influential ladies.
The one warning, however, which Thrasyllus seems
indelibly to have impressed upon Macro, a warning
somberly underscored by the fate of Sejanus. was to
lieware of the obvious temptation, to beware of aspira
tions towards the imperial throne. There is every indi
cation that Macro heeded the advice. T he emperor,
on the other hand, after his experience with Sejanus,
would l>e doubly distrustful of any show of ambition on
3' Compare on Macros role at this time Josephus, ant. Jitd.
18. 6, 6.

106

T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

the part of Macro, although the prefects tie with the

family of Thrasyllus would at least somewhat allay
imperial fears of disloyalty. Meanwhile, Thrasyllus now
openly Ilacked the candidacy of Agrippinas youngest
son. Caius. for the imperial succession. The young man
lived within the small court circle at Capri, desperately
anxious not to give offense. The dreadful fate of his
two older brothers and of his motherAgrippina de
spairing of the future had starved herself to death in
her island exile in 3 3 20,1 must have been vivid before
his eyes. -.The support of so powerful a man as T hra
syllus was therefore undoubtedly most welcome to him.
One may well believe that he assured the old Greek
scholar of his own good will towards the members of
his family, promising perhaps to remember Thrasyllus'
good services when it came to rewarding Macro and
Ennia Thrasylla in days to come.
The undiminished intimacy between Tiberius and
Thrasyllus during the last years of their lives was
demonstrated by their discussion of the question of the
imperial succession on more than one occasion. W hen
for instance Tiberiufs pondered whether or not to ex
clude the last son qf Germanicus from the succession
altogether Thrasyllus succeeded in persuading him that
he need have no fear of Caius, apparently liecause the
stars were against h im :
. . . O nce upon a tim e, w hen T iberius, w orried about
the succession, was alm ost ready to appoint his grandson
[T ib eriu s G emellus] to succeed him , the astro lo g er T h r a
syllus assured him th a t C aius h ad as m uch chance of
becom ing em peror as he had to drive the horses of his
racin g ch a rio t across the bay of B aiae.200

This incident was reported to Caius. He seems to have

been determined if fiver he would mount the throne to
lemonstrate the ambiguity of this prediction by actually
iriving his chariot across the bay of Baiae . 210 Even if
Thrasyllus on the basis of his astrological calculations
was honestly convinced at the time of the improbability
of Caius succession, he did at least help to prevent
Caius' exclusion from the succession. For Tiberius
aliandoned the scheme. There is no date transmitted
for this episode. One might be inclined to ascribe it
perhaps to the year 33 or 34, when, after the death of
the older Agrippina and her sons Nero and Drusus.
Tiberius may have seriously thought of eliminating the
weak and unstable Caius Caligula from the imperial sucession.
Definitely attested for this period is another incident
which showed the close collaboration in astrological
matters between Tiberius and Thrasyllus. In a . d . 33
Tacitus, Annals 6, 31; compare Cassius Dio, 58, 22, 4;
metonius, Tiberius, 53.
Suetonius, Caliyula, 19, 3. His source was his grandfather
who in turn had heard the story from the best informed men
,t court.
;1* See below, p. I l l ,

Servius Galba was consul. 211 H e owed this honor of

course to Tiberius. It is reasonable to assume that the
emperor, long in the habit of investigating the horo
scopes of prominent people.-1- had not only himself
checked Galbas horoscope, but had also confirmed his
own conclusions by having Thrasyllus cross-check his
own astrological calculations. The results agreed. Thev
revealed that Galba was destined to become eni]>eror.
but only at a ripe old age . 213 The emperor therefore
was convinced that he himself had nothing to fear, and
not only nominated Galba for the consulship, but also
informed him of his glorious future. For when Gallia
at this time became engaged, Tiberius congratulated
him saying in Greek: You too shall one day taste of
sovereignty ! " 214 The incident is well authenticated,
lioth Tacitus and Cassius Dio referring to it. Tacitus
moreover assigned the episode to a . d . 3 3 .
It was not the first time that Galba had received such
favorable predictions. If Suetonius be trusted, Augus
tus had known Galba's auspicious horoscope:
It is well know n th a t when lie w as still a boy and called
to pay his respects to A ugustus w ith o th ers of his age.
the em peror pinched his cheek and said in G re e k : " Thou
too, child, w ilt have a nibble at this pow er of m ine. 21'1

Since Galba was born on December 24, 5 b . c ., his

visithe was distantly related to Augustus' wife, Livia
could hardly have occurred before a . d . 3 or 4, when
Thrasyllus was already ensconced at the court and on
intimate terms with the ruler. If. therefore, both
Augustus and Tiberius should have made the same
prophecy to Galba, it seems likely that Thrasvllus'
authoritative interpretation of Galba's horoscope pro
vided the basis for both predictions.
A year after Galba's consulate, i. e. in a . d . 34, the
fabulous phoenix was said to have shown itself in
Egypt . 216 The event was widely considered as an omen
of the impending death of the emperor. Uneasily
Tiberius himself must have looked for reassurance (or
confirmation of his end) in his horoscope. This moment
would thus seem to have been the psychological time at
which Thrasyllus may have uttered his false promise
of ten more years of life for his imperial friend. Our
sources are in accord in so far as they link the phoenix
51'Tacitus, Annals 6, 20; Cassius Dio, 58, 20, 5.
* Cassius Dio, 57, 19, 4.
31> Tacitus, Annals 6, 20, attests that Thrasyllus, as well as
Tiberius participated in the scrutiny of Galbas horoscope; com
pare Cassius Dio, loc. c it.; Suetonius, Galba, 4, 1.
314 Suetonius, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, loc. cit.
315 Suetonius, Galba, 4, 1; compare Augustus, 98, 3; Cassius
Dio, 57, 19, 4; Zonaras, 11, 2; Cat. 8, 4: 100. 6-8.
* Tacitus, A nnals 6, 28, assigns the phoenix episode to a . d . 34.
Cassius Dio, 58, 27, 1, less reliably to a . d . 36. probably because,
staunch believer in divination, the Greek historian preferred to
emphasize the truth of the popular superstition that such an
appearance presaged the death of a mighty prince, and Tiberius
died early in a . d . 37 onlywhich would have been too late to
make the phoenix of 34 properly a harbinger of such an event.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FR O M A U G U ST U S TO D O M ITIA N
episode with the court astrologer's prophecy . 217 W hether
or not he did so on honest astrological grounds is a
different matter. At any rate he possessed good political
reasons for a deceptive prediction: his own opposition
to the torrent of inaiestas trials which were character
istic for that year 34. a caedes perpetna according to
Tacitus.21*
The growing senatorial antagonism to his imperial
patron and to his own family could not but be a source
of great anxiety to Thrasyllus. Accordingly, he decided
to lull the emperor into a false sense of security:
A n d had n o t . . . T h rasy llu s, purposely it is said, induced
him to p u t off some th ings th ro u g h hope of a longer life,
it is believed th a t still m ore w ould have perished. . . -219

The tradition that the court astrologer intentionally

gave the emperor a false prediction was eventually
unquestioningly accepted:
T h o u g h in his own case he stated very accurately both
the day an d the h o u r in w hich he should die, he falsely
declared th a t the em p ero r should live ten years lo n g er;
this w as in o rd e r th a t T ib eriu s, feeling he had a fairly
long tim e to live, should be in no haste to put the accused
m en to death. A nd thus it cam e to pass.220

It was even suggested that Tiberius probably would

not even have spared the rest of his grandsons; for
he had his suspicions of Caius and detested Tiberius
[Gemellus] as the fruit of adultery, had he not relied
on the false prophecy of Thrasyllus . 221 Such action on
the part of the renowned astrologer would not only
imply a rift between him and his grandson-in-law Macro,
who was chiefly responsible for the current prosecutions
in Rome, but would also contribute towards securing
the throne for Caius eventually . 222
The emphasis of both Suetonius and Dio that T hra
syllus for political reasons gave his trusting friend and
disciple, Tiberius, knowingly a false prediction casts a
revealing light upon the character of the Greek scholar
and the nature of his relations with Tiberius at least
towards the end of his life. If the court astrologer
used his prestige to delude Tiberius on such an occasion,
would he not have acted in similar fashion on previous
occasions also? The immediate reason for his parting
prophecy, irrespective of whether it was uttered in 34
or 36, was not far to seek. Thrasyllus had good reason
to fear that Macro's vigilant reign of terror in Rome
would arouse senatorial wrath to such a pitch that
Tiberius eventual successor might wish to sacrifice
sl* Tacitus, loc. cit. ; Cassius Dio, 58, 27, 3.
311 Compare R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 144-155; cf. Taci
tus, Annals 6, 29.
3l* Suetonius, Tiberius, 62, 3.
330 Casius Dio, 58, 27, 3.
331 Suetonius, loc. c it.; the suggestion made by A. H. Krappe
(Am er. Jour. Pltilol. 48, 1927 : 361) that Thrasyllus survived
Tiberius is not tenable.
333 See below, p. 109.

107

Ennia Thrasylla's husband in order to win favor with

the still influential Roman aristocracy. To mitigate
the harshness of Tilierian prosecutions for inaiestas
was therefore a good enough reason for Thrasyllus'
deceit. 223 Meanwhile, the aged astrologer had ample
reason to worry over his own granddaughter also. The
young matron, mother of several children, was a fre
quent visitor to Capri, the imperial retreat which T hra
syllus shared with his patron. On one of these visits
she began an affair with Caius Caligula. This last male
survivor of the house of Germanicus had in a . d . 33
been married to Junia Claudilla, but marital fidelity
with ranking Romans of that day was an almost unheard
of aberration. Moreover, the young wife soon died in
childbirth.22*
Familiar as Thrasyllus must have been with the lax
standards of the Roman upper class he probably looked
upon the liaison of the two young people at Capri as a
mere passing fancy. A t first his vanity may even have
been flattered by the attention paid to his granddaughter
by the heir presumptive. For although the will which
Tiberius made in 35 divided his estate equally between
Caius Caligula and Tiberius Gemellus 225 (thus implying
his hope that they might be accepted as joint rulers),
there was little question that the older Caius would
succeed in obtaining sole control of the empire. Never
theless, an uncertainty remained, since Tiberius wavered
to the very end between his ever-recurrent doubts about
the paternity of Gemellus on one side, and his distrust
in the qualifications for the imperial office on the part
of the cringing Caligula on the other . 226
In this precarious position Caius owed much, perhaps
everything, to the continued support of Thrasyllus and
the praetorian prefect. Macro. These two time and
again interceded with Tiberius in his favor. Under such
circumstances we cannot but ascribe political motives
to his liaison with Ennia Thrasylla. W e have two
diametrically opposed versions about Macros part in
the triangle, the one insisting that Macro (in order
to gain a firmer hold over Caius) persuaded his wife to
seduce the young man, the other that unbeknownst to
her husband Ennia Thrasylla engaged in this affair in
hopes of eventually marrying Caius and thus becoming
an emperor's wife. 227 It would not be in keeping with
the known caution of Thrasyllus to encourage such wild
hopes. If he knew about them they could not but fill
33 Cassius Dio, 58, 27, 2:
. . Macro had plotted against
Domitius and numerous others, and had manufactured com
plaints and testimony taken under torture against them; yet not
all the accused were put to death thanks to Thrasyllus who
handled Tiberius very cleverly.
331 Suetonius, Caligula, 12, 1-2.
335 Suetonius, Tiberius, 76; Cassius Dio, 58, 23, 2.
3311 See for example Josephus, antiqu. Jud. 18, 6, 8 ff.; Tacitus,
Annals 6, 46; Suetonius, Caligula, 19, 3; Cassius Dio, loc. cit.
337 The first version is supported by the contemporary Philo
and by Suetonius, the second one by Cassius Dio; compare
below, p. 109 f.

108

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FROM A U G U ST U S TO DO M ITIA N

T H E RISE AX'D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IX T H E LATIN' W O R LD

him with grave foreboding. Approaching the end of his

own lifehe is said to have forecast accurately the very
day and hour of his death in a . d . 36 he saw Macro,
his grandson by marriage, becoming as hated amongst
the nobility as Sejanus had l>een, while his grand
daughter's ambitious scheme seemed destined to involve
herself and her family in utter ruin.
In his last days Thrasyllus must have been a man
snrelv perplexed. Looking back upon his long life he
had every reason to be satisfied with a career which
had made him a scholar of lasting fame, had earned
him the friendship of the ruler of the Mediterranean
world, the hand of a princess, and finally a position of
power behind the throne unequalled by any non-Roman
before him. Yet his dimming eyes beheld the impru
dent harshness of his grandson-in-lavv. Macro, in Rome,
beheld the reckless folly of Ennia Thrasvllas aspira
tions. When death at last closed the eves of the old
Alexandrinian the fortunes of his house were at their
zenith. Even if Enriia Thrasvlla's ambition should drag
her branch of the family to destruction there was still his
quiet, unassuming, and somewhat pedestrian son to lie
reckoned with, an expert astrologer and, like his father,
a gentlemanly scholjar: Tiberius Claudius Balbillus.
7.

E N N IA TH RA SY LLA

The death ot Thrasyllus was undoubtedly a hard blow

to Tiberius. The ailing emperor must have greatly
missed his friend of forty years standing. Meanwhile,
he faithfully accepted the dead astrologer's prophecy of
ten more years of life and took his fatal illness too
lightly. He was. therefore, in no hurry to terminate a
mass trial of conspirators arraigned by Macro. Among
this group was Domitius Ahenobarbus, the reckless
husband of the younger Agrippina . - - 9 An indictment
for adultery and a charge of incest with his sister.
Domitia Lepida, were brought against him. Some of
his co-defendants cofnmitted suicide 2:10 or made at least
preparations for it .- * 1 Ahenolarbus. truly brazen, was
made of sterner stuff and worked diligently on his
defense, denying al| accusations. The senate in the
absence of definite word from the emperor procrasti
nated. unwilling to please the over-zealous praetorian
prefect Macro . - 32
While Domitius ahd some of his co-defendants perse
vered in violent protestations of their innocence. Tiberius
died on March 16. !37. In the general uncertainty of
the days which followed Ahenoiarbus was permitted to
return to his home. Almost exactly nine months later,
on Decemi>er 15. his wife. Agrippina, gave birth to a
Cassius Dio. 58. 27, J.
Tacitus. Annals 4, 75: Suetonius. Xero, 5; Cassius Din. 58.

_'0 . 1.

' Suetonius, loc. cit.

",I Tacitus. Annals 6. 47.
"" Cassius Dio, 58. 27. 2 : see almvc. eh. iii, n. 1<*>.

bov whom Domitius acknowledged as his child. This

was the future emperor Nero. Had it not been for
Tiberius' faith in the false prediction of his late friend
Thrasyllus, Domitius Ahenobarbus might well have
been doomed to death or exile, and ( as he actually died
a few years later) no Xero would ever have been born.
Thus history to some extent is indebted to Thrasyllus
for the existence of a Xero in its annals. The infants
horoscope was of course cast at once according to estab
lished custom. If Suetonius can he trusted, it revealed
such terrifying prospects that the embarrassed Domitius
tried to shrug them off with a wrv joke. There was no
reason to he surprised. For after all what kind of a
son was to be expected from parents like Agrippina
and himself! - 33
For the house of Thrasyllus the death of Tiberius
was fateful also. Balbillus, son and astrological heir
of Thrasyllus. apparently withdrew from Rome seeking
safety in his ancestral home, Alexandria .'-34 It seems
unlikely that he left Rome liefore the death of his father.
He probably acted in Thrasyllus place as the chief
court astrologer of Tiberius until March. 37, and only
betook himself to Egypt after the old emperor's death.
In any case he appears to have lived the quiet life of a
scholarly gentleman of leisure at Alexandria during the
hectic reign of Caligula ( a . d . 37-41). His sister, the
wife of L. Ennius, on the other hand, remained in the
capital. Neither she nor her husband are listed among
the victims of Caligula. They may have escaped his
attention and died eventually a natural death. Their
daughter. Ennia Thrasylla, however, was too highly
placed to vanish into safe obscurity. O ur extant sources
agree on her vital role in securing the throne for her
paramour Caligula. To play so important a part in
Roman politics was unusual for any woman. For the
granddaughter of a Greek astrologer it was a truly
extraordinary feat. It indicates that Ennia inherited
at least a good deal of her grandfather's energy if not
his prudence. She used her influence with her husband.
Macro, to achieve Caligulas proclamation as sole ruler
which meant disregarding the meaning of Tiberius will
which made both Tiberius Gemellus and Caligula joint
heirs of the emperor . ' 35
Of our sources the most important one is the con
temporary account of Philo, a fellow-Alexandrian of
Balbillus. Philo visited Italy in the winter of 39 as a
member of a Jewish delegation sent from Alexandria to
obtain an audience with Caligula. The Jewish ambassa
dors arrived in Italy not long after the catastrophe to

which Macro and Ennia Thrasylla had fallen victim in

a . d . 38.
Having had an opportunity to discuss their
sensational case with a number of eyewitnesses, Philo
summarized his impressions as follows:
M acro . . . w as . . . said to have co n tributed m ore than
anyone to . . . [C ain s'] g ain in g the p rincipate and still
m ore to hi* p reservation. F o r T ib eriu s had often been
m inded to g et Caius out of the way as a person ill-disposed
and devoid ot natu ral gilts for rulership. . . .-2,i F or
T ib eriu s . . . often looked upon Caius as a toe of the entire
C laudian house, attached only to his m other's fam ily [the
Ju lian lin e], and he feared for iiis g randson th at the
y o u n g ster m ight be taken and killed. . . . T his opinion
M acro com hatted on every occasion w ith all his strength.
. . . saying, " I am w orthy of confidence. 1 have given
sufficient proof of being pro -C aesarian and pro -T ib erian
by c a rry in g out the attack upon S ejan u s and his d estru c
tio n . A nd a t the sam e time he was vociferous in his
p raise of Caius. . . .J:!T
. . . D eceived by these representations T ib eriu s u n w it
tingly left behind him an im placable foe to . . . his house,
to M acro the . . . intercessor, and to all m ankind. . . .238
O ne reason for this w as not only M acro's being in high
favor w ith him [T ib eriu s] and being all-pow erful or at
least a full p a rtn e r in the governm ent, b u t also his
[M acro 's] w ife [E n n ia T h rasy lla] for an unspeakable
reason. D ay in day out she u rged her husband p ersis
tently n o t to be lacking in his efforts and succor on behalf
of the young man [C aiu s]. Effectively to soften and lead
astra y h er husband's mind, especially from a suspicion of
[h e r] adultery, she behaved all the m ore affectionately
tow ards him for the benefit of her tellow -culprit [C aiu s].
B ut he [M acro ], ig n o ran t of the betray al of him self as
husband and of his house and believing her friendliness
to be p u rest affection, w as deceived. U n aw are of her
stratag em s he m istook his g reatest enem ies for his very
d earest frien d s.-39

This testimony from the pen of one of the most in

telligent contemporary observers must be considered as
valid. From it Ennia Thrasylla emerges as an ambitious
adulteress whose duped husband became the tool of her
own and Caius' schemes during the last years of the
reign of Tiberius. The affair in all probability liegan
at Capri, while Macro spent most of his time at his post
in Rome. T hat Thrasyllus knew about it can hardly be
doubted. For little escaped him that was going on in
the small inner circle at Capri. For Caius it had of
course been of supreme importance at the time to gain
the support of the powerful praetorian prefect, and he
did not hesitate to give Ennia Thrasylla a sworn promise
in writing that if lie ever ascended the throne he would
m arry h e r :
. . . A fter S ejan u s had been . . . put out of the way
Philo, i Flaccum. 3 , U - 1 2 . Caligula favoreJ the an iJewish Alexandrian spokesman Apion and gave Philo an 1 his
Jewish fellow-ambassadors a rough reception: see also Josep'.us.
antiqu. Jud. 18. 1 0 . The above judgment of Philo on Caligula's
";ualil!es" must therefore have been penned with a certain
.nusto.
'''r Philo. leyatio ad Caium. (>. 3 3 - 3 8 .
- Philo, in Flaccum. 3 . 1 3 .
J'* Philo. leyatio ml Caium. <>. 39-40.
- :ili

Suetonius. Xero. 6.
He returned to Rome in a . d . 41, it seems, probably as one
uf the leaders of an Alexandrinian embassy to Claudius: see
below, p. 113 f.
Suetonius. Tiberius. 7b. It is hardly surprising that Tiberius
had grave misgivings about both young men. Perhaps T h ra
syllus had made some ominous predictions about them also;
eompar? Cut. 8. 4: 1(W. 9 ff.; Cassius Dio. 58. 23. 2.

109

[C aius] w as little by little encouraged to look fo rw ard to

the succession. T o have a b etter chance of realizing this,
after losing Ju n ia [C laudilla] in childbirth, he seduced
E nnia N aev iaf ? ) [T h rasy lla], wife of M acro, who a t the
time com m anded the p raeto rian guard, even prom ising to
m arry her if he became em peror, and gu aran teein g this
prom ise by an oath and a w ritten contract. T hro u g h her
he insinuated him self into M acro's favor.'-10

Although Suetonius wrote this passage more than

eighty years after the accession of Caligula, his habit
of using primary sources accounted probably for the
additional information revealing the existence of a mar
riage contract " between Ennia and Caius. With Philo,
Suetonius ascribed to the erring wife the vital role of
winning over Macro to supporting the succession of
Caius. H er own motive was obviously ambition rather
than infatuation. The cold-blooded insistence on the
sworn marriage pledge seems sufficient proof of this.
Dazzled by the brilliant prospect of becoming an em
peror's wife, the Greek astrologer's granddaughter failed
to realize that this written pledge sealed her own doom
once Caius had succeeded in winning the throne. Her
important share in gaining it for him was fully recog
nized by Suetonius who referred to her and Macro as
adintores imperii?*1 i. e. as joint helpers of Caius rise
to the supreme power. Tiljerius himself during the last
months of his life recognized Macro's alliance with
Caius. He taunted Macro, in no obscure terms, with
forsaking the setting and looking to the rising sun. 242
The dying emperor, however, was apparently unaware
of the liaison between Ennia and Caius.
A century after Suetonius, Cassius Dio penned a
somewhat different version of the triangle. According
to him " Macro . . . now that Tiberius was seriously
ill . . . had already succeeded in making . . . [Caius]
fall in love with his own wife. Ennia Thrasylla. i,s
In line with this version ( which clearly stemmed from
an aristocratic source hostile to Macro ) Cassius Dio
also recorded that subsequently Caius accused Macro of
having acted as pander . - 44 According to this tradition,
[B etw een Ja n u a ry and M arch, 37] M acro's pow er was
now excessive. E v ery day the man cultivated m ore assidu
ously than ever the favor of Caius C aesar w hich, indeed,
he had never neglected, and . . . prom pted his w ife Ennia
to inveigle the young prince by a pretence of love, and to
bind him by an engagem ent of m arriage. A nd the lad.
provided he could secure the throne, shrank from no con
ditions. F o r though he was of an excitable tem per, he had
thoroughly learn t the falsehoods of hypocrisy under the
loving care of his g ran d fath er.-45

Hie first part of this passage is almost identical with

"Suetonius. Calitjula. 12, 2.
in Ibid.. 26. 1.
12 Tacitus. Annals 6. 46.
Cassius Dio. 58. 38, 4, This is a vitally important passage.
For it alone has preserved Ennias name Thrasvlla
-" Ibid. 59, 10, 6.
Ibid. 58. 28. 4.

110

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

the complaint vciced by Tiberius (in Tacitus Annals. even had We been the most tactful of men he could
6 . 46).
Ennia Thrasylla's insistence on the fateful hardly remain in Caius favor:
formal marriage pledge was corroborated by Suetonius
K now ing th a t m any tim es he h ad saved Caius from the
(Caligula. 12. 2). Although Roman society had long very brink of death, M acro g av e him fran k and u nvarnished
ceased to lx? squeamish about marital infidelity, the advice. . . .-'41) F o r w hen M acro saw him stray in g from
the rig h t w ay and lettin g his impulses ran g e unbridled
marriage contract would seem to discredit the assertion
anvw hither and in any w ay he would adm onish and ex h o rt
that Macro himself was the instigator of the intrigue
him th inking th a t he w as the sam e Caius who w hile T ib eriu s
between his wife and Caius. It was far more likely still lived w as reasonably docile. . . .-50 In such m an n er
that Ennia Thrasvlla herself, carried away by ambition, did the hapless m an beseech C aius in o rd er to im prove
him. . . . H e, how ever, b eing co n trary and quarrelsom e
was at least a willing victim of Caligula's wooing.
Rumor had it even that the young man's infatuation tu rn ed his m ind in the opposite direction . . . and said to
some who w ere near h im : T h e re he is, the teacher of a
was due to a love potion administered to him by m an no longer benefiting from learning, the paedagogue
Ennia , 248 but there is no need to accept what might of one w ho is no longer a child, th e ad v iser of a m an m ore
merely be a rhetorical flourish as historical fact.
intelligent than he is him self, a m an who believes th a t a
Both Ennia and Caius, apart from any sexual attrac prin c e deserves to be ruled like a subject, a m an who w rites
like
one used to im perial pow er and to the role of an
tion they might have had for each other, had more than educator.
2=1
sufficient political reasons for their liaison. Ennia, who
Caligula was not slow in convincing himself that
lad married Macro probably about a . d . 29 or 30, at an
age of perhaps fourteen years at the most, was Caius Macro was l^elittling him :
junior by several years, but that need not have made
T hus in a sh o rt tim e he began to be estran g ed front
her less calculating. The date at which the affair began M acro and invented false th o u g h plausible and successfully
to prosper cannot be ascertained. The likeliest time m isleading reasons such as the follow ing w ords w hich h lwould have been the years between 34 and 37, i. e. after ascribed to M a c ro : " T h e re is m y C aius, the w o rk of M acro.
[ have crea ted him m o re tru ly , o r a t least n o less th a n h is
=iie had borne Macro several children, and the imperial
ow n parents. N ot once b u t th rice would he have perished
prospects of Caius, on the other hand, began to increase a t the hands of T ib eriu s who w as bent on slaying him , had
alter the death of his mother, the younger Agrippina,
it not been for me and my defense of him. B ut also w hen
he [T ib e riu s] died, I, h av in g com m and over the so ld ierj.
and his older brother Drusus ( a . d . 33).
The deluded husband was obviously cultivated by pledged them a t once to alleg ian ce fo r him [C aiu s], aw are
of the need for a single ruler. T h u s the g overnm ent rem ains
Caius with great care when the death of the ailing em- healthy and com plete. Som e w ere convinced th a t those
l>eror approached during the first months of 37. Ennia
w ords had actually been spoken for they ran g tru e
Thrasvlla would no doubt support the young princes because they w ere ig n o ra n t of the deceitful ch a ra cte r of
cause with her husband. At the same time she could him w ho rep o rted them [ i.e . C aiu s]. F o r his evil and
promise the cuckold that she would do her best to in treacherous ch a ra cte r h ad n o t yet been revealed. 2
fluence Caius in Macros favor. Consequently, the
It was obvious that in order to overthrow Macro.
praetorian prefect played his part loyally and was Caius had to ease him out of the command over the
instrumental in overcoming all opposition to the sole praetorian guards. H ad Thrasyllus still been alive he
succession of Caius.2 *7 The death of the luckless rival, might have advised Macro to put up a fight for his
Tiberius Gemellus, followed soon afterwards. Instead post or to throw himself guiltless though he was of
of inspiring gratitude in the fickle breast of Caligula, any treason on the emperors mercy. As it was,
Macro, through the demonstration of his far-reaching however, any suspicion which Macro and Ennia might
influence in Rome, alienated whatever affection Ennias have had of Caligula's intentions was apparently allayed
lover might have entertained for the praetorian prefect. by the em perors offer of the most important adminis
His political goal achieved. Caius also felt himself no trative position in the imperial service: the governor
longer bound to his pledge to marry a Greek astrolo ship of Egypt. The incumbent, Flaccus Avillius, was
ger's granddaughter:
the man whom Philo of Alexandria attacked soon after
wards in a venomous diatribe. H e was also a warm
W hen this first and greatest struggle had been won by
Caius there was no one left to share w ith him the suprem e
power, no man around whom some m alcontents and am bi
tious men m ight r^lly. H e began at once the struggle
ag ain st M acro, a m an who in all m atters concerning his
rule had fought on his side, not only after his accession
. . . but also before he obtained the principate.248

Tact was perhaps not Macros strongest point, but

Philo, legatio ad Caium, 8, 61.
=*'Suetonius. Caligula. 12; compare 23, 2; Cassius Dio, 59,
..1 - 3 :2 , Iff.
s* Philo, legatio ad Caium, 6, 32.

I hid., 7, 41; compare also 42-51.

Philo, in Flaccwn, 3, 14.
Philo, legatio ad Caium, 8, 51 ff. In a parallel passage
(in Flaccum, 3, 15) Philo reports what he must have heard in
Italy as follow s:
. W henever Caius caught sight of him at
a distance he would talk in this strain to his companions, Let
us not smile, let us look downcast, for here comes the monitor,
the disciplinarian, who has begun to take charge as a tutor of a
grown man and emperor, at this very time, when those who
have tutored him from the earliest years have been dismissed
and set aside.'
Pi.ilo. legatio ad Caiunt, 8, 57-59.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FRO M A U G U STU S T O D O M IT IA N

friend of Macro. A former member of Tiberius suite
he had been appointed to the Egyptian post in a . d .
31-32. As a staunch supporter of the Claudian house
he transferred his allegiance in 37 to the ill-starred
Tiberius Gemellus. 253 He was obviously unaware of
the fact that his friend. Macro, had thrown in his lot
with Caius and had prevented Tiberius Gemellus from
claiming the imperial partnership envisaged by the late
Tiberius. As soon as Flaccus realized his deadly mistake
he made every effort to obtain Macros intercession on
his behalf. Little did he realize that Macro too was
already doomed . 254
In appointing Macro to succeed Flaccus, Caius acted
very shrewdly. For the praetorian prefect could hardly
decline the honor without making it appear that he
sided with Flaccus whose frantic friendship already had
ljecome a grave liability for Macro. Caius, on the other
hand, eased two men whom he wanted to destroy out
of key posts by playing one against the other. Actually
neither Macro nor Ennia Thrasvlla ever reached Egypt.
F or while Flaccus still was waiting in Egypt to sur
render his office into Macro's hands, he received the
terrifying news that Macro had been put to death . 255
In the words of P h ilo :
Caius became his [M acro s] and his w ife's evil demon,
rew ard in g them in ex ch an g e for th e ir good w ill w ith the
m ost severe penalties. . . . A lth o u g h M acro had done
every th in g w ith o u tstan d in g zeal first to save C aius and
then to tra n sfe r into h is h an d s alone the im perial g o v ern
m ent, this w as to be his rew ard . . . .S5e A las, poor w retch,
for his excessive good w ill he paid the ex trem e penalty,
being slain w ith his whole house, w ife an d children as a
burden, a superfluity and a nuisance. . . ,237 T h e pitiable
m an is said to have been forced to kill him self w ith his
ow n hand. H is w ife sh ared this fate. T h e re seem s to be
no love potion th a t w orks fo rev er.2M

Thus perished in a . d . 38 the granddaughter of

Thrasyllus, only two years after his death. W ith Ennia
Thrasvlla and her children the female line in so far
as we know itof his house ended. Barely seven years
had elapsed since the time when M acros predecessor,
the praetorian prefect, Sejanus, had been exterminated
with his family. H is wife, Apicata, had then died by
her own hand. So did apparently now Ennia Thrasylla.
It was an era in which not infrequently wives shared
voluntarily the fate of their doomed husbands . 253 Ennia's
erstwhile lover, the emperor Caius Caligula, showed no
grief at her death. In the very year 38 lie married
353 F or details, see ibid., 4-5, 22-31.
55 On the dramatic arrest of Flaccus, his exile at Andros, and
his eventual execution, compare Philo, in Flaccum, 12-21,107-191.
,5S Ibid., 4, 16 and 22.
,5* Philo, leg. ad Caium, 8, 59-60.
57 Philo, in Flaccum, 3, 14.
558 Philo, leg. ad Caium, 8, 61.
Cf. H. Rost, Bibliographic des Selbstmords: 51 f . ; Literarisches Institut von Haas & Grabherr. Abteiiung Buchveriag.
Augsburg, 1927.

Ill

Lollia Paulina . 200 another woman of supreme ambition

and great faith in the stars. She was as cruelly deceived
by them as Ennia had been. For, eleven years later.
Lollia too perished miserably. Officially her crime had
been forbidden astrological consultations. In reality the
younger Agrippina, then recently installed as the wife
of the emperor Claudius, feared Lollia's unslaked am
bition once more to share the imperial throne with a
prince
From beyond the grave, however, Thrasyllus did
much to avenge his granddaughter, Ennia. F or one
prediction he had made long ago now drove mad Caius
into a ruinous venture: the building of a pontoonbridge between Baiae and Puteoli. Dio gave a detailed
description of this costly imperial folly. Suffice it to
say that a paved road was laid across the pontoons
with resting places and lodging rooms with running
water. Traversing the bridge twice, once in each direc
tion, Caligularesplendent in a breastplate said to have
belonged to Alexander the Greatled a parade of the
praetorian guards. W as it to gain their favor after the
recent execution of their commander Macro? The em
peror on this occasion harangued the multitude, com
paring himself with commendable modesty as vastly
superior to D arius who had bridged the Danube, and
Xerxes, who had thrown a pontoon bridge across the
Hellespont.2*
If the gossip which Suetonius' grandfather 263 picked
up at the time from court sources was correct, a certain
prediction of the late Thrasyllus was chiefly responsible
for this ruinously expensive undertaking which Dio
merely described as one more demonstration of Caligulas
m adness:
T h a t brid g e . . . p roved th e source of death to m a n y ;
fo r inasm uch as C aius h ad exhausted his funds in con
stru ctin g it. he fell to p lo ttin g ag a in st m any m ore persons
than ever because of th eir p ro p erty .264

Insidiously the old prediction of Thrasyllus thus helped

to accelerate the decline of Caligulas popularity. The
more capricious his rule became, the wilder the vagaries
of his sick mind, the more inevitably the web of con
spiracies fastened itself around the imperial madman . 285
Believing himself to be a god Caligula seems to have
felt less and less respect for astrology and other forms
of divination. Nevertheless, he maintained the Augustan
edict of a . d . 11 which forbade predictions concerning
the future of the ruler:
A n E gyptian. A pollonius, foretold in his native land the
actual fate of C aiu s; for this he was sent to Rome and was
* Suetonius, Caligula, 25, 2 ; Cassius Dio. 59, 12, 1; 23, 7.
5,1 Compare F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars,
,tar 9. 1951: 31-35.
* Cassius Dio, S3, 17, 1 ff.; cf. Suetonius, Caligula, 19.
Suetonius, Caligula, 19, 3, quoted above, p. 104.
1,4 Cassius Dio, 59, 18, 1.
i
'n Suetonius, Caligula, 56, 1-2.

112

T H E R IS E A X D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

Claudius was not likelv to constitute a dangerous rival,

influenced Caius to grant at least a measure of belated
public recognition to his uncle.
The assassination of Caligula sent the shivering
This account l>ears a suspicious resemblance to the Claudius into hiding behind a curtain in the palace.
one alxmt the astrologer. Ascletarius-Asclation. and the Soldiers discovered him. extracted him from this hiding
doomed emperor Domitian.-liT Apparently after each place and proclaimed the trembling man emperor of the
sensational imperial demise stories about " accurate " Roman realm. By then his older brother Germanicus
predictions would always circulate freely throughout had been dead for more than twenty years, while one
the empire. Therefore, although Dios story about the sister, the infamous Livilla. had met death for con
incident involving Apollonius may be untrustworthy, spiring with her paramour. Sejanus. in the successful
it can nevertheless be assumed with certainty that murder of her husband. Drusus. son of Tiberius.
prophecies of this kind were common, not only during Claudius' sister-in-law, the older Agrippina, had died
in exile, a suicide. So had her sons, the two nephews
the reign of Caligula, but throughout the principate.
Was it perhaps under the impact of the impression of Claudius: Nero in exile in a . d . 29. while N eros
made upon Caligula by Apollonius that the emperor younger brother Drusus killed himself, probably in a
consulted the astrologer Sulla ? - 118 Sulla must have fit of madness, in a Roman dungeon in a . d . 33. Now
been a fearless man. For he assured Caligula that a the youngest brother. Caius Caligula, had been slain.
violent death was in store for him in the near future. Under such circumstances it is hardly surprising that
Both Apollonius and Sulla were proven right. On Claudius entered upon his reign with a distinct feeling
January 24. a . d . 41 Caius Caligula, less than thirty of foreboding.
years old. was assassinated. If Balbillus. after the
His marital life did not add to his tranquillity either.
death of his niece Ennia in 38 had been under eclipse, He had divorced his first wife. Aelia Paetina, for trivial
he was now being restored to power. For after some reasons, his second spouse, Plautia Urgulanilla, for
hectic hours the praetorian guards proclaimed Caligulas adultery and worse . 260 Entering upon his third m ar
uncle. Claudius, as emperor. The senate acquiesced riage he had foolishly chosen a girl less than half his
grudgingly. With Claudius a life-long friend of the age, a cousins young and beautiful daughter, Valeria
house of Thrasyllus ascended the throne. The fortunes Messalina, niece of the younger Agrippina, and hence
of Balbillus therefore were bound to rise at once.
first-cousin to Agrippina's infant son, the future em
peror Nero. The new bride was. on her m others side,
a great-granddaughter of Augustus. Agreeing to the
8. B A LBILLU S AXD C LA U D IU S
marriage with the usual docility of well bred Roman
In a . d . 41 Claudius was more than fifty years old. girls in such matters, she must nevertheless have held
Born in 10 b . c . , the son of Tiberius' brother Drusus. little affection for her loving but unappetizing husband
he had lived an obscure and uneventful life until now. who in his turn pampered her with the blind folly of
This had been due to his physical, and probably also an infatuated old boulevardier. especially after she had
mental handicaps which had caused Augustus to keep borne him two children, a boy (the future Britannicus)
this step-grandson out of the limelight. Tiberius had within three weeks after his accession, and a daughter,
shared this attitude and held his nephew, Claudius, so Octavia. His fourth and fatal choice was to be his
much in the background that he was still a simple knight niece, the younger Agrippina. As the fourth and as
at the time of Caligula's accession. The death of his she hoped last wife. Agrippina did everything to
other close relatives, and perhaps a conviction that assure the succession of her own son, L. Qomitius. to
the imperial throne and was in all probability responsi
* Cassius Dio. 59, 29, 4.
ble for the premature death of Claudius, usually ascribed
3,7 Compare F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars (2), to a poisonous mushroom smuggled into his favorite
Seminar 10, 1952.
mushroom dish.
*8 Suetonius, Caligula, 57. Since this astrologer. Sulla, cast
The house of Thrasyllus apparently had been one of
the horoscope at the emperor's own request, he cannot be iden
tical with the Apollonius who for having done the same thing
the few places where young Claudius had been accepted
was arrested in Egypt and sent to Italy. Nothing else is known
without reservation. He was about twelve years old
of Sulla. A faint possibility might at least be mentioned. T h ra
when Thrasyllus arrived in Rome. W ith his interest
syllus- son Balbillus hap fared badly with scribes of antiquity
in antiquarian subjects philological and theological
and the middle ages. In Suetonius' version his name appears
brought before the em peror on the very (lav on which the
latter was destined to die. but his punishm ent was post
poned until a little later, and in this wav his life was
>aved.-

as Babihis. in many a mediaeval Greek text as BrabiKDos and

worse. Should Sulla perhaps be read Balbillus (or Thrasyllus) ?
Death dates after all were a known speciality of Balbillus. and
the fact that Caligula had despatched this astrologers niece and
her children would hardly prevent the imperial madman from
consulting an astrological adviser of long established intimacy
with the ruling house.

J,; From Aelia Paetina he had a daughter, Antonia, from

Urgulanilla a son. Drusus. who died in an accident during a
childish game. From the same wile he had also a daughter.
Claudia, born less than live months after his divorce from
U rgulanilla: see for example Suetonius. Claudius. 27. for a
summary of Claudius' nrirital history.

T H E PO W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FROM A U G U STU S TO DO M ITIA N

topics attracted Claudius especially -71' he must have
been deeply impressed by the far-famed universalist
scholar from Alexandria. The children of Thrasyllus
were a good deal younger than Claudius, but this did
not prevent the lonesome and sickly young prince from
forming a life long friendship with Thrasyllus son.
Balbillus. It was but natural that Balbillus should
hasten from Alexandria ( where he had prudently lived
during the last years of Caligula's reign) to join the
court of the new ruler in Rome. He may even have
preceded an embassy 371 sent by the Alexandrinians to
Claudius in 41.-7- Their purpose was a twofold one:
to inform the emperor officially of the honors voted
him on his accession to the throne, and. on the other
hand, to receive his support, or at least his toleration
of the Alexandrinian anti-Jewish trend which alreadyhad contributed to several sanguinary riots in the
Egyptian metropolis . 273
About thirty years ago an Egyptian papyrus was
found which revealed to us the emperor's reply to these
ambassadors among whose leaders were Balbillus.
Archibius . - 74 and Chaeremon : - 75
3.0 H e wrotein 41 hooksa history From the end of the civil
war, as well as an Etruscan history, a Carthaginian history in
eight books, a treatise On the Latin alphabet, and an Auto
biography ; on the scholarly antiquarian bent of the emperor,
compare Suetonius, Claudius, 41 f .; Tacitus, Annals 13. J, 6; 43,
4; Pliny, .Vat. Hist. 1, 5, 6, 12, 13; 6, 10. 27: 12, 31; 31, 128;
7, 3, 35; 12, 38, 78; Pliny, epist. 1, 13, 3; Cassius Dio, 60, 2, 1.
3.1 C. Cichorius. Der Astrologe Ti. Claudius Balbillus, Sohn
des Thrasyllus, Rhein. Mus. 76. 1927; 102 ff., insists (104) that
Balbillus was already in Rome when the Alexandrinian embassy
arrived there.
37! Compare H. I. Bell. A new fragment of the acta Isidori,
Arehiv f. Pap. 10; 5-16 (line 18 of the papyrus) ; Egypt from
Alexander the Great to the Arab conquest : 77 f . ; 89; 145, n. 45:
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1948. Compare also Pap. Oxyr., 1, 33,
3-7, 10; 1242, 52 ff. U. Wilcken, Zum alexandrinischen Antisemitismus, Abh. d. kgl. Saechs. Gesellsch. d. IVissensch. (Phil.Hist. Kl.) 27: 783-789; H. I. Bell, Antisemitism at Alexandria.
Jour. Roman Studies 31. 1941; 1-18; A. v. Premerstein. Zu den
sogeuannten alexandrinischen M aertyrerakten. Philoloqus. Suppl16. 1923, H eft 2; cf. H. I. Bell. Egypt . . .: 145. n. 46.
-7n This seems the earliest extant document listing Balbillus as
Barbillus. The spelling eventually crept into Greek inscriptions
and became the usual one tor the Byzantine scribes.
Ti. Claudius Archibius, who like Balbilluswas again
referred to at the end of the imperial letter as being a friend
of Claudius also, according to Cichorius ( op. cit. : 104). was
already in Rome when the embassy arrived. Cichorius hypo
thesis in either case seems to be supported by little evidence.
27= The other ambassadors were Apollonius, son of Artemidorus. M. Julius Asclepiades. C. Julius Dionysius. Ti. Claudius
Phanias. Pasion. son of Potamon. Dionysius, son of Sabbion,
Apollonius, son of Ariston, C. Julius Apollonius. Hermalacus.
son of Apollonius, apparently three Roman citizens and five
non-citizens. Adding Balbillus and Archibius to this number
would give Roman citizens p arity ; five non-citizens and five
citizens in all would have comprised the embassy of ten. an
arithmetical fact which seems to point to the opposite conclusion
from that of Cichorius: i. e. Balbillus and Archibius may well
have come with the other eight men all the way from Alexandria
at that time.

113

T iberius Claudius C aesar A ugustus Ciermanicus Iniperator. Pontifex M axim us, holder of the T rib u n ician Power,
consul designate, to the city of A lexandria greeting. T ib er
ius Claudius Barbillus [jric.']. . . . Chaerem on. son of
Leonidas. . . . T iberius C laudius A rchibius . . . your
am bassadors . . . discoursed at length co n cern in g ' the
city. . . . O f the two golden statues the one . . . . as mv
most honored Barbillus [.viV/] suggested and entreated,
shall be erected at Rome. . . .-7<;

Not even the influence of personal friends like Bal

billus or Archibius. however, swayed Claudius from
the path of imperial justice. He sternly warned the
Alexandrinians to discontinue their lawless rioting
against the local Jews, promising, on the other hand,
to warn the Jews also not to demand more than their
ancient privileges granted them. He concluded as
follows:
I bear witness to niy friend Barbillus [sic/] o f tile
solicitude which he has always shown for you in my
presence and of the extrem e zeal w ith which he has now
advocated your cause. . . . F arew ell.177

This was clearly an attempt to exonerate Balbillus.

his personal friend, from any blame which his fellowAlexandrians might heap on him upon learning that
their embassy had failed in its political objective. At
any rate Balbillus evidently had returned to Rome in
the very year of Claudius accession and was in close
touch with the emperor for many weeks prior to
November 10, 41.
During the years which followed Balbillus seems to
have divided his time ljetween the court and his ances
tral Alexandria. That he did not shun an arduous task
in which his engineering and administrative abilities
were likely to be thoroughly tested became apparent
in 43. In that year the Roman invasion which led to
the conquest of Britain began. From the very start it
met with difficulties of one kind or another. Claudius
was therefore prevailed upon to come to Britain himself
and did so. With him went Balbillus. notas one might
suspectmerely in his capacity as court astrologer or
Claudius' letter was dated November 10. 41; see U. Wilcken
(on the dating technique). Gricchische Ostraka aus Aer/ypten
und Xubicn 1: 809-812; Berlin and Leipzig, 1899.
J'7 Pap. Loud. 1912 was discovered in 1920 or 1921. Printed
editions include H. I. Bell in Jews and Christians in E iiyp t: 1-37
(with extensive commentary). London. Oxford Univ. Press.
1924; M. P. Charlesworth. Documents illustr. the reigns of
Claudius and Nero, nos. 1-2; Cambridge, 1939; Select Papyri. 2:
78 ff., ed. A. S. H unt and C. C. Edgar in Loeb Classics. London.
W. Heinemann: New York. Putnam's Sons. 1934; on the docu
ment itself see R. Laqueur, Der Brief des Kaisers Claudius an
die Alexandriner, Klio 20, 1926 ; 86-106 ; M. Engers. same title.
ibid.: 168-178; Th. Reinach, Lempereur Claudius et les Juifs.
Revue des Etudes Juives 79. 1924: 114; H. Gregoire. Juifs.
paiens et chretiens dans IEgypte romaine. Le Flambeau. July.
1924 : 378-384; A. Cameron. The letter of Claudius to the
Alexandrines. Class. Quart. 20, 1926 : 45; cf. V. Scramuzza.
The emperor Claudius : 64-66; H arvard Univ. Press, Cambridge
(M ass.), and Humphrey Milford, Oxford Univ. Press, London,
1940.

114

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IX T H E L A T IN W O R LD

personal friend of the emperor, but as an officer

I tribunus tnilitum) attached to the XXth legion. His
special talents were put to use by his appointment as
head of the engineers' corps (praefectus fabr.). He
m ust have acquitted himself well. F or he participated
in the triumph which Claudius held after his return
from Britain. On this occasion the senate bestowed on
Claudius and his young son the title Britannicus,27*
while Balbillus received from his sovereign the honor
of a crown ( corona hasta pura).'70
If not before the expedition to Britain then at least
soon afterwards he won even higher recognition from
the emperor, this time in the realm of Egyptian adminis
tration. He was appointed high priest of the temple of
Herm es in Alexandria, as well as overseer of all im
perial buildings and sacred groves in Alexandria and
throughout the rest of Egypt (aedium Divi A ugusti et
lucorutn sacrorumqite omnium quae sunt Alexandreae
ct in tota A egypto | . 2S0 Although among the imperial
buildings in Egypt the state university was one of the
largest and most famous onesthe Serapeum at A lexan
dria the presidency of this institution, centered around
its world famous library, was apparently not automatic
ally included in such an appointment. For Balbillus
was specifically named head of the university and of its
library (supra Museum et ab Alexandrina bybliothece) ,
line of the most ardently coveted posts in the Greek
academic world. Although inferior to his exceptional
father, the late Thrasyllus, Balbillus seems to have had
sufficient qualifications for this partly academic, partly
administrative office. As a token of his gratitude and
friendship he undoubtedly encouraged Claudius to es
tablish a special Claudian Institute at the Museum of
Alexandria - 91 where henceforth the works of Claudius
were to be recited annually . 1*2
The advice of Balbillus may well have been a strong,
perhaps a decisive factor for the issuing of a proclama
tion by Claudius in a . d . 45. In this edict the emperor
tried to lay at rest finally the age-old Roman super
stitions about the portentous meaning of eclipses. W e
have already seen that whole armies were on occasion
swayed by such beliefs. - 83 Before the battle of Pydna
a km ar eclipse (June 21. 16S b . c . ) had been explained
rationally to a Roman army to prevent a panic. Neveriieless, after the death of Augustus a dangerous mutiny
among the Illyrian legions had collapsed chiefly because
of the fears aroused amongst the mutineers when a lunar
;T<I F or a detailed account, see Cassius Dio, 60, 19 ff.; compare
Suetonius. Claudius, 17, 1-3.
These biographical data stem from an Ephesian inscription;
Wiegand, Forschungen in Ephesus, 3, 128; cf. C. Cichorius,
,ip. c it.: 104.
** It may he noted that the biographical Ephesian inscription
was dedicated to [Ba]{billus, not to Barbillus.
' ,1 Athenaeus, 6, i. Z40B.
Suetonius. Claudius, 42. 2.
See above, pp. 48 ff., 100.

eclipse seemed to announce to them that the gods were

horrified at their rebellion. One may therefore under
stand the reasons advanced by Balbillus and other ad
visers to put an end to such panicky reactions forever:
S ince th e re w as to be a n eclipse of the sun o n h is b irth
day, [C laudius] feared th a t th ere m ig h t be some disturbance
in consequence, inasm uch as some o th er p o rten ts had already
o ccu rred ; he therefore issued a p roclam ation in w hich he
not only stated the fact th a t th ere was to be an eclipse, and
when, and for how long, but also th e reaso n s for w hich
this was bound to happen.-4

Sometime during the reign of Claudius, Balbillus also

became an official member of the imperial cabinet.
H e was attached to the bureau in charge of dealing
with embassies and with issuing the official Greek text
of imperial responsa (per epistulas ad legationes et
responsa graeca Caesaris A ugusti divi Claudi). It is
possible but by no means certain that this was the first
honor bestowed upon Balbillus by Claudius upon his
accession. In that case Balbillus may already in his
official capacity have received the Alexandrian em
bassy of 41. But an argument which might strengthen
the assumption that his appointment was made after the
British campaign and prior to the Egyptian honors
would be the sequence in which the Ephesian inscription
to which we owe these biographical details listed them.
They appear in the following order; ( 1 ) the Egyptian
honors and offices; (2) the cabinet" post in Rome;
(3) the military appointments of 43 and the honors
bestowed upon Balbillus at the time of the triumph.
If this list were chronological, the honors given by
Claudius to his learned friend, listed as (2 ) and ( 3 )
would follow those described in (1 ). T hus Balbillus
might have been appointed to the Egyptian posts already
prior to Claudius accession, then to the cabinet but
before the British campaign and triumph of a . d . 43.
His elevation to Roman knighthood also was in all
probability due to Claudius.
How long he continued as imperial receptionist of
embassies surely not later than a . d . 5 4 is unknown,
but it seems likely that in this capacity he earned the
long-lived affection of the Ephesians . iS5 T hat Balbillus,
apart from his interest in Alexandria (which was but
natural for him and his family), bestowed favors on
other cities also is attested by an inscription discovered
in Pergamum. Claudia Capitolina, wife of (M . Mettius?) Junius Rufus . 288 referred to a foundation estab
lished in that city by her father, Balbillus. She was
384 Cassius Dio, 60, 26. 1.
The earlier inscriptions refer to him correctly as Ba/billus,
the later ones already call him Barbillus. M ost of these were
set up in honor of victories at the games which Vespasian had
allowed the city to hold in honor of the famous astro lo g er; com
pare F. Cumont, Astrologues romains et byzantins. Melanges
(farcheologie et dhistoirc publ. par I'Ecolc franfaise de Rome
37. 1918-1919: 33-38, esp. 34, n. 3.
Stein, R E 10, 1919: c. 1083, no. 144.

T H E P O W E R O F A ST R O L O G E R S FR O M A U G U ST U S T O D O M IT IA N
following in his footsteps at the time, adding a donation
of her own to the paternal one . 287 Inasmuch as Claudias
(second?) husband was prefect of Egypt around a . d .
90, one may tentatively ascribe her birth to the reign
of Claudius, perhaps to the very last years of it (after
a . d . 50?).
For her marriage to C. Julius Antiochus
Epiphanes. son of Antiochus IV' of Commagene . 288
probably took place sometime during the last years of
Nero, or at least not later than a . d . 72.
Unless Balbillus had been married before he must
therefore have married (o r rem arried) in the reign of
Claudius, perhaps about a . d . 50. A t that time he was
in his late forties, an age very suitable for a Roman
citizen of high rank to shoulder (or resume again)
what Roman law somewhat discourteously called the
burden of matrimony. W e know as yet nothing what
ever about his wife, but can safely assume th at her
familys station matched that of Balbillus. Perhaps she
too belonged to a great Greek house which had found
favor at the imperial court. Thus, as the reign of
Claudius drew to a close, the son of Thrasyllus was a
well-established pater familias. H e had not only re
tained the friendship of Claudius, but managed also to
ingratiate himself with the rising sun, the younger
Agrippina. It is, therefore, quite possible that he was
among those astrologers who foretold (for once cor
rectly ) 289 the death of Claudius. F o r forecasts of this
kind were (although forbidden by law !) Balbillus
specialty ! 280
Nevertheless one must never forget that a social abyss
separated him from that host of professional astrologers
who earned their living solely by their craft. To them
only did Seneca refer when he had Mercury joke about
the struggle which the soul of dead Claudius had in
ascending to the heavens. Addressing one of the three
Fates M ercury appealed to her;
Why, cruel woman, doest thou allow this poor man to be
thus tormented? He should not be tortured that long. For
lie has already struggled with his soul for sixty-four years
[i.e. all his life]. Let for once the astrologers speak the
truth, they who have prophesied his death every year, nay
every month since he ascended the throne. 291
There was, indeed, truth to the joke of Seneca. For
in a . d . 52 Claudius by a senatorial decree had renewed
earlier expulsion orders banishing astrologers from the
capital and from Italy as well. 295 Balbillus, of course,
"*7 F o r this inscription, compare Athenische Mitteilungen 32,
1907: 337 f.
-*8 Ib id .: 37; the inscription from which this is known appears
in Kaibel, Epigr., no. 991 ; Peek, M itteil d. Inst. f. alf Altertum skunde 5, 1934 : 96 f.
Compare Seneca, Apocolyntosis, 3.
H e wrote a whole work on the subject. I t is the only
treatise from his pen of which fragments have survived; see
below, p. 127.
3,1 Seneca, Apocolyntosis. 3.
3M Tacitus. Annals 12, 52.

115
was as little affected by the ban as his father, Thrasyllus,
had been by similar decrees in a . d . 16.293 Roman
gentleinen-astrologers in general, and court-astrologers
in particular, never needed fear such measures. N or
need one assume that even the rank and file took them
too seriously.
The reason for the senatus constdtum of 52 was the
one customary in such cases: fear of the influence of
astrologers in stirring up public unrest. Prophecies
promising the impending demise of the emperor were
among the most inflammatory ones. The outlawing of
such predictions since a . d . 1 1 had only been an added
incentive for the curious. W ith Britannicus barely
eleven years old, and even Claudius' adopted stepson
Nero less than fifteen, the question of the imperial
succession remained unsolved. Astrologers would have
a field-day, for example, in promising aristocratic clients
a chance of ascending the throne if and when the ailing,
elderly monarch died. Balbillus was of course fully
aware of the precariousness of the political situation.
H is father, Thrasyllus, in a similar period had reso
lutely backed the more logical of two candidates, i. e.
he had lent his support to Caius Caligula rather than
to the younger and feebler Tiberius Gemellus. Simi
larly Balbillus now banked on Agrippina, Seneca, and
Nero in preference to the ailing and unstable Britanni
cus, by four years the junior of Nero. It is most likely
therefore that his astrological advice was at least partly
responsible for the dynastic marriage by which Claudius
in 53 joined in wedlock his ill-starred daughter, Octavia,
to young Nero.
9.

B A LB ILL U S A N D N ERO

T hat the annals of history were enriched by the

presence of a Nero on the Roman scene was, as said
before, due in some measure to Balbillus father, T hra
syllus. 294 Domitius Ahenobarbus and his wife, the
younger Agrippina, both of them tempestuous by nature
and burdened with a goodly dose of abnormal heredity,
could hardly be expected to produce entirely normal
offspring. Domitius, when acknowledging the paternity
of the infant born on December 15, 37, was said to have
remarked caustically to some friends that nothing good
could possibly come from such parents . 298 The very
first years of young L. Domitius were passed under
the cloud of his mothers exile. During those years
father Domitius died before his son was four years
old his aunt Domitia cared for him. She was as
unscrupulous a woman as the younger Agrippina and
seems to have striven to replace Agrippina in the boys
3.3 Compare above, p. 102; for a detailed analysis of the
expulsion decrees of a . d. 16, see F. H. Cramer, Expulsion of
astrologers from ancient Rome, Classica et Mediaevalia 12, 1-2,
Copenhagen, 1951: 10 ff.
3.4 See above, p. 108.
<
3, Suetonius, Nero, 6, 1.

116

T H E R ISE AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

affections. Recalled from exile after Claudius acces To what extent she owed it to back-stage support from
sion. Agrippina regained custody of her son. but she Claudius' friend and court astrologer. Balbillus. will
never ceased to accuse Domitia of having grossly mis- never be known. That he took her side, however, is
educated the youngster.2'JB She also never forgot, as certain. For. as we know', he had prophesied the
probably !>ehooved a daughter of the elder Agrippina, eventual accession of her son to the throne . 103
From the very moment of her wedding, made possible
that young L. Domitius was a grandson of Germanicus.
great-grandson of M. Yipsanius Agrippa and his wife only by the scrapping of the Roman law forbidding a
Julia, i. e. a grcat-great-grandson of Augustus. He was marriage between uncle and niece. Agrippina began to
also closely related to the Claudian line. For Germani prepare the wav for her son s future by providing him
cus' father. Drusus, the brother of the emperor Tiberius, with a set of excellent tutors. She persuaded Claudius
to grant at long last the return of Seneca from exile.
had been a scion of the Claudian family.
As soon as this was accomplished, she underlined her
W hatever proud dreams, however, Agrippina might
opposition to her husbands past treatment of the famous
entertain for her son were dreamed under sinister
Stoic by inviting Seneca to become the chief tutor of
auspices. For she had received an astrological p re
young L. Domitius. then barely twelve years old . 304
diction. perhaps from Balbillus himself in a . d. 41 2!>:
Seneca was joined by the Alexandrian Stoic. Chaere
(when she was recalled from exile and Balbillus had
m on .305 perhaps the same one who in a . d . 41 had been
hurried from Alexandria to Rome j a prediction which a member of the Alexandrian embassy to Claudius.
promised the boy Che imperial throne but also forecast A man of such stature must have been well known to
that he would murder his own mother . 298 Domitia in Balbillus who after alt had long been the official head
turn entertained great hopes of seeing on the imperial of the Alexandrian Museion. It may therefore be
throne her own grandson. Britannicus. whom her assumed that Balbillus was at least consulted, and per
daughter, Messalina. had borne to Claudius a few wreeks haps directly responsible for the selection of this re
after his accessioni299 W as not Britannicus. the only nowned scholar, who not only himself had mastered
living son of Claudius, the logical heir, if only Claudius Egyptian hieroglyphs, but also had written a book on
ruled long enough for the boy to reach manhood? A the venerable script.301 as well as a history of Egypt.30'*
deadly race for power was thus run during the 'forties A member of the Egyptian priesthood he too like
between the two si$ters-in-Iaw, Agrippina and Domitia. Balbillus presided at one time (perhaps in the reign
The reckless ambition of Agrippina was perhaps accu of Caligula?) over the Museion at Alexandria.
rately reflected in her contemptuous exclamation :
A part from being a philologist and a historian, Chaere
' AI ay [myj son murder me. if only he will rule! 300 mon was also a renowned writer on astronomical and
Her wish was to be granted.
astrological topics. 309 H e had for example written a
The catastrophe which overtook Messalina in 47 cast redoubtable treatise on com ets 310 in which he expressed
its shadow over her mother. Domitia. as well. The the opinion that comets were not necessarily, as the
doomed daughter at the last moment sought refuge
traditional astrological interpretation insisted, harbingers
with her motherin vain. Messalinas very ruin paved
of disaster, but could also announce glad tidings. Chaerethe wav for the fourth marriage of the now widowed
Claudius. The match was engineered in the manner of
3'1 Tacitus, Annals 6 . 2 2 ; 1 4 , 9.
a horse race. Each of the three most powerful freed3 See tor example Tacitus, Annals 12, 8. Piquantly enough
tnen at court presented his own candidate for the em Seneca had been banished for adultery with Agrippinas own
peror's marital couch. Tacitus has described the mad sister, Julia Livilla: Casius Dio, 60. 8. 5; compare Suetonius.
race for power in Unforgettable dramatic term s .301 Of Claudius. 2 9 . 1 on Julia's death. It was even said that Agrippina
herself had been Seneca's mistress ; Cassius Dio. ep. 61, 10, 1-0 .
the three contesting women only the weakest one, Aelia see also Tacitus. Annals 13, 42. 6; Seneca, rirf'PM'ib. consol.,
Paetina, was to escape the jealous fury of the ultimate
13, 2 .
30r' Origines, contra Celsum 1, 59: Porphyry, de abstin., 4 , 6:
winner. H er muchj more dangerous rival, the fabulous
Lollia Paulina, ex-jwite of the late emperor Caligula, . . . o <ttuhkd5 . . . . and 8 : apSpos . . . iv r o t s (TTUHKDH irpwyApollonius, dc conjunctione: 515, 5 ; Suidas, s.v.
paid with her head ;for having dared to compete for the MOTncurdrow;
'WiiaySpoi A o a r o i and A io n u tf to j AX<ar{p<v?.
imperial couch."'- The victory finally fell to Agrippina.
3'" See above, p. 113.
Compare ibid.. 5 and 6, 3.
7 SuRgested by Taiftius. A nnals 6. 2 2; compare C. Cichorius,
Der Astrologe Balbillus, Sohn des Thrasyllus, Rhein. Mas. 76,
1927: 103 f.
Tacitus, Annals 14, 9.
;o Suetonius. Claudius, 27.
Tacitus. Annals 14. 9.
3,11 Ibid.. 12. 1 ff.
See F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars, Sem inar 9,
1951 : 31-35.

'"S uidas, s.v . Xaiptnuv, Porphyry quoted by Eusebius,

praepar. cvantj. 5. 10, 5; Tzetzes, cxeg. in Iliad. : 123, 11; histor..
S, 395 f .; on Chaeremon's romanticizing of Egyptian lore, see
Schwartz. R E 3, 1894: c. 2025, no. 7.-2027; compare Zeller, Die
Hieroglvphiker Chaeremon und Horapollo, H ermes 11, 1876:
430-433.'
,'1Joscpluis, contra Apionem 1, 288.
Compare a letter from Porphyry addressed to Anubio.
quoted by Eusebius, praepar. cvanq.. 4 , 1 f . ; on a fragment in
Psellos, see Bulletin de corresp. hell. 1. 1879: 129.
310 v e p i K o tn fT ta v a v y y p a u f t a .

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FRO M A U G U STU S TO D O M ITIA N

mon thereby gave strong backing to the imperial policy
of catasterisms of which the one of Julius Caesar had
been the first and most famous example . 311 The Egyp
tian scholar thus also provided welcome support for the
later Christian interpretation of the star of Bethlehem
as a benign comet (although no m ajor comets appear
ance has been recorded for those years). The trio
composed of Seneca, Balbillus. and Chaeremon was.
indeed, so much interested in comets that young L.
Domitius, named Nero after Agrippina had persuaded
Claudius to adopt the boy, could not but be impressed
with the importance of the subject. For Seneca too
became the author of an essay on comets. 312 the only
extant Latin treatise on the subject, while the renown
of Balbillus as an interpreter of the astrological im
portance of comets was so great that at a crucial time
he became in 64 the emperor N eros decisive adviser
on the meaning of a comets appearance . 313 Held
together by the common bond of stoicism, the creed
most firmly championing astrology, Seneca and Chaere
mon were the men chiefly responsible for the education
of L. Domitius during the last years of Claudius' reign.
Seneca retained his influence upon the prince when
Claudius finally adopted his stepson Domitius, there
after called Nero. H e even extended his hold after
A grippinas coup which raised Nero to the throne suc
ceeded in a . d . 54. Seneca's views on astrology there
fore acquired exceptional political importance. His writ
ings abounded with references on the subject. A few
passages may show the bent of Seneca's mind. In his
treatise On Providence, a topic of perennial interest to
pagan and Christian writers until the end of antiquity,
he expressed himself in the spirit of Vergil and Manilius
(whom Seneca as a young man may have known
personally) :
Good men labor . . . and willingly (volentes). They
are not dragged along by fate ( non trahuniur a for
tuna). . . . Fate leads us (fata nos ducunt), and what
span of life remains has been firmly established at the
hour of ones birth. Cause is linked with cause.311 One
must therefore bear everything bravely. For . . . nothing
happens by accident, everything by logical sequence.315

117

Im agine 1 were com ing to advise you at the mom ent of

your b ir t h : You a re about to enter a vast com munity,
join tly inhabited by gods and men. a com m unity that
em braces the universe, th at is bound by fixed and eternal
laws ( ccrtis legibus aeternisquc). that holds the celestial
bodies as they whir! through their unw earied rounds. You
will see th ere the gleam ing of countless stars, you will see
one star flooding every th in g w ith its light the sun. . . .
You will see the moon taking its place by n ight . . . bor
row ing from it a pale reflected light. . . . You will see
the five planets p u rsu in g th eir different courses and striv in g
to stem the headlong w hirl of h ea v en ; on even the slightest
m otions o f these hang the fortunes o f nations, and the
greatest and smallest happenings are shaped to accord w ith
the progress of a kindly or unkindly star. 31,5

Cosmic sympathy " was thus in orthodox stoic tra

dition linked with the tenets of astrology. But nothing
was said of phenomena which (like the comets) seemed
to contradict the perfect mechanism theory of the
Stoics. At this very time comets had begun to attract
the special attention of astronomers and astrologers, as
we have already noted. A generation earlier Manilius
for example had held to the traditional interpretation
when ascribing the devastating plague which struck
Athens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian W ar to
the influence of a comet.311 Cicero who himself men
tioned comets in a number of passages 318 was, accord
ing to Dio, warned by a comet of his impending death *l*
(43 B .C .). Blood-red was the color 320 of the comet
of 44 which had inspired the official catasterism of
Julius Caesar . 321 Comets had heralded the battle of
Philippi (42 b. c.), the battle of Actium (31 B .C .), as
well as the annihilation of three Roman legions under
Varus in Germany ( a . d . 9) 3 :2 The death of M. Vipsanius Agrippa also was said to have been heralded
by a comet. 328 Several comets appeared in a . d . 9

31* Seneca, consol, ad Marciam, 18, 1-3.

317 Manilius, Astronomica 1, w . 880 ff. The whole section,
!>eginning with v. 874, dwells on the dire meaning of comets
appearances; compare also Silius Itaiicus, 8, v. 638: non unus
crine corusco regnorum eversor rubuit letale cometes (in refer
ence to the battle of Cannae).
511 F o r example in Catilinam 3, 18; de consulatu, 2 (in dc
divinatione 1, 11, 18) ; compare Cassius Dio, 37, 25, 2.
31* Cassius Dio, 45, 17, 4.
The general stoic tenet of scientific causality was even
Calpumius Siculus, Bucolica, 1, w . 8 2 t.
more definitely linked with astrological concepts in a
321 See above, p. 78 f .; compare \V. Gundel in R E 11. 1922 :
consolatory letter addressed by Seneca to Marcia, daugh c. 1143-1193, for a survey on comets in antiquity. A. Alfoeldi.
ter of the aristocratic historian, Cremutius Cordus, whom Studien ueber Caesars Monarchic, Bulletin de la Societe Royaie
long ago Tiberius had destroyed for anti-monarchic ten des lettres de Lund, 1953, no. 1: 80, and Tables V II and V III.
has shown that coins antedating Julius Caesars assassination
dencies. Marcia had lost her young son, and Seneca by some weeks had accustomed the Romans to seeing a star
wrote her a long letter trying to ease her grief :
behind the head of the living dictator. Hence the popular in
sistence that the comet of July, 44 represented Caesar's soul
mounting heavenwards was based on a certain amount of psycho
311 See above, p. 78 ff.
logical preparedness.
315 This treatise constitutes the seventh book of Seneca's
3=5 Manilius, Astronomica 1. vv. 897 tf. He does not list the
quaestiones naturales, a vital document for historians of science,
historical events in chronological order. On the comet which
but hard to come by in an English translation.
appeared prior to the battle of Actium in 31 B. c compare also
313 Suetonius, Nero, 36.
Cassius Dio. 50. 8, 2. On the one before the battle of Philippi.
311 Manilius expressed i t : certa stant omnia lege: Astronomica
ibid., 47, 40, 2; Manilius, Astronomica. 1, vv. 907 ff.; Vergil.
4, v. 14.
315 Seneca, dc prozidcntia, 5, 6 f .; compare for quotations from Ceoriiics 1, v. 488.
3:3 Cassius Dio, 54, 29. 8.
other Roman authors Bouche-Leclercq: 551 ff.. esp. footnotes.

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T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A S T R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

and 1 1 ,3=* and were believed by most people to signal

the impending death of Augustus, who therefore pub
lished his horoscope to demonstrate that his demise was
not yet due.2" Finally, however, the comets proved
correct. When Augustus died in a . d . 14 a blood-red
comet was seen , 220 perhaps the same one to which
Seneca referred when contesting the theory of the
periodicity of com ets:
Let us not believe th a t the com et seen under C laudius
the same w hich did appear under A ugustus, n o r th a t the
one w h ich showed itself under N ero . . . has resem bled
the one w hich arose after the m u rd e r of Ju liu s C aesar
durin g the gam es of V enus G enetrix.3-7

The comet of 54 which Seneca mentioned was of

course considered as a portent of the emperor s death , 3- 8
while the comet of a . d . 60 was flatteringly described as
a harbinger of good times, an opinion expressed byother writers also . 3'-0 It may be noted that the majority
opinion, which saw in comets only heralds of majot
catastrophes, was thus being contested by a valiant
minority.
We have already mentioned Chaeremon s optimistic
attitude in his essay on comets. '30 but his opinion was
not new. In part it went back to hellenistic times when
court flatterers tended to cheer their sovereigns when
prone to succumb to forebodings of disaster at the ap
pearance of comets. Dn the other hand, the appearance
of a bright new light in the heavens might well be looked
upon as an indication of a bright future, or at the birth
of a brilliant person. Thus in 134 b . C. a herald of
^ood tidings had been seen in a comet at the birth of
Mithradates. Again a comet was said to have preceded
liis accession to the throne .331 A copper coin of that
ruler actually showed an eight-raved star, one of whose
ravs was elongated into a tail .332 The catasterism of
Tuiius Caesar, on the other hand, was based on the
popular view that the souls of the departed, especially
those of great men, were transformed into stars, the
comet of 4 4 supposedly showing this transfer in the
verv process. Some northern stars above which the
comet had been shining were thereafter named Caesar s
Ibid. 56. 24. 3-4.
3=3 Ibid. 56, 25, 5; compare F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and
:iie stars (1 ), Seminar 9, 1951: 1 ff.
Cassius Dio, 56, 29, 3.
357 Seneca, quacst. nat, 7, 17, 2.
Suetonius, Claudius, 46; Pliny, .Vat. H ist. 2, 23, 92; com
pare Seneca, qu. nat. 7, 21, 3; 23, 1; 29, 3.
Seneca, qu. nat. 7 ,6 , 1; 17, 2; 21, 3; 23, 1; 28, 3; 29, 3;
Lalpurnius Siculus, Bucolica 1: w . 74 ff. That many did not
share in the optimistic interpretation of comets was to be
expected; see Tacitus, Annals 14, 22; Suetonius, Nero, 36;
Seneca. Octavia: v. 235.
*30 See above, p. 116.
151 Justinus (Pomp. Trogus, Hist. phil. epit.), 38, 3, Iff.
:31 Compare Imhof-Blumer, Gicssener Anzeiger, M arch 31,
1910.

throne." 333 Haileys comet, which seems to have put

in an appearance in 11 B .C ., has been acclaimed by
some as the star announcing the birth of Christ . 334
In short, the era of Claudius and Nero did not intro
duce the optimistic astrological interpretation of comets,
but it did, indeed, witness the zenith of this minority
view. Rome also was since the days of Augustus
the only place in the whole world where a comet is
the object of worship . . . [in] a temple. 335 It was
a grim irony that Senecas own death was to some ex
tent due to Balbillus traditionally pessimistic interpre
tation of a comet which appeared in a . d . 64. Nero,
no longer persuaded of the benign meaning of such a
phenomenon, anxiously sought the advice of Balbillus.
The renowned astrologer consoled the monarch by ad
vising him that, although the comet portended grave
events, Nero could deflect them from his own person
by executing a number of great men . 338 In his astro
logical reckoning the sum total of lesser victims would
prove a substitute acceptable to the Fates for the life of
a single prince. Among those slain upon this advice of
Balbillus in connection with the Pisonic conspiracy was
Seneca himself. 337
There is, however, no evidence which would indicate
that Balbillus acted in a spirit of personal animosity
against Seneca. N or did he directly accuse him of
complicity in the Pisonic plot. But when Seneca re
signed his offices of state and retired into private life,
the prudent Balbillus undoubtedly permitted the ties to
dissolve which in the past, at least politically, must have
existed between him and Seneca. It was a standard
maxim in the house of Thrasyllus to maintain at all
costs and Ennia Thrasylla had paid dearly for it
the closest possible ties with the rulers of the JulioClaudian dynasty and their likely successors. Thus
Thrasyllus had abandoned Sejanus and in a . d . 31 had
aided Tiberius materially in the overthrow of his erst
while favorite. Balbillus, his attachment to Claudius
notwithstanding, had not hesitated to link his fortunes
with the rising star of Agrippina and her son. The well
connected and well informed gentleman-scholar might
be expected to have learned from reliable sources about
113 See F. Boll, Beitraege zur Ueberlieferungsgeschichte der
griechischen Astrologie und Astronomie, Sitzungsberichte der
kgl. Bayer. Akad., Muenchen, 1899: 122, n.
554 The date of the birth of C hrist was in all probability
wrongly computed by the mediaeval monk to whom we owe our
present reckoning. The likeliest datethe Augustan census of
9 b. c. and the death date of Herod forming our chief clues
appears to be at least five years earlier than the traditionally
accepted o ne; on the comets heralding Christs birth, see
Stentzel. Das W eltall 7: 113. Origenes ( contra Celsum 1, 58)
definitely believed that the star of Bethlehem was a comet, but
no comet is recorded for the years in question; compare F. Boll,
Der Stern der Weisen, Zeitschrift fuer neutestament. IVtssenschaft 18, 1917 : 40-48, esp. 46 ff.
Pliny, N at. H ist. 2. 23, 93.
* Suetonius, N ero, 36.
3,1 See below, p. 121.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O L O G E R S FRO M A U G U STU S T O D O M IT IA N

the progress of the Pisonic conspiracy. Nero was child
less, his successor unknown. While Balbillus did not
actively promote the death of Seneca, he apparently did
nothing to save the greatest Stoic Rome was destined
to produce.
The IVeltanschauung of this prolific Stoic was a
thoroughly scientific one. One of the best resumes of
it is found in Senecas unduly neglected quaestiones
mituralcs. Inasmuch as his views, especially with re
gard to the principle of causality and the attitude about
the role of religion, were representative of the ManilianThrasyllan tradition in a small but politically important
circle of Roman intellectuals of the first century of our
era. some passages from the above mentioned work may
be quoted:
W h a t then ! W h a t is the use of expiations and prayers
I p ro cn ra tio n es), if destinies a re im m utable (inm iitabilia
. . . fa t a ) ? P e rm it me to contem plate th a t rig id sect of
men who take exception to those [rites] an d consider them
as n o th in g b u t the consolations of an afflicted mind. T he
F ate s irrevocably fulfill th e ir ow n law an d a re not swayed
by any p ray er. T h ey know n eith er pity for the dow ncast
no r g ratitu d e . A n y th in g th a t has a begin n in g flows by
pred estin atio n alo n g its irrevocable course. J u st as the
w ate r of cascad in g to rre n ts n ever retu rn s u pw ard n o r
even stands still, because each p article is driv en on by the
one behind it,338 thus does the etern al sequence ( s eries)
of th in g s follow th e p attern laid dow n by F a te ( ordinem
fa ti) , the p attern w hose p rim ary law is th is; to obey the
o rd ain ed .339

T his train of reasoning allowed for no other deity

than Fate itself, but a monotheism of this kind was based
on a mechanistic concept of life. It therefore did not
admit of an individualistic relationship between man
and the ruler of the universe. Nevertheless, an attempt
Had to be made to inspire an amor dei, if only in the
form of an amor fati, in the human heart. The idea of
a pitiless, purely mathematical deity was insupportable.
Seneca (like other Stoics before him) tried to soften
the harshness of his tenets by imputing to his supreme
divinity Fate a foreknowledge of the best course of
events in the long run. The humble biblical acknowl
edgment that the L ords ways are not our ways (but
in the end the best ones) was also voiced by Seneca:
" Wrh at then do you call F a te ? I believe it to be the
necessity ( neccssita tem ') of all th in g s and acts, w hich no
pow er w h atev er can b reak. If you think th a t this necessity
can be appeased by sacrifices, o r the head of a snowy lamb,
you have nev er un d ersto o d the [m eaning of] divine. You
ad m it th a t a w ise m a n s v erd ict also cannot be changed
how m uch less th a t of g o d ! Y et the w ise m an only knows
w hat is best in a p resen t contingency, b u t in the m ind of
god all [etern ity ] is p resen t.34

The strict theories of fatalist astrology would merely

:1'*Compare the poetic reexpression in Hoelderlins : Es
schwinden, es fallen die leidenden Menschen, wie W asser von
Kiippe zu Klippe geworfen. endlos ins Ungewisse hinab."
33* Seneca, quaest. nat., 2, 35.
340 Ibid. 2, 36.

119

enable mortals to ascertain what destiny was in store

for them, but not allow them the slightest deviation
from their ordained course. Senecas attitude towards
the less stringent concepts of catarchic divination was
but the logical result of his unflinching faith in an
inexorable Fate:
I now w ant to take up the arg u m en t of those who believe
th at one has to take into account bolts of lig htning [as
oracles] and who have no doubts th a t expiations a re of
some use in rem oving d angers, o r a t least allev iatin g or
postponing them to some ex ten t. . . . W e share w ith such
men the view th at we too believe th a t vows can produce
som ething beneficial, but only by the stren g th and power
of F ate. F o r some things have been left in suspense by
the im m ortal gods so th a t they can be tu rn ed in a favorable
direction w hen prayers a re proffered to the gods and when
vows (v o ta ) are undertaken. Inasm uch as this too is
included w ithin F ate, it does n o t happen co n trary to F ate.
B ut the fu tu re, he says, is either foreordained o r not.
If it is predestined it w ill happen w hether o r not you make
vows. If it is not predestined, it will not happpen w hether
o r not you m ake vow s. T h is is the w rong w av to argue.
F o r you overlook the p artial ex ception: th a t som ething is
bound to happen provided th a t vows a re m ade.341

Seneca was, however, too honest and acute a thinker

not to realize the logical dilemma to which this argu
ment might lead. H e frankly recognized the difficulty:
T h is in itself, he counters, is necessarily contained
in F ate, i. e. w hether o r n o t you are g o in g to m ake vow s.
R est assured th a t I shall shake hands w ith you on th a t and
confess th at this, indeed, is included in F ate, i. e. th a t and
w hat vows a re made. T h ey will be m ade in ex act accord
ance. I t is fate th a t someone is a scholar, provided, however,
he has learned to read and to w rite. T h a t m eans he will
necessarily be taught. A nother one will be rich, if he sails
the seas. B ut in th a t sequence of F a te by w hich a g reat
fo rtu n e is prom ised him. this too is fated in ad d itio n : that
he sails the seas. T h u s he will sail them. I say the same
about expiations (expiationibus). . . . T h a t too is p a rt of
his F ate th a t he will expiate. T hus expiate he will. People
a re in the habit of holding this up ag ain st us in o rd er to
show th a t n o th in g [in o u r w ay of th in k in g ] is left to our
ow n free will an d all ju d g m en t (ius) is tra n sferre d to F ate
itself. W hen this m atter will be discussed, I shall say to
w h at ex ten t (w ith o u t elim inating F a te ) som ething is left
to the free will of man. F o r the tim e being, how ever, I have
explained in w hat way, even if the sequence of F a te is
fixed, sacrifices and the in terp retatio n of omens a v e rt p e rils ;
because they do not fight F ate, but themselves happen
according to F ate. W h a t then, you say, " can an h aru
spex do for me ? F o r it is fated th at' [ m ake a sacrifice even
w ithout his advising m e to do so. T h is is useful, since he
is the m inister of F ate. T h u s w hile good health is due to
F ate, it is also due to the physician, since the blessing of
F a te comes to us through his hands.342

Seneca might well have added another stock argu

ment of the Stoic defenders of fatalism. The judge,
confronted with a smiling criminal who refused to
acknowledge responsibility for his acts, saying he was
fated to steal or murder, simply refuted this easy de
341 Ibid. 2. 37, 1-3.
341 Ibid. 2, 38, 1-4; compare also 6, 1, 8.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

tense by asserting that he himself in turn was fated to

sentence the criminal to death. Paradoxa of this kind
actually made fatalism suspect, since in this way free
will could be explained as operating unl>eknownst to
itself according to the dictate of Fate, an argument of
doubtful validity. Astral influence upon terrestrial phe
nomena was of course freely admitted by Neros chief
tutor :!4:* and long standing prime minister. Quoting
for example Berossus, in Graeco-Roman tradition the
proverbial founder of Hellenistic astrology , 314 Seneca
rem arked:
B erossus, a p riest of Belus. assigns a time for [m u r
derous] heat and one for the [deadly] floods. F o r he asserts
th at all earth will burn when all planets w hich now are
p u rsu in g different courses will be together in [the sign of]
C ancer and be placed in such a position under that sign
th a t a straig h t line will touch all of these orbs. A [deadly]
flood will occur when the same sw arm of stars will come
together in C apricorh.345

T he ancient concept of recurring cosmic catastrophes

had long become an accepted stoic tenet. Seneca sided
firmly with Berossus. and continued (paraphrasing per
haps the Chaldaean priest?) :
A nd I have accepted these argum ents for not from a
single s ta r stems so g re a t a peril and I believe th a t the
sam e reason w hich yve accept for assum ing the [general]
conflagration m ust also be applied to the o th er [i. e. the
final flo o d ]: Be it th a t the universe is a living soul, be it
th at it is an inert body governable by n atu re like trees and
crops, it is included in its destiny th a t from its inception
to its end it does both ac t an d is subjected to action. Ju st
as in the seed the en tire essence ( om ttis ra tio ) of a future
hum an being is included and a male child yet unborn has
the law of a [fu tu re! beard and w hite h air, thus also are
the lines of every subsequent action of the body p resent in
the sm all and hidden [seed]. T he o rigin of the universe
th erefo re contained no less the sun and moon and the m utual
relations of the stars and the origins of living things than
it also contained w hatever elements change te rre stria l
th in g s.348

N or was an apocalyptic vision of the watery end of

the world Senecas own invention, but he presented it
in the style of the Gilgamesh epic and its adaption:
T h e soil will render all the w aters, the highest m ountains
w ill vanish. N o longer will there be the A driatic, no r the
bays ( fa u c e s ) of the Sicilian sea neither C harybdis no r
Scylla. A new sea will overrun all, and the ocean that
girdles the world wilt pour from its edge tow ards the center.
W h a t happens then? W in ter will keep strange months,
sum m er will be elim inated, and w hatever star m ight dry up
the lands will have itjs heat quenched. All nam es [of these]
will vanish, the Caspian, as well as the Red Sea. the bays
of A m braciuni and Crete, the S traits and the Black Sea. . . .
N o r will walls or tow ers protect anyone . Useless will be
the temples to the suppliants, useless the highest point of a
city. F o r the wave will intercept the fugitives and will
3,3 Ibid. 3. 29. 1.
144 Compare above, ch. i. p. J.
345 Seneca, t]uacst. nat. 3. 29. 1.

** Ibid. 3. 29. 2-.5.

sweep them even from the very citadels. O ne w ave will

rush in from the west, the o th er from the east. A single
day will finish the hum an race. W h atev er the long indul
gence of fortune has m ade flourish, w hatever is lifted above
the rest, noble and orn ate realm s of g re a t nations, it will
d e stro y /'47

As a true Stoic Seneca did not exempt his own Ron ta

ncterna from this dire fate. Modern man, gloating over
his technological achievements, may condescendingly
smile when the church warninglv proclaims : " Dies irae,
dies ilia solvet saeculum in favilla." Seneca did not
smile. In his vision of the ultimate flood he prophesied:
T hus there w ill be an end to hum an affairs a t some time
when all continents m ust perish, and even the foundations of
the universe will be destroyed, so th a t anew they m ay arise
in p ristin e innocence w hen no teach er of evil su rv iv es.345

But even this noble beginning would but lead to a

repetition of the former cycle:
T h e ancient o rd er will be reestablished. R eborn will be
every living creatu re. M an, ig n o ran t of any crim e, will
once m ore be given to the w orld, born under b etter auspices.
B ut again his innocence will n o t outlast the infancy of the
new w orld. Soon evil will raise its head. V irtu e is difficult
to learn. It needs a guide and a preceptor. V ice needs no
teacher.34'

An astrological apocalyptical mood also permeated

Seneca's plays. Of those which have survived, Hercules
furiens, Hercules Oetaeus, and Thyestes may be cited
as examples. The raging Hercules has hallucinations
in which he sees the skies darken and the constellation
Leo shake its tail ( w . 945 ff.). In a saner mood he
wonders whether he is at the point where the sun rises,
or under the heart of the icy constellation U rsus ( w .
1139 f. >. He even suspects that the stars on his account
abandon their courses and roam at will (vv. 1332 f.).
Elsewhere Hercules insists on his own catasterism :
I seek the skies which I myself have borne. a request
which is somewhat strange. For he has just complained
that the very monsters of which he purged the earth
have now filled the very heavens:
B ut w hat avails it to have freed the race of men from
fe ar? N ow the gods have no peace. Up in .th e skies the
liberated ea rth sees all the creatu res which she used to fear.
F o r there has Juno set all the m onsters. . . . T h e cancer
w hich I slew goes round the to rrid zone, its know n as
L ib y as constellation. . . . Leo to A straea [i. e. V irg o ] the
flying year does give. . . . A ll beasts have gone to heaven.350

Nevertheless, Hercules will if necessary fight his wav

into these very heavens if he should he denied the ele
vation amongst those signs. In the Thyestes finally
Seneca again struck an apocalyptic note. When dooms
day comes and in our age it may he closer at hand
than in the days of Seneca Greedy indeed for life
347 Ibid. 3. 29. 7-9.
Loc. cit.
1+0 Ihtd. 7. 30 (end).
:'5I> Seneca. Hercules Octacus. vv. 61 ff.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FRO M A U G U ST U S TO D OM ITIA N

is he who would mind dying when the whole world is
perishing with him. 351
The scientific approach on which such views were
based was not confined bv Seneca to the astrological
speculations of Berossus. The Roman Stoic frankly
admitted that the universe harbored many secrets of
which the problem of the comets was but one, a riddle
whose solution would surely require a long period of
continued observations. Not even the question whether
or not all or any comets were planets had been settled.
In the past the ancient Egyptians apparently had not
interested themselves in comets at all. For had not
Eudoxus, reputedly a disciple of the sages of Egypt,
omitted all references to comets ? Nor had the Hellen
istic astronomer, Conon (whom we saw involved in the
pious fraud which led him to establish the constellation
named The lock of Berenice ) , 352 broken the silence
about comets, he who was credited with having collected
the Egyptians records of solar eclipses. 353
The Mesopotamians, on the other hand, had long
paid attention to comets, and Seneca was able to quote
two Hellenistic scientists, Epigenes (of Byzantium) and
Apollonius of Mvndos, in considerable detail on the
subject. Both were considered as disciples of the Chal
daeans."5* Unfortunately the two scholars disagreed on
the Mesopotamian theories about comets. Epigenes
flatly stated that the Babylonians had no understanding
of comets and believed them to be fiery clusters of
whirling air. Apollonius, on the other hand, asserted
that the Babylonians had not only recognized comets
as planets, but even computed their orbits . 355 It speaks
for Seneca that, after weighing both views, he accepted
a modified version of the Apollonian hypothesis, hold
ing that comets were real stars, and some of them
might well be planets of our solar system .556 Why then,
opponents of such a theory might object, had none of
their orbits been computed like those of the traditional
planets ? Obviously the Babylonian computations of
which Apollonius spoke had not reached the Roman
world. But while admitting that no computations of
the orbits of any comet had vet been accomplished.
Seneca rose to prophetic heights in proclaiming his
firm faith in the irrepressible force of human progress
towards a more profound understanding of nature in
times to com e:
W h y then a re w e su rp rised th at comets, those rare cosmic
phenom ena, a re not yet encom passed by know n laws, nor
th e ir o rig in an d d estin atio n know n, inasm uch as th eir return
3,1 Ibid., vv. 82 f.
352 See above, p. 13.
103 Seneca, quaest. nat. 7, 3.
354 Loc. cit.; compare above, p. 15.
351 Seneca, quaest. nat. 7, 3; a detailed discussion follows ibid.,
4 ff.
3S* Here Seneca departed from the prevalent Stoic view. His
independence of judgment appears to even better advantage in
quaest. nat. 7, 22 ff.

121

occurs only in enorm ous intervals? Less than fifteen hun

dred [ ji 'c /] y ears have elapsed since G reece gave names
and num bers to the stars."
Even today there are m any nations which surely see the
sky and yet do not know the cause of lunar eclipses, nor
why the moon is obscured. W ith us also reason h a sonly
recently conclusively determ ined this m atter.357 T h e time
will come w hen the d iligent effort of a future age and a
[distan t] day will b rin g to light w hat is now unknown. A
single e ra does not suffice for research in m atters so great,
even if th a t e ra w ere wholly devoted to astronomical'
studies. . . . B ut through successive and prolonged investi
gation problem s will be solved. T he time will come when
future generations will m arvel at our ignorance of things
so obvious. . . ,358
O ne day a man will be born who will discover the orbits
of comets and the reason why their paths a re so different
from those of o th er planets. Let us be satisfied w ith the
discoveries already made, so that future generations may
also add th eir m ite to the [know n] truth.***

Did L. Annaeus Seneca remember these lines per

haps when Neros henchmen told him that death was
at hand.' One might almost wish that he did not die
innocently, as Tacitus asserts.3* falsely accused by two
dubious witnesses 2,1 of participating in the Pisonic plot
of 65. For what better thing could Seneca do to expiate
his responsibility for having helped to educate and put
on the throne such a ruler ? But the well-known caution
of the renowned Stoic (who had also managed to become
one of the wealthiest private citizens of the empire)
makes it probable that he steered clear of so dangerous
an undertaking as the Pisonic plot even though, indeed,
he like Balbillus may well have had some inkling of the
nascent conspiracy. If Seneca had received astrological
predictions of his own fate, they must have been wrong,
or he had failed to heed them. For he had not even
made his will when Neros soldiers came.
The Pisonic conspiracy also proved fatal to Senecas
young cousin, Lucanus. Bom on November 3, 39 in
Cordoba (Spain), he arrived in Rome at the promising
age of seven months. And he was only twenty-five
years old when, given a choice of how to die, he opened
his veins in his bath and died on April 30, 65 in Rome,
where his brief career had carried him too high . 3*2
He left no children but his poetical works, which
3"7 In a . d . 45 Claudius in an edict had proclaimed the scientific
explanation of solar eclipses; Cassius Dio, 60, 26, 1.
35* Seneca, quaest. nat. 7, 25.
3 Ibid. 7, 26.
3,0 Tacitus, Annals IS, 60 ff.
The two were Natalis, a freedman of Piso, and Sabrius
Flavius, who insisted that Piso was to be killed, when Nero's
overthrow was accomplished, so that Seneca might mount the
imperial throne; Tacitus, Annals 15. 65; according to Cassius
Dio. cpit. 62, 24 f., Seneca was, indeed, a ringleader in the plot.
3,2 H e died inglerioosly, having vainly tried to save his life
by turning states evidence and accusing even his own mother
of complicity in the conspiracy. His widow, Polla Argentaria.
treasured his memory, and never forgot to honor the anniversary
of his birth. F o r one of these melancholy occasions Statius
wrote his poem, Silvae 2. 7. vv. 1 ff.: compare Martial etnqr 7
21 and 23.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

already had won for him the high acclaim of his con
temporaries . - 63 His writings are now lost except for
the torso of an epic poem, called the Pharsalia. In it
he attacked Julius Caesar so bitterly and, on the other
hand, glorified Caesar's foe, Pompey, to such an extent
that N ero's wrathstirred perhaps by a bitter feeling
i artistic jealousy for his successful rival poetwould
Iso lie politically understandable. In the Pharsalia
ucanus showed not only his own familiarity with at
ast the elements of astrology, but also that he could
xpect such a knowledge among his readers.
Like his contemporary Lucanus. young Persius
a. d. 34-62)384 also took it for granted that educated
people would know their horoscopes in some detail,
although not many would profess a deep seated astro>gical IV eltansc hawing. Persius himself used on occaon a stock anti-astrological argum ent: The same
>roscope will produce different characters in twins. 385
'.ut in his deeply felt fifth satire in which he paid tribute
i his friend and mentor, the Stoic Comutus. Persius
aiew of no better way to express their innate affinity
than by doing it in Horatian term s:
Do not. indeed, doubt that the lives of both of us arc
'Inked by a firm bond and that they are guided by the same
ar. Either a truth abiding Fate hangs our destinies on
i.e even-balanced Libra, or be it t,hat the hour which
iwned upon faithful people has divided among Gemini the
int fate of both of us, or that we break the influence of
ileful Saturn by our friend Jupiter, in any case there is
nothing more certain than that a single star joins my fate
yours. 388
>or Persius, alas, was wrong. For Comutus survived
m by many years, 287 busying himself among other
mgs with editing the poetic legacy of his dead young
mend.
The Pharsalia of Lucanus, on the other hand, seems
o have remained more or less in the unfinished conlition in which the author left his work. One may see
in this poem the application of Stoic rationalism to
L.atin epic poetry. For no longer do we encounter the
traditional flock of gods and goddesses guiding or
.antagonizing their human proteges. The poem has
Mspensed with such supernatural elements. A futile
attempt was made to appease Nero by the gross flattery
,,J The Iliaca, Saturnalia, Silvae, Epigrammata, and other
vorks of Lucanus are lost. F or an evalution of his writings
from the point of view of a rhetorician, howeversee Quintilian,
de inslit, oratorio 10, 1, 90.
* H ad the young poet lived until the year 65, he might also
have been destroyed in the anti-Stoic purge, especially since his
poetic fame could easily arouse Nero's jealousy.
,,s Persius, Satires, 5, vv. 18 f.
*** Ibid. 5, vv. 45-51. The passage is reminiscent of H oraces
proclamation of astrological affinity between his own fate and
that of his friend Maecenas; Horace. Odes 2, 17.
He was exiled, probably in 65, as were Musonius and other
important Roman S toics; compare Schanz-Hosius, 2, 4th e d .:
0/6-679, C. H. Becksche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Muenchen, 1935.

of adding to a lengthy complaint about Romes suicidal

lust for civil wars in the days of Caesar the following
rem ark :
S till if F ate could find no o th er w ay for the advent ot
N ero . . . then we com plain no m ore ag ain st the g o d s :
even such crim es and such g u ilt [as those of the civil w ars]
a re not too high a price to pay. . . . Rome owes much to
civil w ar because w hat was done w as done for you [N ero ],
W hen your w atch on ea rth is o v er and you seek the stars
a t last . . . the sky w ill be glad . . . , and n atu re will leave
it to you to determ ine w hat deity you w ish to be. . . . M ay
th a t region of the sky be b rig h t and clear, and may no
clouds o b stru ct ou r view of you, C aesar [N e ro ], . . . B ut
to me you a re divine a lre a d y ; and if my b reast receives
you to inspire my verse, I w ould n o t care to trouble . . .
[A p o llo ]; you alone a re sufficient to give stren g th to a
R om an b ard .388

Lucanus proceeded to show how cause led to effect

which in turn became the cause of the next effect. Fate,
governing the universe inexorably until the end. would
bring about the day
w hen the fram ew ork of the w o rld is dissolved an d the final
hour, closing so m any ages, rev erts to prim eval chaos. Then
all the constellations will clash in confusion, the fiery stars
w ill drop into the sea . . . the m oon will move in opposition
to her b ro th e r [sun] . . . and the whole distracted fabric
of the sh attered firm am ents w ill overth ro w its law s.389

Fate, Fate, Fate again and again did this supreme

power appear as the primary cause in Lucanus poem.
And the course of events could be read in the stars.
Julius Caesar himself proudly proclaimed (according
to Lucanus) : In the midst of battles I have always
studied the heavenly zones of the stars and the sky . " 370
W hereupon not to be outdone the Egyptian priest
Acoreus reestablished the astrological prestige of his
own country by revealing to Julius Caesar the astro
logical secrets of Egypts priests:
T o me, C aesar, it is p erm itted to disclose the secrets
of ou r g re a t ancestors secrets h ith erto unknow n to the
herd. . . . A ll m ankind should learn th eir sacred laws.
T h e p rim al ordinance of th e u n iv erse assigned d ifferent
pow ers to those sta rs w hich alone ru le the rap id m ovem ent
of the sky, and m ove in opposition to the heavens. . . ,3n

There followed a long exposition of the astrological

propensities of the planets, proof that the author was
at least well versed in the lingo of the astrologers.
In view of his profound belief in Fate and the whole
fabric of Stoic tenets, including the axiom of the ekpyrosis, there also seems little reason to doubt that
Lucanus himself considered astrology as a truly scien
tific branch of astronomy.
On a lesser level and with a slightly different approach
an attempt was made by a physician from the east.
*** Lucanus, Pharsalia 1, vv. 33 ff.
* Ibid. 1, vv. 70 ff.
* Ibid. 10, w . 185 f.
5,1 Ibid. 10, vv. 193 ff.

T H E P O W E R O F A S T R O L O G E R S FR O M A U G U ST U S T O D O M IT IA N
Thessalus of Tralles, to ingratiate himself with either
Claudius or Nero by the dedication of a treatise setting
forth the astrological affinities of nineteen plants with the
twelve zodiacal constellations and the seven planets .372
The authorship of the tract (of which a Latin version 373
as well as the Greek text survives) was ascribed in the
Greek text to Harpocration, a physician of the Augus
tan era, but today the authorship of Thessalus has been
definitely established. T hat this physician of Tralles
was an excerptor of N echepso 374 was typical of his compilatory rather than original approach to astrology. Nor
was this instance unique. For Thessalus, whose pro
fessional reputation was great, was in the habit of
addressing letters to emperors. Galen, for example,
quoted from another epistle of this physician to the
emperor Nero . 375 The fantastic details which Thessalus
related in his botano-astrological tract rang true of the
homeland of Chaeremon. Having completed his gram
marian studies (perhaps at his native Tralles) Thessalus
had gone to Alexandria, the medical citadel of GraecoRoman antiquity, to devote himself entirely to medicine
and the sciences.378 These studies included obviously
religious mysticism as well as clinical practice. F or when
asked in a temple whether he preferred a discussion
with the spirit of a departed person or with a god, he
boldly chose Asclepius himself.377 The elder Pliny,
who must have often have passed the proud tomb which
the famous physician erected for himself on the Via
Appia, referred to h im :
T h e sam e e ra th ro u g h the reig n of N ero led to Thessalus.
who destroyed all accepted theories and attack ed as if in a
m ad rag e the physicians of any period. H is p rudence and
genius can be sized up by a single p r o o f : O n the m onu
m ent w hich he built on the A ppian W ay, he en g rav ed an
inscription, calling him self V icto r o v er all physicians

<iatronicen) . 378
Among the few known writers opposing fatalist
astrology in this era, Thessalus contemporary Colu
mella was the chief Latin spokesman . 379 His de re
rustica, written about a . d . 62, contains ( 1 1 , 2 ) the
most comprehensive Latin weather calendar which has
come down to us .380 In the chapter which precedes it
(11, 1, 31) Columella admitted that:

123

A g ain st such a practice, I cannot deny it, I have arg u ed in

those books w hich I have w ritten ag ain st the astrologers.
B ut in those discourses was only w ith m any argum ents
attacked w hat the Chaldaeans m ost fraudulently promise,
nam ely th a t [definite] w eather changes occur on certain
days, as if by fate. B ut in ag ricu ltu ral science of this kind
such h a ir-sp littin g is superfluous.382

From this meagre evidence it would seem that Colu

mella attacked primarily fatalistic astrometeorologv.
This view is strengthened by a respectful reference
(9. 14, 2) of Columella about the antiquorum fasttis
astrologorum , 383
In a lighter vein the Greek poet, Lukillios (also writ
ing in the reign of N ero ) , 384 penned some epigrammatic
barbs against the blind faith in astrology. He chided
astrologers and their clients:
A ulus the astrologer, after m aking out his own nativity,
said th a t the fatal hour had come and that he had still four
hours to live. W hen the fifth hour arrived, and he had to
go on living convicted of ignorance, he grew asham ed of
i-'eto>iri.-.f ) and hanged himself, and there up in the air
he is dying, b u t he is dying ig n o ran t.385

This sad lot of a believer in fatalistic astrology was

contrasted with the smartness of a catarchic astrologer:
O nesim us the b o x er came to the prophet Olympus w ishing
to learn if he w ere g oing to live to old age. A nd he said:
" Yes, if you g ive up the rin g now, but if you go on boxing.
S a tu rn is your horoscope. 388

It may have been by bitter personal experience that

Lukillios turned against the astrologers. If the fol
lowing epigram should be based on an incident in his
own life, that alone would account for his attitude:
A ll the astro lo g ers as it w ere w ith one voice prophesied
to my fath er a ripe old ag e for his brother. H ermoclides
alone foretold his prem atu re death, but he foretold it when
we w ere lam enting over his corpse in the house.387

If this episode had actually occurred in the poets

family his resentment would be very natural, indeed:
All those who take horoscopes from observing M ars and

3.1 Columella, de re rustica 11, 1, 31: Quare necessaria est

menstrui cuiusque officii monitio ea, quae pendet ex ratione
siderum caeli. Contra quam observationem multis argumenF o r every [ag ricu ltu ra l] duty of each m onth an instruction
tationibus disseruisse me non infitior in iis libris quos adversos
about the influence of the stars in the sky is necessary. . . .,81
astrologos cotnposueram. Sed illis disputationibus exigebatur
quod improbissime Chaldaei pollicentur, ut certis quasi terminis
371 Printed in Cat. 8, 3 : 134-151.
ita diebus statis aeris mutationcs respondeant: in hac autem ruris
1,3 See Cat. 8, 4 : 254 ff.Only the first part of this essay stems disciplina non desideratur eiusmodi scrupulositas; similarly
from the treatise of Thessalus.
Pliny, Nat. H ist. 18, 62, 231
4 He referred repeatedly to Nechepso. patron saint of Helle
3.1 Columella, de re rustica 11, 1, 31, implies the authors
nistic astrology; see Cat. 8, 3: 135, 14 and 15. A later Greek
acceptance of catarchic astrology: Nam fatis providus erit cui
scribe called Thessalus simply an astrologer ; Cat. 8, 3: 134.
licebit ante multos dies cavere suspecta tempora.
174 Galen, dc method, medend. 1, 2 (ed. Kuehn, 10: 7).
*** See J. Geffcken, R E 13, 1927; c. 1777-1785. The suggestion
* Cat. 8, 3: 135, 5 ff. and 20 ff.; compare also 136, 1 f.
that he was the Luciiius to whom Seneca addressed the Epistulae
*77 Ib id .: 136, 27 ff.; compare 137, 1 ff.
does not seem tenable.
,T* Pliny, Mat. H ist. 29. 1. 9.
1U Greek Anthology 11, no. 164.
* See Kappelmacher, R E 10. 1919: c. 1054. no. 104-c. 1068.
* Ibid., no. 161. The term used is p ir n t. If this Greek word
*** Compare A. Rhem, R E 18, 2, 3, 1949: c. 1309 ff.
has the same meaning in no. 163, also written by Lukillios, we
l Columella interjected here a quotation from V ergils
would have another epigram against catarchic astrology.
Georgies.
7 Ibid. 11, no. 159.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A TIN W O R LD

S atu rn are d eserv in g of one cudgelling. I shall see them

perhaps at no d ista n t date really le arn in g w hat a bull can
do and how stro n g a lion is.3*8

Irrespective of whether or not Lukillios poems re

flected a tnere whiin ur arose from lasting conviction,
their sentiments were expressed in many a Roman epi
taph. A dying gladiator struck down before his time.
parents bewailing the loss of children to whom astrol
ogers had promised long lives their bitter plaints
against misleading astrological predictions were elo
quent and incontrovertible evidence of similar moods
among bitterly disappointed clients of astrologers.38*
Lukillios had access to the court and knew Nero
probably personally:
. . . Now I have got to w rite a prooem ium of some sort.
But w hat shall I w rite now th a t I am beginning to publish
this second book ? O lym pian M uses, (laughters of Zeus.
I should not h av e been saved unless N ero C aesar h ad given
me money." :;D0

Apparently the poet had dedicated a book (of epi

grams?) to the emperor and received from Nero lar
gesse which enabled him to commence a second book
with a prooemium of which the above verses were a
part. One wonders if perhaps Nero enjoyed the spoof
ing in which Lukillios made fun of N ero's former tutor,
Chaeremon. Ridiculing the pedantic scholar wrapped
up in esoteric mysteries, Lukillios lampooned the Alex
andrian (if indeed that was the Chaeremon of his
epigrams) as follows:
C haerem on ca u g h t by a slight breeze w as floating in the
air. much lig h ter than a straw . H e w ould soon have been
swept aw ay th ro u g h the air. if he had not ca u g h t his feet
in a spider's w eb and hung there on his back. H e re he
hung for five days and nights, and on the six th day cam e
down by a th re ad of the web.

Or
C haerem on fell flat bn his back, struck by a poplar leaf
carried by the w ind, ahd he lies on the ground like T ityus
or rath er like a caterpillar, stretching on the ground his
skeleton body.391
|

If he was the mail referred to. the Egyptian gramniarian-astrologer serins to have been tall and sparse.
An earthy satire, now generally ascribed to Petronius,
a member of the innei* circle of Nero's court, portrayed
the permeation of thd lives of self-made men of eastern
origin with faith in astrology. Trimalchio. the hero "
of the extant fragmenta banqueting scenehas with
dubious validityIjeen taken for a Petronian take-off of
.Nero, but even if we accept this character at face value,
I bid. 11, no. 160; i. e. the astrologer should be sentenced to
tight the wild beasts in the arena of the circus.
1' Some samples of such inscriptions were quoted above: ch.
iii. n. 122; cf. F. Cumont. L u x perpctua: 303 ff., Paris. Librairie
Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1949.
J,l> Greek Anthology 9, no. 572.
3,1 Ibid. 11. nos. 106 and 107.

th e h o u seh o ld o f th e e x -s la v e fro m A sia w o u ld fu rn is h

a n a m u s in g e x a m p le of th e ro le of a s tro lo g y in th e w ellto -d o p a rv e n u s tr a ta of Ita lia n b u sin ess so cie ty of th e
first c e n tu ry a . d . A s a fre e d m a n ( o f a h ig h - r a n k in g
R o m a n ) T riin a lc h io w as of c o u rs e a R o m a n citiz en an d
p ro u d of it. H is d in in g ro o m w as o r n a m e n te d w ith an
in s c rip tio n w hich r e a d : D e d ic a te d to C. P o m p e iu s
T rim a lc h io , an A u g u sta l S e v ir. . . . 39:! I n th e co lo n
n a d e le a d in g to w a rd s th e d in in g ro o m a fresco sh o w e d
th e th re e F a te s tw is tin g g o ld e n th r e a d s , 393 w h ile in
th e d in in g ro o m itself o n e co u ld beh o ld a p o s t . . .
d e c o ra te d w ith th e p a th of th e m o o n a n d w ith th e sev en
p la n e ts : a n d th e lu c k y a n d u n lu c k y d a y s w e re d is
tin g u is h e d bv d iffe re n t co lo red k n o b s . 384
T rim a lc h io m a y h av e b een u n u s u a lly in tr ig u e d by
a s tro lo g y . F o r it in flu en ced ev e n th e m e n u :
T h e course that followed . . . w as so uncom m on th a t it
attra c te d everyones attention. F o r a round-shaped tra y w as
b rought in w ith the tw elve signs of the Zodiac a rran g e d
in a circle and the chef had placed over each of them
delicacies th a t w ere ap p ro p riate to the peculiar signs. O ver
A ries he had put ram s' chickpeas, over T au ru s a piece of
beef, over G em ini a p air of sw eetbreads and kidneys, over
C ancer a garland, on Leo an A frican fig, on V irg o the
paunch of a sow th a t had n o t farro w ed , on L ib ra a balance
w ith a ta r t in one pan and a cheesecake in the other, over
S corpio a seafish, over S ag ittariu s a hare, over C ap rico rn
a lobster, over A quarius a goose, over P isces tw o mullets.
A nd in the m iddle lay a clod of tu rf w hich had been dug
up w ith the grass still on it, covered by a honeycomb. . . .
W e looked ra th e r blank as we began to attack the coarse
fare, but T rim alcho u rged us to fall to.395
T h is w as th e b e g in n in g o f th e d in n e r. A p p a re n tly
th e refin ed a u th o r co n s id e re d th e id ea of th e zo d iacal
a r ra n g e m e n t o rig in a l b u t th e fo o d allo tte d to th e sig n s
to o v u lg a r fo r th e d elicate p a la te s o f a ris to c ra tic R o m a n
g o u rm e ts . T rim a lc h io . th e tig h t-fiste d , h a rd -h e a d e d
b u s in e s s m a n . h a d risen , a c c o rd in g to h is o w n w o rd s,
fro m slav e to fre e d m a n . a n d th e n fro m a m e r c h a n t in
o v e rs e a s g o o d s a n d th e sh ip p in g tr a d e to th e p ro fe s s io n
of a c a ttle d e a le r. B u t he w as e a g e r to clim b to th e
p in n a c le o f th e b u sin ess w o r ld : b an k in g . T h e final d e
cision to a b a n d o n h is tr a d in g o p e ra tio n s f o r th o s e of
fin a n cin g o th e r fre e d m e n s b u sin ess e n te rp ris e s w as a
ris k y o ne. T h e re fo re . T rim a lc h io re s o rte d ta. a n a s tr o l
o g e r fo r ad v ice on th e m a t t e r :
I m ust adm it, exactly when I was w anting to discontinue
my trading. I was urged to do so by an astro lo g er w ho had
ju s t com e to our town [probably the city of Cumae, n o rth
w est of N aples], a Greek fellow called S e ra p a ( ! ) , clever
enough to sit in the councils of the gods. W ell, th is m an
actually mentioned events w hich had slipped my own
m em ory he told me everything as pat as needle and th r e a d :
he seemed to be able to see my very insides and told me
everything except w hat I d had for d inner the day before.
Y ou'd have thought he'd lived w ith me always.
3 Petronius. Satiricon, 30.
3,3 Ibid.. 29.
3.1 Ibid.. 30.
3.1 Ibid.. 35.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FROM A U G U STU S TO D O M IT IA N

I ask you, H ab in n as, you w ere w ith us, I believe, w hen
he sa id : You used y o u r w ealth to g et yo u r w ife: you are
unlucky in your frie n d s : no one is ever half as g ratefu l to
you as he o ught to b e : you ow n b ro ad a c re s : you are
n o u rish in g a snake in yo u r bosom . A nd, well, I really
d o n 't see why I sh o uldn't tell you. I ve still g o t th irty years,
four m onths, and tw o days to live, and I shall soon have a
legacy left me. T his tells me my fate ( fa tu s m etis [ ji c /] ) . 38

In another sphere, however, Thrasyllus and Philos

ideas were not incompatible. Apart from the Jewish
elements in his Weltanschauung Philos svncretistic
fusing of Platonism and Stoicism resembled that of his
older fellow-townsman and contemporary. Their think
ing therefore may reflect a certain Alexandrinian trend
manifesting itself in the Augustan and Tiberian era.
The momentary hesitancy which even the intoxicated General agreement seems to exist to the effect that,
Trimalchio displayed lietore admitting the exact astro prior to his attempt to blend Jewish and Greek thought.
logical prophecy of his death date (to the very day!)
Philo in his earlier years passed through a Greek
may well have been due to his awareness of admitting stage during which for example his essay On provi
a violation of the Augustan edict of 1 1 which had strictly dence was written . 400 Devoid of original thinking this
outlawed astrological predictions of this kind. Balbillus. treatise reflected late hellenistic views about astrology
himself a specialist in this very field, may have chuckled from the philosophical angle. On a more basic level
when he read the passage so typical of the bland than the subsequent anti-astrological attacks of Colu
effrontery of astrologers at all times, including our own. mella, Lukillios, or Petronius, Philo took issue in
By a strange coincidence, it was at Cumae, the scene particular with the Stoic tenets which formed the
of his gay Satyricon, that its author, Petronius, another foundations of fatalistic astrology. 401 He wanted to
victim of N eros wrath after the discovery of the Pisonic close the mouths of the makers of horoscopes and open
plot, opened his veins upon imperial orders that he die the eyes of their gullible clients. In line with both
( a . d . 6 6 ). 397
The brilliant group in which Balbillus Cameadic and Jewish insistence on human free will,
had moved for so long was now almost extinct, its Philo restated the sinister logical consequences of astral
members dead or in exile.3** Gone too since many fatalism when applied to ethical and moral values.4*
years was a fellow Alexandrian whom Balbillus may- Surviving only in an Armenian version of Philos tract,
well have known personally, the Jewish philosopher, his views on astrology may be quoted to illustrate the
Philo.
continuity of the minority opposition to astrology, a
Piquantly enough the two men had crossed swords minority which from the days of Cameades and Panae
in the political arena. F o r Philo together with four tius persisted even in the reigns of Tiberius and
other Jews from Alexandria headed in a . d . 39 an em Claudius. It refused to bow to astrological fatalism:
bassy to Caligula to defend the Alexandrian Jews for
F irs t of all one m ust raise the question to w hat ex ten t a
their refusal to allow the erection of an imperial statue man can be considered delinquent when he goes astray, if,
in their synagogue and to ask imperial relief for the denying the freedom of man, he ascribes everything as due
local pressure which had been the result. Simultane to astrological fate. . . . Should in p articu lar the authorities
ously an anti-Jewish embassy, headed by Apion, arrived of the cities pass the d eath sentence upon w rongdoers who
have com m itted th eir crim es w ithout any free will of their
in Italy. As might have been expected, the Jewish own,
but by evil positions of the stars have plunged into
ambassadors were sent packing by Caius, their mission crim e and were thus unable to lead a blameless life of their
a failure, but after the emperor's assassination (January own. led astra y forcibly by the tyrannical pow er of the
24, 41) Philos formal petition setting forth their case stars ?
F o r would th a t be ju stice to inflict penalties on those
was officially read in the senate only a few months
who have sinned ag a in st th eir own will, inasm uch as they
before the arrival of another anti-Jewish embassy from have not voluntarily com m itted th eir crimes, because they
Alexandria, including, or at any rate zealously sup- had no control over th e ir own conduct ? W h at law can deter
ixjrted by Balbillus in their attempt to justify the anti- a m ind from following in action an evil choice of its will,
if it has no free will of its own ? H ow can one resist F ate
Jewish riots which had taken place in the Egyptian
w hich drag s even the unw illing one down ? 403
metropolis . 399 It is therefore certain that both Philo
. . . A defendant whose m ind is wholly destitute of free
and Balbillus knew each other and had perhaps even dom m ight well address even a ju s t ju d g e in term s like
met personally. Philo was much the older of the two th e se : " U nchain me, free me from the bonds of my
( ca. 25 b . c.-ca. a . d . 45).
Not only in religious poli horoscope, and then give me w hatever law you choose. . . .
If. however, the natal constellation dom inates the will of
tics. but also on the battlefield of fatalism versus free everybody,
w ho could reproach a man dragged forcibly
will he opposed the son of Thrasyllus.
into evil by the heavenly stars ? N ot even god him self if
Ibid.. 76 f.
3,1 Compare Tacitus, Annals 16, 18 f. He calls him Caius,
other authors Titus.
:1<" The renowned Stoic Musonius Rufus, a knight, was ban
ished to a barren island for his alleged connection with the
Pisonic plot; Tacitus, Annals 15, 71.
3,0 Phiio himself reported on his mission in his legatio ad
Caium ; compare H. Leisegang, R E 20, 1, 1941: c. 1. no. 41
For the embassy of A. i>. 41, see above, p. 113.

he should be the law giver. . . . W h a t parricide o r m atricide

The most important monograph on this work is still P.
Wendland. Philos Schrifl ueber die Vorsehnny; Berlin. 1892.
For a summary treatment of Philos attitude towards fatalism,
see D. Amand. Fatalisme ct liberte dans I'antiquite /jrecque:
81-95: Bibliotheque de I'Universite; Louvain. 1945.
Philo, de providentia 1. 77-88.
Ibid.. 78-83.
3 Compare on the whole passage Cicero, dc fato. 9. 2.1

126

T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

could be ju stly subjected to the v erd ict of the court, w hen,

forced by the stars, he w as driven to the m urder of his
parents ? 404 O r who would accuse a w om an w ithout free
will of adultery, w hen she had been driv en to crim inal
intercourse th ro u g h the force of the stars ? . . . A ll of these
crim inals a re excused by the horoscopal constellations w hose
dom ination for all hum an beings is inescapable. . . .
If everything is ru n by b irth horoscopes, v irtu e is not
praisew orthy, nor crim e blam ew orthy. . . . W hy . . . should
a death-sentence be pronounced ag a in st an unw illing delin
quent? . . . If ju d ges could destroy the crim inal intentions
of evildoers by fear, there could n o t be any astrological
fatalism . . * ,45

It should be remembered, however, that the antiastrological opposition of which Philo was perhaps the
most important representative of his time, was intrinsic
ally hostile to fatalistic astrology only. To deny astral
influences in general, even to oppose on principle catar
chic astrology was a different matter. The arguments
of the New Academy, restated by Cicero in his On
divination, or presented again by Philo were chiefly
directed against the mechanical fatalism rather than
against the very concept of astral influence on mundane
affairs. Similarly ih the realm of weather calendars
Philos younger contemporary Columella had objected
merely to the inevitable link between specific days and
certain definite kinds of weather. Non-fatalist astrology
for Philo as it later did for Columella remained a legiti
mate branch of astronomy, i. e. a real science. 408 He
did not object to astrological theories like those which
ascribed to the Big Dipper an influence on sexual inter
course or to the moon as well as to the sun an impor
tant influence on conception. In general he agreed that
the stars caused certain changes in the sublunar world,
but believed that they were only secondary causes.
Anticipating the later Christian argument, he based his
views on the biblical verse according to which God had
created the stars a$ signs. He asserted that not only
were they created to shed light on the earth, but also to
indicate future events. From their movements, eclipses,
and configurations could man make conjectures about
things to come, especially about natural phenomena
like the weather, crops, the birth or death of animals.
All terrestrial events were foretold by the stars. Steady
observations would eventually enable scholars to dis
cover in the heavens mundane events which were likely,
but not fated to happen . 407 Inasmuch as astrology for
'* This type of parricide was the topic of Ps.-Quintilian, decl.
niai.. 4.
"5 Philo, de providentia 1, 79-83. Latin translation by J.-B.
Aucher in his edition. 1: 36 ff.; Venice, 1822; cf. D. Amand,
op. c it.: 93 ff.; E. Brehier, Les idces pliilosophiques et religieuses
dc Philon d''Alexandria, 2nd ed .: 167; Paris, 1925, claims P an
aetius as Philo's chiejf source: Amand suggests Cam eades;
Wendland attributes to Posidonius the main influence; see also
E. Zeller, Phil. d. Gritch. 3, 2, 4th ed .; 442 ff.; Leipzig, Fues,
1903.
** D. Amand, op. c it.: 88 f.
407 For a summary, see E. Brehier, op. cit.: 165 f .; see Philo,
dc opificio mundi, 58; dc specialibits legibus 1: de monorchia, 1;

Philo was part of astronomy, it was all the more signifi

cant that he assigned to astronomy a position above the
encyclical disciplines. i. e. in the highest realm.40'
In short, Philo clashed with Balbillus not concerning
the value of astrology as a whole, but about the validitv
of fatalistic astrology, Roman faith in which had raised
the house of Thrasyllus to the pinnacle of prosperity and
political influence in the courts of Augustus, Tiberius.
Claudius, and most recently Nero.
The very proclamation of young Nero as emperor
( a . d . 54) had been planned by Agrippina in close
consultation with astrologers. T hat Balbillus was one
of her chief astrological advisers can hardly be doubted.
The dramatic scene described so vividly by Tacitus was
thus enacted with the active participation of the schol
arly friend of the late Claudius who now in lending his
support to the rising sun came to the aid of those who
were generally believed to have poisoned the em peror:
. . . T he S enate w as sum m oned . . . , w hile all w as being
prepared to establish N ero on the throne. A t first A g rip
pina, seem ingly overw helm ed by g rie f an d seeking com fort,
clasped B ritannicus in h er em braces. . . . an d hindered him
by every possible device from leaving the cham ber. She
also detained his sisters. A n to n ia [borne by A elia P aetin a]
and O ctavia [borne by M essalina] . . . u n til th e auspicious
m om ent established by the astro lo g ers did a rriv e .409

Catarchic astrology thus ushered in the reign of Nero,

if Tacitus account can be trusted. The story itself has
a familiar ring. H ad not according to legend Olympias
patiently protracted her labor so that her child, the
future Alexander the Great, would be bom at the most
promising m oment ? 410 O r was not Seleucus Nicanor
said to have awaited the most auspicious hour when
formally founding Seleucia ? 411
The reward of Balbillus was not long in forthcoming.
Agrippina and Seneca who had taken over the actual
reins of the government appointed him within the year
to the highest post in the provincial administration of
the early principate: the praefecture of Egypt. Although
in our extant text of Tacitus the new governor is named
C (aius) Balbillus, this could well be a corruption of
the name T i(berius) Balbillus. Tacitus left no doubt
about the direct influence of Agrippina in this appoint
ment. F or immediately after regaining her power over
young Nero, following a brief eclipse, she
obtained vengeance on h er accusers and rew ard s fo r h er
friends. T h e superintendence of the g ra in supply w as given
de sacerdotibus, 89-92; quaestiones in Exodum 2, 74; cf. D.
Amand, op. c it.: 88-90.
*** Philo, de congressu eruditionis, 50. There astronomia, the
science of astronomers and Chaldaeans ( ! ) is called the queen
of the disciplines (Paa-tkit r u r i r o n tn u r) ; compare E. Brehier.
op. cit. : 167 f .; W. Bousset, Juedisclt-christlicher Hochschulbetricb in Alexandria und R o m : 101 f . ; Goettingen, 1913.
*** Tacitus, Annals 12, 68: tempusque prosperum ex monitis
Chaldaeorum adventaret.
410 Compare above, p. 9 f.
411 Appian. 11, 9, 58.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FROM A U G U ST U S T O D O M IT IA N
to F aen iu s R ufus, the d irection of the gam es w hich the
em peror w as p rep arin g to A rru n tiu s Stella, and the p ro v
ince of E gy p t to C. [ j i c /] Balbillus. . . .412

of Xero 420 but Balbillus was surely called upon to

give an astrological interpretation of the portent. His
advice on this occasion seems to have been in favor ot
moderation. For Rubellius Blandus at the time was
merely exiled to his large Asiatic estates.4-' Apparentlv
Balbillus saw no immediate menace in the comets ap
pearance of a . d . 60. He may perhaps have spoken at
court before eager listeners about the nature of comets
in general and their astronomical behavior, thus inspir
ing Seneca's treatise on comets which was written not
long afterwards.
It may also have been during these years that Bal
billus wrote the only treatise of which we possess a
synopsis, as well as fragments of some chapters, pre
served by the astrologer Palchus (ca. a . d . 500). The
title of the work was Astrologumena dedicated to Hermogenes by Balbillus.*22 The bulk of the extant frag
ments is found in three Greek manuscripts in Paris.4
One manuscript in Rome has an entry, ch. 81, " What
I found useful in the work of Balbillus (spelled brabiloisl ). but the scribe suddenly reconsidered and added
disappointingly: This chapter was omitted as use
less. 424 Fortunately not all scribes took such a dim
view of Balbillus writings. The Parisian manuscript
which has preserved the title also furnishes the synopsis
of the work which begins as follows:

As he was sailing towards Egypt Balbillus may have

remembered the tragic fate of his niece. Ennia T hra
sylla, and her husband Macro, who in 38 had been
named to the same post, but never reached it. because
Caius Caligula destroyed them immediately after the
appointment. 413 The voyage of Balbillus, however, took
place under favorable auspices. For he arrived in Alex
andria in the record-breaking time of six days after
passing through the straits of Messina . 414
Balbillus retained his post for a number of years,
probably until a . d . 59 when he was succeeded by Julius
Vestinus . 415 After his return to Italy, Balbillus seems
to have regaled Seneca with a tall story of an amazing
scene he had witnessed in Egypt. Seneca, who con
sidered him an excellent man of a most rare learning
in every branch of studies.- 416 did not hesitate to ac
cept the Balbillean yam about a pitched battle between
crocodiles and dolphins in one of the seven mouths of
the Nile, a battle witnessed by Balbillus and won,
surprisingly enough, by the dolphins.
The ex-prefect found the situation in Rome greatly
changed. Agrippina had been slain by her son, just as
Balbillus had long ago predicted it from the stars . 417
One wonders, incidentally, how much Nero may have
F irs t he [B albillus] deals w ith the spans of life, startin g
been encouraged in that dreadful undertaking by the
his survey w ith the life-determ ining planets. H e consider^
soothing knowledge that this deed was foreordained by as life-determ ining stars S atu rn . M ars, the Sun. and the
the inexorable destiny of his natal constellation. If Nero M oon. H e takes as the life-determ ining L ord the one in
had forgotten the dire prediction, Balbillus himself may the M esuranem a. o r w hen none is present there, he takes
have reminded him of it. if only to impress the emperor the life-determ ining s ta r from the H oroscopal Point, or
D ysis, o r H ypogaeum [A n ti-M esu ran em a].4-5
with his own astrological prowess.
If. how ever, several planets a re in the same sector, then
A year after his return from Egypt, Balbillus received th at one is held to be the only life-determ ining star which
an opportunity to place his astrological skill once more is closest to the M esuranem a. A nd as d eath -star that one
of the life-determ ining stars is reckoned th at am ong them is
at the emperor's disposal. In a . d . 60,
a com et m eantim e blazed in the sky, w hich in popular
opinion always portends revolution to kingdom s. So people
began to ask, as if N ero w as alread y dethroned, who was
to be elected [em p ero r]. In every ones m outh w as the
nam e of Rubellius B landus. . . .41S

Court flatterers like Seneca (who must have written

his quaestiones naturales after this comet's appearance
and prior to that of the comet of 6 4 )419 might take the
minority view and hail the star as a harbinger of good
tidings referring to it as the comet which we have
seen in the most happy reign (laetissimo principatu)
415 Tacitus, Annals 13, 21 f.
115 See above, p. 110 f.
414 Pliny, N at. H ist. 19, 1, 3.
413 Compare P IR , 2nd ed., 1936, 2 : 184 f.
* Seneca, quaest, nat. 4, 2, 13. The story reads as if based
on an oral account of Balbillus.
411 Tacitus, Annals 6, 22; 14, 9.
4,s Ibid. 14, 22.
4l* Seneca, quaest. nat. 7, 32, 1, clearly referred to the comets
of a . D. 54 and 60 as the two which he himself had observed.

the closest acco rd in g to [F ate ] tow ards the point called

Tvche [F o rtu n a ], . . .*26

The synopsis continued along these lines and ended

with the tantalizing w ords: Barbillus was bom. . . . 427
Apparently the scribe wanted to add a brief biographical
sketch to the synopsis but gave up the attempt either
because he could not find the necessary data, or because
he changed his mind and went on to the next topic.
410 Seneca, quaest. nat. 7, 21, 3; similarly Calpurnius Siculus,
1, v. 73.
4,1 Tacitus, Annals 14, 22.
4,5 See cod. Paris, gr. 2425, f. 229, Cat. 8, 3: 103. There the
synkcphalaiosis is also found.
Cod. Paris, gr. 2425, f. 165r ; cod. Paris, gr. 2524, f. 90:
cod. Paris, gr. 2506, f. 80. The synkcphalaiosis is published in
Cat. 8, 3: 103 f .; other fragments ibid. 8, 4 : 235-238; 240-244.
Cod. Angel. (Rome) 29, f. 125.
455 See above, p. 20; for an explanation ot the computation of
the length of life, see Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, 3, 10.
45 Cat. 8, 3: 103 f .; about Tyche, see Bouche-Leclercq: 307;
436.
4,7 Cat. 8, 3: 104, 27.
*

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T H E R IS E AXD T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

Thanks to the synopsis, however, it has l>een possible

to identify a passage saved by Palchus as constituting
the first chapter referred to in the synopsis.4- 8 In the
same Parisian manuscript a number of other chapters
have been tentatively assigned to the authorship of
Balbillus. 4- 11 one of them entitled About the time of
death.130 In short we know definitely that Balbillus
wrote a treatise on the length of life dealing with the
astrological method of computing from the nativity the
death date, as well as the kind of death awaiting any
person. We possess at least one, and perhaps several
other chapters from this work. The Hermogenes to
whom the essay was dedicated was perhaps the one
mentioned with two other friends of Seneca in an
epigram which has survived . 431
The year 64 again provided Balbillus with an oppor
tunity to demonstrate to Nero his astrological usefulness.
The vear had been a disastrous one. An enormous fire
had swept across Rome and well-nigh destroyed the
capital. Ugly rumors arose. Many ascribed the con
flagration to Neros desire to rebuild the ancient city
in a more elegant style; others, including Nero, sug
gested that a new sect, the so-called Christians, had set
fire to Rome which many of them considered as the den
of iniquity. The real Cause of the fire was never estab
lished. The populace was of course in a highly excitable
state for months thereafter. Its feverish fears rose to
a pitch in the late fall:
A t the close of the year people talked much about pro d i
gies, presaging im pending evils. N ever w ere lightning
flashes more frequent, and a com et too appeared for which
N ero always made propitiation w ith noble blood.43'-

The source on which Tacitus based these lines was

apparently not well informed on the details of Neros
reaction. For we possess another account, transmitted
by Suetonius, which not only throws light on the vague
generalization of the last words of Tacitus, but also
reveals the responsibility of Balbillus for Neros course
of action on this occasion:
A comet, whose appearance according to general opinion
presages disaster for the highest princes, already had shown
itself in the skies for several nights in succession. D is
quieted thereby [N ero] consulted the astrologer B a[l]billus.
and when he received from him the inform ation th a t kings
usually bv the execution of a num ber of illustrious persons
deriected such evil portents from th e ir own heads tow ards
those of th eir nobility. [N e ro ] decided a t once to slay all
the noblest Romans, all the m ore since the discovery of two
conspiracies gave him some p retex t of justification. O f
these the earlier and m ore dangerous one. that of P iso was
*=* Ibid. 8, 3: 103. n .: 8, 4 : 233 f.
Ibid. 8. 4 : 240-244.
Ibid. : 243 f.
* Ed. Baehrens. Poet. lat. min., 4: 72, no. 38; see Cumont,
Cat. 8. 4: 233.
Tacitus, Annals IS. 47.

fom ented and discovered in Rome, the other one, th at of

V inicius, in B eneventum .433

To what extent Balbillus may have used this occa

sion to give Nero at least a hint in what direction to
turn for selecting the substitute victims called for by
the comet is uncertain, but a lingering suspicion remains
that just as Thrasyllus probably helped to open the
eyes of his imperial patron, Tiberius, to the dangerous
activities of Sejanus in 31, thus now Balbillus preferred
perhaps to save the throne for Nero instead of having
it mounted by Piso, or possibly even Seneca. 434
In any case this incident is another illustration of
the deadly power held by court astrologers of the first
century, a power based neither on rank or on wealth,
but solely on the deep rooted faith of the ruling strata
of Roman society in the infallible accuracy of astrology,
a belief high lighted rather than contested by lampoons
like those epigrams of Lukillios, or the crude credulity
of a ludicrous Trimalchio depicted by Petronius. To
what extent Balbillus action in the winter of a . d . 64-65
was a desperate attempt to dissociate himself from any
personal danger he foresaw from the Pisonic conspiracy,
and to save his own life and the fortunes of his family
is difficult to assess. Surely, however, the death of
men like Petronius, Seneca, Senecas brother, Senecas
nephew Lucanus, and a host of other Roman leaders
in the realm of the arts and letters, accompanied by the
banishment of the ranking Stoics of the day, including
the knight Musonius Rufus and others these losses
must have made Balbillus a lonely figure at court. If
anyone in years to come would ask him what he had
really done during the last years of Neros reign, he
might well have anticipated Sieyes who, when asked
what he had done during the French revolution, replied
sim ply: I have survived.
Even that was not easy. F or Balbillus was faced
during those years with an unscrupulous rival whose
access to influence and power at court was engineered
by the most beautiful woman of her time, Poppaea
Sabina. H er mother, also named Poppaea Sabina and
in her own time also considered the most beautiful
woman of Rome, had been hounded to death bv Claudius
wife. .Messalina. who begrudged her the affections of
an actor named Mnester. Obviously the morals of
Poppaea's mother had been those of Messalina's own
set. i. e. non-existent. 435 H er daughter was resolved
to use her charms more prudently. H er definite am
bition seems to have been to reach the imperial bed.
This might not have proven unduly difficult with Nero,
but Poppaea Sabina insisted on marriage, although she
Suetonius. Nero. 36; Tacitus relates only the Pisonic plot,
but also begins his account of it immediately following his
mention of the comet; see Annals IS. 48 ff.
431 For a rumor of such a plan, see ibid. 15, 65; compare also
Cassius Dio. ep. 62. 24, 1.
*" Tacitus. Annals U, 1 ff.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FRO M A U G U STU S TO D O M ITIA N

was not averse to granting a future husband a foretaste
of her favors, but even Tacitus, who did not think much
of her character, while saying: she had everything ex
cept a decent mind ( honestiiin aninuun ). admitted that
her conversation was charming and her wit anything
but dull." Outward modesty was coupled with reckless
use of her sex appeal. Nor did she in the pursuit of
her ambitions worry about whatever gossip might attach
to her.
Her first marital venture was but a stepping stone,
as her husband, the knight Rufius Crispinus (from
whom she had a son ) was to find out soon enough.
W here it seemed useful there she transferred her
passion ( mule utilitas ostenderetur illitc libidinem
transfcrebat). A ttracted by the youth and luxurious
way of life displayed by M. Salvius Otho, Poppaea
Sabina soon succeeded in advancing from adultery to
marriage with her next willing victim .*36 In her new
menage she seems to have been introduced to O thos
household astrologers among whom a certain Ptolemy
(probably identical with an astrologer Seleucus of that
era ) 427 was the most influential. It is even not im
possible that Poppaea Sabina had prevailed upon the
astrologer to use his influence with Otho in her favor.
For on the subject of marriage, as well as on political
or business matters, a devotee of astrology was likely
to consult astrologers, and Otho was one of the firmest
believers in astrology in a Roman set quite generally
addicted to that pseudo-science . 438 No sooner, however,
had Poppaea advanced to O thos marital bed than she
began to drive for the goal of her am bition: the nuptial
couch of Nero. It is even possible that her present
husbands reputed influence with Nero had prompted
her very marriage to Otho.
During this time it was in 58 Balbillus was still
in Egypt as governor. Nero, barely twenty-one years
old, was meanwhile treated by the newly-wed Otho to
fascinating tales about the charms of Poppaea. Even
Tacitus admits that O thos outbursts may have been
due to the genuine enthusiasm of a happy lover rather
than to a calculated hope " of adding to his own influ
ence by the further tie which would arise out of pos
session of the same woman." 430 No matter what O thos
motives were, Poppaea Sabina was not willing to let
matters culminate merely in a happy menage a trois.
She did. indeed, follow her well established routine
pretending that she could not resist her passion and
that she was captivated by Nero's person." Again she
3'i Ibid. 13. 45; on the sad end of R ufius: ibid. 15. 71: 16. 17.
*:,T Compare F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars. Sem i
nar 9. 1951: 31-35.
43S Tacitus, Histories, 1, 22. Another future candidate for the
throne. Septimius Severus, selected (about one hundred and
thirty years later) liis bride on the basis of her horoscope
which promised her future husband the imperial purple; Scriplores Historiac Augtislae (S H A ), Severus. 3, 9; Geta, 3, 1.
Tacitus. Annals 13, 46.

was perfectly willing to tempt her next vicitm by grant

ing him the favor of a little adultery. But
as the em peror s love grew ardent, she would change and
be supercilious, and. if she w ere detained for more than
one or two nights, would say again and ag ain that she
was a m arried woman and could not give up her husband
attached as she was to Otho by a m anner of life which no
one equalled.440

Otho either refused to play the part ot a conniving

husband or he aroused Nero's jealousv. For the em
peror demonstratively ended their familiarity and sent
Otho to the end of the realm, appointing him to the
governorship of distant Lusitania, a post which Otho
held for ten years . 441 This was a far cry from the im
perial power of which Ptolemy Seleucus (and probablv
other astrologers also; had assured Otho . 441 Poppaea
Sabina of course remained in Rome. The grass-widow.
eager to get on with her ambitious scheme, urged Nero
to do away with his mother . 443 Agrippina must, indeed,
have opposed the marriage, since it involved a divorce
by Nero from Claudius' daughter, the blameless Octavia.
Poppaea, on the other hand, would press for Nero's
divorce from Octavia. The emperor succumbed. He
arranged for the murder of his mother. Agrippina was
killed in the very year in which Balbillus returned from
his Egyptian post ( a . d . 59). But not until Seneca's
influence had waned (a .d . 62) did Nero break with
Octavia. After a mockery of divorce, reconciliation, and
banishment he ordered her death. This accomplished
he married Poppaea Sabina . 444
Otho s favorite astrologer Ptolemy Seleucus seems to
have attached himself to the rising star of Poppaea.
For among the host of astrologers who crowded around
the triumphant fair schemer his name also appeared,
while Otho pined away in Lusitania:
T h e astrologers . . . , a class of men. whom the powerful
cannot tru st and who deceive the aspiring ( potentibus infidum , sperantibus fa lla x ), [are] a class which will always
be proscribed in this country, and yet always retained.
M any of these men w ere attached to the secret councils of
Poppaea and w ere the vilest tools in the emplov of the
im perial household. O ne of them. Ptolemy. . . ,443

It may be noted, on the other hand, that on the two

occasions on which Tacitus referred to Balbillus he
0 Loc. cit.
Tacitus. Annals 13, 46; Suetonius, Otlw, 3, 2.
**- As early as about a . d . 58 Otho flippantly exclaimed iu the
presence ot N ero: As truly as you may expcct to see me
em p ero r!a joke with perhaps a sinister meaning; Cassius
Dio. ep. 62 (61), 11, 2. That Otho at some time prior to his
quasi-banishment to Lusitania actually receive:! promises ot this
kind from his favorite astrologer Ptolemy Seleucus is asserted
by Tacitus, Histories 1, 22; Suetonius. Otho. 4. 1.
Cassius Dio, ep. 62 (61), 11, 1.
Tacitus, Annals 14, 59 ff.; Cassius Dio. ep. 62. 13; compare
Ps.-Seneca's tragedy Octavia.
**5 Tacitus, Histories 1, 22.

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T H E R IS E AN D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

new bride. It was probably at this juncture that

Ptolemy Seleucus ruefully thought of his former patron.
Otho, who still languished in Lusitania. Abandoning
all hope of further success with Nero the disappointed
astrologer betook himself to Lusitania. H e apparently
succeeded in returning into the good graces of Otho.
whom he now stimulated again with pleasant promises.
Not only would Otho survive Nero, but he would even
himself ascend the imperial throne .449
With Poppaea dead and Ptolemy Seleucus removed
from Rome, Balbillus would have had no reason to stay
on in the capital. W e do not know his whereabouts for
a number of years after 64. The death of Nero, the
accession and fall of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius in 68-69
apparently found him on the sidelines. If he did leave
Rome, he was most likely to return to the east, perhaps
to Alexandria or Ephesus. The Jewish rebellion which
broke out in 6 6 led to a substantial Roman campaign in
Palestine. The legions were commanded by Vespasian.
Not only would Alexandria be a potential base for his
military operations, but also at least after the death of
Nero the city would be a politically risky abode for an
astrologer-scholar hesitant to commit himself to any
imperial candidate. Could it be Ephesus which, far
from the scenes of battles and commotions, offered to
the aging Balbillus a hospitable haven during these
years? That Ephesus not long afterwards bestowed
the highest possible honors on him points to the estab
lishment of strong ties between the old scholar and that
city. These ties may have been forged already while
Balbillus was in charge of receiving embassies at Rome
in the reign of Claudius. The time between 6 6 and 70,
however, would be a logical period to which to assign
the intensification of an already established cordial rela
tion. For after 70 we shall encounter Balbillus once
more in Rome, with Ephesus clamoring for imperial
permission signally to honor the far-famed gentlemanastrologer.
After Balbillus faded from the Neronic scene, the
last act of the reign was not slow in coming. In 6 6 two
noblemen were put to death because of their hopes for
the throne, confirmed by a renowned astrologer. The
star-rede was an Egyptian by the name of Paminenes.
his dupes P. Anteius and Ostorius, eminent members
of the Roman nobility. Pammenes was already in exile
for some earlier offense, a fate which at one time or
another was also shared by Ptolemy Seleucus. 450 Pam
menes meanwhile continued to be consulted by courier
or by mail, since many of his Roman clients retained
Tacitus, Annals 6, 22: son of Thrasyllus ; 13, 22; less
unbounded faith in him. Anteius, for example, went
irii-ndly Suetonius. Xero, 36.
7 Tacitus. Histories 1, 22; 2, 78; Suetonius. Otho, 4, 1; 6. 1;
on to pay Pammenes an annual pension. A fellow-exile,
Plutarch, Galba, 23, 4; Juvenal. 6, vv. 557-559.
the Roman nobleman Antistius Sosianus, in 6 6 rifled
Tacitus, Annals 16, 6; 7; 21; Suetonius. Xero, 35; Cassius
the files of Pammenes in the hope of gaining a pardon
u>. ep. 63, 26, 4. H e first wanted to marry Claudius surviving
laughter Antonia. W hen she refused he killed her and pro from Nero by providing evidence on which the emperor

named him without any criticism.44 In contrast to the

ex-praetect and Roman knight, Ptolemy Seleucus was
never considered anything but an ambitious and un>crupulous professional astrologer who through his craft
alone had risen to influence and power . 447 Inasmuch
as Nero did not marry Poppaea until a . d . 62 she had
Seen his mistress since 58 one must assume that
iurrus, Seneca, and the inner council of his advisers
continued to oppose the marriage, even after Agrippina's
death, largely in view of the unfavorable reaction which
a divorce from Octavia would produce in Rome.
The prudent Balbillus probably tried to remain neu
tral in this dangerous matter. Consequently, he may
have found little favor with Poppaea when at last she
succeeded in her ambition. His name, for example, was
not included among the astrologers dancing attendance
on her and being in her secret councils. Poppaea
was intelligent and perhaps mischievous enough to put
her own favorite astrologer. Ptolemy Seleucus, forward
as a rival of Balbillus in the esteem of Nero. Under
these circumstances the comet of 64 must have provided
Balbillus not only with a welcome opportunity of demoncrating his supreme astrological prowess, but also his
personal loyalty to Nero whomas has been suggested
he may have informed of the incipient Pisonic con
spiracy. Nevertheless, the resulting mass trials cannot
but have inspired a longing in the breast of Balbillus
to withdraw from a court in which the atmosphere be
came rapidly as surcharged with the foreboding of
impending doom as it had been in the last years of
Caligulas reign. As long, however, as Poppaea and
Ptolemy Seleucus remained at court, capable of under
mining his position with Nero, Balbillus could not dare
to retire from Rome.
But Fate which so often had smiled upon Thrasyllus
and his house once more came to the rescue. Poppaea,
having already borne Nero a daughter who had died
it the age of four months, was pregnant again in the
atter part of the year 65. Not long after the death of
Seneca. Nero, returning from a drunken debauch,
found her complaining. A well aimed kick knocked
her down and quieted herforever. She died. All that
Xero could do to make amends was to have her extrava
gantly embalmed and to obtain her deification from a
pliant but none too grieving senate . 448 He remarried
not long afterwards, and the astrologers of Poppaea no
longer seem to have found favor with Nero and his

ceeded to marry instead Statilia Messalina, whose husbandto

acilitate the m arriageWas put out of the way; Tacitus, Annals
15. 68 f .; Suetonius, Xero, 35.

'T acitu s, H istories 1. 22; Suetonius, Otho, 4, 1.

Juvenal, 6, w . 557-559.

T H E P O W E R O F A S T R O L O G E R S FR O M A U G U STU S TO D O M IT IA N
could proceed against malcontents. H is plan was suc
cessful. The complete horoscope of Anteius and at
least some data on that of Ostorius Scapula were found
and duly sent to Rome where Nero and his minister.
Tigellinus. considered the material sufficient prima facie
proof of the crime of maiestas to bring about the death
of the two men without even the formality of a trial . 451
The many sensational trials of 65 and 6 6 were fol
lowed by Nero's extreme scandalizing of Roman society
with his artistic antics. The flood of prophecies of
his impending fall must, therefore, have reached new
heights. Astrologers certainly swelled the chorus of
doom. Their predictions to the effect that Nero was
going to be deposed 452 could not but affect an emperor
who was so firm a believer in astrology. W e hear from
one source, albeit a dubious one, that towards the end
of his reign he lashed out at astrologers. In the fashion
customary at times of political crises in Rome it is said
that he banished them from Rome and Italy . 453 In any
case he seems to have accepted astrological predictions
of his fate unquestioninglv. H e meekly hoped, quoting
a Greek proverb, that art would find bread (for him)
anywhere on earth, even if he were deposed .454
Nevertheless some of these prophets [the astrologers] had
promised him the rule over the East in case he were de
posed, some of them even the kingdom of Jerusalem, some
even the eventual recovery of his entire dominion.455
Under such circumstances Xero was hard put to
know what to believe. At the last moment he did.
indeed, plan to flee to Alexandria, but events moved
too rapidly. D uring his last moments the doomed
ruler exclaimed repeatedly: W hat an artist dies with
me, 456 a verdict which neither his contemporaries nor
posterity have been willing to confirm. The death of
Nero ended in 6 8 the Julio-Claudian dynasty which
had raised Thrasyllus and his house to a height com
parable with any but the old senatorial families. During
the years which followed Balbillus. head of the Thrasvllan clan, had to face an unprecedented tempest from
which, however, his star emerged with undimmed lustre.
4,1 Tacitus, Annals 16, 14 f . ; compare F. H . Cramer, The
Caesars and the stars. Sem inar 9. 1951: 23 f .; R. S. Rogers, A
criminal trial of a . d . 70 (Tacitus, Histories, 4. 44), Proc. Amer.
Philol. Assoc. 80. 1949 : 349 f.
* Suetonius, Xero, 40, 2 ; Cumont suggested that this daring
prophecy stemmed from Balbillus, but the known prudence of
the knightly astrologer would seem to militate against such a
hypothesis.
* Cat. 8, 4 : 100, 18 f f.; compare F. H. Cramer, Expulsion
nf astrologers from ancient Rome, Classica ct Mediaevalia 12,
1-2, Copenhagen, 1951: 32 ff.
4 Suetonius, Nero. 40,2; Cassius Dio, ep. 63, 27, 2.
* Suetonius, loc. cit.
*** Suetonius, Nero, 49, 1: Qualis artifex pereo! ; Cassius
Dio, ep. 63, 29, 2.

10.

131

B A LBILLU S AND H IS H O U S E U N D E R T H E
F L A V IA N R U LER S

W ith N eros death the last obstacle to Galbas uncon

tested ascent to the throne disappeared. The wealthiest
man ever to reach the imperial power. 457 Galba. was
also the first Roman ruler not related to the JulianClaudian family .458 Long before he had, of course,
received astrological assurances of the glory in store
for him. Already Augustus was said to have known of
those predictions . 459 Tiberius himself had cast Galba's
horoscope, perhaps with the aid of Thrasyllus, before
he admitted Galba to the consulship of a . d . 33. It was
said
that he [Tiberius] was assisted in such a way by Thrasyllus
with regard to astrology (eU t o irepl atrrpa) that once upon
a time when he encountered Galba he told him that you
too will eventually taste the imperial power. 460
This passage stemmed from Cassius Dio's pen , 4*1 but
that the story was generally accepted already as early
as the first century a . d . i s clear from both Tacitus and
Suetonius. Said T acitus:
I must not pass over a prognostication respecting Servius
Galba. then consul ( a . d . 33). Having sent for him and
sounded him on various topics, he [Tiberius] at last
addressed him in Greek to this effect: You too, Galba,
will some day have a taste of empire. He thus hinted at a
brief span of power late in life, on the strength of his
acquaintance with the art of astrologers, leisure for ac
quiring which he had had at Rhodes, with Thrasyllus as
instructor. 482
In still greater detail Suetonius related the general
trad itio n :
It is common knowledge that Augustus, when he [Galba]
then still a boypaid him his respects together with other
boys, pinched his cheek and said to him in Greek: You
too. sonny, will eventually taste our imperial power. But
Tiberius too made a similar prediction, when through astrol
ogers he had learned that Galba would become emperor
but only as an old man. saying: Well, then he may live;
for that will never concern me myself! 483
One wonders to what extent astrological predictions
of this kind influenced the conduct of Galba. Was it
7 Plutarch. Galba, 3, 1.
ibid., 3, 2 ;to the contrary Suetonius. Galba. 2 ; but ibid.,
4, 1, about his high social rank.
*** Suetonius, Galba, 4, 1.
** From a tenth century manuscript, cod. Paris, suppl. gr.
607 A. f. 44?, printed in Cat. 8, 4 ; 100, 6-8.
4,1 Cassius Dio, 57, 17, 4 from X iphilinus; compare Zonaras,
1L 2. The arrangement of Boissonade, accepted by the Loeb
Classics edition, is misleading, including this episode under a . d .
20; see also Cassius Dio, ep. 63 (64), 1, 1 from Xiphilinus.
*'* Tacitus, Annals 6, 20.
* Suetonius, Galba, 4, 1. Galba was born on December 24,
3 * c. The visit at the court of Augustus was therefore not
likely to have occurred prior to a . d . 2, i.e. the time when
Thrasyllus arrived in Rome. It is thus quite possible that
Augustus prediction reflected his new astrological advisers
opinion; compare above, p. 98 f.
1

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FRO M A U G U STU S TO D O M IT IA N

132

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

Only four days elapsed between Galbas adoption of

merely ordinary prudence or natural caution that caused
Piso, whom he thus designated as his heir, and the
him to reject wide spread suggestions to claim the
m aturing of O tho's plot;
throne after the assassination of Caligula in 4 1 ? 484
Under Nero he went to Spain as governor of the
H is confidential freedm en aw l slaves . . . reproached the
province Hispania Tarraconensis, in a . d . 60-61, thus
inaction . . . . T h e astro lo g ers also u rg ed him to action
p
redicting
from their observation ot the heavens rev olution;
joining Otlio who under less auspicious circumstances
had been sent out two years earlier to administer nearby and a year of glory f a . i >. 69 ) for O tho.471
Lusitania. Both governors remained neighbors until Apparently these predictions were recent ones, made
0 8 . i. e. through the entire remainder of N ero's reign,
for the new year which had just begun. F or the
and both had been assured of an imperial future by the soothsayers anti Chaldaeans who were always alxmt
*tars. During these years Otho received renewed prom him would not suffer him to abandon his hopes or give
ises of this kind, although perhaps not from his astro up altogether. . . . " 7- One of them, Ptolemy, had
logical adviser Ptolemy Seleucus. who (probably not attended Otho in Spain, and there foretold that hi.s
before 6 6 or 67 ? > came to visit him in Lusitania.46' Did
patron would survive Nero.
Ptoleinv by-pass Galba on his wav to Otho ? Even if he
did. it is most likely that other astrologers were consulted
Ptolem y 473 . . . dw elt m uch upon his freq u en t prediction
by Galba prior to his reluctant acceptance of the im th a t X ero w ould n o t kill O tho. b u t w ould d ie first him self,
perial purple .466 Among those who urged him to take an d th a t O tho w ould su rv iv e him and be em peror of the
Romans. F o r now th at he could point to the first p a rt of
this step was undoubtedly Otho who seeing the well- the prediction as true, he th o u g h t th a t O th o should n o t
known astrological prediction of Galba's imperial power d esp air of the second p a rt.474 . . . G ain in g cred it by the
confirmed would, being only in his mid-thirties, all resu lt [of his ea rlier p red ictio n s], and a rg u in g from his
the more be persuaded of the truth of astrological own conjectures and from the common talk of those w ho
pared G alba's a g e w ith O tho's youth, he h ad p ersuaded
promises of imperial grandeur which he himself had com
the la tte r th a t he would be called to the throne. O tho, h o w
received. Assuredly Galba in 6 8 was encouraged by ever, received the prediction as w ords of w isdom and the
all kinds of favorable auspices, omens, and prophe intim ation o f destin y .475
cies.487 Renewed astrological predictions would hardly
Of the extant accounts about the role played by
be lacking.
W e are told on the other hand that for example on Ptolemy Seleucus at this crucial time, that of Tacitus
January 20, 69. which was a gloomy, stormy day, seems the most accurate. Plutarch and Suetonius, on
unusually disturbed by thunder, lightning, and all bad the other hand, referring to Seleucus or to Ptolemy,
omens from heaven Galba intrepidly proceeded with linked two different prophecies, i. e. the survival and
the public business on hand either because he despised the accession to the throne. Tacitus, however, stated
such things as being mere matters of chance, or because that merely Ptolemy ljefore the fall of Nero had only
the decrees of fate, though they be foreshown, are not assured Otho (while in Lusitania) of his surviving
escaped. 488 If the second reason applied, then Galba's Nero. Then, as the historian cuttingly remarked, partly
disdain for the traditional Roman omens may have by his own conjectures, but partly also owing to general
been due to his acceptance of astrological predictions political calculations, Ptolemy Seleucus added after the
concerning his approaching death. Otho, at any rate, fall of Nero his imperial prophecy.
In the January days of 69 Ptolemy Seleucus reached
decided not to await passively the arrival of his astrologically promised imperial power. A t first he had the zenith of his influence on the affairs of the Roman
hoped to succeed th i childless Galba by the traditional empire. T he conspirators literally were acting or inac
method of adoption .**9 Had not Julius Caesar in his tive according to his orders. For Otho had intended
will adopted Octavius, thus paving the way for the to strike on the very day of Piso's adoption by Galba:
young mans rise to power? Tiberius too had been
T he interim w hich elapsed from then until the execution
[o f the coup on J a n u a ry 15] was lost on acco u n t of a
the adopted son of Augustus. Claudius in turn by
num
ber of bad omens an d th ro u g h the w arn in g s of
adopting young L. Domitius had facilitated the acces
[P tolem y] Seleucus. . . .478 N o r did Ptolem y fail to play
sion of Nero. It was only when Otho realized that he
his p a rt; he now even incited to the crim e.477
would not be Galba's choice that he embarked upon a
Meanwhile, a veil of silence surrounded the activities
desperate venture .470
of Balbillus. For almost five years, i. e. since his interSuetonius, Galba, 7, 1.
"3 Suetonius, Otho. 4, 1; Tacitus, H istories 1, 22.
Suetonius, loc. cit., indicates that this voyage o{ the astrol
oger took place not long beiore the revolt of Galba and the
fall of Xero.
"7 Suetonius, Galba. 9. 2.
Tacitus, Histories 1, 18; Plutarch, Galba, 23, 1 f.
'** Plutarch. Galba. 21, 1-2; Suetonius, Otho. 5, 1.
Cassius Dio, <-/>. 63 (64), 5, 1-2; Tacitus, H istories 1, 21.

171 Tacitus, H istories 1. 22.

*72 Plutarch. Galba, 23. 4.
173 Tacitus, loc. cit. ; compare Suetonius. Otho. 4, 1.
174 Plutarch, loc. cit.
*7 Tacitus, loc. cit.
*7* Suetonius, Otho, 6, 1.
,77 Tacitus, Histories 1. 23.

pretation of the meaning of the comet's appearance in

64, there is no record of his activities. If the suggestion
were correct that he again had chosen a diplomatic
retreat under Caius Caligula he seems to have pre
ferred Alexandria to Rome during the last years of
Neros reign, he may have accompanied Nero as far as
Greece, but then remained in the east while the em
peror returned to Italy where death awaited him. W ith
Galba the house of Thrasyllus apparently had no close
connections. W ith Otho Balbillus was perhaps on even
cooler term s; their estrangement may have dated back
to the days when O thos wife, Poppaea Sabina, began
to woo the emperor N ero . 418 Surely with Ptolemy
Seleucus and O thos other diviners now in the saddle
the scholarly Roman knight Balbillus could scarcely
hope to regain the important role at court which he and
his father had played in the Julian-Claudian era. Be it
at Alexandria or at Ephesus, Balbillus seems to have
spent the fateful period of 68-69 safely away from Rome,
awaiting perhaps the restoration of a durable govern
ment before taking sides in the multifaceted struggle
for power.
Galba and Piso were slain on January 15. The stars
were proven right. Otho ascended the throne. But
even before this coup took place in Rome Vitellius had
been proclaimed emperor by the legions of Roman
Germany. O thos attem pts to reach a compromise with
his rival were in vain. Civil war became inevitable.
The father of Suetonius, who participated as a f plebeian)
military tribune with the 13th legion in Otho's ill-starred
campaign, believed that, had Otho foreseen the civil war,
he would never have risen against Galba . 179 Obviously,
Ptolemy Seleucus had failed to reckon with such an
eventuality in his astrological calculations. On the other
hand, Otho like Galba despised the traditional Roman
methods of divination. No number of unfavorable
auspices and other omens could deter him from mili
tary decisions .480 W inning some minor and losing one
major engagement, he suddenly decided to end the war
by committing suicide be it that he lost his nerve, or
that he despaired of the future. All historians agree on
the fact that his military resources were considerable,
superior probably to those of Vitellius. If not due to
hysterical panic alone, Othos abrupt collapse may at
least have been hastened by astrological predictions that
he was doomed anyway.
Hts victory assured by O thos suicide, Vitellius pro
ceeded slowly from Gaul to Italy. He was in his mid
fifties with a past as dissolute as that of Otho aucl as
much given to belief in divination as any member of his
set in this e r a ; " . . . H e had a great regard for omens,
and did nothing however trivial without consulting
i: See above, p. 428 tf.
Suetonius. Othu. 8, 1 ; 10, 1 ; compare Tacitus. Histories 2.
I I ; Tacitus, H istories 1, 74; Cassius Dio, ep. 63 ( 64), 10, 1.
from Xiphilinus; Zonaras, 11. 15.
Tacitus. Histories 1, 86.

133

them. . .
181
He did receive among others prophe
cies from astrologers also, but seems to have developed
a strong antipathy against this particular branch of
divination. The reason for Vitellius' attitude was not
difficult to find. For
the horoscope which the astrologers cast for him [at his
b irth ] filled his parents w ith such h o rro r that his father at
all times, as long as he lived opposed the appointm ent of his
son to the g overnorship of any province, while his m other,
when she heard that lie had received the com mand over an
arm y, an d ag ain upon learning th a t he had been proclaimed
em peror, at once bem oaned him as doomed.482

The actual nativity cast, according to custom, for

the infant Vitellius has not been preserved, but from
the context of the above-quoted passage it appears
that the astrologers promised Vitellius the throne, but
only a brief reign after winning a civil war. At the time
of his birth even the most sanguine astrologer could
not envisage the infant's eventual accession to the throne
in any other manner. The credulous Suetonius im
plied, moreover, that the horoscope also contained a
prophecy of short glory and a miserable death. Other
wise the horror of Vitellius' mother when learning of
his elevation would be hard to understand. That the
prediction, and possibly a later astrological prophecy
also, promised him the throne cannot be doubted;
moreover it seems to have been a generally known
forecast. Vitellius therefore prudently professed com
plete disbelief in it:
V itellius himself, for that m atter, held himself as of so
little account that he scoffed a t the astrologers and used
th eir prediction as evidence ag ain st them, sa y in g : * C er
tainly they know n o thing w hen they declare th at even I shall
become em peror. N ero when he heard of it also laughed
and felt such contem pt for the fellow th at he did him no
harm .483

It is difficult to believe that Dio, himself a great

believer in astrology, would have been so simple minded
as to ascribe Vitellius' scoffing to a sincere disbelief in
astrology. Men possessing imperial horoscopes were
marked in the days of fervent imperial faith in astrology.
Had not Tiberius spared Galba only because of the
remoteness of the imperial power promised him by the
sta rs? 48* Or, in the reign of Nero again, had not
young Otho. having received an astrological prediction
of imperial power, similarly laughed it off as ridiculous
for a man of his ilk and thus escaped Nero's sus
picion ? 485 In short it seems to have been a general
practice on the part of astrologers to promise promi
nent babes imperial glory, while the recipients of such
predictions walking in the very shadow of death
tried to feign disbelief in order to prevent imperial
,M Zonaras. 11, 1(>.
'k2 Suetonius, Vitellitis, 3, 2.
,s: Cassius Dio, r/>. 63 ( 64), 4, o from Xiphilinus.
See above, p. 131.
Cassius Dio. <./>. 62 (61), 11, 2.

T H E P O W E R O F A ST R O L O G E R S FRO M A U G U ST U S TO D O M IT IA N
134

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H UK A S T R O L O G \ IX T H E L A T IN W O R LD

suspicion from striking them down. For, in spite of their recent predictions to the extent of insisting that at
their firm Ijelief in fatalist astrology and Fate, few least the reign of Vitellius would be short and his violent
rulers of the first century would have been convinced death near at h and!
The proclamation of Vespasian as emperor by the
enough fatalistsor philosophersto accept the wistful
truism that " n o one ever succeeds in killing his suc legions in Palestine in the early days of July 69 seemed
cessor. Nevertheless. Vitellius may, indeed, have held an immediate corroboration of such prophecies. Under
at least some personal grudge against astrologers, if the circumstances the m ajority of astrologers in Rome
only on account of the treatment received from his would, therefore, he inclined to see in Vespasian the man
father localise of their forecast. In any case, Vitellius who would vindicate their earlier forecasts in a slightly
could hardly relish the astrological prospect of a short revised form. In line with the imperial policy of the
past Vitellius. therefore, ordered the expulsion of as
reign and an ignominious death.
He entered Rome early in July, 69. On the eighteenth trologers, this time through an imperial edict. 480 They
the dies ater commemorating the Roman catastrophe were to leave Rome and Italy by October 1, 69. Im pu
at the river Alliahe formally assumed the supreme dently some of them at once posted a placard asserting
pontificate, a sign that he too shrugged his shoulders that bv then Vitellius would be dead .480 Although his
at traditional Roman superstitions. This, of course, tory proved this prediction false 491 Vitellius survived
merely meant that he fell prey to others. In particular for almost three months after October 1the wrath of
he seems to have been impressed with German prophet the doomed emperor against the tribe of astrologers
esses of whom Tacitus too spoke with considerable was great. A number of them were now executed
respect 496 and who enjoyed a considerable vogue in without much ado. Mere denunciations sufficed. It
Rome during this very period. One of them at least should, however, be remembered that even in ordinary
times of public peace the legal interpretation of the
accompanied Vitellius to Rome:
Augustan edict of a . d . 11 (which had forbidden astro
One suspected him when his mother died, alleging that logical forecasts concerning the death of any person)
he had ordered to refuse her any nourishment during her
illness, because a woman of the Catti whose words he took termed it treason to make such predictions about em
for oracles had predicted to him that only if he would perors and their family.4**
survive his mother would he reign long and securely.
Among those who were leaving Italy at this time
Others relate that his mother, disgusted with the prevailing was probably Ptolemy Seleucus. H e had much reason
situation and afraid of the future, had asked her son for to dread both Vitellius and his own disappointed clients
poison and received it without much difficulty.4*7
at Rome. H e may even have been formally banished
One may dismiss the first part as mere gossip. F or by Vitellius ,403 or. on the other hand, merely left Italy
one thing the oracle was ambiguous. Furthermore, the with other astrologers after the general ban was pro
whole story suspiciously paralleled the one about Agrip nounced. or, finally, he may have fled from Italy with
pina and young Domitius whom the astrologers had out even awaiting the arrival of Vitellius in Rome.
promised the throne while admitting that he was des Only the overthrow of Vitellius would enable Ptolemy
tined to murder his mother.48* T hat Vitellius mother Seleucus to return to the capital, to fame and prosperity.
died during his brief reign we may accept as certain. So long as Vitellius reigned people were only too likely
N or was it uncommon for hopelessly ill people to put to remind the astrologer unpleasantly of his extrava
an end to their sufferings by suicide. Euthanasia in gant predictions, which in large measure had influenced
those days was not outlawed. Neither his mother's Otho in his coup against Galba. Vespasian, therefore,
request nor Yiteliius compliance with it, therefore, would l>e the logical pretender for Ptolemy Seleucus
should be interpreted out of the context of their society to support. Although we do not know at what time
and its customs. W hat remains, however, is his ap Ptolemy Seleucus established himself in the good graces
parent faith in German prophetesses, an example of of Vespasian, he did, indeed, succeed in doing so in the
his addiction to divination (transmitted by Zonaras). very highest degree . 4'J4 W hat would be more likelv than
His relations with the host of astrologers in Rome were that these ties were first forged in the crucial summer
bail from the very start. Many of these had undoubtedly of 69 when Vespasian, still torn by doubt, whether or
been on Otho's side and predicted the downfall of the

l Compare l'\ H. Cramer. Expulsion of astrologers from

" usurper " Vitellius at the hands of Otho. The unex
ancient Rome. Chssica et Mediaevalia 12, 1-2, 1951: 36-39.
pected fall of Otho obviously must have discredited
Suetonius, Vitellius, 14, 4; Tacitus, Histories 2, 62.
them with many of their clients. W hat could be more
4,1 Cassius Dio, ep. 64 ( 65), 1, 4, or a t least Xiphilinus and
natural than their attempt to save face by admitting Zonaras (11, 10), covered up the erroneous prediction and
onlv a minor miscalculation on their part, i. e. to amend asserted that the astrologers had prophesied the correct date!
*#* Tacitus, Gcrmuny, 8. H e also gave the names of renowned
Uerman prophetesses of the Vespasian era (69-79).
7 Suetonius, Vitellius, 14, 5.
Tacitus, Annals 6. 22; 14, 9.

<M Compare F. H. Cramer, T he Caesars and the stars, Sem imir 9. 1951: 8 If.
He seems to have been exiled more than once; Juvenal, 6,
vv. 557 ff.
* Tacitus, Histories 2, 78.

not to assume the imperial purple, would be especially

grateful for divinatory encouragement! 495 The accept
ance of the heavily discredited astrologer by V e sp a sia n
demonstrated the ineradicable faith in astrologers:
This is a class of men, whom the powerful cannot
trust, and who deceive the aspiring. 496 This Tacitean
outburst was directly applied to Ptolemy Seleucus and
agreed with Juvenals opinion 497 of the man. That
Vespasian received favorable astrological predictions for
his rising against Vitellius could be taken for g ranted:
A fter this speech from M ucianus, th e o th e r officers
crow ded ro u n d V espasian [July, 69] w ith fresh confidence,
en couraging him , and rem inding him of the responses ot
prophets anti the m ovem ents of the heavenly bodies. N o r
was V espasian proof ag a in st this su perstition, fo r a fte r
w ards, w hen m aster of the w orld, he openly retain ed one
[P tolem y] Seleucus, an astro lo g er, to d ire ct his counsels,
and to foretell the fu tu re .498

It would thus appear that perhaps only after the pre

dictions of Ptolemy Seleucus had been borne out by the
facts did Vespasian publicly show his appreciation for
the astrologer. In any case astrological prophecies in
fluenced Vespasians decision to try for the throne, as
they had in the past been instrumental in encouraging
Galba, Otho, and Vitellius.
Meanwhile Vitellius had good reason to tremble,
at least according to popular opinion. For
. . . evil om ens occu rred . A com et w as seen,49* an d the
moon, c o n trary to precedent, app eared to suffer tw o eclipses,
being obscured on the fo u rth an d on the seventh day. Also
people saw tw o suns a t once, one in th e w est w eak an d pale
and one in the east b rillia n t and pow erful.50

In addition to celestial portents, more or less faith

fully interpreted as harbingers of doom for Vitellius.
the wide spread rum or that the m aster of the world
would arise from Ju d a ea 501 tended to raise Vespasians
hopes while diminishing those of Vitellius. The primi
tive mentality of Roman armies even at this late stage
was revealed once more by their terror evoked by a
lunar eclipse:
T he g re a t confusion w hich . . . prevailed in the cam p of
V itellius w as increased th a t n ig h t by an eclipse of the moon.
It was n o t so m uch its being obscured [though even such
phenom ena cause fe a r to m en w ho a re excited] as the fact
tliat it ap p eared both blood-colored and black and gave out
still o th e r te rrify in g colors.302
'9r'T acitus, loc. cit. -, Suetonius, Vespasian. 5. 1-7; 7, 1-3;
Cassius Dio. ep. 64 ( 65). 9. 1 from Xiphilinus.
'" Tacitus, H istories 1. 22.
1,7 Juvenal, 6. vv. 557 ff.
lM Tacitus, Histories 2. 78.
Compare on its appearance Josephus, bell. Jud. 6, 5, 3:
Kusebius. hist. eccl. 3, 8. 2 : Hegesippus. hist. eccl. 5, 44.
Cassius Dio, r/>. 64 ( 65). 8. 1 from Xiphilinus: compare
Zonaras. 11, 16.
Suetonius. Vespasian. 4, 5; Tacitus. Histories 5, 13.
s,! Cassius Dio. ep. 64 (65), 11. 1-2 from Xiphilinus.

135

So great, however, was the furor of civil war passions

at this juncture that not even for this . . . would the
men change their minds or yield, 508 while, for ex
ample at the time of the short-lived mutiny in a . d . 14
the terror inspired by a lunar eclipse had sufficed to
bring back to obedience a rebellious army . 504
Of considerable importance for the success of Ves
pasians enterprise was the immediate support which he
received in the near east. Not only the Parthian king
Vologeses, 505 but Roman clientele princes also rallied to
Vespasians standard. The most important of these was
Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Commagene, who pos
sessed vast ancestral wealth, and was the richest of all
the subject-kings. 50* Moreover apart from financial
support Antiochus also provided auxiliary forces for
Vespasians arm y . 507 One may suspect that the motives
of Antiochus IV were not those of pure affection for
the new claimant to the imperial throne. Satellitekings long had learned the need to tread warily. For
Roman policy since the days of Augustus had been
directed towards the abolition of clientele states and
their inclusion among the provinces of the realm. Often
the imperial government simply informed the incum
bent ruler of such a territory that he had ceased to
reign . 508 Commagene itself had been treated more
politely in the past. F or Tiberius had at least awaited
the death of Antiochus I II in 17 before pronouncing
in a . d . 18 the joining of Commagene with the Roman
province of Syria.50* This small concession may have
been due to the intercession of Thrasyllus, the husband
of a princess of Commagene. 510 Afterwards Caligula
had first restored Commagene to the dynasty, then
rued his act and deposed the new ruler , 511 who was
none other than Antiochus IV. Claudius, indeed, had
once more established Antiochus IV on the throne of
Commagene, 512 possibly encouraged in this decision by
his friend, the scholarly astrologer Balbillus, son of
Thrasyllus. who may have pleaded the cause of his
relative.
It may be taken for granted that Antiochus IV did
his best to secure his shaky throne in the reigns of
Qaudius and Nero by cultivating friendly relations
with his relative Balbillus whose presence in Rome and
503 Loc. cit.
Tacitus, Annals 1, 28.
'"s Tacitus, H istories 4, 51; Suetonius, Vespasian, 6, 4.
S0 Tacitus, Histories 2, 81.
5.7 Ibid. 5. 1.
5 This for example had happened in a . d . 17 to king Archelaus of Cappadocia; compare W. E. Gwatkin, Cappadocia as a
Roman procuratorial province. University of Missouri Studies 5.
no. 4, 1930: 7-16.
** Tacitus. Annals 2, 42.
310 See p. 95.
111 Suetonius. Caligula, 16; Cassius Dio, 59. 8, 2. Caligula also
restored at the time to Antiochus IV the 100,000,000 sesterces
which in a . d. 17 Tiberius had confiscated from the royal treasury
of Commagene.
<
1.8 Cassius Dio. 60, 8. 1; Josephus, ant. Jud., 19. 5, 1.

136

T H E P O W E R O F A ST R O L O G E R S FRO M A U G U ST U S T O D O M ITIA N

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

137

The son-in-law of Balbillus must have been born into the Parthian realm .521 Peace overtures, however,
prior to a . d . 38. F or he was in his early boyhood dragged out the beginning of m ajor warfare, the scene
betrothed to Drusilla, the daughter of king Agrippa I of which was to be Armenia. The Roman commanderof Judaea, to whom Caius Caligula had also restored in-chief was Corbulo, who in 58 instructed Antiochus
his kingdom in a . d . 38.518 Drusilla was the youngest IV to hasten to the provinces on his frontier . 522
of the kings daughters and barely six years old when During the war years which followed, the young prince
her father died i n a . d . 44. Since it does not seem must have seen action under the energetic Corbulo,
likely that Antiochus IV betrothed his son to a girl while Commagene. a border state, played an* .important
older than the boy himself, we may assume that Antio strategic role . 323
The fall of Nero and the accession of Gallw. were in
chus Epiphanes was horn in or before a . d . 38. The
marriage, however, did not take place, because Drusillas all likelihood accepted by the dynasty of Commagene
as passively as Vespasian and his legions in Palestine
r'13 Compare on him Stein, R E 10, 1919: c. 1S9, no. 66,-c. 163. had recognized the new ruler. Again, when Galba was
Compare above, p. 115.
assassinated and simultaneously news arrived of O thos

Although the assault was not successful, this episode

showed the temper and the mettle of the son-in-law
of Balbillus. The astrologers influence to commend
Antiochus IV or his son to Vespasian was thus not
needed, nor, on the other hand, did of course Balbillus
require any introduction from the ruler of Commagene
to the newly proclaimed emperor. For Vespasian and
Balbillus must have met repeatedly at the court of Nero.
They may, indeed, have shared a feeling of somnolence
during the everlasting artistic performances of that ruler.
Vespasian actually forfeited his personal popularity
with Nero when he fell asleep in the midst of a Neronic
recitation .328 Balbillus apparently had better self-control
or more stamina, but he probably sympathized with the
disgraced general.
W hether or not Balbillus actually spent the last years
of N eros reign in the east, he would in any case prefer
to await the outcome of Vespasians bid for the throne
before attaching himself irrevokably to the new ruler.
The gentleman-astrologer could bide his time, but the

house of Commagene had no choice but to support the

Roman commander of seven legions hovering about
the little kingdom. Between 69 and 72, however, Bal
billus seems to have renewed his contact with Vespasian.
That he would be welcome at court was certain enough.
For what believer in astrology would not receive with
open arms an astrological authority of the reputation
possessed bv the son of Thrasyllus! Yet whatever
influence Balbillus may have gained over Vespasian
during the first years of the reign was not great enough
to avert the blow which had been so long in coming.
Supposedly aroused by a report from the Roman gov
ernor Caesennius Paetus ( who had established an
unenviable record in the campaigns of Corbulo ) 527 that
Antiochus IV and his son, Antiochus Epiphanes, were
plotting with the Parthians against the Roman interests,
Vespasian decided to revive the policy of Tiberius
towards Commagene. 328 Thrasyllus had been unable
to prevent the earlier annexation of Commagene in
spite of his hold over Tiberius. Now at the end of 72
Balbiilus found himself similarly helpless. Caesennius
Paetus received instructions to proceed as he saw fit.
Assisted by other clientele kings the governor promptly
marched on Samosata, the capital. Antiochus IV,
wholly unprepared for the sudden storm which now
swept him off the throne, did not wish to offer any
resistance at all to Paetus. But his two sons, Antio
chus Epiphanes and Callinicus, overruled him, rallied
the military forces of the kingdom and joined the issue.
A day-long engagement with the Roman forces was
bravely contested and ended in a draw. The old king,
however, had enough, left the battlefield and fled to
Tarsus, accompanied by his wife and daughters. His
army lost heart and surrendered. The two princes,
refusing even now to bow to the Roman victors, sought
and found asylum with the Parthian king Vologeses.
Antiochus IV was arrested on orders of Paetus to
be sent to Rome in fetters, but Vespasian, upon hearing
of it, sent word to release the king and permitted him
to reside in Sparta. He also allocated large revenues
to the luckless monarch that he might live in a manner
befitting his former station. When the two princes
abroad learned of the good treatment of their father
they asked the Parthian king to intercede on their behalf
with Vespasian. Antiochus Epiphanes took the lead
in this attempt at reconciliation. Vespasian proved
amenable, even allowing the prince to come to Rome
while his father was still at Sparta. Soon afterwards
the entire roval family was reunited in Rome and lived
there happily ever after. 529 It would seem that such

10 Josephus, j >it. Jud. 18, 5. 4 ; 19. 9, 1: 20. 7, 1-2; bell. Jud. 2,

U, 6; Suetonius, Caligula. 28; .lets. 24, 24; Jerome, notnina
hebr., ed. Migne. P L 23: c. 847: cf. Stein. P IR 3, 2nd ed.. 1943:
03. no. 195.
Tacitus. Annals 12, 55.
r,:!1 Ibid. 13. 7.
Ibid. 13. 37.
525 Ibid. IS, 12; compare Cassius Dio, ep. 62. 19 ff.

* Tacitus, H istories 2. 29.

325 Josephus, bell. Jud. 5, 11, 3.
Suetonius. Vespasian. 4. 4; compare Nero, 23: Whenever
he IN erol sang, no one was permitted to leave the theatre
during the performance for any reason whatever. I t is said that
a number of women gave birth during the performances, while
many men . . . the doors being locked, jumped furtively down
from the walls or simulated death . . ; cf. Tacitus, Annals 16, 5.

337 Tacitus. Annals 15, 6-8; 10-17; 24; 28.

SM Vespasians action did not single out Commagene. It
stemmed from a decisive change in imperial policy. For at about
the same time the autonomy of the kingdom of Thrace was also
terminated, as was the independence of Lycia. Achaea, Samos,
Byzantium, and Rhodes; compare Suetonius, Vespasian, 8, 4.
'* Josephus, bell. Jud. 7, 7, 1-3. Josephus errs in calling both
sons of Antiochus IV of Commagene young and inexperienced

whose influence with the ruling house made him a very

i valuable ally of the king ot Commagene. In the summer
of 69, Antiochus IV must have l>een verv desirous to
give Vespasian a proof of his zeal lieyond the mere
financial and military aid which he supplied. He there
fore selected as commander of the troops sent to
Palestine his oldest son and heir. C. Julius Antiochus
Epiphanes . ' 13 the son-in-law of Balbillus. ' 14
The date at which the new tie between the house of
Thrasyllus and the tottering dynasty of Commagene
was forged is unknown.. I t seems-tikelv-that-the match
was arranged sometime between 64 and 69. For of
the two children known to have resulted from the m ar
riage of Claudia Capitolina and C. Julius Antiochus
Epiphanes. son of Amiochus IV, one, a son . 315 was
consul in a . d . 109, the other, Julia Balbilla, was still
active enough in 130 to accompany Hadrian and his
wife Sabina on a journey through the eastern part ot
the Roman empire. ' " 5 A family tree , 517 supplementing
the one presented earlier (p. 95), may illustrate the
last known branch of the house of T hrasyllus:

fiance could not bring himself to embrace Judaism. The

young ladys brother. Agrippa II. finally married "her
off, when she was fifteen, to King Azizus of Emesa
ill 53. W ithin a year, however, the bride ran away
with the Roman governor Felix to become his third
wife. A year later (54") King Azizus died although
probably not of a broken heart. His faithless spouse
.seems to have perished (together with a son she had
from Felix) twenty-five years later in the eruption of
Mount Vesuvius in a . d . 79 . M 0 H er former fiance.
Autiaclius- Epifdiawes, meanwhile had consoled himself
with Claudia, the daughter of Balbillus.
His career was marked by military feats for which
the coarse looking young man the coins reveal an
uncouth face showed real ability. He may have seen
his first action, when his father in a . d . 53 fought a vic
torious campaign against some of his rebellious Cilician
subjects, a victory, apparently gained by diplomacy and
bribery rather than by force of arm s . 520 A year later
Antiochus IV received orders from Rome to prepare,
together with Agrippa II of Judaea, for an invasion

Antiochus III of Commagene

( d . a . o. 17)
Ti. Claudius---------------------m. (ca. A.
Thrasyllus (d. 36)
j

d.

2 )------A ka( ?) of
Commagene

H e was a w arlike m an, and n aturally bold in exposing

him self to d a n g e rs ; he w as also so stro n g a m an th a t his
boldness seldom failed of hav in g success. . . . A ntiochus
w en t as he then was. an d w ith his M acedonians m ade a
sudden assau lt upon the w all; and, indeed, fo r his own p art,
his stren g th and skill w ere so great, th a t he guard ed him self
from Jew ish d arts, and yet shot his d arts a t them .525

Antiochus IV -------- m.---------Iotape

!

Ti. Claudius Balbillus

r~

M. Mettius-m. (2 )Claudia Capitolinam. ( I ) (ca. 64) C. Julius Antiochus

Junius (ca. 85)
I
Epiphanes
Rufus
_________ I_______________
C. Julius Antiochus
Epiphanes Philopappus
( c o n s u l a . d . 109, d . c a . 114)

i~
Calliuicus

i
Iotape and sisters

Julia Balbilla
(d. after 130)

IS Compare J. Kirchner, R E 20, 1, 1941 : c. 75; literature ibid.

:'ls The poems composed and inscribed in November, 130 by
Julia Balbilla on the pedestal of the Memnon statue were
restudied and republished by W. Peek, Zu den Gedichten auf
dem Meninonkoioss von Theben, Mitteilungen des deutschen
Instituts fuer aegyptische Altertumskunde, 5, 1934 : 95-109.
,lT Based on sources, cited above, p. 95, and P IR 1, 2nd ed.,
1933: 138. nos. 740 and 41.
5ts Cassius Dio, 59, 8. 2 ; Josephus, ant. Jud. 18, 6, 12 ; 19, 5, 1;
bell. Jud. 2. II, 5.

proclamation as emperor, Antiochus IV and his sons

at once recognized Otho (as did Vespasian and his
arm y ). A detachment of auxiliaries, headed by the
king's son. Antiochus Epiphanes, was sent westward to
aid Otho in his struggle against Vitellius. It is possible
that the corps was already on its way to support Galba
against Vitellius, but at any rate, it saw action for the
first time in the service of Otho during the series of
engagements culminating in the battle of Bedriacum
which ended the reign of Otho. King Epiphanes [in
one of these battles] was wounded, while he was zeal
ously cheering on the troops for O tho . 524 Obviously
Antiochus Epiphanes. not his aged father, participated
so valiantly in the fighting. The title of " king was
often given to hellenistic heirs designate, as well as to
actual or deposed rulers. Hence Tacitus use of the
title was not inaccurate. Recovered from his wound,
the battle-hardened young prince reappeared in the
field a year later. In May or June, a . d . 70, he led
a Coinmagenian corps, the so-called Macedonians, to the
aid of Titus, whom he chided for hesitating to assault
Jerusalem 's walls:

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD
lenient treatment of princes who had so recently resisted
Roman forces on the field of battle was decidedly un
usual. Would it be too far-fetched to assume that
throughout the crisis Balbillus had used every shred of
is influence to modify Vespasians natural resentment
: Commagenian resistance? It may also be noted that
Jaibillus son-in-law, in spite of his relatively graver
sins, was at once allowed to come to Rome, even before
his father had obtained imperial permission to do so.
If the surmise is correct that Balbillus was the chief
conciliator at Rome in 73 and 74, it would follow that
his prestige with Vespasian was by then very high.
There is, indeed, strong evidence for this assumption.
Not that Vespasian liked astrologers in general, at least
not in so far as they were capable of advising private
clients of the political fu tu re! Actually among his first
acts as emperor had been the issuing of still another
expulsion edict banishing them again from Rome, before
Vespasian himself had even set foot in the capital. 530
On the other hand, it was his duty to obtain for his
own and the empires benefit the most accurate pre
dictions available, and these in his opinion were the
ones made by astrologers:
. . . H e was in the habit of consulting all the best of them
i him self, and, by w ay of show ing a favor to B arbillus [s ic ! ],
a man of th a t profession, even perm itted the E phesians to
celebrate some sacred gam es, a privilege th a t he g ran ted to
no other city.551

Obviously the city and the man thus uniquely honored

must have been in exceptionally high favor with
Vespasian.
The newly established games at Ephesus in honor of
Balbillus remained popular for a long time thereafter.
A number o f extant inscriptions referred to them. The
oldest o f these dated from the year a . d . 90, others from
the time between 92 and 105. later ones from the era of
the Antonines . 552 The earliest references uniformly
spoke of the Balbillea or BalbUleia, later inscriptions
referred to the B a r b i l l e a That these games were
more than a purely local festival was attested by a
second-century inscription in Thyatira which called
them the great Balbillea[n games } . 5 ,4 They conin war. A t least Antiochus Epiphanes, the older son, had con
siderable military experience prior to this last stand.
5.0 Compare F. H. Cramer, Expulsion of astrologers from
ancient Rome, Classica el Mediaevalia 12, 1-2, 1951: 39-41.
m Cassius Dio, ep. 63 (66), 9, 2 from Xiphilinus; cf. Exc.
Vol. 271.
5.1 CIG, no. 5806; Kaibel, I S 1, nos. 746 and 747; compare
Inscr. Brit. Mus., no. 61S.
CIG, no. 2810 (from A phrodisias); no. 3208 (from
Sm yrna), no. 3675 (from Cyzicus) ; C IA 3, no. 129 (from
Athens) ; also CIG, nos. 5913; 6916 (also in Kaibel, I S 1, no.
1102 and 1113; both from Rome) ; also no. 739 (from Naples) ;
compare CIG, no. 2741; see on this inscription Dittenberger,
Orient. Inscr.. no. 509 (from Aphrodisias), line 23; cf. Jour.
Hell. Studies. 37, 1917 : 89, 12 f.
*54 runprai'Ta iv EtfjcffW to pryaXa BaXtJiXXTja; see Revue de
Pkilologie 29, 1913: 312. A list of these inscriptions is found

tinued to be held well into the third century. Thereafter

we have no further record of them. They may have
fallen victim to the economic crisis which swept the
empire in the wake of the great revolution of the third
century of our era.
Thus honored the elderly knight, ex-prefect, and
astrologer, Balbillus, was clearly in a different category
from that to which his fellow astrologer, Ptolemy
Seleucus, belonged, although both men acted as astro
logical councillors to the emperor. W hether or not
Vespasians parents had obtained at his birth an im
perial (or any) horoscope. 535 the nativity of Vespasian
m ust have been analyzed by competent astrologers long
before his accession. His faith in the stars was natur
ally confirmed by his successful rise to pow er; his trust
in his court astrologers became well-nigh complete.
When, for example, a Roman nobleman by the name of
Mettius Pompusianus boasted that he had received from
astrologers the promise of his eventual accession to the
throne, a prediction which was bound to attract elements
opposing Vespasian, the emperor calmly dismissed the
suggestion to try Pompusianus for inaiestas, 536 com
mitted by the violation of the Augustan edict of a . d .
I I , 5*7 and proceeded to appoint the man to the con
sulate, adding: I vouch that sometime in the future
he will gratefully remember this favor. 538 This went
even beyond the action of Tiberius, who in a . d . 33
had made Galba consul although he himself had learned
from the stars that Galba was destined to reign. O ne
cannot but assume that Vespasians serenity was based
on his firm conviction (obtained from the advice of
men like Balbillus, Ptolemy Seleucus. or other courtastrologers) that the astrological predictions, which
Mettius Pompusianus had received, were erroneous.
The same quiet confidence in his astrological advisers
was displayed in his own case by Vespasian when he
faced the succession. According to general opinion
. . . he w as so tra n q u il and assu red about his own fate and
th a t of his fam ily, as w ritten in the stars, that, in spite of
the perpetually fom ented plots ag a in st him, he had the
audacity of firm ly proclaim ing to the senate th a t no one but
his sons w ould succeed him .5**

This confidence never left Vespasian. Portents which

seemed to indicate his impending demise, he laughingly
rejected. When, for example, the portals of the A ugus
tan mausoleum suddenly opened, he suggested that not
in F. Cumont, Astrologues romains et byzantins, Melanges
d'archeolo'jic et de Ihistoire . . . dc Iecole franfaisc de Rom e 37,
1918-1919: 34, n. 3.
An haruspex, however, had supplied the customary
prophecy that the infant would some day mount the imperial
throne; Suetonius, Vespasian, 5, 2.
Suetonius, Vespasian, 14.
MT See F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars. Seminar 9.
1951: 1-15.
Suetonius, Vespasian, 14.
m Ibid., Vespasian, 25; compare Cassius Dio, ep. 65 (66),

T H E P O W E R O F A ST R O L O G E R S FR O M A U G U ST U S TO D O M IT IA N
he but a descendant of Augustus should worry about
the meaning of this. Again, when a comet appeared in
79, predictions of his death were rife. The emperor,
however, insisted that the long-haired Parthian king,
not he. the balding old Roman, should take heed ; 540
apparently this jest also involved a word play. For
comet was a Greek word, merning [long-]haired
star. Vespasian's light-heartedness may perhaps also
have been due to the fact that an earlier comet ( which
had appeared in 76 and inspired the emperor's son
Titus to a poem ) 541 had not proven fatal to any member
of the imperial family.
It has been suggested, and perhaps not without
reason, that Balbillus was the source of the reassuring
interpretation of the comet of 79 542 (and possibly also
already of the benign one of the comet of 76). He was
after all a renowned authority on comets, at least since
his interpretation of the comet of 64 which, indeed,
had not presaged the death of the emperor Nero, as
Balbillus had rightly foretold at the time . 543 Nor had
the comet of 76 killed Vespasian. Nevertheless,
one may perhaps wonder whether or not the reassuring
prediction of 79, no matter which astrologer made it,
was not a parallel to the (intentionally misleading)
prophecy which Thrasyllus had given to old Tiberius .544
Be that as it may, Vespasian died not long after the
comets appearance. Thereafter we lose all trace of
Balbillus himself. If he lived to the end of the reign,
as well he might have, it was to be expected that in
spite of his possible error about the comethe con
tinued in high favor with Titus, and if surviving into
the reign of Domitian (81-96) with that ruler also.
It may be assumed that he died some time after 75,
possibly in the early eighties of the first century, leav
ing at least one married daughter and two grandchildren
from this Claudia: Julia Balbilla and Caius Julius
Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus, born to Claudia and
her husband Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus
IV, ex-king of Commagene. Approximately half a cen
tury had elapsed since the death of Thrasyllus. His
family had now fully arrived. It had become one of
the great houses of the Roman empire and continued
to retain close ties to the rulers of the realm at least
for another half century to come.
Meanwhile, a contemporary of Balbillus had probably
preceded him in d eath : the elder Pliny. He succumbed
to a heart attack during the frightful eruption of Mount
Vesuvius which took place soon after Vespasian's death
in 7 9 and might well have been interpreted by the super
stitious as the catastrophe foretold by the comet which
40 Suetonius, Vespasian, 23, 4; cf. Aurelius Victor, epit., 9;
Cassius Dio, ep. 66, 17. 2-3.
111 Pliny, S a t. H ist. 2, 22, 89.
F. Cumont, Astrologues romains . . .: 33; Bouche-Leclercq:
360, n. 3.
*** Suetonius, S cro , 36.
See above, p. 107.

139

had appeared earlier in the year. C. Plinius Secundus.

then admiral of the Roman squadron stationed at
Misenum, had fallen a victim (on August 23-24) to
his insatiable scientific curiosity which had driven him
to the very scene of the eruption from which everyone
else was trying to escape. 545 H e left behind him as his
last m ajor work, an encyclopaedia, the so-called Natural
History, which he finished sometime between 76 546 and
his death in 79. probably in 77.54T
The work is of special importance, because Pliny
neither was nor ever claimed to be more than an edu
cated Roman gentleman who wrote, not for the spe
cialists, but for the benefit of other educated Roman
laymen, endeavoring to present a cross section of human
knowledge in the major disciplines, as well as interest
ing items selected for their pertinence in connection
with the topics under discussion. Among the many
authors whom he used we find for book II alone
for example Thrasyllus, Vespasian's son Titus, Julius
Caesar s calendar maker Sosigenes, as well as writers
on astrology like Petosiris and Nechepso and
Epigenes (of Byzantium ?), not to mention the
Pythagorean writers and Critodemus.548 Roman
names, which we have encountered earlier, were also
represented, for instance, Sulpicius Gallus. Quintus
Tubero, and Marcus Varro. Greek authors, however,
were in the majority, although of course one must
assume that Pliny used most of them merelv through
compilations. It would have surpassed the capacity of
any single man to plod through hundreds of tomes of
the original Greek writings. Again for book V we find
among the authors Timaeus mathematicus, in all proba
bility the astrologer known under that name . 549 A veri
table galaxy of writers who among other works left
important astrological treatises appeared in the authors'
list for book V I I : Berossus, Petosiris and Ne
chepso, Epigenes (of Byzantium?), as well as Nigi
dius Figulus (who was also listed as an authority for
book V I II ) . Among the authors acknowledged for
book IX we find again Nigidius Figulus, but also the
Chaldaean astronomer and diviner, Sudines. and Thra
syllus. The versatile Nigidius Figulus reappeared in
book X and X I, and again in book XVI, where he was
joined in the authors catalogue by the astrologer,
Timaeus. For book X V III Pliny acknowledged his
indebtedness to a number of astronomical or astrological
authors: Lucius Tarutius Firm anus Greek treatise
F or a detailed account rendered to Tacitus, see Plinv,
epist. 6, 16.
"4* Pliny, S a t. H ist. 2. 22, 89, refers to the comet of 76; his
encyclopaedia must therefore have l>een completed in or after 76
at the earliest
3,7 The work was dedicated to Titus, six times consul ; see
S a t. H ist., pr., 3.
"4* Ibid. 1. The first book consists of a table of contents oi
the entire work, book by book. In each instance a list of authors
used for the particular section is given.
,
Compare W. Kroll, R E . 2. Reihe, 6, 1, 1936: c. 1228.

140

T H E R ISE AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

On the Stars.0 Julius Caesar's work with the same

title. Fonteius Capito , 151 Quintus Tubero. Sosigenes.
Hipparchus. Aratus and Zoroaster ( !) . A number of
the hooks which followed boasted of Orpheus and
Pythagoras as helpful authors to whom in book X X V I
Anaxilaus of Larissa " a s added . 532 H e reappeared in
book XXIX. this time together with the indefatigable
Nigidius Figulus (and Orpheus'). Among the collec
tion of authors' names for book X X X I Anaxilaus again
put in an appearance, joined by Thrasyllus and Epi
genes ("of Byzantium ? ) . 533 Book X X X III listed Domi
tian among the authors, while in X X X IV apparently
Timaeus' treatise de medicina metallica was used. Book
XXXVI finally was in part indebted to authors like
Sudines. Horus ( !), and Zoroaster ( !) .
Considering the fact that Pliny " left 160 sets of notes
on selected books, written on both sides of the paper in
an extremely small hand 554 in addition to 1 0 2 books
of which only 36 belonged to his last work, the Natural
History, one can well understand that he was after
all an educated layman and not a specialized scholar
Pliny's choice was often indiscriminate when it came
to selecting authors or compilations. He may even have
consulted Balbillus on some matters which might ac
count for the frequent use of the works of Balbillus
father Thrasyllus. Pliny certainly was in close touch
with the emperor Vespasian. Before dawn he [Pliny]
used to wait on the emperor Vespasian, who also worked
during the n ig h t: and then he went off to the duty
assigned to him . " 3,5 Pliny therefore surely knew
Vespasian's highly esteemed court-astrologer Balbillus
personally.
In the void left by the death of Seneca Pliny raised
his voice once more on behalf of a deep-rooted faith in
human progress:
W e have collected in 36 volumes 20,000 n otew orthy facts
obtained from one hundred authors . . . w ith a g re a t num ber
of other facts in addition . . . , F u tu re generations . . . w ill
challenge us to battle as we have challenged ou r prede
cessors.556

Although Pliny's philosophical tendencies have often

been called those of a modified stoicism, there is little
evidence of Stoic creeds in his attitude concerning cos
mology and astrology. Assuredly he was no fatalist.
Apart from the treatment of astral influences on weather
and agriculture which occurred in books V II and X V III
especially, book II, dealing with the cosmos, its stars
" This astrologer cast the birth horoscope of Rome.
~'1 On his astrological interests, see above, p. 67 f.
Compare on this moi/iis above, p. 85 t.
551 Pliny usually refers to Epigenes of Rhodes, but sometimes
merely to an Epigenes, who may perhaps on occasion have been
a different author, although hardly the early Hellenistic astro
logical writer Epigenes of Byzantium.
Pliny, epist. 3, 5.
Loc. cit.
5I>* Pliny, .Vat. Hist. 1, pr., 17 and 20.

and the basic laws of nature, contains the most explicit

summary of Pliny's IVeltanschanung. H is first chal
lenge to the Stoic tenets of e/cpyrosis and palingenesis
was pronounced at the very beginning:
T he universe and . . . the sky a re fitly believed to be a
deity, eternal, im measurable, a being th at n ever began to
ex ist and never will perish.557

The stars whose influence Plinv admitted freely in

many a passage were not of equal importance. Like a
faint reminiscence perhaps of A khnatons sun cult or
of other forms of solar monotheism, destined to con
quer Rome in the third century a . d ., sounded Pliny's
assertion that
. . . the sun . . .
of the lands, and
heavens. T a k in g
believe him to be
w orld (principale

is the ru ler n o t only of th e seasons and

even of the stars them selves and of the
into account all th a t he effects, w e m ust
. . . the suprem e ru lin g p rin cip le of the

naturae regimen ac numen ) , 558

As if inspired by this outburst Pliny suddenly deviated

from his account and began a personal proclamation of
his own faith :
. . . I deem it a m ark of hum an w eakness to seek to d is
cover the shape and form of God. W h o ev er God is
provided there is a God . . . he consists . . . w holly of
him self. T o believe in gods w ithout n um ber . . . reaches an
even g re a te r height of folly. . . . F o r m o rtal to aid m ortal
this is God. . . . T h a t th a t suprem e being, w h atev er it be,
pays heed to m ans affairs is a ridiculous notion. C an we
believe th a t it w ould n o t be defiled by so gloom y and
m ultifarious a d u ty ? . . .
N evertheless m ortality has ren d ered ou r guesses about
God even m ore obscure by in v en tin g fo r itself a d eity in ter
m ediate . . .: F o rtu n e alone is invoked an d nam ed, alone
accused, . . . deem ed volatile an d indeed by m ost men blind
as well. . . .
A nother set of people banishes F o rtu n e also a n d attrib u tes
events to its s ta r and to the law s of b irth , holding th a t for
all men th a t ever a re to be G ods d ecree has been enacted
once and for all, w hile fo r the rest of tim e leisure has been
vouchsafed to H im . T his belief begins to take root, and
the learned and un learn ed mob alike g o m a rch in g on
tow ards it a t the double. . . .
B ut it agrees w ith life's experience th a t . . . the gods
exercise an interest in hum an affairs . . . an d th a t m an was
not born G ods n e x t of kin fo r the purpose of ap p ro x im atin g
the beasts in vileness.'150 N o t even fo r G od aVe all things
possible for he cannot, even if he w ishes, com m it suicide.
. . . H e cannot cause tw ice ten not to be tw enty. . . . U n
questionably the pow er of n atu re we should call G od. 560

Even from this condensed credo of Pliny it is apparent

that in contrast to his imperial friends. Vespasian and
Titus, he denied, as Cicero and Lucretius had done, the
validity of fatalistic astrology, thus continuing the Latin
minority tradition which steadfastly opposed the more
5T!bid. 2. 1, 1; compare on the subject W. Kroll, Die Kosmologic des Plinius; Breslau, 1930.
8 Pliny, Nat. Hist. 2. 4, 12-13.
In the words of Goethe (Faust, / ) : E r hat V em unft und
braucht s allein, um tierischer als jedes Tier zu sein.
5n Pliny. Nat. Hist. 2. 5, 14 ff.

T H E P O W E R O F A ST R O L O G E R S FRO M A U G U STU S T O D O M IT IA N
and more widely accepted belief in astrology. Reject
ing fatalistic astrology Plinv had even less sympathy
with popular astral superstitions. For example:
W e have stated th at the stars a re attached to the universe,
not assigned to each of us in the w ay in w hich the common
herd believes, i. e. not dealt out to m ortals w ith a degree of
radiance prop o rtio n ate to the lot of each, the b rig h test stars
to the rich and pow erful, the sm aller ones to the poor, the
dim to those who are w orn o u t: they do not each rise w ith
th eir own hum an being, no r indicate by th e ir fall th a t som e
one's life is being extinguished. T h e re is no such close
alliance between us and the sky th a t the radiance of the
stars there also shares the fate of m ortality. . . . B ut the
heavenly bodies have a n atu re th a t is etern al they are parts
of the u niverse and a re blended w ith its w eft: yet th eir
potency has a pow erful influence on the ea rth .51,1

Thus Pliny joined the ranks of those who in accept

ing astral influence on mundane affairs approved of
catarchic astrology, while rejecting fatalistic astrology,
an attitude common to all sceptics of antiquity. The
same degree of objectivity was shown by Pliny with
regard to com ets:
People think th a t it m atters in w h at direction a comet
darts. . . . w h at shapes it resem bles. . . . If it form s an
equilateral trian g le . . . in relatio n to ce rtain positions of
the fixed stars it p o rtends a m an of genius and a revival of
learning, in the head of the N o rth ern o r S o u th ern S erpent
it b rings poisonings. . . . A risto tle also records th a t several
may be seen a t the sam e tim e (Meteorologica, f. 345a, 29)
and th a t this signifies severe w inds or h eat.562

Pliny cited impartially instances of ill, as well as

favorable events coincident with the appearance of
comets, but again refrained scrupulously from taking
sides in interpreting the astrological significance of
such phenomena. As to the scientific explanation of
comets he was more non-committal than Seneca had
been:
Som e persons think th at even com ets a re everlasting, and
travel in a special circu it of th e ir ow n. b u t a re not visible
when the sun leaves th e m : th ere a re o thers, who hold th at
they sp rin g into existence o u t of chance m oisture and fiery
force and eventually a re ag a in dissolved.563

This is of course not the place to discuss in detail

Pliny's cosmology 364 and his variegated references to
astral influences throughout his work. Enough evi
dence, however, has been adduced to indicate his posi
tion in the historical trends of belief and disbelief in
astrology' during the first century of the principate.
It is certain that the Flavians to whom he dedicated
his Natural H istory were not converted by Pliny to his
own scepticism concerning fatalistic astrology. Titus
( a . d . 79-81) succeeded his father whose co-regent he
M1 Ibid. 2, 6. 28 f.
Ibid. 2, 23, 92 i. and 91.
* Ibid. 2, 23, 94.
* VV. Kroll. Die Kosmoloyic des P lin iu s: 1 ff.. analyzes it in
detail.

141

had l)een for years. He too in his youth had received

a prediction of imperial grandeur, although not from
an astrologer but from a physiognomist. 65 That he
was well acquainted with Balbillus may be taken for
granted. Perhaps that expert on comets even advised
Titus on the occasion of the cornet.of 76 which the
Flavian prince commemorated in a poem . 366 Of Titus'
deep faith in fatalistic astrology there can he no doubt:
T w o men of p atrician ran k w ere convicted of having
aspired to the throne. T itu s merely exhorted them to desist
from their plan, because, as he s a id : The throne is allotted
by F ate . . . . It is also reported th at upon learning of the
horoscope of both men he did prophesy that both of them
w ere in g rav e danger, but only a t a future time and from
someone else, as, indeed, it was the case.367

W e do not know the names of the two conspirators.

Perhaps one of them may have been that Mettius Pompusianus whom already Vespasian had pardoned in
spite of his imperial horoscope. In any case the
eventual fate of these two men would furnish another
example of the different attitude towards such people
which, in contrast to his father and brother, Domitian
was to take. For the future danger which proved
deadly to them must have destroyed them in the reign
of Domitian. Who supplied the horoscopes of those
two plotters we do not know. Was it part of the evi
dence accumulated against them, or were their nativi
ties recast for Titus by Ptolemy Seleucus, Balbillus, or
some other court-astrologer? An emperor so pro
foundly convinced of the infallibility of astrological
predictions must have taken his own horoscope very
seriously. He may well have received a warning of
an early death, even a death date perhaps (an astro
logical specialty of Balbillus). This seems a logical
interpretation of his extraordinary behavior before his
approaching death:
W hen the public gam es w ere over, a t the end of which
before the whole populace he had broken out into a violent
fit of weeping, he traveled to the Sabine regioneven more
dejected by the fact that, w hen he was sacrificing, the
victim had fled and from a clear sky a thunderclap had been
heard. In the very first n ig h ts lodging he became feverish,
but had him self carried on in a litter, whose curtains it is
said he opened frequently, and looking up at the sky com
plained repeatedly and loudly th at he did not deserve to be
killed____ 568

Surely a man who believed himself doomed by the

stars at a certain date would behave in this fashion,
especially whenat the gameshe apparently was still
enjoying good health. Among primitive people the
l>elief in one's ordained death has at times caused at
least some of those who thought themselves magically
'sentenced to death to perish without visible cause.
Could Titus have carried his faith in the stars that far?
Suetonius, Titus, 2.
* Pliny. Nat. Hist. 2, 22, 89.
' 7 Suetonius, Titus, 9, 2.
Ibid., 10, 1; compare Cassius Dio, ep. 66, 26, I f.

142

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

The assumption that Titus did, indeed, possess an

astrological prediction of his death date is strengthened
bv the fact that his younger brother, Domitian. assuredly
had received such a prophecy:
Since a Ion;; time he [Domitian] had a certain knowledge
of the year and the day of his death, even, indeed, of the
hour and the manner of his end. In his youth the Chal
daeans had predicted him all this. 560
It may l>e difficult for a modern mind to project itself
into a mental state of absolute acceptance of such dicta,.
Yet only by fully realizing the depth of the impression
thus created in Domitian's mind may one comprehend
the shadow hovering above this ill-fated ruler. The
prophecies of the astrologers were no secret. The Fla
vian family knew them. Perhaps they had even been
made at the time of his birth when Vespasian consulted
die Chaldaeans about the future of the infant. So seri
ously did, indeed, young Domitian take the predictions
that
Even his father had once at table made fun of him when
lie refused to partake of some mushrooms: Did he not
know the fate in store for him any better [than to be afraid
of possibly poisonous ftiushrooms] ? He should fear iron
[not mushrooms] . 570
The firm belief that he would be assassinated seems
to have overshadowed the whole life of Domitian.
Having accepted this fate, revealed by the stars, he
was for that reason continually filled with anxiety and
terror, and the slightest suspicion [against anyone]
made an enormous impression upon him . 571 An ob
server 575 who had occasion to comment on Domitian
ventured the character analysis that in so far as one
may risk an appraisal, he was against his inner inclina
tion made rapacious by [financial] needs and became
bloodthirsty out of fear . " 373 Fear of the deadly iron
ever left Domitian. To what lengths he carried his
error could be seen from two incidents. The senate
taci voted him the honor of a bodyguard of Roman
knights who in festive dress and armed with spears
should precede him between the official lictors and the
court messengers. Domitian. usually most willing to
accept any new' honors exalting his position, declined.
He had. his contemporaries believed, no desire to add
irmed men to his immediate entourage. Similarly,
when a Greek quotation of quite harmless content was
]>araphrased to allude to his future assassination, he
was frightened into withdrawing a recent edict which
had ordered the destruction of surplus vineyards. F or
the pamphleteer had quoted one of the doomed vines
Suetonius, Domitian, 14, 1.
570 Loc. cit.
ST1 Ibid.. 14, 2.
172 Ibid., 12, 2. Suetonius reported a scene which he himself
tnessed. although apparently not in the presence of the
nperor.
7= Ibid., 3, 2.

as warning the emperor that even if he were to destroy

it to the very roots, it would grow again to produce
enough wine for a libation when he would be assassi
nated . ' 74 Fear-ridden Domitian executed his relatives,
lived in adulterous incest with his niece (whose hus
band he had killed), and vainly tried to soothe his
jagged nerves by elevating himself to the pinnacle of
divine despotism . 575
In the early years of Domitian's reign Balbillus (if
he had lived as long as that) died. Of the fortunes of
his daughter's family in this era we know but little.
The children of Claudia Capitolina and Antiochus E pi
phanes were growing up, perhaps in Rome, or in the
safer atmosphere of a flourishing Greek city in the east.
Sometime prior to 85 Claudias husband seems to have
died, and the widow married Junius Rufus, a Roman
knight, who during the last decade of Domitian's reign
became governor of Egypt. He held the post either
shortly before or after a . d . 90,576 proof that at least
until then this branch of the house of Thrasyllus would
have continued to enjoy imperial favor . 577 Claudia's
son Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus, m ean
while, was honored with the Athenian archonship (ca.
8 7 ).518
Among the victims of a terror-stricken ruler those
would, of course, be most eagerly prosecuted who were
believed to possess imperial horoscopes. The legal
action of inaiestas could be brought against them for
having inquired about the political future . 570 Vespasian,
relying upon astrological assurances that his sons were
bound to succeed him. had as we saw considered
such predictions made to third parties as erroneous
and refused to prosecute the holders of imperial horo
scopes. T itus too had followed this policy . 380 Domi
tian, however, took no chances. H e exiled Mettius
Pompusianus to Corsica and then ordered his execution
because it w as public know ledge th at his horoscope prom ised
him the throne, and because he alw ays c a rried w ith him a
m ap ot the w orld painted on parchm ent, as well as excerpts
from L ivy's speeches of kings and com m anders, and had
also nam ed his slaves M ago an d H an n ib al.580

Mettius Pompusianus was hardly the onlv victim of

this k in d !
Domitian clearly lacked the assurance of the true
fatalist. His father and his brother, Titus, had been
sensible enough to draw the logical conclusion from
3,4 Ibid., 14, 2.
1,71 Ibid., 13, 1-2; Cassius Dio, ep. 67, S, 7 from Zonaras, 11, 19.
I7 Compare Stein, R E 10, 1919: c. 1083.
5,7 It would be worthwhile to know the reasons which Domi
tian whispered to his pet dw arf; Suetonius, Domitian, 4, 2.
278 Cf. p. 136.
Compare F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars, Sem i
nar 9. 1951: 8 ff.
Suetonius, Titus. 9. 1-2. may refer to one. or possibly twocases of this kind.
Suetonius, Domitian. 10, 3.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S F
their astrological belief. Domitian, on the other hand,
represented the type of person who irrationally believed
in his grim destiny and yet tried to escape it. Like
Tiberius
D om itian. of course, had n o t failed to take careful note of
the days and the hours w hen the forem ost m en had been
born, an d in consequence w as destro y in g in advance not a
few of those w ho w ere not even hoping for the attainm ent
of pow er.582

Since it is nowhere asserted that Domitian himself was

a practicing astrologer, he must have relied on the fore
casts of expert astrologers at court. To what extent his
father's court astrologers also served him is unknown.
From his reign we do not possess the name of any of
the court-astrologers and can only deduce their presence
from such references and on the ground of the general
continuity of imperial faith in astrology in his reign.
The haunted spirit of Domitian must also have been
responsible for a nightmarish episode worthy of the
imagination of an E dgar Allan Poe;
H e en tertain ed the forem ost men am ong the senators and
k n ights in the follow ing fashion. H e prep ared a room th at
w as pitch black on every side, ceiling, w alls, and floor, and
h ad m ade read y b are couches of the same color restin g on
the uncovered flo o r; then he invited his g u est alone a t n ight
w ithout th e ir atten d an ts. A nd first he set beside each of
them a slab shaped like a g ravestone, b earin g the guest's
nam e and also a sm all lamp, such as hangs in tombs. N ext
com ely naked boys, likew ise pain ted black, entered like
phantom s, an d a fte r encirclin g the guests in an aw e
in sp irin g dance took up th e ir stations a t th eir f e e t A fter
this all the th ings th a t a re com m only offered a t the sacrifices
to d ep arted sp irits w ere likew ise set before the guests, all
of them black an d in dishes of a sim ilar color.
C onsequently ev ery single one of the guests feared and
trem bled an d w as k ept in co n stan t expectation of h aving his
th ro a t cu t th e n e x t mom ent, the m ore so as on the p a rt of
everybody but D o m itian th ere w as dead silence, as if they
w ere alread y in the realm s of the dead, and the em peror
him self conversed only upon topics relatin g to death and
slau g h ter. F in ally he dism issed them. . . . A nd scarcely
had each g u est reached his home . . . w hen w ord w as
b ro u g h t him th a t a m essenger from the em peror had come.
W h ile they w ere ex pecting accordingly to perish this time
in any case [the m essengers m erely b ro u g h t them costly
presents from D o m itian ].58*

Sharp tongued Roman gossip had it that this was,

indeed, meant to be the funeral banquet that Domitian
held for those who had died in Dacia and in Rome . 5 ,4
probably in the year 89. The mounting tide of dis
content was accentuated at about this time by the
rebellion of L. Antonius on the Rhine border. The
rebellion was put down by L. Maximus, but wholesale
executions followed in its wake. Inflammatory astro
logical predictions in Rome seem to have worried
Domitian to such an extent that he reissued an expul'ss Cassius Dio, ep. 67, IS, 6, from Xiphilinus; compare
Zonaras, I t, 20.
5M Casius Dio. ep. 67, 9. 1-5, from Xiphilinus.
** Ibid. 67, 9, 6, from Xiphilinus.

T O D O M IT IA N

143

sion order against astrologers, choosing like his father,

Vespasian, and Vitellius before him, the legal form of
an imperial edict. Simultaneously, an expulsion of
philosophers was decreed ." 3 We may well assume
that especially the Cynics and the Stoics were aimed at.
the Cynics because they were inveterate rabble-rousers,
the Stoics because (as in the days of Nero and Ves
pasian) they represented the creed of the aristocratic
opposition to the divine despotism of Domitian's choos
ing- The futility of these measures was soon apparent.
For in a . d . 93 Domitian not only went so far as to
execute the leaders of the Stoic opposition, [unius
Rusticus, Herennius Senecio, and Helvidius. the son
of the Stoic m a rty r Helvidius Priscus . 586 but also
once more drove the philosophers and astrologers from
Rome. 587
But inexorably the fatal date was approaching;
W hen the tim e of the dreaded clanger came closer, he
became m ore w o rried from day to day. H e had the walls
of all rooms th ro u g h w hich he used to walk covered w ith
lum inous stone,588 th ro u g h whose m irro rin g effect he could
observe ev ery th in g th a t w ent on behind his back. H e also
exam ined p risoners m ostly in secret and alone, holding even
th eir chains in his ow n hands.589

It was in vain. W e are told that his own wife has

tened the final conspiracy . 500 The emperor himself
expected to be killed on September 18, 96 at the fifth
hour. On September 17 he moodily suggested to keep
some truffles which were served him until the next day,
adding; Provided that I should still be able to eat
them then. In the same vein he firmly informed his
intimates that on the following day the Moon in
Aquarius would be stained with blood and a deed would
be done of which men all over the world would talk . 5,1
The usual portents abounded of course, but nothing
made so deep an impression on him as did a reply of
the astrologer, Ascletarius, i. e. probably Asclation or
Asclepios. 582 The man sometime on September 17 was
brought before Domitian on a charge of uiaiestas, proba
bly for his prediction of the emperors impending
death . 508
Domitian with a forced laugh asked the doomed man
the same question which on an earlier occasion Tiberius
was supposed to have asked Thrasyllus, i. e. whether
* Jerome, Chron., a . d. 89-90.
** Suetonius, Domitian, 10, 3; Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 13. 2-3.
1,7 Suetonius, loc. cit. ; Cassius Dio, loc. cit.; Jerome, Chron..
A. D. 93-94; Suidas, s. v. Aoturiaros; compare also Pliny, epist 3,
11; Philostratus, Apollonius of Tyana 7, 3.
* On this lapis phengites, see Pliny. .Vat. Hist. 36. 22, 163.
It was found in Cappadocia in the reign of Xero.
*** Suetonius, Domitian, 14, 4.
Cassius Dio, ep. 67, IS, 2 ff.
5.1 Suetonius, Domitian, 14, 1.
1.1 Compare Cat. 8, 4 ; 101, n .; F. H. Cramer, The Caesars
and the stars (2 ), Seminar 10. 1952 : 36 ff.
* Cod. Paris, suppl. gr. 607 A. f. 44r ; see Cat. 8. 4 : 101.3 ff. :
compare Suetonius, Domitian, 15. 3; Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 16. 3.

144

T H E R IS E AXD T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IX' T H E L A T IN W O R LD

the astrologer could foresee what was in store for him

self. 384 Thrasyllus was credited with anticipating an
imminent mortal danger. Now Ascletarius-Asclation
too gave proof of the accuracy of his astrological
skill, predicting that shortly he would be torn to pieces
by dogs. Domitian gave orders to execute him at once
and to bury him carefully. It was the action of a
desperate man trying to disprove what in his own mind
he foresaw only too well. Even so Domitian failed.
A sudden storm extinguished the funeral pyre. While
the men in. charge of the cremation had sought shelter
a pack of dogs fell upon the half burnt corpse and tore
it to pieces. An actor by the name of Latinus passed
the extraordinary scene. That evening he had been
invited to dinner by the emperor he told Domitian
what he had seen. The effect upon the ruler must
have been staggering. Vainly he tried to sleep that
night. About midnight he was gripped by such panic
that he jumped out of bed. 595 September 18 dawned
at last. The restless emperor ordered another diviner
to be arraigned before h im : the augur Larginus Proculus. The man had on the far-away borders of Ger
many through the augurial technique of brontoscopy
predicted a change of rulers.59* H e had not done this
in public, according to this version, and only when
asked about that matter. From the time of Suetonius
tea. a . d . 100) to that of Cassius Dio (ca. a . d . 200)
the story had changed in important aspects. Larginus
Proculus was said to have made his dangerous pre
diction in public. Moreover he was credited with having
predicted accurately the very day on which Domitian
would die . 597 This was of course only possible through
the use of astrological techniques. Indeed, Xiphilinus
epitomized version of Dio was paralleled by a more
explicit variant, preserved in a tenth century manu
script. There Larginus Proculus was referred to as
" an astrologer and sorcerer who had made his
prophecy in an assembly in Germany . 388 Perhaps the
well attested episode concerning the astrologer Ascletarius-Asclation led to the later ascription of astrological
prowess to the augur also.
In any case a political forecast of this kind would be
treason in Roman la*v as then established. The diviner,
therefore, had been sent to Rome in chains and was
now, on the morning of the fatal day, brought before
the emperor. Domitian's mood can easily be imagined.
It ljespoke his desperate and wholly irrational hoping
against hope that in a direct challenge to what he in
,"1 Cod. Paris, suppl. gr. 607 A, f. 44T; see Cat. 8, 4: 99, 9 ff.;
Cassius Dio. 55, 11, 2: Cedrenus, 1: 344, 1; ed. Bonn; on the
Thrasyllus legend, compare A. H. Krappe, Tiberius and T hra
syllus. Amcr. Jour. Philol. 48, 1927 : 359-366.
Suetonius. Domitian, 16, 1.
'* Ibid.. 16. 2.
"*7 Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 16. 2, from Xiphilinus.
Cod. Paris, suppl. gr. 607 A. f. 44 ; Cat. 8, 4: 100, 27.-101,
2: compare Cedrenus, 1: 430, 20-431, 2: ed. Bonn.

his innermost being accepted as inexorable fate he sen

tenced the diviner to death, but postponed the execution
so that the man could before dying behold the fallacy
of his prediction. With this business the day began.
Domitian must have gone through untold agonies as
the hours dragged on. Scratching himself nervously,
he drew some blood. H e cried out: If that would
only be a ll! 30" Time passed slowly. The hour for
his siesta at hand Domitian retired. A sword lav always
under his pillow, mute testimony of the ruler's everworried mind. Parthenius, one of the conspirators,
was said to have removed the blade secretly that day ,600
leaving only the handle. Domitian apparently did not
notice the fraud. He awaited the passing of the fifth
hour. If he survived it, all might still be well. The stars
would have lied. Finally he could stand it no longer.
He asked for the time. H e was told falselythat the
dreaded fifth hour was over, the sixth having begun.
In a frenzy of relief Domitian believed all danger passed
and was about to hurry to a bath. At this moment, his
wariness momentarily relaxed, another conspirator,
named Stephanus, asked to be permitted to reveal im
portant news to the emperor in private. Domitian
agreed. Stephanus then stabbed him. Others rushed
in and gave the emperor the coup de grace. Stephanus
himself was slain in the melee by men loyal to Domitian.
Thus ended on September 18, 96 the Flavian era, and
with it the whole period in which, since the reign of
Augustus, astrologers, having become the power behind
the throne, had reached the zenith of their influence in
Roman history.
It seems ironic that probably Domitians very em
phasis upon the fifth hour of September 18 as the time
which would be fatal for him inspired the conspirators
to choose that moment for their deed. For, believing
in astrology as they did, they themselves would be
inclined to believe that their undertaking was fated
to succeed if carried out at the very moment designated
by the stars for the death of the emperor.
11.

C O N C LU SIO N

The first century of the principate witnessed the final

conversion of the Roman nobility to the most profound
faith in fatalistic astrology it ever acquired. The elder
Pliny rightly referred to this as a well-nigh universal
movement. Only in such an age would the fantastic
rise of a man like Thrasyllus be possible. In vain did
the rulers of this era try to monopolize what they came
to accept, at least since the last decade of the reign of
Augustus, as the most accurate and scientific means of
divination. Attempts to outlaw political inquiries and
those about the death of anyone remained ineffective.
Suetonius, Domitian, 16. 2.
,">0 Suetonius. Domitian, 17, 1-2; Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 17, 1,
from Xiphilinus.

T H E P O W E R O F A STR O LO G ER S FR O M A U G U ST U S TO D O M IT IA N
Not even the use of inaiestas actions against the more
important violators of the imposed topical restrictions
could dampen the ardor of the faithful. We are of
course best informed about the lives of the rulers.
Every single one of them seems to have been given
promises of supreme political power, although not always
by astrologers. These, however, were at least said to
have been responsible for such prophecies in the case
of Octavianus Augustus. Tiberius, Nero, Galba, Otho,
Vespasian, probably Titus, and certainly Domitian.
Perhaps even Caius had received such predictions.
Claudius alone never obtained such astrological encour
agement. Nor was. of course, the receiving of such
promises confined to emperors-to-be. Many noblemen
lost their lives because they were known to possess
imperial horoscopes. Sometimes they had received
direct astrological promises to this effect, as for example
the luckless Mettius Pompusianus. Often, however,
court astrologers simply informed the emperor of their
having discovered dangerous men possessing im
perial horoscopes, whereupon a number of them were
exiled or slain, perhaps without even having themselves
known their fatal horoscope. But the practice of as
trology remained rare among the Roman gentry of the
first century. Tiberius was the only practicing astrol
oger on the throne during the first century. Nor do
we know of any successors to Republican aristocratic
astrologers, like Nigidius Figulus, Tarutius Firmanus,
or Manilius. although undoubtedly mere dabbling in
astrology remained in vogue among educated Romans.
Astrologers were ubiquitous, the majority still hail
ing from the east. The more often they were formally
expelled, or jailed and exiled, the greater became their
prestige. Clients were willing to keep a renowned
astrologer on their pay-roll even while he was exiled
to a far away island. Pammenes in his exile, for ex
ample, still drew a large income from Roman noblemen
who continued to patronize him by correspondence
with results fatal to some of them. Nor were ambitious
men the only source of revenue for astrologers. Aemilia
Lepida. Claudia Pulchra, the younger Agrippina, Lollia
Paulina, Domitia Lepida. Poppaea Sabina, to mention
only a fewr great ladies of the first century, were faith
ful, if not to their numerous husbands or lovers, at
least to their belief in astrology. Since high society
usually set the pace in such matters, one can safely
assume that at least the middle class was equally in
fected with the all-pervading creed. Petronius thus in
his Satyricon could take it for granted that wealthy
parvenus were also consulting astrologers even for
important business decisions.
It was always difficult for human beings to accept
unquestionably the tenets of fatalistic astrology. Nor
would ordinary minds usually perceive the inherent
difference between it and its milder sister, catarchic
astrology. Even those who, like Domitian. were per
suaded of the inescapability of astrological fate, tried

145

desperatelyand in his case vainlyto fight Fate itself.

This outlook was illogical, but thoroughly human. The
desire to know the future and yet to lie able to prevent
it from coming true has always remained one of man's
tragi-comic follies. It is, indeed, difficult tor modern
minds to visualize the deep and often blind faith of
Roman society in astrology. W e are too prone to
consider it as what it is today: a shallow hobbv for
shallow minds. Almost two thousand years of FudaeoChristian indoctrination have vaccinated western civili
zation against fatalism so that even the revived mechan
istic concept of the universe did not lead to a durable
renaissance of this faith. Therefore it is sometimes
difficult to realize that ancient astrologers, although
they contained in their ranks an inevitable quota of
charlatans, were very often high minded scholars, some
of whom were scientists of the first rank. One cannot
dismiss men like Manilius or Thrasyllus as supersti
tious fools, or money starved knaves. The rise of
astrologers to positions of influence and power during
this period was general. Thrasyllus and his house did
not represent a unique fluke of good fortune, but merely
the most spectacular case of this kind.
Latin astrologers throughout this era continued to
be a small minority. In the east Egypt seems to
have produced the greater part of the more renowned
astrologers. Thrasyllus was an Alexandrinian. The
very names of astrologers like Pammenes and Ptolemy
Seleucus pointed in the direction of Egypt. Asclation
(alias Asclepius or Ascleparius) also may well have
stemmed from Egypt. Assuredly Chaeremon, Neros
tutor, also came from Alexandria. Of earlier astrologers
who lived in our era (i. e. from the middle of the first
century b . c . until the end of the first century a . d )
the names of Timaeus, Thessalus, and Teucrus the
Babylonian seem most important. Timaeus is believed
to have lived during the first century b . c.,sl Thessalus
lived in the middle of the first century a . d . . 60- and
Teucrus apparently some decades later .808
All of them stemmed from the Greek east. Timaeus'
works included a treatise futdtjuanKa, and another one
Trtpl 4 > v a t The earliest author to quote him was
the elder Pliny, but he knew already of an author who
had opposed views of Timaeus. In the second century
a . d . both Vettius Valens and Antiochus used astro
logical writings of Timaeus . 003 About a . d . 500 the
astrologer Palchus still knew him ,600 while ot medieval
authors Suidas and Tzetzes were to refer to him . 607
"'C om pare W. Kroll, Die Kosmologie des Plinius: 10 f.
1,1,5 F. Cumont. Cat. 8, 4 : 253 f.
4 F. Boll, Sphaera: 6-12: 416, 2; W. Gundel. R E , 2. Reihe.
5. 1, 1934: c. 1132, no. 5,-c. 1134.
'""Suidas, s.v . Tifiaios.
""Vettius Valens, Antliologiae 2, 31; ed. K roll: 102. 19 ff.:
Antiochus in Cat. 8, 3: 116, 3.
For Palchus, see Cat. 1: 97.
" Compare W. Kroll, R E . 2. Reihe, 6, 1. 1936 : c. 1228, no. 9
F or the identification ot this author, see Cat. 8, 4: 253 d.

146

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A TIN W O R LD

Among the phvsicians of the first century who linked

astrology with their profession Thessalus of Tralles
i not Harpocration) was an outstanding figure.60* His
treatise On plants ruled by the twelve signs and the
sezcn planets, addressed to Claudius or Nero, has
already been mentioned . 809
By far the most important astrological writer, how
ever, whom we know of in this period was Teucrus the
Rabvlonian. He seems to have flourished in the first
century a . d .610 In astrological literature his emphasis
on the decani and their paranatellontaaxl has led some
modern authors to assume that the Babylon located in
Egypthomeland of the decani was the native town
ut Teucrus . 612 Others maintained with better reason
that Chaldaean Babylon (or its later neighbor Seleuceia)
was the city of his birth, ascribing to him an attempt
to vindicate Chaldaean astrology against the then pre
vailing primacy of Egyptian astrology.61 Be that
as it may, Teucrus the astrologer was to be of con
siderable influence in the era of Arab astrology, many
.enturies later. He was, on the other hand, a valuable
contributor to tiie evolution of astronomical nomen'ature. For he transmitted the names of numerous
stars and constellations, not found in the sphaera graecanica. but stemming from barbaric sources, i. e.
' Already P. Boudreaux, Cat. 8, 3: 132-134, pointed out the
" similarities between Harpocration and Thessalus.
See p. 122 i.
10 F. Boll, Sphaera: 416, 2.
*'1 Compare above, pp. 21-25.
sl= For example W. Gundel and R. Eisler; see R E , 2. Reihe,
5. 1. 1931: c. 1132, no. 3,-c. 113.
811 Bouche-Leclercq; 224 and 227.

from non-Greek traditions . 814 Like Thrasyllus, T eu

crus seems also to have been interested in the magical
properties of precious stones , 613 in short among the
known astrologers of the first century of our era Teu
crus looms next to Thrasyllus as the most important
figure. Altogether the influx of eastern astrological
works into the Latin orbit continued steadily throughout
the early principate.
Only a few opposed the raging torrent. Certainly the
first c e n tu r/ of the principate did not produce intel
lectual opponents to fatalistic astrology of the calibre of
a Lucretius, or a Cicero. Nevertheless, a hostile under
current remained in existence. W riters like Columella
and the elder Pliny attested to the tenacity of the small
minority which in Rome opposed the unquestioning
fatalism of the Stoics and their allies, the astrologers.
A few Greek poets, among them Lukillios and a GraecoJewish philosopher like Philo, still lashed out at the
folly of astrological infallibility. And in melancholy
protest inscriptions on tombstones recorded for posterity
the tearful disappointment of many who had too late
discovered the vanity of their trust in astrologers. The
crest of astrological influence on Roman rulers and
ruling strata was to pass with the Flavian era. There
after rationalist astrology was faced with increasing
opposition from two diametrically opposite forces:
religious mysticism on the one hand, and rationalist
scepticism on the other.
F. Boll, Sphaera: 6-12.
*l * Compare Ruska, Tabula Smaragdina, 1926: 129 and 136;
F. v. Lippmann, Die Entstehung der Alchemie 1, 1919 : 356 and
515.

IV. A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E F R O M N E R V A TO T H E D E A T H O F SEV E R U S

A L E X A N D E R (96-235)
!.

IN T R O D U C T IO N

From the death of Domitian (September 18, a . d . 96)

to that of Severus Alexander (M arch 18 or 19, a . d .
235) almost one hundred and thirty-nine years elapsed.
The span from the assassination of Julius Caesar
(M arch 15, 44 b . c . ) to that of Domitian had been
almost exactly as long. But not only for numerical
reasons did the end of the Flavian dynasty mark the
end of an era and the beginning of another. There are
more profound grounds for this sub-division of the
principate. One of the main characteristics of the
earlier age had been the stubborn opposition with
which a small but still important aristocratic group in
R une confronted the monarchic establishment of Julius
Caesar and Augustus. This opposition had fortified
itself with intellectual weapons borrowed chiefly from
lie arsenal of the Stoic school of philosophy. The noble

Stoics from the younger Cato (d. 46 b. c . ) to Thrasea

Paetus (d. 6 6 ), Helvidius Priscus (d. ca. 70), his son
(d. 93), and Junius Rusticus (d. 93) had produced a
long line of m artyrs for the cause. Owing to the social
and political influence of their leaders, the Stoics were
far more dangerous to the new monarchic order than
the merely rabble rousing Cynics. Nero's minister of
ill repute, Tigellinus, had presented the official view of
the earlier principate in saying that to be a Stoic was
synonymous with being a foe of the imperial regime . 1
Ironically enough both the Stoics and the emperors
of the first century of our era were equally fervent
believers in astrology. That meant that in a sense the
1 Even a man of Quintilian's horizon shared this general
opinion; see Quintilian, dc inst. orat. 6. 3, 78.

A S T R O L O G Y IX R O M E FRO M N E R V A TO S E V E R U S A L E X A N D E R
imperial restrictions imposed temporarily or perma
nently upon the practice of astrology and other forms
of divination were in large measure especially directed
against the Stoic opposition. From the reign of Nero
to the death of Domitian both oppositional philosophers
and astrologers were, indeed, on more than one occa
sion common targets of imperial expulsion edicts.
Slowly, however, the Roman nobility bowed albeit
grudgingly to the army-supported monarchic govern
ment. The senatorial explosion which had caused the
death of Domitian was. however, both a warning to his
successors and to the senators themselves. For the
permanent latent conflict between the senatorial claim
to the right of choosing an emperor by its vote and the
army's traditional preference for a Julio-Claudian, or,
more lately, a prince of its own choice arose anew im
mediately after the accession of the senatorial candidate,
Nerva. Only his hurried adoption of a popular general
as his successor prevented another civil war. Nervas
early death ( a . d . 98) also helped greatly to ease the
tension by bringing this commander, Ulpius Trajanus,
to the throne. H e in turn was succeeded by a relative
whom he in all probability adopted before his death in
1 1 7 ;2 Aelius Hadrianus.
H adrian in turn prior to his death in 138 not only
adopted his successor, Antoninus Pius, but made him
also adopt the young man who as Marcus Aurelius
ruled after the death of Antoninus (161). The usual
term applied to this series of emperors, referring to
them as rulers by adoption rather than by biological
hereditary right, is misleading. F or from Julius Caesar
to Nero with the single exception of Caligula and
Claudius adoption had been the usual way to create an
heir designate. In addition, however, a family relation
ship of some sort usually existed. This was the case
between Julius Caesar and Octavianus Augustus and,
more remotely, between Claudius and Nero, although
Augustus and Tiberius step-father and step-sonhad
not been connected by blood-relation. Caius Caligula,
on the other hand, owed his selection by Tiberius
largely to the family relationship between them : he was
the grandson of the emperors brother and the greatgrandson of Augustus. The constitutional aspects of
Augustus principate discouraged the hereditary princi
ple so popular in the orient, but the political practice
favored at least some blood tie between the princeps
and his successor. Titus and Domitian were the first
and only non-adopted sons to succeed their father.
From the legal point of view, therefore, the adoption
of heirs designate from T rajan to Marcus Aurelius
represented not a new principle but merely the revival
of the one which had prevailed in the beginning of the
principate. It meant (after the hereditary Flavian era)
a victory for the senatorial opposition over oriental
principles governing the dynastic succession.
Eutropius errs.

147

In one important respect, however, did these rulers

of the second century of our era differ from the majority
of their predecessors. The selection of a successor now
was made almost always irrespective of any blood ties
between the emperor and his chosen heir. Nerva was
not related to T rajan, Antoninus Pius was not con
nected by close family ties with either his predecessor.
Hadrian, or prior to the time of adoption 3 with
his successor, M. Aurelius. Hadrian, on the other hand,
was, indeed, related to T rajan, but his selection, as
history shows, could well be justified on the grounds
of his personal fitness for the task. The unprecedented
continuity of excellent government has made this Roman
era a traditional example of a golden age of peace
and prosperity. The earnest devotion of the emperors
to the laborious process of seeking the most suitable
candidate for the succession represented in itself a tri
umph of the Stoic political ideal which insisted that
the government should be in the hands of the best
man. Slowly the fires of anti-monarchic opposition
in the senate died down. The hopelessness of restoring
a republic against the unflinching insistence of the army
on monarchic leadership became at last apparent to the
overwhelming m ajority of the Roman nobility. Plots
fomented by ambitious individuals occurred, on the
other hand, even in the best of reigns. But the syste
matic perfection of an imperial civil service based chiefly
on the lesser, i. e. the equestrian nobility contributed
much especially since the reign of Hadrian to the
strengthening of the governments hand against the
vestiges of senatorial opposition.
It was symbolical that Marcus Aurelius, the last of
this illustrious sequence of rulers, was himself a con
firmed Stoic. Nevertheless, it was this very Stoic on
the throne who broke the precedent by feebly suc
cumbing to paternal affection for a worthless son.
Leaving his power to Commodus, Marcus Aurelius in
180 ushered in the final period of the principate. Of
the series of rulers from 180 to 235 only Septimius
Severus in 211 died a natural death. This statistical
fact alone indicated that something was rotten in the
state of Rome. Commodus was strangled by an
athlete on December 31, 192. Didius Julianus, Pertinax, Pescennius Niger, and Clodius Albinus perished
violently within a few years. The restoration of domes
tic tranquillity by Septimius Severus proved transient.
Soon after his death Caracalla, his son and heir, mur
dered his younger brother Geta, in the very presence
of their mother, only to be slain himself a few years
later (217). His successor, Macrinus, in turn soon
met the same fate together with his son, Diadumenianus
(218). The victor, Elagabalus, fared no better. He
was dispatched in 222. H is cousin Severus Alexander
lasted somewhat longer, but in the end he too was mur
3 He did, however, afterwards arrange the marriige between
his daughter Faustina and M. Aurelius.

148

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N ERV A TO SEV E R U S A L EX A N D ER

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

dered ( a . d . 235). W ith his death the catastrophic era

of the barrack emperors began.
In the light of the sanguinary statistics just cited
it is ohvious that the years from 180 to 235 must be
considered as the twilight zone of a long period in
which the civilian power had succeeded in keeping in
check the ever-present threat of military despotism.
It was a twilight era in more ways than one. Witli the
exception of Macrinus and his son the emperors from
193 to 235 were again related by family ties and there
fore formed a kind of hereditary sequence, returning:
mutatis mutandis to the pattern of the first century of
our era. Actually, however, the reigns of Elagabalus
and Severus Alexander were the first ones in which
orientals wielded the imperial power. T hus was sym
bolically completed the homogenization process which
Julius Caesar had envisaged for the empire, a concept
which he had borrowed from Alexander the Great. It
was but fitting that a few years before the first oriental
ascended the throne Caracallas constitutio of 212
proclaimed the equality before the law of almost all
free inhabitants of tihe empire by bestowing Roman
citizenship on them. The political decline of the Latin
West was at hand even before the great revolution of
the third century and long before the Germanic migra
tions (usually credited with having brought about the
ruin of the Latin w o rld ). The last great jurists of the
realm known to us a$ individuals also lived and died
some of them violently in this twilight period. Their
Roman names more often than not veiled their eastern
origins. Thus the far-famed Gaius probably and Ulpian
certainly hailed from the eastern part of the empire.
Similarly in the field of literature, including his
toriography, the star of Rome had long begun to pale.
The reigns of T rajan and H adrian were the last ones
in which we encounter important Latin contributions.
The historians Tacitus and Suetonius, the poet Juvenal,
or Pliny the Younger, men of this type were the rear
guard of the Latin host which from the days of Plautus
had added a significant portion to Europes cultural
heritage. Already their generation, however, had wit
nessed the rising renaissance of Greek rivals. From
Plutarch to Cassius Dio and Herodianus Greek his
torians were in the ascendant once more. Latin poetry
and prose similarly declined in the second century.
The Latin writings of an Apuleius, for example, cannot
compare with the Greek output of his contemporary,
Lucian, No Latin equivalent has come down to us to
the Greek works of Philostratus feeble though they
were. In the realm of science and pseudo-science the
second century continued the traditional supremacy of
the Greek east. Names like Ptolemy or Galen speak
for themselves. In the field of astrology not a single
Latin treatise of this era lias survived, not even in
fragments. The tangential essay by Censorinus (O n
the birthday), written in 238, could hardly stand com
parison with the extant outpourings of Greek authors

in this field, among whom the second centurv p r o

duced (besides Ptolemy) men like Vettius Valens.
Antigonus of Nicaea. Antiochus of Athens, and others.
The second century of our era witnessed, on the
other hand, the last great revival of antifatalistic scepti
cism in antiquity. Again the traditional arguments of
the New Academy and the Epicureans were dusted off
and flung in the face of the ardent champions of fatal
istic astrology. Favorinus of Arles, who flourished in
the reigns of T rajan, H adrian, and Antoninus Pius,
was the sole Latin in the procession of this revived
opposition. His arguments were in large part preserved
by an enthusiastic listener: Aulus Gellius. Favorinus'
older contemporary, Plutarch, too was (probably
falsely) credited with a treatise which tried to reconcile
fatalism with a modicum of free will. The greatest
but not the most methodical foe of fatalism during
the second century, however, was Lucian, a native of
Samosata, the ancient capital of the now defunct king
dom of Commagene whose rulers had so assiduously
believed in astrology . 4 Lucian, however, was not, nor
did he try to be a philosopher. H is presentation rather
than his argumentation was effective and must have
attracted numerous readers. M ore seriously than Lucian
did the non-Stoic philosophers of this era combat as
trology. Epicureans like Diogenes of Oioanda and
Diogenianus were joined in their attack upon fatalistism by Cynic philosophers, for example Oinomaus of
Gadara, an occasional Academic like Maximus of Tyre,
or Peripatetics, of whom Alexander of Aphrodisias
(who flourished under Septimius Severus) was the
most important one . 5 The most comprehensive and
devastating onslaught against astrology (and all other
forms of scientific endeavor) came from the pen of
Sextus Empiricus (about 2 0 0 ).
T he battle royal of the second century between the
foes and the defenders of astrology will be dealt with
in detail later. Suffice it to say at this point that it
ended in a stalemate, or better in a defeat for both
sides, for during the third century the era in which
Graeco-Roman rationalism had developed and flourished
(and scientific astrology with it) came to an end.
The claims of astrologers, as well as the logical argu
ments advanced against them by their opponents, ceased
to impress an age which began to seek another approach
in mans unending search for answers to the eternal
problems of the cosmos and his own role in it. T he
mass of the Mediterranean population had never taken
an active part or even an interest in the intellectual
disputes. They had been satisfied to accept the astrolo
gers claims at face value, but without ever abandoning
* See above, p. 13.
5 A summary of their antifatalist arguments is found in D.
Amand, Fatalisme et liberie dans Iantiquite grecque: 96-156;
Louvain, 1945. In keeping with his topic the author only tangentially refers to anti-astrological arguments, i. e. when they
touch upon fatalistic astrology.

their faith in religious revelations. Thus Mainstreet

remained happily unaware of the logical incompatibility
between a belief in fatalistic astrology and the reliance
on. prayers and sacrifices to gods and goddesses for a
happy and prosperous future.
The infiltration of increasingly primitive and often
outright barbarous elements into the ranks and, in the
third century, into highest circles of the officers corps
of the Roman armies helped to encourage religious
rather than rationalistic superstitions. Outside the
army the ascendancy of eastern religions, long at home
in the western part of the empire also, became manifest.
W ith the accession of Elagabalus in 218 a sun priest
introduced (although only for a short time) the sun
cult as the supreme cult of the empire. The era in
which scientific astrology had dominated Romes
ruling circles was ending.
2.

A STRO LO G Y IN T H E R E IG N S O F N ER V A AND
T R A JA N (96-117)

The lacuna in our ancient historical sources for this

period, alleviated but slightly by inscriptions, medals,
coins, some later summaries, and the fragments of an
cient authors preserved in Byzantine writings should
not mislead us into assuming that there was a major
break in the Latin life between the end of the Flavian
house and the reign of Hadrian (117-138). Literature
and rhetorical treatises, including Plinys Panegyric on
T rajan, demonstrate the continuity of Latin upper-class
enthusiasm for astrology. F or Nervas career until his
first consulate an inscription provides the most impor
tant data . 7 Born on November 8 , about 35 in the city
of N am i north of Rome he came from a family of high
reputation. H is father not long afterwards reached the
consulate, becoming consul suffectus in 40. The founder
of the familys fortune probably had been Nervas
grandfather, M. Cocceius. one of the outstanding jurists
of his time. His unscrupulous eagerness to amass
wealth had, however, ruined his close friendship with
Tiberius. In 26 when (in all probability moved by the
advice of Thrasyllus and other astrologers ) 8 Tiberius
had left Rome forever, M. Cocceius had been the only
* Compare on this subject for example the classical work of F.
Cumont, L es religions orientates dans I'empire romain, 4th ed.,
Librarie orientaliste. Paul Geuthner. Paris, 1929; see also his
Astrology and religion in the Roman empire. New York and
London. 1912, G. B. Putnam 's Sons and La theologie solaire du
paganisme romain. Acad, des inscript. 12. 1909 : 447-479; L u x
perpetua: 178 ff.; Librairie orientaliste. Paul Geuthner, Paris.
1949.
~ C IL 11: 840, no. 5743; our most important sources for Nerva,
apart from coins and inscriptions, are Xiphilinus (Cassius Dio),
Eutropius. Orosius, the Epitome Caesarum (12) ; Aurelius Vic
tor, as well as Plinys Panegyric, and Jerome, Citron., Abr.
2112 ff.; compare on Nerva and modern literature on him Stein,
RE 4, 1901: c. 133. no. 16,-c. 154; P IR (2nd ed. 1936) : c. 292,
no. 1227,-294.
* See above, p. 104.

149

senator invited to accompany the emperor . 9 But seven

years later, perhaps exposed as a usurer during an
anti-usury campaign, he committed suicide ( a . d . 3 3 ).10
It stands to reason that so intimate a friend of
Tiberius must have been on good terms with Thrasyllus
and mustat leasthave pretended to a firm faith in
astrology. Conforming to established practice, his son,
Nerva's father, in all likelihood had his infant b o y 's
horoscope cast. W e do not know what fate the astrolo
gers predicted at this time for young Nerva. Later in
life, however, Nervas possession of an imperial horo
scope was well known and may, indeed, have been one
of the factors impressing in 96 the senators with the
inevitability of his being the fated choice to suc
ceed Domitian. The public career of Nerva prior to 96
included the praetorship in 6 6 and the regular consulate
a great honortogether with Vespasian in 71. For
more than twenty years he seems to have remained in
favor with the Flavian house. For in 90 he was again
made consul, holding the office jointly with Domitian.
Soon afterwards, however, Nerva came under sus
picion, perhaps in connection with the campaign of 9 3 ,
directed against the Stoic opposition, whose leaders
were executed, and the astrologers who together with
oppositional philosophers were once more expelled
from Rome. 11 Nerva himself was exiled to Tarentum
and he might have fared worse. For his close con
nections with oppositional philosophers were no secret.
An episode, se non e vero e ben trovato, reveals such
ties. Apollonius of Tyana, miracle-worker and prophet
a Dr. Faustus of the first centurywas one of those
enmeshed in the net thrown out to catch oppositional
philosophers in 93. About a century later Philostratus
wrote from extant sources a lengthy work on this
strange figure. From it some passages may be quoted,
because they illustrate the close contact Nerva was
known to possess with such men, including prophets
like Apollonius and astrologers as well. Apollonius was
ushered, so the story went, into the presence of Domi
tian at a time when the emperor was at leisure and
therefore able to engage in a lengthy conversation with
the renowned sage. H e soon came to the point:
Dont try to put me off . . . , but just tell me about your
darling Nerva and his accomplices.
Am I to plead his cause . . . or?
No you shall not plead it. . . . For he has been taken
red-handed in guilt; but just prove to me that you are not
yourself equally guilty as being privy to his designs. . . .
For myself I know Nerva to be the most moderate of
men. . . . And as for his friends, for I suppose you refer to
[Verginius] Rufus and Orfitusthese men also are discreet.
. . . As for revolution, they are the last people to plan it or
to take part with another who should do ao. . . .
Tacitus, Annals 4, 58; for his ties with Tiberius, compare
also Pomponius, Dig. 2, 2, 2, 44; Cassius Dio, 58, 21.
10 Tacitus, Annals 6, 26.
11 See above, p. 143; compare F. H. Cramer, Expulsion oi
astrologers from anicent Rome, Classiea et Mediaevaiia 12, 1-2,
1951: 41-46.

150

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

Y ou accursed rascals, . . . you all hold together like

thieves. But the accusation shall unm ask ev erything; for
I know, as well as if I had been p resent and taken p a rt in
everything, all the o ath s which you took, and the objects
for which you took them , and when you did it, and w hat
w as your prelim inary sacrifice. 14

At the subsequent trial Apollonius refuted the charge

of wizardry. In doing so, he would, according to Philo
stratus. have presented a classification in which divina
tion. together with the liberal arts, was clearly set apart
from the suspect 11 pseudo-liberal art of the w izard: _
Tlie various arts . . . a re yet all concerned to m ake money,
some earn in g less, som e earning more, and some ju s t enough
to live u p o n ; and not only the base m echanic arts [ffdvava-oi
Tiyvat], but also those of the rest w hich a re esteemed liberal
a rts [a-o4u'}, as well as those which only border upon being
liberal [wrdow^oi].13

In contrast to the strenuous efforts on the part of

modern champions of the liberal arts, to set them apart
from the vocational training, whose primary aim is to
raise the future earning power of the student, Apol
lonius professed a more realistic view. But lest it
be forgotten, his was a case of special pleading:
A n d true philosophy is the only exception. A nd by liberal
arts I mean poetry, m usic, astronom y [axrrporotuav] , the a r t
of the sophist and of the orator, the m erely forensic kinds
excepted; and by the arts w hich border upon the liberal
I m ean those of the painter, modeller, sculptor, n avigator,
agricu ltu rist. . . . for these arts a re not very inferior to the
liberal professions [.sic/]. And on the other hand . . . there
a r e the pseudo-liberal a rts [i/rcuSoao^ot] which I w ould not
have confuse you w ith divination.1**

clearer. Apollonius and Nerva were accused of having

undertaken a forbidden consultation, outlawed by the
Augustan edict of a . d . 11; an inquiry into the political
future, i. e. about the death of Domitian. In modern
times so-called Jews have been accused time and
again of practicing secret human sacrifices. In the days
of Nerva and T rajan, Christians also were commonly
accused of this and even worse practices, as a letter of
the younger Pliny attests . 16 Small wonder then that
Apollonius, Nerva, and their accomplices were not only
accused of maiestas, but also of having used human
sacrifices for their nefarious attempt of ascertaining the
future. Apollonius denied the charge categorically. As
to N ervas role he reiterated his earlier statement:
If I am to be put upon m y tria l on account of N e rv a and
his com panions, I shall rep ea t w hat I said to you the day
before yesterday. . . . F o r I re g a rd N erv a as a m an w orthy
of the highest office . . . , b u t as one ill-calculated to ca rry
th rough any difficult p la n ; fo r his fram e is underm ined by a
disease w hich . . . incapacitates him even for his dom estic
affairs.17

It may have been the easily verifiable fact of N ervas

poor health that saved not only Apollonius, but also
Nerva. Apollonius admitted freely, however, that Nerva
and he had, indeed, been very close.
This may have been an exaggeration arising from
the vanity of Apollonius, but it is at least not impossible
that a Roman grandseigneur like Nerva was the patron
of a highly-reputed Greek sage like Apollonius. At any
rate Domitians suspicions, whether well founded or not
in 93, were temporarily allayed so far as Nerva and
Apollonius were concerned . 18 Apollonius was released
and betook himself to Greece, another singed victim of
the persecution of suspected philosophers, and Nerva
was permitted to return to Rome. For in 94 already
Martial flattered him again openly in an epigram . 19 We
can safely assume that Nerva. like many another senator
in these years of stalking terror, consulted the stars,
surely not for the first time, about his future. H e may
also have tried other methods of divination. When
Domitians wife, Domitia, learned of her husbands plan
to launch a veritable massacre among the senators
besides doing away with herselfshe passed the news
along to the senators concerned:

Apollonius thus set up the following categories;

( 1 ) philosophy, ( 2 ) the liberal arts, including astronomia, ( 3 ) the applied liberal arts, including techno
logical skills of an artistic nature, (4) the pseudo-liberal
arts, which included magic, but not divination, i. e. not
astrology. Although he did not specifically mention
astrology, he had this to say of divination; This is
highly esteemed, if it be genuine and tells the truth,
though whether it is an art, I am not yet sure . 14
From this it would be safe to conclude that astrology
would for Apollonius belong to category (3 ), i.e.
among the applied liberal arts . 15 Among these he had
included navigation, which would involve the ability to
steer a course by the stars, in other words applied
astronomy. Astrology would come under the same
heading: astronomy applied to divination. If naviga
tion as applied astronomy was assigned to class (3 ),
then astrology' logically would also belong there.
As the trial proceeded, the charges became even

The reasons for approaching him were tw o : his per

sonal character and reputation for mildness, and the

11 Philostratus, Apollonius of Tyana 7, 32 f.

13 Ibid. 8, 7, 3.
13 Loc. cit. ; compare ibid. 8, 7, 9, and IS.
14 Loc. cit.
13 H e was, moreover, reported to have written four books on
astrology; Philostratus, Apollonius of Tyana 3, 41.

** Pliny, epist. 10, 96.

* Philostratus, op. cit. 8, 7.
But as to the fate of others compare Syncellus, ed. Bonn, 1:
649 (f. 343) ; Suetonius, Domitian, 10, 2 ; Suidas, s. v. ^ontrtands,
M artial, epigr. 9, 26.
" Cassius Dio. ep. 67. IS. 4-5.

A ccordingly they hastened the plot w hich they w ere

already fo rm in g ; y et they did n o t proceed to ca rry it out
until they h ad determ in ed w ho w as to succeed to the
im perial office. . . . W h e n none would accept it . . . they
betook them selves to N erv a.-0

A ST R O L O G Y IN R O M E FR O M N E R V A TO S E V E R U S A L EX A N D ER
fact that from the hands of Domitian death had menaced
him but recently. From the context we cannot be cer
tain whether this incident occurred in 93 prior to his
exile, or after his return to the capital:
. . . H e had fu rth erm o re been in the peril of his life as
the resu lt of his being denounced by astro lo g ers who
declared th a t he should be sovereign. I t was this last
circum stance th at m ade it easier for them to persuade him
to accept the im perial pow er.21

It would seem more probable that the denunciation

was made after rather than before 93. But it is by no
means clear from this abbreviated passage whether
Nerva. having obtained such an astrological promise,
was betrayed by some astrologer who revealed the
dangerous secret of Nervas imperial horoscope to
Domitian. or whether Domitian, suspecting Nerva of
imperial designs, had employed his own staff of astrolo
gers to find out whether or not Nerva was destined for
the throne. Probably both men had employed their own
astrologers. From the context it seems more probable,
however, that Nerva had not been denounced by his
own men, but that Domitians staff had discovered
Nervas imperial prospects directly from his horoscope.
For
D om itian, of course, had not failed to take careful note
of the days an d the h ours w hen the forem ost men had been
born, an d in consequence w as d estro y in g in advance not a
few of those w ho w ere n o t even h o ping for p o w e r; and he
would have slain N erv a, had not one of the astrologers who
w as friendly w ith the la tte r declared th a t the m an would
die w ithin a few days. A nd so D om itian, believing th a t this
w ould really com e to pass, did not w ish to be guilty of this
additional m u rd er, since N erv a w as to die so soon in any
case.52

Two comments are called for. For one thing Domi

tian acted wholly illogically in sending men the luck
less Mettius Pompusianus was one of th em 23 to their
death when he found out that the stars promised them
the throne. F or if he executed them, their horoscopes
were demonstrably wrong. Hence Domitians own faith
in horoscopes should have been jolted. Furthermore,
a fact characteristic for that era emerges from the above
quotation ( if tru e ). Among the staff of astrologers
consulted by Domitian was at least one man who be
trayed his employer. Like Apollonius of Tyana this
unknown astrologer was well disposed towards Nerva.
and he used his authority with Domitian effectively to
save N ervas life . 24 In retrospect the historical impor
tance of this action was enormous. F or it was Nerva
who a year later chose T rajan for his successor and
thus inaugurated the happiest period of the principate.
Of N ervas gratitude towards diviners who had an
31 Loc. cit.
33 Ibid.. ep. 67, IS, 6 ; cf. Xiphilinus: 222, 31-255, 4; Zonaras,
11. 20.
23 Suetonius, Vespasian, 14; Domitian, 10, 3.
Stein agrees with this prem ise; see R E 1, 1894: c. 135.

151

tagonized Domitian there can be no question. Apol

lonius then at Ephesus for example, was invited
apparently less than a month after Nervas accession,
to return from the east. Apollonius declined the invita
tion politely, but did send Nerva a letter containing
some advice on matters of state . 25 Much better
fared Larginus Proculus, an haruspex who perhaps
through the use of astrology, or, according to others,
through brontoscopy had predicted correctly the date
of Domitians death. Sent to Rome in chains from
Germany (where he had made the fateful prophecy)
he was sentenced to death by Domitian with the proviso
that his execution should be carried out after the date
he had proclaimed for the emperors death. Thus he
would die convinced of having witnessed Domitians
survival and his death would be the more bitter. But
in the meantime Domitian was slain, and so Proculus
life was saved and he received 400,000 sesterces [about
$20,000] from Nerva. 2*
The accession of Nerva was greeted with open hos
tility by the armed forces. The appointment of Trajan
to the command of the legions of upper Germ any 27
was followed by his adoption through which on October
27, 97 Nerva, now rapidly failing in health, made him
heir designate . 28 Three months later Nerva was dead
(January 28, 98), and T rajan ascended the throne,
one of his first acts of the reign being the deification
of his predecessor by the senate. Tradition had it that
thereby a deceased ruler was elevated to the stars.
Octavius Octavianus had started this official interpre
tation in the summer of 44 b . c . with the catasterism of
the late Julius Caesar . 29 Valerius Maximus, for ex
ample, had acknowledged this view by eulogizing at the
end of his preface to the Varia the catasterized prede
cessors of Tiberius. The younger Pliny now presented
the sum total of the first century's catasterisms in his
Panegyric, welcoming, so to speak, Trajan back to
Rome on September 1 , 100:
Tiberius allotted Augustus to the skies, but only to begin
launching maiestas prosecutions himself. Nero did it to
Claudius for the sake of having a laugh, Titus to Vespasian,
and Domitius to Titus, the one in order to appear as the son,
the other to pose as the brother of a god. You [Trajanj
have lifted your [adoptive] father to the stars, not for your
own glory, but because you believe he is a god.30
Even more strongly did the catasterism of both
Nerva and T rajans recently deceased natural father
31 Philostratus, Apollonius of Tyana 8, 27-28.
3* Compare Suetonius, Domitian, 16; Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 16, 2,
from Xiphilinus; an anonymous author in cod. Paris, suppl. gr.
607A in Cat. 8, 4 : 100 f.
37 Compare Pliny, Panegyric, 9, 1-2.
3* Ibid., 8,2-3; epit. Caes., 12. The day became the dies imperii
of T ra jan ; compare R. Paribeni, Optimtu princeps 1: 139, n. 1 ;
2 v .; Messina, 1936-1937.
3* See above, p. 78 ff.

3* Pliny, Panegyric 11. 1-2.

152

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

come into plav in Pliny's eulogy. Referring to both

the adoptive and the real father of the ruler, Pliny
addressed the deified Nerva directly:
What great joy, deified Nerva. is now yours when you
behold that whom you chose for being the best not only is
the best, but is also officially called thus. 31 . . . But you.
too. father Trajanfor you also have, if not the stars, but
at least a seat next to the stars 32what pleasure do you
feel when you behold that tribune, that soldier of yours as
so great an emperor and so illustrious a prince! 33
With more enthusiasm than tact Pliny even sug
gested that T rajan himself already deserved a heavenly
abode:
With what outstanding intelligence had Titus cared for
our well-being . . . and was held equal to the gods, but
how much worthier of heaven are you who has added so
much to that for which we did make him [Titus] a god! 34
Actually Trajan had to wait about seventeen more
years for his deification which introduced him to the
astral abode of his imperial predecessors.
The unhappy state of our historical sources about the
reign of T rajan does not permit us to form a valid
opinion about his views on astrology. Negatively at
least one might say that he must have known from
numerous sources the predilection of his young relative

Hadrian for this form of divination. Yet T rajan did

not hesitate to arrange a marriage tie between his grandniece Vibia Sabina and the amateur astrologer (see
table ) . 30 This marriage was arranged not long after
Plinv's eulogy had been proclaimed and must have drawn
the twenty-four-year-old Hadrian even more closely
towards the inner family circle of the Ulpian house.
In view of the personal interest which T rajan's wife,
Plotina. took in the Athenian colleges of philosophy
an interest which H adrian was to share . 37 she probably
knew personally a man very popular in Athens at the
time and made consul by T rajan in 109. This gentle
man. a grand seigneur of the type later exemplified by
the better known Herodes Atticus , 38 was C. Julius
Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus, grandson of the
renowned court astrologer, ex-governor of Egypt, and
Roman knight Balbillus.3 Philopappus and Julia Balbilla were the children of Balbillus daughter, Claudia
Capitolina, and C. Julius Antiochus Epiphanes, son of
the last ruler of Commagene (Antiochus IV ). Philo
pappus himself was probably bom towards the end of
Neros reign, his sister Julia perhaps about a decade
later. H e may have spent his early years in Comma
gene at his paternal grandfathers court at Samosata.
W ith the incorporation of Commagene into the Roman

Ulpius
M- Ulpius Trajanus
(d . b e fo r e

Aelius
Ulpia-

. d. 1 0 0 )

\f . Ulpius Trajanusm. (before 100)

Ulpia M arcianam.C. Salonius
(emperor, 98-117)
Pompeia Plotina (d. Apr. 29,112) j Patruinus
(d. ca. 122)
i
(d. 78)
L. VibiusMatidia (iunior)
(d. after 161)

Aelius Hadrianus
( expert astrologer ?)
-tn.Domitia Paulina
Hadrianus Aferi
(40?ca. 85) !

-M atidia
(d. 119)
Vibia Sabinam. (ca. 101)( d . 136)

-H adrian
Domitia Paulina m. L. Julius Ursus
(emperor.
Servianus
117-138)
j
(d. 138)
Cn. Pedanius
Fuscus Salinator
(cos. 1J8)
Pedanius Fuscus
(11.3-138)

' The passage embroidered the flattering concept that Trajan,

long before he received the title officially, was already optimus.
31 Apparently Trajan's own father was also dead by then;
compare M. Durry, Pliny le Jeune. Panegyrique de Trajan, app.
ii : 233 t\, Paris. Publ. Assoc. Guillaume Bude, 1938.
Plinv, Panegyric, 89, 2.
11 Ibid'.. 35. 4.
55 Compare M. Durry, op. cit., appendix i x : 246; Rubel, Die
Familie des Kaisers Trajan. Zeitschrift fuer die oesterreichischen
Gyntnasicn 36, 1916; 486; R E 1. 1894: c. 497 f.
After T rajan's death she interceded tor example with
Hadrian on behalf of Popillius Theotimus. head of the Epicurean

school, who was thereupon granted imperial permission to write

part of his will in Greek and to select a successor, irrespective
of whether or not the candidate possessed Roman citizenship;
Dessau, I S 2, 2. no. 7784; compare J. W. H. Walden. The uni
versities of ancient Greece: 84 f New York. Charies Scribners
Son. 1909.
37 J. W. H. Walden, op. c it.: 83 f., gives a summary of the
situation.
* H e lived from ca. 100-ai. 179; see on him especially Philostratus, vit. soph. 2, 1, ff. 45-566 and elsewhere; Suidas, s. r.
Compare above, p. 136.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FROM N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A L EX A N D ER

realm in 72. the bov and his mother in all likelihood
sought shelter with Balbillus, whose influence with
Vespasian helped to mitigate the fate of the fallen
dynasty of Commagene. Thereafter, during the 'seven
ties. Philopappus for some time remained in Rome,
where the entire royal family was finally reunited . 40
When he grew up. he showed little of the military
inclination of his father, but apparently was drawn very
strongly towards the intellectual interests of his mother's
family. The center of philosophical studies, Athens,
became his favorite abode. He held the office of archon,
probably in the mid-eighties. and possibly again in the
'nineties .41 H is illustrious ancestry and the largesse
which might be expected from so wealthy a lover of
Athens must have contributed towards the bestowal of
this honor. Philopappus, like his father, was permitted
to retain the title of king . 42 The range of his Greek
friends included Plutarch, who not only dedicated to
Philopappus one of his Moral discourses, 43 but also
made him a speaker in another one. 44 Of poetical offer
ings the Hypomnemata of Q. Pompeius Capito were
apparently dedicated to him . 45 Although T rajan cared
little for intellectuals, his wife, Plotina, who favored
the Epicurean sect, probably did appreciate them.
The degree of Romanization of this Graeco-Syrian
prince was shown by the fact that he enjoyed T rajan s
favor and T rajan was no lover of the Graeculi to
such an extent that he was not only able to join the
brotherhood of the fratres Arvales, but was also chosen
by the emperor for membership in the imperial guards
and finally, a signal honor for a great-grandson of the
Alexandrian Thrasyllus and grandson of Balbillus,
10 See above, p. 136 ff.
CIG 2. 2nd ed., no. 3451, referring perhaps to a . d . 87-88.
Although P. Graindor, Chronologie des Archontes Atheniens
sous I'empire, 1920; 95-100; 292, in his thorough discussion of
the problem of dating the tenure of Philopappus considers it
highly improbable that the Commagenian prince held the office
after 87, the later dates suggested by other authors (discussed
by G raindor: 96 t. ) cannot be dismissed as entirely impossible;
the hypothesis that the Philopappus who held the office of archon
between a . d . 90 and 100 was not only a different person, but
also that lie died during his term of office is advanced by
G raindor: 102-104, but cannot convince. Even if C. Julius An
tiochus Epiphanes Philopappus should have been archon as early
as 87, he might have been archon again in the 'nineties, but we
know that he lived until at least ca. 114.
*2 Plutarch, quaest. conv. 1, 10, 1: 4>. 0aavi\tvs . . .: J. Kirchner,
strangely enough, was unaware of the connection between Philo
pappus and the house of T hrasyllus: R E 20, 1, 1941 : c. 75. no. 1.
43 The Quotnudo adulator ab amico internoscatur ( irwj ay t u
tiaxpinie roy KoXaxa rod <pi\ov), 1 (f. 48 E ). It has been con
cluded from this dedication that Plutarch believed, surely with
good grounds, that Philopappus stood in need of some admonition
to guard against false friends posing as flatterers. His sump
tuous tomb which survives is mute evidence of an inclination
towards ostentatiousness. a trait obviously transmitted to his
heirs.
** Plutarch, quaest. conv., esp. f. 628 B.
Athenaeus, 8, f. 350 C : cf. Dittenberger, Apophoreton: 9;
Berlin. 1903; W. Kroll, R E 20, 1; 1041, c. 75.

153

elevated to the consulship in a . d . 109.48 Nevertheless,

like many a noble Roman before him, he seems to have
preferred Athens to any other domicile. It was, indeed,
his last wish that he should be buried in the beloved
city. The splendid mausoleum which his heirs per
haps some brothers unknown to history ?erected ( be
tween a . d . 114 and 116) became a landmark. More
than fifty years later Pausanias, composing his Baedeker
for those touring Greece, w rote:
The place [in Athens] called the M nseion . . . is a hill
opposite the Acropolis within the old city boundaries, where
legend says Musaios used to sing and, dying of old age. was
buried. A fie n v a rd s a m onum ent also ivas crected here to a
S yria n [i. e. to C. Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus].
The monument has endured in large measure until this
day. For us it marks the end of the male line of the
house of Thrasyllus.
T rajan's attitude about astrology is unknown. But
Nerva was a devoted client of astrologers and un
doubtedly, apart from political and military considera
tions, was reassured by astrological interpreters of
T rajan's horoscope that his choice of an adoptive son
and successor was a propitious one. As for Trajan
himself the only suggestion of an astrological interest
and it stemmed from an unreliable sourcewas to the
effect that Aelius Hadrianus, an uncle of T rajans
cousin, and therefore related, however distantly, to
T rajan also, was an amateur astrologer of considera
ble reputation. H e was said to have for example accu
rately forecast that his grand-nephew, P. Aelius Hadri
anus (bom January 24, 76), was destined to mount the
throne some day .48 A family possessing an astrological
expert in its midst was likely to employ such talent to
ascertain the future of its most prominent member at
the time, i. e. Ulpius Trajanus. Be that as it may, we
can be certain that T rajan himself was neither a prac
ticing astrologer, nor apparently much interested in
divination of any kind.4
Perhaps the dearth of our source materials veils
10 From an inscription on this monument (C IL 3: 104, no. 552;
C IA 3, no. 557) this cursus honorttm stems. Although P. Grain
dor, Chronologie . . . : 98, n. 2, rightly remarks that the title
Optimus was not official prior to July or August a . d . 114
hence Philopappus death should be placed at about this time
he points out that unofficially the word optimus was applied to
T rajan on coins and in writings, for example in Plinys Pane
gyric, 88, 4, many years earlier. On the consulate of Philopappus,
see Fasti cons. imp. Rom., ed. Liebenam: 107; compare W.
Judeich, Topographie von Athen, Hdb. d. kl. Alt., ed. I. Mueller,
3. 2, 2 : 346 f. (1st ed., Muenchen, C. H. Becksche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1905) ; 388 (2nd ed.) ; see also P. Graindor. Athenes
de Tibere a Trajan: 51 f.
*7 Pausanias, 1, 25, 8.
SHA , Hadrian, 2, 4.
Cassius Dio. ep. 68, 7, 4. Dio merely mentioned T rajan s
lack of the then fashionable oratorical training, but from Plinys
Panegyric and all other sources it is clear that the camp rather
than the Forum or the auditoria of professors was the chief
training ground of young Trajan.

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T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD
A ST R O L O G Y IN RO M E FRO M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A L E X A N D E R

from us the knowledge of astrological consultations

which T rajan may well have engaged in, but had there
been any real hold over him exercised by this craft it
is almost certain that Cassius Dio (and his Byzantine
excerptors'). who rard v failed to include any data on
that subject, would have made some mention of this
attitude. If imagination were allowed some free play
it would be intriguing to speculate on T rajans visit to
Babylon. He was die only ruler of the principate to
reach this cradle of astrology. His visit to the already
ieserted site he satv nothing but mounds and stones'
and ruins " was said to have been prompted by the
desire to emulate Alexander. Indeed, in the ruins of
Babylon, he offered sacrifice in the room where
fallegedly] he had died. 50 One may wonder whether
here or elsewhere on his marches across Mesopotamia
he did not receive the usual flood of astrological pre
dictions. But Clio's lips are sealed about this matter
and hence are ours. Instead of idle speculation there
fore let us turn to a survey of the views on astrology
held by some of the major Latin writers flourishing
into, through, and beyond his reign for an impression
of the importance of astrology in Rome at this time.

citizenry preferred the emotionally more satisfying for

eign cults, including star worship, and only consulted
astrologers as indiscriminately as it did haruspices,
oriental soothsayers, and similar folk. F or Rome's
intellectuals, on the other hand, a minimum knowledge
of the various cosmologocal theories, including of course
astronomical hypotheses and established facts, had long
become a standard part of the higher educational cur
riculum. How far non-scientists on occasion were able
to discuss, or at least present, topics of this kind was
illustrated by Senecas quaestiones naturales and the
elder Plinys historia naturalist* The schools of ora
tory, devoted to higher education of a more specific
nature, also recommended at least a smattering of astro
nomical knowledge. An additional factor influencing
the outlook of high Roman society was -undoubtedly
the attitude of the court. From Augustus to Nerva
unwaveringly a fierce faith in astrology prevailed and
inevitably influenced the courtiers, their families, their
friends and clients.
In the early years of T rajans reignalmost certainly
before 100 died an old professor of Latin oratory:
M arcus Fabius Quintilianus. A Spaniardhe was bom
about 35 Quintilian had been sent to Rome to receive
the best Latin education available. There was a cer
3. A STRO LO G Y IN L A T IN L IT E R A T U R E A T T H E
tain parallelism between the family of Seneca and his
T U R N OF T H E F IR S T C EN TU R Y
own. F or Senecas father, the older Seneca (often
It seems sufficient for our purposes to concentrate on referred to as Seneca rhetor), had also come from Spain
a relatively small but representative number of writers. to Rome (although a hundred years earlier) in quest
Of this group Quintilian, far famed rhetorician from of a Latin education. F or the same purpose Q uin
Spain homeland of T rajan and H adrian , was the tilian's father, a Spaniard too, went to Rome. H e had
oldest. He flourished in the Flavian era and exerted then become a professor of oratory , 55 practicing at one
considerable influence upon Romes intellectuals both time in Rome where, indeed, he may still have met his
young and old. The praise bestowed on him by M ar Spanish compatriot, old Seneca, an indefatigable visitor
tial 51 and Ju v en al 52 attests to this. Only a few years of the Roman schools of rhetoric. Unlike the older
younger than Quintilian was Martial, the greatest epi Seneca, however, the father of Quintilian was not
grammatist produced by the Latin speaking world. wealthy and eventually returned to Spain. Years later
Like Quintilian he was a native of the Spanish province he in turn sent his son to Rome for his higher educa
Tarraconensis and began to flourish prior to the reign tion. T here the younger Seneca's writings were then
of T rajan. But his life extended well into the reign the rage among the literati. Young Quintilian's own
of Trajan. Another member of this group was the attitude towards Seneca , 56 whose ideas he (somewhat
younger Pliny, one of Quintilian's outstanding stu grudgingly) admired, but whose style he attacked bitdents . 03 Pliny himself became the center of a circle terlv, may go back to the impressions received during
which included not only Quintilian and Martial, but this first sojourn in Rome during the fifties. Quin
also the historians Suetonius and Tacitus. The writ- tilian apparently, like his father before him, did return
ngs of men of such different backgrounds and creeds to Spain, perhaps to take over his fathers school.
reflected the attitude of Rome's upper class concerning
H e certainly was in Spain during the later years of
astrology not only under the Flavians, but also during Neros reign and had attracted the favorable attention
the reigns of Nerva and T rajan.
of Galba during his long governorship of Quintilians
It should always be borne in mind, however, that a home-province, Hispania Tarraconensis. Perhaps out
searching interest in astrology was limited to the of a personal attachment to Galba or simply because he
higher strata in Rome. The rank and file of the Latin hoped to better his fortunes, Quintilian accompanied
Galba in 6 8 on his trium phant return to Rome. The fall

3* Cassius Dio, ep. 68, 30. 1, referring to a . d . 116.

sl M artial, epigr. 2, 90, 1 ff.
Juvenal, 6, vv. 75 and 280 ; 7, vv. 186 and 189.
Pliny, epist. 2, 14, 10.

54 Compare above, pp. 119 ff., 139 ff.

Quintilian, de inst. or. 9, 3, 73.
" Ibid. 10, 1, 125 ff.

of Galba and the turbulent months which followed did

not harm Quintilian. For the last three decades of his
life he flourished in the capital, not only as an out
standingly successful professor of Latin oratory, hut
also as a lawyer . 57 H is practical bent of mind may
have been responsible for his opposition to the private
tutorial system still prevalent among the great families
of Rome for the education of their sons. Quintilian's
school was open to all who would pay the requisite fee. 58
Although the suggestion that he was the first recipient
of an imperial salary for professors of the liberal a r ts 59
may not be entirely accurate, he surely was a protege
of the Flavian rulers and eventually did receive a state
salary.
A man of Quintilian's reputation could count on
attracting the most gifted students of his era. They
included, for example, the younger P lin y 60 and per
haps Tacitus. Domitians two grand-nephews, how
ever, were probably not among those enrolled in Quin
tilian's school of Latin oratory, but in all likelihood
privately tutored by him. Among the favors bestowed
thereupon on the Spanish rhetorician was a distinction,
unique for a man of his origins and profession: the
consular dignity awarded him by Domitian. Quintilian,
otherwise an honest and reasonable writer, showed his
gratitude by flattering D om itian 61 in the gross manner,
shown for example at an earlier age by Valerius Maxi
mus and Velleius Paterculus towards Tiberius and
later by Pliny in honor of the more deserving Trajan.
The degrading aspects of such court flattery were
ludicrously brought out by Quintilians eulogy of
Domitian as a poet:
Who could sing of war better than he who wages it with
such skill? [Domitians wars were notorious failures!] To
whom would the goddesses that preside over literature
sooner lend an ear? To whom would Minerva, the familiar
deity [Domitian insisted on being the son of Minerva],
more readily reveal her secrets ? Future ages shall tell of
these things more fully; today his glory as a poet is dimmed
by the splendor of his other virtues. But you will forgive
us. Caesar, who worship at the shrine of literature, if we
refuse to pass by your achievements in silence. . . ,62
I t was inevitable that Quintilian, partly out of his
Among Quintilian's early writings was a detense of Naevius
Arpinianus against the charge of having murdered his wife. On
Quintilian's familiarity with Roman law courts, compare for
example, dc inst. or. 4, 1, 19; 2, 86; 7, 2, 24; 9, 2, 73.
Jerome, Chron., a .d . 90.
* Since Vespasian (Suetonius, Vespasian, 18) seems to have
introduced this policy, it appears somewhat unlikely that a man
like Quintilian should have had to wait until a . d . 90 before
receiving a government stipend from the hands of Domitian
(Jerome, loc. cit.) and stiil be the first scholar thus honored.
Perhaps upon Quintilian's retirement (ca. a . d . 88) Domitian
granted him an additional pension beyond an earlier imperial
salary.
Pliny, epist., 2. 14, 10.
,l Quintilian, dc inst. or. 4, pr 2 f.
Ibid. 10. 1, 91 f.

partisanship for rhetoric as against philosophy, but

partly also out of conformity with the Flavian antagon
ism against oppositional philosophers, should side with
the government on this issue. Acknowledging that the
Stoics had, indeed, ranked rhetoric as one of the vir
tues , 83 he nevertheless insisted that there is no need
for an orator to swear allegiance to any one philosophic
code. * The study of mathematics he deemed an essen
tial part of a future orators general education, and
mathematics for him included astronomy as well as
astrology. H e need not fear to antagonize Domitian
when praising the usefulness of this subject both for
its proven importance on a number of historical occa
sions and for its philosophical value:
By its calculations it [mathematics] demonstrates the
fixed and ordained courses of the stars, and thereby we
acquire the knowledge that all things are ruled by order
and destiny (n ih il esse inordinatum atqite fo r tu itu m ), a
concept which may at times be of value to an orator.65
I t seems safe to conclude from these lines which Quin
tilian wrote without additional comment that he was at
least sympathetic with the widespread belief in fatalism,
including its astrological application.
But this was at the most a matter-of-fact acceptance of
astrology, not the fervid faith of a Domitian. This rela
tive saneness of Quintilian also came out in what seems
to be his only extant direct mention of astrology'. When
in his discussion of forensic oratory he enumerated the
various types of legal evidence and their treatment by
the would-be lawyer in effective oratorical form, Quin
tilian reminded his students of the important contro
versy between the champions and the foes of fatalism:
If . . . anyone should wish to add evidence of the sort
known as supernatural, based on oracles, prophecies, and
omens, I would remind him that there are two ways in
which these may be treated. There is the general method
with regard to which there is an endless dispute between
the adherents of the Stoics and the Epicureans, as to
whether the world is governed by providence.
The other method is the special one and is concerned with
the particular departments of the art of divination. . . . The
credibility of oracles may be established or destroyed in one
way, and that of soothsayers, augurs, diviners and astrol
ogers (mathematicorum) in another, since the two classes
differ entirely in nature.
The conclusion seems inescapable from these lines
that Quintilian considered some knowledge of the major
types of divination, including astrology, an indispensable
p art of an orators educational equipment, but also em
phasized the value of a compensatory knowledge of the
arguments against each divinatory discipline. Such an
attitude on the part of Quintilian was in keeping with
his unflinching pragmatism.
" I b id . 2, 15, 20.
Ibid. 12, 2, 26.
Ibid. 1, 10, 46 f f .
'Ib id . 5, 7, 35 f.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

This attitude was a far cry from that expressed in

the emotionalism of a declainatio falsely attributed ( with
an entire collection of such classroom exercises) to
Quintilian . 117 The topic of this particular oration, sup
posed to lie an address to the Roman senate, was th is:
in order to obtain the right to proper burial a would-be
suicide had to lay his reasons for choosing death before
the assembled senate (according to an assumed svnatus
coiisultum ). In this instance a son pleaded against his
father. He wanted to commit suicide rather than face
the future which would make him a parricide. He had
no grudge against his father, nor did the father mistreat
him in any way. But before his birth an astrologer,
consulted by the father-to-be, had predicted correctly
(among other things) the childs sex and his future
military pre-eminence. Everything the astrologer had
said now had come to pass, including the military glory.
The only prediction still unfulfilled was that in the end
the son would kill hjis father. Rather than live to do
that frightful deed the young man now pleaded with
the senate for permission to die by his own hand.
Shorn of its theatrical trimmings the argument obvi
ously revolved about whether or not astrological pre
dictions should be considered as infallible. The son's
thesis, under the given circumstances, was that they
were, especially since so far every prediction except the
last one, the parricide, had come true in his case:
I have been placed, conscripted Fathers, in a position of
a most sad lot: I have no right to die, unless you consider
me a parricide. . . . Through [the fear of] parricide it has
come to pass that I can kill myself, through Fate that I am
not allowed to die: Not the astrologer (mathematicus) alone
has predicted the deed of these hands specifically as to
period and time, but I myself am also convinced that I shall
commit parricide. Worse it is, indeed, than the prophecy,
worse than the prediction of the sacred art( !) that my own
mind threatens me with the deed.**
The author went on to develop how the knowledge
of the astrological prophecy had created the young m an's
psychopathic state of mind. There was not the slightest
personal trouble between father and son. The logical
dilemma of the case, however, was clearly seen by the
author, i. e. if the senate found the son's reason for
suicide a valid one, his death would contradict the decree
of Fate, because he then would have died without having
committed parricide:
Nor should you decide in favor of my life because I seem
to be engaged in a struggle with the astrologer to defeat
Necessity, to conquer Fate (vincere necessitates, expugnare
Tatum )
The father himself strenuously opposed the sons
plea, preferring apparently to take his chance, but the
noble young man refused of course to accept such
61 Ps.-Quintilian. dccldmationes maiores, ed. G. Lehnert, 4.
Ibid.. 4. 1.
Ibid.. 4. 2.

generosity. Again the psychology of the fathers posi

tion was clearly set forth. So far the father had not
only completely relied on the astrologer's prediction
his faith in astrology had made him consult the man in
the first place but he had also seen all predictions
come true except for the ultimate one, the murder. It
would, argued the son. piace an intolerable burden on
the father, so firmly convinced of the infallibility of
astrology, to be kept in helpless suspense awaiting the
inevitable horror. Thus another weighty reason was
added in favor of granting the sons plea. As to the
accuracy and the veracity of the astrologer himself, the
son rightly argued that the man had not only made
the usual glowing promises of a happy future for the
infant to be born, but also had bravely revealed to the
prospective father the dreadful fate in store for him and
his son. Such courage certainly was a good reason for
accepting the astrological predictions in their entirety.
It was to the father's credit not to have exercised his
right of exposing the infant, but to have raised him to
fine manhood so that now by his military deeds he had
become a real asset to the community. All the more
reason for the son to repay his fathers kindness by
dying before Fate forced him to m urder such a worthy
parent:
My father knows how great the lack of guilt is in the
predicted crime and he therefore tries to persuade you not
to believe in the art of the astrologer. He therefore con
tends that there is no Fate and that everything happens by
accident and haphazardly. Or that even if everything were
ruled by Providence, it nevertheless could not be found out
by human science (humana scientia). . . . I, however,
assume that the astrologer has spoken the truth . . . because
certain stars, so to speak fixed and [in relation to each
other] linked, shine jointly for all eternity once they were
tied to each other, while others in unchanging orbits pursue
their measured courses dispersed all over the sky. Do you
really believe that all of these have been casually and acci
dentally distributed? . . . God. the creator of the cosmos
(fabricator operis universi), has . . . placed them in their
respective positions. . .. Hence whatever is born is assigned
its role . . . and thus accepts the future as it does life itself. 70
From these cosmological generalities a historically
explained validity of astrological prediction*, followed:
These [celestial phenomena] I believe were at first
causing terror to the mortals, then merited admiration once
the newness had worn off. Then the human mind gradually
dared to observe carefully what we see with amazement
and sent forth its sacred spirit into the secrets of nature.
It then proceeded to the causes when by assiduous observa
tions and recurrent records the knowledge of the hidden
matters had been obtained. [Now] the eclipses and labors
of stars are told [in advance], the origin of tempests
announced . . . and what the comets portend. . . .
I know nothing that could be more certain than the genius
of this veracious art which says what will be and then
effects what it has said. Nature, reason, and experience ( !)
(experimenta) prove the existence of the art of astrology
70 Ibid., 4, 13-14.

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M E FRO M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A LEX A N D ER

(artcm mathcmaticam). . . . Accept the basic proof of this
most certain science ( ccrtissimae scientiac) ! 71
If nothing else this rhetorical exercise of the second
century showed that astrology was still as popular a
classroom topic as it had lieen in the time of Augustus.
Marcus Valerius Martialis, Quintilians junior by a
few years, was born at Augusta Bilbilis in northern
Spain, then H isp a n ia T a rra co ticn sis, about a . d . 40.
Like his fellow countryman. Quintilian, he came from a
middle-class family, not rich enough to be conspicuous
like the Senecas, hut well enough off to afford a good
education for its children. But unlike Quintilian he
seems to have come to Rome only after his education
was well nigh completed, namely in his twenties. At
that timein the early 'sixtieshis poetical talent ap
parently was already recognized. Seneca and his rela
tive, the young Lucanus himself a renowned poet
already and about the same age as Martial took
their Spanish fellow countryman under their wing and
introduced him to aristocratic Rome. He attached him
self. to some extent at least, to the important Pisonic
family. Soon afterwards, however, one of its members.
L. Calpurnius Piso, formed a conspiracy against N ero 73
which, once discovered, dragged besides the ill-starred
leader himself scores of men to their death, including
Seneca and Lucanus. Martial was still unimportant
enough, however, to escape unscathed, but in a chast
ened mood he may after 6 8 have listened to the
advice of his sturdy compatriot Quintilian ,74 who coun
seled the nascent poet to begin working for a living
rather than to depend on the liberality of noble patrons.
The Flavian rulers, however, appreciated Martials
talent to such an extent that Domitian even made him
a tribune. O ther patrons combined in showing their
admiration in tangible form by donating to the poet a
small house in Rome and a little estate near Nomentum
in the Sabine mountains. W hether it was T rajan s lack
of literary interest or another reason, the aging Martial
found Rome uncongenial after 96. The changed spirit
of the times was reflected in Plinys comment:
It was the custom of the ancients to distinguish those
poets with honors or pecuniary rewards who had celebrated
particular persons or cities in their verses; but this practice,
with every other that is fair and noble, is now grown out
of fashion. . . , 75
Martial had included Pliny among those to whom
no doubt in holies of tangible recompensehe addressed
71 Ibid., 4, 14-15. Since the text of this declainatio is not always
quite easily come by and, apparently, no English translation is
available, it has seemed advisable to quote from this work at
some length.
72 Compare Seneca rhetor, Suasoriae 4, 1 ff. for the violently
anti-astrological argument of the rhetorician Arellius Fuscus.
73 On the part played by the astrologer Balbillus in that epi
sode, see above, p. 118.
7 Compare M artial, epigr. 2, 90.
73 Pliny, epist. 3, 21.

157

flattering poems. Plinv for one did not disappoint him.

For in his own words, when Martial finally decided to
leave Rome for his native town in Spain. Pliny
complimented him by a present to defray the charges of his
journey, not only as a testimony of my friendship, but in
return for a little poem he had written about me. 76
Martial left the capital, probably in a . d . 98, to retire
to his native Bilbilis. There he published his swan
song, the twelfth book of the Epigrams and died some
time thereafter. In an infuriatingly patronizing epitaph
the well meaning Pliny said :
I have just heard of the death of poor Martial which
much concerns me. He was a man of an acute and lively
genius, and his writings abound in both wit and satire,
combined with equal candor. . . . Do you not think that the
poet who wrote in such [high] terms of me. deserved some
friendly marks of my bounty then, and that he merits my
sorrow now ? For he gave me the most he could, and it was
want of power only, if his present was not more valuable.
But to say truth, what higher reward can be conferred on
man than fame, and applause, and immortality ? And tliough
it be granted that his poems will not be immortal [sic!],
still, no doubt, he composed them upon the contrary sup
position.
But Martial was right and Pliny was wrong! The
polished elegance of the writings of Pliny no longer is
of interest to any but the rare specialist of silver-Latinity,
and his extant works have chiefly become quarries of
historians frantically digging for information about
Roman society in T rajan's reign. Martials poetical
fame, however, will live as long as men will appreciate
the sharp barbs of epigrammatic wit. The poet did,
indeed, triumph over the orator!
Worldly wise as the epigrammatist had to appear he
would also have to be familiar with the customary
astrological lore. Like Pliny in his Panegyric Martial
professed complete faith in the official catasterisms of
the imperial tradition. Thus he asked Domitian on
occasion
Did thy brother [Titus], Germanicus, or the sire [Ves
pasian] himself send down this beast [the Nemean lion]
from Hercules star [i. e. the constellation Leo] ? 78
All paraphernalia of astronomical verbiage had to serve
Martials desperate flattery of Domitian, as necessary
in that age as in the sixteenth or eighteenth century
when the greatest writers in order to live had to address
eulogies even to the foulest specimens of rulers:
Phosphorus, bring us back day; why puttest thou off our
joys? Now that Caesar comes. Phosphorus, bring us back
day, Rome begs thee. Doth the sluggish wain of si.iwtwisting Bootes bear thee . . . ? Thou mightest have with
drawn Cyllarus from Leda's constellation: freely will Castor
yield his steed to thee. . . . Already Xanthus and Aethon
look for the reins: Memnons kindly Mother wakes. Yet the
* Loc. cit.
77 Loc. cit.
7* Martial, epigr. 8. 55.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

slow stars yield not to glow ing light, and the moon longs
to see A usonia's Chief. Now, C aesar, come thou, even by
liijht; let the stars stand still; the people, w hen thou comest,
-nail not w ant for day.19

Superior to Hercules Domitian had given morals

to the people, rest to the sword, stars to his own kin
(astra suis), stars to heaven (sidera caclo). . . . 83
Martial did not. however, confine his astral phraseology
to political eulogies. When he noticed a lion and a lamb
peacefully side by side in one pen, he exclaimed:
W h at was the m erit ot Nemea. w hat of the c a rrie r of
H elle th at they should glow, the tall sky s lustrous signs ?
If both sheep and w ild beasts could w in by m e rit to heaven,
this ram . this lion w ere w orthy to become stars.81

It is impossible to secure from these political or

poetic uses of astral mythology and imperial catasterisms a satisfactory picture of Martials own views on
astrology. The two instances in which the word astroloyus occurs in his extant writings do not contribute
much light on this m atter;
A n astro lo g er said that you would soon perish, M unna,
and he did not lie, I think, when he said it to you. F o r you
in fear of leaving anything after your death, have in e x tra
vagance exhausted your fath ers w ealth, and your two
m illions have melted aw ay in less than a year. Tell me,
is not this. M unna, to perish soon ? 82

M artials target, Munna, had obviously violated the

Augustan edict of a . d . 11 which outlawed astrological
inquiries about anyones death date, including ones own.
This offense was so general, however, that Martial ap
parently did not believe that the victim of his pen had
:o fear prosecution in these particular circumstances.
He castigated, however, the blind faith in the stars
which had caused the foolish Roman to run through a
great fortune rapidly. But Martial, in ridiculing both
the false prediction of the astrologer and the gullibility
of his client, did not attack the craft as such. N or did
his other epigram in which the word astrologus was
used go that far. Speaking of a type of dilettante,
common to Romes upper class, he said ;
Y ou declaim n ic e ly ; you plead causes, A tticus, n ic e ly ;
you w rite nice histories, nice poems. Y ou compose nicely
mimes, epigram s n icely; you a re a nice philologer ( gram m a tic u s), a nice a strologus; and you sing nicely, A ttic u s ;
you a re a nice perfo rm er on the lyre, you a re a nice player at
bail. . . . You are a g reat dilettante ( m agnus es ardelio ) . 83
7 Ibid. 8. 21.
80 Ibid. 9, 101; compare also 9, 1: The towering glory of the
Flavian race shall endure, coetemal with sun and stars . . . ;
see furthermore 8. 36; 14, 124; 9, 91; the allusion to a (starstudded :) dome built for Domitian in 7, 56; also 5, 65, and de
:pcctaculis (which was published in a.d. 80, i.e. under T itus),
1: 2.
M artial, epigr. 9, 71; compare 65; 51; 11, 69.
8= Ibid. 9. 82.
Ibid. 2. 7. N or should of course anyone conclude from 5, 56
that Martial preferred harpists, flutists, auctioneers, or architects
to poets, grammarians, or rhetoricians.

The Latin term astrologus here might well cover a

dilettantes familiarity with elementary astronomy and
astrology. But again the attack was directed against
dilettantism, not against astrology.
It is useless to read into M artials extant works a
positive belief in astrology or a complete scepsis. When
writing of the death of a boy killed by an icicle which
had fallen off the edge of a roof, Martial did, indeed, ex
claim : W hat stretch of power has not ruthless F o r
tune willed for herself, or where is not death . . . ? 84
But this again was poetic sentiment rather than a sober
statement of faith. A belief in this supreme power
seems more clearly revealed in h is :
N ow here canst thou sh u t o u t F a t e ! 85
( nullo fa ta loco possis ex clu d ere.')

On many an occasion, however, Martial used fata

simply as a synonym for death. Suffice it, therefore,
to suspend judgment on M artials faith in the stars.
H is verses do, however, furnish ample evidence for the
continued popularity of astrology in the circles for which
he wrote, even if we did not .know from other sources
the devotion of the Flavian rulers and most of their
inner circle to this creed.
W e are in somewhat the same position in the case of
the younger Pliny. One might perhaps assume that he
followed his much admired uncle, the elder Pliny, who
after his death in 79 adopted him in his will, but even
filial piety would not require the adoption of the older
Plinys views on the subject 87 by the younger. W e have
already seen that in the Panegyric Pliny officially protessed his complete faith in the imperial catasterisms , 88
but his personal views on this matter, or on astrology
in general, cannot be deducted from such instances. Even
his private correspondence fails us, because he did write
(at least those letters which did survive) with a definite
view to future publication. In one of them he reported
an incident, revealing the unscrupulous exploitation of
a ladys faith in the stars, but since the villain of this
episode was Pliny's betc noire Regulus, one could
hardly take Plinys specific attack on the abuse of the
faith in the stars as proof of his disbelief in astrology.
On January 15, 69 Galba and his adopted heirdesignate, Piso, had been slain. Otho whose coup thus
succeeded had chosen even the very hour of his rebellion
on the direct advice of his main astrological adviser,
Ptolemy-Seleucus.8* At that time Verania, wife of the
luckless Piso, had survived. The very circumstances
of her husbands deathshe bought his head from his
* Ibid. 4, 18.
Ibid. 4, 60.
F or instance in prophesying the immortality of his own
w ritings: Si post fata venit gloria, non propero; 5, 10.
17 See above, p. 139 ff.
*" Pliny, Panegyric, 11, 1-2.
" See above, p. 132 f .; compare F. H. Cramer, The Caesars
and the stars (2 ), Seminar 10, 1952 : 35 ff.

murderers may have strengthened her faith in as

trology. For had not Ptolemy-Seleucus rightly foreseen
Pisos fate even to the very day when he would be slain?
Now many years la te r 90 Verania herself lay dying.
W hat distant memories arose before her dimming mind
we can only surmise. She did not want to die and
hoped to recover. Rum or spread of her condition.
Among those, attracted by the possibility of persuading
her to insert into her will a legacy in their favor, was
M. Aquilius Regulus, himself an old man at this time.
Although Pliny violently disliked R egulus 91 (who had
been a loyal supporter of Nero as well as of Domitian)
and at one time had toyed with the idea of prosecuting
him, Regulus, whose chief crime seems to have been his
failure to sympathize with the senatorial opposition,
enjoyed a considerable reputation as a lawyer and
orator . 02
Pliny insisted, perhaps with reason, that Regulus had
been an enemy of the late Piso and hence of Pisos
widow Verania:
E v en barely to en ter h er house w ould have been im pudent
e n o u g h ; but he had the confidence to go m uch fu rth e r, and
v ery fam iliarly placed him self by h er bedside. H e began
w ith in q u irin g w h at day an d h o u r she w as b o rn ? B eing
inform ed of these p articu lars, he com poses his countenance,
fixes his eyes, m u tters so m ething to him self, counts on his
fin g e rs ; no th in g com es of it. A fte r keeping the poor lady
on tenterhooks, Y ou a re , says he, in one of your cli
m acterics ; 98 h ow ever you w ill g et over it. B u t for yo u r
g re a te r satisfaction, I w ill consult w ith a ce rta in haruspex,
w hose skill I h av e freq u en tly experienced. A ccordingly
aw ay he goes, sacrifices, an d re tu rn s w ith the stro n g est
assu ran ces th a t inspection of the victim s e n trails confirm ed
w h at he had p red icted by astro lo g y (sid ern m s ig n ific a tio n s).
U pon th is the good w om an, m ade credulous by h er d an g e r
ous state, calls for h er w ill, an d gives R egulus a handsom e
legacy. Som e tim e afterw a rd s h er d istem per increased ; and
in h er last m om ents she exclaim ed ag a in st th is perfidious,
w orse th an p erju red , w retch, who had w ished every curse
m ig h t befall his son, if w h a t he prom ised h er w as not tru e .04

This vividly described scene was surely no unique

occurrence. In less drastic form it was probably quite
common among the legacy hungry Roman nobility of
this era. In fairness to Regulus it should also be added
that even his foe Pliny admitted that Regulus himself
was an ardent believer in divination, it being his custom
of always consulting the soothsayers (har us pices)
upon the outcome of every plea (at the bar) through
senile superstition . 95 A t any rate Regulus was not
** T he chronology of most of Plinys letters remains uncertain.
There are some grounds for believing that the second book con
tained letters of a . d . 97-98. The death of beldame Verania
could therefore antedate the reign of T rajan (which began in
98), but she may even have died already during the last years
of Domitian's rule.
Compare also Pliny, epist. 1, 5 and 20; 4, 2 and 7; 2, 11;
6 , 2.

s See Martial, epigr. 4, 16; 5, 28 and 63; 6, 64.

** Cf. Bouche-Leclercq : 526-529.
** Plinv, epist. 2. 20.
Ibid'. 6, 2.

159

permitted to enjoy his legacy for long. For he died

early in the reign of T rajan , 06 a few years probably
after Verania.
The ridicule heaped upon old Regulus for his inces
sant consultations with diviners might at least indicate
that with Verania he had not acted in bad faith. Plinv,
on the other hand, by criticizing this excessive belief in
divination would seem to have been somewhat sceptical
towards divination as a whole, hence also with regard
to astrology. Such conclusions, however, are unwar
ranted. For in a letter to Licinius Sura, the W arwickian king maker of that era, Pliny soberly requested
this eminent statesman to let him know his views
concerning ghosts, admitting that he himself was
quite inclined to believe in their existence. He went on
to submit to Sura three well authenticated ghost
stories, one involving a Roman nobleman named Curtius
Rufus, the second centering around a philosopher,
Athenodorus, who successfully laid a ghost to rest very
much in the manner of Oscar Wildes story about the
ghost of Canterville. The third ghost story, however,
Pliny recounted from an experience in his own house
hold, involving two ghosts whose penchant had been
nocturnal haircuts administered to Plinys servants.
He concluded with the earnest request that Sura, rank
ing elder statesman of the Roman realm, would deign
to apply learning to this question. . . . Yet I hope
you will throw your weightiest reasons into one scale,
lest you should dismiss me in suspense and uncertainty,
whereas I consult you on purpose to determine my
doubts. 97
There are two interpretations of this passage: Either
Pliny was honestly affected by a tentative belief in
ghosts, or, knowing that the highly influential Sura
made a hobby of occultism, Pliny submitted to him three
ghost stories, which would in any case interest him,
and flattered Sura by asking his authoritative
opinion about ghosts, pledging himself in advance to
accept Suras views. If nothing else, however, this
letter proves that it is impossible to arrive at definite
conclusions about Plinys faith in astrology and other
forms of divination and superstition from his published
correspondence. The man who ridiculed the divina
tory consultations of Regulus, and then himself pro
fessed to be more than half convinced of the existence
of ghosts, surely was no hard-boiled sceptic. W e may
perhaps assume that, in keeping with his natural tem
perament to be friends with (almost) everybody,
Pliny did not entertain violent convictions on matters
of this kind, allowing perhaps for the possibility of
astrological revelations without assuming their infalli
bility. A man of such a disposition would, indeed, find
** Loc. cit.; after a grudging acknowledgment of Regulus
achievements as a lawyer, Pliny caustically concluded: Regulus
did well to die, though he would have done still better had he
died sooner.
,T Pliny, epist. 7, 27.

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T H E R IS E A ND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

it easy to include among his wide circle of friends

orators like Quintilian, historians and senators like
Tacitus, or rising officials like Suetonius. H e knew
almost certainly u8 also one ot the harshest critics of
contemporary Roman society: Juvenal.
This was the last great satirist of Rome. Bom
al>out 47 at Aquinum the future honie-town of St.
Thomas, the great scholastic philosopher he obtained
liis higher education in Rome 100 in the reign of Xero.
Having seen service in the army as a tribune he rose
to the high Office of censor in the Flavian era. The reign
of Domitian clearly was a dangerous time for satirists,
and Juvenal found it prudent to abstain from public
life 101 until the accession of Nerva and the rule of his
successors T rajan and H ad rian 102 provided again a
modicum of literary freedom. During this period he
penned the satires from which we receive a vivid con
firmation of the popularity of astrology in Rome at the
turn of the century. Although he did not refer to
astrology frequently and although allowances must of
course be made for the exaggeration inherent in his
genre of writing, the well known passage in the sixth
satire speaks for itself. In discussing the fashionable
rage for various kinds of divination, especially among
the great ladies of Rome, Juvenal castigated the blind
faith in astrologers as follows:
But greater will be the faith in Chaldaeans. Whatever
an astrologer says they will believe as if revealed by the
spring of Hammon. Although the Delphic oracles have
ceased, the passion for knowing the future still ruins the
human race. Of them [i. e. of the astrologers] he [Ptolemy
Seleucus] ranks highest who was exiled more than once,
he through whose friendship and authoritative computation
a great citizen [i. e. Galba] died, and who also was fatal
to Otho. Hence this faith in the art, especially if chains
have clanged from the right and left hand and if he has long
dwelt in the dungeon of a citadel: No astrologer will possess
his genius unpunished unless he almost perished, or to
whom it fell to be deported to the Cyclades or to have eked
out his life on little Seriphus. 103
In these sweeping verses based on historical facts
Juvenal agreed with the curt statement of Tacitus who
also in reference to Ptolemy Seleucus commented
acidly that astrologers were a breed of men, faithless
to the great, deceiving the hopeful, a species which in
our country time and again is proscribed and yet re
tained." 104 The dangerous influence which astrologers
A rising young poet whose recitations attracted enthusiastic
audiences in the Rome ot Domitian could hardly have escaped
the notice of Pliny.
Juvenal, 3, v. 319.
IM Ibid. 1. v. IS.
lot Ibid. IS. v. 27, indicates that Ue was still alive in a . d . 127.
If ever exiled, as is alleged, he must have suffered this fate after
the reien of Domitian, i. e. after a . d . 96.
,u3 Ibid. 7. 1 ff.
103 Ibid. 6. vv. 354-564.
" Tacitus, H istories 1. 22; compare Annals 12, 52, where he
calls the SC of 52 both '' harsh and useless.

on many an occasion gained over credulous minds had

not been curbed by the Augustan edict of a . d . 11 105
and the state trials of the first century, punishing for
bidden consultations about anyone's (and es]>ecially
the ruler's) death . 106 How general the desire of the
Roman public was to ascertain infallibly the death
dates of those near and dear (or obnoxious ) was clearly
shown by several verses of Juvenal. For example:
What shall I do in Rome ? I cannot lie. I cannot praise
a book if it is bad, nor ask for it. The movements of the
stars I do not know. I neither want nor am able to promise
a fathers funeral. 107
Cheerful inquiries of this kind from hopeful children
were apparently quite frequent. A m ans horoscope
seems to have been common knowledge whether or not
he himself had consulted astrologers . 108 Nor was the
erroneously so-called weaker sex less eager to ascer
tain the death dates of their close relatives:
Your Tanaquil 109 [i. e. your wife] has consulted [astrol
ogers] about the tardiness of her ailing mothers funeral
even before she did so about your own. Also when her sister
would be carried off, and whether her own adulterous lover
would survive her. For what greater boon can the gods
bestow ? 110
Such consultations were, as has been said, not only
indicative of what had become of upper-class Roman
family life, but also absolutely illegal. Juvenal had,
indeed, illuminated the perverse nature of the human
race by stressing the extreme popularity of those very
astrologers who for their pains had been severely pun
ished and were therefore considered as most reliable by
their clients.
Blithely oblivious of the logical discrepancy between
fatalist and catarchic astrology Roman society cultivated
both branches simultaneously. Of the permeation of
the daily life of the specially credulous with catarchic
lore Juvenal also provided a caricaturized picture:
[Bad] she may be [who consults astrologers being her
self] ignorant of what the baleful star of Saturn threatens,
towards what star moves joyous Venus, or what months
are given over to adversity, and what times of the year to
prosperity.
v
But remember to avoid the tracks also of women in whose
hands you see (as if they were large gems) much used
[astrological] ephemerids. Such a woman does not consult
any [astrologers], she is herself consulted. Nor will she
accompany her husband when he goes to camp or returns
home if warned [against doing so] by the numerological
manual of Thrasyllus. She will not even go out as far as
100 Cassius Dio, 56, 25, 5.
1IJ The most important ones are treated in F. H . Cramer, The
Caesars and the stars. Seminar 9, 1951: 9-50; 10, 1952: 1-59.
107 Juvenal, 3, vv. 41-44.
I0* Ibid. 14, v. 248: Your horoscope is known to the astrol
ogers. . . .
10 Roman legend considered Tanaquil, the wife of king
Tarquinius Priscus, both haughty and well versed in divinatory
techniques; compare Livy, 1, 34; 39; 41.
" Juvenal, 6, vv. 565-568.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N ERV A TO SE V E R U S A L EX A N D ER

the first milestone, unless a favorable hour has been chosen
first from the book. When the rubbed corner of her eye
itches she will ask for a soothing balm only after consulting
her horoscope (inspccta gencsi). She may lie in bed sick,
then no hour will be considered more apt for taking some
food than the one which Petosiris has named. 111
Clearly Juvenal was only too familiar with the cant
and customs of certain society women, and he himself
revealed enough of a familiarity with astrologers to
make one wonder whether he meant to ridicule merely
extreme credulity, but not astrology' in general. W e
have already noted that he was familiar with the his
torical role played by Ptolemy Seleucus in the fateful
year 68-69. At that time Juvenal, being about twentyone years old. may have been well informed from per
sonal social contacts about the astrologer's fateful influ
ence on O tho's decisions. Juvenal also happens to be
the only extant Latin source informing us not only of
the fact that Thrasyllus. one of the outstanding astrolo
gers of the first century . 112 had written a numerological
handbook, but also that it was still an extremely popular
work at the turn of the first century. Juvenal of course
was familiar with the common superstition which saw
in comets harbingers of the death of a ruler . 113 He may
have been influenced by what he knew of the sinister
influence of astrologers on Otho and Domitian to draw
similarly unfavorable inferences about Thrasyllus and the
host of other astrologers which had surrounded Tiberius
at Capri. 111 The satires were not published until after
Domitian's death and could therefore not have aroused
that ruler's ire. W ritten perhaps in the reign of Trajan
(98-117), who seems to have been less susceptible to
astrology than either his predecessors or his successor
Hadrian, such allusions on the part of Juvenal may
well have later on drawn H adrian's fire. For Hadrian,
a practicing astrologer like Tiberius, took offense easily.
The allegation of some sources that Juvenal was pun
ished for his writings with exile would if true fit
more easily into the era of H adrian than into the preced
ing reign. But Hadrian bore the anti-astrological attacks
of Favorinus of Arles without much ado. Hence Juve
nal's exile was probably not due to his known writings.
Hadrian certainly was responsible for a purge in
which several men. including the magister epistularum
C. Suetonius Tranquillus. were dismissed from the court
because without his consent they had been conducting
themselves toward his wife. Sabina, in a more informal
fashion than the etiquette of the court demanded." 115
This fall from imperial favor seems to have taken place
about 120. It led the hapless ex-official to the composi
tion of several works of which his Lives of the Caesars,
devoted to the Roman rulers from Julius Caesar to
111 Ibid., vv. 509-581.
'O n Thrasyllus, see above, ch. iii. 1-6. pp. 81-108.
113 Juvenal. 6. v. 406.
111 Ibid. 10. v. 94.
113 SHA , Hadrian, 11. 3.

161

Domitian, became a classic of its kind. Although

nowhere did Suetonius express himself directlv about
his attitude towards astrology, he included assiduously
astrological predictions in his biographies. Natal horo
scopes of rulers, the astrological prophecies of the death
of emperors, and a wealth of additional data about the
influence of astrological forecasts on future rulers
demonstrated that Suetonius at least believed such items
would interest his readers. We are indebted to him
for example for the account of the consultation of an
astrologer by young Octavius and his friend. Agrippa.
for added evidence of the influence of astrology over
Tiberius, of Balbillus fateful interpretation of the comet
of 64 for the l>enefit of Nero, and of the role of Ptolemy
Seleucus in connection with the rise of Otho. The most
complete picture, however, of imperial faith in astrology
occurred significantly enough in those of his imperial
biographies which were closest to the time of the author
himself, i. e. in the three lives of the Flavian rulers.
These were among the shortest of the twelve essays,
but in proportion to their size exceptionally full of astro
logical references. The most unforgettable passage
undoubtedly was the one leading up to the assassination
of Domitian. Here Suetonius reached a climax worthy
of the pen of an Edgar Allan Poe in revealing the creep
ing horror gripping the heart of a man convinced by his
astrological advisers of his approaching death by murder.
Unless one assumes the historian to have been a com
plete hypocrite writing merely for effect, one must con
cede that, especially on the basis of his treatment of the
Flavian faith in the stars, he too was a firm believer in
the inevitability of star ordained destiny. On that score
at least he would have been in accord with Hadrian.
As to his over free behavior in the presence of the
empress Sabina, which led to his fall from favor, we
have no clue to the precise nature of his offence. Prior
to this he did, however, in all probability encounter in
the entourage of Sabina Julia Balbilla, a granddaughter
of the astrologer Balbillus. For she was lady-in-waiting
to the empress.
W e possess, however, direct evidence of the attitude
of Rome's greatest historian, Publius (or Caius) Cor
nelius Tacitus, concerning astrology. Bora between
a . d . 55 and 60 he obviously came from a well-to-do
family of respectable social position. As he himself
reported: I would not deny that my elevation was
begun by Vespasian, augmented by Titus, and still
further advanced by Domitian." 116 In 78 he married
the daughter of the highly placed Agricola whose biog
raphy he later wrote. Since, at the time of Agricola's
death in 93. Tacitus had been away from the capital
for four years, he may have traveled in the provinces
on some official business. An inscription indicates that
he rose to the peak of the provincial administrative
career under T rajan. For in 112 he was governor of
118 Tacitus. Histories 1, 1.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

the province of Asia. Eleven respectful letters addressed

to him by his friend, the younger Plinv, give some
indirect impression of his personality. Of strong aristo
cratic. i. e. republican predilections, he nevertheless,
like most of the nobility, now accepted the monarchic
regime. As Tacitus had one of his characters put it:
I do not fo rg et the times in w hich I have been born, or
the form of g overnm ent which our fathers and g ran d fath ers
established. 1 may reg ard w ith adm iration an ea rlier period,
but I acquiesce in the present, and while I pray for good
em perors. I can endure w hom soever we may h ave.117 [T h e
proper creed also for citizens of our totalitarian reg im es!]

It is superfluous to add anything to the countless

writings about the Tacitean concept of historiography.
Suffice it to say that, while less prone than Suetonius
to adduce astrological minutiae, he nevertheless allowed
fully for astrological influence on the conduct of the
leading figures of the era which his historical writings
covered. The state trials involving charges of forbidden
consultations of astrologers were faithfully recorded by
him, the influence of men like Thrasyllus over Tiberius
or that of Ptolemy Seleucus over Otho fully dealt with,
and government measures directed against the practice
of astrology in Rome and Italy briefly but pertinently
referred to. It was perhaps significant that in connec
tion with the greatest astrologer at the imperial court
of the first century, i. e. Thrasyllus, Tacitus felt called
upon to insert one of the relatively rare personal pas
sages setting forth his own views on a specific subject:
I suspend my j udgnaent on the question w hether it is fate
and unchangeable necessity or chance which governs the
revolutions of hum an affairs. Indeed, am ong the w isest of
the ancients an d am ong th e ir disciples you will find con
flicting theories, m any holding the conviction th a t heaven
does not concern itself; w ith the beginning o r the end of our
life, or, in sh o rt w ith m ankind a t all; and th a t therefore
sorrow s a re continually the lot of the good, happiness of the
w icked: w hile others, on the contrary, believe that, though
there is a harm ony between fate and events, yet it is not
dependent on the w andering stars, but on prim ary elem ents,
and on a com bination ot n atu ral causes. S till they leave us
the capacity of choosing our life, m aintaining that, the
choice once made, there is a fixed sequence of events. . . .

So far Tacitus did nothing but present in the most

summary form the Epicurean and a modified Stoic view.
The very last sentences smack even of Plato's Republic,
in which the souls of the unborn were permitted a choice
of their future life, but thereafter were bound to it,
whether or not they liked it. One has the feeling that,
moved by the impression created in his own mind by
the wondrous account of Thrasyllus astrological per
spicacity (Annals 6 , 21), Tacitus prefaced his own
views on such matters with a cautious review of two
main schools of Greek thought on the subject. Finally,
however, he arrived at his own conclusions:
M ost men. how ever, cannot p art w ith the belief th a t each

117 Ibid. 4, 8.

person's fu tu re is fixed from his v ery b irth , but th a t some

things happen differently from w h at has been foretold
th ro u g h the im postures of those who describe w hat they
do not know, and th a t this destroys the cred it of a science,
clear testim onies to w hich have been g iven both by p ast
ages and by ou r own. In fact, how the son of this same
T hrasyllus predicted N e ro s reign I shall relate when the
tim e comes. . . ,118

From the context it appears at least probable that

Tacitus included himself among the great majority of
men (plurimis mortalium) who according to his own
observation accepted fatalistic astrology itself as infalli
ble, attributing the failure of any predictions to come
true solely to the fallibility of the mortal astrologer, not
to the art itself. F urther confirmation of Tacitus faith
in the stars is found in the concluding lines of the above
passage. There Tacitus mentioned as an example of
a correct prophecy the one of the son of Thrasyllus
(i.e . Balbillus) concerning the eventual accession of
Nero to the throne. It might be added that the greatest
Roman historian wrote this passage probably about the
time of T rajan s death , 119 i. e. in a period when for the
first time in almost a hundred years a practicing as
trologer mounted the Roman throne, a throne long
promised him by more than one astrologer . 120 In men
tioning the parallel case of Nero, Tacitus, who intended
to write a history of his own era also, may have alluded
to the new rulers astrologically revealed predestination
for the throne.
4.

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M E FRO M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A L EX A N D ER

place on April 5, a . d . 40 revealing that H adrians
father reached an age of about forty-five years. If the
identification is correct we learn from the horoscope that
. . . he will him self be illustrious, b eing descended from an
illustrious fam ily and p u nishing m any, and very w ealthy . . .
and ju stly accused. . . . D isinclined tow ards n atu ral in ter
course he became, and inflamed about the genitals. . . . A nd
the M oon, having been w ax in g and in a triangle w ith S atu rn

H A D R IA N : A N O T H E R A ST R O L O G E R ON T H E
T H R O N E (117-138)

Publius Aelius Hadrianus descended from Roman

veterans of the second Punic war, who had been settled
in the newly conquered Spain. Their city, called Italica,
was destined to give the Roman empire its first ruler
bom in a province, far removed from Italy: Ulpius
Trajanus. In Italica the Ulpian family had been linked
with the Aelian family by marriage ties . 121 Hadrian's
grandfather had married an aunt of the future emperor
T rajan and had himself risen to senatorial rank. The
Aelian family must therefore have been not onlv wealthy,
but also widely known as early as the reign of Q audius
or Nero. The brother of old Aelius was said to have
been a renowned astrologer.
By one of those happy accidents on which historians
thrive the horoscope of H adrians father seems to have
been identified.121* H is birth would thus have taken
118 Tacitus, Annals 6, 22.
119 In the second book of the Annals Tacitus referred to events
of A.D. 116. It would seem therefore that the sixth book was
written in or shortly after 117, the year of H adrians accession
1S SH A , Hadrian, 2, 4.
111 See the family tree above, p. 152.
1S1* In the manuscript of O. Neugebauers and H. B. van
Hoesens work on Greek horoscopes which the author was
graciously permitted to peruse, the literary horoscopesin con
trast to those preserved in papyri, ostraca, etc.fall chrono-

Fig. 13. H adrian (117-138). From A. Hekler, Greek and

Rom an portraits: 247 b.
and Ju p ite r, m ade him fo rtu n ate and very w ealthy and a
d onor of m any gifts and donations for his n ative city
( r r j n - a r p i 8 t ) . 121b

logically into two remarkable separate categories. The first

comprises horoscopes, all but four of which are preserved in the
Anthologiae of Vettius Valens. Of the four others one is found
in Manethos Apotelesmata, the other three in a work of Antigonus of Nicaea (second century a . d . ) . The latest in the first
section of Greek literary horoscopes belongs to Vettius Valens
Anthologiae and dates from August 10, a . d . 188, while the
earliest Greek literary horoscope of the second section is about
two centuries younger (November 24, a . d . 382). There is
abundant evidence from papyri and ostraca that horoscopes were
steadily and plentifully cast throughout the interval. The chrono
logical gap in the extant literary horoscopes therefore is merely
proof of the capriciousness of the survival of historical records.
1!lb Cat., 8, 2 : 84 f. O. Neugebauer, thanks to the lucky fact
that both the Horoscopal Point and the Mesuranema are given
in the April 5, a . d . 40 horoscope (and in the one of H ad rian ),
has established the clima, whose geographical latitude agrees
with southern Spain, as well as with Rhodes. The April 5.

163

To this P. Aelius Afer and his wife, Domitia Paulina,

was bom in Italica on January 24, 76 a son. the future
emperor Hadrian. His great-uncle, the astrologer ( peritia caelestium callente). could be expected to cast the
infants horoscope at once. He declared that the boy
possessed an imperial nativity . 122
This tempting prediction was not particularly danger
ous at that time. For Vespasian, himself fully convinced
of the inevitability of his son's succession, tended to
treat recipients of imperial horoscopes gently . 123 In the
reign of Domitian, however, the possession of such a
horoscope could easily entail death . 124 It was perhaps
fortunate for Hadrian that Domitian did not stoop to
investigate the horoscopes of bovs. 123 Hadrian lost his
father in 85,126 and his guardians, not his mother , 127
took over the arrangements for the lads education.
Perhaps his mother had also died, for we hear no more
of her. His older sister, named Domitia Paulina like
her mother , 128 may already have been married at this
time to L. Julius Ursus Servianus, a man of high rank
and a generation older than Hadrian. The two guar
dians of the boy were Ulpius Trajanus, his senior
by about twenty-two years, and the Roman knight,
Acilius Attianus. Attianus probably exercized the
decisive influence on H adrians upbringing, because
T rajan, who had already been praetor, was soon called
to important military assignments along the far away
German border. In any case. Trajan, trained in the
camp rather than in the auditoria of higher education,
may therefore have felt himself incapable of super
vising the scholastic education of his young ward
properly, and therefore left the uncongenial task gladly
to Attianus, who was thoroughly competent in this
matter.
On the boy's passionate enthusiasm for Greek culture
a . d . 40 horoscope therefore could apply to both southern Spain
and Rhodes. Hadrianwhose horoscope is absolutely certain
surely was born in southern Spain and not on Rhodes. Hence
O. Neugebauer suggests very plausibly that all three extant
horoscopes cast by Antigonos apply to the Aelian family.
125 SH A , Hadrian, 2, 4. The birth was erroneously assigned
to Rome instead of Italica, the actual birth-place of H ad rian ;
Appian, 6, 7, 38; Cassius Dio, ep. 69. 1, 1; Gellius, 16, 13. 4;
Eutropius, 8, 6. 1; Jerome, Chron., 01.224. On modern views
compare B. W. Henderson, The life and principate of the
emperor H adrian: 10, n. 1, London, Methuen and Co., 1923.
1,1 F o r example in the case of Mettius Pompusianus; Sue
tonius. Vespasian, 14.
121 Suetonius, Domitian. 10, 3; compare Cassius Dio, ep. 67,
15, 6, from X iphilinus; Zonaras, 11, 20.
115 Cassius Dio, loc. cit.
SHA , Hadrian, 1, 4-5. Hadrianus Afer had inherited his
father's senatorial rank and reached the praetorship; Cassius
Dio. ep. 69, 3, 1.
157 Among the great ladies of Rome who when widowed took
charge of their sons education we find for example Cornelia,
the mother of the Gracchi, Julius Caesar's mother, Aurelia, as
well as Neros mother, the younger Agrippina, and the mother
of Plinv the Younger.
C IL 10. 1: 618, no. 6220; SHA , Hadrian, 1, 2.

164

T H E R IS E AX D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

all sources agree . 129 If his devotion to these studies

earned him the derisive nickname. Graeculus ( Greeklin g "), it might have tended to estrange him from his
guardian. Trajan, who held the traditional contempt of

14. The Athenian tomb o f C. Julius Antiochus Epi

phanes Philopappus. grandson o f Ti. Claudius Balbillus and
great-grandson o f Ti. Claudius Thrasyllus ( built t a . A . d .
114-116). Compare P. Graindor. Athenes dc Tibere <i Trajan :
51 i . ; W. Judeich. Topographic von A then ( 2nd ed.) : 388.
F ig .

the Roman non-humanist for the Greek way of life . 130

It was perhaps at T rajan's insistence that after about
four years, which H adrian spent in Rome imbibing in
the fountains of Greek and Latin learning, the tourteenvear-old boy was sent back to Spain to begin military
service.- Actually the incipient bookworm now warmed
up to the attractions ot outdoor life. H unting and
1!* SHA . Hadrian. 1, 5: Cassius Dio. cp. 69, 3, 1 ff.; Aurelius
Victor, epitome, 14.
110 For Trajan's attitude a passage in a letter to Pliny (epist.
10. 40) is significant. Rejecting the plea of the N'icaeans, trans
mitted to the emperor by Pliny, tor imperial aid in the construc
tion of a gymnasium. T rajan replied withering!}-: Gvmnasiis
indulgent Graeculi." If they wanted a new gymnasium, the
citizens of Nicaea should bear the total expense themselves.

mountain climbing became his favorite sports. In 93

he was recalled to Rome, again by T rajan, who
by then possessed a good deal of prestige and influ
ence. Not only his own childlessness, but also the
apparent success of Hadrian's conversion to a manly
outdoor life may have induced T rajan to assist his
young relative now embarking upon a career . 131
After a year of minor administrative activities 132
(94) Hadrian was made tribune of the 2nd legion,
guarding the Danube border at Budapest (then called
A quincum ).1:::i A year later he was transferred to a
similar post with the 5th legion in the province of
Lower Moesia . 134 This happened in 96, not long before
the assassination of Domitian. The life in these border
camps must have been far from attractive to a young
man, accustomed to the intellectual life of Rome and
fond of cultural pursuits. Small wonder that the twentyyear-old officer began to doubt whether or not his greatuncles astrological prediction were ever going to come
true. In this mood he apparently consulted another
astrologer, who reassured him by repeating the same
promise of future glory which Aelius Hadrianus had
seen in his grand-nephew's horoscope . 135 Inasmuch as
H adrian's birth date is known, it is of course possible
to reconstruct his horoscope and apply to it the various
interpretative techniques of those days with which the
extant manuals have made us familiar.
But a happy circumstance has made such an under
taking superfluous. For we possess a second-century
attempt of this kind, originally included in a collection
of historical horoscopes, compiled soon after the death
of Hadrian. His name, to be sure, was prudently
withheld, but the horoscope itself has survived in at
least three manuscripts , 130 and could be identified with
out much trouble. It is the only imperial horoscope
which has come down to us from an almost contempo
rary source, the second-century physician-astrologer.
Antigonus of Nicaea. being the author. W riting within
less than a century after Hadrian's death, he had to
1,1 In view of T rajan's preference for outdoor activities it
seems unlikely that he did, as is suggested in SH A , Hadrian, 2,
2. recall young H adrian from Spain on account oi,hi^ excessive
zeal for the chase. The emperor may simply have considered
the time opportune for the boy to start on a career.
1'12 SH A , Hadrian, 2, 2-3; CIL 3. 1 : 103. no. 550.
13a C IL 3, suppl.: 2324, no. 13611; 10; 22, no. 135.
L:" C I L 3, 1: 102 f.. no. 550. This inscription, discovered in
Athens, contains H adrian's official career until a . d . 112.
135 SH A , Hadrian. 2, 3-4; compare F. Gregorovius. Der
Kaiser Hadrian -. 9 ff.; 3rd ed., Stuttgart, J. G. Cottasche
Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1884; W. D. Gray. A study of the life
of Hadrian prior to his accession: 152 if., esp. 162 ff.; Smith
College Studies in History, 4. no. 3, Northampton, 1919; B.
Henderson, op. c it.: 19.
1" Cod. phil gr. Vindob. 108. f. 301, and cod. Paris, gr. 2417,
f. 106; ed. \V. Kroll from both in Cat. 6 : 67-71. Another version
of this horoscope is found in cod. Paris, gr. 2501, ff. 132 ff.,
whose variants from the other text were printed in Cat. 8, 2:
82-84.

A ST R O L O G Y IN R O M E FRO M N ERVA TO SEV E R U S A LEX A N D ER

165

of C apricorn. M ercury in the same sign in the 12th degree.

V enus in Pisces in the 12th degree, together w ith M ars
who was in the 22nd degree, but the M esuranem a 133 in
S corpio in the 22nd degree. In this horoscope S atu rn is the
L ord of the house of the moon. Being in his own house he
gives death a t the age of 56 years. Inasm uch as V enus
favors him, she adds another 8 years to his life, m aking a
total of 64. A fter 61 years and 10 months, however, h urries
the H oroscopal P oint and the Moon into the square of
S atu rn , although that does not kill him, because Venus aids
him in the second (co rn er of the sq u are?) [thus shortening
his life to about 62 years and 6 m onths].

adhere strictly to the generally known facts. For many

readers would remember them still. On the other hand,
however, the author would inevitably choose only those
astrological interpretations which would satisfactorily
explain H adrians career in astrological terms. This
makes H adrian's horoscope a poor document for the
true believer in astrology, but a useful historical source,
especially in view of the dearth of contemporary records
of H adrian's reign.
W e owe the survival of Hadrian's horoscope to the
astrologer Hephaestion of Thebes, who in the fourth
century b . c . excerpted it with some others from the
collection of historical horoscopes compiled by Antigonus
of Nicaea . 137 Since Porphyry (middle of the third
century) already referred to Antigonus, he must have
lived prior to 250, and probably in the second century.
A Greek version was edited decades ago. At present
an English translation of this (and other extant Greek
horoscopes) exists, but is not yet published . 138 In any
case, it seems logical to include here at least some of
its text, especially the historical data:

The horoscopes astronomical data permit the com

putation of the birth date. This was January 24, a . d .
76.140 Antigonus proceeded by giving the important
data of the life of the possessor of this horoscope:
H e was adopted (uio&nj#?)) by an em peror who was
related to him and became em peror at the age of about
forty-tw o y ea rs.M1 H e was intelligent (<j>poniu>s) and well
educated so th at he was w orshipped in temples and groves.
H e was m arried only once and this to a virgin, but rem ained
childless. A nd he had only one sister. H e became suspicious
and rose ag ain st his kin. In his sixty-third year he dies of
dropsy, succum bing to breathlessness.
T h e reason why things happened this w ay is worked out
as follows. . . .

F ro m the th ird book of H ephaestion. H oroscopes to be

analyzed in the w ay in w hich it is set fo rth an d w e shall
p u rsu e ev ery single horoscope so th a t you m ay be convinced.
Come then, an d le t us now p resen t the method, according
to w hich those o th ers aro u n d P eto siris and N echepso an a
lyze horoscopes, an d am ong them A ntigonus of N icaea.
T h e re w as, he says. a m an bo rn w ith the sun in the 8th
( o r 2 0 th ) d eg ree of A q u ariu s, the moon. Ju p iter, and the
H oro sco p al P o in t all th re e to g eth er in the first degree of
the sam e sign A q u ariu s, S a tu rn in the 16th ( o r 5 th ) degree

The astrological proof why such a life followed

from the natal constellation takes up what amounts to
almost four finely printed pages. 1*2 Antigonus of Nicaea
evidently took great pains with this important horo
scope. For it seems to be the longest exposition of its
kind which has come down to us. Tempting though
L

ft*
~

iJi | *. Tf

>

/.<

(. , !

N. ,

V v n k * M * r ^ a v

**>fT. w

- **

n7

IT
)

,/_ i
,

'v

J ( j -iVTvi-Gfflfwv T Vv

F ig . 15. The horoscope o f the emperor Hadrian, cast in the second century
phil. gr. Vindob., 108, ff. 301-303).
(Continued on following pages.)

131 H e included it in his third book, according to one version,

and in the second (ch. 18), according to another.
138 O. Neugebauer and H. B. van Hoesen are preparing an
edition of Greek horoscopes. The author is greatly indebted to
them for their permission to peruse the manuscript ot this work.
13* On this term, see Bouche-Leclercq: 258: 271 f.
1,0 Recently computed by O. Neugebauer. Earlier A. Farns
worth had arrived at almost the same result in an independent

a.

d.

(cod.

computation. The author gratefully acknowledges their assis

tance in this matter.
141 This figure is found only in cod. Paris, gr. 2501. It proves
beyond any doubt that the horoscope is actually that of Hadrian,
and thus supplies a valuable corroboration of the astronomical
computation; compare F. Cumont. Cat. 8. 2: 83, n. 1.
' Cat. 6: 68. 16-71, 31.

166

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

A ST R O L O G Y IN R O M E FR O M N E R V A T O SEV E R U S A L E X A N D E R

i r -5 7? ^

* /1

i
5r'I -rJ 111

? v ?

,4

*' c
i v

-t

'y

167

168

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A TO SE V E R U S A L EX A N D ER

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

it would be to suspect that Antigonus may have had

before him an earlier horoscope, worked out by a con
temporary of the emperor, perhaps even by Hadrian
himself, such flights of fancy ill behoove the historian.
But the argument that Hadrian (or his court astrolo
gers ) would hardly insert his death date and thus go
out on a limb " cannot be used. F or Hadrian, who at
some time in his career, probably after his return to
Rome for why should he otherwise have to consult
an astrologer in the barbarous bonier camp of Moesia,?
mastered' astrology himself, was said to have written
down (on the basis of his own astrological prowess)
on January first of each year the major events which
were in store for him. Andit was claimed he even
foretold the very hour of his own death accurately in
his forecast on January first, 138.143 But there is no
need to assume that Antigonus of Nicaea used a previ
ous horoscope. The date and hour of H adrians birth
were common or easily obtainable knowledge. Any
competent astrologer could compute the constellation
which had then prevailed. This done and possessing
the historical facts of Hadrians life, he could settle
down to the task of fitting the one to the other. A stro
logical interpretations were variable enough to permit
a satisfactory result even for a sincere believer in this
technique.
Imperial horoscopes played an increasingly im
portant role from the days of the late republic. Nigidius
Figulus was said to have told the father of the new-born
Octavianus in 63 B. c. that the babe would become
master of the world according to the stars . 144 T he as
trologer Scribonius prophesied to voung Livia that the
infant, Tiberius, was headed for the supreme power . 148
Caius Caligula in turfn assuredly had received the same
promise, for certainly Thrasyllus must have revealed
to the aging Tiberius Caligulas imperial destiny, 14#
and, while we have no reason to assume that Claudius
was ever given such astrological assurances, N eros
mother, the younger Agrippina, did obtain astrological
confirmation of the ambitious hopes she had for her
young son . 147 Neros successor, Galba. had long pos
sessed astrological forecasts of imperial grandeur . 148
The same was true for Otho.14* Vitellius parents seem
to have received such an astrological prediction for
their infant son, but were also warned of his dreadful
death. They were, therefore, deeply worried, and Vitel
lius himself professed a strong personal dislike for
SHA. Hadrian, 16, 7; Aelius, 3, 9; compare Cassius Dio
ep. 69. 11. 3.
w Suetonius, Augustus. 94, 5; Cassius Dio, 45, 1, 3-5.
Suetonius, Tiberius. 14, 2.
110 See above, p. 132.
1,7 Tacitus. Annals 6, 22.
* Cassius Dio. 57, 17, 4; Zonaras, 1 1 . 2; ep. 63 (64), 1, 4;
Suetonius. Galba, 4, 1 ; Cat. 8 , 4: 100, 0 -8 .
'T acitu s, Histories 1, 22; Suetonius, Otho. 4, 1; 6 , 1.

astrologers, in spite of his general faith in divination . 150

Vespasian. Titus, and Domitian at one time or another
prior to their accession had been assured of their pos
sessing imperial horoscopes . 151 Nerva also held such
a promise . 152 As for T rajan we can only surmise that,
if he did not obtain from his astrologer-relative. Aelius
H adrianus , 153 a similar prediction, he probably received
it by some other diviner at one time or another. In short,
with the possible exception of Claudius and Trajan,
every single emperor from Augustus to T rajan held
or was credited with holding definite astrological
assurances of future imperial grandeur.
This statistical fact alone would make it clear that
any prominent family could count on obtaining such a
prediction at the birth of a son. H adrians birth, for
example, was followed, as we saw, by this prophecy also.
The great majority of these blithe forecasts inevitably
proved wrong, but emperors who took astrology seri
ously would always wonder which ones might prove
correct, as one of them was bound to do so. W e know
of at least five rulers, Tiberius, Vespasian, and Domitian
before Hadrian and Septimius Severus and Caracalia
after him, who took official cognizance of persons, pos
sessing imperial horoscopes. Perhaps even Augustus
belonged to this group . 154 Of any ruler of the princi
pate one may, indeed, assume that he must have been
beleagured with denunciations about possessors of such
horoscopes. Tiberius himself took the m atter as seri
ously as Domitian. Both rulers were said actively to
have investigated prominent mens horoscopes. If these
were imperial ones, it might go hard with their
owners . 155 Nerva himself had been in danger of immi
nent death when Domitian found out that the aged
senator possessed such a horoscope. 156
Ancient and modem historians alike have been prone
to condemn such imperial tactics. W hat is often over
looked, however, is the fact that inquiries by adults
about their own imperial future involved the death
date of an emperor and his heirs designate (if any).
Such topics, however, had been generally outlawed in
a. d. 1 1 . When concerned with the death of any member
of the imperial house, they w ere at tfye latest by
a. d . 49 considered prhna facie evidence o f treason,
and hence prosecuted by maiestas actions . 157 If, there
fore, ambitious men were seeking astrological assur
ances of imperial power, they knew that they now ran
110
Suetonius, Vitellius. 3, 2; 14, 4; Cassius Dio, ep. 64 ( 65),
1, 4, from X iphilinus; Zonaras. 1 1 . 16.
ljl Tacitus. H istories 2, 78; Suetonius, Vespasian, 25; Titus,
2; Domitian. 14. 1.
Cassius Dio. ep. 67, 15, 6 ; compare also 16, 2.
1.3 SH A , Hadrian, 2, 4.
ls* If his prediction about Galba's eventual accession were
accepted; Suetonius, Galba. 4, 1.
1.4 Cassius Dio, 57, 15, 7-9; 17, 2-4; Suetonius, Domitian, 10, 3.
1!* Cassius Dio. ep. 67, 15. 5.
157 Compare F. H. Cramer. The Caesars and the stars. Sem i
nar 9, 1951: 8 ff.

the risk of prosecution for treason. It was. of course,

a different matter, if rulers on their own proceeded to
investigate the horoscopes of prominent men for the
purpose of executing them before they could have
become conspirators. There was a grim irony in such
activities. For the firmest imperial believers in fatal
istic astrology were the very ones to go furthest along
such lines, i. e. Tiberius and Domitian. Yet if they
did succeed in destroying destined " rulers, how could
they continue to believe in fatalistic astrology ? At best
imperial actions might lie defended on the basis of
catarchic astrology, i. e. that certain men might have a
chance of mounting the throne. To prevent them from
doing so would logically lie possible according to the
tenets of catarchic astrology. Obviously, however, subtle
logical distinctions of this kind were not made by those
rulers who embarked on prosecuting potential em
perors and yet continued to believe in fatalistic astrology.
Meanwhile, astrologers throughout the empire con
stantly violated the law of topical restrictions, and
textbook writers freely gave the technical details for
determining what constituted imperial horoscopes.
No less a scientist than Ptolemy, younger contemporary
of Hadrian and government-salaried research professor
at the University of Alexandria (about 150), wrote
quite nonchalantly:
A nd if the atten d an t planets a re eith er them selves ang u lar
or bear an aspect to the su p erio r angle, the children born
w ill continue to be g reat, pow erful, and w orld rulers
(KoavMKpaTopts) , 158 and they will be even m ore fo rtunate
if the atten d an t planets a re in d ex ter aspect to the superior
angles . 159

To explain the astrological terminology is superfluous

in this context, but one illustration of the practical
application of such views may be quoted. For this
purpose the horoscope of Hadrian, truly an imperial
horoscope, provided the following passage:
H e became em peror (auro/cparwp), because of the presence
of tw o planets in the horoscopal sector [M ars and m oon],
and especially because the moon w as in the ascendant and
coinciding w ith the horoscopal sector, and because Ju p iter
was about to rise in the east w ith in seven days. A nd because
of [th e m oons] " satellites 160 being in th e ir own houses,
anti of them V enus being in the hypsom a of h er own house,
and M ars in his ow n triangle, h aving his position in his
own sectors I /iotpaus,), w hile both planets [ i.e . V enus and
M ars] a re close tog eth er an d about to rise soon after the
moon. M oreover the sun too, the ru ler (KoanoKpaTiap) , is
h er [the m oon's] a tten d an t in h er six sectors, and he [the
sun] him self is [in tu rn ] 'a tte n d e d by S atu rn in his own
house and by M ercury, both of them being in th eir m orning

This, however, Antigonus in our extant manuscripts

did not do, although in the original he may have added
the data on the conjunction of the moon with a bright
fixed star. In general his interpretation conformed
the main principles laid down by his contemporary
Ptolemy. It is significant that the demonstration of
H adrians imperial destiny not only came at the very
beginning of the astrological demonstration, but was
also its longest section. It was followed by passages
which successively proved ( 1 ) why he was physically
well built, manly and graceful (Cat. 6 ; 69, 3 -4 ); (2)
why he was wise, well educated, and profound (ibid.:
69, 5 ff. and 70, 6 -8 ) ; (3) why he treated many unfairly
and was hated and plotted against (ibid.-. 69, 2 0 ff.) ;
(4) why he married a virgin and never another wife
(ib id .: 70, 8 ff.) ; (5) why he had only one sister (and
no brother) (ibid.: 70, 2 0 If.); ( 6 ) why he himself
had no children (ibid.: 71, 2 ff.) ; (7) why he was
fated to die of dropsy and breathlessness (ibid.: 71,
7 ff-)The surviving text of the horoscope contains an
insertion between (3) and (4 ). There Antigonus
hearkened back to the imperial dignity:
T h a t he w as honored and received the proskynesis1 ,2
from all men was due to the fact th a t Ju p iter w as in
epicentric attendance on the sun. F o r a planet that
attends in this m anner the sun and the moon has the
effect th a t a m an is highly esteemed by his equals or betters
an d has attendants and receives the proskynesis. A nd the
beneficial qualities he received from the aforesaid position
of Ju p ite r. T h a t he w as beneficient tow ards many and, as
I said, received the proskynesis was due to the fact th a t the
epicentric sun and moon w ere equally attended by the
five [o th er] planets. F o r especially if the sun or the moon
or both a re in a c tiv e [card in al?] points (irpaicTuea
Kivrpa), i.e . in the H oroscopal P o in t o r the M esuranema,
and a re attended in this m anner by all stars [i. e. planets],
they create those born u nder such constellation to become
kings ru lin g over m any nations (fjatnXea* ira/wrdAAwi' Wvuv
p a r o u v r a s ) 183

One thing we may safely assume: Hadrian received

this type of horoscope at one time or another, be it
from his great-uncle, from the astrologer in his Moesian
garrison, or from another one. Although details like
his childless marriage and accurate time and manner
Cat. 6 : 6 8 , 16-69, 2.
142 This term denoted the ceremonial prostration in vogue
before oriental rulers. The Persian kings had insisted on it, and
beginning with Alexander the Great the Hellenistic despots con
tinued this etiquette. Eastern subjects of Roman emperors would
therefore not look askance at such a ceremonial, but Antigonus
merely seems to mean by this term Greeted as it behooves an
emperor to be saluted.
1.1 Cat. 6 : 69, 27,-70, 6 . ,/
1.1

F. Cumont. L Egypte des astrolognes: 27. rightly observes

that prior to its being applied to Roman emperors the term
denoted king.
15 Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 4, 3.
i These Soputpopot or dopv<popoviTt, i. e. attendant " planets
were defined for instance by Porphyry, Isagnge. 29, ed. E. Boer
and St. Weinstock in Cat. 5, 4: 204 f.. and thence by Hephaestion
of Thebes. 1. 17; cf. Bouche-Leclercq: 252-254.
128

169

rising. I t rem ains to be shown th at the moon too w as about

to be in co n junction w ith a b rig h t fixed star in the tw entieth
degree. F o r one m ust not only pay attention to the con
ju n ctio n of the moon w ith the planets, but also w ith fixed
sta rs . 181

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T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

of his death were probably not included in those early

astrological forecasts, the promises of imperial grandeur
most certainly were, if, indeed, such predictions had
been made at all.
The adoption of T rajan by Nerva (October 27, 97)
and his almost instant accession to the throne (January
25. 98), leading as it did to the advancement of H adrian,
must have seemed to the young man proof of the accu
racy of the astrological promises he had received. But
he was never satisfied to leave things alone. H is pen
chant for all kinds of divination 184 led him for example
to look for reaffirmation of future glory in the works
of Vergil. 13 But on the practical side it was the stead
fast support of T rajan s wife, Plotina, which helped
more than any other factor to maintain the cordial rela
tions between T rajan and H adrian during the decisive
decade which began with T rajan s return to Rome in
99 . 168 Age old slander has persistently suggested that
Hadrian was the paramour of Plotina and chiefly for
that reason was eventually successful in ascending the
throne. A saner view could easily ascribe Plotinas
affectionate interest in Hadrian to the obvious psycho
logical affinity which Plotina, patroness of a philo
sophical sect and, in general, a woman of high moral
character, must have had with H adrian, whose universalist intellectual interests probably formed a bond
between them which Plotina could not establish with
her soldier-husband, fond of wars, wine, and boys rather
than of literary or poetical endeavors.
T rajan may, indeed, have been somewhat relieved at
finding within his family circle a sympathetic partner
for Plotinas intellectual hobbies. Proof of his own
esteem of young Hadrian was that he had arranged the
marriage between his young grandniece Sabina and
Hadrian. The m arriage ended only with the death of
Sabina in 136. Although H adrians penchant for boys
and the childlessness of the m arriage could not but cast
a shadow over Sabina's life, Roman society matrons were
long conditioned to the vagaries of their husbands, and
Hadrian at least insisted that his wife should be treated
with the respect due to her. Those who failed to do
so were removed from the court, a fate which was to
befall, for example, Suetonius (about 120), who thus
received the leisure for the composition of his historical
works.
Meanwhile H adrian completed the cursus honorum
by rising from the quaestorship to the consulate, which
he first held as consul suffectus and finally as consul
ordinarius. H e also mounted the politically more im

portant ladder of military offices. A t the time of

T rajan s death in 117 he commanded the large oriental
army, while his old guardian Attianus headed the im
perial guard. On August 8 , 117 T rajan died on his
return to Rome. On his death bed he adopted Hadrian.
He was apparently so ill that Plotina herself signed the
letter, which announced the momentous news to the
senate. This and the suddenness of the adoption fol
lowed by the instant death of T rajan would of course
set tongues wagging in any era. It is, therefore,
hardly surprising that gossip of this sort persisted,
allowing Cassius Dios father many years later to tell
his so n 167 that H adrians adoption had been a fraud,
perpetrated probably by Plotina and others. In modem
times Gibbon (ch. iii), and more recently a host of
German historians have joined Cassius Dio in denying
that an adoption ever took place . 1*8 French, and most
of the English writers have been more reluctant to
abandon the idea of the adoption of H adrian by Trajan.
Yet Henderson, for example, in 1923 cautiously cap
tioned in his work on Hadrian ch. ii, 3, The adop
tion ( ? ) of H adrian. Yet published as early as 1903,
for all to read was the oldest extant source touching
on the topic of the horoscope compiled by Antigonus
of Nicaea in the second century. Not a single modem
historian, from K om em annim to the present, seems to
have known of the existence of at least three manu
scripts quoting an authority antedating Cassius Dio,
an authority flatly stating as a m atter of course that
H adrian was adopted . 170 Even if, in the end, there
would still remain some doubt about the validity of
even this source, there can be no question that it adds
considerably to the weight of evidence in favor of
adoption.
O ur information about the details of H adrians build
ing activities is inadequate for the purpose of ascertain
ing the influence which his astrological predilection
exercised upon specific projects. One may mention
his order to match the colossal statue of Nero (which
already Vespasian transformed by substituting a starencircled head of Helios for that of N ero) with a colos
sal statue of the moon goddess . 171 H e also restored
Agrippas Pantheon 172 providing it with a vault, whose

1,7 Cassius Dio, ep. 69, 1, 1-3. This passage also errs with
regard to H adrians consulate.
*** F or a balanced view of the arguments, see W. D. Gray,
A study of the life of Hadrian, ch. iv : 195 ff. F. Gregorovius
too believed the adoption of H adrian by the dying T rajan had
really taken place: Der Kaiser H adrian: 20 f.
** E. Komemann, Der Kaiser Hadrian und der letste grosse
H istoriker von Rom : 11 ff.; esp. 21, Leipzig, Dieterichsche
l Cassius Dio, ep. 69. 11, 3.
Verlagsbuchhandlung, Theodor Weicher, 1905.
1,5 SHA , Hadrian 2, 8; compare also 9 for other prophecies
170 Cat. 6, M 6 8 , 10: modtn)9tis; Cat. 8, 2: 82: vio&eTTjthj.
of good fortune.
171 S H A , Hadrian. 19, 13. The hundred feet high colossus was
1,1 W . D. Gray, op. cit.: 206 f., contributes a valuable analysis, pulled from its abode on the Palatine to its new location by
concluding that Plotinas greatest importance in the furthering
twenty-four elephants.
>t H adrians career antedates a . d . 111. Thereafter there is clear
I7J Between a . d . 120 and 124. Modem opinion, based on not
evidence that T ra jan himself became increasingly aware of
wholly convincing evidence, tends towards assuming that Hadrian
Hadrians qualifications lor the throne.
rebuilt not only the roof, but also most of the walls.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E F R O M N E R V A T O SEV E R U S A L EX A N D ER
circular sun-like opening in the center stylized a heavenly
semi-sphere, which may even have been of his design,
since he himself was an enthusiastic amateur architect.
But more clearly than in any architectural allegories
H adrians eclectic mysticism stood out during his last
great journey, which led him via Athens through Asia
minor to Egypt, and thence back to Rome by way of
Syria and Athens . 173
It was his last great venture. When he returned to
Italy, H adrian buried himself in his fantastic villa at
Tivoli, or some other Italian palazzo. His traveling
days were over. By premonition or plan, he had made
his last voyage the most magnificent of all. In his en
tourage we find the empress Sabina and his favorite
Antinous, a young Bithynian whose extraordinary
beauty had captivated H adrian. The empress in turn
included among her ladies-in-waiting a friend of long
standing, Julia Balbilla. The appearance of this lady
in the innermost circle of Hadrian's court revealed the
continuity of a family tradition of long standing. H ad
not Julias great-grandfather. Thrasyllus, been an inti
mate of the old emperor Augustus and of his successor,
Tiberius ? H ad not her grandfather, Balbillus, enjoyed
the personal friendship of Claudius, the respect of Nero,
and the high esteem of Vespasian, Titus, and probably
Domitian? Julias brother, C. Julius Antiochus Epi
phanes Philopappus (consul a . d . 109), had died before
H adrians accession, but Julia Balbilla herself, probably
a good many years his junior, was still sprightly enough
to bear the strain of the far flung voyages during the
years 128-132 without apparent discomfort. She also
represented, although somewhat feebly, the literary and
scholarly traditions of her family. A poetess she was
persona grata with H adrian and his wife.
Probably raised in Rome, she was of purely Greek
stock. H er father descended from the defunct hellen
istic dynasty of Commagene and had, as Balbilla proudly
recorded, still borne the honorary title of k in g 174 (as
did Julia Balbillas brother). H er maternal grand
parents were Balbillus, son of the Alexandrian T hra
syllus and a princess of Commagene, and Balbillus wife,
who may or may not have been of Greek extraction . 175
Thus with the possible exception of her maternal grand
mother, Julia Balbilla was of pure Greek descent. Yet
she could boast of a lineage which included a Roman
knight (Balbillus) and a hellenistic king (Antiochus
IV ) as her grandfathers, and of a brother who had
reached the consulate. The cosmopolitan structure of
high Roman society in the early second century could

171

hardly find a better illustration. It is perhaps unfortu

nate that all we know of Julia Balbilla is a number of
mediocre poems. She seems to have been one of those
literary bluestockings of whom Juvenal w rote:
. . . As soon as she has sat down to d inner she commends
V ergil, pardons the dying Dido, and pits the poets against
each other, p utting V ergil on the one scale and H om er on
the other. . . . She lays down definitions, and discourses on
m orals, like a philosopher, th irstin g to be deemed both wise
and eloquent.176

A lady of such qualities would not onlv suit Hadrian,

but also his wife Sabina, probably herself a lady of
literary interests.

Fic. 16. Antinous (d. 130). From A. Hekler, Greek and

Roman portraits: 251 (detail).

The imperial voyage followed the traditional highroad

for tourists in Egypt from the days of Herodotus to
those of Cook or American Express Company guided
ones of today: the Nile. With a poetic feeling, rare,
alas, among the far too sober historians of the modem
era, Gregorovius has drawn an unforgettable picture
of H adrians leisurely joumev through the age-old
world of Egypts monuments. 177 In the midst of this
pilgrimage the grim reaper appeared as an unbidden
173 A somewhat different itinerary is suggested by B. Hender guest. The scene deserved a Poe to do it justice, but
son. The life . . . of Hadrian: 294.
we know only the bare fact: Antinous. the emperors
1T* Kaibel, epigr., no. 991; W. Peek, Zu den Gedichten auf dem
Memnonkoloss von Theben, Mitteilungen des deutschen Instituts favorite, drowned in the Nile near the city of Besa,
fuer aegyptische Altertum skunde 5, 1934 : 95-109; the text of probably on October 30, 130. It does not seem likely,
this poem is printed on page 96 f .; a German translation of the
four poems of Julia Balbilla is found on pp. 108 f.
175 Compare the family trees on pp. 95 and 136.

l7 Juvenal, 6. vv. 434 ff.

177 F. Gregorovius, Der Kaiser Hadrian, ch. xvii and ch. xviii.

172

T H E R IS E A ND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

however, that the pompous funeral which the stricken 178

emperor held at Besa evoked undue grief in the breast
of Sabina or Julia Balbilla. Another participant of the
tour. L. Ceionius Cotnmodus, probably also shed few
tears on this occasion. H is father, with three other
consulars. had been killed by order of the senate (or
more truly at the instigation of Attianus) in 118 for an
abortive plot against H adrian . 179 The son. no Hamlet,
but a gav blade, literary dilettant, and exceedingly
handsome, may well have seen in the death of Antinous
an opportunity for liis own advancement in the affec
tions of Hadrian.
Was as a modem writer has wondered 180 the
death of Antinous due to astrological mysticism? Let
us quote the only important source suggesting that
Antinous was not merely the victim of an accident:
Antinous was from Bithynium, a city of Bithynia. . . .
He had been a favorite of the emperor and had died in
Egypt, either by falling: into the Nile, or as the truth is,
by being offered in sacrifice. For Hadrian . . . was always
very curious anti employed divinations and incantations of
all kinds. Accordingly he honored Antinous, either because
of his love for him. or because the youth had voluntarily
undertaken to die (il being necessary that a life should be
surrendered freely for the accomplishment of the ends
Hadrian had in view). . . .m
The belief that a m ans life could be saved from
fated death by the voluntary sacrifice of anothers was
an old one. The story of Alcestis and her devotion
has become immortal. H ad Hadrian received an astro
logical warning that his end was near, unless someone
else would voluntarily die for him? Evidence that
such an astrological hypothesis existed prior to this
date is connected with Balbillus. For in 64, when a
comet according to popular belief announced the im
pending death of Nero, Balbillus had consoled the
quaking emperor by pointing out to him that he could
avert his own death by sacrificing a number of aristo
cratic victims. 182 T!he substitution of a single life for
the emperors life did, however, not occur in this inter
pretation. Nor did Balbillus consider it necessary that
the victims died voluntarily. Indeed, they did not!
But granted H adrians mysticism, there may have been
some connection of this kind between the death of
Antinous and an astrological warning that such a sacri
fice was necessary for the survival of the emperor.
There is no need to go into the transformation of the
town of Besa into Antinoe or Antinoupolis. or to deal
with the erection of shrines and statues of the departed
young man. But was this not the country whence the
1* If SH A . Hadrian, 14, 5, could be trusted, he did weep
openly.
,T* SH A . Hadrian, 7, 1-2; compare Cassius Dio. ep. 69, 2. 5.
1.0 F. Gregorovius. op. cit.; 172 f.
1SI Cassius Dio. cj>. 69, 11, 2-3.
1.1 Suetonius. Nero, 36.

locks of Berenice had been wafted unto the stars to

become heavenly luminaries ? 183
H ad rian declared th a t he had seen a s ta r w hich he took
to be that ot A ntinous, and gladly lent an ear to the fictitious
tales woven by his associates to the effect th a t the star had
really come into being from the sp irit of A ntinous and had
then appeared for the first tim e.184

To this day the star of Antinous has remained in

cluded in our astronomical nomenclature, the last
Graeco-Roman example of the transformation of history
into legend engraven in the heavens. Poets and orators
galore composed paeans and panegyrics on H adrians
catasterized favorite , 185 but apparently none of these
efforts has survived.
Three weeks after the death of Antinous Hadrian
stood before the colossal statue of Amenophis III, the
so-called colossus of Memnon. W e are indebted for
the precise date of this visit to the granddaughter of
Balbillus, who carefully scratched into the pedestal of
the statue the date of H adrians visit, the 24th and
25 th day of the month Athyr in the fifteenth year of
H adrians reign, i. e. on November 20 and 21, 1 3 0 :188
By Julia Balbilla when to the Memnon listened the illus
trious Hadrian.
I
heard about Memnon the Egyptian that he speaks when
illuminated by the ray of the sun. But when he saw Hadrian
he gave him what greeting he could even before the suns
ffirst] ray arrived. But when the Titan traversing with
fiery horses the ether reached the second mark in the shadow
of the hours, then again like beaten bronze he sent out his
voice. And for the third time, parting, he gave his greeting.
Then fittingly Lord Hadrian also greeted Memnon and left,
inscribed on a stele, for posterity the report of all he had
seen and heard. Clear, however, to all became how much
the gods loved him. 187
H adrians stele has long since vanished, but the glit
tering flatter}' of the lady tourist in his entourage has
survived. Julia Balbilla, however, was probably re
cording the triple greeting of Hadrian by the statue
only from hearsay. F or in another poem she reported
1M The astronomer Conon and the poet Callimachus were
given the main credit for this catasterism which in Catullus
Latin poetic account has been transm itted to us in detail; see
above, p. 13.
1.4 Cassius Dio. ep. 69, 11, 4; compare Suidas, s.v . '.\Spiar6s
and S. V. raiSina.
1.5 Such authors included H adrians freedman. the renowned
Cretan citharoede Mesomedes (Suidas, s. t \ : SHA , Antoninus
Pius. 7, 7), Pancrates (Athenaeus, 15, f. 677 E ), and the rhe
torician Numenius, who addressed a written consolatio to
H adrian (Suidas, s .v .) . Hostile criticism came of course from
Christian writers, for example Tustinus, apologia, 29, 4; Tertullian. de cor., 13; ad itationcs 2, 10. In the fourth century the
emperor Julian ridiculed the deification oi A ntinous; Caesarcs,
f. 311 D ; for another fourth century record, see Aurelius Victor,
14, 9.
'
Peek. op. cit., poem no. 4 the last of those composed by
Julia Balbilla.
l~Ibid. : 95 ff.; on Memnon compare Strabo, 17, 1, 42 (f.
813) ; Herodotus : 3, 64.

\v.

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M E FR O M N ERVA TO SE V E R U S A L EX A N D ER

173

the visit which, perhaps on the following day, the em

press Sabina, accompanied by the poetess, paid to
Memnon:

the scholars whom Hadrian appointed to teach at the

Athenaeum used these halls for the most part, occa
sionally non-academic meetings, even a senate assem
bly 194 might be held there. The new institution of
W hen I had come to gether w ith the illustrious Sabina to
higher learning not only was the first Latin one of its
M em noi.
. . . I g reet you. Do speak and bid a friendly w el kind, but also, by providing western Europe with a
come to the illustrious wife of L ord H ad rian . . . I do
state university, set the pattern which eventually became
not believe th at this yo u r m arvelous effigy has been ruined.
the dominant type of European university. Moreover,
P u re in sp irit I have retained yo u r im m ortal soul. F or
the Athenaeum also, for the first time in historyas far
pious w ere my fath ers and fo re fa th e rs : B albillus the wise
as we knowpossessed a department of languages ;
and A ntiochus the king, and my fa th er of a royal m o th ers
blood.18* and his g ran d fath er, king A ntiochus. . . .la9
i. e. it had on its staff Greek as w'ell as Latin gram
marians and rhetoricians. This was, on one hand, a
But Memnon was apparently not prone to perform
formal recognition of the equality of Greek and Latin,
for women, no m atter how highly placed. For he re
a blow to Roman die-hards to be sure, but, on the other
mained stubbornly silent:
hand, it introduced in principle also the study of lan
guages other than ones native tongue as a cultural
W hen we failed to h ea r M em non on the first day.
Y esterday, M em non. n aughty one, you rem ained silent, effort worthy to be state subsidized. Owing to the experi
so th at once m ore fair S abina should guide her steps hither.
mental nature of this arrangement at first only a single
F o r you enjoy to behold the fair form of ou r em press. Now
Greek professor of oratory seems to have been ap
th at she has retu rn ed , let rin g y o u r divine sound, so that
the em peror's w ra th m ay not be aroused, because you kept pointed.19 Aspasius, Pausanias, Hadrianus, and Philaw aitin g in vain for so long his illustrious spouse. And
grius were among the earliest occupants of this coveted
M emnon. trem bling b efore the m ajesty of pow erful H ad rian ,
post in the second century.19*
at once sounded his voice. B ut she who h eard it was
In still another field H adrians Athenaeum differed
gladdened. . . .
from its Greek predecessors: It seems to have been the
O u t of the rin g in g stone I, B albilla, h eard the divine
first institution of higher learning with which a lawvoice of M emnon o r P ham enoth [ i.e . A m enophis]. I had
come h ith er w ith S abina, th e fa ir em press. H elios had
school was connected. Although not part of the build
finished the course of the first ho u r, in the fifteenth year
ing itself, its classrooms were apparently located in
of the reig n of H a d ria n . . . on the tw enty-fifth day of the
law libraries adjacent to the Athenaeum . 197 W e have
m onth A th y r.190
no evidence about the teaching or research in the realm
W ith these informative but poetically mediocre poems of philosophy envisaged by Hadrian philosophy of
of Julia Balbilla the house of Thrasyllus faded into course including the natural sciences. But in Alexan
oblivion. From the reign of Augustus to that of Hadrian dria, home of the oldest state university of the Greek
it had played a prominent and often decisive role at world, Hadrian had been able to observe at first hand
court.
the renowned scientific division of the Museion. Ptolemy
It is not certain when Hadrian returned to Rome, was perhaps too young then to be among the illustrious
but at the very latest he was there by May, 134.191 members of the Alexandrian institute, but his life
Deeply impressed by Greek culture, which he had ob long imperial salary, once he was appointed, showed at
served so intensely, he decided to establish a state uni least that the Roman emperors were as eager as their
versity in the Latin capital. H e built a large structure, Hellenistic predecessors to retain the lustre of the mecca
calling it in memory of his beloved Athens the of scientific achievement.
Athenaeum. It contained those very gymnasia which
No evidence, however, for the appointment of a phi
H adrians predecessor had ridiculed as a Greek foible. 192 losopher to the Athenaeum by Hadrian has survived.
and auditoria whose semicircular rows of seats rose, Yet it seems almost impossible to assume that Hadrian,
forming a large wedge as in public theatres . 193 Although a living encyclopaedia of Greek culture, should have
confined his appointments to grammarians, rhetoricians,
1M In lieu of A*a, suggested by E. Honigmann, Zu CIG 4730, and jurists. The general picture of his court surely
Hermes 59, 1924 : 477 f and "Anna* or 'Aicm*, according to C.
would favor the view that additional chairs were created.
Cichorius, Roemische Studien: 390 ff., Peek, who restudied the
inscriptions on the spot, prefers a tp a ; see op. cit.: 97.
iu peek, loc. c it.; Kaibel, epigr., nos. 992 and 991.
1.0 W. Peek, loc. cit. One might add that the empress Sabina,
after being married to H adrian for about thirty years in a . d .
130. must have been in her mid-forties at least. To call her
fair. as Julia Balbilla did, was therefore probably a piece of
court flattery rather than the literal truth. But th e n : de gustibus non est disputandum!
1.1 CIG, no. 5906, dated May 5 oi the eighteenth year oi
H adrians tribunician power, was written in Rome.
1.1 Pliny, epist., 10.' 40.
1M Sidonius Apollinaris, epist. 2, 9, 4. On the founding and

the hiring of the faculty, compare Aurelius Victor, Caesarcs, 14, 3.

Owing to the dearth of early records concerning the Athenaeum,
F. Schemmel, Das Athenaeum in Rom. IVochenschrift fuer klassischc Philologie 35, Febr. 17, 1919, nos. 7-8: 91 ff., deals chiefly
with the Athenaeum in the later period of the empire.
'** Cassius Dio, ep. 64 ( 63), 17, 4.
115 Philostratus, vit. soph. 2, 10, 9; 33.
F. Schemmel, op. c it.: 91.
1" On these stationes docentium, see Gellius, 13, 13, 1; F.
Bremer, Die Rechtsschulen und Rechtslehrer im roemischen
Kaiscrreich: 68 ff.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

H ow ever ready H ad rian m ight have been to criticize

m usicians, tragedians, com edians, g ram m arians, and rh e
toricians, he nevertheless bestowed both honors and riches
upon all w ho professed these arts, although he always
torm ented them w ith his questions. . . . H e tre ated w ith
the g reatest friendship the philosophers E pictetus and H eliodorus. and to spare m yself the nam ing of individuals
various gram m arians, m usicians, geom etricians, painters,
and astrologos.1911

It may be assuming too much stylistic consistency

on the part of the author of Hadrians vita (from which
this passage stems) to remember that he called astrology
1 in that same biography) mathesis,18* (as FirmicusMatemus was to entitle his long work on astrology in
the reign of Constantine I [d. 337]). But even from
the mere list of scholarly disciplines it is clear that these
astrologi were scholars, i. e. astronomers. T hat they
would (like Ptolemy) include astrology among their
astronomical pursuits may also be taken for granted.
Certainly in spite of his interest in divination no
diviners were listed among H adrians intellectual pro
teges. It, therefore, seems at least possible that some
of those scholars referred to in the vita may have re
ceived their honors and riches in form of appoint
ments to the new Athenaeum we know that such
appointments were made by Hadrian to the university
of Alexandria 200 and it would be in keeping with
Hadrians universalism that at least one philosopher
and perhaps also an astronomer were included in the
faculty of the Athenaeum. That a (hypothetical) pro
fessor of geometry might be combined with that of
astronomy was not unlikely. For these two disciplines
were, especially by Romans, often considered as one
and the same . 201
An indirect indication of Hadrians official appoint
ment of astrologi might be seen in a passage from the
vita of Severus Alexander in which this ruler (222-235)
was said to have established salaries and decreed audi
toria for rhetoricians, grammarians, physicians, harusp ic es(!), mathematici, engineers, and architects . 202
These mathematici, although suspiciously listed directly
after the haruspices, could philologically be mathema
ticians (including astronom ers). The fact that, for
example, Juvenal and Tacitus (although not Suetonius)
almost consistently used mathematicus for astrologer
carries little weight for the loose writing of the authors
of the vitae. Moreover Aurelius Victor specifically
reportedalas, also from the fourth century onlythat
1* SHA , Hadrian, 16, 8 and 10.
l, Ibid., 16, 7.
:l> SHA , Hadrian, 20, 2: To them [the professors] he pro
pounded many questions. Among the absentee appointees of
Hadrian at A lexandria were Polemon of Smyrna and Dionysius
of Miletus; Philostratus, vit. soph. 2, 37. Chief priest and presi
dent of the Museion became the knight Julius Vestinus; CIG,
no. 5900.
:,t For example by Quintilian, de inst. or. 1, 10, 46 ft.
SHA , Severus Alexander, 44, 4.

Hadrian founded a school of liberal arts ( ingenuarum

artiutn), called the Athenaeum.'" 03 Taken at face
value, this would include the teaching of astronomy
which in the second century of our era was definitely
included among the liberal arts . 204 Assuredly Hadrian
had already provided for grammarians and rhetoricians
and may have added state stipends for certain branches
outside the sphere of the liberal arts, but the latter inno
vation would not necessarily cover the astronomers,
already counted among the professors of the liberal arts.
Early in 136 H adrian contracted the lingering disease
which was to kill him within two years. The search
for a successor, never a task agreeable to men at the
summit of power, became acute. Sabina (whatever
her role in H adrians life may have been) died in that
year. The nearest male relatives of Hadrian were his
brother-in-law. Servianus , 205 and Servianus grandson,
Pedanius Fuscus, a young man of about twenty-three.
Servianus was a nonagenarian, too old for the throne,
Pedanius Fuscus untried. How long could one count
on the availability of so old a mentor as Servianus to
guide his grandson ? W orse than that, relations between
Servianus and H adrian were not good.20 Although
perhaps no deadly grudge separated the two men, so
closely related, so different in age and character, family
feuds are habitually long-lived. A strident note of
sarcasm marked H adrians joking words, injected into a
private discussion of potential candidates for the throne.
The emperor asked the group to present a slate of ten,
but corrected himself at once: Make it n in e! For I
have already one, and that is Servianus. 207 The jest
would not set well with the proud old man to whom it
was bound to be reported. Other hopefuls were Terentius Gentianus, a senator, and Aulus Platorius Nepos.20'
None of these pleased Hadrian. His health deterio
rated. Although the secret of his condition was perhaps
guarded, it was not impenetrable to his next of kin.
Should Servianus in the absence of any declared suc
cessor see the imperial power slip from his family, or
should he let it go to the victor of a series of civil wars
reminiscent of the dreaded year 69? Under these cir
cumstances Servianus may have made some suggestions
for a transfer of power to Pedanius Fuscus, perhaps
with himself in the role of a co-regent, in case Hadrian
should succumb to a hemorrhage. Needless to add,
Rome must have been agog with predictions of an im
pending change of rulers. Astrologers, undoubtedly
consulted long before, probably even at the time of
Fuscus birth, were ready, as they usually were, to
predict imperial grandeur for their client.
Aurelius Victor, Caes., 14, 3.
*** See for example Philostratus, Apollonius of Tyana 8, 7, 3.
See above, p. 152.
"** F or an incident showing friction between them as far back
as a . d . 98, see S H A , Hadrian, 1, 6-7. Servianus also tried to
disturb H adrian's relations with Trajan.
107 Cassius Dio, ep. 69, 17, 3.
*" S H A , Hadrian, 23, 4-6.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E F R O M N E R V A TO S E V E R U S A L EX A N D ER
In contrast to the usual assumption, however, that
Servianus was at least as deeply implicated in such
schemes, it now seems that Fuscus alone was spurred
on by prophecies and omens. 200 Nor can the date,
hitherto accepted for the family tragedy, the year 136,
be maintained in the light of evidence, long available
but spumed by, or simply unknown to our historians
of antiquity. A horoscope (in all probability that of
Fuscus ) 210 shows that the crisis in H adrian's family
took place probably in the first months of 138. The
course of events was overshadowed by H adrian's search
of a successor. H e decided (about the middle of 136)
to adopt Lucius Ceionius Commodus , 211 who as Aelius
Verus thus became heir designate. For years he had
been a member of the emperors inner circle we find
him already in H adrian's entourage on his Egyptian
tour in 130and the rulers aesthetic taste was said to
have played a large part in the selection of what to all
disinterestedand of course all the more to interested
observers seemed to be merely a handsome roue. A
historian of doubtful validity, M arius Maximus, seems
to have explained the almost inexplicable choice of
Hadrian as due to his astrological activities:
T h e em peror w as acquainted w ith V eru s horoscope, and
. . . adopted a m an w hom he did n o t really deem suitable
to g overn the em pire m erely fo r the purpose of g ratify in g
his ow n desires. . . . F o r M ariu s M axim us represents
H a d ria n as so e x p e rt in astrology, as even to assert th a t
he knew all ab o u t his ow n fu tu re .212

Thus Hadrian, foreseeing that V erus would precede

him in death, was accused of bestowing honors on him
to satisfy his own perverse desire in the certain (? )
knowledge of a later opportunity to select a worthier
successor. Even the emperors astrological belief could
hardly blind him to such an extent that, besides select
ing a wholly inadequate heir to the throne, he should
also overlook the serious illness of the candidate, proba
bly tuberculosis, to which Aelius Verus was so soon to
fall victim. The date of the formal adoption of Aelius
is not known. The evidence of coins 213 contradicts
that suggested by an inscription , 214 but the event took
place in any case between July and December 136,215
probably in August . 218
This to Fuscus and Servianus must have been a
severe blow. Modem historians, relying on the very
,M SHA , Hadrian, 23, 3.
510 F. Cumont, Cat. 8, 2 : 85, n. 1.
511 S H A , Hadrian, 23, 10 ff.
511 Ibid., Aelius Vents, 3, 8-9.
,1JZoega, tab. 9; Borghesi, 8, 457; compare Vaillant, 1, 164,
i. e. prior to A ugust 29, 136.
814 C IL 3, 1: 547, no. 4366 lists Aelius tribunate (first year),
i. e. after December 10, 136. But it is possible that Hadrian
bestowed the tribunician power on Aelius after adopting him.
115 B. W . Henderson, The life . . . of H adrian: 259, n. 8.
* Loc. c it.: F. Gregorovius, Der Kaiser H adrian: 234, sug
gests that H adrian may have selected the date of his own dies
imperii.

175

meagre evidence of an epitomized sentence from Cassius

Dio - 17 and the Hadrian vita's brief references , 218 as
sumed that, if not before, then soon after the adoption
in the year 136 Hadrian ordered the summary execution
of his two nearest male relatives. This, however, was
not the case. Fuscus knew of the illness of the heir
designate, which was, indeed, no secret. Aelius Verus
was physically unable to pronounce in the senate his for
mal oration of thanks for the adoption . 218 Yet although
Hadrian only became aware of the deadly nature of
his heirs ailment after the adoption , 220 Servianus and
Fuscus may have hoped at the very time of the adoption
that Aelius Verus would not long stand in their way.
If he outlived H adrian to die soon afterwards, the
imperial promises of the diviners might still come true
for Fuscus. If, on the other hand, Aelius Verus were
to die even before H adrian, the ailing emperor might
still find Fuscus preferable to an outsider. The year
137 which Aelius spent mostly in Pannonia, where,
indeed, he seems to have acquitted himself creditably,
witnessed the rapid decline of his health. He returned
to Rome towards the end of the year and died on
January 1 , 138.221
Before his death a scholarly friend of Hadrianper
haps one of the astrologers who had gone over Aelius
horoscope together with Hadrian prior to the adoption
had raised doubts about the accuracy of the astro
logical predictions (which must have included promises
of long life for Aelius V e ru s ):
W h en one of the learn ed men ( u nus ex litera tis) . . .
tried to console him , s a y in g : W h a t if a m istake has been
m ade in the ob tain in g of his horoscope (s i non recte constellatio eius coUecta e s t) ? H ad rian is said to have
re p lie d : I t is easy for you to say that, w hen you are
looking fo r an h eir to y o u r p roperty, n o t to the em pire. 221

If this episode actually occurred it would not only

confirm the assumption, probable in any case, that care
ful astrological investigation along with other considera
tions had influenced H adrian's selection of Verus, but
also that the emperor admitted, albeit grudgingly, the
probability of an error in those calculations. In any
case in spite of his own declining condition Hadrian
hesitated for some time before choosing another suc
cessor . 223 Perhaps, after the debacle of the astrologers
in the case of Aelius Verus, he was now less inclined
to rely on such a method of determining the future
ruler of the Roman realm. During those weeks of
117 Cassius Dio, ep. 69, 17, 1.
* SHA , Hadrian, 15, 8; 23, 2-3; compare also 23, 8; 25, 8.
n , Ibid., 23, 15. This may, however, be the same episode
referred to as belonging to the end of a . d . 137; SHA , Aelius,
4, 7. Yet why should Aelius have deferred his official speech
of thanks that long?
*** SH A , Hadrian, 23, 14; Aelius, 4, 1 ff.
1,1 SH A , Aelius, 4, 7 ; compare 6, If f .; Hadrian, 23, 16; Cas
sius Dio, ep. 69, 20, 1.
<
* SH A , Aelius, 4, 5.
* Ibid., 6, 9.

176

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

January, 138 the hopes of Fuscus must have reached

a very high point, indeed.
Hadrian, meanwhile, pondered on his sickbed the
dilemma created by the death of Aelius Verus. F or the
deceased had left behind him a youngster, L. Ceionius
Aelius Commodus [Verus Antoninus], later known as
L. Verus. Born on December 15. 126 the boy was
now eleven years old and by his fathers adoption a
" grandson of Hadrian. Dvnastically his claim in a
sense was better than that of Fuscus at this stage, but
Fuscus, new almost twenty-five years old. 224 would
from the point of age have the advantage over L. Verus.
But H adrians mind was made up against Fuscus. P er
haps the young m ans gullibility in regard to divinatory
promises was a warning to the emperor? At any rate
he resolved to reserve for young L. Verus at least a
chance to ascend eventually the throne, but dashed all
hopes of Fuscus by deciding on the adoption of T.
Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus, i. e. Anto
ninus Pius. To this, however, he attached the condi
tion that the new heir-designate should also in his turn
adopt L. Verus and another boy, not yet seventeen, the
future emperor Marcus Aurelius . 225 Since Marcus was
the older of the two and already by far the more
promising, H adrians terms favored M. Aurelius over
L. Verus.
From his couch the ailing ruler submitted to the
senate his suggestions, perhaps as early as January 24,
his last birthday. The speech ascribed to him on that
occasion may of course be fictitious, but its arguments,
applying to the rejection of Fuscus and L. Verus as
immediate successors, were surely valid:
I, my friends, have not been permitted by nature to have
a son. but you have made it possible by legal enactments.
Now . . . a begotten son turns out to be whatever sort of
person heaven pleases, whereas one that is adopted, is
chosen as the result of deliberate selection. Thus by the
process of nature a maimed and witless child is often given
to a parent, but by 'the process of selection one of sound
body and sound mind is certain to be chosen.22*
Coming on the heels of the death of Aelius Verus a
remark of this kind would at least cause a raising of
some eyebrows, but the emperor, on the other hand,
could of course not admit on the eve of another adop
tion that his former choice had neither physically, nor
morally been of sound body and sound mind :
For this reason I selected Lucius before all others, . . .
but since heaven has bereft us of him. I have found as
emperor for you in his place the man whom I now give you,
one who is noble, mild, tractable, prudent, neither young
enough to do anything reckless [as might be the case with
Fuscus] nor old enough to neglect aught [this might allude
to Servianus], one . . . who has exercised authority in
accordance with our traditions, so that he is not ignorant
This follows from Cut. 8, 2 : 85.
3,3 Cassius Dio, ep. 69, 20, 1-5; 21, 1-2; SHA , Hadrian, 24,

1 ff.; Aclitu. 6 , 9.
Cassius Dio, ep. 69, 20, 2-3, from Xiphilinus.

of any matters pertaining to the imperial office, but can

handle them all effectively. I refer to Aurelius Antoninus
here. 227
The formal adoption took place on February 25,
138.-28 I t was not received with general jov. especially
not by men who had hoped for the throne themselves.
One of them. Catilius Severus he had been the col
league of Antoninus Pius during his consulate in 120 229
showed his disappointment so openly that Hadrian
deprived him of his office, the city prefecture . 230 If
grey-beards took the loss of their hopes so hard, young
Fuscus must have lost all self-control. To what extent
Servianus failed to check his grandsons behavior re
mains unknown. A t any rate the nonagenarian was
still active. F or he continued to give banquets and even
made the rounds of the palace guards 231 while Hadrian
lay in bed awaiting death. Did he perhaps, racked
with pain, recall the scene in the dimmed bedroom of
the dying T rajan, whence Plotina and Attianus had
emerged with the document announcing H adrians for
mal adoption ? 232 Did Fuscus perchance besiege the
imperial invalid with his outbursts of furious disap
pointment? Did not his horoscope promise him the
throne ?
Of most eminent and illustrious descent both on his
fathers [he was Cn. Pedanius Fuscus Salinator] and on
his mothers side [she was Servianus only daughter and
Hadrians niece] . . . he was raised in great expectations
and seemed already to approach the imperial power. . . . 23
Hadrian may have known that the young man pos
sessed an imperial horoscope. Taking into con
sideration the emperors own faith in the stars, shaken
perhaps but not destroyed by the fate of Aelius Verus,
he could racked with pain as he was view the ac
tivities of Fuscusand who knows whether they were
confined to mere outbursts of fury ? in a grimmer
light than they warranted. T hat Fuscus actually plotted
for the throne and once his age, as clearly stated in
the horoscope,23* is accepted as twenty-five instead of
Xiphilinus-Dios eighteen, this plotting could appear
significant, indeedwas definitely assumed by Antigo
nus of Nicaea, to whom we are indebted^for a post
mortem horoscope of the ill-fated young m an :
He was born to become, at the age of about twenty-five,
the cause of his own destruction and that of his parents
[r oXtOpui rip rt iSiut koI Ttiiv TtaTtfuav tytvero]. . . . He
became ill-advised [x<ucd/?ouAo] and was killed at the age
337 Ibid.. 20, 3-5.
=s" SHA , Antoninus Pius, 4, 6-7; compare CIL 1, 2nd ed .:
258 and 310.
3* SH A , Antoninus Pius, 2, 9.
SH A , Hadrian, 24, 6-7.
311
Ibid., 23, 8. The gossip about the banquet is an embellish
ment.
333 See above, p. 170.
333 Cat. 8 , 2: 85. 26-29 (from cod. Paris, gr. 2501 f. 134').
334 Loc. cit., line 29.

A STR O LO G Y IN ROM E FRO M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A LEX A N D ER

of about 25, and, for striving for the imperial power, he
was executed together with an old man belonging to his
family, who liad become suspect and that through him.
All of his family furthermore were affected through the
same [causes], i. e. the sun was in the Horoscopal Sector
and attended by Mercury, as well as Jupiter. For [this]
is said [by Antigonus] about this: He became ill-advised
through Mercury's and Saturn's being in a male sign, and
through the same configuration someone of his family
perished. That he himself was cut down was through the
moon's being in Scorpio, a harm working constellation, and
Mars shining [against the moon], being in regard to the
Mesuranema in Epanaphora. Also the harm would come
from a human being through Mars being in a human
shaped constellation. But this man became erotic .and
gladiator loving,erotic through Venus, gladiator loving,
however, through Mars, being in regard to the Mesuranema
in Epanaphora, and through Mercury's being in the house
of Mars. His death miserable at about his 25th year
[was wrought] through his [Mars] rising and that of
Aquarius being the same. 235
This horoscope was published in 1911 and at that
time tentatively identified by F. Cumont as that of
Pedanius Fuscus. F or more than forty years, there
fore, the constant plaint of historians 238 about the
scantiness of the extant information about this illstarred young man has been less well founded than it
used to be. It may be added that this was the third
and, alas, last historical horoscope copied from
Antigonus of Nicaea in the fourth century by Hephaes
tion of Thebes. The repeated insistence of Antigonus
that Fuscus was about twenty-five years old at the
time of his execution sounds more plausible than Dios
pitiful figure of only eighteen years .237 Hadrian, painracked and suspicious of any attempt on the part of
his sisters family to challenge his final choice for the
throne, reacted to the news of Fuscus activities with
desperate and possibly exaggerated severity. He could
not but assume that Fuscus proceeded on his foolhardy
course with the at least tacit support of Servianus. The
destruction of grandfather and grandson was ordered
and carried out. Although a recent hypothesis assigns
the third extant horoscope of Antigonos to H adrian's
father,237 it may also perhaps be ascribed to Servianus.
Two reasons, none of them conclusive, however, for
such a hypothesis a r e : (1 ) The horoscope occurs be
tween that of Hadrian and the one now ascribed to
Fuscus , 238 (2) Servianus was described as a nona
genarian, a loose term which did not preclude that he
might have been some years older. Recent computa
tions of the respective birth dates on the basis of the
astronomical data of the horoscopes have established
beyond a reasonable doubt that the owner of the horo
scope was born on April 5, a . d . 40.23n The biographical
Cat. 8, 2: 85, 26-86, 12.
F or example, see B. \V. Henderson, op. cit.: 258, n. 4.
337 Cassius Dio, ep. 69, 17, 1.
23T* See above, p. 162.
238 Cat. 8, 2 : 84. 1-85. 16. The text seems to be a condensation
of the original.
33 Computation by O. Xeugebauer, to be published in the

177

data, on the other hand, are far fewer and more vague
than those of the Hadrian and Fuscus horoscopes:
He was eminent and of illustrious ancestry and punished
nianv [ttoAAoiis koAou>i>] and was very wealthy . . . was
accnscd unjustly. . . , - )0
These meagre items do not contradict the other evidence
concerning Servianus. but they certainly are inconclu
sive. If Servianus were, indeed, the owner of that
horoscope, he would have been about 97 or 98 years
old at the time of his execution.
As to the horoscope of Fuscus, it contained sufficient
astronomical data to permit its computation. The result
has been the establishment of April 6 , a.d . 113 as
Fuscus birthday, i. e. a date in accord with the age of
about twenty-five at which, according to Antigonus,
the luckless Fuscus was executed. To illustrate the
manner in which modem scholars tackle such a com
putation , 241 O. Neugebauers procedure in the case of
the Fuscus horoscope may be quoted. The data of the
Greek text were given as follows:
The theme of his nativity was the following: The Sun
and the Horoscopal Point were in T, the Moon in m., three
days after its evening rising, Mercury and Saturn in T ,
setting in the morning,Jupiter in X, rising in the morning.
The lot of Fortune was in ni. The Lord, he [Antigonus]
says, will thus be Mars. The Moon will be after seven
days in SI, after forty days in is .243
The one statement in this nativity which contradicts
astronomically all others made about that celestial body
is the one which insists that the moon was in n\. In the
words of Neugebauer:
The remaining data amply suffice to determine the date
of the horoscope as April 6 , a. d. 113, that is three days
after the conjunction of April 3. One finds:
OT
15
Text: T
a a

21

8
h T
U X

T6

[8]

23

)(

S -

22

s:

. . . Thus all astronomical data are correct. 244

forthcoming collection of Greek horoscopes, edited by H. B. v.
Hoesen and Neugebauer.
340 Cat. 8. 2 : 85.
3,1 A. Farnsworth some years ago computed from the data of
the Greek text the same date at the request of the author who
is indebted to her for several computations of Greek horoscopes.
343 On it see Bouche-Leclercq: 289-296.
343 Cat. 8, 2 : 85.
3,4 From O. Neugebauer's Commentary on this horoscope
in his and H. B. v. Hoesens collection of Greek horoscopes.
Concerning the erroneous statement about the moon's position,
-Veugebauer remarks : The cause of the error is perhaps to
be found in the fact that the moon is said to be in aspect with
Mars in Aquarius. Now both S and ttl are 90 distant from
~ and this may have caused the substitution of the wrong
zodiacal sign. . . . The Lot of Fortune, however, is ?aid to be
in n\. and is therefore based on the wrong lunar position in
n\. computed according to
Af = \ H

( X --- \

178

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

In any case, from the horoscope of Fuscus alone it

would follow that as early as the second century Servi
anus was considered the innocent victim of H adrians
wrath. In the words of a much later w rite r:
J u st before his death he [H a d ria n ] com pelled S ervianus
to kill him self . . . in o rd er that S ervianus m ight not
outlive him. and, as he thought, become em peror. . . .-45
And F uscus, too. he put to death on the g ro u n d that,
being sp u rred on by prophecies and omens [and by his
horoscope?] he was hoping for the im perial pow er.-46

soul abandoned the reeds of the many faiths which he

had studied. Astrology never warned of what might
lie beyond the g r a v e . B u t even the mystery cults
which Hadrian had sought out so intensely no longer
assured him. Staring into the dark void, towards which
he was bound, he parted with this world in a sigh
whose ageless poetry defied translation. In the words
of nineteen-vear-old B vron:
A h ! gentle fleeting w a v 'rin g S prite,
F rien d and associate of th is clay,
to w hat unknow n region borne
W ilt thou, now, w in g thy d ista n t flight?
N o m ore w ith w onted h um or gay,
but pallid, cheerless, an d fo rlo rn .252

According to another source Hadrian

despaired of his life, and on this account appointed Lucius
Commodus to be C aesar . . . S ervianus and his grandson,
the form er a n o nagenarian and the la tte r eighteen years of
age [.fic! Even in mid-136 Fuscus w ould have been tw entyth re e !], w ere put to death on the g round that they w ere
displeased w ith this action.247

Thus died another Roman astrologer on the throne.

5.

The epitome erred in that Hadrian did not put to

d eath ( e4>oi>cwc) Servianus, but drove him to suicide.
The Greek phrase may have been mere rhetoric.
Similarly if the horoscope is correct the death of the
two men took place in 138, i. e. after the death of Aelius
\ erus, who had died on January 1 , 138.
That Fuscus was guilty, seems now quite certain,
while the innocence of Servianus is once more con
firmed. All the more poignant in the light of this new
evidence is the incident preserved by Dios excerptor
X iphilinus:
S erv ian u s before being executed (trplv Sc r<j>ayijvai)
asked for fire, and as he offered incense he exclaim ed:
T h a t I am gu ilty of no w rong, ye, O Gods, a re well a w a re ;
as for H ad rian , this is my only prayer, th a t he m ay long
for death but be unable to die.248

The old m ans wish was granted. Hadrian suffered

the tortures of the damned before death released him . 248
Meanwhile, our historians are silent on the fate of
Fuscus parents. His horoscope clearly said that they
were involved in his ruin. Had they been executed,
however, the horoscope would hardly have withheld this
information. W e may assume perhaps that they were
banished. In any case, however, the horoscope revealed
that the suspicion concerning the traditional death date
of Fuscus' mother (ca. 131) was warranted . 250 She
must have died in or after 138.
The imperial invalid dragged out his miserable exist
ence until July 10, 138. As he lay dying his restless
SH A , Hadrian, 25, 8; compare 23, 2-3 and 8.
* Ibid., 23. 3.
Cassius Dio, ep. 69, 17, 1.
=** Ibid., 17, 2.
'" I b id ., 17, 2-3; SHA , Hadrian, 26, 6; 24, 8 ff.; Aurelius
Victor, epit. 14, 9 and 12.
See tor example B. W. Henderson, The life . . . of Hadrian :
-30 n. 1; 231, n. B. The attempt to support the view that
Hadrian's so-called letter to Servianus is substantially authentic
still leaves unexplained the improbability of Hadrian's familiarity
with the details ot the later Christian hierarchy.

T H E R E T R E A T O F T H E C H A M P IO N S O F
A STRO LO G Y IN T H E SEC O N D C E N T U R Y

Hadrian did revive the imperial fervor for astrology

which seems to have subsided under his predecessor.
Plotina, wife of the late T rajan, had been inclined
towards the Epicureans. Therefore, what influence she
would have had in the reign of T rajan was bound to
be unfavorable to astrologys popularity at court. But
H adrian had, indeed, restored the imperial tradition
relying on astrology. His successors, Antoninus Pius
(138-161) and Marcus Aurelius (161-180), however,
were animated by a different spirit. T heir mellowed
Stoicism resembled more closely that of the age of
Panaetius (ca. 150 b . c . ) than it adhered to the sterner
concepts of men like Posidonius, or Manilius and the
leading Roman Stoics of the first century a . d . The
differentiation between a benign providence and a neu
tral, inexorable, and immutable Fate already pervaded
the writings of Seneca, although, for example in his
quaestiones naturales, he strongly leaned towards
fatalism . 253
The renewed retreat of Stoicism from absolute fatal
ism was part of a general trend. In the second century
of our era there developed a renaissance of that struggle
which had characterized the second century b . c . Once
moreand mostly with the old arguments the battle
of free will versus Fate was being fought. This revival
had a melancholy aspect, for both sides were firm be
lievers in reason. But just as in the earlier conflict
Chrysippus and Diogenes of Babylon, Stoic champions
of fatalism, had been forced by a rising tide of Scepti
cism (culminating in Cameades and his New Academy)
to compromise to a degreea compromise best repreCompare F. Cumont, L u x perpetua: 304.
SH A , Hadrian, 25, 9: Animula vagula blandula
hospes comesque corporis,
quae nunc abibis in loca
pallidula rigida nudula?
nee ut soles dabis iocos.
5=3 See above, p. 119 ff.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FR O M N E R V A T O SE V E R U S A L EX A N D ER
sented by Panaetius the Stoics of the second century
a . d . sought to reconcile their faith in Fate with a gentler
belief in a benign Providence. Their foes, Platonists,
Epicureans, Peripatetics, and Cynics in particular,
would of course never agree with fatalist concepts of
any sort. Indeed, there could be no compromise be
tween those on the one side who believed in a rationally
organized cosmos and those on the other who either
believed in an arbitrary divine rule or denied any cosmic
order, insisting that, even if it existed, men would never
be able to discern it. One might, therefore, just as well
cease to concern oneself with problems of this kind.
The Stoicism of the second century thus faced a wide
front of reinvigorated intellectual opposition. No longer
could it retain its earlier predominance in Romes ruling
stratum.
The transformation from unbending fatalism (which
hearkened back to the early days of Stoicism) into the
gentler attitude of the second century a . d . was largely
due to the influence of a Greek slave from Phrygia:
Epictetus. Bom about a . d . 60 in Hierapolis, Epictetus
arrived as a small boy in Rome, slave to Neros freedman, Epaphroditus . 254 This worthy, it is said, bent on
breaking the youngster's unshakable calm even when
faced with torture, succeeded only in breaking his leg,
crippling him for life, 255 but did not cow his spirit.
Eventually Epictetus gained his freedom and lived in
abject poverty in Rome.25 In contrast to astrological
activities the teaching of philosophy was apparently
unprofitable in a capital whence in the Flavian era by
government action philosophers were expelled on more
than one occasion ,257 Stoics and Cynics in particular
being favorite targets of such measures. Finally the
persecution of the Stoic opposition and the expulsion of
philosophers in 93 drove the penniless Epictetus from
Rome . 258 Retreating to Nicopolis across the Adriatic
he continued his teaching, but again without financial
success. Even in later life this St. Francis of the princi
pate was attended only by a woman hired by him to
rear a child that he had saved from death by exposure . 258
Epictetus apparently returned to Rome in the reign of
H adrian (117-138) who treated him with great re
spect. 260 In spite of modem scepticism there is no
biological impossibility about the tradition which as
signed his death to the reign of Antoninus Pius . 281
An age of eighty was not uncommon for philosophers,
* Tacitus, Annals 15, 55; compare Suidas, s. v. Bruner**.
Origines, contra Celsum 7, 53. Suidas, loc. cit., says the
philosophers lameness dated back to his b irth : Simplicius,
comment, in Aristot., f. 102, ascribed it to rheumatism.
* Simplicius, loc. cit. ; Gellius. 2, 18.
=ST See F. H. Cramer, Expulsion of astrologers from ancient
Rome, Classica ct Mediaevalia 12, 1-2, 1951: 39 ff.
258 Ibid. : 41-46; compare Gellius, 15, 11.
;5 Simplicius, comment, in Arist., f. 272.
"* SH A , Hadrian, 16, 10.
Themistius, oral. cons, ad Joviam m imp. (ed. Dindorf: 5;
75-84). There (f. 63 D ; ed. D indort: 76, 2-3) the friendship

179

and therefore for Epictetus to die after 138 would not

necessarily be out of the question.
His influence over Antoninus Pius and Marcus
Aurelius was in any case considerable. Hence his views
on divination (which of course would include astrology)
carried special weight. Indeed, it is safe to say that
the reign of these two emperors (138-161; 161-180)
marked the first period since the days of Augustus in
which Stoic fatalism was applied logically by Roman
rulers. Since divination only revealed what the future
would bring in any case, there was no reason for an
emperor to worry about any predictions which his sub
jects might receive about their future. It may be an
accident that among the usual omens for the future
grandeur of Antoninus Pius and M. A urelius 2 ,2 no
astrological predictions have been recorded . 283 Even if
in moments of political crisis Marcus Aurelius occa
sionally deviated from his tranquil attitude , - 84 on the
whole the tenor of governmental equanimity during
these four decades provided a wholesome change from
the frantic fears of the previous century.
The attitude of Epictetus which must largely be
credited with bringing about this profound change in
the imperial outlook was reflected in his views on
divination in general:
F ro m an unseasonable re g ard to divination we omit many
duties. F o r w h at can the div in er see, besides death, or
danger, or in sh o rt things of this kin d ? W hen it is neces
sary to expose oneself to d an g er to r a friend, or even a
duty to die fo r him , w h at occasion have I for divination?
H av e I n o t a div in er w ithin, who has told me the essence
of good and evil . . . ? W h a t fu rth e r need, then, have I of
the en trails of victim s, o r the flight of b ird s? . . .
W h a t, then, is it th a t leads us so often to divination?
C ow ardice, the dread of events. H ence w e flatter the
d iv in e rs : P ray , sir, shall I in h erit my fa th ers estate ?
L et us see, let me sacrifice upon the occasion. N ay, sir,
ju s t as F o rtu n e pleases. T hen, if he says, Y ou shall
in h e rit it, w e g ive him thanks, as if we received the
inheritance from him. T h e consequence is th a t they play
on us.265

Although only haruspicial and augural techniques

were referred to, this criticism of Epictetus applied to
all clients of diviners, regardless of the particular
method employed.
Epictetus the Stoic was as ready as his predecessors
to believe in divination. But his approach was that of
the true fatalist:
W e should come w ithout previous desire o r aversion. As
a trav eler inquires the road of the person he meets, w ithout
between Epictetus and the Antonines is paralleled with that
between Thrasyllus and Tiberius (76, 1).
Especially during the rebellion of Avidius Cassius; compare
F. H. Cramer, Expulsion of astrologers from ancient Rome,
Classica et Mediaevalia 12, 1-2, 1951: 46 ff.
1,1 SHA , M. Antoninus. 4, 3. He was credited with acting as
a prophet (v o te s ); ibid., 4, 4.
Ibid., Antoninus Pius, 3, 1-5.
1
5 Epictetus, Discourses 2, 7, 1-2; compare Enchiridion, 32.

180

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

any desire for that w hich turns to the rig h t hand, m ore
than to the left. . . . W hy do you, as fa r as in you lies, co r
ru p t your ju dge and seduce your adviser [the d iv in er] ? 266

But in his views on providence, repeatedly proffered

in the extant collection of his teachings, 267 Epictetus
modified the stem creed of the earlier fatalists. He as
sumed a view attacked so bitterly by Voltaire in his
Candidethat rational Providence was benign and not
an unfeeling machine operating the universe:
W henever you lay anything to the charge of Providence,
do but reflect, and you w ill find that it has happened ag re e
ably to reason.2*8

The amor jati of Epictetus moulded his concept of free

will. For him it consisted of a voluntary acceptance
neither joyous nor abject:
H e is free who lives as he lik e s; who is not su b ject either
to compulsion, to restraint, or to violence; w hose p u r
suits are unhindered, his desires successful, his aversions
u nincurred.269

But no one, not even a man who has been consul twice
and is the emperors friend, is his own m aster:
W ho can compel m e but the m aster of all, C aesar ?
By your own confession, then, you have a m a s te r; a rid
let not his being, as you say, m aster ot all give you any
com fort, but know that you are a slave in a g reat fam ily. 270

Political concepts of this kind revealed the trans

formation of Stoicism from a creed on which the Roman
opposition to imperial rule could draw into one which
emperors themselves would readily profess and like to
see adopted by their subjects. It was perhaps signifi
cant that the disciple of Epictetus to whom we owe the
extant collection of this meek Stoics teachings was
Arrian, a competent man of action, a Greek, who reached
the consulate and himself became a member of the
Roman senate . 271 Author of one of the most impor
tant historical accounts of Alexander the Greats era,
as well as of other historical works now lost, 272 this
Bithynian was consul sometime between 121 and 124,
and occupied during the last years of H adrians reign
he was still in office in 137 the post of governor of
Cappadocia. He lived into the reign of Marcus Aure
lius and must have provided a living link between
Epictetus and this imperial disciple. Apart from the
professional philosophers, who taught M. Aurelius in
his. youth, men of the type of Flavius Arrianus ap
parently exercised a profound influence upon the Stoic
on the throne.
Epictetus. Discourses 2, 7, 3.
Ibid., especially 1, 6 and 16; 3, 17.
=** Ibid. 3. 17.
=* Ibid. 4, 1, 1.
* Ibid., 4, 1, 11.
171 An exceptional honor at the time for a naturalized citizen.
For a list ot these and other writings, see for example F.
Gregorovius. Der Kaiser H adrian: 323-325.

The tranquil acceptance of Fate already the Stoic

Seneca had written a treatise de tranquillitatc animae
had been voiced by the all but philosophical T rajan who
quoted what seems to have been a popular phrase at
the tim e: 273 No ruler would ever he able to slay his
successor. 271 The restless Hadrian a kindred soul
to the universalist A rrian had striven vainly for that
airadia, the apathy of the Stoics. But Antoninus Pius,
whose character portrait M. Aurelius hitnself drew in
his Meditations, reverently, but on the whole accurately,
succeeded in achieving it. The coinage of his reign
expressed a decided preference, especially in Alexan
dria , 275 for astral symbols, but of the ruler himself no
predilection for astrology or any other forms of divina
tion was recorded. In this he differed sharply from his
predecessor, Hadrian, whose complex personality would
never have evoked an appraisal like this one applied to
Antoninus Pius bv M. Aurelius:
He would bear with them that with all boldness and
liberty opposed his opinions; and even rejoice if any man
could better advise him : and lastly how religious he ivas
without superstition.27
This may have been meant as a direct reflection on
H adrians very different temper of which M. Aurelius
(bom April 26, 121) must have witnessed many an
outbreak. Astrology like other forms of divination
Antoninus Pius himself would probably accept but
without fear of the future. Epictetus would surely have
approved the watchword chosen by the emperor on his
deathbed: Equanimity. 277
Historians have always blamed Marcus Aurelius for
transferring the succession to his inept son, Commodus,
thus breaking the principle laid down by Nerva and Stoic
political philosophy: the succession of the worthiest. In
fact, however. Nerva had no son, neither had Trajan.
H adrians marriage too remained childless. Antoninus
Pius had two sons, but both died before he was adopted
by H adrian . 278 He reaffirmed the dynastic principle,
however, by bestowing his only surviving child. Faus
tina. on his adopted son and heir, M. Aurelius, in 145,279
having broken a previous engagement of the heir to the
throne . - 80 In acting in such a manner, Antoninus Pius
271 Apollonius of Tyana was credited with the same statement,
Philostratus, Apollonius of Tyana, 8. 7. 16.
371 SH A , Avidius Cassius. 2, 3. The letter may be a forgery,
but the words would well represent T rajan's frame of mind.
571 Compare H. Vogt, Die alexandrinischen Muenaen 1: 118 ff.
M. Aurelius, Meditations 6, 30, 2 (e n d ); also 1, 16, 1-9
(on Antoninus P iu s).
",7 SH A , Antoninus Pius. 12. 6.
-TS Their remains were placed in H adrians mausoleum, where
their names have been found on sepulchral inscriptions; C IL 6:
185, nos. 988 ; 989. One o f his daughters also died before a . d .
138. She had been married to Lamia Silanus, and her remains
were laid to rest alongside those of her brothers in Hadrian's
mausoleum: CIL 6: 185. no. 990.
"7 SHA . Antoninus Pius. 1, 7; .1/. Antoninus, 6, 6.
580 SHA . .1/. Antoninus, o , 2.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S ALEXAN D ER

TABLE 3
S tar- sym bols on

Ruler

No.1'
50
132
16
49

60

( A . D.

C o in s o f t h e

C ity ; date, if any

Augustus

G reek

11-12)

[C. Caesar

( a . d.

4)

Tiberius or C aius:
Ptolemy, king of
Mauretania
Claudius

P r in c ip a te *

Symbol

Alexandria

Cresent and Star.

Antioch

Aries.

Alexandria

Crescent, horns upwardsl.

. d.

23-40

Crescent upwards, containing Star of six

rays, border of dots.

Iceni (B ritain)

( a . d.

50)

Two Crescents back to back with groups

of pellets around them.
Similar.

61

133

Nero

Antioch

136

Hadrian

Eucarpeia (Phrygia)

Gemini?Two stars connected by ver

tical line.

Antoninus Pius

Nicomedia (Bithynia)

Crescent with horns upwards; within it

three stars.

Alexandria

Zodiac inside of which a circle of the

eponymous gods of the days of the
week; busts of Saturn, Sun, Moon,
Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus. In
center of circle bust of Sarapis.

56
129

( a . d.

55)

130

Aries, Ram leaping; above, Star of six

rays.

Two Zodiacs, one inside the other, each

sign coinciding. Inside busts of Sarapis
and Isis, wearing globe and horns,
jugale 1. (commencement of Sothiac
circle).
144-145)

131

135

---

137

Bust of Helios radiate; beneath Lion

rushing; star (Sun in Leo).

138

Jupiter in Pisces; bust of Zeus in front,

star; beneath, Fishes.

139

Antoninus Pius

( a . d.

Aquarius, Saturn in i t
Bust of Selene; in front a star; beneath,
crescent moon in Cancer (Crab).

Alexandria (Egypt)

140

141

Venus in Taurus. Bust of Aphrodite.

Beneath, bull; above star.

141a

Constellation of the Ploughman. Plough

man, ploughing with yoke of oxen.

( a . d.

142

47

Mars in Scorpio. Helmeted bust of Ares.

Star in front. Scorpio beneath.

Constellation of the Reaper. Reaper,

wearing short kirtle. His right hand
cuts three stalks of grain which he holds
with his left

17 L. Verus
25

144-145)

Jupiter in Sagittarius. Galloping Centaur

with star above head.

Septimius Severus

Carrhae

Crescent with horns upwards, placed upon

a globe.

Nicopolis (Lower Moesia) Crescent and star.

Carrhae

Crescent upwards, upon a cushion.

* The samples are taken from L. Anson, Numismata Graeca, 6, 1916; 1 ff., London.
6 Numbers as in Anson, loc. cit. Those italicized refer to coins reproduced in fig. no. 1 (Anson,
6. pi. I I ) ; see above, pp. 33 ff.

T H E R IS E AN D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD
T A B LE 3 Continued
No."
55

C ity; date, if any

Ruler
-

Symbol

Philippopolis (Thrace)

Crescent, horns upw ards; above, three

stars.

57

Pantalia (Thrace)

Crescent within which are four stars.

58

Philippopolis (T hrace)

Crescent, above which are nine stars, and

two below.

52 (or Caracalla)

Silandus (Lydia)

S tar of six rays within crescent. Above,

another star of six rays. Border of dots.

30 Geta

Hadrianopolis (T hrace)

Crescent within which a star.

39

Caracalla

Carrhae

S tar within crescent.

54

Diadumenianus

Marcianopolis
(Lower Moesia)

Crescent within which are three stars.

Amastris (Paphlagonia)

H era, Zeus, encircled by Zodiac.

127 Julia Maesa

38

Elagabalus

Carrhae

S tar within crescent.

48

Crescent upward, resting on globe, and

having an eight-rayed star between
horns.

29 Julia Mamaea

Byzantium '

Crescent and star above it.

24

Marcianopolis
(Low er Moesia)

Crescent within which a star.

Gordianus Pius

36

Magnesia (M eander)

Stars between letters of inscription. Cres

cent w ith star.

134

Nisibis (Mesopotamia)

Aries above bust of Tyche. Before and

behind her a star.
H ead of Meduse surrounded by the signs
of the Zodiac.

128

No.J
40
41
42

Valerianus

Aegeae (Cilicia)

Symbol

Date

Ruler
Orodes I

57-38/37 b . c.

S tar within crescent.

Similar.

Similar.

43

Phraates IV

38/37-3/2 b . c.

44

Phraates V

3/2

45

Artabanus III

46

Gotarzes

40/41-51

B. C .-A . D

d.10/11-40

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A TO SE V E R U S A L EX A N D ER
merely followed a pattern already preferred by T rajan,
who lacking any children had at least linked Sabina,
one of his closest younger relatives, in marriage to
H adrian .-* 1 The world should thank Providence tor
the dearth of sons in the imperial families of the second
century rather than accuse M. Aureliusthe first em
peror since Vespasian ( a . d . 69-70) (i.e . since more
than a century !) to possess a surviving sonof suc
cumbing to the natural feelings of paternal affection.
Nor could it be taken for granted that the by-passing
of Commodus would have been possible without a civil
war to follow. Yet the grim irony persists: Hadrian,
at least influenced by, although probably not relying ex
clusively on, his faith in the stars, selected for the suc
cession two of the best rulers of the principate, perhaps
of all tim e: Antoninus Pius and M. Aurelius. The latter,
however, serenely convinced of the vanity of mundane
values, succumbed to paternal affection. He hoped
probably that if Fate did not ordain the succession of
his handsome but weak son Commodus, it would elimi
nate him in due course. If, on the other hand, Destiny
willed that Commodus was to rule, what Stoic could
entertain foolish hopes to oppose the inexorable?
Although the Byzantine historian Xiphilinus ener
getically asserted that M. Aurelius was impervious to
beliefs in magic and witchcraft, 282 it seems more likely
that the imperial Stoic viewed such crafts as he did
astrology and other forms of divination, i. e. with a
quiet amor fati: no magic could take effect unless Fate
willed it. W e have the authority of Cassius Dio for a
miraculous episode in which a wizard played a lead
ing role, a wizard, who, during the war against the
Quadi in 174, was a personal companion of the em peror:

Crescent and star.

Star within crescent.
S tar within crescent.
Inside a wreath a crescent and a star.

* Nos. 26, 27, 28 of imperial Byzantine coinage show the same type of reverse.
J Numbers and data from Anson, op. cit.. 6: 4-5. These Greek coins belong obviously to the first
century of the principate, some antedating it as far back as the first triumvirate. Actually Greek
coinage inscribed with crescents and stars was minted as early as the fifth century by a number
of Greek cities, for example Cnossus on Crete, Athens, Zacynthus, and possibly Croton and
Syracuse. That a city like the Macedonian Uranopolis (. Sky town ) should mint coins with
astral symbols is hardly surprising. F urther archaeological discoveries since the time when
Ansons work went to press have added to our evidence, but the sample-lists given above bear
witness to the fact that all but three zodiacal constellations, as well as the entire zodiac and
planets (except Mercury, but including the sun and the moon) were represented, Alexandria in
the reign of Antoninus Pius providing the larger portion of such Greek coins. They assuredly
attest continued interest in star lore among artists, but should by no means be interpreted as
astrological symbols until clear evidence to that effect will be discovered.

T h e Q u ad i had su rro u n d ed them [th e R om ans]. . . . T he

Rom ans w ere in a te rrib le plig h t from fatigue, wounds, the
h eat of the sun, an d th ir s t . . . w hen suddenly . . . a m ighty
rain , not w ith o u t d ivine interposition, b u rst upon them.
Indeed, th ere is a sto ry to the effect th a t A rnuphis, an
E g y p tian m agus, w ho w as a com panion of M arcus, had
invoked by m eans o t enchantm ent various deities . . . and
by this m eans attra c te d the ra in .283

The sensational incident was long remembered. Suidas

included Arnuphis in his Lexicon, while Xiphilinus,
unwilling to let the credit for so miraculous an event
belong to a pagan theurgian, insisted that Christians in
the ranks of the army of Marcus Aurelius had through
their prayers brought about the saving downpour. They
had. he insisted, done so upon the express request of
the emperor who had been informed that Christians
can accomplish anything whatever by their prayers . 284
A modern suggestion that the magus Arnuphis may
have been identical with his famous contemporary, the
1,1 See above, p. 152, 170.
** Cassius Dio, ep. 72, 9, 3, from Xiphilinus.
Ibid., 8, 2-4.
=, Cassius Dio, ep. 72, 9, 1-6, from Xiphilinus.

183

theurgian Julianus, son of Julianus the Chaldaean,2

also remains a mere conjecture, although a somewhat
likelier one than the jealous legend of Xiphilinus.
In any case the plight of the army was such that on
this occasion M. Aurelius may well have been willing
to try any expedient whatever. H e certainly was no
foe of divination either and himself accepted dreams as
revelations of providence.-86 Nor did he hesitate to
consult in the usual fashion astrologers when on August
31, 161, not long after his accession to the throne, his
wife. Faustina, presented him with twin toys. Worried
perhaps by a dream of his wife he sought the advice of
the stars:
B ut after she had given b irth to Commodus and A nto
ninus, this latter, for whom the astrologers had forecast a
horoscope as favorable as th at of Commodus, lived only to
be four years old.287

This bitter experience did not shake the faith of

M. Aurelius. H e took divination for granted and re
mained convinced that astrologers like physicians might
make mistakes, but that their craft as such was valid:
L et it be thy p erpetual m editation, how m any physicians
who once looked so g rim . . . , a re gone themselves. H ow
m any astrologers, after in g re a t ostentation they had fo re
told the d eath of some others, how m any philosophers, . . .
how m any brav e captains and com m anders, . . . how many
kings an d ty ran ts, . . . how m any whole cities . . . both men
and to w n s: Helice, P om peji. H erculanum , and others innu
m erable a re dead an d g o n e ! 288

Grouped amidst physicians and philosophers, captains

and kings, the astrologers were irony of ironies so
highly placed because of their predictions of other mens
death, a criminal offense according to the law of Rome
since a . d . 1 1 ! That this prowess of the astrologers
was considered their most potent appeal was made clear
by M. Aureliusand if he took that view, we may safely
assume that educated Roman believers in astrology
shared it:
H ippocrates, h av in g cu red m any sicknesses, fell sick him
self and died. T h e C haldaeans and astrologers, having
foretold the d eath of diverse, w ere afterw ard s themselves
su rp rised by d eath .288
*** See below, p. 221.
*M . Aurelius, Meditations 1, 17, 8; compare SHA, M.
Antoninus, 5, 2. Friends and foes of astrology alike were prone
to accept the revelatory nature of dreams, for example Galen,
Cassius Dio, and the rhetorician Aristides, as well as the sceptic
Lucian of Samosata.
'*7 SH A , Commodus, 1, 4. It may be taken for granted that
no astrologer warned M. Aurelius that his other son was to end
hs life as a degenerate falling under an assassins blows.
** M. Aurelius, Meditations 4, 48, 1; compare Epictetus, Dis
courses 3, 10, 15.
"**
Aurelius, Meditations 3, 3, 1. H e used in this passage
the Greek term to m -punnor. a synonym for fate. But fate since
Homeric days had denoted both death and destiny; for other
passages in which M. Aurelius employed the traditional Greek
word for fate, compare for example ibid. 3, 6, 1; 5, 8, 1; still
other terms in 4, 44; 26, etc.

184

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

The Meditations abound with their authors views on

Fate. Providence, and Epicurean accidentalism. For
exam ple:
E ith er Fate and th a t either an absolute necessity, and
unavoidable decree, or a placable and flexible Providence
or all is a mere casual confusion, void of all o rd er and
g overnm ent. If an absolute and unavoidable necessity, why
doest thou resist? If a placable and exorable Providence,
m ake thyself w orthy of the divine help and assistance. . . .
T o ev erything happens [only] w hat the n atu re of the
universe ordains for it. A nd it occurs only a t th a t tim e.
W h y should thoughts of m istru st and suspicion con>ce rn in g th at which is future, trouble thy m ind a t all ? . . .
F o r all things derive force from the n atu re of the universe,
and w ithin a very little w hile all w ill have ceased to
exist. . . . W atch the stars in their courses as one th a t
ru n n eth about w ith them therein. . . . T h e n a tu re of the
universe did once deliberately resolve upon the creation of
the w orld. . . .
W hatsoever does happen unto any, is ordained to him
as a thing subordinate unto the fates. . . . T he refo re let us
accept these things, as w e do those prescribed unto us by
Asclepius. . . ,-m

Even if an exorable Providence appeared as a substi

tute for Fate, M. Aurelius, who was no independent
thinker but a receptive vessel for the revived Stoicism
of the second century, could create a niche for a modi
cum of free will only with considerable difficulty.
Quoting Epictetus, he exclaimed:
E ith er the Gods can do nothing for us a t all, o r they can
still and allay the distractions and distem pers of thy
mind. . . . B ut thou w ilt say p erch a n ce: In those things
the gods have given m e my liberty. B ut w ert thou not
b etter if thou m avst use this liberty like a free m an than
wilfully to concern thyself w ith baseness and servility of
m ind to affect those things, which a re not in thy pow er ? . . .
W hatsoever does happen in the world does happen ju stly . . .
I say not only in right order by a series of inevitable conse

quences. but also according to justice.191

It was this difference which marked the chief dis
tinction between the inexorable mechanical fatalism of
early Stoicism (and its ally, fatalistic astrology) and
the mellowed Stoicism of the second century of our era.
6.

T H E A STROLOG ICA L L IT E R A T U R E O F T H E
LA TE R P R IN C IP A T E

Historv is not a sequence of rigidly circumscribed

units of time. The Hellenistic era which witnessed the
birth of the first major Greek literature in the field of
astrology passed imperceptibly into the Graeco-Roman
period. Throughout the eight centuries from Berossus
to John Lydus, Greek astrologers continued to pour
out treatise after treatise. Most of these were based on
a relativelv small number of classical authors whose
writings dated back to the last three centuries before

our era. The principate witnessed few original con

tributions in this field, but even amongst the compilers,
synthesizers, and organizers of the growing mass of
materials we can distinguish two groups, the one be
longing to the later principate, flourishing approxi
mately in the era from T rajan to Severus Alexander
(98-235), the other the last revivalists of astrology
in antiquitydating chiefly from the reign of Constan
tine I to that of Justinian I (311-565). W ithin the
scope of our present endeavor lies only the first of the
two . 202 It included a host of almost forgotten men
few fragments besides their names have survivedbut
also the most important extant Greek manuals on the
subject, especially the Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy and the
Anthologiae of Vettius Valens.
The most important modem effort of surveying Greek
astrological literature has been concentrated in a single
undertaking. About half a century ago a small band
of classical philologists united under the leadership of
Franz Cumont. They shared the desire to branch out
from the stereotyped overconcentration on classical
Greek and Latin literature. Their aim, successfully
achieved in 1953 after more than fifty years, was to
edit a catalogue of Greek astrological texts surviving
in European libraries. Among those rallying to the
cause. Franz Boll and Wilhelm Kroll were perhaps
the two most significant figures. Boll, who had begun
his career as a librarian, established his first great mark,
when in 1894 he proved beyond any reasonable doubt
the much contested authenticity of Ptolemys authorship
of the most renowned extant manual of scientific
astrology, the T etrabiblos.-** In the same year Riess pub
lished substantial parts of a famous astrological manual
of the Hellenistic era, the handbook of NechepsoPetosiris. s#* Since then twelve volumes of the Catalogtts codicutn astrologorum Graecorum have been
published, all of them with long appendices in which
portions of the texts themselves are printed. This
corpus gives access to a vast mass of hitherto unknown
or inadequately known Greek writings.
The most famous astrological treatise of antiquity,
the Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy, has recently been repub
lished twice within the same year (1940)> once in the
Teubner edition of his collected works , 205 and simul
taneously (with an English translation) in the Loeb
Classics series,29by a strange editorial whim together

2,1 The later era will be treated in F. H. Cram ers forthcoming

Astrology in Rom an Law and Politics, from Diocletian to
Justinian I.
2',;, F. Boll, Studien ueber Claudius Ptolemaeus. Ein Beitrag
:ur Geschichte dcr griechischcn Philosophic und Astrologte
(Jahrb. f. klass. Philot.. 21, 1894).
2.4 E. Riess, Nechcpsimts ct Petosiridis fragm ents magica
( Philolgus, suppl. 6, 1894 : 325-394).
2.5 Ed. E. Boer, Ptolemy, opera omnia 3, 1; Leipzig, Teubner,
2,0 Ibid. 12. 14 and 1; 10, 20 (compare 4, 23) ; 8, 5; 7, 48 and 1940.
** Ed. F. E. Robbins, Loeb Classics, Cambridge, H arvard
75; S. 8, 1.
University Press and London. W . Heinemann, Ltd., 1940.
m Ibid. 9, 40: 4. 10.

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M E FRO M N E R V A TO SE V E R U S ALEX A N D ER

with the Aegyptiaca of Manetho. The Anthologiae of
Vettius Valens were published though incompletely
by W. Kroll in 1908. This edition lacks a preface, but
an introduction by W. Kroll prefaces a selection of the
Greek astrologers work in volume 5, 2 of the Catalogus
cod. astrol. graec. Recently O. Neugebauer by a pains
taking investigation of the horoscopes found in the
Anthologiae has established that the astronomically de
terminable dates of the work begin with two horoscopes
between a . d . 37 and 50. There are forty-odd refer
ences to specific dates, all of them between a . d . 54 and
157. The two latest horoscopes pertain to the years
173 and 188, respectively. The rest, numbering about
one hundred horoscopes, extend from a . d . 61 to 162.
Book V of the Anthologiae in chapters purporting to be
based on the writings of the early hellenistic astrologer
Critodemus (ch. 1 1 and 12) includes horoscopes from
a . d . 37, 6 8 , 92, and 104, obviously centuries later than
the usually accepted lifetime of Critodemus. The pre
ceding chapter (10) contains 13 horoscopes, dating
from a . d . 102 to 153. From the horoscope of a child
bom on August 14, 158 and referred to by Vettius
Valens as dead in 161, as well as from the distribution
of other horoscopes Neugebauer rightly concluded that
the bulk of the Anthologiae was written between 152
and 162, the author using earlier material in earlier
books and perhaps making a few additions in later
years. Since Ptolemys observations fell into the same
period ( a . d . 127-151), it seems that the often com
mented on failure of either to mention the others astro
logical writings was due to the fact that both wrote at
the same time.298*
Still unassembled, on the other hand, are for example
the numerous fragments of Dorotheus of Sidon, Antio
chus of Athens, and some lesser astrological writers of
the later principate. The astrological poem of Manetho,
whose last printed text is almost a century old, would
merit a new edition. Historians and philologists alike
might well benefit from the diversion of some of our
young scholars to this promising field which contains
a rich harvest of source materials in the large numbers
of Greek manuscripts dealing with astronomy, astrology,
astromagic, alchemy, medicine, and magic. It is, indeed,
a pity that the first volume of Lynn Thorndikes monu
mental work, devoted to the history of magic and ex
perimental science, merely skimmed the surface of so
important a topic, condensing its survey of 1300 ( !)
years of ancient and early mediaeval developments into
a single (though substantial) volume.
It is not our task to write a history of astrological
literature. Therefore, it seems sufficient to deal only
with those writers of the later principate whose impact
on their own time was so great that posterity continued
to use their works for a prolonged period, in some cases
2,l O. Neugebauer, The chronology of Vettius Valens Anthol
ogiae, M anuscript to be published in the Harz-ard Theological
Reviezv.

185

until the very present. Among the men whose pens had
so durable an effect one finds for example astrologerpoets like Astrampsychus, Dorotheus of Sidon, and
Manetho, physicians like Antigonus of Nicaea and
Galen, professional astrologers like Anubio, Antiochus
of Athens, and Vettius Valens. or astrologer-scientists
of whom Ptolemv was the most illustrious representa
tive in the later principate. Astrampsychus, for exam
ple, was an ancient magus, antedating Alexander the
Great. - 07 But in his name (as in that of almost any
renowned sage ) astrological writings were published at
a much later date. Of these we possess 101 verses in
a strictly alphabetical arrangement. - 08 Since the date of
these verses cannot be determined with any degree of
accuracy, we can only assign him to the Graeco-Roman
era in general, but prior to the time of Manetho's
Apotelestnata, i. e. prior to a . d . 100. A t any rate,
together with Dorotheus of Sidon and Manetho, Astram
psychus represented the type of astrologer-poet which
was to enjoy considerable popularity in the second and
third centuries of our era.
Another astrologer who liked on occasion to express
himself in verse may have been Anubio.2* Substantial
fragments of his prose have also been preserved.**
About his life and profession we know nothing. Only a
terminus ante quem may be established by the fact that
Manethos astrological poem seems to have used some
of Anubios writings also. If any conclusions couJd be
drawn from his name, he would have been an Egyptian.
O n the other hand, the reputation of Egypt during die
principate as the center of astrological studies was so
great that any enterprising astrologer from the Greek
east might well have chosen an Egyptian name for a
pseudonym. Perhaps the mass of extant materials,
barely canvassed, will sooner or later render some addi
tional information about Anubio and his writings. If
Anubios penchant for versecontested though it is
did not leave many traces for posterity, this cannot
be said in the case of a renowned figure among the
astrological authors of the late principate, the astrologerpoet, Dorotheus of Sidon.
Diogenes Laertius, pr., 2 ; cf. Riess, R E 2, 1896: c. 1796 f . ;
F. Boll, R E , suppl. 1, 1903: c. 155.
2 Ed. J. Rendel H arris, The annotators of the codex Bezae;
128-160, 1901; Suidas, s.v.-, compare Pap. Mus. Brit., CX XII,
I f . ; C. Wessely, Neue griechische Zauberpapyri, Denkschriften,
Kais. A k. d. iViss. W ien, Phil.-hist. Kl., 42, 2, 1893 : 55 and 58;
also Cat. 1: 25; 2 : 6 and 72; 3 : 4; 4: 43; 5, 4: 7; 31; 33; 107f.;
8, 2: ( A t ; 73; 74; 8, 3: 72; 9, 1: 24; 11. 1: HOf.
* Hephaestion of Thebes, one of our best sources for earlier
astrological writings, cited under the name of Anubio twelve
verses (2, 2) ; see Cat. 8, 1: 147, 10-22; compare, however, the
violent opposition to the belief that these verses stemmed from
Anubios pen. ibid. 5, 3: 124, n. 1 (J. Heeg) ; see also J. Heeg,
Dorotheus von Sidon und Firmicus Maternus Math. VI, Hermes
45, 1910: 315 f.
See for example Cat. 2 : 202-212 ; 8. 2: 57, 16-27: 61, 4-8;
and references to him in Cat. 2 : 35; 47; 190, 15 and 32; 7:
108 n.; 8, 1 : 15; 162; 8, 4: 115 f .; 203, 3 and 18; 10: 93.

186

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

Among the Greek astrologers who believed in making

their dry offerings more palatable by presenting them
in poetic form, he was probably the most important.
For his writings whether they were originally in prose
and later versified by him or someone else is not quite
certain not only supplied Firmicus Matem us with
much material, especially for the sixth book of his
Mathesis.3"1 but they were also used by Hephaestion
( f o u r th centurv ; . Palchus lea. 500),"'' and Rhetorius
(ca. 500)."01 For the Arabs Dorotheus became one of
the chief astrological authorities . 705 His main work,
referred to as the Pentateuch?0* probably consisted of
five books, although the astrologer Antiochus on one
occasion quoted from an eleventh book. 307 Omar-benFarchan, who wrote a commentary to Dorotheus' Penta
teuch, preserved the topics with which each of the five
books dealt:
Book I : De natalibus (O n births)
Book I I : De epocliis et periodis (O n eras and periods)
Book I I I : De geniturae dominis (O n the Lords of the
horoscope)
Book IV : De annorum nataltcium conversione (O n the
computation of the birth years)
Book V : De actionibus incipiendis (O n undertakings,
i. e. on catarchic astrology)
Substantial fragments of his work have been published
in the last fifty years ,*08 but no edition of his extant
work has as yet been forthcoming.
The earliest author who seems to have quoted from
101 Ibid. 2: 160, 3; Firmicus M atemus, Mathesis 2, 29.
303 Hephaestion, 1, If f .; Cat. 6: 92 ff.
303 Cat. 6: 67 ff.
304 Compare Cat. 1: 146; 6: 91.
3 In a Greek excerpt from Marsala ( a . d . 770-820?) the
name of Dorotheus occurred in a sequence of authors, preceded
only by Ptolemy, Hermes, and Plato ( !) ; see Cat. 1: 82, 11 f . ;
compare 5, 3 : 115.
*** W. Kroll, Astrologisches, Phiiologus 57 (N . F., 11), 1898:
123-133, esp. 129; Cat. 8, 3: 106.
107 Cf. W. Kroll, R E , suppl. 3, 1918; c. 412-414; also Kuhnert,
R E 5, 1905: c. 1572.
308 For references to and fragments of Dorotheus of Sidon,
see Cat. 1: 14; 29; 53; 57; 82, 11; 103, 20; 107, 2 ; 108, 5;
125, 3; 130, 21; 146, 10; 154, 15 and 20; 173, n .; 2: 1; 32; 33;
34; 35; 40; 44; 47; 157, 11-25; 192, 21; 195, 15-198, 24; 3: 6;
4: 6; 7; 105, 13; 5, 1: 8; 29; 33; 34; 54; 76; 186; 13: 240, 1333; 5, 3: 19; 20; 5, 4: 47; 6: 5; 8; 12; 15; 27; 41; 46; 53; 55;
64, 12; 67; 8 ; 72, 11; 81, 1-11; 91-113; 8, 1: 19; 20; 37; 40;
63; 64; 73; 79; 88; 93; 102; 123; 150, 4-11; 153; 23; 241, 10;
242. 13 ; 246, 7-8 and 30 and 32; 247, a, b, 4; 8, 2: 38; 39; 47;
51. 1; 52, 12 and 18; 42 (54, 9 and 13; 55, 16 and 26) ; 43 (57,
17) ; 44 ( 59, 7) ; 4S (61; 11) ; 47 (64, 21) ; 48 (66. 8) ; 60. 8
and n .; 61. 2-4; 64. 15-23 ; 81; 27; 82, 26 adn.; 88. 24-34 ; 89, n .:
91. n.; I ll, n .: 117, n.; 118, 40; 119, n.; 120, n.; 123, 30; 136,
15: 8, 3; 20 ; 50; 116, 15 and 17; 128, 9; 130, 22: 131. 6; 8 ,4 : 35;
49; 115 and n. 1; 118, n. 2; 125, 2 and app.; 141, 16; 187, 12;
218 in app.: 222, 11; 225; 229. 28 ; 235 ; 242. 26 ; 243, 14 ; 244;
9. 1: 7; 36; 44; 63; 67; 69; 87; 139; 141-156; 161 f.; 164, 15;
175; 10: 90; 93.

the writings of Dorotheus was Antiochus of Athens,

who may have lived between 150 and 200.3O In any
case, the assertion of Abulpharagius, who assigned
Dorotheus to the era of the emperor Julian (361-363).
cannot be taken seriously. Nor can the opposite ex
treme be accepted, i. e. that Dorotheus belonged to the
earlier Hellenistic era.:u" Hephaestion of Tlielws, one
of the main users of Dorotheus work, listed him imme
diately after Thrasyllus (d. 36). 311 If this sequence
expressed a chronological order, Dorotheus would have
flourished in the century between Thrasyllus and
Ptolemy, perhaps early in the second century .312 In any
case. Dorotheus is apparently one of our earliest sur
viving Greek astrologer-poets. Inasmuch as we already
possess an (incomplete) astrological poetical effort in
Latin, the Astronomica of Manilius from the early first
century of our era. we can assume that Hellenistic as
trologers preceded Manilius in the writing of versified
astrological treatises. Yet these early Greek works
have perished, or have at least not yet been rediscovered.
Perhaps a younger contemporary of Dorotheus of
Sidon was an astrologer-poet named Manetho. This
name was a popular one in Hellenistic and Roman
Egypt. Apart from the author of the history of Egypt
in the third century b . c ., we know an important physi
cian by that name who seems to have flourished prior
to Nechepso, i. e. before 150 b . c.31S The poetastrologer Manetho, however, belonged to a much later
era. A horoscope in his poem ( 6 , v. 738) has been
computed. It belongs to the year a . d . 80.314 Although
the influence of Dorotheus of Sidon on M anetho 315
has perhaps been exaggerated,31* the six books of
M anethos Apotelesmata in all likelihood were com
posed after the Pentateuch of Dorotheus. Of historical
interest is the authors fear to deal with royal (or im
perial) constellations from which he shied away as
being liable to arouse official wrath . 317 This attitude,
which later Firmicus Maternus shared , 318 was very
rare among the astrologers of the principate, most of
* Antiochus of Athens used the writings of both Ptolemy and
Dorotheus of Sidon. Hence he must have lived after the middle
of the second century; compare Cat. 8, 3: 106, 17 f.
310 See Roeper, Lectioncs Abulpharagianae: 43; Danzig, 1844.
111 Hephaestion. 2, 22; Cut. 8, 2 : 89, adn. 2 ff.
311W . Kroll, R E . suppl. 3, 1918: c. 414, suggests cautiously
that Dorotheus lived between a . d . 50 and 300.
313 See Laqueur, R E 14, 1, 1928: c. 1060, no. 1,-c. 1101; Kind,
ibid.: c. 1101 f. The passage in which this astrologer-physician
was listed with Nechepso and Cleopatra is found in cod. Laur.
73, 1 (f. 142') : see M. Wellmann, Zur Geschichte der Medizin
in Altertum. Hermes 35, 1900 : 367.
3,4 Computation by Downing; see R. Garnett, On the date of
the awoTe\itrnaTa of Manetho, Jour. Philol. 23, 1894 : 238-240;
compare above, ch. iv, n. 112.
J. Heeg, Dorotheus von Sidon und Firmicus Maternus
M ath. V I, H ermes 45, 1910: 315-316.
31* W. Kroll. R E 14, 1. 1928: c. 1102, no. 2,-1106.
3,7 Manetho, Apotelesmata 6, v. 732.
313 Firmicus M aternus, Mathesis 2, 30, 4 ; compare K. Ziegler,
Zum Zeushvmnus des Kallimachus, Rhein. Mus. 68, 1913 : 341.

A ST R O L O G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A L EX A N D ER
whom did not hesitate to deal in detail with this ever
popular topic. 310
The text of the Apotelesmata. in so far as it was then
known, was published about a century ago . 320 Since
then, however, additional evidence about the sources of
the work has been discovered , - 21 an appraisal of the
basic doctrines of the poem has been published, and a
revision of earlier views about the text 322 has become
necessary. In particular the opinion that Manetho relied
directly on Nechepso-Petosiris, tempting though this
idea was. must now be modified . 323 Dorotheus of Sidon
and the astrologer Anubio have rightly been suggested
as the chief intermediaries between the older Hellenistic
manual and the Apotelesmata of Manetho . 324 The
urgency, proclaimed almost twenty-five years ago, for a
new analytical edition of Manetho's poem , 325 still seems
to remain unrecognized by our modem philologists.
Among the astrologers of the second century of whom
fragments in verse, as well as lengthy ones in prose
have survived , 329 Antiochus of Athens was one of the
most important ones. Copious excerpts of his writings
were preserved, especially by Rhetorius (ca. 500). To
what extent in particular a much copied set of astro
logical verses was the creation of Antiochus or Doro
theus of Sidon , 327 or of later paraphrasers, has not yet
been convincingly clarified. Perhaps the most impor
tant compilation of the Athenian was an anthology
entitled Treasures (Qipavpol)3'1* whose very title was
indicative of the character of the work. Of his life we
know very little , 320 but his influence on posterity was
not inconsiderable. I t was attested by the relatively
frequent mention of his name among astrological authors

187

quoted by later writers, as well as by the survival of

not inconsiderable fragments of synopses of his work
(or works ) . 330 F. Boll published a long epitome of
excerpts, chiefly from Antiochus treatise, combining a
Viennese manuscript version (cod. Vind. phil. gr.
179, ff. 41 ff.) with that of a Munich text (cod. Mon.
28/, ff. 100 ff.) as early as 1908,131 having already previ
ously printed some sections from the same Munich
manuscript . 332

About the period in which Antiochus flourished this

much is known. The anonymous author of an astro
logical compendium of 379 listed him among older as
trologers, i. e. between Vettius Valens and Antigonus
of Nicaea . 333 who, according to Hephaestion of Thebes,
was a close follower of the doctrines of NechepsoPetosiris. Inasmuch as Antigonus of Nicaea lived
towards the end of the second century , 334 it seems that
Antiochus himself flourished somewhat earlier, perhaps
between 150 and 200. Apart from some fragments
surviving in the writings of the astrologer Palchus (ca.
a . d . 500) the work of Antiochus of Athens was chiefly
preserved by Palchus contemporary Rhetorius (ca.
a . d . 500).
In an epitome of book 2 of an Isagoge by
Antiochus, Rhetorius stated that Antiochus approved
the methods of Ptolemy (ca. 150) and of Dorotheus
of Sidon (not later than 175-200).335 He was, how
ever, said to be older than Paulus of Alexandria (end
of fourth century) and Valens 336 (if this meant Vettius
Valens, then not later than about 170). Firmicus
M atem us named Antiochus between Ptolemy and Doro
theus of Sidon . 337 In all then, the later second century
appears to be the era in which Antiochus wrote. Whether
or not he had special connections with Egypt cannot be
31* F o r example Ptolemy, Vettius Valens, and Antigonus of decided, although a calendar of Antiochus of Athens
N icaea.
has survived which was meant for Egypt . 338
3.0 In Poetae bueolici et didactici, ed. Lehrs et alii, Paris, 1851;
ed. A. Koechly, Leipzig, 1858; ed. A xt and Riegler, Koeln, 1832.
T hat Antiochus was an Athenian was recorded by
331 F o r a discussion of certain aspects of Manethos work in Hephaestion of Thebes. If that were true he would be
relation to that of Vettius Valens and those of other astrological
the only Athenian of the principate who became a re
authors, see W. Kroll, Cat. 5, 2 : 143 ff.
nowned astrologer. F o r the rapidity of his spreading
3 See G. Darmstadt, Quacstiones apotclesmaticae. Leipzig,
1916.
3.3 Compare Bouche-Leclercq: x iii; he suggests that Manetho
lived in the reign of Severus Alexander, i. e. during the first
third of the third century of our era.
334 W . Kroll. R E 14, 1, 1928: c. 1102-1106; see also A. Ludwich. Das elegische Lehrgedicht des Astrologen Anubion und die
Manethoniana, Phiiologus, 63 (N . F. 17), 1904: 116-134. esp.
120 f . ; W . Kroll, Ein astrologischer Dichterling, ibid.: 135-138.
3.3 W . Kroll, loc. c it.: compare Cat. 1: 4; 2 : 37; 39; 79: 5, 2:
143 ff.; 5 ,3 : 14; 15; 17; 18; 20; 22; 26; 32; 33; 35; 36; 62; 63;
5, 4 ; 59; 6 : 5; 7: 78; 8, 1: 16; 64; 101; 8, 2 : 81. 33; 86; 36;
8 ,4 : 151; 165; 166: 169 ; 216 in app.
3.0 The astrologer Palchus preserved a version of the verses;
Cat. 1: 108-113.
3=7 This is W . K rolls opinion; see liis Astrologisches. Philologus 57 (N .F . U ) , 1898; 123-133, 192, esp. 126: compare F.
Boll. R E , suppl. 3, 1918: c. 412, and in Cat. 6 : 91.
Cat., 1: 142.
3 Compare Riess, R E 1, 1894 : 2494; VV. Kroll, ibid.. suppl. 5,
1931: c. 2 ; F. Cumont, ibid., suppl. 1, 1903: c. 92; F. Boll,
Sphaera: 52 ff.

33* Apart from passages referred to in other footnotes, see

Cat. 1: 3; 15; 24; 59; 66; 80, 24 ; 82, 19; 2: 5; 3: 6; 4: 30; 31;
61; 154, 28-155, 27 ; 5, 1: 35; 81; 205, 14; 5, 4 : 50, 187; 210, 6;
6 : 9 ; 15; 29; 35; 51; 83, n. 1; 7: 5; 8; 17; 18; 21; 213; 8, 1:
9; 104; 142, 19; 181; 8, 2 : 22; 61, 16 : 63, 21-35 : 8, 3: 104, 28119, 36; 8, 4 : 22; 23 and n.; 30; 33; 34; 38; 50; 117; 118 and
n. 2 ; 119, n. 1; 123, n. 2-3; 126, n. 2 and app.; 132, n. 1; 139;
n. 2 ; 148, a 1; 196, n. 1 and app.; 214. n. 1; 225; 11, 1: 105;
11, 2 : 33; 109, 1-111, 12; 193; 9, 1: 10; 34; 57; 66; 70; 71;
129; 132; 136; 173; 12: 9.
'C a t. 7: 107-128.
*** Cat. 1: 142 ff.
3.3 Ibid. 1 ,8 a 24; 5. 1:205, 14.
3.4 Ibid. 6 : 67, 4-6; 8, 2 : 82, 32-34.
335 Ibid. 8, 3 : 104 ff.; for the reference, see 106, 17 f.
3141bid. 8, 3: 111, 2-3 (end of synkephalaiosis).
* Firmicius Maternus, Mathesis 2. 29.
,
* See F. Boll, Griechische Kalender, I and II. Sitsungsberiehte der Akad. Heidelberg, no. 16, 1910; no. 1, 1911.

188

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

fame it was significant that Porphyry quoted him.33*

The passage in which he admitted his debt to Antiochus
contained also a quotation from Petosiris, an indica
tion of the high reputation enjoyed by Antiochus. For
Petosiris was one of the supreme authorities of hellen
istic astrology. In the light of our present knowledge
of Antiochus' writings it has become clear, moreover,
that Porphyry throughout his Isagoge borrowed a great
deal from Antiochus, without, however, citing him as
the source of these passages. 340 Among the host pf
shadowy figures populating the Parnassus of astro
logical literature during the later principate 341 the name
of Serapion (o r Sarapion) may at least be mentioned.
For his works were sufficiently popular to be included
in excerpts and references by much later astrologers.
Of Alexandrian origin, he wrote on many astrological
topics. The Anonvmus of 379 quoted him as having
written prior to Ptolemy, i. e. before 150.342
Poet-astrologers or prose writers on the subject
were usually indiscriminate in treating both fatalist
and catarchic astrology alike, but in one particular field
catarchic astrology alone held sway. That was in the
realm of the so-called iatromathematics, or medical as
trology. No less an authority than Ptolemy referred
enthusiastically to this branch of applied astrology , 343
although he did not treat it in any detail in his Tetra
biblos. In his day, i. e. in the middle of the second
century of our era, Egypt was generally recognized,
not only as the center of medical studies in general,
but also as preeminent in iatromathematics, notwith
standing apocryphal claims on behalf of Pythagoras . 344
The elder Pliny had already touched upon the connec
tion between medicine and magic, asserting:
That it [magic] was born from medicine no one will
doubt, nor that under the pretense, benign, indeed, of being
a superior and holier kind of medicine it has spread. [It
is equally certain also] that it added unto itself with
the sweetest and most welcome promises the strength of
religion . . . and, so that this too would come in, the
astrological arts, because everybody is eager to know his
future, and believes that it can be obtained most truthfully
from the skv. 345
The character of iatromathematics was truly astroPorphyry, lsa</ogc, 38 (f. 194) ; Cat. 5, 4: 210, 6 ff.
3 Compare W. Kroll, R E , suppl. 5, 1931: c. 2.
,41 Their names and fragments of their works fill the astro
logical manuscripts of the Byzantine period and are abundantly
represented in the appendices to the twelve volumes of Cat.
1,1 Cat. 5, 1, 205, 17; compare for other examples of his work
and for references to him ibid., 1: 54; SS; 80, 26 ; 99-100; 101102; 3: 6; 5. 1: 29 (2f. 103) ; 30 (2 f. 106, 107, 107") ; 179, 16;
180. 12; 5, 3: 33; 39; 43; 87, 4-15; 96, 24-97, 27; 6: 47; 7: 45
ad 11. 1 :8 , 1: 33: 91; 241 adn. 1; 247, 5-15 and adn. 18, 4: 33;
117: 208 app.; 225-232 ( 225, 1; 231, n. 1 ); 240, n. 1.
Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 1, 3, 15-16.
3 Theodor. Priscian., ed. Rose: 250f .; cf. Bouche-Leclercq:
519. ii. 1.
3<r' Pliny, -Yat. H ist. 30, 1, 2; compare Tertullian, de idolatria, 9.

magical. It belonged to the very borderland of ca

tarchic astrology and magic. W'hatever pre-Hellenistic
Egypt may have done in this field, in a general sense
Hippocrates for example had also proclaimed the value
of astronomical knowledge for the physician.34 Hellen
istic astrological literature undoubtedly developed iatroinathematics a good deal further in the Hermetic writ
ings, a number of which presented Hermes in the role
of revealing to Asclepius. god of medicine, supernatural
wisdom, including both medical and astrological subjectm atter . 347 Nechepso in particular was later quoted as
one of the main sources of iatromathematical lore,
most of which developed in detail the relation between
the diverse parts of the human anatomy and specific
stars and constellations .348 Fatalistic astrology would
at best only supply prognostics on the unalterable out
come of a disease, but it obviously could not offer any
means of influencing the course of an illness. Catarchic
astrology, on the other hand, would on the contrary
contend that astral influences, once known, could be
countered with specific drugs, treatments, or other
medical weapons. Therefore essays on catarchic as
trology would usually include a section on medical
application of catarchic theories . 348
Intrinsically not even the most rabid sceptics doubted
the reality of astral influences on nature and natural
phenomena. The abundant evidence of solar and lunar
( tid es!) power could not be denied. Hence a serious
physician might well ponder whether or not catarchic
astrology could guide him in ascertaining critical
days of a disease, or in the selection of certain plants,
supposedly possessing special affinity to one planet or
another, for the concoction of healing prescriptions . 380
Numerology, especially the concept of climacterics, as
well as chemistry, i. e. the affinity of certain plants,
drugs, and elements with the stars, inevitably also
invaded the field of iatromathematics. I t may suffice
to illustrate the degree to which astrological concepts
had penetrated the thinking of even the most sober and
careful physicians of the second century, that for ex
ample Galen, though more reluctant to rely on iatro
mathematical methods than most of his contemporaries,
did not exclude them from his considerations .351 Of
Galens interest in cosmology Greek and Arabic trans
lators have preserved sufficient evidence.3 H e pub344 Hippocrates, de aer. aq. locis, 2.
3.7 Compare above, p. 44 f.
3.8 See Bouche-Leclercq: 517 ff., esp. 520.
*** A n astrological poem by Maximus (perhaps the fourth
century philosopher Maximus of Ephesus?), entitled rcpi
Krn/>xur (ed. A. Ludwich, 1877), dealt in book 6 with diseases
and in book 7 with surgery.
* F or an example of astrological botany, compare a tract
addressed in the reign of Claudius or Nero by the physician
Thessalus to the ruling em peror; Cat. 8. 3: 132-151; also
8, 4: 253 ff.
151 See M ew aldt; R E 7, 1912: c. 578-591.
313 Compare Corpus Platonicum mcdii aevi: Plato Arabus 1,
ed. P. Kraus and R. Walzer, London, 1951.

A ST R O L O G Y IN ROM E FR O M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A LEX A N D ER

hshed at least two commentaries of Platos Timaeus.1
Inasmuch as Galen was not only posthumously ac
claimed, but had already in his own lifetime achieved
such prominence that the emperor M. Aurelius made
him his family physician, the attitude of Galen may be
considered characteristic of the outlook of the best
medical men of that period.
As a physician Galen would be particularly interested
in certain astrological contentions, but not in astro
logical fatalism. Clearly, if a patient was doomed to
die or to recover anyway, he would never need a physi
cian at all. Consequently. Galen's attitude would favor
catarchic rather than fatalistic astrology. That he be
lieved in astral influences is certain. In a routine man
ner he insisted time and again that among the necessary
elements to be investigated prior to any diagnosis was
the constellation prevailing at the time the patient had
come down or gone to bed with the disease. But
this status coeli (/caraWatrts) 354 was always listed in
such a stereotyped manner along with a host of other
factors that it must be assumed that Galen only men
tioned it to save his professional conscience. Nor did
he show much sympathy with astrological botany one
of whose long deceased champions, named Thessalus,
he attacked on professional grounds with vitriolic sar
casm . 358 Another apostle of astrological botany, named
Pamphilus, fared equally badly. Ridiculing the sacred
herbs of the decani and the demons 358 Galen lashed
out:
Pamphilus speaks of herbs. . . . He says he found [them]
written in a book among those authored by the Egyptian
Hermes [Trismegistus], containing the 36 sacred plants of
the horoscopes (<up<xjK07r<ov) [i. e. the decani]. It is obvious
that these things are mere nonsense and a fiction of that
author. . . . Perhaps Pamphilus, like very many others, had
idle time on his hands to spin useless yarns. 357
Like any scientist of his time Galen was wholly con
vinced, however, of the physical influence of the stars
and only objected to what seemed to him unwarranted
(i. e. unscientific) extensions of this principle. He was,
for example, particularly concerned with the powers of
the dog-star (Sirius) on the course of diseases and the
preparation of drugs . 358 A medicine against rabies.

concocted by a peripatetic philosopher Aeschrion after

the rise of the dog-star when the sun had moved into
Leo and the moon had reached its eighteenth dav, *5
apparently drew no objections from Galen. One of
his own most renowned concoctions was the so-called
theriac. Its popularity among the Roman nobility was
great, and its administration regulated by astrological
views:
Furthermore many of the most highly placed Romans
take this medicine on the first day of the moon, some choose
the fourth day. . . . They take it about the third hour.**4
Again Galens factual statement indicated no objection
to astrological and numerological considerations in the
taking of the theriac. Indeed, he did devote an entire
work to numerological medicine, i. e. to the mystical
influence of numbers on critical days . 3 ,1 As for
astrology itself Galen sharply objected to these men
[i. e. the atomists] who hold in contempt omens,
dreams, portents and any kind of astrology (m m p
aarpoXaylasi) . " 3#s Inasmuch as, for example, at Pergamon the famous priestly clinic of Asclepius operated on
the assumption that the god would reveal his medical
advice to patients in a dream while they slept in the
temple precinct, Galen, who himself had practiced for
many years in Pergamon ( a . d . 158-164), was not
likely to challenge the importance of dreams for medical
treatment.
As to astrology proper, we do possess under his
name a treatise, also occasionally ascribed to Hip
pocrates. It was devoted to astrological prognostica
tions based on the time a patient came down with a
disease and went to bed.3" Its tenor throughout was
catarchic:
Astrology is the foreseeing part of their [i. e. the physi
cians] art. and if not all, but at least most of them have
accepted this concept of astrology as part [of medicine].
. . Hippocrates said that [any physicians] mind strays
into darkness, who has not used physiognomy. But the
physiognomical part of astrology is its major part. 3*4

Galen then devoted twelve chapters (3-14) to the

astrological influence of the moon in each of the twelve
zodiacal signs, starting with Aries. Each section began
with the same phrase: If someone goes to bed ill when
353 One has survived in Greek, the other only in an Arabic the moon is in the sign of . . . . Saturn was given
special emphasis next to that accorded to the moon.
translation. The Greek commentary was edited by H . O.

Schroeder, Corpus medicortim Graecorum, suppl. 1, 1934, while

the Arabic version was published in Plato Arabus 1, 1951; com
pare G. Sarton, Isis 43, no. 131, April 1952: 57 i.
351 See for example, Galen, dc inctlxodo medendi 9, 5; 14; 17;
10. 1; 5; 11. 1; 9 ; 14; 12. 3 (ed. Kuehn. 10: 625; 645 ; 658; 662;
685 : 737 ; 759 f . ; 778; 829) ; cf. L. Thorndike, H istory of magic
and experimental science 1: 178 f.
3=5 Galen, de methodo medendi 1, ed. Kuehn, 10: 4 f .; 20 and
elsewhere.
3* Galen, de simplicium meduamentornm temperamentis ac
facultatibus 4, pr. (ed. Kuehn, 11: 797).
317 Loc. cit., ed. Kuehn, 11: 798.
3 Galen, dc theriaca ad Pisoncm, 17 (ed. Kuehn, 14: 285),

cited Hippocrates as an authority confirming his own views of

the dog-stars importance.
3" Galen, de sintpl. medicam. temp, ac fac. 11, 24 (ed. K., 12:
357).
3,0 Galen, de theriaca ad Pampiliantun, ed. Kuehn, 14: 298, 1 ff.
301 Galen, Tpi xpmipjuv iincpwr, 3 books, ed. K., 9 : 769-941.
3" Galen, de naturalibtts facultatibus 1, 12 (ed. Kuehn. 2 : 29).
The author promised to deal with these matters more fully in
another book.
Galen, Prognostica de decubitu e.v mathematica scientia,
ed. Kuehn, 19 : 529-573.
" 'I b id ., 1 (ed. Kuehn, 19: 530).

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

The other planets were considered thereafter in each

section. Galen's own attitude towards astrology was
perhaps best summarized in his own w ords:
T o prove that a know ledge of astrology is necessary, the
a u th o rity of the Stoics is itself sufficient. . . . If som eone
has acted negligently in his calculations . . . in him . not
in the sub ject-m atter [astrology] w ould lie the fault, if
th in g s afterw ard s happened otherw ise than he predicted.30'

Among the physicians of the second century whose

writings included not only topics from catarchic, but
also from fatalistic astrology, Antigonus of Nicaea
seems to have been the most celebrated.3** While his
great contemporary, Galen, confined his references to
astrology to the realm of catarchic iatromathematics.
Antigonus of Nicaea compiled a collection of historical
horoscopes. Each of these contained a detailed set of
astronomical data (which made it possible for modem
astronomers to compute the birth dates of the persons
involved). Posterity has remembered him but cur
sorily for his medical prowesshe was the inventor of
some useful antidote 3 ,7 but from his collection of
historical horoscopes astrologers continued for cen
turies to excerpt some important ones. About 380 the
astrologer, Hephaestion of Thebes, included among his
own writings a number of horoscopes, three of which
he ascribed to Antigonus . 3*8 These three belonged to
men bom on January 24, 76; April 5, 40, and April 6 ,
113.389 The first of these was the horoscope of H adrian,
the last almost certainly that of Pedanius Fuscus, and
the intervening one probably that of H adrians father,
P. Aelius Afer , 3T0 o r possibly of H adrians brotherin-law Servianus. The original collection consisted of
at least four books. 371
The astrological reputation of Antigonus must have
been considerable.37* Porphyry (about 250) in his
Introduction to Ptolemys astrological manual, the
Tetrabiblos, mentioned Antigonus (together with an
Egyptian named Phnaes) immediately after a reference
to Ptolemy (about ISO) 373 in a chapter devoted to a dis-

cussion of the geometrical patterns of constellations, i. e.

triangles, squares, hexagons, etc. Hence Antigonus
must have flourished 1>etween 150 and 250, probably in
the latter part of the second century. That more than
a century after Porphyry, Hephaestion of Thebes used
Antigonus has already been mentioned. Another cen
tury later, i. e. towards the end of the fifth century, the
astrologer Palchus when excerpting Hephaestion in
cluded a few horoscopes from Antigonus collection
with some recent ones, dating from the second half of
the fifth century . 374 In the reign of Justinian I only
the astrological prowess of Antigonus was remembered.
His medical reputation had long been forgotten. John
Lydus (ca. 550) knew him only as an astrologer . 375
The historian must remember Antigonus chiefly as the
author of the only extant ancient imperial horoscope,
that of Hadrian, which he computed soon after the
death of the emperor.
No practicing astrologer of the second century, how
ever, could be compared in popularity with an astrolo
ger from Antioch ( ?) named Vettius Valens. Next to
Ptolemys his writings, going under the modest and
honest title Antliologiae, have been copied wholly or in
part more often than those of almost any other astrolo
ger of antiquity. His approach was poles apart from
that of his Alexandrian contemporary, Ptolemy. For
the Antliologiae were not like Ptolemys Tetrabiblos
written by an ivory-tower scientist, but as a practical
handbook for his own use and that of his fellow
astrologers. In quality and level, therefore, they were
far inferior to Ptolemys classic, but all the more im
portant as a source of information about the techniques
and views of the men of the trade of the second
century. A large, but incomplete, section of this work
was published in 1908 by W . Kroll, but only now are
its contents, as well as those of other fragments, and
references, printed in the Catalogus cod. astrol. gr., *

* F o r example Cat. 6: 63 ff.; compare 1: 107. Rhetorius, as

well as his astrological contemporary Palchus knew A ntigonus;
see Cat. 2 : 188; 8, 1: 242.
John Lydus, de ostentis, 2 (ed. W achsm uth: 6).
3,5 Ibid.. 2 (ed. Kuehn, 19: 533).
* See Cat. 1: 15; 66; 69; 79, 1-80, 6 ; 80, 24 ; 82, 21; 84, 18 f.,
T he period in which Antigonus flourished seems now fairly
130, 21; 152, 13 and 15; 2, 2 ; 5; 33; 43; 44; 45; 47; 49; 73;
definitely established. An earlier appraisal, based on insufficient
83, 1-121, 14; 161, 18 and 36; 162, 15 and 33; 163, 11 and 20 and
evidence (Riess. R E 1, 1894: c. 2422, no. 24) has been corrected
32; 169, 26; 173, 26; 174, 12; 176, 11 and 22; 177, 18; 179, 1
by W. Kroll, R E , suppl. 5, 1931: c. 2.
and 30; 180, 9 and 10; 187, 14 f . ; 188, 4 and 8 ; 4 : 58; 59; 66;
1,7 Antigonus of Nicaiea, according to Aelius Promotus, taught 77; 113; 146, 22-149, 31; 174, 1-177, 37; 179. 1-182, 17 ; 5 , 1:
31; 74; 75; 98. n. 4 ; 100, n. 3; 118, 18ff.; 131, 15 ff.; 132, 22;
his disciple Theodore of Macedon the recipy of this antidote;
172, no. 12; 205, 14 ; 218, 34; 239 ; 5 , 2 : 4 ; 27, 1-129, 19 ; 5, 3:
compare M. W ellmann, Die pneumatische Schule: 13.
12; 15; 41; 43; 110, 29-112, 12; 110; n .; 113, 8 f .; 117, 7-14 and
Hephaestion of Thebes, 2, 18; Cat. 8, 2 : 82, 30 ff.. or
33-118, 12; 5, 4: 50; 70; 73; 75; 86; 6 : 4 ; 5; 17; 7 : 43; 48; 77;
Hephaestion 3, according to Cat. 6: 67 ff. Palchus obviously
78; 108n.; 112, n. 1; 194; 203, 13app.; 206, 9 app.; 213; 219,
used another edition of Hephaestions work.
12 app.; 221, 16 app.; 223, 1 app.; 8, 1: 25; 63; 64; 76; 89; 93;
Cat. 8. 2 : 82 ff.; computations by O. Neugebauer.
106; 110; 115, n. 1; 116; 161, 1-171, 24; 181; 222, 31; 237, 27;
T See above, pp. 152, 162 f.
238,
4 ff.; 239, 6 f. and 21 and 23; 240, 7; 242, 6 and 9 ; 244, 15
171 Rhetorius (ca. a . d . 500) cited from the fourth chapter of
and 31; 246, 4 ff.; 247, a, 8 and 23 and 25; b, 4 and 24 and 26;
the fourth book of a work by A ntigonus; Cat. 8, 1: 242, 16 f.
and n. 1.
249, 2 ; 255, 13 and 16 ff.; 256, 22 ; 263, 22 ; 8, 2 : 93, n .; 94, n.;
** Compare Cat. 1: 80, 24; 81, 8; 2 : 44; 5, 1: 205, 14 ; 6 : 5;
98, n.; 101, n.; 136, 1 and n .; 8 , 3 : 14; 102, n. 1 ; 1 0 6 , 3 ; 1 1 1 , 3;
7; 64, 14 and 23; 8, 1: 35 (4, f. 106); 8, 2: 82, 34; 84, 4-14.
190, 23 and 25; 8 , 4: 7; 24; 35; 38; 58; 65; 89; 1 1 5 ; 1 1 6 ; 117,
* Porphyry, Isagoge, 51 (f. 201); Cat. S, 4 : 223, 18.
a ; 119, n .; 122-170 (excerpts from Vettius Valens found in the

A ST R O L O G Y IN RO M E FRO M N E R V A TO S E V E R U S A L E X A N D E R

191

being discovered by scholars at large. As might be

expected, many passages are corrupt, and especially
ascriptions to certain Hellenistic authors will call for
sharp scrutiny. For example, a number of horoscopes
attributed to the early Hellenistic astrologer Crito
demus. have just been found (by astronomical computa
tion) to date from the first and even the second cen
tury a . d . ! 377 Nevertheless, the Antliologiae were a
treasure chest through their preservation of much earlier
material used by the professional astrologers of the
Graeco-Roman world of the principate. Strangely
enough it was only in the nineteenth century that the
writings of Vettius Valens came to be appreciated as a
mine of information on an older and far more famous
Hellenistic compendium of astrology, the work of
Nechepso Petosiris . 378
The hard life of the professional astrologer of his
own era was reflected in the occasional insertion of
personal remarks by Vettius Valens. Rivals and de
tractors made life miserable for him , 379 and he eked out
a living which was far from prosperous . 380 The Ixxlv
of materials whence he drew his excerpts was the
standard one of popular astrological literature of the
preceding four hundred years. It was largely identical
with the works on which Manetho and Firmicus M ater
nus were drawing later . 381 The writings of Vettius
Valens also included astrological treatises now lost, for
example a Protrepticus and a Teachers' manual.3**
Vettius Valens himself seems to have added to his
income by maintaining a school for prospective as
trologers . 383 To one of his former students, named
Marcus, he dedicated the Antliologiae.3** Nor was it

an innovation to establish a school of astrology .385 One

might have taken the existence of such institutions for
granted, but the testimony of Vettius Valens adds
authentic proof to this natural assumption.
His main aim was not the composition of a new and
independent work. H e humbly professed as his chief
desire a vindication and explanation of earlier astro
logical writers , 380 many of whom he quoted copiously ;
but in his heart of hearts the little schoolmaster and
moderately successful practitioner of astrology hoped
like every author that posterity would accord him the
fame 387 which his own age seems to have withheld.
Among the later authors who gladly used the Antlio
logiae, some are known to us by name, others merely
as anonymous excerptors . 388 In the fourth century of
our era the Anonymus of 379, 389 as well as his con
temporary Hephaestion of Thebes 300 was among the
perusers of Vettius Valens, more than a century later
Palchus 391 and R hetorius 302 (both ca. 500), and in the
eighth century Theophilus still returned to the Antlio
logiae.303 It was inevitable that the widespread use
of the work caused emendations or additions to the
text. No complete and unmutilated version seems to
have survived. For that reason the list of imperial
dates given in the Antliologiae (1, 19; ed. Kroll; 32,
2 2 ff.) cannot be accepted as necessarily stemming in
its entirety from the pen of Valens himself. Its last
entry, referring to a . d . 248, must be considered as the
end of a later addition to the original text, which, if
Krolls conjecture is correct , 394 did not extend beyond
the reign of Marcus Aureliushence Valens would be
a contemporary of Ptolemy . 393
The work itself in its main extant version was divided
into nine books. Among the topics which recurred with
writings of R hetorius) ; 139, n. 1; 186, 4 app.; 188, 12 and 16;
special frequency was the one of the climacterics. 398
192, 2 ; 194, n. 1; 202. n. 1; 203, 22 app.; 204. 10 app.; 206, n. 1;
As might be expected Vettius Valens also offered all
207, 20 : 219, 33 and 35; 226, 17 app.; 227, 25 app.; 231, 6 ap p .:
239, 14 app.; 9, 1: 36; 47; 65; 66; 67; 74; 75; 164, 15; 175; technical paraphernalia for determining the date and
mode of death of any person, thus showing that the
184; 11. 1: 53; 185, 25 and n.; 186, 11; 191, 20 f. and 27 ; 192,
5 f. and n. and 11 f. and 18 and 21 and 24; 11, 2 : 90( ?).
disregard for the legal restrictions imposed by Augustus
3,7 A number of Greek horoscopes, listed in book 5 of the in a . d . 1 1 was not confined to influential circles in
Antliologiae, has been computed by O. Neugebauer. While not
Rome, or scientific theorists in Alexandria, but was
ascribed to Critodemus in W. Krolls edition of the work, they

were assigned erroneously to the early Hellenistic astrologer by

the scribe responsible for the version printed in Cat. 5. 2: 120 f.
O. Neugebauer, however, has shown through computation that
they actually refer to August 16, A. D. 112; 87 ( ?) ; December 26,
115; May 4, 9 0 (? ), respectively.
* Compare W. v. Christ, Geschichte der griechischen Literatur, Hdb. d. klass. Alt., ed. I. Mueller, 7, 2, 2 ; ed., 1924 : 906;
W. Kroll in his preface (to Vettius Valens Anthologiac) : vi ff.
"* See Cat. 5, 2 : 143; Vettius Valens, as might be expected,
also relied on H ermetic literature, although he never cited
H ermes Trismegistus among his sources.
"* Vettius Valens, Anthologiac 6, pr. (ed. K ro ll: 241, 4 ff.).
1,1 Loc. cit.; also ibid. 8, 5; 9, pr. (ed. K roll: 301, 14 ff.; 329,
l5 -, 7).
** irporptirTiKoi and SiddfficaXot \6 yo t; cf. W . Kroll, op. cit.: vii.
**Ibid. 3, 16 (ed. K ro ll: 157, 28 ff.).
Ibid. 7, 5; 9, pr. and 15; compare 4, 11; 6, 1; 9, 11 (ed.
K roll: 293, 24 ; 329, 4 ; 359, 11; 172, 31; 244, 22 f.; 352, 32 ff.).

3S5 Ibid. 4, 11 (ed. K r .: 172, 3 ff.) about Valens own experi

ences with Egyptian teachers.
* Ibid. 2, pr.; 5, 12; 6, 1 and 8 ; 7, 2 and 3; 8, 5; 9. pr. (ed.
K ro ll: 55, 4 ff.; 238, 18 ff.; 242, 18 ff.; 258, 32 ff.; 270, 28 ff.;
272. 7 ff.; 301, 3 ff.; 330, 8 ff.).
1,7 Ibid. 7, 5; 8, 5 (ed. K r .: 293, 24 ff.; 301, 25 ff.).
** W . Kroll, ibid.: vii f.
** Cat. 5, 1: 205, 14 ; 218 (fourth line from bottom).
H e seems to have used Antliologiae 1, 2.
1,1 Cat. 5, 1: 171 f., esp. 172, art. 12.
* F or example in Cat. 1; 152, 13 and 16, 2 : 187, 14.
*** Ibid. 1: 130, 21.
,M W . Kroll in Vettius Valens Antliologiae, p r .: vi.
** This explains why neither of the two ever referred to the
other, compare above ch. iv, n. 296a.
,M F o r example Antliologiae 3, 8 ; 11; 15; 5, 2; *8; 12; 8, 8;
9. 4.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

ubiquitous throughout the entire Roman realm. M ore

over, both fatalistic and catarchic;i9T astrology were dealt
with by the author. Apparently the practicing as
trologers and their clients paid little attention to the
inherent contradictoriness of both systems of astrology,
a blind spot from which the most illustrious author of
antiquity on the subject of astrology, Claudius Ptolemaeus. was free.
Scientists of supreme quality are rarely glamorous.
Ptolemy of Ptolemais (or Pelusium?) was no excep
tion to this rule. Moreover, an emperor who favored
rhetoric and skilled debate beyond any scientific pur
suits was not likely to glorify his greatest scientist. He
recognized his solid merit, however, sufficiently to ap
point him (if the surmise is correct) to a research post
in the famous Alexandrinian Museion. Inasmuch as
the astronomical observations recorded in Ptolemys
Almagestan Arabic title for the jua^/ianin? cnWa
belonged to the years 127-151, and his life-span ap
parently amounted to seventy-eight years, his era seems
to have been approximately the time between 1 0 0 and
178. Thus he had. for example, already begun his own
observations when H adrian was in Egypt in the year
130, but the imperial astrologer and patron of the arts
paid no attention, so far as we know, to the brilliant
young scientist (who observed the heavens perhaps in
that very night when Hadrian was persuaded that his
beloved Antinous had become a bright star in the skies).
While Hadrian did appoint a number of scholars to
posts at the Museion, he does not seem to have been
aware ot Ptolemys genius. Since the scientists m ajor
works were not published until long after H adrians
death, one can hardly reproach the emperor for his
oversight.
It is but fitting to conclude our survey of the astro
logical literature of the later principate with the work
of Ptolemy. For nothing could better illustrate the
scientific mantle which astrology had assumed in the
Graeco-Roman era than the fact that a scientist of
Ptolemy's calibre should devote his time and energies
to the composition of a lengthy handbook of astrology.
When in modern times astrology had been discarded
by scientists, this seemed so preposterous that the
authenticity of an astrological work transmitted under
the name of Ptolemy was seriously questioned. This
scepticism, however, was typical of the common human
failure to comprehend an earlier period on its own
terms. Thanks to the searching effort of F. Boll, how
ever, no one any longer can question the authenticity
of the Tetrabiblos.3 ,8 Another astrological treatise, the
so-called Kapml or Centiloquium, which was ascribed
to Ptolemy, has, on the other hand, found few defenders

and is nowadays generally considered the work of some

unknown writer, greatly inferior to Ptolemy.
A part from this probably spurious Centiloquium
Ptolemys extant writings include four astronomical
works, the Almagest and the Phases " of fixed stars
and a collection of prognostics (<<ms dirAavtSc uwtcpwv
K a 't <nivay<uy7j rur)/ia<Ti<5v) as well as a set of astro
nomical tables ( 7rpoxv>t KamvK) and a memorandum
on how to use them (irpo^ttpotv xavovu>v Sidra^t? xai
<pr/(f>o<pc>pi<i). His astrological handbook, usually called
Tetrabiblos (or Quadripartitus), was probably originally
called jtadrffiaTiKT) Ttrpapi/JAo ovvtok . This title would
help to clarify its relation to the astronomical writings
of Ptolemy. F or its natural counterpart was the
fjjCL&TjjjLaTiKTj trvrragK, i. e. the Almagest itself. Perhaps
both works in the mind of Ptolemy formed a unit, and
inasmuch as the Tetrabiblos was written after the
Almagest it was a planned addition to the earlier work
and Ptolemy, as we shall see, said so succinctly .399
W hether or not Syrus, to whom the Almagest, as well
as the Tetrabiblos and other works of Ptolemy were
dedicated, was a scholarly physician, or a literary fiction
cannot be decided, but in view of the many notable
astrologer-physicians of the second century there is no
reason to doubt the existence of an Alexandrian physi
cian, intellectually competent to be worthy of Ptolemys
dedications.
T he purpose of the Tetrabiblos was clearly stated by
the author:
O f the m eans of p rediction th ro u g h astronom y, O Syrus,
tw o a re the m ost im p o rtan t an d valid.
O ne. w hich is first [i. e. astro n o m y ] both in o rd e r and in
effectiveness, is th a t w hereby we apprehend the aspects
of the movem ents of sun, moon, and sta rs in relation
to each o th er and to the ea rth , as they o ccur a t any
tim e ; the
second is th a t in w hich by m eans of th e n a tu ra l ch aracter
of these phenom ena them selves w e in v estig ate the
changes w hich they b rin g ab o u t in th a t w h ich they
su rro u n d .400

Inevitably one has construed this second means of

prediction to mean astrology, and the fact that
Ptolem ys subsequent treatise is devoted tp that subject
confirms this view. Yet modern astrophysics too is
devoted to the interplay of forces between and within
stars. The incessant bombardment of our own planet
(and any other star) by meteors and cosmic rays for
example is proof of the fact of some physical influence,
however infinitesimal or as yet undetermined, of the
cosmos on our earth.
Ptolemy erred of course (as did his less illustrious
fellow astrologers) in the over-simplification of this

** Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 1, pr. In 1940 E. Boer ( Ptolemaei

* For instance ibid. 5, 3.
opera omnia 3, 1, Leipzig, Teubner) and F . E. Robbins (w ith
F.
Boll, Studien ueber Claudius Ptolcmaeus, Jahrb. f. klass.
an Engl, transl. in the Loeb Classics series, Cambridge, Mass.,
Philol. 21, 1894; compare also liis Zur Ueberlieterungsgeschichte
H arvard University Press, and London. W. Heinemann) pub
der griechischen Astrologie und Astronomie, Sitzungsberichte
lished the two most recent editions of the Greek text.
der kc/l. ,-tk. Muenchen (Phil.-H ist. K l.), 1899 : 77 ff.
Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 1, pr. 1.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A LEX AND ER

principle. He took for granted most of the accumu
lated verities of Hellenistic astrology and tried to
compress them into a purely scientific system. But he
did not stumble blindly into the morass of astrological
detail :
T h e first of these [tw o b ran ch e s], w hich has its own
science [i.e . astro n o m y ], desirable in itself even though it
does not attain the resu lt given by its com bination w ith the
second, has been expounded to you as best w e could in
its own treatise [i. e. the A lm a g est] by the m ethod of
dem onstration.
W e shall now g ive an account of the second and less
self-sufficient m ethod in a properly philosophical w ay, so
th at one w hose aim is the tru th m ig h t never compare its
perceptions w ith the snreness o f the first, u n va ryin g science
[i.e . astro n o m y ], fo r he ascribes to it the w eakness and
u npredictability of m aterial qualities found in individual
things, n o r y et refrain s from such an investigation as is
w ith in the bounds of possibility, w hen it is so evident th a t
m ost events of a g en eral n atu re d raw th e ir causes from the
enveloping heavens.401

The clear realization of the difference between the

predictability of astronomical phenomena and the unpre
dictability of complex sublunar events should not
deter scholars from embarking on the more difficult
task of establishing the scientific connection between
the two realms. Astrology was applied astronomy in
the eyes of its devotees, and that it was for Ptolemy
also. As to astronomy, allegations against it could be
made only by the blind. Astrology, however, Ptolemy
had to admit, was in a less unassailable position:
Its difficulty in p arts has m ade men think it completely
incom prehensible, o r the difficulty of escaping w h at is
know n h as d isp arag ed even its o b ject as useless.405

These two basic objections were refuted in the subse

quent chapters. Opponents of astrology even if ad
mitting the theoretical possibility of determining the
influence of the stars on mundane affairs insisted that
the subject was too complex ever to admit of a solution.
No scientist worth his salt would, of course, ever accept
such an argument. The other objection to astrology
was a serious philosophical o n e : If. as the laws of
nature were bound to be, astral influence determined
by scientific law every minute phenomenon on earth,
m ans fate was sealed, hence his knowledge of it would
in no way enable him to escape or avoid his
destiny. One may note that this argument did not
necessarily presuppose a single decisive natal constella
tion, but would apply with equal forcefulness to the
assumption of a continual astral influence throughout
every moment of ones life. A thorough study of
Ptolemys theory of knowledge apparently is still pend
ing. His own treatise 405 largely devoted to this topic
would furnish ample material for establishing his scien
tific creed.
,I Ibid. 1, 1, 1-2.
* Loc. cit.
103 ire p i KpiTijpiou Kai i f y tfio v iK o v .

193

W ith the detachment of a true scientist Ptolemy pro

ceeded to give first his argument for the technical
feasibility of astrology, i. e. that it was scientifically
possible, and afterwards his views on the value of
m ans knowledge of the future, whether or not it was
inevitable. For exam ple : 404
(1 )

T h e ste a d y in flu en ce of th e sun is in d isp u tab le.

A ll life o n e a rth is affected by th is sta r.

(2)

The influence of the moon also cannot lie contested.

Apart from dubious physiological arguments there
is the fact of the moon's influence on the waters
of the earth, especially their tides.
(3) Astrometeorology in general, i. e. the apparent in
fluence of certain stars and constellations on the
weather, the flocks of the farmer, the sailors ex
perience with storms at certain times, demonstrates
astral influence.
From this Ptolemy concluded:
I f then a man knows accurately the movements of all the
stars, the sun. and the moon, . . . and if he has distinguished
in general th eir natures as the result of previous continued
study . . . and if he is capable of determ ining . . . both
scientifically and by successful conjecture the distinctive
m ark of quality resulting from the combination of all the
factors, w hat is to prevent him from being able to tell on
each given occasion . . . [the w eather to come] and w ith
respect to an individual hum an being perceive the general
quality of his tem peram ent . . . and predict occasional
events ? 405

The if of Ptolemy would presuppose a knowledge

of chemistry and physics far beyond that of any mortal,
past, present, and future. It, therefore, practically ex
cluded the very thing Ptolemy tried to demonstrate,
the possibility of such a process. Yet, man, especially
the scientist, has often been given to over-optimistic
views on human progress, and within the Ptolemaic
if the possibility of some prognostics from astral
information could not be excluded. That man had not
yet reached the level of knowledge required, Ptolemy
himself knew only too w ell:
T h e m istakes of those who are not accurately instructed
in this p ractice . . . have b rought about the belief that even
its tru e predictions depend upon chance. . . . Secondly very
m any, for the sake of gain, claim credence for another
technique [W ynj] in the name of this, and deceive the
v ulgar. . . . In general . . . every science that deals w ith
the quality of its subject m atter is conjectural and not to be
absolutely affirmed. . . .40B

In view of the very limited knowledge available the

room for conjecture was, therefore, proportionally so
large that mistakes were unavoidable. But even if all
astral influences were known, and the laws of their
application established, Ptolemy was unwilling to sub4,14 Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 1, 2, 1 ff.
;or I bid. 1, 2, 5 - 6 .
*a6 I b i d . , 1, 2 , 6-7.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

scribe to the fatalist interpretation of such knowledge.

The arguments of the New Academy in the second
century b . c . had long forced defenders of astrology to
allow for the influence of heredity, environment, and
upbringing:
All the aforesaid conditions being equal, re a rin g and
custom s co n trib u te to influence the p articu lar w ay in w hich
a life is lived. U nless each of these things is exam ined
together w ith the causes th a t a re derived from the su r
rounding cosmos ( r a it <177-0 t o v wtpU y o v T o s airia<s) , although
this latter lie conceded to exercise the g reatest influence,
they can cause m uch difficulty to r those who believe that" in
such cases everything can be understood . . . from the
motion of the heavenly bodies.407

This was a far cry, indeed, from the vaunted claims

of the average astrologer that a mere horoscope sufficed
for the prediction of a man's entire life. The reserva
tions made by Ptolemy were compared by him to those
of a physician, a comparison which occurred repeatedly
in the Tetrabiblos.
Consequently and logically Ptolemy rejected the fatal
ism of the early Stoics and expressed his attitude in
terms of Chrysippus, Diogenes of Babylon, and per
haps Panaetius. The German predilection for ascribing
Ptolemy's opinions largely to the influence of Posido
nius alone has no facts to support it adequately. The
very attack, which Ptolemy launched against those
fatalists, who rejected astrological knowledge as useless
since no m ans destihy could be changed anyway, indi
cated the extent to which he dissociated himself from
purely fatalistic astrology. H e did, indeed, remark that
even if man were a helpless prisoner of Fate, he could
by foreknowledge avoid excessive panic and delirious
joy. But in any case
we should n o t believe th a t separate events atten d m ankind
. . . as if they had originally been ordained for each person
by some irrevocable divine com m and and destined by neces
sity w ith o u t the possibility of any other cause in terferin g .
. . . T h e change of earthly th in g s is subject to a natural
and m utable ( / ) fate, and w hile d raw in g its p rim ary causes
from above, it is governed by chance and natu ral sequence.408

This was not a total abandonment of fatalism. Some

things remained governed by fate, others by chance.
Some might be inevitable if men did not know of their
approach, as for example in the case of an illness:
Those physicians who can recognize ailm ents know before
hand those w hich a re alw ays fatal and those w hich adm it
of aid . . . so also if future happenings to men a re not know n,
or if they a re know n and the rem edies a re not applied, they
will by all m eans follow the course of p rim ary n a tu re ; but
if they a re recognized ahead of tim e and rem edies a re p ro
vided, ag ain quite in accord w ith n atu re and fate, they
either do n o t occur a t all, o r a re rendered less severe.408

Under these circumstances it is hardly surprising to

4" Ibid. 1, 2, 8-9.
Ibid. 1, 3. 11.
Ibid. 1, 3, 11 and 13.

find Ptolemy extolling the iatromathematical practices

flourishing in his d a y : 410
T h e E gyptians have entirely united m edicine w ith a s tro
logical predictions. . . . T h ey w ould n ever have devised
ce rtain means of av e rtin g o r w ard in g off the u n iv ersal and
particu lar conditions th a t come o r a re p resen t by reason of
the surro u n d in g cosmos, if they had h ad any idea th a t the
fu tu re cannot be changed.411

According to Ptolemy, Egyptian iatromathematicians

did . . . place the faculty of resisting l>v orderly natural
means seco n d to the decrees of Fate." 411
W ith this concept Ptolemy agreed wholeheartedly.
Unfortunately, however, he accepted the wholly un
proven hellenistic astrological tenets as axioms without
an attempt to verify their observational basis (or lack
of it). A single example may illustrate the sad results
of this uncritical approach. Speaking of the Lord of
Action Ptolemy assigned the chief role in determining
the quality of the action to Mars, Venus, and
Mercury. F or instance:
If M ercury governs actio n . . . he m akes his subjects
scribes, businessm en, calculators, te a c h e rs( !), m erchants,
bankers, soothsayers, astrologers, sacrificers. . . .4,:!

In view of the fact that Hermes alias Mercury was

the traditional patron divinity of travelers, businessmen,
merchants, and thieves, Ptolemys blanket addition of
diviners in those groups is amusing. The often stressed
greed of diviners in general and astrologers in particu
lar was thus of M ercurys making. H ere and almost
everywhere else in the Tetrabiblos Ptolemy thus suc
cumbed to the simple hellenistic identification of plane
tary powers with those of the divinity whose name the
planet bore. N or did Ptolemy have the slightest hesi
tation of devoting whole chapters to the (forbidden!)
prognostication of a mans lifespan, or to the (equally
dangerous) topic of imperial horoscopes. 413
The moderate attitude of Ptolemy about fatalistic
astrology paralleled the cautious second-century Stoi
cism of men like Epictetus, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus
Aurelius. The denial of the inevitability of all things
allowed for an area of free will. The complete exclu
sion of revelatory elements from astrology was on the
part of Ptolemy more seeming than real. F or many
of his theories were derived from hermetic and other
revelatory literature. Shorn of their antecedents, how
ever, and presented as scientific facts in the calm
and detached manner of Ptolemy, they exercised a
strong appeal to later writers on the subject. An Intro
duction 414 to the Tetrabiblos has been ascribed to Por4,0 Ibid. 1, 3, IS-16.
411 Ibid. I, 3, 16.
411 Ibid. 4, 4 (ff. 178; compare 181 end).
411 Ibid. 3, 10; 4, 3 and 9.
414 This Isagoge has recently been reedited by E. Boer and S t
Weinstock in Cat. 5, 4: 184-229.

A ST R O L O G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A L E X A N D E R

195

phyrv (about 250). This was by no means the only the founder of the New Academy, had been the most
work of its kind . 410 W e have for example some frag formidable. The common denominator of all attacks
ments of a commentary by Pacharius . 416 Demophilus was the challenge of fatalistic astrology. Against ca
wrote scholia for the Tetrabiblos, while the name of the tarchic astrology only the objection of man's inadequate
last great neoplatonist. Proclus (410-485), has been observational knowledge was raised. The adversaries
attached to a Paraphrase 417 and commentary of the of astrology presented two diametrically opposed argu
work . 418 Needless to say that Arabic translations of ments. On the one hand. Stoic fatalism was challenged
the Tetrabiblos l)ecame an integral part of mediaeval by the Platonists who defended the axiomatic existence
Arabic astrological literature (since the ninth century of a divine power or powers capable of interfering at
when Ishaq ben Hunein seems to have published the will in the life of man. while, on the other hand, em
first version in that language). From the Arabic ap piricists and other sceptics employed purely rational
parently western Europe received the work in Latin weapons in their war on fatalism and its astrological
translations, the earliest of which barring the possi defenders. Thus peripatetic opponents would stress the
bility of a late Roman attempt of this kind was pub lack of truly observational experience for the vaunted
lished in 1138 by Plato Tiburtinus.
claims of fatalist astrologers. Sceptics Epicureans,
It was a healthy sign that even the towering reputa Cynics, Pyrrhonists alike would deny the very possi
tion of a Ptolemy could not silence contemporary bility of ever ascertaining any positive knowledge about
attacks on astrology. The impact of anti-fatalistic matters in general, and fatalistic astrology in particular.
scepticism may, indeed, have strengthened Ptolemys Their attacks against religious concepts of any kind
natural scientific caution to the extent of limiting the were based on the denial of knowledgeability which
power of Fate over man in his definition of astrologys led them also to taunt the astrologers who so firmly
scope. The total effect of the revived struggle between asserted the accuracy of their knowledge, be it
the two rationalist forces towards the end of the second derived from divine revelation or alleged scientific
century was a complete stalemate. It was finally broken observations of millennial continuity.
by the rise of anti-rationalist forces, philosophical and
The most popular defender of religious values against
religious, two of which, neo-Platonism and Christianity, atheist rationalism and sceptic nihilism was, at the turn
were to resolve the long struggle. But that story will of the second century, Plutarch of Chaeronea . 4- 1 Repre
have to be told later .419 F or it does not belong to the sentative of rationalist opposition to astrology in this
principate.
era were, for example, Favorinus of Arles, the Epicu
reans Diogenianus and Diogenes of Oeoanda, the last
great Peripatetic, Alexander of Aphrodisias. the Cynics,
7. F O E S O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E LA T E R
Oenomaus of Gadara, Lucian of Samosata, and the
P R IN C IP A T E
nihilist Sextus Empiricus. Of this group Plutarch was
No serious thinker of the second century questioned the oldest, living from approximately 40 into the reign
the influence of stars on mundane matters. The indis of Hadrian, perhaps until 120. H is popularity was
putable power of the sun over all living things, the attested by the mass of writings subsequently ascribed
moons responsibility for the tides, the repetition of to him, many of which have been questioned on various
weather patterns like the stormy periods around the grounds as to the authenticity of his authorship. Among
equinoxes, or the apparent coincidence between the Dog- those an essay On Fate expressed sentiments which
S tars ascendancy and the hottest weeks of the summer even if not stemming from the pen of Plutarch himself
these were phenomena which made it impossible to did on the whole agree with his views on the subject
deny the validity of the claim that astral influences were as presented in treatises of undoubted authenticity. The
apparently of great influence on terrestrial affairs. The author was no firm adherent of any specific philosophi
Sceptics therefore concentrated on limiting the scope of cal sect, but an eclectic. He restated the fashionable
astrological claims rather than to deny them in their view, shared in the second century by the leading
totality. This had already been the attitude of the early Stoics also, that there was a distinction between a cosmic
Hellenistic foes of astrology, among whom Cameades , 420 Providence and a mechanistic Fate. Fate was sub
ordinated to Providence. It supplied the logical link
Compare F. Boll, Studien ueber Claudius Ptolemaeus: 127.
4t* Fragm ents published in Cat. 8, 2 : 67, 18-33; 73, 18-21; 74, between cause and effect, but had nothing to do with
38-75, 5; 76, 23-36; also 1: 118 ff. and F. Cumont in n. 1; W. the establishment of the primary causes themselves.
Kroll. Astrologisches, Philologus 57 (N . F., 11), 1898: 123 ff.
As Ptolemy, for example, also expressed it in his Tetra
411 Ed. Ph. Melanchthon, Basel, 1554.
biblos, one must distinguish between possible and inevi
* Ed. Wolf, Basel, 1559.
table consequences of a given cause. There remained
* In F. H. Cram ers forthcoming Astrology in Roman law
Providence to be appealed to. For itor the gods
and politics, from Diocletian to Justinian I.
1,0 Compare above, p. 53 ff. D. Amand, Fatalisme et liberte
dans Iantiquite grecquc, Louvain, 1945. has attempted to recon
4,1 On Plutarch, compare the extensive article in R E 21, 1,
struct the antifatalist argumentation of Carneades.
1951: c. 636, no. 2,-c. 962.
4

196

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

could at least avert possible harm, although not any

inevitable effects. There also existed in the authors
view a considerable area in which free will, or sheer
coincidence applied .4 - 1
In his copious writings Plutarch seems to have
shunned the methodical discussion of astrology. His
very vocabulary showed rare references to astrologia
(by which he almost invariably meant astronomy,
although he did sometimes also use the term astronomia). On the very few occasions on which he re
ferred to astrology proper he preferred the word
iia&i)iia.TiK.a, speaking of some mathematical parts of
astrologia, i. e. in modern terminology of some astro
logical parts of astronomy ! 423 That he did not ap
prove of the abuse of human credulity through un
scrupulous diviners was manifest. In line with the
Platonic tradition which he professed to favor he did,
however, emphasize the importance of astronomy. H e
went so far as to point out its usefulness even for
women, for had not the ignorant women of Thessaly
been persuaded by the unscrupulous Aglaonice, daughter
of Hegetor and well versed in astrologia, that she could
pull down the moon from the skies, a feat which she
accomplished by predicting a lunar eclipse during
which according to her she made the moon vanish
from the heavens. Plutarch seems to have liked the
story, for he used it on two different occasions. 424
Altogether with his faith in divination 425 Plutarch
could at best only criticize blind fatalism, but not
astrology itself.
In his amiable wanderings across the surface of philo
sophical problems Plutarch was not squeamish in his
choice of materials. If Plato had chosen to terminate
his Republic with a beautiful myth, his follower, while
proudly combating superstition in general,'12* in his On
the Face in the disc of the M o o n 42t presented a far
cruder myth, purportedly stemming from a stranger
whose home was in the western lands across the Atlantic.
This fictitious American suggested a three-fold com
position of the human being. According to him it con
sisted of body, soul, and mind. Of these the body re
Plutarch ( r ) , dc fato, esp. 1; 4-6: 11; compare Albinus,
Introduction to the philosophy of Plato, esp. ch. 26; cf. D.
Amand, op. cit.: 104-106 and the literature cited there in the
footnotes.
*!> Plutarch, de Iside et Osiride, 41 (f. 367 C). Elsewhere,
however, Plutarch like Ptolemy employed the term mathematics
as a synonym for astronomy also; see Tcrrestriane an aquatilia
animalia sint callidiora, f. 974 F.
4,4 Coniugalia praccepta, 48 (f. 145 B-C) ; de defectu oraculorum. 13 (ff. 416 F-417 A ).
4M Plutarch, dc dcfcctu oraculorum, treats this topic specifi
cally, but throughout the Moralia liis attitude about oracles is
consistent.
" P lu ta rc h , de superstitione, 1-14 (ff. 164E-171F), esp. 8
(f. 169 A ) where he severely criticizes the superstitious fear of
eclipses.
157 Plutarch, de facie quae in orbe htiiae apparet, 1-30, ff.
920 A-94S D.

turned unto dust after death, the soul to the moon, the
domicile of demons, the mind, however, to the sun.
Star lore of this kind smacked somewhat of Hermetic
astrological traditions ; 428 and it is hardly surprising
that, having commented On the obsolcsccnce of ora
cles,4-0 Plutarch concluded his essay on The oracles at
Delphi 420 somewhat sadly by saying:
. . . Children take more delight and satisfaction in seeing
rainbows, haloes, and comets than in seeing moon and sun;
and so these persons yearn for riddles. . . . And if they
cannot ascertain to their satisfaction the reason for the
change, they go away, after pronouncing judgment against
the God. . . ,431
Although an essay On comets, ascribed to Plutarch
in the catalogue of his writings by Lamprias. is lost,
there is small reason for believing that it dealt with
astrological topics. More probably it was a pleasant
ramble through the various views on these celestial
apparitions. His only common basis with the more
violent foes of astrology among his contemporaries was
his rejection of Fate, a decision made inevitable by his
views on religion. Obliquely in his essay On Chance
(npl rvx^ ) 432 he argued against the belief which as
cribed all happenings to Fate. He opposed this
concept by asserting that intelligence ( 4>porqa^ ) was
mans decisive difference from the animals. It provided
him with what amounted to free will, and prevented
him from drifting helplessly on the tides of fickle
F ortune:
Precisely as would be our case, if the sun did not exist,
and we, for all the other stars, should be passing our life
in a continual night . . . . so man. for all his senses, had he
not mind and reason, would not differ at all in his life from
the brutes. 433
It is hardly surprising that Plutarchs gentle antifatalism
created not much of a stir. It was left to more radical
rationalists to carry the attack against fatalist astrology
to new heights.
Towards the end of the second century another selfstyled follower of Plato revived Plutarchs arguments
about the validity of divination: Maximus, a rhetori
cian from T yre . 434 H e wrote an, essay in which he
discussed the question, stated in tlie title, tff divination
Compare A. J. Festugiere, L a revelation dH erm es Trismegiste, 1: L astrologie et les sciences occultes, esp .; 19-28; 309346; Paris, Librairie Lecoffre, 1944.
4M Plutarch, dc defectu oraculorum, 1-S2 (ff. 3 94E -409D ).
* Plutarch, dc Pythiac oracnlis, 1-30 (ff. 394 E-409 D)
in Ibid., 30 (f. 409 C -D ).
4,5 Plutarch, de fortuna. 1-6 (ff. 97 C-100 A ).
"Ib id .. 3 (f. 98 C ).
434 Compare on him E. Zeller, Philosophic der Gricchen 3, 2
(4th ed., 1903) : 219-225; W . Christ (-Schm id-Staehlin), Geschichte der gricchischcn Literatur 2 . 2 ( H db. d. klass. A l t , ed.
I. Mueller, 7) : 767-769; D. Amand. op. c i t: 101-104. esp. 101,
n. 1; E. de Faye, Origcne. S a vie, son oeuvre, sa pensee, 2 :
L ambiance philosophique, ch. x i : 154-164; P aris, Librairie
Ernest Leroux, 1927.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N ERV A TO S EV E R U S A LEX A N D ER

exists, what is left for im435 [i.e. for our free will]?
This question was of course particularly pertinent in
connection with fatalistic astrology. Maximus, however,
tried to salvage a general belief in oracles, for example,
but wished to eliminate from it all old-fashioned super
stition. His logic was very questionable. For he sug
gested that a divine power governed the cosmos, but
left to men a limited area in which they were free to
decide for themselves. In keeping with the fashion of
the times, physicians or pilots, as well as commanders
of armies were cited by Maximus as illustrations for
the feasibility of such a condition. Divination on his
terms would permit man to penetrate the curtain sepa
rating him from the knowledge possessed by the ruler
of the cosmos. Learning from that knowledge both
avoidable and inevitable events to come, he could then
conduct himself in accordance with such information . 436
Hence prayer as well as acceptance of ones lot were
called for. Although Maximus of Tyreat least in his
extant writings did not deal with astrology directly,
he described Fate in his Should, one pray?*37 in terms
which indicated that no real Platonist could be a fatalist.
Seneca in his Quaestiones naturales had like others
before him pointed out the senselessness cf praying
to Fate or to Gods, if F ate ruled supreme. Even that
Stoic, however, had quailed before the inescapable
aspect of living the life of an animated puppet, dangling
helplessly on the strings of Destiny. But Maximus of
Tyre, rhetorician rather than Platonic philosopher,
failed to grasp the full significance of the dilemma.
Carried away perhaps by his oratorical enthusiasm he
confined himself to ridiculing the very idea that man,
bound by Fate, should pray to gods who from the days
of Hom erhad equally been subject to that immutable,
inexorable supreme tyrant of the universe . 438
The survival of works of this kind indicated at least
a continuation of the great debate, but it would be as
suming too much to expect that any believer in fatalistic
astrology would be influenced through argumentation
of this kind. More penetrating, however, than eclectic
self-styled Platonists like Plutarch, his ghost writer,
or Maximus, were the rationalists of the second century.
Among them Favorinus of Arles was the earliest major
foe of fatalist astrology. Bom about 85 he lived well
into the reign of Antoninus Pius, probably even into
that of M. Aurelius. The zenith of his career was
reached in the time of H adrian, who about ten years
his senior admitted him to his innermost circle.43*
Favorinus, a native of Gaul, had absorbed both Latin
and Greek literature. A universalist in his intellectual
4" Ed. Hobein. or. 13: 158-170; Leipzig, Teubner, 1910.
Ibid., 1-9.
455 Ibid., or. 5.
438 Loc. c it.: 58-60.
,u Compare SHA , Hadrian. 16, 8-10. which asserts that
Favorinus was the most highly esteemed among the swarm of
scholars in the emperors entourage.

197

interests , 440 he was bound to attract Hadrians attention.

For both men shared this encyclopaedic outlook. They
crossed verbal swords on occasion, but Favorinus saga
ciously remarked that not to give in to the master of
thirty legions would be sheer folly. 141 Hadrian in turn
delighted in pulling Favorinus leg by appointing him,
for example, on one occasion to the onerous and costly
office of high priest at Athens. When the thunder
struck scholar tried to beg off, insisting on the immunity
from such onerous duties granted since the days of
Vespasian to recognized scholars ,442 Hadrian looked
stern, and Favorinus meekly withdrew his plea. There
upon the emperor seems to have admitted his jest, and
all was well. 443
In view of H adrian's well known belief in astrology it
is particularly piquant to imagine a clash between him
and Favorinus on the subject of fatalistic astrology. For
we know that Favorinus was wont to orate against it.
Although one could neither expect brand new argu
ments from a man of his kind nor even assume that he
would defend to the death his views against a master
of thirty legions, the argumentation of Favorinus was
bound to reach large audiences. For if Aulus Gellius,
to whom we owe the extant synopsis of Favorinus'
anti-astrological discourse, heard him in public, one
can safely assume that Favorinus would repeat so pro
vocative a lecture on his travels throughout the empire.
Its chief arguments were fourteen : 444
(1) Astrology is of recent vintage. Its hoary founders are
an invention of the astrologers.
(2) From a number of demonstrable instances of astral
power on terrestrial phenomena absurd generalizations
have been made, applying to everything under the sun.
(3) Mans existence on this planet is far too brief for him
to acquire complete knowledge of the cosmic affinities.
(4) The tenets of astrology are not universally valid, but
limited by climate.
(5) Astrometeorology fails to account for the fact that the
same constellations are accompanied by the simultan
eous existence of fair and foul weather in one place or
another. Consequently stars cannot produce the same
destiny in different places.
(6 ) The number of fixed stars, as well as of planets is by
no means exactly known. How then could anyone
S ee W. Schmid, R E 6, 1909: c. 2078-2084; also in W.
Christ, Gesch. d. griech. Lit., Hdb. d. kl. A lt. 7, 2, 2 : 764-766.
In 1931 a papyrus fragment was published of Favorinus -ripl
<pvyjn (pap. Vat. 11) ; compare W. Schmid, R E , suppl. 6, 1935;
c. 65-70; cf. D. Amand, op. c it.: 96 ff.
l SHA , Hadrian. 15. 11-13.
Favorinus claimed exemption as a philosopher, not as a
rhetorician. This is another proof for the inclusion of phi
losophers among those entitled to this privilege, while the
original edict of Vespasian had only granted it to physicians and
the professors of the liberal arts, especially grammarians and
rhetoricians.
443 Philostratus, vit. soph. 1, 8 (f. 490).
,4 Cf. D. Amand. op. cit.: 98. n. 2. Gellius, 14, 1, is the source
for Favorinus antifatalist argumentation.

198

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD
predict from those already observed the absolute
sequence of events.

(7 ) H um an history is far too short to allow for the neces

sary length of scientific observation of astral pow ers.
T h e claims of enorm ous spans of actual observations
are therefore false.
(81 T he constellation prevailing at conception is neces
sarily different from the one a t b irth. W hich of the
two is the decisive one, or m ust somehow both be
reconciled?
(9 ) A ssum ing the prim ary im portance of the m om ent of
conception, it too m ust have been predestined. H ence
from the beginning of time an unbroken astra l ca u
sality must have preceded each conception. No hum an
being could hope to unravel this continuity, hence
astrological reliance on a conceptual or for that
m ater, a natal horoscope is foolish.
(10) T h e very idea that all our actions, dow n to the deci
sion w hether o r not to take a bath, a re im m utably
predestined is ridiculous and unbearable.
(11) W h a t possible connection can our brief little lives
have w ith the m ajestic grandeur of the universe!
(12) N o t even technically can usually the exact m om ent of
b irth be established. T he sm allest difference in time
produces a different constellation. T hus even tech
nically it is impossible to obtain an accurate b irth horoscope (a n argum ent which of course applies even
m ore forcefully to the mom ent of conception).
(1 3 ) M oreover, men and women bom a t the very sam e
m om ent have different destinies. T h is is a c o n tra
diction to the claim that a birth-horoscope alone
determ ines the fu tu re life of its ow ner.
(1 4 ) I f astra l influences are all pervasive, they would apply
w ith equal stren g th to all living creatures, not to m an
alone.

Comparing these arguments against fatalistic astrology

for example with those advanced by Ptolemy in its favor,
one finds that Ptolemy took the sting out of them by
pointing out the very fragmentary nature of the present
state of our knowledge and by admitting areas of free
will, as well as the existence of other influences, includ
ing those of race, customs, and climate. The true con
flict was one between belief and disbelief. Therefore
rational arguments on either side were not likely to
convince even the narrow stratum of Graeco-Roman
society which would be interested in this controversy.
The missionary aspect of diatribes against divination
in general, and fatalistic astrology in particular can be
gleaned from the comment of a young auditor of Favorinus' fervid harangue against fatalistic astrology:
F av o rin u s . . . , w ishing to deter and tu rn aw ay young
people from such astrologers and from others of th a t ilk
who profess to reveal the whole future by m agic a rts, con
cluded w ith argum ents of the following kind, to show th a t
they ought by no m eans to be resorted to and consulted:
T h ey predict . . . either adverse or prosperous events.
If they foretell prosperity and deceive you, you will be m ade
w retched by vain expectations; if they foretell adversity,
you will be made w retched by useless fears. . . . T he
anticip atio n of your hopes will w ear you out w ith suspense.

. . . T h e refo re there is every reason w hy you should not

reso rt to men of that kind who profess know ledge of the
fu tu re . 445

It is pleasant to imagine a ruler of the Roman empire

being confronted with such advice, a ruler who like
Hadrian and his predecessors was onlv too eager to
probe the mists of the future by all means at his disposal,
and especially through astrology.
The Epicurean school, seemingly doomed in the
Ciceronian era. experienced a remarkable revival at
the beginning of the second century. This may in part
have been due to imperial patronage. F or Plotina, the
wife of T rajan, was apparently especially interested in
this sect, and H adrian at least continued to show it
some imperial favor . 440 It was probably an adherent
of this creed, Diogenianus. to whom we owe an anti
fatalist expose . 447 Like the great majority of his con
temporaries, however, he was by no means a strict
follower of Epicure, but an eclectic who adapted for his
own use also ideas quite incompatible with his professed
allegiance. In the debate for and against astrology
Diogenianus went remarkably far (for an avowed Epi
curean) in accepting at least the law of cause and effect
in limited areas, while, on the other hand, rejecting of
course fatalism as such. This attitude earned for him
a niche of honor in Christian literature . 448 Attacking
divination in general, Diogenianus used arguments
reminiscent of those of Cameades and Cicero, for ex
ample the uselessness of foreknowledge of an inevitable
fate. But his reiteration of Favorinus W hy take the
joy out of joy by long anticipation, or aggravate sorrow
by prolonged worry ? 449 was neatly answered in the
manner of Ptolemy that the shock of panic or the
deliriousness of joy would be healthily modified by
foreknowledge of the event. 450
The absolute and unquestioning rejection of astrology
along with the other techniques of divination was in
line with Epicurean tradition, while Diogenianus' ac
ceptance of the cause-and-effect relationship in some
areas was a compromise made necessary by the rise of
the natural sciences since the days of Epicurus . 451
A unique protest against fatalism was added by
Diogenes, an aged Epicurean who died about 200 in his
native city of Oeoanda. Awaiting death he decided to
leave behind a giant testimonial of his creed for all the
world to read. F or all men were equal, citizens of
44'' Gellius, 14, 1, 35-J6.
See p. 152: Dessau, I S 2, 2, no. 7784; also Philostratus,
fit- soph. 2, 2 (f. 566) for the inclusion by M. Aurelius of the
Epicurean school at Athens among those endowed by him.
447 H. v. Arnim, R E 5, 1905: c. 778; D. Amand, op. cit.; 120,
n. 4.
Eusebius, pracpar. ezaiu/. 4, 3; 6, 8.
44 Ibid. 4, 3, 10-1.3; for Favorinus, see Gellius, 14, 1, 36
iT' Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 1, 3, 10-11. 4" On the Epicureans of the second century a . d ., see M.
Caster, Lucien et la pensec religieusc de son tem ps: 84-90, Paris
1938.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FR O M N E R V A TO S EV E R U S A L EX A N D ER
the world as he would call them . 452 A part from the
Epicurean catechism the inscription (which he
mounted on the wall of a portico at Oeoanda) contained
the text of a letter to his mother, a letter to his friends,
his will, and an essay on the blessings of old age.
Although considerable sections of this enormous inscrip
tion have vanished, his attack on divination 453 and
Fate, the darlings of the Stoics, has in large measure
survived:
If the arg u m en ts adduced on behalf of d iv ination a re
absolutely untenable, w hat could one call upon on behalf of
F a te ? . . . T h e decisive arg u m en t ag a in st it: If F ate is
believed in. all foreknow ledge is useless an d all reproaches
and all punishm ent of crim in als.454

Diogenes of Oeoanda went to his reward. H is atoms

mingled with those of the cosmos, a worthy end for the
old Epicurean.
One often wonders, however, to what extent the con
tinued use of the old terms. Academician, Peripatetic,
Epicurean, Stoic, and Cynic, was still justified in the
second century. F or a synthesis of philosophical views,
a syncretism, indeed, characterized most of the philo
sophical writings of that era which have reached us.
The Stoics, for example, had softened their attitude
about fatalism considerably; on the other hand, they
had come to place more value on empiricism than Zeno
and his first disciples had thought necessary. The
Platonic school had long abandoned the lofty mysticism
of its founder on behalf of a more rationalist, even an
outright sceptical, attitude. The Epicureans in turn
perforce had come to concede that logical continuity
had its place, even if each atom still might theoretically
be capable of deviating from the course set for it by
the laws of nature. The customary attitude of modem
writers is to bemoan this process of syncretistic assimi
lation. Yet from another point of view the gradual
blurring of the sharp edges of the original philosophical
sects meant a general consensus of opinion on the
validity of a logical approach to the problems of the
macro- and microcosm and a defiant but treacherous
hope: Ratio omnia vincit, the Reason conquers all
of Manilius . 455 The importance of this joint article of
faith (for a belief in reason is fundamentally, though
paradoxically, a faith like any other) transcended
party lines. In drawing together the rationalists of
the second century were already instinctively aware of
the mounting pressure of irrational forces which, in the
ceaseless tide of oriental religions, were undercutting
the very foundations of Graeco-Roman civilization,
built since the days of the Ionian philosophers on the
*Ed. J. William, Leipzig, Teubner, 1907; cf. also D. Amand,
op. c it.: 118, n. 1.
403 Extant in fragments (inly; compare frgm. x x x i; x x x ii;
xxxiii (ed. W illiam: 39-42).
454 Loc. cit. ; see F. Ueberweg-K. Praechter, Die Phitosophie
des Altertum s: 579 f .; Berlin. E. S. M ittler und Sohn, 1926.
4511 Manilius. slstronomica 4, v. 932.

199

trusting assumption of a rational cosmos. Social and

economic developments had not kept pace with the
evolution of philosophy and its precocious children, the
natural sciences. Creative innovation outside the safe
haven of these sciences had long ljeen frowned upon.
Neither the Hellenistic despots nor their more recent
and much nobler counterparts, the great Roman rulers
of the second century, encouraged political, social, or
economic concepts at variance with the tenets of the
existing order.
Into this world, still outwardly resplendent and
secure, but inwardly already unsure of itself, the last
great empiricist of antiquity was torn. Alexander of
Aphrodisias . 456 Growing up in the benign age of the
Antonines. this last great Peripatetic of antiquity was
no exception to the above seated rule ; he too deviated
from the stringent Aristotelian empiricism, although he
tried faithfully to adhere to the concepts of the founder.
It was an irony of history that Septimius Severus,
fanatical believer in fatalistic astrology , 457 appointed
this staunch foe of fatalism to the official chair of the
Peripatetic school at Athens (which he held from 198
to 211). In a number of writings, especially in his
treatise On Fate 458 Alexander went so far as to acknowl
edge a limited sphere in which the stars, as well as Fate
exercised a dominant influence, but he sharply rejected
the universal fatalism of Chrysippus and the earlier
Stoics. It has been suggested that he also opposed the
element of mysticism inherent in the Aristotelian con
cept of an ultimate link between the human intellect
and the divine one,45* because such an admission would
involve the acknowledgment of a superior power and
pave the wav for an acceptance of the Stoic tenet of a
supreme power, i. e. Fate.
Nevertheless Alexander did not deny the fact that
astral influences did exist, that, indeed, our sublunar
world might reflect in its own changes those taking
place in the motions of the stars . 460 But he admitted
onlv astral influence on the purely physical elements on
earth. In his quaestiones naturales 401 Alexander treated
in particular the relation between the immortal and the
4** See P. Moraux, Alexandre d Aphrodise. exegete de la
noctiquc d'Aristote ( Bibl. de la Fac. de Philos, ct Lettrcs de
rO niv. dc Liege, 90, Liege and Paris, 1942) with a bibliog
raphy: 225-227. Compare also Gercke, R E 1, 1894: c. 1453.
no. 94,-c. 1455; D. Amand, op. cit. : 135 ff.; Zeller, op. cit., 3, 1
(5th ed .; 1923) : 817-830, with a list of Alexanders writings on
818 f.
"7 See below, p. 209 ff.
* Eil. I. Bruns, Suppl. Aristotelicum, 2, 2: 164-212; Berlin,
1892. French translation by Nourrisson, Essai stir Alexandre
dAphrodisias. appendix; Paris. 1870.
45 P. Moraux, op. cit., esp.: 167-179; cf. D. Amand, op. cit.:
137, n. 2; P. Wilpert, Reste verlorener Aristotelesschriften bei
Alexander von Aphrodisias, Hermes 75, 1940 - 369-396, esp.
369-371.
.
See P. Duhem, Le systeme du monde, 2: 302: Paris, 1914.
4,1 Ed. I. Bruns. Suppl. Aristotel. 2, 2.

200

T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

mortal body.46- In his usual manner sometimes lie

did not even indicate his own preferencehe presented
a variety of opinions on the subject. Finally, however,
he agreed with the following concept:
(1 ) The pow er of the heavenly bodies creates both simple
anti com plex organism s in form , as well as in essence.
(2) D epending on their position w ith reg ard to the stars,
heat and drvness or th e ir opposites a re engendered in
earthly bodies by a s tra l influence. T he planets circu
latin g in the zodiac a re responsible for bestow ing ,on
those particles closest to them qualities like heat and
dryness, i. e. the elem ent of fire. S im ilarly the stars
are responsible for c re a tin g the other th ree elements,
air, earth, and w ater.

(3) Besides creating the four elements (of which all

matteraccording to the Peripateticsis composed')
the stars also are responsible for the compounds
resulting from the mixture of these elements.
(4) F rom the purely physical point of view the stars in the
m aterial realm on ea rth a re directly responsible for
creation, destruction, anti in general all transform ation
of m atter. They also d eterm in e all te rre stria l m otion.463

All matter for Alexander of Aphrodisias was thus as

firmly controlled by the stars as the most devout ad
herent of astrology might wish. Nevertheless, he refused
to concede that this purely physical power of the stars
applied to the realm of the soul and to its freedom of
decision. Grudgingly he admitted that in a restricted
sphere cause and effect relations prevailed immutably , 4*4
but maintained that in a very wide area free will pre
vailed.645 This relativism once more demonstrated the
intellectual rapprochement which had taken place among
the four old philosophical sects ; for Alexander borrowed
a large number of arguments on behalf of free will from
the New Academy, a limited concept of Fate from the
Stoics, and a measure of atomic freedom (on a small
scale) from the Epicureans. But no such compromise
was made by the Cynics and the trium phant nihilists
of the second century.
The two main sects which opposed the principate in
the first century of our era were, as has been said on
many an occasion, the Stoics and the Cynics. While
the ones had obtained their strongest backing from the
Roman nobility, the others relied on their appeal to the
masses. Their reckless impudence knew no bounds.
One of the Cynic rabble rousers, for example, pene
trated into the theatre, in which Vespasian's son, Titus,
with thousands of Romans attended a spectacle, and
began to harangue the multitude with a fierce attack on
Titus and his Jewish mistress, princess Berenice .468 The
Ibid. 2. 2 (eti. Bruns : 47-50) is especially devoted to this
topic, cf. Amand, op. cit.: 140 f.
On this see his treatise On mixture and growth, 11 (ed.
I. Bruns, 2. 2: 225).
*4 Alexander of Aphrodisias, de fato. 2 (ed. I. B runs: 2, 2:
165, 14-25).
Ibid., 5; 12: 14f. (ed. Bruns, 2, 2: 165-186).
* Cassius Dio. ep. 6 5 ( 6 6 ) , 13, 1; 15, 3-5; compare Suetonius,

government on this occasion (and on some others)

proceeded against the more spectacular Cynics, but on
the whole considered them less dangerous than the
Stoics, because the Cynics failed quite naturally to
win any following amongst the wealthy upper class
which alone was able to influence the imperial govern
ment. On the subject of fatalism, however, the Cynics
were diametrically opposed to the Stoics . 107 But the
intentionally uncouth Cynics with their unkempt beards,
disheveled hair, ragged appearance, not made more ap
pealing by their sizable clublike canes, included not only
some serious thinkers, but had also attracted a host of
tramps who in the guise of traveling Cynic philosophers
practiced their wiles on the credulous multitude.
The syncretism of the second century, however, did
not leave even the Cynics quite untouched. Although
we have but few testimonials to their intellectual activi
ties during that era, the names of at least two men,
Oenomaus of G adara 488 and Demonax, should be men
tioned. Both were Cynics who flourished under the
Antonines. Oenomaus was younger than Plutarch and
older than Lucian. H is mordant wit attacked the basis
of his philosophical colleagues arguments the respect
for reason. Two centuries later his writings still scan
dalized the pious pagan, Julian the Apostate (361363). 469 But Oenomaus had one virtue, rare in that
period in which he lived. He sincerely believed in his
ideas and did not, like the elegant Favorinus, or the
ice-cold Alexander of Aphrodisias, merely present them
as an intellectual exercise to his audience or readers .470
Of his Unmasking of wizards (yo^rmv <fmpa) substantial
portions have been preserved by a Christian author,
delighted at this pagan attack against pagan beliefs. 471
Divination as a means of anticipating the political future
in particular came in for special ridicule. Cautiously,
however, Oenomaus chose his examples from ancient
Greek history for example the fall of Croesus by
fatuous interpretation of an oracle, rather than less
harmless and more recent parallels from Roman history.
Yet the polemic of Oenomaus against oracles and
the faith in the old deities in general was not necessarily
incompatible with the acceptance Of fatalistic astrology,
provided Fate were recognized as the supreme power
before which even the gods had to bow. But Oenomaus
fully upheld the Cynic tradition also in respect to its
denial of fatalism. Neither the atomism of Democritus
Vespasian, 13; Seneca, dc benefieiis, 7, 1, 8; Zeller, op. cit., 3, 1
(5th ed., 1923) : 792 f .; ,\l. Caster, op. c it.: 65 ff.
ttiT See Lucian, Zens catechized (Zevf
\oue.uos), 2 ff.
488 Compare Mette, R li 17, 2, 1937: c. 2249-2251; te lle r, op.
cit., 3, 1 (5th ed.) : 796-798; P. V'allette, Dc Oenomao Cynico;
diss., Paris, 1908 for tlie text of the fragments of the Unmasking
of wizards (yoitrur < t> upa), and also a commentary on it.
Julian, or. 6, ff. 187 C ; 199 A.
4,0 Ed. P. Valette, op. cit., for example: 68 f.
471 Eusebius, praepar. evang. 5, 19-36; 6, 7, 1-42; P. Valette,
op. c it.: 27-68.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FR O M N ERVA TO SEV E R U S ALEX AND ER

(and E picure), nor of course the Stoic belief in Fate,
even in its modification by Chrysippus was acceptable.
Apollo, the divinity in charge of divination, came in for
particularly severe criticism. The old argument, for
example, which applied to fatalistic astrology as it did
to the belief in fatalism in general was again advanced;
Evildoers would reply to you in all justice: O Gods,
you have not permitted us to become virtuous! On the
contrary, you have coerced and forced us to live as crimi
nals ! As to virtuous people; If they strut, placing dis
dainfully their hands on their hips, one will not applaud
that complacency. . . ,47Less stridently a gentler Cynic, Demonax, voiced
similar views. Seeing him, as we do, almost exclusively
through the eyes of the versatile Lucian, we once again
are faced with the eclecticism so typical of this era. For
Demonax did not mark out for himself a single form
of philosophy but combined many of them, and never
would quite reveal which one he favored. 473 Never
theless, if one must assign him to any of the recognized
philosophical sects, his Weltanschauung was closest to
that of the Cynics. H e was a contemporary of Favori
nus, perhaps somewhat younger than the rhetorician
from Arles with whom he exchanged some fireworks
on occasion . 474 A keen scientific mind must have been
his. F or when asked by someone:
If I should burn a thousand pounds of wood, . . . how
many pounds of smoke would it make? he replied;
Weigh the ashes: all the rest will be smoke! 473
His rationalism determined of course liis attitude about
all divination, hence about fatalistic astrology also:
On seeing a soothsayer (/uim v) make public forecasts
for money, he said: " I do not see on what ground you
claim that fee: if you think you can change destiny in any
way, you ask too little, no matter how much you charge;
but if everything will turn out as Heaven has ordained
what good is your prophesying ? 476
The very manner in which Lucian presented Demonax
to posterity indicated that he sympathized with a gentle
Cynic. Difficult though it may seem to pin the greatest
satirist of antiquity down , 477 in so far as his own views
on astrology were concerned for Lucian's writings are
truly protean the task is somewhat simplified by the
fact that in two of his dialogues, the Zeus catechised
and the Astrology, Lucian apparently spoke his own
mind and did not talk with his tongue in cheek or
merely to please a patron for whom he wrote.
472 Eusebius, pracp. ev. 6, 41.
473 Lucian, Demonax, 5.
474 Ibid., 12.
473 Ibid., 39. This of course does not take into account the
addition of oxvgen.
4I" Ibid.. 37.
477 Compare for example M. Caster. Lticien et la pensee
religicuse de son temps, esp. ch. i and ii : 9-122, for Lucian's
views on the standard philosophical sects; cf. D. Amand, op. c it.:
107 ff.; 107, n. 1 and 2.

201

Lucian was lx>m about 120 in Samosata. the erst

while capital of the defunct kingdom of Commagene.
The rulers of that small Hellenistic state had themselves
been devout believers in astrology. Their blood had
mingled with that of outstanding astrologers . 478 but in
the days of Lucian Samosata was reduced to a pro
vincial city of Syria. The bov grew up into a rhetori
cian. not a philosopher. Hence his variegated literary
output was not meant to propagate a creed, but was
chiefly aimed at pleasing his audiences. His approach,
however, was that of a humorist ( rather than that of
a satirist ) . 470 This lent his works the sparkle which
distinguished them from most of the florid but dreary
outpourings of his fellow rhetoricians and has made
them immortal.
Yet malgre soi Lucian revealed his own attitude,
which was one of profound scepticism, in his highly
polished but deadly attacks on religious beliefs of any
sort. In an age in which a vogue for nihilist rationalism
brought to the fore numerous writings of this kind, the
wildest superstitious gullibility also abounded, providing,
to the fury of Lucian, fatuous adherents by the thousand
falling for any quack. The well attested career of a
self-styled divine prophet like Alexander of Abonoteichus 480 demonstrated the lengths to which the credu
lous, high and low alike, would go in their acceptance
of revelatory prophecies. But not only impious im
postors drew fire from Lucian. His contempt for any
supernatural belief was demonstrated by his descrip
tion of the Christians, depicted as simple minded fol
lowers of a crucified sophist (<ro<mj*) ,4M as well as
by his irreverent report on the self-immolation of the
philosopher, Peregrinus Proteus (d, 165).4M It could
be expected that Lucians treatment of astrology would
be in similar terms.
The treatise called Astrology was written in Ionic
dialect the skill to write in archaic Greek dialects was
considered part of ones literary prowess; Julia Bal
billa, for example, in 130 had ventured into the Aeolian
dialect when scratching her tourists poems into the
pedestal of the Memnon statue . 483 A defense of any
47S See above, p. 95, 136.
47 Compare P. Pisacane, Luciano umorista, Atene e Roma 4 4 ,
1942: 109-132; Zeller, op. cit., 3, 1 (5th ed., 1923): 852-854;
Christ-Schmid-Staehlin, op. cit. 2, 2, 1924 : 710-745.
480 Lucian, Alexander the false prophet ( AVeai>8pot ^ i>tv6onanTis). This charlatan flourished between a . d . 150 and 170.
Coins and medals attest to his reputation ; compare F. Cumont,
Memoires couronuces de I'Academic dc Belgique 4 0 , 1887; cf.
M. Caster, Etudes sur Alexandre on le faux prophete de Lucien,
Paris, 1938.
4,1 Lucian, The passing of Peregrinus (irepi r} Jfoptypivov
rtXei/rijs), 13.
485 For a contemporary's favorable comment, see Gellius, 8,
3 ; 12. 11; compare Philostratus, vit. soph. 2, 1. 33: Tatian, or.
ad Graccos, 25; Athenagoras, leg. de Christo, 26; Tertuilian. ad
mart., 4; Ammianus Marcellinus. 29. 1. 39: Jerome, Chron., Abr.
2181.
453 See above, p. 171 ff.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

kind of divination, on even the most limited basis,

seemed to ponderous logicians of modern times so wholly
inconsistent with Lucian's Weltanschauung that the
little essay was by many assigned to the limbo of
pseudo-Lucianic " writings. Yet viewed in the con
text of rhetorical customs of Lucian's time the Astrology
merely reflected what most rationalists of the era agreed
on. The very criticism against the craft was freely pre
sented, and the emphasis on the fatalistic quality of
astrology was so cautiously worded that the fictitious
defender of astrology himself seemed to be lukewarm
in his belief. Compared to the devastating attacks of
Favorinus and other contemporaries of Lucian his little
piece was innocuous indeed:
This treatise concerns heaven and the stars, but not the
stars themselves nor heaven, but the prediction (juapreojs)
and tru th w hich comes from them into the life of mankind.
Mv discourse contains no advice nor instruction, how to ply
this divinatory a rt. but I criticize those scholars w ho culti
vate and show to the young all other disciplines except
astrology.484

At the very outset the frequent miscalculations of

astrologers, held against them by their opponents, were
freely admitted, but were ascribed to human fallibility
and inaccurate knowledge, and therefore no proof of
the falsity of astrology itself.485 an argument made, for
example, by Ptolemy also in his defense of astrology as
a branch of applied astronomy . 488 In keeping with a
widespread though erroneous opinion of his age,
Lucian accorded to the Ethiopians the priority of the
evolution of astrology. From them it was handed down
to the Egyptians, and then reached the Libyans : 487
T he B abylonians also knew everything [about astro lo g y ],
and. as they them selves claim, before anyone else, but in
my opinion this know ledge came to them m uch la ter.481

The Greeks contrary to all historical fact were

credited with having invented astrology independently
from the Orient, Orpheus being the discoverer of these
celestial verities . 489 Greek myths and legends were
freely and amusingly presented to prove the early
popularity of astrology in the Greek world. In the deft
and truly Lucianic handling of this material Lucian
showed a thorough familiarity with astrological tenets
and terminology . 4110 In all:
T he ancients . . . would found no cities, invest them selves
w ith no ram p arts, slay no men. wed no women, u n til they
h ad been advised in all particulars by diviners.491
484 Lucian. Astrology (rtpi

r i j j <urTpoXo-|rV), 1.

4 Ibid., 2.
* Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, 1, 2. 6-7.
4,T Lucian. Astrology, 3-8.
Ibid., 9.
4 Ibid., 10. On the astrologumcna of Orpheus, see for
example K. Ziegler, R E 18, 2, 1942: c. 1400; J. Heeg, Die
angebliclten orphischcn tpya tal iiitipai; diss., 1907.
4M Lucian, Astrology, 11-22.
4,1 Ibid., 23.

But the speaker himself freely admitted that times had

changed:
W hereas our forbears w ere so m ig h tily enam ored of
divination ( <fn\oiulvTti<;), am ong this g e n e ra tio n there are
some denying the possibility to find an y th in g useful fo r men
in divination. I t is neith er credible no r tru th fu l, and M ar^
and Ju p ite r do not move in the sky fo r o u r ow n sake. They
a re not a t all interested in the affairs of m en w ith w hich
they have nothing in com mon, but accom plish th eir courses
independently through necessity revolving.492

This was of course the very argument which in the

end. i. e. since the days of Newton and Leibniz. hUs
become the victorious scientific coup de grace adminis
tered to astrology. It was advanced by Lucian as the
first of two basic objections raised in his time against
astrology. The second was this:
A nd others affirm th at astrology, alth o u g h n o t untru th fu l,
is useless, because div ination will n o t a lter w h at conies upon
us by decree of F ate (ofcoo-a rrjm noiprjm SoM ovra).493

Both arguments were of course far from original.

The very fact, however, of their being commonplace in
the second century accentuated the hard and fast draw
ing of the battle lines in which attackers and defenders
of astrology had fought themselves to a standstill. In
keeping with accepted practice Lucians cautious cham
pion of astrology concluded:
T o both these opinions I m ay an sw er th a t alth o u g h the
stars do, indeed, absolve th e ir ow n course in the sky, none
the less as an incidental [effect] ev ery th in g am ong us comes
to pass. . . . F u rth erm o re astro lo g y is, indeed, pow erless
to convert bad into good, o r to achieve m u tatio n of any of
the things thus effected, yet it is useful to those who employ
it. F o r the good of w hich they know in ad vance delights
them long beforehand, w hile the bad they accept wellprepared, because it does n o t com e upon them u n aw are, b u t
in careful foreknow ledge is accepted easily and lightly.494

Agreeing thus with Ptolemy on the second point , 495

this defender of astrology went, however, far beyond
the Alexandrian scholar in asserting without any
modification the tenets of fatalist astrology. The stars,
it was true, had no concern with human affairs what
ever, but. purely incidentally, were the one and only
cause of all of them just the same. Psychological pre
paredness for the joys and sorrows meted out bv the
different stars remained thus the only benefit which
astrology could possibly bestow on men. Lucian's icecold logic led to this inevitable conclusion. Even if one
assumed fatalistic astrology to be scientifically valid,
its value for human beings was at best not great.
But fatalism itself was a creed far transcending its
astrological incarnation. In his Zeus catechised Lucian
amassed for the Cynic interviewer of Zeus the entire
arsenal of anti-fatalistic arguments. Poor Zeus was
4,s Ibid., 27.
4,5 Ibid.. 28.
4,4 Ibid.. 29.
Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 1, 3, esp. 11.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A TO S EV E R U S A L EX A N D ER
badgered relentlessly by Cyniscus. obviously a member
of the Cynic sect. His manner strongly resembled that
of an impertinent reporter of our own era:
Is w hatever D estiny and the F ate s spin for each of us
at his b irth inevitable?
It is really quite true. . . . F o r no th in g can come to
pass outside the control of the F ates. . .
. . . B ut th ere a re only three of the F ates. . . . H ow
about D estiny and F o rtu n e
) ? 496 . . . A re you gods
u n d er th eir ru le too? . . . 40T

Zeus was forced to admit that they were, indeed,

subject to Fate. Thereupon Cyniscus resumed his
attack :
A n d is it possible for you to change things . . . ?
N o t by any m eans. . . . See here, your talk is g etting
insulting, Cyniscus, and you w ill perhaps re g re t it some
d ay .
Be ch ary of y o u r th reats, Zeus, for you know th at
n o th in g can happen to me w hich F a te has not decreed before
you. . . . 408

In vain Zeus tried to claim for the gods at least the

role of prophets, foretelling what Fate had decreed:
O n the whole, Zeus, it does no good to have foreknow l
edge of fu tu re events w hen people a re com pletely unable to
g u ard ag a in st them. . . .
T h en you leave no th in g for us, and we a re gods to no
purpose . . . ?
S trik e, Zeus, if it is fated th a t I am really to be struck
by lig h tn in g . . . !
D o n t you believe th a t th e re a re any punishm ents, and
rew ard s, and a co u rt w here each m a n s life is scru ti
nized ? 499

But this feeble suggestion that man must possess at

least some responsibility for his actions, was brushed
aside with invincible logic by Cyniscus:
I h ear th a t somebody nam ed M inos, a C retan, acts as
ju d g e in such m atters dow n below. . . . H e o ught not to
rew ard o r punish an y o n e.
W h y n o t ?
B ecause we men do no th in g of our own accord, but only
a t the behest of some inevitable necessity. . . . If a man
slay, it is she w ho slays, and if he rob temples, he only
does it u n d er orders. T h erefo re if M inos w ere to ju d g e
ju stly , he w ould punish D estiny instead of Sisyphus, and
F a te instead of T an talu s. for w hat w rong did they do in
obeying o rd ers ? 500

The attack was pressed home directly to Minos in

another work of Lucian, the Thirtieth dialogue of the
dead. There Sostratus, a robber, boldly argued his
case before the supreme judge of the dead:
W h a te v e r I have done d u rin g my life, have I done it
4 F ortune (Fortnna, T ych c) had long become an important
horoscopal concept; see Bouche-Leclercq: 276 ff.; esp. 289-292.
4,1 Lucian. Z eus catechized, I f f .; 4.
4, Ibid., 7 and 9.
" Ibid., 12; IS; 18.
500 Ibid., 18.

203

by my own free will, o r has F ate spun the th read of my

actions ?
D oubtless. F ate has spun it.
S aints or sinners, we then are but the agents of its
will ?
' C ertainly ! You obey Clotho. She ordains a t the mom ent
of anyone's b irth w hat each has to do.
" But if a man is forced to kill another w ithout the pow er
to resist the one from whom he receives this o rd er . . . who
shall accuse him of m u rd er ? . . . In the present case, if a
slave on o rd er of his m aster b rings gold or silver to some
one . . . who shall be listed as the benefactor ? "
" T h e m aster. S ostratus. T h e c a rrie r is but his ag en t.
T hus you see, how u n ju st it is to punish us. who have
onlv carried out C lotho's o rders, and to rew ard those who
m erely bestowed a blessing which was not th eir property.
T ru lv one m ust say th at we did not have a chance to resist
o rders which were given us w ith such fatal stren g th . 501

Minos like Zeus surrendered to the logic of the

dead criminal.
But Clotho tamed the roving rhetorician before she
sent Lucian to face Minos himself. He who had so
often ridiculed all hierarchies, terrestrial and divine,
bowed at last when the lengthening shadows of old age
were upon him. None other than M. A urelius 502
seems to have tamed the old man. persuading him to
bow under the yoke by accepting a post in the imperial
administration of Egypt. Lucian's literary friends, many
of them no doubt envious of his prosperity, apparently
reproached him for turning docile and conformist in
the end. He tried to defend himself, and his Apology
showed how much he resented such attacks:
Shall I plead the decrees of F o rtu n e, D estiny, or F ate ?
S hall I plead for m ercy w ith my critics by telling them that
they know full well th a t ou r actions do not depend on us,
but on a superior pow er, or rath er on one of those d ivini
ties . . . ? Shall I answ er them th a t she governs us a t h er
pleasure, enslaves us in spite of ourselves, th at we a re not
responsible for ou r w ords o r actions ? No, my friend. T h at
kind of defense is too cheap. . . .503

Thus, still defiant, Lucian withdrew from the battle

against fatalism. But the fight itself continued. The
incompatibility of ethics and fatalism was to be stri
dently proclaimed once more, but what remained if the
gods were impotent, Fate non-existent, causality a Stoic
delusion ? The void, the nihil! It was left to a mediocre
compiler to present the logical attack against all knowl
edge per se: Sextus Empiricus.
Of his life we know but little. He lived later than
Galen, but prior to Diogenes Laertius . 504 For Satur501 Lucian, Dialogues of the dead (rexpixoi StaXoyoi), 30, 2-3;
cf. D. Amand, op. c it.: 111 f.
505 If that assumption is correct. Lucian's appointment must
obviously antedate a . d . 180, perhaps occurring between 175 and
180. The old rhetorician did not survive it by more than a few
years.
5M Lucian, Apology (aroXoyia), 8; cf. D. Amand, op. cit.:
110 f.
' 4 See W. Vollgraff. La vie de Sextus Empiricus, Revue de
Philologie 16. 1902: 195 ff., L. Haas, Das Leben des Sextus
Empiricus, Programm des Gymnasiums Burghausen, 1883; and

204

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

ninus. liis main disciple, flourished between 180 and 2 0 0 .

Consequently, one must assume that Sextus, ardent ex
ponent of the Pyrrlionic school of philosophy, wrote in
the reigns of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and perhaps
Septimius Severtts. The cry All is vanity had
already come from Marcus Aurelius, a strange sound
from imperial lips. Now Sextus Empiricus sat down
to administer the intellectual coup de grace to the world
of reason which Greece had created from chaos and the
mists of myths. He was not an original thinker. Scores
of scrolls and codices had long been filled with the criti
cism of all theories of knowledge. Sextus Empiricus
merely compiled these findings. The futility of ration
alism was perhaps never more clearly exposed than in
this suicide attack in which with all logical instru
ments available Sextus Empiricus destroyed the belief
in knowledge, in causality itself. 505
Three books devoted to the theories of the Pyrrhonic
school provided the general background for the relent
less attack against all disciplines of organized knowledge.
The latter work itself was entitled Against scholars
( n pos fia&iyjiaTiKovs), or as it is often quoted adversus
mathematicos. The title can only be understood in the
light of the work itself. For the term mathematicus in
both Greek and Latin had long acquired a number of
different meanings. Astrologers for example were
commonly referred to as mathematici, a habit which
Sextus Empiricus himself demonstrated on occasion.50
Astrology, as well as astronomy itself, was called a
mathematical discipline. No less a scientist than
Ptolemy used it in this manner, once for the title of his
(astronomical) Almagest, and once for that of his
astrological Tetrabiblos. 101 The original Greek mean
ing of the word mathematicus, however, had simply
been that of learned man," i. e. scholar or intellectual.
It was this earliest usage which Sextus Empiricus
preferred.
The work was subdivided according to the main
disciplines of organized studies, but it was prefaced by
a brief introduction. Beginning with the historical em
phasis on Epicurus and Pyrrho 508 as the founders of
Greek scepticism, Sextus Empiricus asked the funda
mental question: Does any knowledge ex ist? (Ei
m fjtd&ijjja). Knowledge meant organized and syste
matized scientific facts, specifically the traditional disci
plines developed since the days of Plato and Aristotle.
The curt, almost abrupt, conclusion was No knowl
his Ucber die Schriftcn des Sextus Empiricus, Freising, 1883;
H. v. Amim. RE. 2. Reihe. 2, 2, 1923: c. 20S8.
103 Compare C. Hartenstein, Ueber die Lehren der antiken
Skepsis, besonders des Sextus Empiricus, Zcitschrift fuer Phi
losophic 94, 1888: 217 tT.
5 Sextus Empiricus, adversus mathematicos 5: adv. astroloitos. 1.
07 See above, p. 192.
Compare Diogenes Laertius, 9, U (on P yrrho) ; 10, 1-154
I on Epicurus ).

edge of any kind ex ists ( o u k Z p a t u n n ( t a f h j u a ) , 50*

The suicide of ancient rationalism could not be an
nounced more succinctly. It was an anticlimax then to
discuss W hat can be learned. The expected answer
was of course: Nothing . 510 A brief expose about
teacher and student terminated the preface . 511 The first
lx)ok of the work itself demolished the grammarians,
experts on literature and philology. The second on
slaught was aimed at the rhetoricians, the pampered
darlings of the Hellenistic era. and especially of the
Roman principate. Even so safe and certain a field as
geometry was not spared. Its certainties were dis
solved in the third book. N or did arithmetic fare any
better: Number is a nothing, proclaimed the author
triumphantly at the end of book four. Next in line
were the astrologers. Having (in the fifth book) estab
lished the hopeless fallacy of their discipline, Sextus
Empiricus went on to attack the theorists of music
(book six). Then came the turn of the logicians. They
were for obvious reasons formidable opponents, and
it took our author two lengthy books (seven and eight)
to annihilate them. Thereafter the physicists were sub
jected to a barrage of arguments which filled two more
books, the ninth and tenth. The reader, who must have
gone limp long before, was finally exposed and that
was perhaps a symbolical order to the destruction of
the champions of ethics (book eleven). W ith an almost
audible sigh the author ended his labors:
A nd inasm uch as we have now tre ated the doubtful points
am ong those, w hich include m ost subjects tre ated in the
field of ethics, we have surveyed th erew ith the whole realm
of sceptical analysis 512 (tt/s (TKtffTwcjy? uywyr/*,)."

The first important realization to be derived from this

table of contents is that Sextus Empiricus considered
fatalistic astrology as a science on the level of any of
the other m ajor disciplines. His very attack against it
must be measured thereby. It surely cannot be com
pared with similar criticism launched by men who
would never question the very existence of definite
knowledge itself. Thus Ciceros criticism of divination,
or even that of Lucian did not strike that general note
of nihilism. But even Sextus Empiricus; c^d not go
further than to attack fatalistic astrology only:
It is proposed to analyze astrology, also called m athe
m atics. but not th a t p a rt of it which consists of arithm etic
and geom etry for w e have already arg u ed ag a in st those
who profess these disciplines. N or will the pow er and
possibility of prediction be discussed which is possessed by
Eudoxus, H ipparchus, and men of th eir type, i. e. the disci
pline called astronom y. F o r there is observation of phe
nom ena in ce rtain fields (lik e ag ricu ltu re and the a rt of
nav ig atio n ) in it. from w hich one may pred ict droughts.
3* Sextus Empiricus, adv. math., pr. 1.
!U0 Ibid.. 2.
3,1 Ibid., 4.
MS [bid. 11, 257.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A LEX AND ER

rains, plagues and earthquakes, and other changes of the
su rro u n d in g a ir.Gl3

Astronomy and astrometeorology were thus singu

larly exempted from the attack of the sceptic. Indeed,
as Ptolemy had put it. one would have to be blind not
to realize the obvious facts of astral phenomena. But
ag a in st the " science of b irth horoscopes ( yevtaXoylav) by
m eans of which the C haldaeans, bedecking themselves w ith
high sounding nam es like m athem aticians or astrologers,
have indicted not inconsiderable in ju ry on hum an life, [shall
we a rg u e] ag a in st a discipline w ith which they a re creatin g
w ith in us a m ighty su perstition, w hile prev en tin g us in any
w ay to act according to com mon sense ( optiov X oyov)?1*

Having thus limited the scope of his attack. Sextus

Empiricus methodically proceeded bv presenting a sum
mary of horoscopal astrology whose positivist tenets he
planned to subvert. A considerable section of the book
against the astrologers was devoted to this exposition
(5, 3-42). This is the longest detailed presentation
from the pen of a second-centurv critic which has
reached us. It began with the basic axiom of fatalist
astrology: Mundane matters have an affinity he
used the Posidonian term sympathy ( t o m/xiraOtir)
with those of the heavens (5, 4) and are in every
moment influenced by them. The astrologers, usually
now called Chaldaeans by Sextus Empiricus, ascribed
to the seven planets the decisive role in shaping the
events of a m ans life, while the twelve parts, into which
they divided the zodiac, also played a role, but a sec
ondary one. Each zodiacal constellation he called
them (somewhat inaccurately) animals, a term de
cidedly unfair to Aquarius, Sagittarius, and Virgo
was subdivided into 30 degrees, each of which in turn
consisted of 60 minutes (5, 5). Some constellations
were called male, others female, others bi-sexual; still
others were entirely sexless (5, 6 ). Masculine signs
would of course lie responsible for the birth of boys,
feminine ones would see to it that the proper number
of girls were born. Pythagoreans Sextus was not
quite certain on that point similarly endowed num
bers also with sexual characteristics (5. 7-8).
Not satisfied, however, with the almost innumerable
possibilities thus created, some ambitious astrologers
construed an additional division by distinguishing in
each zodiacal sign twelve parts (5, 9-10). For all these
stars and constellations four points were considered of
prime importance in each horoscope for the establish
ment of its owners fate. These cardinal points were
the Horoscopal Point, the Mesuranema (medium coeli),
the Setting Point ( Dvsis, diametrically opposite the
eastern [Horoscopal] P oint), and the Antimesuranema
(liypogeum ), diametrically opposed to the Mesura
nema (5, 12-13). A part from this arrangement, signs
or planets which preceded or followed the ones in the
zlsJbid. 5: adv. astrol., 1-2.
E Ibid. 5, 2.

205

four cardinal points were also given astrological mean

ing. The evil and the good demon ( Kakodaiuton, Agathodaimon), as well good and bad Fortune, for example,
were thus assigned important sectors also in horoscopes,
secondary only to the four cardinal ones ( 5 , 14-20).
Some astrologers also correlated each part of the human
body with a particular sign whose influence was domi
nant over that section of our anatomy ( 5 . 2 1 -3 3 ).
Alleged observations of great antiquity were said to
confirm the physical effect of certain bright stars on ter
restrial matter, for instance on flowing water ( 5 , 24 ff.).
The great importance of casting a horoscope for the
exact moment of birth was stressed. Instead of using,
as was surely the most frequent (and scientifically satis
factory ) method, astronomical handbooks for computing
the constellations prevailing at a given moment of time,
wealthy parents-to-be believed that direct observation
would furnish more accurate results:
A t n ig h t . . . one astrologer sat on some high mountain,
observing the stars, another was seated in the cham ber of
the woman about to give birth. As soon as she had done so,
he signalled by m eans of a gong to the one on the promon
tory. W hen he h eard it, he made a note of the sign ju st
risin g i. e. of the horoscopal constellation, and then attended
to o th er signs of the n ativity and the motions of the sun.51*

Although it is a statistical fact that more births occur

at night than during the daytime, this method clearly
would be unworkable for at least those babes bom cm
cloudy nights or during the day (5, 71). It was also
technically unnecessary. For by this time astronomical
tables were available and were accurate enough to permit
computations for all astrological purposes.
Certain planets, Sextus Empiricus added, were called
beneficent, others maleficent, and of seven planets sun
and moon were considered as more important than the
other five (5, 29-32). All planets were credited with
especially strong influence if they happened to be located
in their own houses, the suns home being Leo. the
moons Cancer, while each of the other five had two
zodiacal houses (5, 33-34). Elations and de
pressions, as well as other astrological refinements
contributed towards making the casting of horoscopes
a complex process. Two kinds of these were distin
guished, so-called simple ones, and the more accurate
ones. An elementary horoscope was merely based on
the relations between zodiacal signs and planets in the
Horoscopal Pointhence, incidentally, the name horo
scope for the whole nativity the more elaborately cast
nativity taking into account signs and planets in cardinal
and other important points, as well as the astrological
refinements referred to above (5. 35-42).
Having in this brief summary established what seemed
to him the salient details of the astrological technique,
Sextus Empiricus was ready to launch his onslaught
against the whole structure. It was inevitable that his
13 Ibid. 5. 27- 28.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

summary represented at best a hasty and very incom

plete review of the subject. How far " scientific as
trology had gone beyond these crude doctrines attacked
bv Sextus Empiricus was shown by Ptolemy's Tetra'iblos. Even a purely practical manual of a mediocre
professional astrologer like Vettius Valens demonstrated
how many points of Empiricus' argument had already
been anticipated by shrewd astrologers who had modi
fied their techniques accordingly.
But Sextus Empiricus touched the core of the prob
lem by pointing out the irreconcilable conflict between
catarchic astrologers, who admitted that not all mundane
things were linked with the celestial ones (5, 43-44).
and those astrologers who insisted that without the
concept of Fate astrology itself would be meaningless.
A third group, similar to the first, asserted that some
things happened according to Fate, others according to
accident. Fatalistic astrology, Sextus Empiricus re
marked. had little practical use, since what was destined
to happen would happen anyway. Catarchic astrology,
on the other hand, might help to avoid possible trouble
(5, 45-47). If there were a category of events deter
mined by our own free will, such events logically would
always remain unpredictable (5, 48). Some people.
Sextus Empiricus sneered, believed that this was enough
of an argument to demolish astrological doctrines, but
he would produce stronger arms which would overthrow
the very principles and essence of astrology (5. 49).
Inasmuch as the basis of all astrology was the H oro
scopal Point from which were then established the
other Cardinal Points, and geometrical figures like
triangles, squares, etc., it would suffice to concentrate
the attack on this single element of astrological practice.
If it should be shown to be based on an error, or other
wise indeterminable, then no further arguments need be
adduced (5, 50-51). That it was actually impossible
to establish the Horoscopal Point and its dominant
zodiacal constellation was to be demonstrated by a num
ber of arguments (5, 52-53) :
(1 ) K nowledge of the precise decisive m om ent w ould be
necessary for finding the H oroscopal P o in t.51*
(2) T h e point itself m ust be accurately established.
(3 ) T h e rise of the specific zodiacal constellation m ust be
observable w ith com plete accuracy.

Before presenting the proofs of Sextus Empiricus

against the possibility of satisfying these three require
ments. one should point out that the authors pvrrhonic
scepticism was stronger than his knowledge of scientific
developments. Accepting the time of birth as decisive
for each of these three stipulations, one could well es
tablish the natal constellation with the then existing
astronomical manuals. The technical question whether
or not time as such could ever be determined accurately,
remained of course open, but. in mathematical language,
51* F or the technique, see Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 3, 2.

one could approach " any moment of time sufficiently

closely for astrological purposes. To meet the three
requirements was. in the opinion of Sextus, impossible
(5, 54). First of all there was the question whether
the moment of conception, or that of birth was the de
cisive one . 317 The precise time of conception being
unascertainable. it could not be used to lx>lster astro
logical contentions of the absolute power of the stars
(5, 55-64). But even the moment of birth itself also
was hardly likely to l)e determined with adequate accu
racy, Sextus argued, even in those cases in which a
waiting astrologer sat poised on a promontory to make
the proper astronomical observations upon notification
that the birth had taken place (5, 65-70). The lapse
of time involved between the birth and the arrival of
the gong's sound waves at the eardrum of the astrologer
would falsify the observation (5. 71). Sextus failed to
consider, however, that, if the speed of sound, the alti
tude of both the chamber and the promontory, the tem
perature of the air, and the distance between the gong
and the astrologer were known, sufficient allowance
[by the use of an astronomical table] could be made to
correct the error, which Sextus had pointed out. The
fact, already commented upon, that astronomical tables
were not only in existence, but actually widely used
in astrological circles, was either unknown to Sextus
Empiricus or disregarded by him. H is argument against
conception horoscopes, on the other hand, was valid.
Having established to his own satisfaction that the
first and second requirements, the exact fixation of the
astrologically decisive moment and of the Horoscopal
Point, were impossible, Sextus Empiricus now under
took to prove that the third prerequisite could also not
be met (5, 72-73). He protested that the borderlines
of the zodiacal signs were inadequately defined, and that
movements in the atmosphere might impede accurate
vision, that no zodiacal constellation had a sharply de
fined outline, some, indeed, overlapping each other. Nor
did the places of observations, hills, rooftops, or moun
tains, remain invariably constant in their location. Even
the phenomenon of refraction, especially noticeable
near the horizon, was adduced by Sextus Empiricus to
demonstrate the impossibility of accurately establishing
within the rising constellation the Horoscopal Point.
Furtherm ore, the same signs rose at different times
for different observers, depending on their geographical
location (5, 74-87).
In the last section of his attack upon astrologers
Sextus Empiricus summarized the stock arguments
presented at least since the days of Cameades against
fatalistic astrology : 518
(1 ) T h e prophecies about em pires and ru lers a re false. O f
M en born a t the sam e time. . . . some have ruled, o thers
grew old in chains (5, 88 ). M any for exam ple w ere
Ibid. 3, 1, esp. ff. 105 ff.
'** Compare above, p. 53 ff.

A STR O LO G Y IX R O M E FRO M N ERV A TO SEV E R U S ALEX A N D ER

born a t the sam e tim e as A lex an d er the G reat, none
m atched his fortune. T h e sam e applied to m en born
sim ultaneously w ith P lato ( 5 ,8 9 ) .
(2 ) O n the o th er hand, men born a t d ifferen t tim es should
have a differen t destiny. T h is w as a t least n o t tru e
in the case of those who. irrespective of th eir age, died
on the same battlefield, as had happened to countless
P ersian s and to m any G reeks at M arathon. M any of
those retu rn in g from T ro y w ere drow ned, although not
all of them could possibly have been bo rn u n d er the sign
of A q u ariu s (5 ,9 1 -9 3 ).
(3 ) A m an an d an ass born under the sam e constellation
w ould be su b ject to the same astra l influences, as would
all b reath in g anim als.510 Y et the one m ight have a
splendid public career, the o th er spend his life as a
beast of burden, o r d riv in g a m ill ( 5 ,9 4 ) .

Therefore the assumption that life is regulated by

the motion of the stars is not tenable (5, 95). Nor
was the crude identification of the power of zodiacal
signs with the animals or human beings whom their
names represented anything but a ridiculous pretension :
(4 ) T h o se b o rn u n d er the same sign have quite different
ch a ra cte rs an d ch aracteristics. W h y should anyone born
u nder Leo become stro n g and b rav e ju s t because that
constellation w as called L eo? By sim ilar reasoning a
m an bo rn n ex t to a real lion m ig h t be expected to
become s tro n g and brave. I f it w ere claim ed th a t a
change of the atm osphere accounted for the difference,
how should th a t produce a robust m an or one of wild
habits, o r m ake him a ruler, a debtor, a slave, a fath er
of few children o r a m an of few b ro th e rs indeed, the
condition of the a ir could have n o th in g to do w ith all
th at. O r if V irg o w ere the constellation m aking people
fa ir w ho w ere born u nder it, then surely no sw arthy
E th io p ian could possiblv have been born in the sign of
V irg o (5 .9 5 -1 0 2 ).

Finally Sextus Empiricus objected to the insufficiency

of actual observations on which to base the claims of
astrologers. F or just as in medicine it would be ridicu
lous to say, merely on the basis of a single case, for
example that of Dio, that a heart wound (17 rip KapSlas
Tp<a<Ti%) was fatal many cases should, indeed, be ana
lyzed before one reached such a general conclusion,
thus in the case of astrology thousands upon thousands
of life histories should be checked against the natal
constellations of these persons, before one could even
hope to establish scientifically the existence and nature
of any astral influences. In view of the frequent de
struction of the world, the ekpyroseis of the Stoics were
obviously accepted by our sceptic as scientific truth ( !),
history itself between two such cosmic conflagrations
would be too short a span to secure the data for such
a scientific investigation of countless horoscopes (5,
103-105).
W ith this parting shot Sextus Empiricus declared
astrology demolished and moved on to tackle the musi
cians. Posterity cannot share his proud sentiments.
F or one thing, his knowledge of astrology was obviously
,1* Compare Augustinus, de cwitate dei 5, 7, and elsewhere.

207

superficial. Moreover his arguments were based on

antiquated sources. For example none of his historical
examples was less than five hundred ( !) years old.
Plato and Alexander the Great. Dio. Theon. and Socra
tes this was the world from which he quoted. No one
would ever guess that the Roman empire had risen and
for centuries dominated the Mediterranean world. Com
pared to this feeble attack. Cicero's compressed culling
from Greek sources was a masterpiece. Nor had Cicero
resigned himself to a mere recitation of hellenistic stock
examples, but had added a number of more or less recent
instances, refuting fatalistic astrology, from Roman his
tory up to the very year preceding his own death ( 4 3
B.C.), for example a reference to the fate of Pompey,
Crassus. and Julius Caesar. Yetjust as Achilles was
killed while Thersites lived onit was fated that of
all systematic attacks against fatalistic astrology during
the second century of our era only this mediocre sample
of Sextus Empiricus has survived.
His most important criticism was the one of insuffi
cient scientific data. Curiously enough he did not (like
Cicero and others) refer to the extravagant claims ad
vanced by astrologers on that very point. The millen
nial observations which were commonly held to have
furnished the scientific basis for fatalistic astrology were
so vulnerable a point that the failure of Sextus Empiri
cus to attack it must have been due either to a defect
of his source materials, or to a gross omission of his
own. Moreover he not only excepted astronomy, a re
markable concession on the part of the nihilist Sceptic,
but also astrometeorology, navigation etc., from his
attack. Throughout his argumentation against fatalistic
astrology he did not seem too sure of his ground. His
style was hurried and perfunctory rather than expressive
of any individual thoughts on the subject. One should
in fairness, however, consider the fact that his main
object in the encyclopaedic attack against all disciplines
of learning was to challenge the very theory of knowledgeabilitv, not all technical details of the different disci
plines. It would therefore be sufficient for his purpose
to cast doubt on the validity of the positivist claims of
the astrologers, and this, indeed, his essay achieved to
some extent. In conclusion one might quote perhaps
his argument against divination in general, repeated of
course from earlier sources:
If th ere a re no gods, then there exists no divination. F o r
this is the science w hich observes and interprets signs which
a re given to men by the gods. N or could there be any p re
diction w hich is m ade by divine revelation, or th ro u g h the
stars ( dtrrpa/uii'Tucy). N o r bv the inspection of entrails, or
from d re a m s/'-0

From Plutarch to Sextus Empiricus a potent revival

of anti-astrological sentiment had swept across the sec
ond century. It was to furnish the Christian foes of
astrology with most of the material they were to use
Sextus Empiricus, adv. math., adv. fhysicos, 132.

208

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

later against pagan divination in general and fatalism

in particular. The impact of the wave of scepticism
was manifest. How different was the end of the second
centurv from that of the first! Then few had dared
question the validity of fatalistic astrology; now. how
ever, the number of rationalist defenders of fatalism
was dwindling rapidly. A scientific interpretation of
the cosmos no longer interested the Roman elite. It was
tiring of reason, of creativity itself. Its writers had
long re-ceded the intellectual primacy to Greek authors.
Except for.Favorinus no major Latin foe of astrology
had arisen in the second century. An abyss separated
the Latin output ot Apuleius, for example, from the
level of Pliny the Elder. At the dawn of the third
century the writing on the wall must have been ap
parent for those rationalists, both Greek and Roman,
who had eyes to see.

Strong of body, mediocre of mind. Commodus repre

sented in these attachments a trend which marked the
beginning of the twilight era of rationalism in Rome.
It may seem ironic today, but it was then true that
this decline was also reflected in the waning hold of
" scientific " astrology on Roman so:ietv. For a while

8. T H E T W IL IG H T O F S C IE N T IF IC A STRO LO G Y

Coinmodus (180-192), like Nero a steady customer

of taverns and brothels, and a performer in the arena
not as an artist." but as a naked gladiatormay have
relied too much on the prophecies of good oinen which
the astrologers had bestowed upon him, when his father
Marcus Aurelius consulted them at the time of his
birth. He should, however, have remembered that these
predictions, which were equally favorable for his twin
brother, had long been shown up as hollow. For the
twin brother died in infancy . 321 Lulled into a false
sense of security perhaps after so long a span (since
96!) in which no emperor had been assassinated.
Commodus left much of the conduct of affairs in the
hands of favorites like Perennis, or later Cleander,
while he himself spent his time on his hobbies among
which his interest in the making of goblets was the
most respectable one. His bent of mind clearly was
not attracted by the stem rationalism of the Stoics.
Fatalist astrology also would be a too somber, too de
pressing subject to win the interest of this ruler. Star
worship would be more to his taste, and he did. indeed,
join the cult of Isis, taking it so seriously that he shaved
his head and carried in procession a statue of the Egyp
tian dog-headed god Anubis .322 His predilection for
oriental mystery cults involving star worship was even
more manifest in his adherence to the cult of M ithras , 323
a creed which was to blend with that of the Sol invictus,
the Invincible Sun . 324
:=1 SHA. Commodus, 1, 3-5; compare on this reign Cassius
Dio. ep. 73.
=2= SHA, Commodus, 9, 4-6; compare 16, 4; Pesccnnius Niger,
o, 8-9; Caracalla. 9, 11.
Ibid., Commodus, 9, 6. F or the mystical sacrifice which the
ritual called tor he tried to substitute gorv realism.
3;* Compare F. Cumont, Les religions orientates dans le
paqanismc romain (4th ed .; 1929) : 132 If.; also 106; 136; 88 f .;
plate xit; La theologie solaire du paganisme romain, Ac. des
Inscr., 12: 447-449; Astrology and religion among the Greeks

F ig . 17. Septimius Severus (193-211). From R. P. Hinks,

Greek and Roman portrait sculpture: 44a. British Museum,
London, 1935.

the tide seemed undecided. The stalemate, which in the

Greek arena had Iteen reached at this time between the
champions of fatalist astrology and their adversaries,
was paralleled in the receptive minds of, educated
Romans. Many of them, like Commodus.' t'etreated
from the Imtlefield of rationalism. W earied by the
perennial arguments of lioth factions they sought refuge
in another realm, the one of mysticism. Others, how
ever, still continued to place their faith in reason, or at
least went along with the traditional rationalist approach
to life. To the borderline between rationalism and
indiscriminate faith in all kinds of divination clung for
example a younger contemporary of M. Aurelius, L.
Septimius Severus, from the African city of Leptis.
and Romans: 161 if.: L u x perpetua: 179 f . ; 272; 317; F. Boll,
Die Sonne im Glaubcn und in dcr IVeltanschauung der alten
Voelker, Stuttgart, 1922; H. Usener, Sol invictus, Rhein. Mus.
60, 1905 : 465-491.

A STR O LO G Y IN ROM E FRO M N E R V A T O SEV E R U S A LEX A N D ER

Bom on April 11, 146325 of an equestrian family,
whose Roman character had been somewhat diffused
in the local setting, he was destined to become the first
native of Africa to mount the throne . ''20 hitherto held
by Latins from Italy, Spain, and Gaul only. Like any
other young Roman provincial of good family. Septi
mius Severus was sent to Rome for his higher education
and with an eve to a future career in the government
service. Arriving in the capital about 165. i. e. in his
late teens, he obtained through a relative from Marcus
Aurelius admission to the senate. Thereafter he rose
slowly but steadily in the imperial hierarchy. In 170
he was quaestor, went in 172 on government business
to the Spanish province of Baetica, but after his fathers
death returned to his native city of Leptis, probably in
order to cope with problems arising from his paternal
estate. Soon afterwards (about 175) he rose to the
rank of legate in the province of Africa, and in 176 the
emperor bestowed on him the tribunate. The thirtvyear-old tribune now married, apparently for the first
time. His choice was a certain Paccia Marciana . 3- 7
W hether or not he had her horoscope cast before m arry
ing her we do not know, but it was common knowledge
that Septimius Severus was in general given to divina
tory lore .528 It may have been inaccurate to insinuate
that he was like Tiberius and Hadrian himself a
practicing astrologer , 529 but he did. indeed, perpetually
patronize the practitioners of this craft.
If not before he apparently plunged into the dan
gerous business of investigating his future, when as a
legate, i. e. sometime before his marriage, he became
worried about his prospects:
He had recourse to an astrologer in a certain city of
Africa. The astrologer, when he had cast the horoscope,
saw high destinies in store for him, but added: Tell me
your own nativity and not that of another man ! And when
Severus swore an oath that it was really his, the astrologer
revealed to him all the things that did later come to pass.530
The vagueness of the scribe may make his account
suspect. It has. for example, a strong similarity to the
story told by Suetonius about the prediction which
Theagenes of Apollonia had read from the horoscope
of young Octavius, the future A ugustus .321 But 175
^"'Cassius Dio. ep. 77 (76), 17, 4; SHA , Severus, 1. 3, gave
the date wrongly (A pril 8).
=" He had a pronounced African accent: SHA . Sezcrns, 19,
9; on his early life, sec ibid., 1 ff.; cf. M. Platnauer, The life
and reign o f the emperor L. Septimius Severus, Oxford. 1918;
J. Hasebroek. I ntcrsuchungen znr Geschichte des Kaisers Sep
timius Severus: esp. 174-189 for inscriptions, Heidelberg. 1921;
Fluss, RE , 2. Reihe. 2. 1923: c. 1940, no. 13.-c. 2002.
S27 C IL, 8. suppl. 2: 1855, no. 19494.
5:9 Compare SH A , S iyerus. 1, 6-10; Cassius Dio, ep. 77, 11,
1- 2 .

~'n Ibid., 3, 9, he was called mathcscos peritissimus; cf. SHA,

Geta, 2, 6.
Ibid., 2. 8-9; Cassius Dio. ep. 77, 11. 1.
:!1 Suetonius. Augustus, 94, 12.

209

was the year, when Avidius Cassius rebelled in the

east against M. Aurelius, and many a high official must
have l>een especially curious about his own future.
In consulting an astrologer about his political future
Severus had of course broken the law. H e had thereby
committed treason, according to the long established
legal interpretation of such consultations. 332 But, as
we have seen time and again, the Augustan edict, im
posing topical restrictions on astrological and other
divinatory inquiries, was always more honored in the
breach than in the observance. Moreover, in the mild
reign of M. Aurelius men had little to fear, even if such
violations of the law were discovered. In any case one
could apply to this African episode the comment se
non e vero, e ben trovato." Soon the fall of Avidius
Cassius and Severus promotion to the tribunate seemed
to prove the accuracy of the auspicious predictions.
In 178 M. Aurelius appointed Septimius Severus to
the office of praetor, although not among those offi
cially designated as imperial candidates. Promising
dream s 533 bolstered astrologically aroused hopes. To
wards the end of the reign of M. Aurelius, Severus
became legate of the Fourth legion, the Scythica, and
then went to the east, perhaps in 179-180. His natural
inclination towards all kinds of divination must have fed
on the abundance of divinatory activities which he en
countered in the Orient. It had apparently become cus
tomary for high Roman officials to patronize when in
Syria a far famed oracle of the god Bel, whom GraecoRomans equated with Zeus-Jupiter.53* To this shrine
Severus too, of course, betook himself. Having received
the usual flattering predictions from the prudent priests,
he remembered them so well that, after he had ascended
the throne, he again undertook a pilgrimage to this
oracle . 535
The death of M. Aurelius and the accession of Com
modus, however, proved an immediate set-back to the
proud hopes of Severus. For he seems to have been
among those officials of M. Aurelius whom Commodus,
or perhaps his all powerful praetorian prefect Perennis,
removed from positions of influence and power. 330 For
about six years Severus was out of office. During these
years his first wife died. The overthrow and death of
Perennis in 186 ended at last this time of eclipse.
Severus was now appointed aj legate to the province
of Lugdunum (L yon). His hopes revived and he
See F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars, Seminar 9,
1951: 8-35.
:'ss SHA , Severus. 3, 4-5; compare 1, 8-9. Cassius Dio, ep. 73,
1, mentions that he compiled a collection of these dreams of
Severus, which Severus perhaps published in his autobiography;
compare also Herodianus, 2, 9, 3-5.
' This oracle was also visited, for example, by the future
emperor M acrinus; Cassius Dio, ep. 79 1.78), 40, 4.
:l Ibid., ep. 79 (78), 8, 5-6.
Ibid.. ep. 73 (72), 1, 2; SHA. Commodus, 3. 1; cf. Hero
dianus, 1, 8. 1.

210

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

planned to remarry. Among the women considered

eligible, he made a final choice:
H e made inquiries about the horoscopes of m arriageable
women . . .: and when lie learned that there w as in S yria
a w oman whose horoscope predicted that she would wed a
king . . . . lie sor-gbt her for liis wife, and through the
m ediation of his frim d s secured her."'57

The lucky bride was Tulia Domna, a Syrian lady,

whose father was Julius Bassianus, Roman citizen and
high priest of the sun god. Elagabalus. in the city o(

the theurgian of the first century, now set up as a pagan

rival of Christ. The wedding of Julia Domna and
Septimius Severus must lie considered symbolical. For
her family deity, the god Elagabalus of Emesa, had
long been closely associated with sun worship. From
its very shrine were to come forth about thirty years
later the first two sun priests destined to rule the
Roman empire: Elagabalus (significantly re-named
Heliogabalus by the Greeks) and Severus Alexander
(218-222. and 222-235. respectively). Thus the wed
ding of the Latin Septimius and the hellenized Syrian
Julia may be considered as a symbolical merger of two
beliefs, the one a faith in fatalist scientific astrology,
the other a mystic surrender of ones soul to the divine
power of our planets dominant star.
Julia Dotnna did her duty by her husband. Their
oldest child, named after her father, Bassianus, but
better known under his later nickname, Caracalla,
was bom on April 4, 188.540 A year later, on May 27,
189 a second child, ill-fated Geta, was born. The proud
parents, both sharing the faith in dreams , 541 astrology,
and other forms of divination, undoubtedly consulted
astrologers at once. They must have received the usual
predictions of grandeur, but Septimius Severus for once
seemed doubtful:
Severus, on learn in g his [G e ta s] horoscope a study in
w hich like most A frican s [.fic! ] he w as very proficient
is said to have rem arked [to F lav ian u s Ju v en alis w ho was
to become p raetorian prefect in 193] : I t seems stran g e to
me, niv dea r Juvenalis, th a t o u r G eta is destined to be
a deified em peror, for in his horoscope I see no th in g
im perial. 342

Fig. 18. Julia Domna. From A. Hekler, Greek and Roman

portraits: 288b.

Emesa. He had given his daughter an excellent educa

tion. which fitted her well for the role of an imperial
patroness of the arts. When risen to the summit of
influence and power, she gathered around her a host
of intellectuals, including, of course, astrologers as well
as men of letters.^ For her. for example, the younger
?!iilostratus wrote his Life of Apollonius of Tyana**9
3=7 SHA . Severus. 3, 9; Geta. 3, 1.
Philostratus,
soph. 2, 3.) ( f. <>22). Even after the death
of her husiian;! Septimius Sevents her influence was still
sufficient to obtain from her son, Caracalla. the appointment of
a protege to one oi t/.e coveted imperial chairs of rhetoric at
Athens.
'** Begun probably during her lifetime the work was published

One may dismiss the implication that Severus him

self was a sufficiently competent astrologer to be able
to check Getas horoscope, but even with a laymans
knowledge of astrology, intensified by his burning
preoccupation with what constituted an imperial
horoscope, he may have been able to question its im
perial aspects.
Probably early in 189 Septimius Severus was made
praetorian governor of Sicily .543 Meanwhile, under the
regime of the hated imperial favorite Cleander. Com
modus' popularity was waning. The curiosity of Severus
now drove him to reassure himself once more by con
sulting astrologers and other diviners about the political
future. These, however, were no longer the halcyon
days of M. Aurelius. Nor was Severus as governor
of Sicily any longer as innocuous as he had then been.
His activities were discovered:
after her death; compare Philostratus letter addressed to Julia
Domna [epist.. 63).
3,0 Cassius Dio, ep. 79 (78), 6, 5.
4I F or Julia's belief in dreams, see SHA , Geta. 1, 5.
== Ibid., 2. 0-7.
543 SH A . Severus. 4. 2-, is chronologically completely garbled.
It also erroneously reports that Severus was appointed to com
mand the legions of the German provinces.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FR O M N E R V A T O SEV E R U S A L EX A N D ER
W h ile he w as in Sicily, he w as indicted for consulting
seers and astro lo g ers (C ltaldacos) about the im perial d ig
nity, but because Comm odus w as now being detested, he
w as acquitted by the prefects of the g u ard to whom he hail
been handed over for trial, w hile his accuser w as c ru cified /44

211

bidder. This proved to be a wealthy, profligate senator,

Didius Julianus, apparently against the wishes of Laetus.
The new ruler, a worthy product of his age, was much
given to superstition. Of our chief historians of this
period two, Cassius Dio and Herodianus, lived through
these chaotic months, and Dio, a senator, did so in the
midst of his trembling fellow senators. He learned that,
refusing to acknowledge the result of the infamous auc
tion at Rome, the armies of the empire were proclaiming
three rivals to Didius Julianus. One of the three was
Septimius Severus, who, persuaded that the moment
had arrived, which innumerable omens, oracles, and
astrologers had foretold him, strove boldly for the
supreme power . 531
In contrast to Cassius Dio, a devotee of every kind
of superstition, his contemporary, Herodianus, com
mented shrewdly and somewhat disdainfully about
Severus acceptance of those prognostics:

In the light of our knowledge of his frantic faith in

divination there can, indeed, be little doubt about his
guilt. Under sovereigns of the type of Commodus, tar
more harmless men than Severus had been executed for
treason committed by political inquiries of this kind.
From the fact that the accuser died on the cross one
may surmise that lie was a man of low station, eager
to reap the reward for the successful prosecution of a
high ranking person like Severus.
If. indeed, a praetorian prefect had a hand in quash
ing the dangerous indictment, it may well have been
Aemilius Laetus. who afterwards led the successful con
spiracy which resulted in the assassination of Commo
dus. T hat Laetus was disaffected is well established . 345
If one could trust our confused source, one might unravel
its rambling chronology about as follows: Immediately
after his rehabilitation Severus was made consul (189 r).
Soon, however, he again faced a criminal prosecution,
this time for adultery. Again he triumphed over his ac
cuser, but spent about a year out of office, i. e. 190-191:
Then, on the recommendation of Laetus he was put
in charge of the German [sic! Should read the Pannonian] legions. 546 This meant not only official acknowl
edgment of his complete vindication, but also placed
him at the head of one of the most important units of
the Roman army. W hatever concern he might have
had until then, now with Laetus apparently on his
side in tacit opposition to Commodus the future looked
bright. Before departing, the newly appointed com
mander acquired an elaborate estate in the capital, 547
certain that the time was approaching when the longexpected supreme fortune would arrive at last.
In 192 a comet appeared , 548 heralding, as the faithful
believed, dreadful events perhaps the death of the em
peror. Manv, however, must have anticipated such an
event with more than equanimity. But when the blow
had fallen and Commodus lay dead. Laetus, perhaps
under the urgency of the moment, raised Pertinax, not
Severus. to the throne ." 40 But soon the " king maker
regretted his choice and himself organized the plot, to
which Pertinax succumbed afier a rule of less than
three months (M arch 26. 193).350 The praetorian
guards thereupon auctioned off the empire to the highest

Lacking the courage of the aged Augustus, who boldly

had published his entire horoscope. Severus kept the
public guessing.
H e knew full well that it was standard astrological
practice to compute a horoscope from the Horoscopal
Point onwards. That meant, if he had revealed that
point amidst its constellation, any astrologer could
have calculated the date on which the emperor was to
die, a Iwon to would-be plotters. His birth date ( April
11, 146) in any case enabled astrologers by the mere

544 Ibid.. 4. 3.
343 Cassius Dio, ep. 7 3 (7 2 ), 22. I f f .; SHA , Commodus, 17,
1-2; Herodianus. 1. lf>, 5; 17, o.
34H SHA , Severus. 4, 4.
r'47 Ibid., 4, 5-6.
348 SHA , Commodus, 16, 1; compare Herodianus, 1, 14, 1.
r'* SHA . Pertinax, 4, 5 ff.; Herodianus. 2, 1. 3; Cassius Dio,
ep. 74. 1. 1 ff.
3=0 SHA . Pertinax. 10, 8 ff.; Cassius Dio. ep. 74, S. 1 ff.; com
pare Herodianus, 2, 5, 1 tf.

331 Herodianus, 2, 9, 2 ff.; SH A , Severus, 5. 1. where Severus

was said to have accepted the diadem reluctantlv; Cassius Dio,
ep. 75. 3. 1 ff.
j33 Herodianus, 2, 9, 3.
3M On the decisive role of the horoscopal sector, see Ptolemy,
Tetrabiblos, 3, 2; Sextus Empiricus, adv. math. 5: adv. nstrol.,
12 f.; 50 f .; cf. Bouche-Leclercq : 83-86 ; 257 f .; 276-288. and
elsewhere.
334 Cassius Dio. ep. 77 (76), 11, 1.

A nd w hat added not a little to his encouragem ent was the

rem em brance of several dream s, oracles, and other predic
tions. which seemed to foretell his future grandeur. F or all
these kinds of prophecies a re then believed, when the course
of events seems to verify th eir predictions. M ost of these
a re since published by him him self in his Autobiography
and represented in sculpture and painting on his public
im ages.352

This practice applied to architecture and interior deco

rations as well. For Severus ordered star chamber
frescoes for the imperial apartments when his daring
coup had succeeded:
. . . T h e stars u nder w hich he had been born . . . he had
caused to be painted on the ceilings of the rooms in the
palace w here he w as w ont to hold court, so th at they were
visible to all. w ith the exception of th a t portion of the sky
w hich, as the astrologers express it, observed the hour
w hen he first saw the light [i. e. which contained the H o ro
scopal P o in t]33:1; for this portion he had not depicted in the
sam e way in both room s.354

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T H E R IS E AN D T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

use of astronomical tables to establish the relative posi

tions of the five planets and the moon within the zodiac
on that day. This pattern then must have been the
one painted on the two ceilings. But the all-important
h o u r of the birth."-0 which for example would determine
what particular zodiacal sign dominated the horo
scopal sector, was n o t shown to the public. If the
meager description of Cassius Dio, who had seen those
star frescoes on many occasions, could therefore be
interpreted accurately, it might indicate the existence
of two different patterns, one on each ceiling and both
presumably applicable to April 11, 146, but differing
from each other in the relative position at least of the
sun. It is of course impossible to determine which of
the two patterns was the genuine birth horoscope, or
whether both were intentionally misleading. A fanati
cal believer in astrology like Severus would probably
have chosen the latter arrangement which would give
wrong dates for his future death to over-inquisitive
astrologers and their clients, and hence might foil
prospective plotters.
Another example of Severus penchant to express as
trological ideas in artistic form was the Septizonium , 556
built on a site where it would strike the eyes of most
newcomers approaching the city on the Appian road . 557
The purpose of the structure cannot have been to func
tion as a mausoleum of the house of Severus, most of
whose members were laid to rest in Hadrian's tomb.
Moreover, a statue of Severus himself was placed in
the center of the building 558 which was formally opened
in 203.559 About fifty years earlier we encounter for
the first time the Greek word iirraitovm in an astrological
text , 560 while a Septizoniuni as such was (according to
Suetonius) already in existence in the days of Ves
pasian ,"'01 i. e. long before the first known astrological
use of the word. It was employed by Vettius Valens
and other astrologer to denote a sequence of the seven
planets in which the sun was in the middle, i. e. the
fourth of the seven. In this pattern they were treated
as the deities of time-keeping. It has, therefore, been
suggested that the Septizonium of Severus contained a
clock denoting each of the seven weekdays. The statue
of Severus in the center of the structure would thus
have stood directly beneath the sun, which symbolically,
might thereby appear as the divine protector of the
On the technique of computing the Horoscopal Point, see
Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 3. 2.
sr' Compare Tli. Dombart, RE. 2. Reihe, 2, 1923 : c. 1578-1586.
5=7 SHA . Severus. 19, 5; 24, 3-4.
I Ind.. 19. 3.
Attested b y an inscription; Jerome, Chron., a . d . 201 is thus
in error.
s* Vettius Valens. Anthologiae, 1, 10 (caption) ; compare 3,
9; 6, 7 ( ed. W. K ro ll: 144, 14 ff.; 2S6, 29) ; see also Leyden
Pap. J. 395.
Suetonius, Titus, 2.

emperor and his house . 562 If this conjecture were true,

the Septizonium would have been an architectural ex
pression of Severus syncretism which mixed elements
of star worship unconcernedly with the tenets of " scien
tific astrology.
Before, however, L. Septimius Severus could even
dream of building a Septizonium, or having star-frescoes
painted on the ceilings of the imperial palace in Rome,
he first had to win the throne against Didius Julianus,
a contest in which Albinus. commander of the British
army and Pescennius Niger, at the head of the Asiatic
legions, vied with him for the supreme power . 563 Before
Severus potential ally Laetus could intercede on his
behalf, Didius Julianus. suspecting (probably rightly)
the king m akers loyalty, executed him together with
Marcia, Commodus erstwhile concubine and Laetus
accomplice in the ruler's assassination . 564 While Cassius
Dio and his fellow senators pondered the future, with
Didius Julianus in Rome and three formidable rivals
gathering on the horizon, the stars spoke out:
These were the three men portended by the three stars
that suddenly came to view surrounding the sun when
Julianus in our presence was offering Sacrifices of Entrance
in front of the senate house. These stars were so very dis
tinct that the soldiers kept continually looking at them and
pointing them out to one another, while declaring that some
dreadful fate would befall the emperor. As for us, however
much we hoped and prayed that it might so prove, yet the
fear of the moment would not permit us to gaze up at them
save by furtive glances. 565
This charming scene must have deeply impressed the
Greek senator in Rome. For his account was written
many years after the event. The psyche of the doomed
Didius Julianus reacted to this portent by feeble at
tempts at defense. It was said, perhaps without truth,
that in his desperate eagerness to find out what the
future held in store he used human sacrifices in magic
rites, a suspicion which on an earlier occasion had also
attached itself to the sudden death of H adrians favorite
Antinous . 586
When Didius Julianus had fallen and Severus emerged
victorious over his competitors, Pescennius Niger and
Albinus (193-197), Cassius Dio decided W> ingratiate
himself with the new master of the Roman world.
Nothing could better illustrate the value of what a
s= Th. Dombarth, Die Baugestalt des palatinischen Septisoniums in Rom. Muenchcn, 1923; E. Maass, Die Tagesgoetter,
Berlin, 1902; Chr. Huelsen, Das Septizonium in R o m ; also
Septizoniuni, Zcitschrift fuer Geschichte der Architektur, 5, 1,
1912; E. Petersen, Septizonium, Roemische M itteilunyen . . . ,
1910, 56 ff.
F or an alleged prophecy of the Delphic oracle about the
winner, see SHA , Pesccnnius Niger, 8.
20* That Laetus on one occasion had saved Didius Julianus
from Commodus now availed him nothing; SH A , Didius Ju
lianus. 6. 2.
** Cassius Dio. cp. 74. 14. 4-5; Herodianus, 1, 14, 1.
r Compare above, p. 171 f.

A STR O LO G Y IN ROM E FROM N E R V A TO SE V E R U S A LEX A N D ER

modem scholar has described as the study of wretched
subjects 5 ,7 than the result of Dios effort:
I had w ritten and published a little book about the dream s
and po rten ts w hich g av e S everus reason to hope for the
im perial p o w e r: and he, after read in g the copy I sent him,
w rote me a long and com plim entary acknow ledgm ent.508

For this exchange of pleasantries among kindred

superstitious spirits posterity had good reason to be
everlastingly g rateful:

213

It was this frame of mind which caused Severus to keep

the Horoscopal Point of his nativity a secret when he
had those star frescoes painted on the two ceilings in
his palace:
And he was especially suspicious of anyone who seemed
qualified for the imperial power, for his sons were still very
young, and he believed, or had heard that this fact was being
observed by those who were seeking omens regarding their
own prospects to the throne (qtii sibi augurabantur imperium >.572

T his letter I received about nightfall, and soon after fell

asleep; and in my dream s the D ivine P ow er commanded
m e to w rite history. T h u s I cam e to w rite the n arrativ e
w ith w hich I am a t this m om ent concerned.509

W hat obviously happened, and it was only to be

expected, was the revival of the legal prosecution of
important violators of the Augustan edict of a . d . 1 1 .
The last previous major prosecution of this kind seems
Dio went on to explain that he first finished an account to have been that of Pedanius Fuscus shortly before
of the civil commotions culminating in the triumph of H adrian's death in 138.5,J Even if no trial had actually
Severus. W hen this work gained considerable acclaim, been held in that case, there can be little doubt that
Dio was encouraged to undertake the writing of the Fuscus foolish reliance on astrology and other forms
entire history of Rome from the beginning to the point of divination had led him to believe himself destined
that shall seem best to F o rtu n e (n !^ , an astro for the throne. Thus his guilt of inaiestas under the
logical concept of great importance also). This. Dio law was clear, for which exile or death were the cus
admitted, was his supreme deity:
tomary penalties. The mild era of the Antonines ap
parently had seen the temporary lapse of such rigorous
T h is goddess gives me stren g th to continue my history
prosecutions. Now, however, a renaissance of the atti
w hen I become tim id an d disposed to shrink from it; when
I g ro w w eary and would resign the task she wins me back tude of the earlier rulers was at hand. Severus remem
by sending me dream s ( !) ; she inspires me w ith fair hopes
bered only too well his own experience, when he had
th a t fu tu re tim e w ill p erm it my h isto ry to survive and never
been tried for such forbidden inquiries and only escaped
dim its lu stre.570
thanks to the protection given him by the praetorian
W hat weary scholar cannot but sympathize with Dios prefects. At least one state trial reminiscent of the days
moods of dejection! And how few are those to whom of Tiberius and Claudius has from his own reign been
Fortune has granted the boon it held in store for D io ! transm itted: the fall of Popilius Pedo Apronianus.Tt
The trial was held in the senate in the presence of
F or his monumental history of the Roman worldhe
spent twenty-two years in research and writing until his Cassius Dio, apparently in the year 205 or 206:
work reached the death of Severus (211)became the
A n incredible affair even in the hearing. This man was
standard history for the Byzantine world and hence accused because his nurse was reported to have dreamed ( !)
survived in copious fragments. O ur debt to Dio is once that he should be emperor and because he was believed
incalculable. Yet had not both Dio and Severus been to have employed some magic to this end. 575
fervent believers in astrology and divination of any
The ascendancy of the belief in dreams was a peculiar
kind, Dios H istory might never have been written!
phenomenon of the second century. Artemidorus, for
But the faith which Severus had in the stars had
example, a contemporary of Hadrian and the Antonines,
its menacing aspects also. For astrologers and other
had compiled no fewer than five books of Oneirocritica
diviners would be called upon, as they had been by
to prove the accuracy of predictions stemming from
earlier rulers of similar beliefs, to reveal what men
dreams. An era in which the stern rationalism of an
were potentially dangerous. In particular after the
earlier age was fading would be especially prone to
defeat and death of Pescennius Niger and Albinus, his
prefer such revelations to the seemingly scientific and
erstwhile rivals, Severus ordered numerous executions:
dry methods of the astrologers:
H e even w ent so fa r as to b rin g charges ag ain st several
of his ow n friends on the gro u n d th at they w ere plotting to
kill him . H e put n um erous o th ers to d eath on the charge of
having asked C haldaeans or soothsayers ( v a te s ) how long
he w as destined to live.571
7 O. Neugebauer. The study of wretched subjects, Isis 42,
1951 : 111.
Cassius Dio, ep. 73 (72), 23, 1-2.
* Ibid., 23, 2.
570 Ibid.. 23, 3-5.
3V SH A , Severus, 15. 4-5.

Now when the evidence concerning him, taken under

torture, was read to us, there appeared the statement that
one of the persons conducting the examination [of the nurse
and the household slaves of Apronianus] had inquired who
had told the dream and who had heard it, and that the man
175 Ibid.. 15, 5.
57,1 See above, p. 176 ff.
5'* On the legal aspects of this case, compare F. H. Cramer,
The Caesars and the stars (2 ), Seminar 10, 1952 : 27 f.
5,r' Cassius Dio, cp. 77 (76), 8, 1 ff.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

under exam ination had said am ong other th in g s : I saw a

certain bald-headed senator peeping in. O n h earin g this
we found ourselves in a terrible position. . . . A nd although
no one was very cheerful, except those who had unusually
heavy hair, vet we all looked round at those who w ere not
so fortunate. . . / 7

The wretch on the rack had not revealed any name,

nor had Severus in his message to the senate named
anyone in particular. All the greater was the general
consternation:
. . . I actually felt w ith mv hand to see w hether I had any
hair on my head. A nd a good many others had the same
exerience. A nd we w ere very careful to direct our gaze
upon those who w ere m ore or less bald, as if we should
thereby d iv ert ou r own danger upon them.577

henceforth believe that the recipient of this divine an

nouncement was fated to mount the throne and
would thus become a willing collaborator in a conspiracy
which was bound to succeed. Not only was M ar
cellinus summarily executedeven before Severus him
self learned about his arrest but also Apronianus, who
was not even given a chance to defend himself. Con
demned in absentia he was at the time in the province
of Asia as governorhe was apparently killed without
further ado . 578
A man of Dio's outlook would of course be convinced
that the stars had revealed to Severus the date of his
approaching end, as they had, at an earlier age, to
Sulla . 579 When Severus left on his last campaignit
was to be waged in Britainhe was said to undertake it
though he knew he should not retu rn . H e knew this chiefly
from the stars under w hich he had been born. . . . H e knew
his fate also by w hat he had h eard from the seers.580

Fic. 19. Caracalla (211-217). From A. Hekler, Greek and

Roman portraits: 290.

Eventually a former aedile named Baebius Marcellinus

was designated by the witness, who had lieen brought
into the senate chamber, as the man who had been
present at the narration of the fateful dream. Cassius
Dio indicated discreetly that Baebius Marcellinus was
probably innocent and had merely been pointed out
after the witness received an imperceptible nod that
somebody gave. The spectacle of abject cowardice and
complete lack of confidence in any chance of a fair trial
in a matter involving treason by divination was an
eloquent demonstration of the general faith in such
revelations. For the government's assumption was ob
viously that anyone who heard such a dream would
5l Loc. cit.
5TT Ibid., 8. 4-5.

Dio. who knew Severus personally and was familiar

with whatever rum or or gossip there was about the
emperor, thus clearly showed his opinion to the effect
that Severus relied chiefly on the stars, and only sec
ondarily on all other omens, oracles, and portents. It
was reflected in the legal literature of this era, for to the
uppermost circle of the legal advisers of Severus be
longed jurists like Papinian who may have been a
relative of Severusas well as Paulus and Ulpian. W e
owe to the last two the extant summaries of the legal
theory and practice of the principate . 581 Moreover,
these views in the realm of divination and magic eventu
ally were recognized throughout the Middle Ages. As
late as 1541 Henry V III of England still executed a
man for forbidden inquiries about the political future.
In a household in which both father and mother were
enthusiastic devotees of astrology and all other forms
of divinations Caracalla and Geta, the sons of Severus,
grew up. The younger boys horoscope was, as men
tioned earlier, questioned by Severus himself, who
found in it no indication of imperial grandeur . 582 It may
be assumed that Caracalla's horoscope, too. was not only
cast, but had also been full of promises of future glory.
No love was lost between the two brothers, at least
in so far as Caracalla was concerned. The admonition
of the dying Severus to live and rule the empire in
brotherly amity fell, therefore, on deaf ears. W ithin a
year after his accession Caracalla m urdered Geta in the
very arms of their mother, Julia Domna. A bloodbath
r,,s Ibid., 8. 6 ff.; 9, 1; compare 8. 1. The prosecutor Poilenius
Sebcnnius himself narrowly escaped death sometime afterwards
when as governor of Noricum he was found guilty of miscon
duct during his term of office; ibid., 9, 2-3.
5T Plutarch, Suita, 37, 1.
** Cassius Dio, ep. 77 (76), 11. 1.
581 See F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars (2), Seminar
10. 1952 : 44 ff.
=** SH A . Geta. 2. 6-7.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FR O M N E R V A TO SE V E R U S A L EX A N D ER
purged those suspected of having sympathized with
the victim. Among the most illustrious men thus slain
was Papinian, perhaps the greatest jurist of his day.
His executioner was only criticized for having used an
axe instead of a sword . 583 In contrast to his father
Severus, the new ruler, although given a good educa
tion, had little interest in furthering intellectual or
artistic pursuits / ' 84 His frame of mind manifested itself
in his decision to abolish the privileges of the Peripa
tetics in Alexandria and elsewhere, because Aristotle,
according to legend, had somehow been connected with
the death of Alexander, whom Caracalla admired
fanatically . 585 Could perhaps the sceptical attitude of
the Peripatetics this was the era of Alexander of
Aphrodisiashave anything to do with Caracalla s hos
tility towards them? For the Peripatetics opposed the
blind faith in divination which Caracalla had inherited
from his father and mother.
This faith, indeed, hastened his d eath ; it actually pro
voked it. The two authorities on which the following
account is based are Cassius Dio and H erodianus:
A ntoninus [ i.e . C aracalla] w as of a very inquisitive
n atu re and loved to pry, not only into the affairs of m an
kind, but even into the m ysteries of the gods and demons.
F o r suspecting all ab o u t him to be tra ito rs, he w as so fre
quently m aking the m ost scrupulous researches into oracles,
an d sending for m agi, as well as astro lo g ers (atrrpomftovs)
and soothsayers, th a t n o t one professor of such trick ery
(ytn jra a ) escaped his notice.586

Not since the last days of Domitian had so ominous

an atmosphere surrounded a doomed ruler. Ironically
enough Caracalla even began to question the veracity
of his own staff of diviners:
. . . A t last, g ro w in g suspicious of these too and th inking
they h ad re g ard not to tru th but flattery in th eir answ ers
he w rites to one M atem ian u s. who had the m anagem ent of
all his affairs a t Rome, an d w hom he ju d g ed the m ost faith
ful of his friends, and h ad tru sted w ith his m ost im portant
secrets, to look for the best m agi th a t could be fo u n d ; and
m aking use of the necrom ancer's a r t to learn the time and
m an n er of his d ea th ; and w hether any one w as privately
p lotting to seize the g overnm ent.587

As it happened, M atemianus was able to oblige with

a minimum of delay:
. . . A seer in A frica had declared, in such a m anner that
it became noised about, th a t both M acrinus, the prefect, and
his son, D iadum enianus, w ere destined to hold the im perial
po w er; and la ter this seer, upon being sent to Rome, had
revealed this prophecy to F lav iu s M atem ian u s. who at this
time com m anded the soldiers in the city, and this m an had
a t once w ritten a letter to A n toninus.588
581 Cassius Dio. ep. 78 (77). 4, 2; SHA , Caracalla. 4, 1; Geta.
6, 3.
5,4 Cassius Dio. ep. 78 (77), 11, 2-3.
1,1 Ibid., 7, 3.
** Herodianus. 4, 12, 3.
,8T Herodianus, 4, 12. 4.
5* Cassius Dio, ep. 79 (78), 4, 1-2.

215

Herodianus, less well informed of affairs in Rome at

this time than Cassius Dio, the senator, and also far
less credulous in matters of divination than the Bithynian historian confined himself to a vaguer version:
M atem ian u s boldly executed the em perors order, and
w hether the dem ons really gave him such inform ation, or
w hether it was through some p rivate pique to M acrinus. he
w rites back to the em peror th a t M acrinus was co n triving
treasonable m eans for g ettin g the im perial d ignity and th at
he should be execu ted /*

While the fateful epistle was on its way Caracalla

himself was faced with a prophet of doom :
. . . A certain E gyptian. S erapio. had told the em peror
to his face a few days [before his death] th at he would
be short-lived and th at M acrinus would succeed him .190

In similar fashion Domitian had learned his impend

ing fate from the lips of the astrologer Asclation and
the haruspex Larginus Proculus. He had executed the
one and promised to execute the other after the dead
line had passed . 581 Now Caracalla, faced with an
equally pleasant prediction, acted likewise:
S erapio had a t first been throw n to a Hon for this, but
when, as the resu lt of his m erely holding out his hand, as is
reported, the anim al did not touch him, he w as slain ; and
he m ight have escaped even this fateo r so he declared
by invoking ce rtain spirits, if he had lived one day longer.592

Meanwhile, the letter from Matemianus arrived, but

was not destined to be read by Caracalla:
B u t it happened th at this letter w as diverted to A ntioch
to the em p ero rs m other Julia, since she had been instructed
to so rt every th in g th at arriv e d and thus prevent a mass of
u n im p o rtan t letters from being sent to him while he was in
the enem y's co u n try ; w hereas another letter, w ritten by
U lpius Ju lianus. who was then in charge of the census, w ent
by oth er co u riers d irect to M acrinus, inform ing him of the
state of affairs. T hus the m essage to the em peror was
delayed, w hile the despatch to M acrinus was read by him
in good season.593

Yet was Cassius Dio's version correct? He was well

informed about affairs at Rome. Moreover, he gave the
name of the man, who had warned Macrinus directly.
But about affairs in the east he was clearly relying on
hearsay. This was shown, for example, in his account
of the episode involving Serapio. Herodianus. on the
other hand, seems to have been in the east at the time,
possibly even in the vicinity of Antioch. Consequently,
allowing for his careful method of presentation, his own
account at least may be cited also :
T h e letter [from M atem ian u s to C aracalla], sealed up
am ong the public despatches, w as g iven as usual to the
co u riers, who. know ing n othing of the contents of their
Herodianus. 4, 12. 5.
,0 Casius Dio. cp. 79 (78), 4, 4.
5.1 See above, p. 143 f.
3.1 Cassius Dio. ep. 79 ( 78), 4, 5.
* Ibid.. 4. 3-4.

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T H E R IS E A N D T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

charge, traveled after their accustomed manner, and came

to Antoninus, just at the time when he was going to the
races, and had already mounted his chariot.
They delivered to him the package of letters safely in
which was the letter relating to Macrinus. But the em
peror. wholly intent upon his diversion at the races, ordered
Macrinus to open the package apart by himself, and inspect
the contents, and if there was anything of extraordinary
moment, to send him word; if not. that he should perform
his duty as prefect in the usual manner. . . . Having left
these orders he proceeded to his diversion. Macrinus. pe
rusing the letters in private, came at length to that which
contained his own death sentence. 194
Cassius Dio knew Roman affairs, on which H ero
dianus, on the other hand, was far less well informed.
In turn, Cassius Dio relied in this instance on second
hand information from the Orient, while Herodianus
much more detailed account at least in comparison
with Dio's extant epitomehas a certain flair of imme
diacy when dealing with this and other matters in con
nection with the end of Caracalla. In any case, whether
Julia dallied too long, or Macrinus was warned early
enough in one way or another, he now decided to make
the predictions of the African seer and the luckless
sorcerer Serapio come true. H e formed a hurried con
spiracy with some military men. Caracalla was to be
slain on an excursion across the desert, scheduled for
April 8 , 217. Cassius Dio, who never failed to record
accurate warnings from astrologers or other diviners,
learned that the haruspices had definitely warned Cara
calla to beware of April 8 just as Julius Caesar had
been told by the haruspex Spurinna to fear the Ides
of March. Moreover, in truly Shakespearean manner,
Septimius Severus was said to have appeared to Cara
calla in a dream, Wearing a sword and saying, As
you killed your brother, so will I slay you. 595 F it
tingly enough the excursion to Carrhae was made for
the purpose of visiting a shrine of the moon.3** W as
it to appease the astral divinity after word reached
Caracalla that after a great and destructive fire in
Alexandria strange stars had appeared in the skies ? 597
According to Dio, the murder took place during an
expedition from Edessa to C arrhae; with this the author
of the vita in the SH A agreed in one passage,* but
asserted in another that Caracalla's death march led
from Carrhae to Edessa ,3*9 which would agree with
Herodianus who stated that the emperor, who had held
his court at Carrhae, was setting out for the temple
from there, a journey of several days another instance
in which Dios knowledge of oriental affairs was ap
parently less accurate than that of his fellow historian
Herodianus, whose statement should be accepted. About
Herodianus, 4, 12. 6-8.
1,5 Cassius Dio, ep. 79 (78), 7, 1-2.
* Herodianus, 4, 13, 3.
1,7 Cassius Dio, ep. 79 (78), 7, 4.
SHA. Caracalla, 6. 6.
Ibid.. 7.

the goal of the expedition, however, there can be no

doubt:
. . . A ntoninus had a m ind to go from his co u rt at
C arrhae, a city of M esopotam ia, and visit the tem ple of
the moon, w hich the local people hold in m ost religious
veneration. . . ,800

According to Herodianus. the emperor had obviously

reached Carrhae and planned to proceed from there on
his visit to the shrine of the moon. The moon deity,
worshipped in the temple he was never to reach, was
supposedly the masculine oriental moon god , 1101 not the
familiar feminine Graeco-Roman deity Selene-Luna .02
The deed was done in the midst of the journey, and
Macrinus was proclaimed emperor. Among the first
of his acts was an order for the execution of Maternianus .03
Soon afterwards Julia Domna died. She had long
suffered from cancer of the breast. W eary of life she
now hastened her end by refusing food and by beating
her breast thus worsening her condition .04 As she lay
dying she may have remembered those days long gone
when the proud promises of astrologers had fetched her
a husband who raised her to the summit of influence
and power. T hat husband had died years ago. Of her
two sons one had been slain in her very presence by
the other, who now in his turn had been murdered.
The blithe promises of hope and good fortune which
astrologers and soothsayers had dinned into her ears so
often, what had become of them? The fortunes of her
house had sunk low. The imperial power had fallen
into other hands, not hostile to her, but plainly indif
ferent. Julia Domna, well read as she was, may also
have remembered the warning of Solon that no one
should dare to proclaim himself happy before his last
hour. F or Fortune was fickle. In her agony she seems
to have seen through the hollowness of all divination.
Indeed, she might have refused to believe it, had some
astrologer predicted to her the imminent fall of Macri
nus and the accession to the throne of her sisters
grandsons.
W ith the death of Caracalla the revival of the faith
in astrology at the imperial court, which had begun
with the accession of Septimius "S everal ended its
first phase. The nervous search for infallible knowl
edge of the future which had characterized the lives of
men like H adrian, Severus, and Caracalla more and
more deserted rational paths. Magic and mysticism,
dreams and omens seemed to provide direct divine
revelations. Isis and Mithras, Elagabalus and Ascle"*0 Herodianus, 4, 13, 3.
0,1 SH A , Caracalla, 6, 6 ; 7, 3-5; compare F. Cumont, Les
religions orientates . . .: 58 f.
Herodianus, 4, 13, 3. referred to the deity, however, under
the feminine name of Selene.
8M Cassius Dio, ep. 79 (78), 15, 3.
"" Ib id .. 23, 1-6; 24, 1-3. Even Dio acknowledged the grimness of her fate; see also Herodianus, 4, 13, 8.

pius proffered religious certainty instead of scientific,

human, and, therefore, fallible methods of astrology.
This trend was clearly reflected in Latin and Greek
literature of the second and third centuries, before it
became politically manifest in the reign of Elagabalus,
the apostle of solar monotheism in Rome.

9.

T H E D E C L IN E O F R A T IO N A L IS M AND T H E
R IS E O F ST A R W O R S H IP

Towards the end of the second century the great

impetus of rational approaches to the riddles surround
ing us. a movement which in the sixth century b . c .
began with the Ionian natural philosophers in the west
ern world, had run its course. Men were tiring of the
endless quest for rational answers to cosmic problems.
Astrology now paid for its mighty claim of providing
scientifically accurate methods for an investigation of
the future. The amor fati of the Stoics of the second
century a . d . was but the lassitude of human surrender
to the inevitable force of Fate. But m ans desperate
desire to influence the future by actions based on his
own decisions, his religious hopes of appeasing anthro
pomorphic divinities by rites and proper moral conduct
were unabated among the masses of the Roman world.
Beyond the realm of logic they found no incongruity
in their belief in fatalistic astrology while offering sacri
fices and prayers to gods of any shape, color, or origin
to avert the very evils predicted as inevitable by the
astrologers. Fatalistic astrology therefore, fully ac
cepted at any time by a small upper-class group of
intellectuals only, began to wither when this band of
supporters, the very intellectuals, tiring of reason, began
to abandon it.
The process was of course a gradual one. A t all
times since the later Roman republic a not inconsiderable
number of upper-class Romans had been attracted to
foreign rites .05 The successful missionarizing of the
followers of Jupiter Sabazios . 608 of Jews and Christians,
the duping of the fair Paulina, an aristocratic devotee
of Isis ," 07 or similar offenses of other sects had time
and again provoked repressive measures of the govern
ment. But, as the principate reached its second cen
tury, oppositional philosophical or religious sects like
the Stoics and Cynics, the Jews and Christians became
the chief target. The role of mystery cults in the Roman
empire has been fully described in the classic ceuvre of
F. Cumont and other modern scholars. The rising
popularity of astral elements in religious worship during
the later principate is illustrated by four writers, two
of them Latin authors, and two of them Greek. They
were, respectively, the Latins Apuleius of Madaura (ca.
,0 F or example in the Bacchanalian rites severely curbed in
186 b . c. ; see above, p. 47.
0M In 139 B . c. : c o m p a r e p . 58.
807 See above, p. 102 f.

217

124-180?) and Censorinus (fl. between 200 and 250?),

and the Greek authors Julianus, son of Julianus the
Chaldaean (ca. 150-200), and Philostratus (ca 175240).
Of this group Apuleius was probably the oldest.
Bom in the African town of Madaura of well-to-do
parents, he received the traditional education of a voung
gentleman of the Latin west during the principate.
After attending the schools of higher learning at
Carthage '"1 he went to Athens, where he imbibed the
disciplines included in the philosophical studies of that
era . 609 Thereafter he traveled widely, indulging in
creasingly his interest in mystery cults, many of which
he joined .10 That he called himself a Platonist 11
was in keeping with the eras general trend towards
neo-platonism, but it would have seemed incompre
hensible to the earlier age of the New Academy. Men
like Cameades. or in the Latin West, Cicero^ would
have found such an attitude incompatible with their
own concepts of Platonism. How far Apuleius strayed,
however, not only from the path of the New Academy,
but also from that of Plato himself, was evident in the
three books of his uncompleted On the doctrine of
Plato*12 (a work he abandoned apparently, because
the topic proved too much for him). A shorter treatise,
On the deity of Socrates*13 demonstrated even more
clearly the gulf between Plato and his Latin disdple
from Madaura. For Apuleius developed under this
heading an entire demonology, defining a realm of inter
mediary divinities between the highest realm and the
human level,14 and insisted on Plato as the originator
of such a division. Apuleius introduced his astral deities
as those which in contrast to others were visible to the
mortal eye:
We see you, most illustrious lights of the cosmos, who
in heaven are leading the years march. Nor are these
[zodiacal signs] alone outstanding. The Sun [also is] the
creator of daylight, and the Moon, the glory of the night,
is imitating the Sun . . . , be it that it [the moon] possesses,
as the Chaldaeans believe, a surface half shining and half
dark rtl5 . . . or that it lacks any glow of its own. . . .
No matter what may be the correct opinion. . . . at any
rate neither Greek nor barbarian would hesitate in the
slightest to say that the moon or the sun is a god, and
also . . . the five stars which commonly by the ignorant are
called vagabonds (vagae), but which actually . . . pursue
long established, stringently regulated, and eternal orbits
on an inflexible, certain and fixed course. . . . In the same
* M. Schanz-Hosius-Krueger, Geschichte der roemischen
Literatur, Hdb. I. Mueller, 8, 3; 3rd ed .: 100 ff.; Muenchen,
C. H. Becksche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1922.
H< Apuleius, Florida 4, 20.
118 Apuleius, Apologia, 23.
,m Apuleius, de Platonis dogmate 3, 4: pro Apuleio dicas
Pliilosophum Platonicum Madaurensem . . . .
813 Dc Platonis dogmate.
813 Dc deo Socratis.
114 Ibid., 13, for a definition of demons; compare Florida 2, 10.
815 This Chaldaean theory was mentioned for example by
Vitruvius, de architectura 9, 2, 1.

218

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

categ o ry of visible deities belong', for anyone siding w ith

P lato ( !). also the other sta rs.616

This astral host of divinities was of course supple

mented with invisible ones of long standing, all of whom
dwelled in the highest heaven (in sublimi vertice).
Beneath them an intermediary realm of demons was
then pro]#unded by Apuleius. One of these demons
was to have been the daimonion to which Socrates in
his Apology referred as his guiding deity. In short,
apart from the existence of a general host of demons,
each human being was also credited with its special
guardian angel, a religious concept quite parallel to that
of the gnostic contemporaries of Apuleius. From our
particular point of view it may be noted that Apuleius
ranked the astral divinities alongside the traditional
hierarchy, but not yet above it. H e felt of course him
self that his Platonism had a strong dosis of neopvthagorean mysticism. In order to justify this he
insisted that Plato also had steeped himself in the creed
of Pythagoras:
A fter S ocrates left mankind, he [P lato ] searched for
sources from w hich he [P lato ] m ight benefit, and adopted
the teachings of P ythagoras (ad Pythagorae disciplinam se
c o n tu lit). . . . A nd because he came to the conclusion
th a t the know ledge of the P ythagoreans ( Pytliagoreorum
ittg en ium ) was aided by other disciplines, he w ent to T heo
d o ras of C yrene to learn geom etry. A nd he w ent as fa r as
E g y p t in quest of astrologia and to learn the rites of the
prophets. T h en he retu rn ed to Italy, attaching him self to
the P y th ag o rean s B urytus of T arentum and . . . A rchytas.
A nd he would have visited the Indians and m agi had not
w ars closed A sia to him a t that tim e.6ir

No matter whether or not Apuleius considered him

self a Platonist, however, he could not but dwell with
loving interest on the legendary Greek mystic, Pythago
ras. In his Florida, culled at some unknown date by
an unknown excerptor from a collection of rhetorical
treatises of Apuleius speeches he had held during his
Wanderjahre . Plato's alleged inspirer, Pythagoras,
was credited with similarly impressive travels, all of
which were directed to the Orient, Greece herself then
being still too backward to satisfy a zest for such higher
p u rsu it:
H e [P y th ag o ra s] becam e m ore renow ned by the repu
ta tio n (fa rn a ) th a t he had cultivated the E gyptian disciplines
[in clu d in g presum ably astrology], and had learned there
from the p riests the incredible pow ers of the [E gyptian]
rites (ca erein o tiia runt), the m arvelous qualities of num bers,
the m ost com plex forttiulae of geom etry. N or was it said
w as his m ind satisfied w ith these arts, but he soon also
visited the C haldaeans, and then the B rahm ans . . . of
India. . . .t8

A religious universalist of the type of Apuleius would

also accept astrology at face value:
*1* Apuleius.
mate. 1. 10 ff.
n l Apuleius.
3, o -7 ; but see
*1* Apuleius,

de deo Socratis, 1-2; compare de Platonis dot/de Plat, dogm., 1. 3; see also Diogenes Laertius.
on the subject of such voyages above, p. 8 f.
Florida 2, IS, 3.

T he Chaldaeans revealed to him the science of the stars

( sidcralem sc ie n tia m ), the fixed circuits of the w an d erin g
divinities and their various influences on the nativ ities of
men. . . .619

It was but natural, therefore, that Pythagoras was

generally credited with the authorship of astrological
treatises . 620
But not only in cosmological speculations or in a
translation of Peripatetic writings, the de mundo, did
Apuleius touch upon astrology. In his own life too he
was confronted with its hold upon other minds, as well
as his own. W hen he settled down in his native Africa,
a wealthy widow, Aemilia Pudentilla. married him. H er
sons stirred up trouble, until Apuleius' brother-in-law,
Sicinius Aemilianus, accused him before the tribunal of
the governor. Claudius Maximus, of sorcery ( ca. a . d .
155-158). In his Apologia Apuleius, then in his thirties,
refuted the charge. H e attacked especially Herennius
Rufinus, who father-in-law of Pudentillas (now de
ceased) son Pontianus had persuaded Sicinius to
undertake the prosecution:
F u rth erm o re I have no idea w hat astro lo g ers he had
consulted about the dow ry w ith w hich he should set up his
d au g h ter for m arriage. I h ear although I w ish they had
n ot prophesied the tru th th a t [they said] the b ridegroom
w ould die in a few m onths. T h e rest concerning the in
heritance they put to g eth er as they usually do in w h at
ever w ay will please th eir clients best.621

The respect which Apuleius had shown towards the

priesdy astrology of Egypt and Babylon was obviously
lacking in this evaluation of professional scientific
astrologers. The same note of disrespect was sounded
in a passage which Apuleius included in his Latin ver
sion of a Greek fable, the so-called Metamorphoses, in
which a young man, having by magic been transformed
into a donkey, after many adventures regained his
human shape:
In our m idst a t C o rin th a ce rtain foreign astro lo g er set
the whole city on turm oil by his prophecies, and fo r m oney
m aking purposes told the secrets ot the F ates to everybody
(in v id g u s). W h a t day would stren g th en the ties of m a tri
mony, w hich one would make durable the building of walls,
w hat day w ould be favorable fo r a businessm an, auspicious
for a voyager on land, o pportune for trav el by s e a ; to me
finally, w hen I inquired about th e outcome of this jo u rn ey ,
he prophesied much th a t w as stran g e and d iv e rse : F o r
there w ould a t some tim e be abundant fam e [in sto re for
m e], a t an o th er a g re a t ad v en tu re (historiam m a g n a m ), a n
incredible tale, and I would be [the subject of] books.622

The m ixture of catarchic and fatalistic astrological

predictions mirrored faithfully what popular astrologers
were likely to tell gullible clients. In this case, indeed,
" Ibid. 2, 15, 4; but see again above, p. 8 f. about fabulous
voyages.
Compare above, p. 5 f.
* Apuleius, Apologia, 97. Those astrologers, in predicting the
bridegroom's death, violated of course flagrantly the edict of
a . D. 11, but obviously this practice was quite common.
*** Apuleius, Metamorphoses 2, 13-14.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A T O S E V E R U S A L EX A N D ER
it turned out that the diviner was not altogether wrong.
Apuleius. however, in continuing the story insisted that
the astrologer, a certain Diophanes. was a mountebank
wholly devoid of prophetic knowledge . 623
The religious inclinations of Apuleius were, indeed,
difficult to reconcile with the fatalist creed of scientific
astrology. In his summary of Plato's views on the
relation between Fate and divine Providence which
for example Lucian's Zeus had tried to claim so vali
antly in his defense against Cyniscus 624 the difficulty
of reconciling fatalism and religion was apparent:
H e [P lato ] defines th re e kinds of gods. T h e highest of
them is a single deity, beyond the cosmos (td tra m u n d a n u s)
and incorporeal. W e shall show la ter th a t he is the fath er
and arch itect of this d ivine w orld. A second kind of divinity
is th at which the stars and the o th er deities possess which
we call the d w ellers in h e a v e n " (C o elico la s). A third
gro u p consists of those . . . w hich a re inferior in pow er
to the h ig h est div in ities. . . .
B ut ev ery th in g th a t happens n atu rally and therefore
rig h tly is gov ern ed by the g u ard ian sh ip of Providence. N or
could the cause of an y evil be ascribed to God. T h erefo re
he [P lato ] believes th a t n o t every th in g can be referred to
the lot of F ate ( fa ti so rte m ). H e defined it th u s: P ro v i
dence is the div in e conscience ( s e n te n tia ), the p rotector of
th a t p ro sp erity for w hich it is its duty to w ork. F ate, how
ever, is the divine law. by w hich the inevitable plans ( cogitationes) of God an d all b eginnings a re fulfilled. H ence w hat
is done by Providence, th a t is also done by F ate. A nd w hat
is term in ated by F ate , m ust be considered as term inated by
P rovidence.625

In this manner the Platonist Apuleius came to

terms with fatalism. But this solution could not possi
bly satisfy the longing of his heart for the mysterious , 626
the lofty religious exaltation which had led him finally
to embrace the cult of Isis, on whose ritual he became
one of our most important sources of information. In
transposing into Latin the Greek romance of a man,
who, having been changed into an ass by means of
magic, finally regained his human form, Apuleius gave
the popular story a completely different ending. Origi
nally the bewitched Lucius had regained his human
shape simply by at last discovering a bunch of roses.
Since eating roses was (as he knew) the means of
breaking the spell, he simply used this opportune mo
ment. devoured the flowers, and was transformed into
his former self. Apuleius, however, provided a denoue
ment which in its deeply religious mood was wholly
",3 Ibid., 14. Elsewhere (2, 28), however, an Egyptian wizard
was implored by the heavenly planets to recall a man from
death. The priestly sage obliged. The passage confirms the
impression that Apuleius had greater respect for magical or
mysticai prowess than for scientific astrology.
Lucian. Zeus catechized, 10 ff.
Apuleius. dc Plat, dogm., 1, 11-12; compare also Asclepius,
39-40. where Hermes Trismegistus delivers himself of an expose
on Fate.
*** Apuleius. Apologia. 84. said specifically that in his opinion
magic and fate were two mutually exclusive concepts. This view
of magic was. however, by no means generally held.

219

incongruous with the original piquant story of the socalled Golden A ss (M etamorphoses). In a fervent
prayer addressed to the moon arising from the waters
the desperate Lucius pleaded with the astral goddess to
redeem him from his animal shape. 627 Here Apuleius
himself spoke in the guise of Lucius pleading for death
or redemption. Exhaustedlv Lucius, the ass. fell asleep.
In a dream Isis now appeared to him in translucent
brilliance and promised him salvation . 028 Returned to
human existence the grateful Lucius embraced fervently
the rites of the goddess. With a paean of her cult
Apuleius closed his work.
The quaestiones naturales of Apuleius have not sur
vived. Of his astronomical or astrological writings
if, indeed, they were his and not merely issued under
his name by someone else we know apparently only
the few details which four hundred years later John
Lydus incorporated into two of his works, the de mensibus,-!> and the de ostentis,6SO but nowhere else did
he speak so clearly his own mind as he did at the end
of the Metamorphoses. The writings of Apuleius re
vealed throughout the great change which the intel
lectuals of the second century experienced. Apuleius
himself had spoken of the nectar-like quality of Greek
philosophy which intoxicated him at Athens. But ra
tionalist fatalism in quasi-Platonic disguise had failed
to satisfy his innermost longing. Astral divinities also
were too concrete, too material for his mystic leanings.
A cult which like that of Isis combined elements of
star worship with those of transcendental union between
the deity and man seemed to him and to an increasing
number of other intellectuals the fulfilment of a great
emotional need. It was perhaps significant that such
tendencies were equally manifest in both spheres of the
empire, in the Greek east, as well as in the Latin west.
About three quarters of a century later, at the very
time when the tide of revolution began to sweep away
the foundations of the society and the culture of the
principate, Q. Caerellius in 238 received among the
presents on his birthday a little treatise On the birthday
(de die natali). Most of its text has been preserved,
as has a fragment of another work ascribed to the pen
of the same au th o r: " 31 Censorinus . 632 The essay On
the birthday brought together from many sources
materials pertinent to the treatment of this topic:
"A puleius, Metamorphoses 11. 1-21.
* Ibid. 11, 3-6.
" 'L y d u s , de mensibus 4, 116: There are, according to
Aristotle, nine types of comets, but, according to the Roman
Apuleius, ten.
*** Lydus, dc ostentis. pr. ; 3: 4; 7; 10; 44; 54 ( ed. Wachsm utli: 8, 25; 103 ( Apuleius wrote on such m a tte rs) ; 14, 21;
35, 7 (where Apuleius, as well as Varro and Nigidius Figulus,
are cited as Lydus' authorities for his chapter on comets) ; 98, 6
( the great A puleius" on lightning): 110, 8 (Apuleius on
earthquakes).
Both treatises were edited by F. Hultsch, Leipzig, 1867.
Compare on him Wissowa, R E 3. 1899, c. ltf)8. no. 7,-c.
1910; Schanz-Hosius-Krueger. op. cit.. 3 (3rd ed.) : 219 ff.

220

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

Since precious gifts a rc not lacking thanks to the excel

lence of your mind (p er anim i v irtu te m ), while I, on the
other hand, have no supply of them ow ing to my im pecuni
ousness. I Have sent you untler the title O n the birthday
w hatever I did compile l>v mv efforts in this book.033

Beginning with a discussion of the biological ante

cedents of birth, Censorinus, having quoted the opinion
of many Greek authorities on the matter, arrived at the
Chaldaean views:
But now the theory of the Chaldaeans m ust be briefly
treated. A nd it has to be explained why they believe th a t
men can be born in the seventh month, as well as in the
ninth and tenth. P rim arily they say that our doings and life
are subject to both planets and fixed stars, and the hum an
race is governed by th eir diverse and multiple m otion, but
also that the movements, constellations (sc h e m a ta ), and
effects are often changed by the sun . . . which (as it rules
the very stars by which w e a re ruled) gives us the soul by
which we are governed . . . when after the conception w e
come forth into the light of day.54

Censorinus after this exposition of astral dominance

set forth summarily the definition of the zodiac, equally
divided among the twelve signs, whose mutual relations
differed amongst each other depending on the time and
the position of the planets. Hence the constellation
prevailing at the moment of birth differed necessarily
from the one which had governed the moment of con
ception. The subdivision of the zodiacal circle into 360
one-degree sectors, as well as the theory of the special
effects of triangular, square, hexagonal, and other
planetary groupings, added the necessary variety for the
prediction of individual lives. Each month of pregnancy
was also astrologically affected. For numerological
reasons the Chaldaeans (? ) denied the possibility of the
living birth of embryos during the eighth month of
pregnancy, while in the seventh, ninth, and tenth month
children could be bom alive . 0*5
Chaldaean astronomy too was referred to by Censo
rinus. when he discussed the various figures for the
length of the year . '130 H is use of the term astrologus
was similar to that of Cicero, i.e. it covered the entire
realm of astronomy. For example, in the introduction
to the section dealing with the time of live births he
insisted that some elements of astrologia, music, and
arithmetic ( quaedam . . . de astrologia, musicaque et
arithmetica) must be discussed .*37 Again in discussing
the meaning of sacculum our author showed that he
had come across Berossus views on the subject. T hat
" founding father '' of Hellenistic astrology was quoted
as allotting a span of 116 years to the saeculum. In
this connection Censorinus inserted a definition of the
astrologi. They were men who search for the truth
,M Censorinus, de die natali, 1, 5.
Ibid.. 8. 1-3: note the emphasis on the sun.
Ibid.. 8. 4-13.
Ibid., 11, 8-9; compare also, 18, 7.
Ibid.. 7. 1.

in the science of stars and constellations (qtii in stellarum signorttmque rationc verttm scrutantur) ,638 i.e.
in his own terminology astronomers, as well as astrolo
gers. Accordingly he often referred to astrologi in the
purely astronomical sense, for example in the discussion
of the length of the solar year , ''39 and in the section
devoted to the discussion of the length of a day .40
The essay of Censorinus was not the work of a scien
tist. or even an astrologer, but that of a grammarian.
T hat the author, although not blessed with earthly
riches, enjoyed a considerable professional reputation
in his own field was attested by later writers. One of
them remembered him as most learned in the gram
marian discipline, 041 while another, writing in the fifth
century of our era. specifically praised the essay On the
birthday as a masterpiece (volumen illtistre).9*2 The
greatest Latin scholar of the sixth century also paid
tribute to Censorinus ,43 while a scribe of the seventh
century left us the oldest extant manuscript of the de
die natali, on which all modern editions are based. It
was an irony of history that this little work alone sur
vived almost intact the beginning and the end are
missing while his professional writings were left to
perish. F or posterity, however, the fact that the trained
philologist chose only good authors for his sources has
proved a real boon, inasmuch as his excerpts preserved
much that otherwise would have perished.
A fragment, ascribed to Censorinus, may also be
mentioned. F or its first three chapters have been found
to be identical with the scholia Sangermanensia dealing
with the Aratea of Germanicus . 844 Moreover, this frag
ment contains our oldest extant treatment of Latin
metric.
The crowded compilation of the birthday-essay with
its discussion of pertinent topics like the calendar, its
year, months, and days, together with some medicoastrological summary of diverse views on the biological
aspects of human birth itself was of course not meant
to be more than a scholarly gift. The first three chap
ters dealt with the cosmos, the sky, and both planets
and fixed stars, respectively .45 Although neither treatise
of Censorinus made any new contribution to science or
pseudo-science, they indicated the continuing- interest
of Romes upper strata in some measure of astronomical
and astrological knowledge. Otherwise the little Latin
essay could hardly have been understood by its recipient.
N or would it have attracted later copyists. But the
hodge-podge of philosophical, scientific, and pseudo
* Ibid.. 17, 4.
Ibid., 18, 9; 19, 2; 22, 4.
',*g Ibid., 23, 3.
041 Th. Priscianus, 1, 4, 17; compare 19, 1, 6. About a . d . 500.
Sidonius Apollinaris, m ninna 14, pr.. 3.
041 Cassiodorus, dc artibus ac disciplinis liberalium litterarum
5 : de musica ( Migne, P. L., 70: c. 1208 D ).
See above, p. 26.
Ed. Hultsch : 55-60, 7.

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M E FRO M N E R V A TO SEV E R U S A L EX A N D ER

scientific theories thrown together at random was a far
cry, indeed, from the works of earlier Latin writers like
Nigidius Figulus. Cicero, Germanicus. and Manilius.
all of whom had wrestled with such topics. Serious
interest in scientific astrology had all but vanished
in the Latin world by the end of the principate. The
riddles of the universe, of man's life and death within
it were no longer probed with eager reason (however
ill-guided). A new era. an age of faith, was at hand,
seeking new answers to old problems.
Among the contemporaries of Apuleius in the Greek
east the Chaldaean Julianus,i4a and his far more re
nowned son, also named Julianus . 647 represented the
pioneers of a type which was destined to replace the
scientific astrologer. Unlike Vettius Valens. who
had said that it was useless to offer sacrifices to the
gods , 048 since all was ruled by inexorable fate a tradi
tional argument of staunch fatalists the Juliani were
theurgians, i. e. miracle-men who believed that the secret
forces of nature, not only the stars and constellations,
had a part in shaping mundane phenomena. Evocation
of spirits, quasi-religious ritualistic procedures, astromagicalchemical rites a blending of various religious
and scientific ingredients in a spirit of mysticism this
was the atmosphere of the new missionaries of divine
revelations. The older Julianus, perhaps the one to
whom the Christian Arnobius referred , 040 was known
for example as the author of a work on demons which
consisted of at least four books.
His son, who lived under Marcus Aurelius, was
credited by Suidas with the authorship of the so-called
Chaldaean oracles, a weird concoction of astrological
and mystical elements . 650 A miracle worker perhaps
identical with the Egyptian magus Arnuphis, who in
174 saved M. Aurelius and his parched army from cer
tain annihilation by conjuring up rain through magical
invocations 051 the younger Julianus was considered
by the neo-piatonists as a pioneer of their own mystical
creed. Proclus (410-485) and his Christian contempo
rary, Sozomen. still paid tribute to the reputation of
Julianus. The pagan Proclus admired Julians theurgic works,65* while the Christian Sozomen recorded
Compare Suidas, s. v . ; W. Kroll, RE 10, 1919: c. 15, 110. 8.
7 Suidas, s. v . ; W. Kroll, ibid.: c. 15, no. 9,-c. 17.
* Vettius Valens, Antliologiae 5. 9 (ed. Kroll: 220, 28).
Arnobius, adversus gcntes 1, 52 (Migne, P. L. 5. c. 790).
* Suidas, s. v . ; on the Chaldaean Oracles, see W. Kroll, RE
3, 1899, c. 2045; 10; c. 15 ff.; F. Cumont. L u x pcrpctua (1949) :
231; 273 : 304 ; 373; 361; 363; 366 ; 379. J. Bidez. Cat. codicum
alchem. gracc. 6, 1928: 61, 23; 62. 6 ; compare 218, 9 and 22.
W. Theile, Die chaldaeischen Orakel . . . . Schr. d. Kiinigsberger Gel. Gcs. 18, 1, 1942: Cat. 9, 1: 106-111.
Cassius Dio, ep. 72, 8, 2-4; Suidas, s.v . lot/Xidnot. and s. i'.
'Apou$>u; compare W. Kroll, R E 10. 1919: c. 15 1 .
aos See Proclus, in Platonis Cratylnm comm.. 122 (ed. Pasqu ali: 72, 10, Leipzig, Teubner, 1908) ; also in rempublicam
Plat, comment, (ed. W. Kroll, 2: 123, 12, Leipzig, Teubner,
1901, and elsewhere).

221

that Julianus wrote copiously on magic. 1153 Among the

definitely astrological v\rorks of the vounger Julianus
seems to have been one which was organized according
to planetary zones. 054 Julianus allotted to Chronos the
seventh zone. His religious views blended with his
astrological concepts. For he preached a sun cult. In
this also Julianus was a pioneer of the era to come.
First Elagabalus. then the emperor Aurelianus pro
claimed sun worship as the supreme cult of the empire.
Philostratus, unlike Julianus, was a professional lit
terateur. This made him all the more valuable, because
he was willing to write on any subject his patrons would
appreciate. For many years he belonged to the personal
entourage of Severus, especially attaching himself to
Julia Domna, wife of Severus and mother of Caracalla.
H er predilection for surrounding herself with astrolo
gers and literati has already been mentioned .55 Little
did she anticipate in those halcyon days of power the
bitter end in store for her. Posterity owed her the
existence of a Caracalla, but also the incentive for a
work bv Philostratus which (written about 217) was
to have considerable influence on later pagan religious
thought, the Life of Apollonius of Tyana. Its very
success with pagan readers evoked a bitter Christian
counter attack from Eusebius as late as the fourth cen
tury. Philostratus himself acknowledged his debt to
Julia Domna. Damis, a follower of Apollonius, then
dead for more than a century, had written an account
of the theurgian philosophers;
A certain kinsm an of D am is drew the attention of the
em press Ju lia to the docum ents containing these memoirs
hitherto unknown. N ow I belonged to the circle of the
em press. F o r she w as a devoted adm irer of all rhetorical
exercises: and she com m anded me to recast and edit these
essays, a t the same tim e paying more attention to the style
and diction of them .058

In reconstructing the life and philosophy of Apol

lonius of Tyana. Philostratus undoubtedly molded his
hero into a pattern which became more and more popu
lar during this era. W e have already seen how the
worship of the moon, for example, had found its rap
turous expression in Apuleius, whose Lucius by pray
ing to the full moon had evoked the dream in which
Isis promised him the restoration to human shape.57
Theurgic heroes who transcended the confines of ra
tionalist philosophy to enter the realm of mystic ecstasv
and worship were rapidly becoming fashionable in cur
rent literature. Philostratus, therefore, seems to have
Sozomen. hist. cccl. 1, 18.
Proclus. in Platonis Timacum comment. 4 (ed. E. Diehl,
3: 27. 10) ; comparc W. Kroll, RE 10, 1919: c. 16.
Philostratus. fit. soph. 2, 30 (f. 622).
Philostratus, Apollonius of Tyana 1, 3. The author men
tioned that besides a purported collection of Apollonius' letters
and the sage s testament he had also read a work on Apollonius
by Moeragenes. but rejected it as untrustworthy.
m Apuleius. Metamorphoses 11, 1-6.

222

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FR O M N E R V A TO SE V E R U S A L EX A N D ER

T H E R IS E A ND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

used his materials for bringing out in particular the

theurgic qualities of Apollonius. Born in the. Cappadocian city of Tvana, he was a younger contemporary
of Christ, perhaps a lx>y in his early teens when Christ
died on the cross. At the age of fourteen Apollonius
was brought to Tarsus by his father to receive a higher
education. He was approximately the same age as
Paul, a native of that city. Both boys may have attended
the same lectures of Greek professors of grammar and
literature in Tarsus. For the Jew Paul received in his
native city a solid education along the traditional pagan
lines. After steeping himself in the theories of the vari
ous schools of philosophy, including Epicurean scepti
cism. Apollonius was finally and definitely attracted to
neo-Pvthagoreanism, whose mysticism had found much
favor among Greeks and Romans for the past hundred
years, including among its converts men like P. Nigidius
Figulus and M. Terentius V arro . 8- 8
The young philosopher swore off the consumption of
meat and wine, and used either crude shoes of bark or
none at all. He was only sixteen years old when he
embarked on this austere life. His hair henceforth
knew no scissors, his beard no razor. Like the holy
men of India this strange figure moved for the next
half-century across the Mediterranean scene. H e was
as usual credited with extensive voyages, covering for
example Persia. India, and Egypt . ' 58 From India he
seems to have derived, according to his own claims, the
Hindu aversion to the killing of animals, and, inasmuch
as most meat eaten by the lower strata of the Roman
world came from sacrificial animals, the fierce campaign
of Apollonius against all sacrifices not only opposed the
religious practices in vogue among Jews and gentiles,
but also the dietary habits of almost every inhabitant
of the empire. That meat was costly and hence for
most people a rarity made it all the more attractive and
desirable. From India too Apollonius professed to have
received his deep impression of sun worship 880 which,
indeed (according to Philostratus), he developed into a
monotheist cult, reviving after fourteen hundred years
the creed of the Egyptian king Akhnaton.
To what extent Philostratus colored historical facts
to please Julia Domna (whose father, Bassianus. had
been the chief priest in a temple of sun worship) cannot
be determined with certainty. But it can hardly have
failed to impress his imperial patroness to learn that
Apollonius too had been a sun worshipper in his own
right, who, for example, having landed at Corinth and
worshipped the Sun about midday, with his usual rites,
,l:'" See above, p. 8 f.
Compare Apollonius, epist. 17: The Persians give the
n^me of magi to divine beings. A magus then is either a w or
shipper of the gods, or one who is by nature divine. Well, you
fEuohrates] are no magus. but a man without god.
" F o r example Philostratus, Apollonius, 2, 24; 25; 32; 43;
compare 5, 25; 6, 11.

embarked in the evening for Sicily and Italy. 081 Divi

nation by means of the sun was also an important factor
in his creed . 11,12 Obviously, in opposing the sacrifice of
any animal, he had to discard any faith in the age old
haruspicial techniques which insisted on reading the
future in the entrails of sacrificial victims. 863 Never
theless, he defended the principle of divination itself;
He practices divination. Yes, for many are the things
we know not. and there is no way of foreseeing anything
that is going to happen. " But such practices are not con
sonant with philosophy.' Nevertheless they befit the deity.884
As a miracle-working t'.ieurgian. Apollonius had good
reason to fear accusations of magic, including also the
practice of divination by magic. Tried for his life by
Domitian, he refuted among other charges the one of
divination by magic for Nervas benefit, a rite allegedly
involving the sacrifice of a human victim . 885 H e sharply
distinguished between divination proper and magic:
Divination . . . is highly esteemed, if it be genuine and
tell the truth, though whether it is an art I am not yet sure.
But I anyhow affirm that wizards (-yOTjrts) . . . get men to
believe that the unreal is real, and to distrust the real as
unreal. . . . The cleverness of this art is relative to the
folly of the persons who are deceived by them. . . . Its
professors are given up wholly to filthy lucre.88*
H is general thesis, according to Philostratus,
that magic was a fraud practiced by crooks on
simple minded. Its widespread use, assuredly no
in a . d . 200 than in the reign of the Flavians,
attested to:

was
the
less
was

Magic also besieges the doors of merchants . . . , for we

shall find them too attributing their successes in trade to
the wizard or sorcerer. . . . But it is especially lovers who
are addicted to this art. . . . They will accept . . . a box
with stones in it. . . . some of the bits of stone having come
. . . from the moon and the stars. . . . But for myself I
would only denounce such arts in order to prevent young
men from resorting to its professors, lest they become accus
tomed to such things even in fun. 887
The fearful punishment of sorcerers, summarized in
the writings of the great Roman jurists of the period,
especially in the Sententiae of Philostratus contempo
rary Paulus . '" 18 was grim evidence of the continuing
popularity of magic.
In view of the solar monotheism and the frowning
of Apollonius on all haruspicial kinds of divination it
is hardly surprising to see him drawn towards a blood
less variant of divination which excluded both magic
Ibid. 7, 10.
" Ibid. 5, 25 (end).
' ' Ibid. 8, 7, 12: compare 5, 25, and elsewhere.
Apollonius, epist., 8 ( to Euphrates).
r. philostratus, Apollonius 8, 7, 12.
Ibid. 8. 7. 3.
*" Ibid. 7. 39.
**" Compare F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars (2 ),
Seminar 10, 1952 : 48 IT.

and animal sacrifices, a method, moreover, which paid

full tribute to the supreme power of the sun. i. e. to
fatalistic astrology. To what extent Philostratus pre
sented his hero in such a light in order to gratify the
prevalent preference of astrology in the imperial family,
must needs remain conjectural. But there can be no
doubt about the most uncompromising stand on behalf
of fatalism which he ascribed to Apollonius. Not even
the most fanatical devotee of fatalist astrology could
surpass the faith of the famous theurgian. In a bold
attack upon Domitian, which at Smyrna he delivered
in public, Apollonius turned to a bronze statue of the
emperor and exclaim ed:
Thou fool, how much art thou mistaken in thy views of
Destiny and Fate. For even if thou shouldst slay the man
who is fated to be despot after thyself, he would come to
life again.689
This reached the ears of the emperor and was made
part of the charges against the theurgian. H e defended
himself without, however, disowning his views on F a te :
What I said concerned the topic of the Fates and Neces
sity . . . I dwelled upon the influence of the Fates, and
argued that the threads which they spin are so unchange
able. that, even if they decreed to someone a kingdom which
at the moment belonged to another, and even if that other
slew the man of destiny, . . . nevertheless the dead man
would come to life again in order to fulfill the decree of
the Fates. . . .
He who is destined to become a carpenter, will become
one even if his hands have been cut off; and he who has
been destined to carry off the prize for running in the
Olympic games, will not fail to win even if he broke his
leg; and a man to whom the Fates have decreed that he
shall be an eminent archer, will not miss the mark, even
though he lost his eyesight. . . .
Vitellius [the emperor] declared that his own fortune was
assured . . . and yet, because the Fates had decreed other
wise, he was undone with all his counsels, while you
[Domitian] are now in possession of the throne.870
The most fanatical Stoic could go no further in cham
pioning fatalism. Although Apollonius relied on his
direct contact with the supernatural world rather than
on fatalistic astrology for his predictions, he could and
did not oppose this craft as a proper source of divina
tory information. H e was even credited with having
himself composed a substantial work on astrology in
four books:
. . . Damis says that Apollonius alone partook of the
philosophic discussion together with Iarchas, and that he
embodied the results in four books, concerning divination
by stars (ftavrelas aariptov), ^ work which Moeragenes also
has mentioned.871
*** Philostratus, Apollonius 7, 9. The speech was delivered
shortly before the assassination of Domitian, and Philostratus
gave Apollonius full credit for his advance knowledge of events.
Actually, however, the maicstas indictment of the sage seems
to have been based on the charge of conspiratorial collaboration
with Nerva rather than on his utterance of illegal prophecies.
",0 Ibid. 8, 7. 16.
*" Ibid. 3, 41.

223

It is, however, not certain that Apollonius wrote such

a work, but his objection to sacrifices was verv probably
the topic of another work in which he must have spoken
out sharply against them. Philostratus, who found and
read this work, doubted the above reports about Apol
lonius astrological treatise and remarked cautiously:
. . . I do regard the work on the stars and anv such
divination as transcending human nature, and I doubt
that anyone has that knowledge. 87- The fact that Philo
stratus failed to find a copy of Apollonius book on
astrology is of course no argument against its existence.
At any rate Philostratus quoted Damis without com
ment to show that Apollonius was not insensitive to
astral mysticism:
Iarchas gave seven rings to Apollonius named after the
seven stars, and . . . Apollonius wore each of these in turn
on the day of the week which bore its name.873
The emphasis of Apollonius on supernatural revela
tions inevitably led to his being accused of magical
practices, a serious charge against which his disciples
were at great pains to defend him :
. . . He was enabled to make such forecasts by some
divine impulse. . . . It is no sound inference . . . that our
hero was a wizard. . . . Wizards whom for my part I
reckon to be the most unfortunate of mankind, claim to
alter the course of destiny, by having recourse to the torture
of lost spirits or to barbaric sacrifices, or to certain incan
tations or anointings. . . . But Apollonius submitted himself
to the decrees of the Fates, and only foretold things that
must come to pass; and his foreknowledge was not gained
by wizardry, but from what the gods revealed to him.874
These words, taken from an earlier source, or per
haps being Philostratus own comment, summed up the
attitude of Apollonius concerning the relation between
Fate and divination. The (solar) monotheism of the
theurgian and his emphasis on the need of a human
savior as mediator between god and man made Apol
lonius a pagan rival of Christ and hence a target for
Christian attacks. In the fourth century Eusebius, son
of Pamphilius, wrote a special treatise, already men
tioned, against Philostratus portrait of Apollonius.
That Eusebius contested any claims to Apollonius
divine or semi-divine status was to be expected. Equally
sharp were Eusebius barbs against Apollonius fatalist
doctrines:
Why do you insult wizards . . . if they are dragged down
by the Fates, as you believe, to their miserable life. . . . And
in the same way with regard to Nero and Domitian, why
do you not saddle upon the Fates and Necessity the respon
sibility for their unbridled insolence, and acquit them of
all responsibility and blame? . . . Surely if it has been
destined that a man should be a wizard, and that being his
character, a wizard or a murderer and a wicked man and a
reprobate, come what will, he must of necessity end by being
* Loc. cit.
m Loc. cit.
*T* Ibid. 5, 12.

224

T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

such a person. Why then do you go wandering about,

preaching the virtues to those who are incapable of re
form ? 075
To this logic Apollonius might of course have replied
that it just happened to l>e his own fate to go about
preaching to people in the full knowledge of their
inability to change for the better by any decision of
their own. An ecclesiastical dialectician, however, was
capable of handling that argument also:
But perhaps you will say the Fates drove you also on to
these courses. . . . And why . . . . if it was decreed by
Fate that you . . . should transcend the glory of king, did
you visit schools of teachers and philosophers, and trouble
yourself about Arabians and about the magi of Babylon,
and the wise men of India? . . . It was not your own will
and choice, nor a love of philosophy either, but Fate that
led you in her noose.878
W herever one might look. Latin and Greek literature
at the end of the second and the beginning of the third
century revealed the decline of rationalism. The last
m ajor antifatalists, men like Sextus Empiricus and
Alexander of Aphrodisias, were losing their battle, not
to their rationalist opponents, but to a third force which,
having been kept in leash for a long time by the staunch
advocates of reason, now rose to sweep the wearisome
arguments of both rationalist factions away in a mount
ing torrent of religious faith. Scientific astrology
ceased to be of interest to men like Philostratus Apol
lonius, whether or not they believed in Fate. The wings
of faith were to reach the stars which had never fully
revealed their secrets to fallible mortal astrologers. An
astral hierarchy, ruled by the sun, now contended with
and finally superseded the official deities of the Roman
empire. The first apostle on the imperial throne to
preach the new gospel to an amazed and soon infuriated
Roman public was a grandnephew of Philostratus
patroness, Julia Domna, the grandson of her sister,
Maesa, the sun priest Elagabalus.
10. F R IE N D S A N D F O E S OF T H E SUN CU LT AT
T H E EN D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

It was to be expected that Opellus Macrinus, who

succeeded Caracalla in 217, was all the more fervently
convinced of the accuracy of divinatory predictions,
because in his own case they had so exactly foretold
his rise to the imperial power. He stemmed from
Mauretania, had studied law, and then achieved the
position of steward in the household of Severus erst
while favorite Plautianus, the father-in-law of Cara
calla.'*77 When his employer was slain for treason,
Macrinus, having barely avoided sharing his fate,
emerged as a superintendent of traffic on the Flaminian
road, a post to which he was appointed by Severus.
,m Eusebius, contra Philostr. vit. Apoll., 41.
Loc. cit.
,,T Cassius Dio, cp. 79 (78), 11, 1-3.

Finally he had managed to become the confidant of

Severus son and heir, Caracalla. The versatile Moor
for whom an African seer had. as we noticed, predicted
the throne . 1178 was of course familiar with the cult of
T anit / 70 A moon goddess, she was then the tutelary
deity of Carthage . 1180 From there this Caelestis Ajrorum Dea, the Sky Goddess " of the Africans, had
migrated to reach great popularity throughout northern
Africa and Spain. Thence, as so many other cults,
hers had been carried to the ends of the Roman empire
by her devotees in the Roman army.
Tanit of course also issued prophecies. One of her
priestesses, when inspired by the goddess in the reign
of Antoninus Pius, had suddenly exclaimed the name
Antoninus eight times. At first this had been inter
preted as a prophecy that the emperor would rule eight
more years, but when he refused to abide by the verdict
and lived on, the devotees of Tanit alias Caelestis
( Urania) had hurriedly changed the meaning of the
oracle and henceforth suggested that it meant that eight
emperors of the name Antoninus were going to rule
the Roman em pire 881 which, thereafter, would perish.
The priestesses of Tanit were apparently loyal sup
porters of the Roman administration. For when Pertinax
in the reign of Commodus (180-192) '* was made pro
consul of Africa, during his proconsulship . . . he sup
pressed many rebellions by the aid of prophetic verses
which issued from the temple of Caelestis. 882 The
oracle of the eight Antonines must have been widely
known among the Roman legions. For when Caracalla
was slain his army was shaken by superstitious fe a rs:
. . . Great Sorrow beset the hearts of all. for they thought,
because they had not an Antoninus at the head of the state,
that with Bassianus [Caracalla] the Rome empire would
come to an end. 883
The simple soldiers vaguely knew that a num ber of
emperors had borne the name of Antoninus, or had
chosen it after their accession.88* Partly at least M acri
nus may have been influenced by considerations of this
kind when he insisted of the deification of the very man
he had murdered and then himself bestowed this name
on his young son Diadumenianus.*'8 But the young
m ans prospects were dim, as, after his death', believers
in divination were quick to point out . 086 Indeed, Fate
had decreed (rx?}v) that Macrinus [with his son] was
" Ibid., 4, 1-2.
* On her relationship with other star-gods, compare F.
Cumont. Les religions orientates . . .: 262, n. 77.
** Herodianus, 5, 6, 4.
*1 SHA , Macrinus. 3. 1-2.
,M SH A , Pertinax, 4. 2.
*** SHA , Diadumcnianus. 1, 2.
* F or this kind of vagueness, compare also SH A , M acrinus,
3, 4-8. a thoroughly garbled sequence of fiction and facts.
SHA, Macrinus. 3, 8; Diadumcnianus, 2, 6-10; Cassius
Dio. ep. 79 (78), 19, 1-2.
*" SH A , Diadumcnianus. 1, 1.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A TO S EV E R U S A L EX A N D ER
to reign in pleasure but one year, and then to lose both
life and empire. 887 During that year, however, he
executed M atemianus, who had almost caused his
ruin . 888 H e rewarded, on the other hand, his timely
warner, Ulpius Julianus, with the praetorian prefecture.
Julianus went to Syria to take over his command, but
was soon involved in his master's ruin. W hen in 218
the tides of fortune began to run against Macrinus,
Julianus was slain by his own troops who then went
over to the rebels .080 Meanwhile, the Roman senate,
while not delighted at being ruled by a low-born Moor,
still considered Macrinus preferable to the late oppres
sive fratricide. The army, however, continued to regret
the loss of a bountiful patron in whose place a stem
civilian now ruled.
The beginning of one of the portentous revolutions
of Roman history was, as is often the case, almost
trivial:
There was a Phoenician woman, named Maesa, of Emesu s(!), a city of Phoenicia, who was a sister of Julia
[Domna], the wife of Severus and the mother of [the late]
Antoninus [Caracalla]. During the lifetime of her sister
Maesa had spent many years at the court in the reigns of
Severus and Antoninus, but after her sisters death and
the assassination of Antoninus [Caracalla] Macrinus had
ordered her to return to her native country and to live
there in quiet domesticity in full possession of her fortune.
. . . This woman had two daughters, the elder named
[Julia] Soaemis, the younger Mamaea 880 . . . by her hus
band Julius Avitus, an ex-consul. She had also two grand
sons. One was Avitus [Bassianus], the son of Soaemis and
Varius Marcellus, a man of the same race . . . who had
been enrolled in the senate, and later had died. The other
was [Alexianus] Bassianus, the son of Mamaea and Gessius
Marcianus, who was also a Syrian . . . Avitus . . . after
his governorship of Asia . . . had died from old age and
sickness. 691
Thus Maesa, a sister-in-law of Severus, her two
daughters, and two grandsons entered the arena of
history at this stage;
Educated under their mothers and grandmother [Avitus]
Bassianus was about fourteen years old, but Alexianus
[Bassianus] was not yet advanced beyond the tenth year.
They were both priests of the sun. This deity the natives
[of Emesa] worship with singular devotion, calling him in
the Phoenician language Elagabalus.*9*
Dissatisfaction of the army with Macrinus, promises
and bribes on the part of Maesa. her fraudulent claims
to the effect that Caracalla had actually fathered both
boys these elements blended in a fantastic plot to
which M acrinus power and then his life fell victim.
Elagabalus, or as the Greeks were to call h im : Helio** Herodianus, 5, 3, 1.
Cassius Dio, ep. 79 (78), 15, 3.
Herodianus. S, 2-4; SHA , Macrinus, 10, 1-3; Cassius Dio,
ep. 79 ( 78), IS. 1-2; 31. 4 ; 32, 1-33, 2 ; 34, 1-5.
*** Herodianus, 5, 3, 2-3.
**' Cassius Dio. ep. 79 (78), 30, 2-4.
* Herodianus. 5, 3, 3-4.

225

gabalus, seems to have ruled for only four years there

after. His age in 218 was only about fourteen; he was
therefore but eighteen years old when in 2 2 2 he was
slain in Rome. But during those four years, in spite
of the frantic attempts of the three women, Maesa,
Soaemis, and Mamaea, to keep his religious fervor in
check, this youngster attempted the greatest religious
revolution which Rome was to witness prior to the
victory of Christianity more than a century later. The
extant accounts, chiefly those of Herodianus. Cassius
Dio, and the SHA, showed the incredible career of the
young emperor, perhaps the most fantastic ruler that
ever sat on any European throne. Elagabalus seems
to have considered his miraculous accession to the
throne as a mandate from his Lord, the sun, to estab
lish solar monotheism as the dominant religion through
out the Roman empire. A number of passages from
our historians may illustrate this revolutionary aspect
of Elagabalus reign.
At first he sought refuge in the temple of the god
Elagabalus, as in a sanctuary, for fear that Macrinus
would kill him . 695 This shrine was, indeed, more
than a mere local sanctuary;
A very large temple had been built to him, adorned with
much gold and silver, and a wealth of precious stones. Nor
is he only worshipped by the local people, but all the
neighboring satraps and kings of the barbarians are sending
to the god every year costly offerings.894
In such an atmosphere the dream was bom of making
this cult supreme throughout the empire. It was there
that Roman soldiers discovered the young sun priest.
The army of Caracalla, now commanded by Macrinus,
was still encamped in the vicinity, and many soldiers
visited the far famed shrine:
It happened while he was performing divine service, and
dancing in the chorus around the altars according to the
custom of barbarians to the sound of flutes, pipes, and all
kinds of instruments, that among others the soldiers in
particular observed him, knowing him to be of the imperial
family. 895
The rest had followed. Now Maesa pressed for a
hurried march on Rome. Elagabalus might, as could
be expected, know next to nothing of statecraft or the
business of administration (what fourteen-year-old lad
does?) but he gave ample warning of the religious
revolution which he was planning. While he spent the
winter in Nicomedia en route to Rome, he launched
himself, in spite of his grandmothers warnings, on the
course which led to his destruction. He absolutely
refused to don the dress of Rome, but insisted on con
tinuing to wear his oriental priestly garb:
And being willing to make the sight of the habit familiar
** SHA . Elagabalus, 2. 3.
** Herodianus, 5. 3. 4 ; compare also 5-7.
Ibid.. 3. 8 ff.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R L D

to tlie Roman senate and people . . . he had a large picture

draw n of him self a t full length, exactly representing him
in the public execution of liis priestly office. A nd in the
same p ainting was the figure of his hom etow n-god, whose
cerem onies he w as perform ing. T his painting he sent to
Rome w ith orders to put it up in the m iddle of the senatehouse in a very high place, directly above the statue of
V ictory, and th at a t the senate m eeting every m em ber should
burn incense and pour libation of wine [before the pic tu re].
H e also issued an edict th a t all Roman m agistrates and any
who officiated a t public sacrifices, should before any of the
oilier gods w ham they had to m ention in their divine service,
first nam e {in praise] the god Elagabalus.

The religious revolution was on. And it was of course

resented with special bitterness, because a barbarian
deity was now set up to rule the Graeco-Roman Olym
pus. The host ot other barbarian deities hitherto had at
least kept their place." Actually, adopting for him
self in his capacity as hereditary sun priest the name
of his own god, Elagabalus, the new ruler seems to have
desired a merger of all mystery cults into a single one,
that of the sun god:
As soon as he entered the city [probably on July 19, 219],
. . . he established Elagabalus as a god on the P alatine
H ill close to the im perial palace, and he built him a temple
to which he desired ito tran sfer the emblem of the G reat
M other, the fire of Vesta, the Palladium .87 the shields of
the Salii. and all that the Romans held sacred, purposing
th a t no god m ight be w orshipped at R om e save only E laga
balus. H e declared furtherm ore that the religions of the
Jew s and C h ristians m ust also be tran sferred to this place,
in o rd er th a t the priesthood of Elagabalus m ight include
the m ysteries of e v e r y form of w orship. . . .***
In fact, it was his qesire to abolish not only the religious
cerem onies of the Rom ans but also those of the whole w orld,
his one w ish being that the god Elagabalus should be w o r
shipped everyw here.08* . . . In fact he asserted th a t all gods
w ere m erely the servants of his god, calling some its
cham berlains, others its slaves, and others its attendants
for divers purposes.700

This religious revolution must have aroused a venom

ous opposition almost everywhere. Even the most indif
ferent could hardly take calmly the fact that a fifteenear-old lad overthrew the most ancient religious tradirions throughout the empire. The fanaticism of the
new ruler was said to have been so great that it soon
sufficed to accuse any important personage of opposi
tion to the new order to bring about his fall and
destruction . 701
Inevitably the orgiastic rites of the Syrian sun cult
shocked even the hard-boiled Roman public. The tauro'o liu m , a rite requiring the neophyte to be sprinkled
* Ibid., 5, 5-7.
* Compare Herodianus, 5. 6. 3.
'' SHA , Elagabalus. 3. 4-5; Cassius Dio. ep. 79 ( 78). 11, 1:
Herodianus. S, 5. 7; compare O. Butler. Studies in the life of
H diogabalus: 75 ff., C un, of Mich. Studies. Human. Series 4.
1, N\ Y Macmillan. 1908.
SHA . Elagabalus, 6. 7; compare Herodianus, S, 5, 8.
SHA , Elagabalus, 7, 4.
;<n Herodianus. 5. 6, 1.

with the blood of a freshly killed bull, was easily misin

terpreted as a rite calling for human sacrifices also,
especially when it was connected with magical practices:
. . . H e kept about him every kind of m agus anti had
them perform daily sacrifices, him self u rg in g them on . . .
and all the w hile he w oukl exam ine ch ild ren 's e n trails [ s i c !]
and to rtu re victim s after the m an n er of his ow n n ativ e
rites.702

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M E F R O M N E R V A TO S E V E R U S A L E X A N D E R
Apparently the moon goddess was transferred from
Carthage to the Palatine shrine of the god Elagabalus,
not to the other temple which the emperor had built in
the suburbs of Rome , 7" 8 a structure which was to sur
vive his reign for a long time to come. 709 Perhaps the
fact that Caelestis (U rania ) was worshipped by many
as the queen of the stars ( AiTTpadpxv) 710 influenced

Naturally astrologers would only be in demand at court

in so far as they professed catarchic astrology, which
would harmonize with the belief that a deity cculd be
influenced by proper rites, prayers, sacrifices, and
magical practices. Thus
w hen he [E lagabalus] w as m aking plans to take up th e
w ar ag a in st the M arcom anni, w hich M arcus A urelius had
fought w ith g reat glory, he w as told by certain persons th a t
it w as by the help of astro lo g ers and m a g i th a t M arcus had
m ade the M arcom anni fo rev er [sic ! ] th e liegem en and
friends of the Rom an people, and th a t it had been done by
m eans of m agic chants ( ca rm in ib u s) and a dedication.703

Among the eyewitnesses of the religious revolution

on behalf of solar monotheism was Cassius Dio. In
dealing with the reign of Elagabalus the historians
natural caution was reenforced by the fact that he
wrote his account in the reign of Elagabalus first
cousin and successor, Severus Alexander, to whom Dio
himself owed the crowning preferments of his political
career : 704
A s for his [E lag ab alu s] violations of precedent, they
w ere of sim ple ch a ra cte r and did us [th e sen ato rs?] no
g re a t harm , save th a t they w ere innovations upon estab
lished usage.705 . . . Closely related to these irre g u larities
w as his conduct in the m a tte r of [th e go d ] E lagabalus. T h e
offence consisted, not in h is introducing a fo reig n god or in
his exalting him in ve ry stra n g e w ays, but in his placing
him even before Jupiter h im self and cau sin g him self to be
voted his priest, and also in circum cising him self an d ab
stain in g from sw ines flesh. . . ,70*

But nothing perhaps did more to discredit the barely

established solar monotheism than the emperors illconsidered attempt to merge with it the moon cult of
Tanit-Caelestis (U rania). For while the blending of
other mystery creeds with that of Elagabalus had left
the solar deity in a position of supreme and uncontested
power, the moon goddess was now to share it by be
coming the wedded wife of Elagabalus, the sun god:
H e [E lag ab alu s] w ent over to the ex trem e ab su rd ity of
co u rtin g a w ife for [th e god] Elagabalus as if th e god
had any need of m a rriag e and c h ild re n ! A nd, as such a
w ife . . . he chose the C arth ag in ian C aelestis (LTr a n ia ),
sum m oned her thence, and established her in the p alace.707
SHA , Elagabalus, 8, 2: see Cassius Dio, ep. 79 ( 78), 11, 1.
70:1 SH A , Elagabalus. 9, 1.
704 Cassius Dio, ep. 80. 5. 1. H e became consul for the second
time, having been governor of Africa, Dalmatia, and iinally
Upper Pannonia; ibid.. 1, 3; 4, 2.
70,1 Ibid., 8, 1.
'"'Ibid.. 11, 1, cf. Herodianus, S, 6. 9.
T" Ibid.. 12, 1.

227

The imperial orders were carried out:

H e collected w edding gifts for h er from all his subjects,
as he had done in the case of his own wives. These presents,
how ever, th a t w ere given d u rin g his own lifetim e were
reclaim ed la te r.71:1

It is hardly surprising that the emperor's grand

mother, Maesa. and his mother, Soaemis. both of whom
were said to have participated regularly in the senatemeetings. 714 and who in any case actually conducted
the affairs of the empire, were deeply concerned over
the unquenchable religious fanaticism of their voung
charge. It was easy enough for them to notice the
growing disaffection of the populace and the praetorian
guards at the antics of a ruler who flew in the face of
every established convention of Roman social conduct.
Nothing had contributed more to the downfall of Nero
and Commodus than their complete disregard for what
Roman society still looked upon as the proprieties
whose observance was expected at least from the em
peror. The public recitals of Nero in theatres and
circuses, the personal participation of Commodus in
gladiatorial combats these affronts to official social
conventions were far surpassed by the orgiastic oriental
rites in which the new apostle of the supreme sun god
indulged in public. These antics were, indeed, enough
to shock anyone, if only a fraction was true of what our
historians recorded.
Finally Maesa decided to act. She persuaded her
seventeen-year-old grandson to adopt as his colleague
in office his first cousin, the son of Mamaea:
T his she effected by soothing his [E lag ab alu s] vanity
and telling him. th a t he should devote him self chiefly to the
service an d w orship of his god and m ind his religious bac
chanalian and o rg iastic cerem onies and the discharge of his
holy office. M undane m atters <ra avOpuiirtia) should be
handled by someone else, who m ig h t take this burden off
his shoulders and m ake his governm ent free and easy.719

Fic. 20. Mamaea. From R. P. Hinks, Greek and Roman

portrait sculpture: 46a.

the emperor's decision to mate the two highest astral

divinities. Nor did he overlook the economic advantages
of this arrangem ent:
H e sent for the 'm age, to g e tlu r w ith all the gold in its
sh rin e.711 saying th at th ; sun a;ul the moon were a very
suitable m atch. A nd a t tne same t'm ; he dem anded im mense
sums of money to Ir; donated a.; a dow ry for the goddess.
W hen the im age had arriv ed he placed it in the same room
w ith his god. com m anding th at a general festival be cele
b rated by the in habitants of Rome and Italy . . . to solemnize
the nuptials of tiro tw o d eities.712
708 Herodianus, 5. 6. 6.
,l SHA . Elagabalus, \7. 8.
710 Herodianus, 5, 6, 6.
711 The emperor claimed that only two golden lions ( which he
promptly melted dow n) had come with the image from C arthage;
Cassius Dio, cp. 80. 12. 2.
712 Herodianus, 5, 0, 5.

The young emperor was won over by this argument:

H e b ro u g h t his cousin . . . before the senate, and having
caused M aesa and S oaem is to take th eir places on either
side of him. form ally adopted him as his son. . . . H e said
th at [th e god] E lagabalus had ordered him to do this and
fu rth er to call his sons nam e A lexander.71*

The emperor Elagabalus himself had been proclaimed

an illegitimate son of the late Caracalla and his first
cousin, Julia Soaemis. Now Mamaea, Julia's sister,
also claimed to have conceived her son. Alexianus
Bassianus. in an adulterous affair with Caracalla. Ujxm
his adoption the boy received the name Severus Alex
ander. His mother, Mamaea, anticipating the disaster
T1 Cassius Dio, ep. 80, 12, 1-2.
The unreliable SH A . Elagabalus, 4, 2; 12, 3, is our only
source for this. For a more circumspect precedent, see Tacitus,
Annals, 13, 5.
711 Herodianus, S, 7, 1-3.
,
n Cassius Dio, ep. 80, 17, 2-3.

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T H E R IS E AND T R IU M P H O F A ST R O L O G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

which the reckless religious revolution, instigated by

Elagabalus, was to bring down upon him, was deter
mined to bring up her own son, Severus Alexander, in
such a way that he would appear not as a Syrian sunpriest ( although he had actually been o n e), but as an
educate:! Graeco-Roman gentleman of traditional tastes
and manners.
Meanwhile, driving relentlessly toward his own doom.

A similar scene was reenacted in a differentand far

less glamorous setting when Robespierre in the spring
of 1794 led the great official procession at the inaugura
tion of the new deity to preside over the first French
republic. The Etre Supreme of Robespierre, however,
proved no more a protector to its founding father
Robespierre than did Elagabalus, the sun god, save
his imperial apostle from the inevitable outcome of his

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FR O M N E R V A T O SE V E R U S A L EX A N D ER
over the city, and then his m other's body w as cast aside
som ew here or other, w hile his was throw n into the riv e r.71*

Thus died the first Syrian, the first sun priest ever
to ascend the Roman throne. And as for Elaga
balus [the god] himself, he was banished from Rome
altogether. 7:0
The catastrophe which had overtaken the religious
revolutionary was followed by the reign of Severus
Alexander (222-235), or rather that of his mother,
Mamaea. Old Maesa died soon after the successful
proclamation of her last surviving grandson , 721 who,
being barely fourteen years old at the time, was of
course in no position to rule the empire himself. But
even the most careful respect paid to earlier traditions
of the principate the address dominus (m aster) was,
for example, tabooed once m ore 722 the fact of an
orientals rule could not be camouflaged. Although the
young emperor received the traditional Graeco- Roman
education of his time, his proficiency in Latin was never
great. Indeed he did not greatly value the power to
speak in Latin. 725 But his mother held him in such
unreasonable subjection that he did whatever she was
pleased to command. 724 Among her least objection
able recommendations was her insistence that the young
emperor should revive the patronage of men of letters
which the rulers of the principate with few exceptions
had always practiced.
Moreover, he often resorted to the Athenaeum [i. e. the
university of Rome] to hear both Greek and Latin rheto
ricians and poets, and he would listen to the orators of the
Forum. . . . And he used to preside at contests. 725
In keeping with this cautious policy of Mamaea the
young ruler was indoctrinated to play down his Syrian
origins:
He did not like to be called a Syrian and asserted that
his ancestors were Romans, and he had his family tree
depicted, showing that he was descended from the .Metelli. 7-*1

F ig . 21. Severus Alexander (222-235). Capitoline Museum,

Rome (detail).

the emperor had completed the great shrine of his god

outside the walls of Rome:
To it the god was carried in procession every year in
the height of summer. Great crowds of spectators assembled
in circuses and theatres with races, plays, and everything
which he believed would delight the people, who were
making merry all night long. He placed the god on a
chariot glittering with gold and precious stones and con
ducted it from the city to the temple outside. He drove the
chariot with six large white horses without any spot what
ever, superbly harnessed with gold and other trappings
reflecting a variety of colors. He held the reins himself.
No mortal was permitted on the chariot. He, the gods
charioteer, walked backwards in front of the chariot, always
keeping his eyes on the god and holding the reins of the
horses. . . . The whole road was strewn with golden sand,
and his guards ran with him and supported him on either
side. . . . And the cavalry and the rest of the army marched
in pomp before and after the chariot. . . , 717
717 Herodianus, 5. 6. 6 ff.

Fig. 22. Elagabalus (218-222) and Severus Alexander (222235). From J. S. Hay, The amazing emperor, facing p. 142,
London, Macmillan, 1911.

revolutionary activities. Belatedly the yoyng sun priest

awoke to the grim reality of his waning power. A half
hearted attempt to destroy his cousin Alexander only
hastened his own downfall. 7111 Rome was not ripe for
solar monotheism, and even had it been, it would not
have accepted it in the orgiastic setting of the Orient.
The praetorian guards took matters into their own
hands:
[E lagabalus] . . . was slain a t the ag e of eighteen. H is
m other, who em braced him and clung tightly to him,
perished w ith h im ; th e ir In-ads w ere cu t off an d th e ir
bodies, after being stripped naked, w ere first d rag g ed all
711 A detailed account is given liy SH A , Elagabalus. 13, 1-16,
4; compare Herodianus. 5, 8, 3-8: Cassius Dio. ep. 83, 19, 1-20, 1.

This fiction fooled, of course, no one, but it charac

terized the attempt at appeasing the anti-eastern senti
ments among the Roman nobility. Nevertheless, when
it came to assuring the personal security of the emperor
and his mother, as well as the control over the imperial
administration, two easterners were given supreme con
sideration. Domitius Ulpianus, a native of Tyre, who
had long been a member of the highest administrative
body of the empire, was promoted to the command of
Tl* Cassius Dio. ep. 80, 20, 2; Herodianus, 5, 8, 8-9; SHA,
Elagabalus, 16. 4-17, 3; 18, 2-3; 23, 2 IT.
Ta0 Cassius Dio. ep. 80. 21. 2; compare Herodianus, 6, 1, 3.
7.1 Herodianus, 6, 1, 4. The beldame was of course deified.
725 SHA , Sez'crus Alexander, 4, 1.
7.1 Ibid., 3. 4.
714 Herodianus, 6, 1, 10, in retrospect on the first decade of
his reign.
73 SH A . Severus Alexander, 35, 2-4.
7! Ibid., 44, 3.

229

the praetorian guards, a post which at first he shared

with two colleagues. Having successfully intrigued
against them, he became after their execution sole com
mander of the guards. Until 228 when they rose against
him and slew him, he was the most important man
within the government. Julius Paulus. another re
nowned jurist of eastern antecedents, was also highly
favored by Mamaea and Alexander . 727
Both jurists, perhaps encouraged by the official direc
tive to reaffirm legal practices of the earlier principate,
summarized, independently of each other, the legal atti
tude of the past concerning astrology and other forms
of divination. Ulpian, in the seventh of ten books de
voted to the proconsular office, laid down what might
be considered as the correct attitude of a proconsular
governor in such matters. Unfortunately his account
survived only in a much later compilation, whose Chris
tian author may well have colored the original text with
his own hostile views on the subject. 728 At any rate,
the extant fragment has a ring of definite enmity to
divination as such, a mood hardly consonant with the
setting and the reading public for which Ulpian wrote.
H e did insist that the theoretical study of astrology in
all its aspects had never been outlawed. Only its appli
cation to certain topics was forbidden. Transgressions
of this ban were to be punished according to their
gravity. The fact that Ulpians colleague, Paulus, in
his S e n t en title,7 addressed to his son and meant to be
a practical handbook for daily use, presented an almost
identical picture of the legal treatment given violators
of the Augustan curbs of a . d . 11, makes it highly proba
ble that both jurists wrote these passages in the atmo
sphere of stressed conservation, characteristic of the
reign of Severus Alexander.
The ideal after which Mamaea tried to pattern her
son seems to have been Hadrian. Lacking that Span
iards military and administrative training, Severus
Alexander was at least being groomed to rival H adrians
versatility in the realm of cultural accomplishments.
Apart from the usual rhetorical schooling the young
ruler
was a student of geometry, he painted marvellously, and he
sang with distinction. , . . He composed in verse the lives
of the good emperors. He could plav the lyre, the clarinet
and the organ, and he could even blow the trumpet. . . .73
Although this account strained the Iwunds of credi
bility, it indicated that, contrary to the habits of Nero
and the late Elagabalus, the emperor never performed
in public, thus avoiding the scandal which had contriIbid., 26, 5-6; 27, 2 ; 68, 1; see also 15, 6 ; 31, 2-3 ; 51, 4;
67, 2 ; Cassius Dio, ep. 80, 1, 1; 2, 2-4; 4, 2; cf. in general
Herodianus, 6, 1, 1-4.
Legttm Mos. et Rom. collatio, 15, 2, 1 ff.
7,0 Sentential S, 21, 1 and 5; for a detailed discussion of these
texts, see F. H . Cramer, The Caesars and the stars (2 ), Seminar
10. 1952 : 50 ff.
30 SH A , Severus Alexander, 27, 7-10.

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T H E R IS E A ND T R IU M P H O F A STR O LO G Y IN T H E L A T IN W O R LD

bitted so much to the ruin of his predecessors. As to

the role of divination in his life, Severus Alexander
possessed of course the usual stack of felicitous pre
dictions of g ran d eu r:
. . . On the day of his birth [O ct. 1, 208] a star of the
first m agnitude was visible for the entire day at A rea
C aesarea, and also that in the neighborhood of his fath er's
house [the fath er had been born in that city also] the sun
w as circled w ith a gleam ing ring. A nd the soothsayers,
w hen they com m ended his birthday [said to have been the
ann iv ersary of the death of A lexander the G r e a t731] to the
gods, declared th at he would some day hold the im perial
pow er.735

His very upbringing in the shrine of the sun god

Elagabalus was of course conducive to arousing the
boys interest in divination, but it was channeled by
Mamaea towards the traditional divinatory disciplines
of the earlier principate:
H e was also well versed in haruspical techniques ( harxispiciiiae), and so skilled an observer of birds (orneoscopos)
w as he th at he surpassed both the S panish V ascones and
the au g urs of the P annonians.733

It may be noted that both disciplines, that of the haru

spices and that of the augurs, while by no means con
fined to Rome, were nevertheless the two oldest officially
recognized divinatory techniques of the Roman republic.
As to astrology it too had been held in high esteem by
the emperors of the principate:
[S everus A lex an der] w as expert in astrology (matheseos
peritus), and so g re a t a supporter of it that on his ord ers
astro lo g ers ( mathematici) set themselves up officially (publice proposuerint) in Rome and proclaim ed that they w ould
teach th eir a r t.73*

Apparently the astrologers were now recognized as one

of the official guild of diviners, and perhaps also en
dowed with the tax privileges enjoyed by professors of
the liberal arts.
In pursuit of his encouragement of higher education
Severus Alexander again followed in the footsteps of
H adrian :
T o rhetoricians, gram m arians, physicians, haruspices, a s
trolo g ers ( mathematicis), engineers (mechanicis) , and
arch itects he paid reg u lar salaries and assigned lecture
room s to them, and he ordered that [th e ir] students should
be supplied w ith ratio n s ( annonis), if they w ere the sons
of poor men, b u t free-born.733

This famous passage has usually, and probably rightly,

been interpreted to refer to a substantial reorganization
of the university of Rome, the Athenaeum, founded
about a century earlier by Hadrian. Omitting the lawschool, which in any case was probably only loosely
731 Ibid.,
731 Ibid..
733 Ibid..
754 Ibid.,
730 Ibid.,

13, 1, but Alexander the Great had died in June!

13, 5-o.
27. 6.
27. 5.
44, 4.

connected with the regular university, Severus Alex

ander apparently reaffirmed and probably enlarged the
imperial endowment for the traditional disciplines, i. e.
rhetoric, grammar, and medicine, whose teachers Roman
rulers since the days of Vespasian had favored with
special privileges. As for the other disciplines referred
to in the above passage, their character would indicate
the addition of an Institute of Technology to the
Athenaeum. If that were true, this recognition of the
importance of technical skills such as engineering and
architecture would constitute a unique and, alas, short
lived attempt to raise technology to a level comparable
with that of other branches of higher learning.
The inclusion of divinatory disciplines, especially
those of haruspices and astrologers, may, indeed, seem
strange to modem minds. Yet, especially in the case
of astrology, no m ajor scientist of the principate ap
parently questioned its validity, and the Tetrabiblos
of Ptolemy had lent it the supreme seal of scientific
approval. W ith its inclusion among the officially recog
nized divinatory techniques and its probable elevation
to the rank of a legitimate subject of instruction at the
Athenaeum, astrology had reached the summit of its
career in Roman intellectual history. Its future was
precarious. The early death of Severus Alexander, its
last enthusiastic imperial patron, accelerated the decline
of this most rationalistic divinatory discipline. N or were
predictions of the brevity of the reign of Severus Alex
ander lacking. Even at the time of his birth
haruspices prophesied th a t he would indeed be em p ero r, b u t
not for long, and th a t he would early [in life] succeed to
the im perial pow er.738

It was a tragic irony of sorts that even in coming true

the astrological prediction of the manner of his death
deceived him cruelly. An expedition against the Parthians which he undertook in 231 or 232 proved a com
plete failure. His lack of leadership and military training
became manifest to the army. The Parthians felt unable
to pursue their hard won victory, but the emperor must
have returned to Rome with a heavy heart. Already
news was reaching him of grave perils along the entire
northern frontier of the empire from the Rhine provinces
to Illyricum. The Germans were on the march. In
this supreme crisis of his life Severus Alexander turned
again to the sta rs:
W hen T hrasybulus the astrologer, w ith w hom he w as on
the m ost friendly term s, told him th a t it w as his destiny
to fall by the sw ord of a barb arian , he first ex p ressed his
joy, thinking that he was fated to die in battle in a m an n er
w orthy of an em peror. . . . But the resu lt deceived his
h o p es; for he did, indeed, fall by the sw ord of a b arb arian ,
and by the hand of a b arb arian g u ard [of his own arm y ],
but it w as not in battle, though d u rin g a course of the
w ar.737
73* Ibid., 13, 1.
737 Ibid., 62, 2-4.

A STR O LO G Y IN R O M E FRO M N E R V A T O SE V E R U S A L EX A N D ER
H is mother shared his fate. The epitaph which the
sober historian Herodianus wrote for him was in a
higher sense that of the entire principate:
H e had reigned . . . w ithout blood. . . . F o r he was
u tterly a b h o rren t of m u rd er, cruelty, and all illegal acts,
and alw ays inclined to hum anity, and doing kind acts.738

Examples to the contrary notwithstanding the reigns

of a Caligula, Nero, Domitian. Caracalla clearly were
exceptions to the general patternnever before or after
has the M editerranean world experienced a similar
quarter millennium of such general prosperity and bliss.
The stagnation and decay that soon became manifest
in the revolution which in the third century destroyed
the very foundations of Graeco-Roman civilization had
of course deep roots in the society of the principate.
Yet if one were to seek a metaphysical reason for the
fading of the glory and the prosperity of the Roman
principate, one might point to its supreme emphasis on
73 Herodianus, 6, 9, 8.

231

reason, reasonableness, and anti-emotionalism. It is

always dangerous to forget that man does not live by
bread alone. The great rationalists on the Roman
throne from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius failed to
realize that any overwhelmingly rationalist order is the
equivalent of stagnation, decline, and death. Fatalist
astrology, providing what was accepted as a rational,
scientific method of knowing the future, answered a deep
need of the rulers of the principate. It was to them the
embodiment of supreme cosmic order, the rational ap
plication of the laws of nature to the decrees of an
immutable Fate. The collapse of the premature mono
theistic revolution of Elagabalus did not at all mean that
the tide of religious emotionalism had been stemmed.
But how this irrational force finally triumphed, destroy
ing in its path the rationalist structure of scientific
astrology, will be told later . 739
In F. H. Cramers forthcoming Astrology in Roman law
and politics, from Diocletian to Justinian I.

P A R T II
A STR O LO G Y IN ROM AN LAW U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

PREFA CE
The preceding section has been devoted to the rise
and triumph of astrology in the Roman world. Its influ
ence on Roman intellectuals in republican days, as well
as its hold on the Roman rulers of the principate have
been discussed at some length. Only tangentially, how
ever, was the treatment touched upon which astrologers
and their craft received at the hands of Roman law.
The law rarely anticipates developments. It usually
takes only cognizance of long existing trends which it
freezes into the perpetuity, or at least longevity com
mon to legal institutions. The growing influence of
astrology upon Roman society was, therefore, reflected
in Roman Law only slowly and relatively late. Three
phases of this development can be traced, the one be
longing to the republican era and the early principate,
the second peculiar to the principate only. The third
to be dealt with elsewhere 1 ended with the total ban
of all divination, including of course astrology.
At first expulsion decrees were used against astrolo
gers. From 139 b . c . to (at the very latest) a . d . 175-76
measures of this kind were resorted to by republican
and imperial authorities. They were meant as tempo
rary measures to cope with momentary problems. Once
these had been met, expulsion decrees were no longer
enforced. The area affected by such legal lightning was
always Rome and Italy also. Beginning in a . d . 1 1 a
second type of legal restriction of astrological activities
began with an edict of Augustus, outlawing consulta
tions a deux and curbing the scope of topics on which
astrologers were free to speak and clients allowed to
consult them. From the very first these Augustan
restrictions were empire wide.
The Augustan edict of a . d . 11 became the permanent
basis of Roman Law on the subject. Its interpretation
in Roman courts reflected the general faith in astrology.
Political predictions of astrologers were likely to be
taken at face value by the government as well as by
politically ambitious clients of astrologers. Hence in
quiries about one's own political future or about the
well being (de salute) of the ruler and his house since
the middle of the first century constituted prima-facie
evidence of treason. On a lesser level, inquiries about
anyone's death alicni interitus, as a fourth century
writer called it which had been forbidden by the

Augustan edict of 11, also remained punishable. But

little or no evidence of the application of the law in
such cases has come down to us. Two classes of
defendants would appear in court: ( 1 ) the guilty as
trologer, (2) their guilty clients. The clients of whom
we hear were usually important people. T heir trials
were recorded. W hat happened to the equally guilty
astrologers in such cases can for the most part only be
surmised. A few trials of astrologers for forbidden
activities have, however, also been transmitted.
The legal practice in such cases remained, like the
law itself, unchanged from the middle of the first to the
end of the fourth century of our era. From there on
astrology was caught in the web enmeshing all kinds of
divination. Lumped together with haruspicial, augurial,
and other divinatory techniques, which were closely
fconnected with pagan religious rites, astrology was
labeled as a pagan craft and hence wholly forbidden
also. Fatalistic astrology in particular became the chief
object of Christian attacks, because fatalism to ortho
dox Jews and Christians alike was incompatible with
the axiomatic omnipotence of God. The large number
of state trials of the later fourth century, which involved
charges of magic and forbidden divination, reflected the
transition from the merely restrictive attitude of earlier
Roman Law to the total ban of astrology and all other
forms of divination. Driven underground by a barrage
of laws, many of which were included in the Theodosian
and the Justinian codes, astrology vanished in the Latin
west with the collapse of the western empire in the fifth
century. In the Greek east, on the other hand, a sur
prisingly rich, though chiefly compilatory astrological
literary activity flourished from the fourth intp the sixth
century. Of it Roman Law took less and >Ie&s cogni
zance, leaving the final battle against astrology to the
Christian councils in whose canons the fight against all
and every astrological theory and practice continued.
The nostalgic groan with which the learned Christian
Cassiodorus in the sixth century refrained from includ
ing a passage on astrology in his essay on the liberal
arts was symptomatic for the way in which Christian
scholars began to bow to the dictate of the church. The
prohibitions preserved in the Justinian Code expressed
the final attitude of Roman Law towards astrology.
1 In the forthcoming study of Astrology in Roman lazv and They were to dominate European legal theory and
practice in this matter for a thousand years to come.
politics from Dioclctian to Justinian I.
232

V. E X P U L S IO N O F A STR O LO G ER S F R O M R O M E AND ITALY

1. IN T R O D U C T IO N 1

The outlawing of astrological activities within a speci

fied area began towards the end of the republican era.
The ban applied to Rome and Italy, the center of the
empire. W ith the end of the principate (third century
a . d .)
Italy's political importance diminished steadily.
Expulsion decrees, therefore, no longer served their
earlier purpose and were discontinued. The last time
such a measure was invoked may have been in the reign
of Marcus Aurelius (a .d . 161-180). Astrologers were
a favorite, but by no means the only target of these
legal arrows. Sorcerers, philosophers, and at times all
non-official diviners, as well as certain religious groups
like the Jews also were expelled from Rome and Italy
a number of times. The legal basis for such acts was
the governments power to curb undesirable elements,
sometimes found amongst the devotees of certain cults
imported from the Orient. On other occasions the
social agitation and the inflammatory influence of nonRomans in the capital would evoke official lightning.
Against astrologers the Roman republic used its
mailed fist only once (139 B.C.). Between the death
of Julius Caesar (44 b . c . ) , however, and that of Marcus
Aurelius ( a . d . 180) no fewer than eight, and possibly
thirteen such instances were recorded. This frequency
of expulsion measures m irrored the importance which
the Roman government ascribed to divinatory activities.
The waning importance of Italy as a political center
forced the rulers of the third and fourth centuries to
reconsider the legal methods employed to curb astrolo
gers. T he logical substitute for a regional ban became
an empire-wide one. W ith the exception of Diocletian 2
( a . d . 284-305), however, no pagan emperor seems to
have gone that far. The Christian rulers of the fourth
and fifth centuries finally outlawed the entire practice
of astrology permanently throughout the empire . 3 Their
motives, indeed, were religious, not political ones and
differed sharply in this respect from those which had
inspired the expulsion decrees of the Roman republic
and the principate.
The character and purpose of expulsion decrees
against astrologers were misunderstood as early as the
first century a . d . The acid comment of Tacitus that
such decrees though numerous had never been success
fully enforced 4 has frequently been repeated by modem
1 Except for minor changes this chapter is based oil my article
Expulsion of astrologers from ancient Rome. Classica ct Mcdiacvalia (ed. F. B latt), 12. 1-2, 1951: 9-50.
" C. /. 9, 18, 2, of uncertain date, perhaps from the year 296.
3 Compare C. 77i. 9, 16, 4 ; 6; 8; 12; C .I. 1, 4, 10; 9, 18, 5:
7; 8.
Tacitus, Histories 1, 22: compare Annals 12, 52.

critics. Two arguments were mainly advanced ; ( 1 ) the

apparent ineffectiveness of a measure which had to be
redecreed time and again, ( 2 ) the seeming hypocrisy
of an imperial government which forbade the practice
of astrology in Rome and Italy, while continuing to
consult astrologers in its own right. 5 This reasoning
was based on false premises. Even the keen eye of
Tacitus failed or refused to see that such decrees were
meant to be emergency measures only. Republican
and imperial authorities were not so fatuous as to believe
that sweeping orders of this kind would forever end
the practice of astrology in Rome and Italy. In effect
the ban was merely an official announcement that for the
time being such activities were considered undesirable
and therefore forbidden. Occasionally this intent was
made quite clear by the granting of permission to as
trologers to stay in Rome, if they pledged themselves
to refrain from practicing their art."
The charge of imperial hypocrisy was equally un
founded. Throughout the principate astrology was
considered as the most nearly infallible method of divi
nation. Any emperor, therefore, would feel duty bound
to avail himself of this art in order to discover future
dangers to the empire (and of course to himself).
Especially in times of unrest or crisis therefore would
he be eager to consult the stars that he might steer the
ship of state wisely through the troubled waters. To
pacify excited minds by withholding from them the
stimulant of astrological promises, while, on the other
hand, retaining for himself the counsel of his courtastrologers, could thus not seem inconsistent or hypo
critical to any ruler of the principate. Nor should it be
forgotten that at least since the Augustan edict of
a . d . 1 1 r permanent restrictions of a technical and
topical nature were steadily in force. Imperial expul
sion decrees had, therefore, merely the function of add
ing temporarily, i. e. in times of unrest in Rome and
Italy, to those curbs a total ban of all astrological
practice in the political heart of the empire.
The source materials for the tracing of such measures
are far from satisfactory. The earliest expulsion order
on record survives, for example, through a single author :
Valerius Maximus. Our knowledge of the next decree,
dating from the year 33 b . c., apparently also is due to
" This was done for example by Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius,
Vespasian, and Domitian. each of whom issued at least one
expulsion decree, or had it proclaimed by a pliant aediie or
senate.
" Suetonius, Tiberius, 36. in connection with the SC of a . d . 16;
compare Cassius Dio, 57, 15, 8-9.
T Cassius Dio, 56, 25, 5. The edict forbade consultations d deux
and prohibited inquiries about the death of any person.

234

ASTR O LO G Y IN R O M A N L A W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

the work of one author only: Cassius Dio. Moreover,

he is the earliest historian to have transmitted Ves
pasians expulsion edict of a . d . 70. H e and Cornelius
Tacitus in turn are the only extant authorities to record
the b a n which Claudius in a . d . 52 imposed on the prac
tice of astrology in Rome and Italy. An unknown author
is our sole source ascribing such a measure to the reign
of Nero ( a . d . 54-68). Jerome, writing in the fourth
century a . d .. is our earliest source of information for
Domitians expulsion order of 89-90. Tertullian in
conjunction with Ulpian finally provided what tenta
tive knowledge we possess of such a measure directed

E X P U L S IO N O F A S TR O LO G ER S FR O M R O M E A ND ITA L Y

which four applied to them alone. The other seven

included other groups also. Of the three remaining
ones, one applied to public teachers of philosophy, one
to sorcerers alone, one to philosophers only. Four dif
ferent forms were used : (1) In the republican e r a : the
praetorian edict and the aediles ordinance. (2 ) During
the principate: Senatus consulta and imperial edicts.
The earliest known use of the Senatus consultum for the
expulsion of astrologers from Rome and Italy occurred
in a . D. 16., the last in a . d . 52. From Nero to Marcus
Aurelius imperial edicts were employed for this purpose.

TA BLE 4
Date
B.

Author

Area of ban

Groups affected

c.

i)
H)

Form

139
33

p r a e t.
e d ic t

p r a e to r
p e r e g r in u s

aediles
ordinance

a e d ile

Agrippa

astrologers

u n rest

Rome, Italy

a str o lo g e r s ,
sorcerers

u n rest

Rome

A . D.

iii)

Sept 16

se n a tu s

T ib e r iu s

consultum
iv)

16

v)

52

vi)

66?

vii)

68?

viii)
ix)
x)
xi)
x ii)

xiii)
xiv)

69
69?
70
71
89?
93
175?

Claudius
imp. edict

N ero?

ii

ii

..
M

Vitellius

?
Vespasian

Domitian
ti

M. Aurelius

against astrologers and soothsayers in the reign of

Marcus Aurelius. The only decrees of this kind on
which there is ample information are the senatus con
sulta of a . d . 16 which are referred to by Tacitus, Sue
tonius, Cassius Dio, and Ulpian. Nevertheless, it is
possible to trace the historical evolution of this legal
weapon against astrologers residing in Rome or Italy.
Table 4 offers a chronological list of both certain and
uncertain expulsion decrees directed in republican times
and during the principate against astrologers, philoso
phers and other non-religious groups.
Of these fourteen expulsion orders none applied to a
province. The authenticity of nine of these is beyond
question, while that of the remaining five is more or less
ioubtfui. Eleven were directed against astrologers, of

astrologers, sor
cerers, all other
diviners

astrologers
public teachers
of philosophy
astrologers,
sorcerers
astrologers
sorcerers
astrologers
philosophers
astrologers,
philosophers

astrologers,
seers?

2.

Libos plot
inadequacy
of previous
SC
Scribonianus
plot
Pisos plot
rebellion of
Vindex, Galba
unrest
unrest
unrest
political
opposition
rebellion
unrest
rebellion
of Avidius
Cassius ?

Rome, Italy
Rome, Italy
(Rome?) Italy

Rome (Italy ?)
(R om e?) Italy
Rome, Italy
Rome, Italy
Rome (Italy ?)
Rome (Italy ?)
Rome (Italy ?)
Rome, Italy
Rome ? Italy ?

R E P U B L IC A N F O R M S : E X P U L S IO N BY P R A E
T O R IA N E D IC T A N D C ITY O R D IN A N C E
(i)

T H E PR A E T O R IA N ED IC T OF

139

B. C.

By the middle of the second century b . c . a social

crisis was at hand in Rome and Italy. The rising dis
content of the ever growing mass of citizen proletarians
in Rome, the smoldering hatred of tens of thousands of
eastern slaves, recently transported to Italy and Sicily,
against their new masters were manifest. By 140
Roman authorities became fearful of open r e v o l u t i o n a r y
outbreaks. The solid and stable structure of the old
republic seemed to totter, to be in danger of imminent
collapse. The ancient religious institutions, in whose
binding power a wide horizoned historian like Polybius

had seen the chief reason for the amazing stability of

the Roman state , 8 ceased to cast their traditional spell.
Too many new cults had come from the east to compete
with the old state religion. Too many Roman citizens
had begun to find the mysteries of those oriental gods
and goddesses more attractive than the solid, homespun
Roman divinities of their fathers. Following in the
footsteps of Bacchus and Isis. Jehovah and his meta
morphosis. Jupiter Sabazios, had also successfully in
vaded the capital in the second century b . c . In the
twilight region between religion and science hovered
the wise men from the east, the astrologers.
The wording of the praetorian edict of 139 b . c .
which banned astrologers from Rome and Italy has not
been transmitted. W ith Livy's account of this period
surviving only in an epitome. 10 our single main source
for the edicts content is Valerius Maximus who wrote
in the reign of Tiberius ( a . d . 14-37). There are two
different manuscript traditions. The passage itself is
contained in book I (de religione), chapter iii (de superstitionibus), 3. The two main stems read as follows:

235

The more detailed older version undoubtedly is the

superior one. I t names not only the consuls of the year,
thereby dating the edict, but also furnishes the complete
name and title of the issuing authority. It furthermore
explains in what was to become the standard legal
phrase for measures of this kind that the ban covered
Rome, as well as Italy in general. Finally it lists two
main abuses as the reasons evoking the expulsion o rd er:
( 1 ) the fallaciousness of astrology as a means of divi
nation, and ( 2 ) the financial exploitation of gullible
people by the unscrupulous practitioners of this pseudo
science. The legal phrase quoted by Valerius Maximus
wasperhaps intentionally reiterated in a similar pas
sage in which two hundred years later Ulpian spoke of
the ingenious fraud of the astrologers which through
belief in it becomes more brazen. 13 Actually, hovv-

ever, the tense political atmosphere pervading Rome

after the forced withdrawal of Laelius' land reform bill
of 140 b . c . seems to have been the primary motive for
expelling inflammatory elements from Rome in 139, the
very years in which the government found it necessary
to ban secret gatherings altogether.
In contrast with the detailed account of the tenthcenturv manuscript the fourteenth-centurv version re
tained merely the ten day period after which the ban
went into effect, mentioned its limitation to Italy, named
the man who issued it, and gave as the sole motive for
it the selling of foreign learning (peregrinam scientiam). Perhaps the later scribe toned down the older
version intentionally; he lived in an age in which, after
an eclipse of many centuries, astrology staged a re
markable comeback throughout western E urope: In the
fourteenth century again few learned men (outside the
church, of course) considered the interpretation of
the stars as fallible, or an ardent belief in the truth of
astrology as a sign of an unstable mind. The old ver
sion of the praetorian outburst therefore may have
jarred the feelings of the copying renaissance scribe.
On the other hand, many of his contemporaries also
complained (as the praetor Hispalus had done) about
the cheapening of this lofty science through lucra
tive commercial exploitation on the part of charlatans.
In condensing the whole passage our scribe would thus
not hesitate to preserve at least that part of the original
version which gave as one of the chief reasons for their
expulsion the mercenary greed of such unscrupulous
exploiters of human credulity.1*
The importance of the edict of 139 b . c . lay in its
being the precedent for the future use of this legal
weapon against astrologers, applied over and over again
in subsequent times of crisis. The very form of the
ban, a praetorian edict, showed, however, the temporary
character of the measure. For unless specifically re
newed the validity of a praetorians edict was termi
nated at the end of the year in which expired the tenure
of the praetor who had issued it. There is no evidence
to show that a later praetor peregrinus 15 issued an ex
pulsion edict against astrologers. One must therefore
assume that it lapsed quietly on December 31, 139. The
governments hope that it would contribute to the social
and political pacification of Rome and Italy did not
materialize. The deep rooted unrest continued with
growing intensity. Six years later the streets of Rome
ran red with the blood of Tiberius Gracchus and his
radical followers both Roman and Greek.

8 Polybius, esp. 6, 2 ff.: 14 f .: 9. 9, 6 ff. and elsewhere.

* See F. Cumont. A propos de Sabazios et du judaisme, Musee
Beige, 14, 1910: 55-60: compare above, p. 58.
Found in Pap. Oxyrlt., ed. Grenfell and Hunt. 4 : 101.
11 W e happen to have his epitaph of about 135 B. c., published
for example in Remains oj Old Latin (Loeb Classics), 4 : 9{.
18 Ed. C. K em pf: 17. 5 ff.; 16, 24 ff.; Teubner, Leipzig, 1888.
13 Ulpian, de officio proconsulis 7, as transmitted in Le.x dei

stve Mosaicarum ct Romanarum legum collatia, 15, 2. 1; compare

F. H. Cramer. The Caesars and the stars (2), Seminar 10,
1952 : 49 ff.
14 Porcius Latro, declam, in Cattlinam, 19.
15 Compare Gaius, 1, 6; Th. Mommsen (Roemischci Staatsrecht, ed. 1874, 2, 1: 201, n. 2) rightly stressed the tjct that the
great jurists of the principate had buried in oblivion the edict
of the praetor peregrinus as such.

( 1 ) cod. P ar. V at. (te n th cen tu ry )

Cn. C ornelius H isp alu s,11 praetor peregrinus, in the con
sulate of M. Popilius L aen as an d L. C alpurnius, o rd ered the
C haldaeans in an edict to leave the city and Ita ly w ithin
ten days, because th ro u g h th eir lies by m eans of fallacious
in terp reta tio n of the sta rs they w ere fom enting in instable
and shallow m inds a n a rd o r from w hich they themselves
profited financially.12
( 2 ) cod. N ep . (fo u rte e n th ce n tu ry )
C ornelius th erefo re expelled the C haldaeans an d ordered
them to leave Ita ly w ith in ten days, so th at they w ould not
offer fo r sale fo reig n w isdom .15

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M AN LA W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

236
(ii)

THE

C ITY O R D IN A N C E OF

33

B .C .

Precisely a century elapsed between the death of

Tiberius Gracchus (133 B . C . ) and the next recorded
ban of astrologers from the capital. In these ten decades
the Roman aristocracy, once overwhelmingly opposed
to astrological teachings. 10 was gradually converted to
the belief in this scientific mode of divination. The
generation of Cicero l b. 106 b . c . ) and Julius Caesar
f'b. 1 0 2 ? H. i .) had produced the first aristocratic
Roman practitioners of astrology, among whom Nigidius Figulus (b. 98 ? b . c . ) was the most renowned . 17
Roman disciples of Epicurus like Lucretius (d. 55 (?)
b . c . ) and followers of Cameades scepticism like Cicero
might still belittle fatalistic astrology and attack its
axioms, but the great majority of Roman humanists,
as well as Romes political leaders had come to accept,
albeit with some mental reservations, this most rational
method of divination. Consuls like Octavius (d. 87
b . c . ) , 18 dictators like Sulla (d. 78 b . c . ) , 19 triumvirs
like Crassus (d. 53 b . c . ) , Pompey (d. 47 B . C . ) . and
Julius Caesar (d. 44 b . c . ) 20 listened to astrological
predictions with varying degrees of belief. The time
was past, therefore, when governmental curbs of astrolo
gers breathed contempt of this science as such. In
that respect the edict of 139 b . c . remained unique. On
the other hand, the argument that astrological promises
of success might encourage subversive elements, had
become all the more valid during the decades of fero
cious civil strife from the days of Marius to those of
Octavianus (90-30 B . C . ) . W ith the advent of mon
archic government another motive was added: to keep
in times of tension from political opponents that very
information about the future which the rulers them
selves considered reliable. 11
In the year 33 b . c . the political atmosphere in Rome
seemed again tense enough to call for another expulsion
of dangerous diviners. Then, as in 139 b . c ., the bulk
of astrologers apparently still consisted of foreigners,
whose banishment naturally presented far fewer legal
obstacles than that of Roman citizens for whom formal
and individual trials would have to be staged. This
fact in itself must have made general expulsion decrees
eventually obsolete. By a . d . 212, when almost all free
inhabitants of the empire were citizens, it had lost all
usefulness and was never reemployed. The immediate
reason for its proclamation in 33 b . c . was the approach** This was largely due to the influence of the sceptics of the
New Academy, but also to that of the Stoic Panaetius whose
opposition to fatalistic astrology impressed the Roman humanists,
and especially the Scipionic circle in the middle of the second
century b . c .
17 See W. Kroil, R E 17, 1, 1936: c. 200-212.
** Plutarch, Marius, 42. .
l* Plutarch, Sulla, 5, 5-6; 37, 1.
Cicero, de divinatione 2, 47, 99.
31 F or Augustus' faith in the accuracy of his own horoscope,
see Cassius Dio. 56, 25, 5.

ing showdown between Octavianus, Caesar's heir and

adopted son, who held Rome, Italy, and the W est, and
M ark Antony, who had inherited Cleopatra and the
East. There could be no question that Mark Antony
still had many friends in Rome. People must have
remembered his famous funeral oration in honor of
Julius Caesar and his successful destruction of B rutus
and Cassius armies at Philippi (42 b . c . ) . Since then
Antony had become the champion of the Greek east,
and what this had cost him in Roman friends was un
doubtedly made up for by increased support from orien
tals in Rome. Among these, astrologers and soothsayers
must have been for Antony almost to a man. W ith the
impending outbreak of hostilities between east and west
control of the volatile populace of Rome became of
course particularly important. Octavian, himself a firm
believer in astrology throughout his long life, 22 there
fore. decided to make his most trusted friend, M. Vipsanius Agrippa, an aedile for this crucial year. The
appointment of Agrippa ( who fully shared Octa
vianus faith in astrology ) 23 to the aedileship was all
the more extraordinary, since he was only thirty years
old at the time, the legal minimum age for this office
being thirty-three. Furthermore, in the turbulent years
after Julius Caesar's death he had already held the post
of praetor for which a previous aedileship was a tradi
tional prerequisite. In asking Agrippa, the ex-praetor,
to accept the inferior position of aedile, Octavianus
demonstrated his conviction of the supreme political
importance of that office in the stormy year 3 3 . 24
The new aedile did what was expected of him. He
went out of his way to court the good will of the popu
lace in various ways, some of the aediles transcending
even the liberality which the Romans were traditionally
expecting from them. Besides providing free distribu
tion of such essentials as salt and olive oil to all, he also
opened the public baths free of charge to men and
women. But this was not all. Apart from panem (or
its equivalent) Agrippa did not hesitate to offer the
people circenses of extraordinary impressiveness:
Young sons of senators performed in public an oldtime exhibition of equestrian skill, (he so-called T rojan
game . 25 Agrippa also
*
hired the barbers, so that no one should be at any expense
for their services. Finally he rained upon the heads of the
people in the theatre tickets that were good for money in
one case, for clothes in another, and again for something
else, and he set out immense quantities of various wares for
all comers and allowed the people to scramble for these
things. - 6

E X P U L S IO N O F A STR O LO G ER S FRO M R O M E AND ITALY

Meanwhile, Octavianus appeased the followers of the
late Pompeian party by formally condoning what were
piously called past acts of piracy, and flattered the
upper bourgeoisie by obtaining senatorial consent to the
appointment of new senators from non-patrician ranks . 27
Agrippa now was ready to use the whip against nonRomans. H e drove the astrologers and sorcerers
from the city. 28 This is the sole extant mention of
the second expulsion measure against astrologers. In
contrast to the praetorian edict of 139 it was limited to
the citv of Rome !>v the very fact that an aediles decrees
were only valid within the capital. Astrologers could,
and certainly did, continue to practice their profession
outside the city limits. From this one can safely con
clude that Octavianus was satisfied with the local char
acter of the ordinance, i. e. the measure was to affect
chiefly the lower classes of Rome. For had he meant
to circumscribe the opportunities of Romes upper class
for astrological consultations, he could hardly have con
fined the ban to Rome alone. Moreover, the passage
recording the expulsion ordinance is inserted by Cas
sius Dio into a lengthy account of Octavianus and
Agrippas attempts to win friends and influence people
in their favor. Apparently the eastern sorcerers and
astrologers not only remained cold to the official propa
ganda, but continued among high and low to whip up
support for Antony and Cleopatra and were therefore
expelled from the capital.
W hat penalties were imposed upon those who refused
to heed the ban, either in 139 b . c . or in 33 B. c., we do
not know. One may surmise that forcible deportation
and confiscation of the offenders property were the lot
of those who stayed on and were caught at their old
occupation. The short term character of the ordinance
it ended automatically with the end of Agrippas
aedileship was in keeping with the precedent of 139
b . c. A t that time a praetorian edict had been the legal
form of the ban. I t too had expired automatically at
the end of that year. Similarly, we know of no subse
quent city ordinance (after Agrippas) which expelled
astrologers from Rome. The two measures of this kind
recorded for the republican era therefore clearly indi
cated the governments intention of banning astrologers
only locally and temporarily, i. e. in times of special
political and social tension in the capital and Italy.
Apparently the ordinance of 33 b . c . served its purpose
in Rome. F or it was allowed to lapse quietly.
3.

IM P E R IA L M E T H O D S (A .D . 16-52):

E X P U L S IO N BY S E N A T U S C O N S U L T A
31 Compare above, p. 83.
23 Cf. Suetonius, Augustus, 94, 12.
51 On the mounting tension at the time, see Cassius Dio, 50,
1, 1.
25 [bid. 49, 43, 3. On Agrippa's aedileship compare F. A.
W right, Agrippa, ch. i i : 78 ff.; 100 f., I.ondon, 1937.
Cassius Dio, 49, 43, 4.

Almost half a century elapsed before another expul

sion order was issued. Augustus, instead of reinvoking
the ban of astrology in Rome in Italy, had preferred to
" Ib id ., 43, 5; compare Suetonius, Augustus, 35.
11 Cassius Dio, loc. cit.

237

impose in a . d . 1 1 his empire wide technical and topical

restrictions of astrological practice. His successor,
Tiberius, however, found this edict inadequate when he
was confronted with the conspiracy of Libo Drusus in
a . d . 16 and decided to prohibit specifically the practice
of astrology in Rome and Italy. For this purpose a
different legal weapon was used: the sen a tu s consultum .
That the senate in republican times had wielded this
instrument for similar purposes 20 furnished the prece
dent for its application to astrologers. Two such meas
ures were voted in a . d . 16. and another one in the reign
of Claudius ( a . d . 52). In each instance an acute
political crisis in Rome was the cause. The reason for
preferring seu a tu s con su lta to praetorian edicts or
aedile's ordinances can only be surmised. Perhaps the
imperial desire to permit the senate to play as much of
a legislative role as possible under the constitution of
the principate accounted for this change in a . d . 16. and
Claudius in 52 merely followed the precedent set by
Tiberius in this matter.
(iii, iv).

th e

sen a tu s

co n su lta

of

d.

16

The very first years of Tiberius reign proved only

too clearly that the Augustan edict of a . d . 11 did not
prevent ambitious men from consulting astrologers on
forbidden topics. In a . d . 16 the conspiracy of Libo
Drusus :;o convinced Tiberius of the acute need for re
sorting once more to the expulsion technique of the
past although in a different legal guise. Himself a con
firmed believer in astrology and an active practitioner
of this art, he realized only too well the stirring effect
which astrological promises of inevitable success
would have on political malcontents. As soon, there
fore, as the luckless Libo had breathed his last, the
Fathers in September or early October a . d . 16 voted
an expulsion decree. W hen this seemed still too mild,
a second and much harsher senatus consultum was
quickly passed. It has recently been proven convinc
ingly that this second senatus consultum against the
astrologers could not date from the next year a . d . 1 7 .31
To conclude, however, that no second senatus con
sultum was passed at all,32 is unwarranted. There seems
enough evidence in favor of a second decree to support
the hypothesis that another senatus consultum was,
indeed, voted soon after the first one. It must there
In 161 b. c. for exam ple ; Suetonius, de rhetoribns, 1 ; Aulus
Gellius, 15. 1, 1.
30 Tacitus. Annals 2, 27-33, has given the most detailed extant
account of this affair. For an excellent evaluation of its legal
aspects, see R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials and criminal legislation
under Tiberius, no. 6, Philol. monogr. publ. by the Ainer. Philol.
A sso c.; Middletown, Conn., 1935 : 12 ff.; see 12, n. 41. for a list
of sources.
31 R. S. Rogers, The date of the banishment of the astrologers,
Journal of Class. Philol. 21, 1931: 203 f., does not consider the
possibility that two SC may have been passed in quick succession
during the last four mouths of the year a . d . 16.
33 R. S. Rogers, loc. cit.

E X P U L S IO N O F A S TR O LO G ER S FR O M ROM E AND ITALY

238

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M A N LAW U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

fore have been adopted at some date between October

and Deceml>er 31. a . d . 16.
The reason for so rapid a repetition of such a measure
would mainiv he the need for extending the scope and
the penalties, the earlier senatus consultum having
failed to check llie enterprising crowd of astrologers,
sorcerers, and other diviners in Rome and Italy. Two
measures are mentioned by Tacitus and Cassius Dio,
one bv Suetonius and Ulpian. Their joint testimony
furnishes the most extensive information we possess
alxmt any expulsion decree, proof of the widespread
interest which the senatus consultum of a . d . 16 aroused :
(1) Tacitus. Annals 2. 32:
Senatus consul ta were passed expelling astrologers and sor
cerers [magi] from Italy; of these men L. Pituanius was
hurled from the rock, while the consuls executed P. Marcius
outside the Esquiline gate in the ancient manner after they
had ordered the trumpets to be blown.
(2) Suetonius, Tiberius, 36;
He also expelled the astrologers, but pardoned those who
petitioned him and promised that they would give up their
craft.
(3 i Ulpian. De officio proconsulis, 7, in Leg. Mos. et Rom.
collatio, IS, 2 , 1 :
Furthermore was forbidden the ingenious fraud of the
astrologers which through belief in it becomes more brazen.
Not in our day has this first been decreed, but this ban is
an ancient one. Indeed, there is on record a senatus con
sultum passed in the consulate of Pomponius and Rufus.
It warned that one would forbid water and fire to
astrologers. Chaldaeans. soothsayers and all others who
would undertake anything of this kind, and if any non
citizen should do so, he would be executed.
(4~> Cassius Dio, 57, 15, 8-9;
As for all the other astrologers and sorcerers and such as
practiced divination in any other way whatsoever, [he] put
to death those who were foreigners and banished all the
citizens that were accused of still employing the art at this
time after the previous decree by which it had been for
bidden to engage in any such business in the city; but to
those that obeyed immunity was granted. In fact, all the
citizens would have been acquitted even contrary to his
wish, had not a certain tribune prevented it. Here was a
particularly good illustration of the democratic form of
government, inasmuch as the senate, agreeing with the
motion of Cn. Calpurnius Piso. overruled Drusus and Ti
berius. only to be thwarted in its turn by the tribune.
The most important source insisting on two senatus
consulta is Tacitus. H e also makes it perfectly clear
that both expulsion decrees were passed in consequence
of Libos abortive plot. 33 The italicized passage in
Cassius Dio also refers to more than one expulsion
decree (Soypa) in a way which practically precludes
any other interpretation than the one in accord with
Tacitus. Suetonius' brief reference is inconclusive on
this point. The single authority that mentions unniis31 The interpretation assigning one SC to astrologers only and
another SC to sorcerers would also be grammatically correct,
but seems to run counter to the inner sweep of the Tacitean
passage.

takablv only one senatus consultum for this period is

Ulpian. I t has !>een proven beyond any d o ubt 34 that
the particular senatus consultum to which he referred
was passed in a . d . 16. Assuming there were in all
probability two senatus consulta passed in that year
after Libos suicide (September 13) the question is
simply to which of these two Ulpian referred. There
can be little doubt that he had the second senatus con
sultum in mind, for the penalties listed bv Ulpian were
identical with those mentioned by Cassius Dio in con
nection with the second senatus consultum. The reason
for Ulpian's emphasis on the second decree alone may
well Ije that it had taken the place of the first ineffective
one. Its drastic penalties were long remembered. They
went beyond those contained in previous expulsion
orders. The first senatus consultum of a . d . 16, on
the other hand, probably imposed no more than the
traditional punishment of deportation upon refractory
astrologers, sorcerers, and other diviners.
The geographical scope of the senatus consultum of
a . d . 16 was stated by Tacitus and Cassius Dio. Accord
ing to Tacitus it extended to Italy, while Cassius Dio
limited its validity to the city of Rome. It seems proba
ble that in view of the gravity of the situation both
senatus consulta applied to Rome and Italy. Ulpians
phraseology (which may, after all, be that of his antiastrological Christian excerptor) gives the false im
pression that the ban of astrology was not a regional
one, but covered the whole empire. No empire wide
measure of such kind, however, is known prior to the
reign of Diocletian, i. e. until long after Ulpians death.
The groups affected by the two senatus consulta were
more numerous than on any preceding occasion. Not
only astrologers, but also sorcerers (yor/r ) and all
other diviners were expelled, according to Cassius Dio
and Ulpian. Tacitus mentions astrologers and sorcerers
(m agi), Suetonius only astrologers. It would seem
that sorcerers referred to in the two decrees were
diviners by magic rather than practitioners of black
magic. Actually a necromancer of this type, when con
sulted by Libo, had revealed the whole plot . 35 Ulpians
list of outlawed practitioners mentions astrologers
( mathematici) and Chaldaeans separately. This is un
usual. inasmuch as Chahlaci was the older Latin syno
nym for mathematici. The Latin use of the word
mathematici does not antedate the first century B. c.,
and it hardly came into general use until the first cen
tury a . d . The only passage in Roman law which is
similar to U lpians usage is found in a constitution of
Constantins II, dated from a . d . 357. There, too, all
divination was forbidden, and the list of diviners con
tained mathematici as well as Chahlaci ac magi.3* Since
in all probability the compiler of the collection of Mosaic
3* Rogers, loc. cit.
35

Tacitus. Annals 2. 28.

C. Th., 9, 16, 4 (Jan. 25, 357) ; also found in C. I. 9, 18, 5.

and Roman laws (in which alone Ulpians text sur

vives) wrote not long after 357, it would seem possible
that he used Chaldaei in the same sense as the author
of that edict, i. e. as a synonym for magi, sorcerers.
If this interpretation is accepted, Ulpians list of out
lawed groups reads as follows: Affected were astrolo
gers, magi, soothsayers, and all other diviners. This
tallies exactly with the groups mentioned by Cassius
Dio as the target of both senatus consulta of a . d . 16.
A t first sight it is already clear that the expulsion of
all diviners from Rome must have proved an insuperable
and hopeless task. Actually, it goes without saying that
the official colleges of divination in Rome, the augurs
and haruspices in particular, remained wholly exempt
from the ban. I t was directed exclusively against the
unofficial diviners who were considered undesirable.
The sharp distinction made by Tiberius between offi
cially and privately practiced divination is evident from
his ban on another occasion of all unofficial haruspicial
activities ." 7 T hat in all likelihood neither Tiberius nor
the senate were under any delusion about the possibility
of physically expelling all astrologers, sorcerers, and
other diviners from Rome and Italy is clear from Sue
tonius as well as Cassius Dio. Only the practice of
those crafts was to be stopped, a t least temporarily,
but the continued presence of law abiding ex-practi
tioners in Rome and Italy was expressly permitted.3
The penalties of the first senatus consultum of a . d . 16
are not as clearly discernible as those contained in the
second. As has been suggested, the very fact that it
was necessary to pass a second expulsion decree within
a few weeks after the first indicates that the first one
had failed to put an end to these practices in the capital
and in Italy. Some astrologers, and probably other
diviners as well, had indeed availed themselves of the
privilege of petitioning the emperor for permission to
stay, promising at the same time to abandon their pro
fessional activities. The greater number, however, ap
parently had paid no heed to the first senatus consultum.
Many of them seemed to rely on their Roman citizen
ship for protection. F or general expulsion orders in
the past had chiefly been aimed at non-citizens, while
special judicial proceedings were required to exile a
Roman citizen. This placed Tiberius in a dilemma.
If he continued to close his eyes to the divinatory activi
ties of Roman citizens, no expulsion measure could
even be temporarily effective. A good many Greeks
and orientals already had succeeded in obtaining Roman
citizenship at this time. Julius Caesar, for instance,
had granted it to all professors of liberal arts and to
the Jews residing in Rome. Men like Thrasyllus.
court astrologer and friend of Tiberius, had also been
able to acquire citizenship. On the other hand, indige
nous Latins too were becoming increasingly proficient
17 Suetonius, Tiberius, 63.
" Ibid., 36.

233

in astrology. In short, an expulsion decree exempting

Roman citizens would lie wholly ineffective from the
very start.
Tiberius was therefore forced in a . d . 16 to choose
1>etween abandoning expulsion measures altogether or
extending them to Roman citizens as well. An astro
logical practitioner himself, he had absolute faith in the
infallibility of this " science " and thus considered the
influence of astrologers and other diviners a sufficient
menace to warrant the inclusion of Roman citizens in
at least the second senatus consultum of a . d . 16. The
senate was therefore asked to pass another expulsion
decree, which would apply to Roman citizens, as well
as to foreigners, and to impose drastic penalties on
future offenders. According to Cassius Dio the senators,
many of them acutely concerned in the matter, balked
perhaps liecause not only the emperor was a practicing
astrologer, but also many a senator as well. Most if
not all of those senators, who were not active practi
tioners themselves, relied at least on astrological advice.
In passing the second senatus consultum they would
either expose their own persons to immediate danger
or deprive themselves of their astrological advisers,
Roman and non-Roman alike. Cn. Calpurnius Piso , 38
therefore, brought a motion which represented a legal
compromise. H e suggested the death penalty for non
citizens caught violating the previous senatus consultum
of 16, but asked that Roman offenders might be par
doned. As the lesser of two evils this motion was car
ried enthusiastically by the senate to the chagrin of
Tiberius and his son, Drusus. They had to take refuge
in the hoary expedient of a veto proclaimed by an
accommodating tribune. This killed Pisos motion effec
tively. Moreover, the senate in view of this sign of
imperial inflexibility, became afraid of its own courage
and capitulated. Meekly the Fathers adopted the
official motion which provided a specific penalty for
Roman offenders (besides reiterating the previous ban).
To see in this episode a splendid example of democratic
procedure at its bestas Cassius Dio professed to do
could only be vitriolic irony or Cassius Dio was, after
all, no Tacitus evidence of what a senator of the third
century believed to be democratic procedure.
The final senatus consultum of 16 imposed death on
non-citizens and exile and property confiscation on
Roman transgressors. On that point Cassius Dio and
Ulpian agree. The execution of two Roman citizens,
L. Pituanius and P. Marcius, for a violation of this
decree seems to be a contradiction, but a careful reading
of this passage of Tacitus indicates that while the two
men did belong to the group of practitioners banned
from Rome, they were apparently not executed for
* He was a great friend of Tiberius who appointed him soon
after his accession to the post of l>racfcctus itrbi. Piso held this
office until his death at the age of eighty in a . d . 32. His modera
tion and lack of servility, attested by Tacitus, Annals 5, 10, was
shown in this particular incident also.

240

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M A N LAW U N T IL T H E EN D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

E X P U L S IO N O F A S TR O LO G ER S FRO M R O M E AND ITA LY

TABLE 5
Area
1st SC 40

2nd SC 40
(vetoed)
3rd SC

Rome, Italy

Penalties
deportation,
confiscation
of property

same

death

same

death for
non-Romans,
exile for Romans.
Confiscation of
property for both
groups.

having violated the senatus consultum of 16, but more

probably for having played an active part in Libos
conspiracy.
Altogether three senatus consultum were debated and
two finally passed in the last months of that year:
(1) a hasty one soon after Libos death (September
13), ( 2 ) a more severe one sometime afterwards which,
however, was vetoed at the instigation of Tiberius be
cause it pardoned Roman offenders, and (3) a final one
before December 31 with drastic penalties against
Roman culprits too. In short we are confronted with
the pattern shown in table 5.
The chief difference between the first and the third
senatus consultum, i. e. between the two actually vali
dated decrees, w ere: (1) exemption of Roman citizens
from the first and their inclusion in the second senatus
consultum, and ( 2 ) the substitution of the. extremely
harsh penalties of the second senatus consultum for
relatively mild ones imposed by the first.
The long range futility of senatus consulta such as
those of a . d . 16 was acidly pointed out by Tacitus .41
Yet for the moment they seem to have struck into the
hearts of the diviners the wholesome terror intended.
The first known prosecution of an important violation
of the ban dates from the year a . d . 2 0 , four years after
the decrees of a . d . 16.42 It has already been suggested
that diviners belonging to accredited religious institu
tions enjoyed immunity from the decrees. Court
astrologers like Thrasyllus and later his son, Balbillus,
also undoubtedly remained exempt from such decrees.
When the chief crisis passed, Tiberius apparently was
willing to let the decree of 16 lapse. The Augustan
edict of a . d . 1 1 seemed adequate for curbing poten
tially dangerous consultations. The shelving of the
decrees of a . d . 16 became obvious when in 26, barely
ten years after their enactment, a host of astrologers,
quite evidently residing in Rome and practicing their
40 Both SC (1) and SC (2) applied only to non-citizens.
Tacitus, Histories 1, 22.
The trial of Aemilia Lepida; Tacitus, Annals 3, 22; R. S.
Rogers, Criminal trials . . .: 51-57; compare F. H . Cramer, The
Caesars and the stars (1), Seminar 9, 1951: 20-23.

Groups

Exemptions

astrologers
and all other
diviners,in
cluding sorcerers
same
same, but in
cluding Roman
citizen-practitioners too

through written petition

to Tiberius with pledge
to abstain henceforth
from practicing ones art
same
same

profession without official hindrance, predicted freely

that according to the stars Tiberius would never re
enter Rome alive . 43 They were proven right, although
Tiberius ruled for eleven more years.
(v)

T H E SENATUS CONSULTUM

OF A .D .

52

The reign of Claudius ( a . d . 41-54) witnessed the

completion of the Augustan edicts evolution which
reached its final stage in a . d . 49 (at the latest) with
the trial of Lollia Paulina . 44 Like his predecessors,
Claudius apparently preferred permanent, but limited
empire wide technical and topical restrictions of astro
logical (and other divinatory) consultations to a total,
but only regional ban of such activities in Rome and
Italy. But when in a . d . 52 he was confronted with
what seemed to him a dangerous plot, he decided to
resort again to the traditional regional expulsion order
and used for it the Tiberian legal form, the senatus
consultum. Such a decree was voted as an immediate
sequel to the inaiestas trial of Furius Camillus Scribonianus and his mother Vibia ( ? ) . 45 Its text seems lost.
It is typical of the scantiness of our information on the
subject that Tacitus mentioned it in altogether ten
words, and Cassius Dio at least in the extant epitome
of his work with similar brevity:
Tacitus, Annals, 12, 52 :
A senatus consultum, harsh and useless; wasipq^sed about
the expulsion of astrologers from Italy.
Cassius Dio, ep. 61 (60), 33, 36 from Zonaras, 11, 10:
The astrologers were banished from all Italy, and their
clients were punished.
Even from these meager sources some important
facts may be gleaned. For one thing, Claudius adhered
to Tiberius legal procedure. Just as Tiberius after the
** Tacitus, Annals 4, 58.
44 Ibid., 12, 22; Cassius Dio, cp. 61 (60), 32, 4 ; cf. Suetonius,
Claudius, 26, 3.
Probably Vibidia, possibly Junia; on the trial, see Tacitus,
Annals 12, 52.

conspiracy of Libo Drusus in a . d . 16 had used the

senatus consultum as the legal form for pronouncing
the expulsion order, Claudius acted after the discovery
of Scribonianus' treasonable activities . 40 The geographi
cal area covered by the senatus consultum of a . d . 52
was (in both sources) given as Italy. Nevertheless,
a ban from Italy would have made little sense, had not
the traditional expulsion from Rome also been included.
Tacitus referred to a ban of astrologers only, but
Dio, probably correctly, added that their clients were
also punished, referring undoubtedly to Scribonianus
and his mother and possibly to others.
The penalties imposed upon prospective violators of
the senatus consultum of 52 were not mentioned, but
Tacitus insisted that the decree was harsh (atrox).
One can, therefore, assume that its penalties closely
resembled those of the second senatus consultum of
a . d . 16 and were perhaps identical with them.
Meant
as an emergency measure, the decree of a . d . 52 lapsed
quietly when a modicum of tranquillity seemed restored.
That Tacitus castigated it as useless. proves that he
did not or refused to recognize the temporary character
of this legal device. One may, however, suspect that
the actual enforcement of the decree even in Rome was
never too strict. F or Seneca insisted, perhaps with
some rhetorical exaggeration, that throughout the en
tire reign of Claudius, including of course the year 52,
the astrologers incessantly predicted the death of the
emperor . 47 Although he did not specifically say so,
Seneca made it clear that heedless of the expulsion
decree of that year such prophecies were made by
astrologers plying their craft in the capital itself.
4.

IM P E R IA L M E T H O D S (A. D. 66?-176?) :
E X P U L S IO N BY IM P E R IA L E D IC T S

Claudius seems to have been the last ruler to have

expelled astrologers from the capital by means of a
senatus consultum. W hy perhaps Nero and definitely
his successors, Vitellius and Vespasian, abandoned this
legal form in favor of direct imperial edicts one can
only surmise. W as it merely a straw in the wind of
the imperial policy of gradual emasculation of the sen
ate's prestige and powers ? The consistency with which,
beginning at the latest in the brief reign of Vitellius,
imperial expulsion edicts in lieu of senatus consulta
were used against astrologers indicates a deliberate
government decision rather than a purely accidental
development. A tentative explanation for the charge
Tacitus, loc. cit.
>7 Seneca, Apocolyntosis. 3. A recent attempt by M. A. Levi.
Xcrone c i sitoi tempi; Biblioteca Storica Universitaria. Serie 2,
monografie, 1; Istituto editoriale cisalpino. Milano-Varese. 1949,
to use this isolated little work ot Seneca to prove the authors
anti-Hellenistic attitude, has rightly been criticized sharply by
V. Scramuzza, A m . lour. Philol. 73, 3 (no. 291, July, 1952) :
307-312.

241

may perhaps be found by taking into consideration the

groups primarily affected. Astrologers and sorcerers
continued to lie the favorite victims of this regional ban.
Diviners in general, however, were no longer subjected
to such measures, but instead philosophers were now
added to the list. The main reason for all expulsion
orders continued to l>e the governments fear of inflam
matory influences upon the volatile people of Rome and
Italy in times of tension.
Bv including philosophers, imperial policy reverted
to the republican past. In 173 b . c . Epicureans had
been driven from Rome. In 161 b . c . philosophers were
formally expelled from Rome by a senatus consultum , 48
Ever since the advent of imperial monarchy the Stoics
and Cynics in particular had opposed the new regime,
notwithstanding the fact that some of them, like the
versatile younger Seneca, made their peace with the
court. During the later part of Neros reign (54-68),
Stoicism became even more than before the creed of
the senatorial political opposition. Old time aristo
cratic republicanism among the senatorial families might
have blended with the Stoic concept of the ideal ruler,
the best m an, as being the only one worthy of wear
ing the crown, but Nero certainly did not fit that bill.
In 62 Nero's confidant, Tigellinus, warned the emperor
against a certain Rubellius Plautus by pointing out:
Plautus, with his great fortune, not content to parade his
mimicries of the ancient Romans, had taken upon himself
the Stoic arrogance and the mantle of a sect which incul
cated sedition and an appetite for politics. 49
The widespread Pisonic conspiracy of 65 led to the
death of the brothers Seneca. It also was the undoing
of the Stoic Thrasea Paetus, who had been wont to
demonstrate his political sentiments by toasting Cassius
and Brutus on the date of their respective birthdays .50
Another Stoic, the knight Musonius Rufus, escaped
with exile . 51
(vi, vii).

TW O N E R O N IC E X P U L S IO N E D IC T S ?

On the whole it may be assumed that the Stoic oppo

sition. being most popular with the highest stratum of
Roman society, was the primary target of governmental
counter-attacks. It must, however, be borne in mind
that the Cynics, who had a not inconsiderable influence
with the masses, were also indulging in persistent and
violent anti-monarchic and anti-capitalistic propaganda.
Some general imperial action against philosophers
would, therefore, not seem illogical for the last years of
Nero. There is indeed a report, albeit an unreliable
Suetonius, de rliet., 1; Gellius, IS, 1, 1. The ban extended
to Rome only.
Tacitus, Annals 14, 57.
Juvenal, 5, v. 35; compare Tacitus. Annals 16, 21 ff.; Sue
tonius, Nero, 37. 1; Cassius Dio, ep. 62 ( 61), 26. 3-4.
51 W ith him was exiled the rhetor Verginius Flavus; Tacitus,
Annals, IS, 71; Cassius Dio, cp. 62 (61), 27, 4.

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A STR O LO G Y IN RO M A N LA W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

one. ascribing such an expulsion edict to Nero. Philo

stratus. almost a century and a half after the event,
described the troubles liesetting his hero Apollonius of
Tvana during a visit to Rome in a . d . 6 6 . i. e. just after
the Pisonic conspiracy. Before setting out for Greece
in that year. Nero, according to Philostratus. issued an
imperial edict to the etfect:

A bout N ero.
A t the end of his reig n his ire w as aroused ag a in st the
sorcerers and astrologers. H e issued an edict an d o rdered
in it publicly th a t they should leave all of Italy on a fixed
day. T hey, how ever, posted a counter ord er, an n o u n cin g
th a t on th a t day he w ould d ep art from life. O n this day,
too. he did die. So accurately had they know n w h at was
g oing to happen.33

that no one should teach philosophy in public in Rome.

[W hereupon ] A pollonius turned liis steps to the w estern
regions of the earth . . . and he was accom panied by all his
pupils.

Tempting though it would be to assign such an edict

to the reign of Nero, there are serious doubts in the
path of this assumption. For one thing, the whole pas
sage bears a strong resemblance to Cassius Dio's ac
count ( 65 [64], 1, 4) of the expulsion edicts of Vitel
lius in a . d . 69.54 Both versions have in common the
assertion that the astrologers in answer to the pro
mulgation of an imperial expulsion edict predicted pub
licly the correct date of the issuing emperor's death.
In one case, however, it was the end of Nero, in the
other that of Vitellius. Another similarity exists be
tween the edict ascribed to Nero and that of Vitellius,
as transm itted by Suetonius ( V ite lliu s , 14). Our
Anonvmus simply motivated Nero's edict with the em
peror's ire against astrologers and sorcerers, while
Suetonius more explicitly stated that Vitellius issued
the expulsion edict first and became incensed only when
the astrologers after its proclamation published their
impudent predictions. Neither the extant epitome of
Cassius Dio in Xiphilinus nor Suetonius, however, men
tioned any other group than the astrologers as affected
by Vitellius edict. It was Zonaras (11, 16) who re
lated that Vitellius fir s t expelled the astrologers and,
o n a la te r occasion also the sorcerers, i. e. that he issued
two separate edicts. This agrees with the Anonvmus
who also mentioned both groups, but knew only of a
single edict aimed s im u lta n e o u sly by Nero at astrolo-

An edict of this kind would lie perfectly in keeping

with the trend of Nero's policy after the Pisonic con
spiracy, but in the absence of more conclusive evidence
a final judgment ot its authenticity must 1>e suspended.
If genuine the edict must be considered an important
precedent for subsequent imperial edicts directed against
undesirable elements in Rome and Italy, including not
only philosophers.'-' but also astrologers and others.
In the same year in which the ban of the public
teaching of philosophy in Rome is supposed to have
been proclaimed by Nero, the case of Ostorius Scapula,
P. Anteius, and their astrological adviser Pammenes
occured. Coming on the heels of the Pisonic plot,
this incident must have impressed Nero, himself a de
vout believer in astrology, with the particularly dan
gerous political influence of astrologers. Under such
circumstances it would hardly be surprising to find
Nero proclaiming an expulsion order against astrolo
gers also. The only source for a Neronic expulsion
edict, however, is suspect. A tenth century manuscript,
cod P a ris, s u p p l. g r., 60 7 A, amidst selected passages
on astrologers of the first century a . d ., contains the
following paragraph:

TABLE 6
Time
f Anonvmus
''lE R O
i

V IT E L L IU S

Lassius
Dio
Suetonius

Form

Groups affected

Reason given

Between

imper. edict
astrologers,
( accurate)
66-68
sorcerers
prophecy of
date of eml.
perors death

69
69
Mid-sum
mer 69
Sometime
before
Oct. 1, 69
Summer
69

3a Philostratus. Apollonius of Tyana 4, 47.

Compare Suetonius, .Vrro 39, 3, tor an individual case in
vnich Xero banished urbc Italiaque a Cynic philosopher, Isiio ru s: see on the case R. S. Rogers, Classical W eekly 39, ,194619-17: 53 f.

imper. edict
imper. edict
imper. edict

astrologers,
sorcerers
astrologers

imper. edict

astrologers,
pasquillwriters

same as
Anonvmus
(inaccurate!)
prophecy of
date of em
peror's death

astrologers

gers and sorcerers. Tacitus mentioned only astrologers

as the target of Vitellius expulsion edict. 55 An impor
tant difference between the Anonvmus and Cassius Dio
was that the Anonvmus asserted that Nero proclaimed
his expulsion edict at the end of his reign. Cassius
Dio. on the other hand, stated definitely that Vitellius
ordered the expulsion of the astrologers " after he came
to Rome," i. e. after mid-July 69 (and prior to October
first) ,r,<' Dio could hardly thereby imply that this was
done toward the en d of Vitellius' brief reign which
lasted until the end of December. A comparison be
tween the alleged Neronic and the subsequent Vitellian
expulsion edicts showing similarities and discrepancies
is given in table 6 .
All in all there may well have been a Neronic ex
pulsion edict, but the similarities between the account
of the Anonvmus and those of the other historians are
great enough to make his testimony on behalf of a
Neronic expulsion edict far from conclusive. If Nero
actually issued an imperial expulsion edict against as
trologers, it would have been the first of its kind.
(viii, ix ).

T H E V IT E L L IA N E X P U L S IO N EDICTS

The fall and death of Nero left Galba in uncontested

power on June 9, 6 8 , but he was only able to retain it
for about seven months. A rebellion of the praetorian
guards at Rome, skillfully stirred up by Otho. led to
his assassination on January 15. 69. and Otho ascended
the vacant throne, long promised to him by his astrolo
gers. H is span of power, however, was even briefer
than that of Galba. In June. 69, he died a suicide
leaving the imperial power to his victorious rival Vitel
lius. The new ruler advanced towards Rome in slow
stages. He reached the capital sometime in July, cer
tainly before the eighteenth . 57 There he found himself
confronted with the seething unrest of the population
which in hardly more than thirteen months now greeted
the fourth emperor within the walls of the capital. The
wildest political speculations were rife. The curious
and the ambitious must have beleagnred astrologers
and all other diviners. Vitellius not only was generally
devoted to divination , 58 but for understandable reasons
particularly interested in astrology. He saw in the
numerous astrological prophecies of the brevity of his
reign a verv real and serious incitement to rebellion
and, therefore, issued an imperial expulsion edict, the
first one which is definitely known. It was directed
against astrologers practicing in Rome and Italy. Our
chief sources are:
T acitu s, H isto ries 2, 62 :
D riv en from Italy w ere the astrologers. . . .

Printed in Cat. 8. 4: 100.

54 Compare F. H. Cramer, Expulsion of astrologers from
ancient Rome, Chtssica et Mediaezalia 12, 1-2, 1951: 36 ff.

53 Tacitus, H istories 2, 62.

5* Suetonius, Vitellius. 14, 4.
51 On his arrival, see Tacitus, Histories 2. 89 f . ; 91.
S8 Zonaras, 11, 16, possibly taken from Cassius Dio.

243

C assius Dio, epitom e of 64 ( 6 5 ), 1. 4 from X iphilinus:

V itellius. upon reaching Rome and arra n g in g affairs to suit
him. issued an edict banishing the astrologers and com
m anding them to leave the whole of Italy by a certain
specified day. They answ ered him by puttin g up at nig h t
an o th er notice, in which they com m anded him in tu rn to
d ep art this life before the end of the very (lav on which he
actually died. So g reat w as th e ir foreknow ledge of w hat
should come to pass.
Suetonius. I'itellius. 14. 4 :
T ow ards none was he more hostile than ag ain st anonym ous
pam phleteers and astrologers. A ny one of them who was
denounced he had executed w ithout a hearing, because he
was incensed that, after his edict, bv which he had ordered
the astrologers to quit Rome and Itily before O ctober first,
at once an anonym ous reply was posted publicly. A nd the
C haldaeans said, it was a good th in g th at by th at same
first of the month there would be no longer a Vitellius
G erm anicus.
Zonaras, 11.
A lthough he
did n othing
banished the

16, possibly also from Cassius D io :

[V itellius] had a g re a t reg ard for omens, and
how ever triv ial w ithout consulting them, he
astrologers a t this time and later the sorcerers.

Cassius Dio and Suetonius obviously used the same

source. They stated clearly that the expulsion was
pronounced by imperial edict, a break with the tradition
of the Julian-Claudian dynasty which had preferred the
form of the s e n a tu s c o n s u ltu m for such measures.
Tacitus and Zonaras were silent on this point. The
precise geographical scope was correctly given by Sue
tonius alone. The astrologers were banished from
Rome and Itaiv ( u rb e Ita lia q u e ) . Tacitus and Cassius
Dio merely mentioned Italy. Zonaras was entirely
vague about the area covered by the edict. Suetonius
was also the only one to preserve the precise date on
which the astrologers had to quit Italy: October 1 , 69.
Cassius Dio, perhaps for a reason later to be discussed,
vaguely spoke of a certain specified day. Tacitus and
Zonaras did not mention any date, although Zonaras,
by reporting a subsequent expulsion edict against sor
cerers, automatically assigned the edict against the
astrologers to the earlier part of Vitellius brief reign.
The date of the edict's promulgation, therefore, fell
between mid-July and the end of September. The
praetorian edict of 139 b . c . allowed ten days for the
leaving of Italy. A similar span was probably allowed
in the Vitellian edict also. Since it went into effect on
October 1 , it could therefore hardly !>e promulgated
after September 20. Tacitus three-worded reference
to the edict ( p u ls i Ita lia m a th em a tici') throws no light
on the date. His words followed immediately upon
his mention of a proclamation which Vitellius sent to
Rome while still en route to the capital. On the other
hand, many pages later ( H is to r ie s 2. 81) Tacitus spoke
of Vespasian's rebellion and his gaining control of Egypt
and Syria by July 15. Still later (ib id ., 8 7 ) he de
scribed Vitellius slow approach towards Rome. Noth-

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A STR O LO G Y IN RO M A N LA W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

ing therefore can be gleaned from his account about

the exact date of the edicts promulgation.
The only source definitely ascribing the edict to the
time after Vitellius arrival at the capital was Cassius
Dio. His version on the whole agreed with that of
Suetonius and was probably accurate in assigning the
issue of the edict to a date after July 15. For Vitellius.
after becoming pontifex maximus, definitely was in
Rome on July 18. This was a dies ater. the anniversary
of the ancient disaster at the river Allia. and no business
should l>e undertaken on so unlucky a day. Vitellius
tailed to heed this custom, however, and proceeded
with the affairs of the day. The edict against the
astrologers was. therefore, issued sometime between
July 15 and September 20, 69. This period can per
haps be narrowed down, for more than ten days may
well have elapsed between the proclamation of the ex
pulsion edict, followed by the taunting reply of the
astrologers, and the mass executions without trial.
As to the penalties imposed upon violators of the
edict of 69, the fact that Vitellius executed offending
astrologers could indicate that the death penalty of the
senatus consultum of 16 against non-Roman violators
only was now extended to Roman citizens as well. On
the other hand, these death sentences apparently were
meted out without even the formality of a trial. It may,
therefore, be that Vitellius blind rage rather than a
specific penalty clause of his edict was responsible for
these executions. One minor point may still be men
tioned. The terminology ot Suetonius account shows
that the historian apparently used two different sources.
He first referred (like Tacitus) to the astrologers as
mathematici, a term which in the first century a . d .
more and more replaced the earlier Latin term Chaldaei.
Then towards the end of his passage he called the
astrologers, who posted the notice, Chaldaei. There
can hardly be any other reason for this change in termi
nology within a single sentence than the use of two
different sources, one of which had mathematici, while
the other still clung to the traditional Chaldaei. Cassius
Dio in his account simply called them astrologers
(ao-rpoAoyovs), while Zonaras even referred to them as
astronomers ( aarpov^noxK ).
Finally an amusing fact may be noted. Suetonius,
writing about half a century after the event, by relating
that the astrologers prophesied that Vitellius would die
before his edict went into effect, i. e. before October 1 ,
revealed the complete failure of that astrological boast.
For Vitellius died sometime between December 20 and
24, i. e. several months after October 1. More than a
century after Suetonius, Cassius Dio, an ardent believer
in astrology, dreams, and all other kinds of divination,
toned down the account of Suetonius. According to
Dio the Vitellian edict ordered the astrologers to leave
before a certain day ; they replied by saying that
5* Tacitus, Histories 2, 91.

Vitellius would be dead on that day, and, lo and behold,

such was the case! Accordingly, Cassius Dio praised
the astonishing foreknowledge of the astrologers. This
change from Suetonius to Cassius Dio's version reveals
the growth of a legend of astrological accuracy where
in reality the facts had demonstrated precisely the
contrary.
Zonaras alone described to Vitellius an expulsion
edict directed against sorcerers. Since all other sources
are silent on that point, we must assume that, if such
an edict was actually issued at all, it was also promul
gated between July 15 and December 20, 69.
(x. x i).

v e s p a s i a n s

e x p u l s io n

e d ic t s

Vespasian was destined to calm the turbulent political

scene of Rome and to inaugurate a new era of relative
tranquillity, but this could not be foreseen with certainty
at the time of his accession in 69. The Romans now
pledged allegiance to the fifth emperor within less than
two years. Ambitious men inevitably must have won
dered whether their own turn to mount the imperial
throne might not come next. Assuredly many astrolo
gers had braved the wrath of Vitellius and remained in
Rome in spite of his expulsion order. Undoubtedly they
did not hesitate to reassure any clients exaggerated
hopes of future greatness. Thus the astrologers con
tributed in no small measure to the restiveness at Rome.
Vespasian himself, being in the habit of consulting all
the best of them himself, 60 must have been impressed
by the astrological troublemakers at Rome. In his own
entourage was probably at this time already the re
nowned Balbillus, son of Thrasyllus, and soon also the
late O thos main astrological adviser, Ptolemy Seleu
cus . 61 Since Vespasian posed as Othos avenger, O thos
former court astrologer had no trouble in finding a new
imperial patron in Vespasian.
Even before reaching Rome early in a . d . 70 the new
emperor renewed Vitellius expulsion edict. The only
extant reference for this is again Cassius Dio, indefati
gable in his interest in m atters astrological. He, or
better, the surviving epitome says briefly: And the
astrologers he banished from Rome . 62 No mention
was made of the sorcerers or any Zither grpup in con
nection with this edict. N or do we have any idea of
the penalties with which it threatened future violators.
The area involved was Rome. Probably, however, the
edict was couched in the usual phraseology, expelling
astrologers urbe Italiaque.
Cassius Dio, ep. 65 ( 66), 9, 2. Dio criticized Vespasian
sharply for what he considered the double standard of this rulers
continuing his consultations with court astrologers, while, on the
other hand, forbidding other Roman residents to do likewise.
01 Cassius Dio. loc. sit., as well as Suetonius, Otho, 4 and 6,
named as O thos chief astrological adviser Seleucus, while
Tacitus, H is.orics 1, 22, anil Plutarch, Galba. 23, 4, assigned this
role to Ptolemy. The astrologer's full name was therefore
probably Ptolemy Seleucus or Seleucus Ptolemy.
* Cassius Dio, ep. 65 (66'), 9, 2.

In his attempt to restore political tranquillity, Ves

pasian considered it also necessary to direct a corre
sponding edict against oppositional philosophers.* Ac
cording to Cassius Dio fin Xiphilinus excerpt) shortly
after his arrival in the capital, Vespasian immediately
expelled from Rome all the philosophers except Muso
nius. 6* Among the philosophical sects especially hos
tile to the imperial regime were, as mentioned before,
the Stoics and the Cynics. T hat the Stoics in particular
were aimed at this time is apparent from the stated
exception: Musonius, a well known Stoic. The area
covered by this regional ban was Rome. This edict,
incidentally, seems to have been enforced more vigor
ously than was the rule in such cases. For some years
later it was still so strict that only some daring Cynics
afraid of nothing managed somehow to slip into the
city. Even so perhaps no harm might have befallen
them, had not some of them appeared in the midst of
a crowded theatre and delivered fiery orations to the
multitude against Berenice, the Jewish mistress of
Vespasians son and heir presumptive, T itus .85

245

(4 ) Suetonius, D om itian, 10, 3.

[D o m itian ] killed . . . Iunius Rusticus . . . on account
of whose crim e he expelled all philosophers from th e capital
and from Italy.
(S') Plinv, epistulae 3, 11.
Indeed, a t the time when all philosophers w ere expelled
from the capital, I visited . . . [the philosopher A rtem idorus]
in the suburbs, and, w h at m ade it even m ore notable and
m ore dangerous, I w as then praetor.
(6) Suidas, s.v. AoiucrumK.
T his m an banished from Rome philosophers, as w ell as
astrologers.
( 7 ) P h ilo stratu s, A pollonius o f T ya n a 7, 3.
. . . w hile the senate had all its m ost distinguished members
cu t off. philosophy w as reduced to cow ering in a corner, to
such an ex tent th a t some of its votaries disguised them
selves by ch an g in g th eir d ress and ran aw ay to take refuge
am ong the w estern Celts, w hile others fled to the deserts of
Libya and Scythia.

The only authority listing two separate expulsion

measures of Domitian (assigning them to the years
89-90 and 93-94, respectively) is Jerome from whom
Syncellus copied the passage referring to another
expulsion edict against the same two groups.* Cassius
(xii, xiii). d o m i t i a n s e x p u l s i o n e d i c t s
Dio spoke of the edict of 93-94 as banishing at least
W ithin a single year Vespasian had thus issued two philosophers once m ore (av&?), an ambiguous term.
expulsion edicts, one aimed at astrologers, the other at For Dio might have remembered Vespasians earlier
philosophers. Like Vitellius (and possible Nero) he ban, or, on the other hand, referred to Domitians recent
too had chosen the imperial edict as the legal form for one of a . d . 89-90. From the context of the whole
those measures in preference to the earlier one of the passage, however, it hardly seems likely that Dio meant
senatus consulta. The short reign of his oldest son and the old expulsion edict of 70-71. The more natural
successor Titus (79-81) apparently did not evoke such interpretation of his words would be that Domitian
edicts, but Domitian, Vespasian's younger son and suc himself had banished philosophers once more. Jerome
cessor of Titus (8 1 -% ), eventually faced another show (and Syncellus) alone revealed that Domitians first
down with both astrologers and philosophers. W hether edict was also directed against astrologers. Since the
he expelled both groups twice or only once is not quite ban of 93-94 was definitely, according to Jerome, pro
certain, although the weight of the available evidence claimed in the form of an imperial edict, there can be
makes it somewhat more likely that there were two little doubt that Domitians earlier expulsion order
would have been issued in the same form. In using it
such actions, one taken in 89-90, the other in 93-94.
Domitian merely followed the precedents established by
I. Passages indicating the possibility of two expulsion edicts Vitellius and Vespasian (and possibly already by N ero).
against astrologers and philosophers in the reign of
The scope of both edicts of Domitian, at least accord
Domitian:
ing to Jerome and Cassius Dio, covered Rome only.
(1) Jerome, Chronica, a . d . 89-90.
Domitian drove the astrologers and philosophers from the Suetonius, a contemporary of both edicts, however, re
ported that the second one covered in the usual phrase
capital.
ology both Rome and Italy ( urbe Italiaque ) , 67 There
(2) Cassius Dio, epitome of 67, 13, 2-3.
[Domitian] . . . killed Arulenus Rusticus, because he was is some doubt about this, however, for Plinv, another
a philosopher. . . . Many others also perished as a result contemporary, boasted of his, a praetors, visit to the
of this same charge of philosophizing, and all the philo suburban exile of the expelled philosopher Arte
sophers that were left in Rome were banished once more.
midorus in 93-94. This would indicate that the ban
(3) Jerome, Chronica, a . d . 93-94.
of philosophers was limited to the city of Rome alone.
Domitian again by an edict expelled the philosophers and
On the other hand, Artemidorus, son-in-law of the
astrologers from the Roman capital.
Stoic knight, Musonius Rufus, may have been treated
II. Passages definitely referring to one expulsion edict by with exceptional leniency. On the whole, Suetonius
Domitian:
version appears more authentic and accurate than Plinys
casual at the time when the philosophers were expelled
Suetonius, Vespasian, 13 and IS; Cassius Dio, ep. 6 5 ( 6 6 ) ,
13, 1 ff.; 12, 2-3.
lU Cassius Dio, cp. 65 ( 66), 13, 2.
Ibid., 15, 5.

Syncellus, 1, f. 343 D ; 344 C (ed. Bonn: 650 f.)

The first edict probably covered the same area.

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A STR O LO G Y IN ROM AN LAW U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

from the capital. W e may assume that at least less

privileged philosophers were formally expelled from
Italy as well as from Rome. The penalties proposed
in Domitians edict of 89-90 are not known. They were
in all likelihood stiff ones. For without teeth in it
no such expulsion edict would meet with even temporary
success.
The main question in connection with the authen
ticity of the first edict is : to what extent would the
political situation in 89-90 warrant Domitian's decision
to resume the expulsion policy of his predecessors,?
He had for years struggled against a rising tide of dis
content. As early as 82 he executed his own cousin
T. Flavius Sabinus for an alleged plot against him.
After this trial he banished the well known rhetorician
and philosopher, Dio Chrysostomus .*8 Since 8 6 the
emperor had undertaken a series of unsuccessful ex
peditions against the Marcomanni and the Dacians. A
sham triumph which he celebrated upon his return,
probably in a . d . 89, fooled no one. To stifle the rising
tide of opposition even at this time, too, he slew some
of the foremost men. *" Already he was styling him
self dominus et dens despite the angry murmurs of the
senate. Vainly the fathers tried to remind him of cer1 tain constitutional limitations by passing one senatus
| consultum after another to the effect that it should be
unlawful for the emperor to put to death any of his
[senatorial] peers. 70 The climax of this wave of ten
sion was the news that L. Antonius, prefect of the
province of upper Germany, had raised the standard of
rebellion (sometime between a . d . 8 8 and 90). Domi
tian reacted with another series of political executions . 71
This certainly was an atmosphere in which an expulsion
edict against astrologers and subversive philosophers
might well seem called for. There can be little doubt,
therefore, that Jeromes assertion that such an edict
was actually issued in 89-90 was probably correct.
The second time Domitian resorted to such a measure
came in 93-94. At this time the aristocratic opposi
tion, fortified by die-hard Stoics, had reached such
proportions that the emperor found it necessary to exe
cute several leaders of this faction, both traditionally
linked with the senatorial Stoic party. Iunius Arulenus
Rusticus was executed because he had published eulo
gies on Thrasea Paetus and Helvidius Priscus (the one
executed by Nero in 6 6 , the other a few years later by
Vespasian), calling these men holy ones. 75 Heren** Suetonius, Domitian, 10; Dio Chrysostomus, or. 13, 1. On
Domitian's campaign against the philosophers, compare also S.
G itll, Le rcgne de Vempereur Domitien (no. 66 of the Biblio'hique des ecoles francaises dAthenes . . .) : 275 ff., Paris, 1894.
** Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 9, 6.
Ibid., 2, 4.
71 Suetonius, Domitian, 6, 2; Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 11, 1-2.
71 Suetonius, Domitian, 10, 2-4; compare Cassius Dio, ep. 67,
2-3.

nius Senecio was condemned for having written the

biography of Helvidius Priscus , 73 who with Thrasea
symbolized the m artyr tradition of the Stoic opposition
in the reigns of Nero and Vespasian. Other executions
of hostile philosophers followed. Against the surviving
oppositional philosophers an expulsion edict was issued.
To this edict Suetonius. Pliny, Cassius Dio, Suidas,
and vaguely even Philostratus referred, not to mention
Jerome whose testimony has already been cited. All of
these authors, except Suidas and Jerome, named only
philosophers as the target of this particular edict. As
trologers were linked with the philosophers as affected
by this second edict specifically only by Jerome and in
a general manner by Suidas. Assuming that the as
trologers were, indeed, expelled once more in 9 3 -9 4 ,
one has a choice between two possibilities: either the
far more spectacular purge of ranking Stoics in par
ticular and philosophers in general made most authors
overlook the fact that on this occasion astrologers, too,
were included in the expulsion edict, or one m ust assume
that the astrologers were expelled in 93-94 by a sepa
rate edict. It seems more plausible that, just as had
been the case in 89-90, a single edict directed against
both groups was issued in 93-94. Its character and
scope would mainly be a reaffirmation of the earlier one.
The penalty for violators of the edict of 93-94 must
have been severe, if Philostratus highly rhetorical out
burst contains a nucleus of truth. The fact that sensa
tional executions preceded or accompanied the edict
points in the same direction. It should also be remem
bered that during those last years of Domitians reign
prosecutions for violations of the Augustan law of
topical restrictions were numerous and sentences harsh.
W ith Domitians assassination in 96 all of his edicts
expired automatically, when the senate in solemn session
pronounced the dreaded damnatio memoriae.1*
The politically far more exciting background of
Domitians expulsion edict of 93-94 may also have
contributed to the obscuring of the edict of 89-90. Soon
overlooked, it survived by sheer accident in Jerom es
adaptation of Eusebius Chronica and thence in Suidas
dictionary. If nothing else, this instance once more
demonstrates the slenderness of our literary tradition.
From it, however, that much is clear: Vespasian and
Domitian fully developed what seems to have been
N eros initial policy of closely associating philosophers
and astrologers as politically dangerous elements to be
subjected to expulsion edicts. Vespasian did so in two
closely spaced separate edicts of 70 and 71, Domitian
probably in a single edict in 89-90, and almost certainly
in a joint expulsion order in 93-94.
71 Loc. cit.
74 Suetonius, Domitian, 23, 1; Pliny, Panegyricus, 52, 7.

E X P U L S IO N O F A STR O LO G ER S FR O M R O M E AND ITA LY

(x iv ).

AN

E X P U L S IO N

ED IC T

OF

M ARCUS

A U R E L IU S ?

The Flavian rulers (except T itus) were the last

emperors of the principate who seem to have resorted
with relative frequency to such measures. Perhaps this
was due to the prolonged unrest which followed the
hectic years 6 8 and 69. W hen Domitian was assassi
nated and N erva ascended the throne in 96 to be suc
ceeded by rulers of the calibre of a T rajan, Hadrian.
Antoninus Pius, and M arcus Aurelius, the anti-monarchic, philosophical opposition gradually lost its strength.
Its most influential part, the senatorial Stoics, made
peace with the great rulers of the second century who
truly fulfilled the Stoic political ideal of the rule of
the best m an. The pratings of the Cynics who
remained irreconcilable continued, indeed, to stir up a
measure of popular opposition during the second cen
tury, but, on the whole, anti-imperial philosophers no
longer seemed menacing enough to w arrant renewed
expulsion orders against them as a group.
Not quite the same nonchalance, however, was mani
fested towards astrologers, although subject to the
now traditional topical restrictions they appear not to
have given official offense until the reign of Marcus
Aurelius. The internal tranquillity which characterized
the era beginning with the reign of Nerva (96-98) and
ending in the one of Marcus Aurelius permitted the
rulers to discontinue the use of emergency expulsion
measures for more than three quarters of a century.
There was only one occasion on which the government
again resorted to its hoary weapon against astrologers
and other diviners. This none-too-well authenticated
action took place in the reign of M arcus Aurelius (161180), in all probability at the time when the pretender
Avidius Cassius had assumed the imperial purple in the
east (175 a . d . ) . O ur sources for this incident are
particularly unsatisfactory:
(1) Ulpian, de officio proconsulis 7 (in Leg. Mos. et Rom.
collatio, 15, 2, 6 ).
Furthermore, the divine Marcus, too, relegated to the
island of Syrus a man, who had uttered prophecies during
the rebellion of Cassius and had said much as if inspired
by the gods.
(2) Tertullian, de idololatria, 9.
Expelled are the astrologers. . . . The capital and Italy
are forbidden to the astrologers. . . .
Tertullians outburst seems to point at a recent, not an
earlier expulsion measure directed against the astrolo
gers. W e may safely assume that it had the form of an
imperial edict. Its scope again was probably the tradi
tional o n e: it covered Rome and Italy. In ascribing it
to the year 175, we follow a suggestion arising from
Ulpian. In a passage devoted to a survey of the curbs
of astrology and other forms of divination he mentioned
the above quoted incident of that turbulent year when
for his wild prophecies some seer was banished to a
small island by Marcus Aurelius. This indicates at least

247

the importance which the emperor attached to the in

fluence of such persons during a period of crisis. How
seriously the rebellion of Avidius Cassius was taken in
Rome is also attested by other authorities. Not onlv
was the population in a state bordering on panic, but
also the staid Stoic on the throne was greatly worried
for a time . 75 Admittedly, it is conjecture rather than
established fact to ascribe the promulgation of an expul
sion edict against astrologers to this particular year, but
there would hardly have been any more fitting date in
the entire reign of Marcus Aurelius. All of the tradi
tional elements conducive to such a measure were pres
ent: a dangerous rebellion against the emperor, high
tension in the capital, wild rumors fanned by even wilder
prophecies of inspired diviners. Even a Marcus Aure
lius, otherwise even tempered, might then be worried
enough to proceed against astrologers in the traditional
manner. If ever an expulsion edict was issued by M.
Aurelius, it must have been on this occasion.
S. C O NCLUSIO N

There is no further record of expulsion orders. By

212 Roman citizenship became universal, and with the
end of the principate began the great agrarian revolt
of the third century. The importance of Rome (and
Italy) within the empire declined steadily throughout
these disastrous decades. When Diocletian at last re
stored order by introducing the oriental despotism of the
later Roman empire, the old political center of the empire
had ceased to be of primary importance. Soon cities
like Nicomedia, Constantinople, Antioch. Milan, Trier,
and Ravenna housed political powers once centered in
Rome. The expulsion of groups considered dangerous
from Rome and Italy, even if permanently enforced,
would, therefore, no longer serve its old purpose. The
logical development was an empire wide ban of all di
vinatory activities considered dangerous by the govern
ment. This step was first taken by Diocletian. Long
before Christian fanaticism outlawed astrology and all
other forms of divination (for wholly different reasons)
this pagan autocrat in 296-297 (?) reached the logical
conclusion and replaced the traditional regional ban of
astrology with a total empire wide one. 76 The new legal
technique, however, still preserved the temporary char
acter of the traditional regional ban. It was left to the
Christian rulers to make the total empire wide ban
permanent. 77
In conclusion it may be pointed out that at no time
the principate barred astrological studies and theoretical
research. It only interfered with the professional prac
tice of the craft and that only in times of special political
tension. Even then it limited the ban to Rome and
75 Cassius Dio, ep. 62 (61, 22, 2) ; SHA , M. Antoninus. 2 5 ;
Avidius Cassius, 7, 7.
7 C. I. 9, 18, 2.
,
77C. Th. 9, 16, 4 ; 6; 8; 12; cf. C. I. 9, 18, 5; 7; 8 ; 1, 4, 10.

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A STR O LO G Y IN RO M AN L A W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

Italy. Throughout the rest of the empire astrologers

were at all times allowed to practice, subject only to the
Augustan law of technical and topical restrictions. Pro
fessors of astronomy, many of them presumably also
teaching at least the theories of astrology, may have
received chairs at the Roman state university, the
Athenaeum, from the beginning ( a . d . 134). This seems
probable in view of the fact that the very founder of the
first Latin state university, the emperor Hadrian, not
only was a firm believer in astrology but was also a
practicing expert himself. 78 Severus Alexander (222235) is known to have appointed professors of Astrologia
to the Athenaeum in Rome . 79 But secular profes
sors were not the only ones permitted to study and to
teach astrologia in Italy. Proudly a priest of Mithras
could proclaim in his epitaph found at M ilan:
M. Valerius Maximus sacerdos d[ei] S[olis] I[nvicti]
M[ithrae] Studiosus astrologiae 80 ( [Here lies] M. Valer
ius Maximus, a priest of the invincible Sun [God] Mithras
[and] a student of astrologia.)
7* SHA , Hadrian, 2, 4 ; 16, 7; Aelius, 3, 9. A detailed horo
scope of H adrian, cast in the second century a . d ., h a s survived;
see Cat. 7: 67-71 (from two mss.: cod. phil. gr. Vindob. 108,
ff. 301 ff., and cod. Paris, gr. 2417, f. 106). Variants of a slightly
different text, preserved in cod. Paris, gr. 2501, were published
in Cat. 8, 2 : 82-84.
7* SHA , Severus Alexander, 27, 5; 44, 4.
s* C IL 5, 2: 652. no. 5893 (O relli, no. 1202) ; cf. F. Cumont,
Les m ysttres de M ithra, 3rd e d .: 126, n. 1; Paris. 1913.

Needless to say astrologia as used in this epitaph could

well mean astronomy, astrology, or any combination of
both. In any case the abundant writings of astrologers
who lived during the principate alone would furnish
conclusive evidence of the continued scholarly interest
in this field, irrespective of the recurrent suppression of
its practice in Rome and Italy. Manilius, Thrasyllus,
Chaeremon, Balbillus, Timaeus, Teucrus the Babylonian,
Antigonus of Nicaea, Antiochus of Athens, Vettius
Valens, Ptolemy, these are but the best known experts
among a host of astrologers of whose writings, in often
substantial fragments, have come down to us. There
is no evidence that their treatises shied away from any
of the forbidden topics, outlawed by the Augustan edict
of a . d . 11. Death dealing, or im perial constella
tions, as well as methods of computing the date of
anyones death were freely discussed, but practical ap
plication of these theories was, when discovered, dealt
with severely. State trials of the early principate molded
the Augustan technical and topical restrictions of astro
logical practice into a fixed legal pattern which persisted
until the end of the fourth century a . d ., when the total
empire wide ban of the practice of astrology and all
other forms of divination* replaced the limited Augustan
restrictions.

VI. E M P IR E W ID E L EG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y A N D O T H E R D IV IN A T IO N
D U R IN G T H E P R IN C IP A T E
1. T H E A U G U ST A N E D IC T O F A .D . I I 1

structure of the old republic in normal times seemed to

render harmless the inflammatory potential of astro
logical predictions among the masses of Rome and Italy,
at least prior to the age of the Gracchi.
The great revolution of the first century b . c . which
culminated in the overthrow of the republic and the
establishment of the principate put an end to official
complacency. Sulla and Pompey, both willing listeners
of astrologers , 3 had refused to grasp monarchic power
when it was within reach. Julias-C aesar at last ad
ministered the death blow to the m oribundrepublic.
His overt introduction of absolute monarchy, however,
shocked even those who conceded the need for radical
changes. The Ides of March. 44 b . c ., were the result,
but the assassination of the dictator did not resuscitate
the old order. W ith Octavianus victory over M ark
Antony in 30 b . c . the permanent monarchic era began.
The new ruler was careful to camouflage his power
behind the faqade of a constitution. Adopted in 27 b . c .
it inaugurated the period called the principate. Never
theless Octavianus, who recently had been voted the
1 This chapter is essentially based on my article T he Caesars title Augustus by the senate, fully realized the pre

The trium phant rise of astrology in the Latin world

reached its zenith in the early principate. Scholars and
generals, poets and emperors, society ladies and girls
who trod the primrose path now swelled the ranks of
the faithful. Prior to the establishment of the princi
pate, the Roman government had demonstrated its oppo
sition to the practice of astrology only twice, in 139 and
in 33 b . c.- In each instance government action had
been confined to a regional ban applying to the capital
and Italy in 139, and to Rome only in 33 b . c . Beyond
the Italian peninsula Roman law took no cognizance of
astrology until the reign of Augustus. The apathy of
the preceding republican era was chiefly due to two
reasons: (1) The well established constitutional ladder
of honors and offices provided sufficient outlets for the
politically ambitious. Astrological promises of future
greatness, therefore, could be fulfilled through consti
tutional channels and did not incite to political coups.
(2) The traditional stability of the social and religious
and the stars, Seminar 9. 1951 : 1-35; 10, 1952: 1-59.
1 Valerius Maximus, I, 3, 3; Cassius Dio, 56, 25, 5-6.

* Plutarch, Sulla, 5, 5-6; 37, 1; Cicero, de divinatione 2, 47, 99.

E M P IR E W ID E LEGAL R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STROLO G Y
cariousness of his position. Having himself received
the encouragement of astrological predictions of a bril
liant future . 4 he was aware of their heady taste. Of the
great families of republican Rome a number considered
the Julian gens as an upstart and themselves entertained
hopes of claiming the throne. Energetic noblemen,
therefore, might easily be persuaded by astrological ad
visers that the coup which they planned was destined
to succeed.
Not only astrology, but other forms of divination also
could exercise such an inflammatory influence, especially
the ubiquitous oracular literature. After the short-lived
ban of diviners from Rome (33 B . C . ) , however, more
than twenty years elapsed before official action was taken
again in this field. On March 6 , 12 b . c . Augustus
claimed the last of the great offices of state which he had
hitherto refrained from assuming and became pontifex
maximus .5 A t once he ordered the confiscation of all
oracular literature. More than two thousand books and
scrolls of this kind were gathered in. W ith the sole
exception of the Sibylline books all were condemned and
in a solemn autodaje committed to the flames.
No ban, however, seems to have been proclaimed at
the time on the publication of oracular, astrological, or
any other divinatory writings. This was in keeping
with the relatively liberal attitude of Augustus, grudg
ingly even admitted by Tacitus , 7 concerning freedom of
literary expression. Not until the last decade of his
long reign did the aging ruler begin to reconsider his
policy. The immediate cause of this change appears to
have been the famine period beginning in a . d . 5.8 The
first official step in the new direction was the reinter
pretation of the ancient lex maiestatis (which in earlier
times had only been applied to those who had harmed
the state by acts, not merely by words)." This legal
policy went into effect sometime between a . d . 7 and 11,
probably around the year 8 . 10 For the new crime of
literary treason a new penalty was provided: the
burning of the culprits subversive writings . 11 In more

249

serious cases of this kind Augustus sanctioned the addi

tional imposition of the penalty of exile . 12 Not until the
reign of Tiberius was the death penalty imposed upon
literary traitors. 13
It was inevitable that the new Augustan policy led to
the curtailment of the hitherto unlimited freedom of
astrological practice. The older the emperor became the
more eagerly did his opponents seek information about
the prospective date of his demise. Republicans might
hope for a restoration of the old order, while ambitious
individuals would seek the throne for themselves when
his long reign came to a close. No other form of divina
tion inspired, in upper class Romans at least, the same
confidence as astrology whose logically infallible
revelations were widely accepted. Even when these
were disproven by subsequent events only the human
frailty of the astrologers, but not the fallacy of their
tenets was blamed , 14 a point of view fully shared by
Augustus himself. The fanatical devotion to astrology
of Tiberius, heir designate, and the influence of his
friend Thrasyllus, whom he had introduced into the
inner Augustan circle, may have contributed to the old
emperors decision to place certain restrictions on the
manner and scope of astrological practice and that of
other divinatory techniques. No longer would curbs
be confined to short time regional expulsion measures,
but durable empire wide imperial legislation was to
circumscribe astrological and other divinatory activities
everywhere. This was done by means of an imperial
edict, proclaimed it seems during the quaestorship of
Tiberius son Drusus in a . d . I I . 1*
The text of this edict has not been rediscovered as yet.
The gist of it, however, was preserved by Cassius D io :

11 The trial of Cassius Severus seems to have been the only

one of its kind which, during the Augustan era, ended with a
sentence of exile.
** In Criminal trials and criminal legislation under Tiberius,
R. S. Rogers listed more than a hundred maiestas trials, while
W. Allen, The political atmosphere of the reign of Tiberius,
Trans. Amer. Philol. Assn. 42, 1941: 18, counted only sixtythree. Closer to the figure of Rogers came E. Ciaceri, La respon
sibility di Tiberio nell applicazione della L e x Iulia maiestatis,
Suetonius, Augustus, 94, 12.
0 C IL 1, 2nd ed .: 371 = 9 : 503, no. 5289, 1; compare Monu- Studi storici per Vantichita classica 3, 1910: 1-30, esp. 18 ff.,
mentum Ancyranum 2, 10; Appian, bell. civ. 5, 13, 131.
with ninety-five maiestas trials in the reign of Tiberius. The first
4 Suetonius, Augustus, 31, 1; Cassius Dio, 54, 27, 2-3. For an execution for the crime of literary treason seems to have been
earlier attempt of Augustus to establish a secret official version that of Clutorius P riscus; Tacitus, Annals 3, 49-51; Cassius Dio
57, 20, 3. R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 207, calls the action
of the Sibylline books, see Cassius Dio, 54, 15, 8; compare
quasi-matVrtar. E. Ciaceri, La responsibility di Tiberio nell
Tacitus, Annals 6, 18 (12).
applicazione della L ex Iulia maiestatis, Studi storici per Canti7 Tacitus, Annals 4, 34.
Suetonius, Augustus, 42, 3; compare 19, 3; Cassius Dio, 55, chita classica 2, 1909 : 377-415, suggests that the senates belief
in the magical quality of Clutorius poems was responsible for
26, 1-5; 27, 1-3; Jerome, Chron., 01.196 ( a . d . 6).
the harsh sentence. In any case it was the senate, not Tiberius,
Tacitus, Annals, 1, 72; but see Suetonius, Tiberius, 2, 3.
10 Compare F. H . Cramer, Bookburning and censorship in who created in a . d . 21 the precedent of capital punishment for
ancient Rome, Jour. H ist. Ideas 6, 1945: 168 ff. The opposite 'literary treaso n ; cf. Rogers, Criminal trials: 62-64; Studies
in the reign of Tiberius: 149. A similar case, that of Aelius
view, i.e. that in spite of Tacitus assertion Augustus did not
Saturninus, ended in a . d . 23 also with the defendant's execution,
institute the maiestas procedure in cases oi libel and slander, is
this time, however, with the emperor's express sanction.
held by R. S. Rogers, Augustus and Iesc majcstc.
14 F or a classical formulation of this attitude, see for example.
11 Seneca, controversiae 10, pr., 5. in connection with the fate
Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 1, 6.
of Labienus. establishes conclusively the novelty of this pro
15 C IL 12: 25, no. 147; Cassius Dio, 56, 25, 4.
cedure at the time.

250

A STROLO GY IN RO M AN LA W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

It was forbidden to diviners (pulurcaiv) to prophesy to

any person alone o r to prophesy reg ard in g death even if
others should be present.18

That astrologers were undoubtedly included among the

diviners, or even perhaps the chief target of the Augus
tan edict, was shown by Dio's (or rather Xiphilinus)
words immediately following the above lines:
Y et so far was A ugustus from carin g about such m atters
in his own case th a t he set forth to all in an edict the
aspect of the stars at the tim e of his own b irth [and thiis
revealed his death d a te !]. N evertheless he forbade this
practice.16*

The whole somewhat vague, and probably mutilated pas

sage indicates that (1) Augustus in an edict revealed
his own horoscope and with it the date of his future
demise (according to astrological calculations), ( 2 ) he
forbade such astrological practice henceforth, (3 ) con
sultations a deux were prohibited. (4) the most popular
topic: When would someone die ? was unequivocally
outlawed for all diviners throughout the empire. The
immediate reasons for these regulations were not diffi
cult to find. Obviously, rumors of the emperor's ap, proaching end were circulating freely in 1 1 , strengthened
| by the recent appearance of comets, 17 the usual har
bingers of a rulers death. By publishing his horoscope,
Augustus hoped to prove that this event was not
likely to occur in the near future, and thus to calm
excited spirits. The danger of telling slaves, prospec
tive heirs, dissatisfied wives or husbands, or personal
enemies the date at which they could expect the death
of masters, spouses, or enemies was clearly that, con
vinced of the inevitability and the nearness of the
happy event, they might take matters into their own
hands if nature refused to abide by the stars . 18 Finally
the presence of witnesses would, one might hope, restrain
clients from asking unlawful questions and prevent
astrologers and other diviners from answering them.
These two restrictions, binding upon all other diviners
as well as upon astrologers, proved the most difficult to
enforce. Nevertheless, they seem to have been kept
o n the statute books until the fourth century a . d .
Tiberius reenforced the Augustan edict by reminding
the haruspices specifically that they too had to abide by
1* Cassius Dio, 56, 25, 5.
* Loc. cit.
17 Ibid. S6, 24, 3-4:
. the sky in many places seemed ablaze,
and numerous comets appeared at one and the same tim e; spears
seemed to dart from the north and to fall in the direction of
the Roman camps." These and other portents were connected
with the annihilation o three legions in Germany in the year
a . d . 9.
From then on the Roman population, always prone
since the days of the G m bri and Teutonesto tremble at the
thought of another Germanic invasion, may have become restive.
The advanced age of the emperor added to the general uncer
tainty about the political future.
Compare F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars (2 ),
Seminar 10, 1952 : 50 f.

it . 10 Another refinement of the Tiberian era was the

distinction made between those on whose well being (de
salute) information had been sought. Inquiries of this
sort about the emperor and his house continued to be
punished with great severity for almost four hundred
years after the reign of Augustus . 50 Severe penalties
were also applied to slaves who had inquired about the
death of their masters. In general political motives
were always viewed more gravely than any others in
the enforcement of the Augustan edict of a . d . 11. The
fear of rebellion or of an outright coup had, indeed, been
largely responsible for its very proclamation. But from
the very beginning the new edict posed a very difficult
problem of law enforcement. Its changing interpreta
tion in legal practice is apparent from a number of state
trials of the first century a . d . Most of the evidence
produced at such trials was ferreted out by secret police
agents whose duties included the surveillance of possible
forbidden consultations of this kind.
In a . d . 11 the recently (after a . d . 6 ) established joint
fire-fighting and police corps in Rome numbered about
seven thousand freedmen, divided into seven cohorts, a
far higher percentage than prevailed, for instance in
western European capitals at the end of the nineteenth
century . 21 A t first a provisional imperial organization,
the vigiles, patterned after long existing Hellenistic
municipal police corps , 22 eventually took over what in
earlier times had been a senatorial competence. Outside
Rome such forces remained under strictly municipal
control, making the enforcement of imperial legislation
like the edict of a . d . 11 a difficult task. The potential
political ramifications of secret astrological consultations
on forbidden topics were usually too elusive to be dis
covered by these brave vigiles or their provincial counter
part. T heir counterpart, the secret police, through its
far-flung network of agents, was better equipped to
enforce the Augustan edict. These curiosi or speculatores
at first were usually soldiers or officers in mufti. From
the time of the second triumvirate, i.e. after Julius
1* Suetonius, Tiberius, 63, 1: . . . H e forbade anyone to con
sult haruspices secretly and without witnesses. One wonders
whether this exact reaffirmation of the Augustan edict of a . d . 11
did not also apply to astrologers.
Paulus. Sententiae 5, 21. 3-4, and Ulpian, de officio proconsulis 7 in Leg. Mos. et Rom. coll., 15. 2, summarized the legal
situation in this field at the very end of the principate. No major
changes of legal theory or practice were recorded thereafter,
until the total ban of all divination throughout the empire in the
second half of the fourth century.
31 In 1891 for example there were per thousand inhabitants:
23 policemen in both London and V ienna; 30 in B russels; 32 in
B erlin; 35 in Paris, compared to no fewer than about 70 vigiles
in Augustan Rome, allowing for a population of approximately
one million at that tim e: see O. Hirschfeld, Die kaiserlichen
Verwaltungsbeamten, 2nd e d .: 254, n. 4; on the vigiles in general
ibid.: 252 ff.
51 These had long existed in cities like Pergamum and Alex
andria. T he Latin west during the principate also developed
municipal police corps, for example in Lyon, Faventia, and
Nemausus.

E M P IR E W ID E LEG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F ASTRO LO GY
Caesars death, their numbers and importance grew
steadily . - 3 By the end of the first century a . d . the
peaceful Stoic Epictetus described these eyes and ears
of the imperial government in terms which have an
ominously modern ring:
W hen someone ap p ears to us to discourse fran k ly on his
own affairs, we. too, a re some w ay induced to discover
ou r secrets to him. . . . I t is thus th at the inconsiderate are
caught by the secret ag en ts in Rome. A secret police agent
sits by you and begins to speak ill of the em peror. Then
you, as if you had received a pledge of his fidelity by his
first beg in n in g of this abuse, say likew ise w h at you th in k ;
and so you a re led aw ay in chains to execution.2*

The Roman government must have relied chiefly on

devious methods in obtaining evidence of forbidden astro
logical consultations. Such violations of the law were
undoubtedly prosecuted throughout the empire, though
with varying degrees of severity, from Augustus to
Theodosius I (d. a . d . 395 ) , 25 but ancient historians
have apparently paid little attention to those provincial
transgressions. They have preferred, especially the
writers of the first century, to focus attention on the
sensational state trials in Rome. They have thereby at
least enabled us to trace the hardening of the legal theory
of the Augustan edict of a . d . 11 in the fire of court
practice.
2.

T H E E V O L U T IO N O F T H E A U G U ST A N E D IC T
IN LEG A L P R A C T IC E (A. D. 11-49)

No record has survived of legal action taken during

the last few years of the reign of Augustus to enforce
the edict of 11. But beginning with the reign of Tiberius

251

there is evidence to show the application of this law in

a series of state trials. Of these, five occurred in the
reign of Tiberius and during the first eight years of the
rule of Claudius. Tried before the Roman senate in its
new capacity as a kind of supreme court, the defendants
in these cases uniformly belonged to the highest stratum
of Roman society. It must, however, be assumed that
similar prosecutions took place elsewhere even though
none of them reached the eye of posterity. Almost the
same situation prevailed concerning astrologers caught
in the meshes of the edict of 11. For the most part thev
were obscure men whose fate did not interest the writers
of the period. Apart from some general references to
the punishment of guilty diviners only two instances
involving them seem to have survived from the period
during which the law of topical and technical restrictions
received its final molding in the courts of Tiberius and
Claudius until a . d . 49.
Their reigns witnessed the emergence of the legal con
cept that violations of the edict of a . d . 1 1 constituted
treason per se when involving the well being ( salus)
of the emperor, and eventually also that of any member
of the imperial family. At first, indictments for for
bidden consultations of this kind formed only an addi
tional part of a general maiestas charge which was based
on more traditional accusations like outright conspiracy
to overthrow the government, or crimes like adultery or
fraud. The transgression of the edict of 11 was merely
adduced to add a more damning touch to the whole.
The evolution of the importance of this particular charge
as a foundation for a maiestas indictment can be traced
through five state trials.

TABLE 7
D ate

Defendant

Indictment

Verdict

Penalty

A . D.

1)

16

M. Scribonius
Libo Drusus

maiestas

2)

20

Aemilia Lepida

maiestas,
falsum. etc.

3)

26

Claudia Pulchra

maiestas,
adultery,
unchastitv

guilty?
guilty
guilty

4) a)

32

Mamercus-Aemilius Scaurus

b)

34

maiestas.
adultery

guilty

5)

49

guilty
quashed

quashed ?

Lollia Paulina

53 To be inferred from Suetonius, Augustus, 27, 3.

14 Epictetus. Discourses. 4, 13. 1; compare the excellent study
of O. Hirschfeld, Die Sicherheitspolizei im roemischen Kaiserreich, Sitzungsberichte der kgl. Akademie der IViss. :ti Berlin
(Phil.-H ist. K l.), 39, 30. Juli 1891: 1-35.

guilty

( suicide before verdict;

I estate confiscated
( exile, property assigned
{ to daughter from Mamercus
[
Scaurus
unknown
probably exile
none
f suicide before verdict;
j seven orations burnt.
|_property confiscated ?
f
exile,
{ confiscation of most of
[
her estate

The legal principle in strict conformity with the courtpractice of the reigns of Claudius and his successors was ex
plicitly restated as late as 394; C. Th. 16. 10. 12. 1.

252

ASTRO LO G Y IN ROM AN LAW U N T IL T H E END O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

From a . d . 49 on violations of the edict of a . d . 11, if

involving the saltts of the imperial family, were con
sidered to constitute the crime of maiestas. In order
to understand the use of this indictment in the state
trials of the first century, one should briefly outline its
historical evolution.
According to prevailing opinion 28 the concept of lese
majcstc was formed when, following the unification of
Italy under Roman leadership, the Carthaginian wars
inaugurated the empire building era, i. e. after 272 b . c.
Originally 'maiestas was an attribute of the gods, but
now the Roman state came to claim the same prerogative.
Until the end of the Republican period, however, and
even during most of the reign of Augustus concrete
action against the state was the only generally accepted
basis for maiestas actions.28* Anyone who openly re
fused to obey the laws or aimed at the supreme power
was considered guilty of the crime minutae maiestatis.-7
No libel or slander action for maiestas could apparently
be brought, at least until the end of the republican era.27*
High treason (pirdueilio) was usually prosecuted by a
separate action . 28 During the last century of the re
public both actions, the one for minutae maiestatis and
the one for perduellio, were gradually fused into the
single maiestas indictment.
The oldest, though not well authenticated, attempt of
actual maiestas legislation may have been a lex Gabinia
of 139 b. c. It imposed the death penalty in the horrible
form of the mos maiorum on anyone who would con
vene secret meetings in the city. 2t Such an enactment
would at least have been in keeping with the known
mood of the government and the restiveness at Rome
in that year when, be it remembered, astrologers and
the.followers of Jupiter Sabazios were driven from the
capital probably on the grounds of adding to the public
restiveness. 30 A subsequent lex MamUia, voted in 109
b . c. against Jugurthas friends in Rome, was soon

broadened into what appears to have been the first lex

de maicstate immiimta. Passed in 103 or 100 b . c . this
law, usually referred to as the lex Apidcia, covered the
crimes of sedition and its forerunner, subversive plotting.
A special lex Varm of 90 b . c . was aimed at Roman
supporters of the rebellious allies. It was succeeded
in 81 b . c. by a lex Cornelia. This law became the basis
of all subsequent legislation and legal practice concern
ing maiestas. It punished with interdiction from water
and fire, i. e. with exile, anyone who overstepped the
powers of his office, prevented a magistrate from the
exercise of his legitimate authority, damaged Roman
sovereignty, or was responsible for a rebellion. Julius
Caesar finally in a lex Julia of 46 b . c. merged the two
actions of perduellio and maiestas into a single one, the
new action of maiestas. Henceforth three main types
of action constituted the crime of maiestas:
(1) Proditio, i.e. high-treason; actions committed
either against the state (desertion, cowardice in battle,
etc.) or against individual magistrates, including the
ruler.
(2 ) T reason; committed for instance by participating
in conspiracies, the withholding of knowledge of plots
from the authorities, or the founding of subversive
organizations.
(3 ) Calumny and libel of the government, a crime
which at least since the reign of Augustus included
attacks against the emperor in speech or writing.
Prosecution of these crimes in republican days took
place before the comitia. W ith their abolition in a . d .
14, the senate became the tribunal for such actions in
maiestas cases involving Roman noblemen. Its function
thus may be compared perhaps to that of the British
House of Lords in which peers of the realm can still
claim a judgment by their peers in English law today.
While Roman jurists of the principate continued to em
ploy the old term perduellio ,31 the legal practice used
only the maiestas action. This often makes it difficult
For a presentation of more recent opinion on the subject
against the older views of Th. Mommsen and others who as to discern the actual basis of an indictment or of a
sumed a much earlier origin of the legal maiestas concept, see conviction, since it became customary to throw in for
Kuebler, R E 14, 1, 1928: c. 542 ff., esp. section II.
good measure a maiestas charge along with other less
j Thus Tacitus, Annals 1, 72.
deadly accusations like adultery, unchastitv, pr ,corrup
11 The first author known to refer to a crime minutae maies
tion. In an effort to sift the different kinds'o? crimes
tatis was Cicero, de oratore 2, 25, 107. Under this law, then
new, some cases were prosecuted of which Cicero spoke in for which in the reign of Tiberius maiestas actions were
brought, a distinction has been attempted between per
de natura deorum 3, 10, 74; compare also, de inventione 2, 105;
ep. ad jam. 3, 11. 2; in Verrem 2, 1, 5, 12; pro Cluentio, 35, 97; duellio charges, maiestas cases, and even quasi-maiestas
in Pisonent, 21, 50.
indictments . 32 It has already been mentioned that during
* That in 246 b . c. a certain Claudia was indicted for maiestas
the last years of Augustus anti-monarchic oral or written
tor mere w ords (Suetonius, Tiberius, 2, 3) was if true an
utterances, or direct invective against the ruler came to
isolated case. For the general policy at the end of the republic,
sec tor example R. S. Rogers, Cicero, ad familiares 3, 11, 2 and
be considered sufficient grounds for maiestas actions.
the Lex Cornelia Maiestatis, Trans. Amer. PhUol. Assn. 82,
In the reign of Tiberius lack of respect for imperial
1951: 196-199.
statues or portraits, perjury involving the name of the
'* The trial of Rabirius in 54 8. c. was one of the last perduellio
cases on record; on the meaning of perduellio, see Chr. Brecht, emperor, claiming of princely honors or prerogatives,
R E 19. 1, 1937: c. 615-639; R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials ; 206 ff. any violation of the respect due to the sovereign (and
Porcius Latro. declainatio in Catilinam. 19.
Valerius Maximus. 1, 3, 3, when read against the Roman
history of that period, implies that much.

31 Compare for instance Ulpian, Dig. 48, 4, 16.

33 R. S. Rogers. Criminal trials: 206 ff.

E M P IR E W ID E LEG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STRO LO G Y

253

soon also to the members of his family), or. naturally,

any plotting against his person, any or all of these
exposed the culprit to maiestas indictments. To sleep
without benefit of clergy with a daughter or grand
daughter of Augustus also became a maiestas crime.
A part from the loss of face the imperial family might
suffer from such activities, the possibility of illegitimate
claimants of the throne may have caused the serious
view taken of such amorous antics. Gnawing doubts
of this kind beset, for example, Tiberius concerning the
paternity of Tiberius Gemellus, his grandson from his
son Drusus and Livilla . 33
F or ordinary maiestas, i. e. so to speak second degree
maiestas, exile remained the chief, but no longer the only
punishment. High treason, on the other hand, at all
times was of course punishable with death. An im
perial refinement in cases of this kind was the granting
of a choice of suicide to aristocratic offenders. Usually
in suchinstances the doomed chose suicide in which
a Roman sutteeoccasionally wives voluntarily joined
their husbands. Not infrequently defendants who an
ticipated being convicted in a pending trial, killed them
selves, hoping that by dying unconvicted they could
preserve their property for their families, while, after
conviction, the confiscation of the entire estate was almost,
inevitable, a legal parallel to the old English Common
Law in felony cases. Actually, however, suicide before
the verdict by no means guaranteed to a Roman noble
man the financial salvation of his family. 34 The extant
records of state trials before the Roman senate during
the principate list only members of the senatorial or
equestrian rank among the defendants. There can be
little doubt, however, that the same legal principles were
applied in the prosecution of lesser men.
W hen in Rome, the emperor often presided over
maiestas trials held before the senate. On one occasion
the Fathers convicted and executed a knight, Clutorius
Priscus ( a . d . 21) without imperial sanction and were
sternly reprimanded. Henceforth, Tiberius ruled, a
ten day respite was to be given the convicted in such
cases so that imperial clemency might intercede on their
behalf. Quite often the senate in the absence of com
munication from the emperor in maiestas cases post
poned action pending the return of the ruler or the
arrival of word of his stand in the matter.

Rome knew no public prosecutors. Maiestas actions

therefore were initiated by private prosecutors in the
manner of a private law suit against an ordinary defend
ant. In cases of this kind, however, the public interest
was at stake to a greater degree than usual. There was,
therefore, frequently direct imperial intervention on
behalf of one side or the other, including imperial orders
for the sale of a defendants slaves so that they, legally
unable to testify against a master, would now as stateslaves " be subject to the rack to wring from their lips
evidence against their former masters . 35 Occasionally
imperial orders were also issued to quash one or all
counts of a maiestas indictment, or on the contrary in
structing the senate to find the defendant guilty.
Instances of this kind attest to the fluidity of legal prac
tice in maiestas trials during the early principate. In
any case the financial 38 and political incentive of bring
ing in indictments of maiestas was great enough to
encourage not only sincere supporters of the govern
ment, but also unscrupulous opportunists to tack maies
tas charges onto indictments of ranking Romans accused
of assorted other crimes. Even if no conviction on the
treason count resulted, the record of having once been
under a maiestas accusation inevitably tended to blacken
the character of even an acquitted defendant. The main
preventive against wholly fabricated maiestas charges
was the threat of a caiumnia action against plaintiffs
who brought, but lost such law suits. Exile of one kind
or another seems to have been the penalty for con
viction of caiumnia.1''
It was thus clear that the Augustan edict of a . d . 11
would provide splendid material for maiestas charges.
Imperial faith in the infallibility of astrology created a
fertile atmosphere for accusations of forbidden astro
logical consultations. Scientific astrology never became
the favorite form of divination among the Roman masses,
but it obtained a firm hold on the minds of Romes
upper class in the first century a . d . Predictions based
on astrology (and magic) were preferred by the nobility
to those obtained from older forms of divination. The
stage thus was set for the legal evolution of the Au
gustan law of technical and topical restrictions in the
courts of the principate.

14 Suetonius, Tiberius, 62, 3 ; Cassius Dio, 58, 23, 2.

Form al damnatio memoriae of a defendant automatically
included the confiscation of his entire estate; Papinian, Dig. 31,
76, 9. In the early principate. however, such cases seem to have
been relatively infrequent and the legal practice less h a rs h ;
compare Tacitus. Annals 6,29; Papinians contemporary, Cassius
Dio, 58, 15, 4-16, 1, confirms the view that the later principate
became less tolerant in this matter. Neratius pointed out that
confiscation in perduellio cases was the rule upon conviction;
Ulpian, Dig. 48, 4, 11. If that was true, and it almost certainly
was from time immemorial, it follows that most maiestas cases
of the first century a . d . were second degree treason cases,
and not perduellio actions.

F or example in the trials of Libo Drusus and Aemilia Lepida;

see F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars, Seminar 9, 1951:
15-23.
Compare Tacitus, Annals 2, 32; 4, 20; Cassius Dio, 57, 19,
2; 58, 4, 8 . In the case of Libo Drusus ( a . d . 16), for example,
the successful accusers received their share, except for Vibius
(Tacitus, Annals 4, 29), although the defendant had committed
suicide before the verdict; cf. Tacitus. Annals 2, 28 and 30;
Cassius Dio. 57, 15, 5. The indictment had obviously been ior
perduellio (in which case Ulpian's citation from Neratius would
apply).
See Strachan-Davidson, Problems of the Roman criminal
law 2, 1912: 138; cf. R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 197 f.

254

A STR O LO G Y IN ROM AN LAW U N T IL T H E EN D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

CASE 1

Scribotiius Libo Drusus was indicted for maiestas 38

in the late summer of 16 a . d .. probably around Septem
ber first. There had been some earlier suspicion of his
loyalty, but these doubts had apparently been allayed.
For Tiberius had permitted the young man to become
praetor, but this did not satisfy the spendthrift. He
seems to have continued to nurse higher ambitions.
Modern scholars have tended to redraw the harsh Tibenan portrait provided by the aristocratic sources of
Tacitus ( who nowadays is often accused of purely parti
san malice in blackening the record of Tiberius reign
and of his personality). In consequence the Tacitean
view' of Libo as a giddy-headed young fool, who was
quasi-innocentlv indulging in at least ambiguous activi
ties, has been seriously questioned. Libo thus came to
be considered by a number of modem scholars as a real
menace, while the gentle soul of Tiberius was driven
only with great reluctance to take extreme measures
against a dangerous plotter. To anyone who in the
ever present historical record finds incontrovertible evi
dence of the corrupting influence of supreme power on
, even the best of mortals these modem reappraisals must
remain unconvincing. The great and relatively mild
rulers of the principate from Nerva to Marcus Aurelius
(96-180) dealt with a tamed Roman nobility. Their
predecessors, however, had done the taming. They had
been faced with an aristocratic opposition of not incon
siderable strength. In the reign of Tiberius antimonarchic traditions were still strong within the great
families of Rome, while, on the other hand, ambitious
individuals constantly looked for ways and means to put
themselves on the imperial throne.
The most impartial appraisal perhaps of Libos plot
and of the young man's character is that of the younger
Seneca who decades after the trial spoke of him as of
a man who in that age hoped for greater things than
anyone could hope for, or than he could hope for in any
age." 39 Against this coolly stated view (which sup
ports the Tacitean character portrait of the young con
spirator) modem attempts to elevate Libo to the level
of a Catilina stand up with difficulty. 40 The Fasti
Am iternini recorded for September 13, a . d . 16 that
Libo had harbored nefarious plans against the life
(de salute) of Tiberius, his children and other ranking
citizens, as well as against the state . 41 This accusation
was reiterated in all subsequent literary records. Vel
leius Paterculus, writing less than fifteen years after the
trial, in his ardently pro-Tiberian Roman History res" Ib id .: 12 ff., for a detailed discussion of the whole trial.
Seneca, epist., 70, 10.
40 F o r instance S. R. Rogers, loc. cit.: F. B. Marsh, The reign
of Tiberius: 59 f . ; Tacitus and the aristocratic tradition, Jour.
Class. Philol. 21, 1926 : 291-304, esp. 300 f .: also R. S. Rogers,
Studies in the reign of Tiberius: 27; 46; 48; 76 (with a doubtful
interpretation of Velleius Paterculus, 2, 129, 3) ; 84; 115 f.
41 Fasti Amiternini, C IL 1, 2nd ed.: 244.

ferred to L ite s plans as scelerata.4- Seneca, although

expressing himself in more cautious terms (quoted
alx)ve). left no doubt of Libo's treasonable aspirations.
Tacitus recorded that the official indictment accused
Lilx) that he did moliri res novas, i. e. was planning a
coup detat.43 Suetonius, using perhaps the same source
as Tacitus, couched his brief reference in a more factual
manner. While Tacitus carefully dissociated himself
from the actual accusation by merely saying that Libo
was denounced for such activities. Suetonius simply
reported as a fact that Libo res novas clam moliebatur,
i. e. that Libo plotted a coup . 44 Cassius Dio in turn
followed the more cautious Tacitean version by relating
that Libo apparently planned some coup .45
The text of the Fasti undoubtedly reflected the official
view. For the future development of court procedure
in prosecutions involving a breach of the Augustan
edict of a . d . 1 1 the distinction between the de salute
indictment and the one for de republica plotting was
important. It showed the merging of the old and the
new pattern of maiestas accusations. The salus of the
emperor, in particular, and of his house on the one
hand, and the whole principate's survival, on the other,
were seen as endangered by Libos conspiracy. The
maiestas indictment was made on these two counts
jointly. Apparently for the first time forbidden con
sultations with astrologers and other diviners, and even
with necromancers and other sorcerers, were introduced
as incriminating evidence. W hether or not these vio
lations of the Augustan edict and of the ancient law
against black magic were committed at the instigation
of an agent provocateur by the name of Firm ius Catus
could hardly influence the legal evaluation of such acts.
It was proven beyond any doubt that Libo had sought
the promises of the Chaldaeans. the rites of sorcerers,
as well as the interpreters of dreams. 44 Astrological
promises of future grandeur, obtainable obviously only
by the success of Libo's conspiracy against the ruler
and his house, thus constituted an important part of the
evidence.
Such evidence, however, was not yet considered in
itself prima facie proof of maiestas. It was merely used
to confirm from one important angle the general charge
of treason. The ludicrous character of Libos inquiries
was illustrated by one of the questions actually sub
mitted by him to astrologers and other diviners: W ould
he ever be wealthy enough to cover with money the
pavement of the Appian road [from Rome] as far as
Brindisi ? 47
For the four accusers Vibius Serenus undertook to
Velleius Paterculus, 2, 130, 3 : quid hie [Tiberius] meruit
ut scelerata Drusus Libo iniret ?
** Tacitus, Annals 2, 27.
44 Suetonius, Tiberius, 25. 1.
Cassius Dio, 57, 15, 4 : [Libo] Sofapra n n a T tp i(e w .
Tacitus, Annals 2, 27; compare also 28 ff.
47 Ibid. 2, 30.

E M P IR E W ID E L EG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STRO LO G Y
act as spokesman. H e presented the charges, begin
ning with the above mentioned violations of the Augus
tan edict. 48 The importance of this particular section
of the indictment has recently been questioned , 49 but
there can be no doubt that Tiberius and his legal ad
visers. all of whom were probably confirmed believers
in astrology, attached great importance to it , 50 even
though they were not yet ready to impose the penalties
of exile or death for violations of the Augustan edict of
a . d . 11 alone.
Additional proof of perduellio was still
required before the full rigor of the lex Julia of 46 b . c .
would be invoked. One of the most damning bits of
evidence introduced at Libos trial was his notebook
which in his own writing contained fearful or code
entries (atroces vel occultas) behind the names of the
Caesars and certain senators . 51
The obvious interpretation of this find was that these
persons had been the topic of forbidden divinatory or
magical consultations. Libo protested feebly that the
damning notebook was not his own, but his statement
fell on sceptical ears. F or had not a certain necro
mancer by the name of Junius been among the first
informers against Libo who had asked the man to em
ploy his magical prowess on his behalf ! 52 In such inti
mate matters as forbidden astrological consultations the
testimony of a defendants slaves would often be a vital
source of evidence. Traditionally slaves in cases of this
kind were not permitted to give evidence against their
masters. They, therefore, could not be questioned by
the prosecution. Although Tacitus asserted that Tiberius
was the first to use the legal device of enforcing the
sale of slaves to the state with the purpose of then
obtaining their testimony against a defendant, 53 the be
ginnings of this legal technique apparently went back
also to the crucial last decade of Augustus reign . 54
The change thus would coincide with the general altera
tion of Augustan policies from a more liberal towards
more restrictive tendencies.
The testimony of his former slaves seems to have
established the guilt of Libo on all counts beyond any
reasonable doubt. Despairing of his cause Libo killed

255

himself. 55 Since his indictment of maiestas, however,

charged perduellio. his suicide before the actual verdict
did not affect the fate of his estate. The senate having
convicted the defendant posthumously, his property was
confiscated and divided up. even though Tiberius vetoed
a senatorial damnatio memoriae. The date of the plots
discovery became an official Roman Guv Fawkes day
(September U ) . " 0 Nevertheless, the almost frantic
modern insistence on the importance of Libos plot re
mains hard to reconcile with the incontrovertible evi
dence of his empty-headed personality. That a gav fool
like Libo should pose a serious threat to the Tiberian
power and to the monarchic regime in general, especially
in view of the apparent lack of army support for his plot,
must at least arouse serious doubt. It anticipates the
future, however, to say that as early as a . d . 16 other
actions of Libo must have added sufficient evidence of
treasonable conduct to bring about his conviction for
maiestas. The prosecution was attempting, and proba
bly with success, to show that the defendant was guilty
of such traffic with astrologers as was interpreted by
the lex Julia maiestatis [and the more recent edict of
a . d . 1 1 ] as perduellio . 57
case

Four years afterwards another state trial took place

which involved violations of the edict of a . d . 1 1 .
Towards the end of the summer of a . d . 20 Aemilia
Lepida, one of Rome's ranking society matrons, was
accused of forbidden astrological consultations. This
charge was not the only one brought against her, but it
alone was apparently used for the purpose of tacking a
maiestas indictment onto other accusations, including
actions for adultery and jalsum, as well as of the
attempted poisoning of her former husband Quirinus .58
The illustrious descent of the defendant contributed to
the sensation of her trial. Sulla and Pompey were
among her great-grandparents, the late triumvir, Marcus
Lepidus, was her grandfather. Augustus at one time
had deemed her worthy of being formally betrothed to
his own grandson, L. Caesar . 50 The engagement had
soon been dissolved, however, long before the young
man's premature death. For in a . d . 4 Aemilia Lepida
had already been married for years to an elderly Augus
tan general, a self-made man of proven m erit: Publius
48 The four were Firmius Catus, Fulcinius Trio, Fonteius
Sulpicius Q uirinus . 80
Agrippa, and C. Vibius S erenus; Tacitus, loc. cit.
Normally Roman brides had to have attained the age
** See for instance, F. B. Marsh, The reign of Tiberius: 59,
n. 1.
of twelve, at least. Since Suetonius, on the one hand,
50 Thus rightly R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 15. He specifi reported that this marriage lasted for twenty years , 81

cally criticized the lack of psychological understanding on the

part of M arsh ; s e e also Rogers, A Tacitean pattern in narrating
treason trials, in Trans. Am er. Philol. Assoc. 83. 1952 : 279-311.
51 Tacitus. Annals 2, 30.
52 Loc. cit.
5S Loc. cit. See, however, to the contrary Cicero, pro Milone,
22, 59. as well as Dig. 48, 18, 4 and 10, 1, but then there was
never any dearth of contradictory senatus consulta.
51 Paulus. Dig. 48, 18, 8, quoted a pertinent Augustan edict
o f A . d . 8 ; cf. R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 16-18.

Tacitus, Annals 2, 31; Cassius Dio, 57, 15, 5; Seneca, ep.,

70, 10.
M Fasti Amiternini, C IL 1, 2nd ed .: 244; compare 6 : 15, nos.
91-94.
57 R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 16.
** Tacitus, Annals 3, 22.
" Ibid., 23.
* Suetonius, Tiberius, 49, 1.
41 Loc. cit.

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A STR O LO G Y IN RO M A N LA W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

and Tacitus, on the other hand, that at the time of her

trial in a . d . 20 Aemilia Lepida had been married to
(and perhaps even divorced from') Mainercus Aemilius
S caurus0- (to whom she had borne a daughter), she
must have l>een at least in her thirties at the time of
her trial. She was therefore probably born between
15 and 10 b. c. H er first husband. Otiirinus, at the
time of their marriage had already advanced to high
rank in the armies ot Augustus. H is long standing
friendship with T iberius 63 may well have been estab
lished while Aemilia Lepida was still in her infancy.
In 12 b . c . Otiirinus was made consul. Years later he
married Aemilia Lepida. Being a man without illus
trious ancestors, he may well have been at least forty
years old at the time of his consulate and thus on his
wedding day was probably almost four times as old as
his child bride. This was not an unusual age difference
for Roman society marriages, but it may explain the
inevitable estrangement between the old w arrior and
his wife.
Suetonius and Tacitus ascribed the interest of Tiberius
in this unpopular trial of a . d . 2 0 to his hope of reaping
financial benefits from the will of his wealthy and, if
Aemilia Lepidas alleged offspring from Quirinus should
be proven spurious (as the indictment alleged), child
less friend . 84 More likely, however, seems the sugges
tion of Suetonius that the emperors motive was chiefly
his desire to support the embattled Quirinus as a friend .5
For after the trial and conviction of Aemilia Lepida
Tiberius allowed her immense fortune to pass in trust
into the hands of Quirinus successor, i. e. her second
husband Mamercus Scaurus .'8 Another indication of
the emperors desire to eliminate all but those charges
pertinent to the defendants relations with Quirinus
was the quashing of the maiestas indictment which had
charged Lepida with having conspired through astrolo
gers against the house of Caesar . 87 A woman could
never expect to rule the empire in her own right.
Lepidas forbidden inquiries could, therefore, not have
been on this subject. A modern suggestion that Manius
Lepidus, Aemilias brother, had been the person about
-whose imperial prospects the defendant had consulted
astrologers is equally untenable.8* N ot only was Lepi
dus himself not indicted (as under such circumstances
he should have been), but he was even permitted to
conduct his sisters defense before the senate, while
Tiberius hardly an impartial judge in this casepreTacitus, Annals 3, 23.
** Quirinus had been one of the few ranking Romans, who
dared to visit Tiberius at Rhodes when most Roman travelers
shunned the semi-exile; Tacitus. Annals 3, 48.
'* Suetonius, Tiberius, 49, 1; Tacitus, Annals 3, 22.
F. B. Marsh, The reign of Tiberius: 272 f.
** Tacitus, Annals 3, 23.
" Ibid., 22: quaesitumque per Chaldaeos in domum Caesa ris. . .
** See, however, R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 52. Augustus
was said to have considered him as a potential candidate for the
throne; Tacitus, Annals 1, 13.

sided over the trial . 69 Since Lepidas ex-husband,

Quirinus, could not very well have been the topic of her
forbidden inquiries, the only remaining possibility would
be her present (or very recently divorced) second hus
band, Mamercus Scaurus. He seems to have enter
tained no major political aspirations, but an ambitious
wife might nevertheless have probed his (and her!)
future. The death of Germanicus in a . d . 19 may have
strengthened Aemilia's curiosity about the future of
the house of the emperor. Although Scaurus was
convicted of maiestas70 fourteen years later, he was at
this time ( a . d . 2 0 ) still (or again) beyond the shadow
of imperial suspicion . 71
Other possible topics of forbidden inquiries touching
more indirectly upon the imperial family might have
been whether the stars foretold Lepidas divorce from
Scaurus 72 and her subsequent remarriage to a member
of the imperial house, perhaps even to Tiberius son,
Drusus. A t any rate, Tiberius himself does not seem
to have taken the maiestas charge seriously. H e did
not even permit Lepidas slaves to be questioned on the
subject under torture. H e extracted from the slaves of
Quirinus, however, ample evidence of her previous
attempt to poison the old general. Torture also elicited
more than sufficient proof of the defendants scandalous
life. H er conviction, however, was based only on the
counts of adultery and, possibly, of falsum. The evi
dence on the poisoning attempt was disclosed by Tiberius
only after conviction and sentence had been voted by the
senate. She was exiled and at once divorced by Scaurus
(if not already prior to the trial). In the very next
year her first husband, Quirinus, d ied 73 and her second,
Scaurus, became consul suffechis.7* From the facts of
the trial it seems that here for the first time an attempt
was made to base a maiestas charge solely on a violation
of the edict of a . d . 11 involving the imperial familys
future. This legal concept, however, was not yet ap
proved by the government. Hence the maiestas indict
ment was quashed.
case

E M P IR E W ID E LEG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y
Pulchra, a beauteous Claudian. It has been sug
gested that this trial marked the beginning of the great
family feucl between the Claudian and the Julian
branches of the imperial house , 78 the former represented
by Tiberius and his grandson, Tiberius Gemellus, the
latter by Claudia Pulchra's intimate friend, A ugustus
granddaughter and Germanicus widow, the older Agrip
pina and her children. The man who launched the
accusation against Pulchra in 26, Domitius Afer, earned
the deep-seated dislike of Agrippina's youngest son,
Caius, for this action and almost lost his life thirteen
years later when Caius, invested with the imperial
purple, had him tried on a maiestas charge . 77
The indictment of Claudia Pulchra consisted of sev
eral counts: immorality (impudicitia), adultery, and
maiestas, committed by an attempt to poison the em
peror and to employ magic arts ( devotiones) against
him . 78 Normally the lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis would be invoked on the last charge, but since the
person of Tiberius had been the target of Claudia Pulchras alleged crime, the proper action was the one of
maiestas. The defendant may actually have engaged
in those forbidden devotions chiefly for divinatory pur
poses, or she may have consulted diviners about the
probable success of her efforts at magic against Tibe
rius .78 No violation of the edict of a . d . 11 was offi
cially charged, however, and the extant record of her
trial does not even reveal whether she was convicted on
the maiestas indictment, or whether, as in the case of
Aemilia Lepida, these secret practices were considered
insufficient to substantiate per se a charge of maiestas.
She and her latest paramour were found guilty of adul
tery and punished .80 Thus vanished from the Roman
scene the -widow of that luckless Quintilius Varus, who
in a . d . 9 , sharing the fate of his doomed legions, had
perished by his own hand in the murky forests of
Germany, when all was lost.

The popularity of forbidden astrologica^; and other

divinatory consultations among Romes high ranking
ladies in the reign of Tiberius was attested by another
state trial involving charges of such practices. In a . d .
26 (or 2 7 )75 again a woman faced the senate: Claudia
" Tacitus, Annals 3, 22.
* In a . d . 34; compare F. H . Cramer, The Caesars and the
stars (1), Sem inar 9, 19S1: 24-31.
71 H e was not indicted; Tacitus, loc. cit.
71 Compare R. S. Rogers. Studies in the reign of Tiberius: 11.
:1 Tacitus, Annals 3, 48.
7* See F. H . Cramer, The Caesars and the stars, Sem inar 9,
1951: 23 ; 25 f .; R. S. Rogers, op. cit.: 11; 45; 71; 126; 150f.;
Criminal trials: 51 ff., for various aspects of the trial and con
viction of Aemilia Lepida.
75 F. B. Marsh, The reign of Tiberius: 179. This seems an
error, inasmuch as Tiberius left Rome in a . d . 26, never to

return. His interview with the older Agrippina may, however,

have taken place in Rome shortly before his departure.
70 Tacitus. Annals 4, 52.
77 Cassius Dio, 59, 19, 1-7; 20. 1. On Afer's eloquence compare
also Tacitus, Annals. 14, 9; Dialogus, 13 and 15. He died in the
reign of Nero.
78 Tacitus, Annals 4, 52.
71 Apparently her son Quintilius Varus was indicted in the
following year; Tacitus, Annals 4, 66. Could his political pros
pects, if not those of the sons of her intimate friend Agrippina,
have been the topic on which Claudia Pulchra sought refuge in
forbidden consultations, including the possible use of magic r
Tacitus, Annals 4, 52. R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 92,
agrees that we have no way of knowing if Claudia Pulchra was
convicted on the maiestas charge. H e nevertheless listed her
(ibid.: 207 ) as convicted of perduellio. On the penalty probably
imposed upon her, exile and confiscation of her property, see
F. B. Marsh, op. c it.: 179.

CASE

257

W ith Marcus Aemilius Scaurus. consul 115 B .C ., a

hitherto inconspicuous family entered the circle of
Rome's dominant clans. His great-grandson. Mamercus
Aemilius. 31 in almost all other respects an unworthy
descendant of this illustrious ancestor, retained at least
two respectable family traditions. He remained op
posed to the monarchic form of government, anda rare
exception among his classhe could not be bought to
exercise his considerable influence in the senate, the
law courts, or with the emperor.8- On the other hand,
he entertained apparently no great political ambitions.
To the army camp or the onerous duties of governing
a province he preferred the pleasures of Rome. The
theatres and literary circles, the boudoirs and the senate
chamber were the world in which he shone. A dilet
tante grandseigneur he earned the reputation of being
the most fluent orator of his time ,83 yet he never took
the trouble of endowing his writings with the elegance
and effectiveness of his eloquence. 84
It seems that Tiberius at the time of his accession
in a . D. 14 entertained some suspicion concerning the
loyalty of Scaurus , 85 but these fears were allayed, per
haps due to the support which Scaurus gave the rising
imperial favorite: Sejanus. It has already been men
tioned that Tiberius during the trial of Scaurus wife
Aemilia Lepida in a . d . 20 demonstratively expressed
his belief in the political integrity of Scaurus . 88 In
Shakespeares H enry V I the duchess of Gloucester took
to consulting witches about her own and her husbands
political future the duke of Gloucester being entirely
ignorant of his wifes activities. When these were dis
covered, her ruin destroyed him also. Not so in the
case of Aemilia Lepida. Unless Scaurus had already
divorced his guilty spouse before her trial, he must
have done so soon after her conviction. It was not
long, however, before his stepson Lucius Sulla (whom
Scaurus had adopted) involved him in a bitter intrasenatorial squabble, which the young man had set off
by a wholly unwarranted attack upon Domitius Corbulo,
a respected member of the older generation. Early in
21 Scaurus had been prevailed upon, apparently under
strong pressure from Tiberius son. Drusus, to apolo
gize to Corbulo for Sulla's behavior. 87 Perhaps as a
sop for his wounded pride he received later in the year
the appointment as consul suffectus .s8 It may have
81 Tacitus, Annals 3, 66.
85 Cassius Dio, 58, 24, 3.
51 Tacitus, Annals 3, 31 : oratorum . . . uberrimus.
84 Seneca rhetor, Controversiae 10, pr., 2-3.
ss Tacitus. Annals 1, 13.
* See F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars, Seminar 9,
1951 : 21-23.
87 Tacitus, Annals 3, 31.
88 C IL 4 : 99: 1553; Acta Arvalium. ibid. 6 : 461, no. 2023 b,
16 f. His colleague was Cn. Tremellius.Seneca, de beneficiis 4,
31, 3-4, referred to Scaurus campaign for the consulate;
Tacitus, Annals 3, 66, called him an ex-consul.

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E M P IR E W ID E L EG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y

ASTR O LO G Y IN ROM AN LAW U N T IL T H E EN D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

been at this zenith of his good fortune that Scaurus

remarried, his choice being Sextia, a high spirited
woman of remarkable strength of character. She seems
to have been the mother of the above-mentioned L.
Sulla from a previous marriage, and Scaurus, in now
adopting his stepson, would have followed good Roman
precedents. Tiberius himself being the adopted stepson
of Augustus.
During the early twenties Scaurus continued his
alignment with the party of Sejanus. Together with
two o th er,members of Sejanus faction, for example,
he accused C. Junius Silanus, ex-governor of Asia, of
maladministration ( repetundae) and obtained his con
viction in a trial over which Tiberius himself presided . 89
The first lightning flashed across the horizon of Scaurus
in 24-25 when the well known scholar. Votienus Montanus. was punished with exile to the Balearic islands
(where he died in 2 7 )90 for literary treason. 01
Scaurus thought highly of him, calling him an Ovid
amongst the orators , 92 and perhaps defended him in
some writings .04 For the time being, however, the
all-powerful Sejanus may have shielded Scaurus from
the dangerous consequences which otherwise might
have befallen a supporter of Votienus Montanus. During
the years which followed, Scaurus even became one of
the numerous successors of Sejanus in the affections
of the notorious Livilla. Since this particular conquest
was the cause of his final ruin, the road to his fatal trial
of a . d . 34 must be briefly traced.
In a . d . 23 Livilla, wife of Tiberius' only son [and
heir designate] Drusus, poisoned her husband. The
deed was committed through her physician Eudemos,
one of her numerous param ours . 94 The real instigator,
however, was Sejanus with whom Livilla had become
infatuated, even though he was her senior by a good
many years, married, and the father of three children . 95
Victorian respectability, however, was alien to Roman
society in those days. Sejanus, having divorced his
faithful wife Apicata, petitioned Tiberius to allow him
to marry the conveniently widowed Livilla. The em
peror turned down this request of his favorite, but did
it in the most polite manner.9 Gradually the relations
between Livilla and Sejanus seem to have cooled there
after. and Scaurus, notorious for his profligacy even in
a profligate era , 97 was among the men who consoled her.
8* Tacitus, loc. cit.
Jerome, Chron., 01. 201.
Tacitus, Annals 4, 42.
Seneca rhetor, contrm'crsiae 9, 5. 17.
** Ibid. 10, pr., 3. These were possibly among the writings of
Scaurus subsequently sentenced to the flames by the senate.
** Pliny. Mat. Hist. 29, 8, 20; compare Tacitus, Annals 4, 10,
about Sejanus tampering with Livilla's eunuch Lygdus in con
nection with the murder of her husband Drusus.
Tacitus, Annals 4, 3; see also Cassius Dio, 57, 22, 2 and 4 b.
** Tacitus, Annals 4, 39 f .; compare also 4, 10.
*7 Ibid. 6, 9 ; Seneca, de beneficiis 4, 31, 3-4.

Finally Sejanus succeeded in overcoming the emperors

objection to a marriage alliance between him and the
imperial family. There is some confusion about the
fiancee allowed the favorite towards the very end of his
life, but the more probable assumption is that Sejanus
became engaged to Livilla's daughter, Julia . 98
The fall of Sejanus in October, a . d . 31 launched the
series of events leading to the doom first of Livilla, then
of her last paramours, including Scaurus . 90 The death
of Sejanus was immediately followed by the execution
of his children. His oldest son, Aelius Strabo, was
killed on October 24, 31.100
It was then determined that the surviving children of
Sejanus should pay the penalty. . . . They were therefore
carried to the dungeon, the boy conscious of the fate in
store for him. the girl so completely ignorant that she asked
repeatedly what her offences had been and to what place
they were dragging her: She would do wrong no more,
and she could be cautioned with the usual beating adminis
tered to children. . . . As it was an unheard-of thing for
capital punishment to be inflicted on a virgin, she was
violated by the executioner with the halter beside h er: they
were then strangled, and their young bodies thrown down
the Gemonian stairs. 101
Apicata herself
was not condemned, . . . but on learning that her children
were dead, and after seeing their bodies on the stairway,
she withdrew and composed a statement about the death of
[Tiberius son] Drusus directed against Livilla; then after
sending this document to Tiberius, she committed suicide. 102
[Oct. 26, 31.]
A Roman Niobe, Apicata in dying achieved her revenge.
She dragged Livilla, who had wrecked her life, after her.
Tried, convicted, and executed,10* Livilla atoned for her
sins, but even from the grave she destroyed her former
paramours. Scaurus time had come.
W ithin a year after Livillas death he was indicted of
F. B. M arsh, The reign of Tiberius: 192, n. 1; 226, believes
that Livilla herself was the beiated fiancee of Sejanus. H er
daughter Julias husband, Agrippinas oldest son Nero, perished
in the same years as Sejanus, but was probably divorced by
Julia at the time of his banishment; compare Cassius Dio, 58, 3,
9; 7, 5.
** Cassius Dio, 58. 24, 5.
I0* Fasti Ostienses, N otisie Scozri 6, 1930: 186; cf. R. S.
Rogers, Criminal trials: 118 f. According to Tacitus, Annals 4,
3, Apicata bore Sejanus three children of whom obviously Aelius
Strabo must have been the oldest.
101 Tacitus, Annals 5, 9; Suetonius, Tiberius, 61, 5; Cassius
Dio, 58, 11, S; compare Valerius Maximus, 9, 11, 4. The
daughter of Sejanus at the time of her death must have been
at least eleven years old. F or as early as A . D. 20 she had been
betrothed, probably in infancy, to Claudius young son D ru su s;
Tacitus, A nnals 3, 29; Suetonius, Claudius, 27, 1; Cassius Dio
ep. 61 (60), 32, 1.
101 Cassius Dio, 58, 11, 6 ; compare Tacitus, Annals 4 , 11.
lM Tacitus, loc. cit., 5, 6 ; Cassius Dio, 58, 11, 7, reported that
Livilla was handed over to her mother for execution and was
starved to death by her; compare Suetonius, Tiberius, 62, 1;
cf. R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials : 119 ff.

maiestas by a certain Tuscus . 104 Even then his luck

still held. F or apparently the indictment was quashed
or, at least, its prosecution suspended. Nevertheless the
suspicions of Tiberius seem to have been aroused, and
Sejanus successor in Rome, the new praetorian prefect
Naevius M acro , 105 contributed to the estrangement. He
skillfully insinuated that Scaurus was guilty of literary
treason. To prove this he quoted a number of verses
from a play A t reus which Scaurus who obviously fancied
himself also as a tragic p o e t 108 had written . 107 A pas
sage which aroused the emperors special ire advised
a lift from the Phoenissae 108the subjects to bear the
follies of their prince with patience. Assuming that this
reference to Atreus was aimed at himself, Tiberius is
said to have exclaimed that he would make an A jax out
of Scaurus, i. e. drive him to suicide . 109 Actually, how
ever, a new maiestas indictment, brought in 34, did not
contain an accusation of literary treason, but the two
plaintiffs, Servilius and Cornelius, charged Scaurus with
the use of, or participation in, magic rites ( magorum
sacra) and with adulterous relations with Livilla, now
dead for about three years . 110
Adultery with women of the imperial family had been
punished by Augustus with exile, although if Tacitus
can be trusted no law or senatorial decree called for
such a penalty . 111 Tiberius himself apparently took a
less violent view of such matters. Although Tacitus
averred that Scaurus past alignment with Sejanus was
not the cause of his fall in a . d . 34, there may be a hidden
meaning in the historians assertion that Macro, the man
chiefly responsible for the indictment, practiced the same
arts as Scaurus but with greater secrecy . 112 One won
ders what arts Tacitus alluded to: adultery? tragic
poetry? magic rites? A competent modem writer on
the subject sees in the magorum sacra of Scaurus astro
logical consultations , 113 a hypothesis which does sound
plausible. It would explain at least the indictment for
maiestas, assuming that the adultery charge, in the reign
of Tiberius at least, could not be the basis of a maiestas
indictment even when imperial ladies were involved.
If then Scaurus and Macro had practiced the same arts
and Macro avowedly was never a poet would it not
Seneca rhetor, Suasoriae, 2, 22; Tacitus, Annals 6. 9. On
the date and other details, see Rohden, R E 1, 1894: c. 583; R. S.
Rogers, op. c it.: 154; 206; Guengerich, R E , 2. Reihe, 14, 1, 1943:
c. 1492 f.
los Tacitus, Annals 6, 29; Cassius Dio, 58, 24, 4-5.
1M He was probably the poet referred to by Suetonius, Tiberius,
61. 3.
107 Tacitus, loc. cit.; Cassius Dio, loc. cit.
108 Euripides, Phoenissae, v. 393 : T at t u p K p a T o v v r u w duatfiay
(frepei9 xpiitiv.

10* Cassius Dio. loc. cit.

110 Tacitus, Annals 6, 29; Cassius Dio, 58, 24. 5.
111 Tacitus, Annals 3, 24; compare 2, 50; cf. R. S. Rogers,
op. c it.: 192.
118 Tacitus, Annals 6, 29: easdem artes [Macro] occultius
exercebat.
113 R. S. Rogers, Criminal tria ls: 152.

seem likely that both men consulted astrologers on for

bidden topics; The far famed and powerful astrologer
Thrasyllus, Tiberius intimate friend, was the grand
father of Macros wife and must have been exceedingly
well informed of what went on amongst the more im
portant astrologers at Rome. H e may even have advised
Macro of Scaurus efforts to probe the future, i.e. of
his astrological consultations about the date of Tiberius
death and perhaps about the name of his successor.
That Macro, whose very life might depend on such fore
knowledge, was equally guilty of similar inquiries can
hardly be doubted. The Atreus incident would thus
have been a ruse on the part of Macro to stir up the
wrath of Tiberius, while the formal indictment for maie
stas would be based solely on the grave violation of the
edict of a . d . 1 1 , a violation involving not only a for
bidden question about anyones death, but specifically
inquiries about the death of the emperor himself. The
trial of Scaurus would thus provide an important step
towards the clarification of the Augustan edict in legal
practice. Henceforth forbidden inquiries about the em
peror (de salute principis) would be treated as prima
facie evidence of maiestas. In this light Tacitus state
ment that Scaurus did not owe his fall to his former
friendship with Sejanus but to the present enmity of
Macro would be perfectly accurate.
No details of the trial itself have survived. Scaurus
realized that his cause was lost. Spurred on by his wife
he preferred suicide to death at the hands of the public
executioner. She joined him and died by her own hand,
an example of feminine courage not uncommon among
the ranking matrons of that era . 114 Whether seven
orations of Scaurus were condemned to the flames at
this time by the senate , 115 or whether this had already
been done on an earlier occasion, remains unknown.
case

In 246 b . c. what may have been the first maiestas

trial of a woman was conducted against a Claudia.11
Now almost three hundred years later a Claudius in
turn staged a maiestas trial against a woman. Lollia
Paulina. In the history of the legal practice concerning
violations of the edict of a . d . 11 her case marked the
end of the evolutionary period. Thereafter astrological
inquiries or those addressed to other diviners about the
imperial family, not merely the emperor himself, were
steadily considered prima facie evidence of maiestas.
The antecedents of this trial which probablv took place
earlv in a . d . 49 were highly dramatic. Like Aemilia
Lepida (case 2) and Claudia Pulchra (case 3), Lollia
Paulina belonged to the very highest stratum of the
Roman nobility. H er wealth was legendary. Her
jewelry alone was estimated worth 40,000,000 ses114 Tacitus, Annals 6, 29.
113 Seneca rhetor, Controversiae 10, pr., 3.
114 Suetonius, Tiberius, 2, 3.

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A STR O LO G Y IN RO M A N LA W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

terces . 117 H er grandfather (consul 21 b . c . ) had c o m e

to grief when found guilty of dubious practices with
oriental princes. Young C. Caesar (whose adviser the
old man was at the time) had humiliated him beyond
redemption. He died a few days later , ' 18 probably by
suicide . 119 but Augustus apparently did not proceed
against the family, or withdraw his favor from it. For
Lollia Paulinas father was made consul suffectus during
the last decade of Augustus reign.
Apart from her social standing and her wealth Lollia
was one of Rome's most beautiful women, a legacy per
haps from her beauteous grandmother . 120 H er first
husband was P. Memmius Regulus, 121 a former consul
and a military commander of repute whom she accom
panied when he became governor of Asia. The emperor
Caligula in her absence conceived a sudden passion for
her, insisted on her divorce from Memmius, and married
Lollia himself in 38,122 apparently after an unusual di
vorce ceremony. 123 H e tired of her soon, however, and
divorced her under the pretext that she was barren,
forbidding her, nevertheless, to have intercourse with any
other man thereafter , 124 a command which the proud
and beautiful woman was not likely to obey. The
former empress did not remarry, and in 48 was put
forward as a candidate for the imperial bed of Qaudius,
recently vacated by Messalina of odious memory . 128 In
the three cornered race between herself, Q audius former
wife, Aelia Paetina, and Germanicus widowed daughter,
the younger Agrippina, Lollia Paulina lost out to A grip
pina whose Julian ancestry seems to have been the de
cisive factor in her favor.12
The winner, however, did not feel secure. Lollia
Paulina (probably less than thirty years old ) 127 still
seemed a potentially dangerous rival. H er destruction
was, therefore, resolved upon. Information was ob
tained leading to a maiestas indictment for violation of
the edict of a . d . 1 1 . Lollia was specifically accused in
the senate of having entered into forbidden consulta
tions with astrologers, sorcerers, and the oracle of the

Clarian Apollo . 128 Claudius, well coached by Agrippina

no doubt, played the sorry part of demanding in a speech
her conviction by the senate. For having harbored
pernicious plans against the state (perniciosa in rem
publicam consilia) she should be punished, and her
means to pursue such aims be taken from her.
Modern opinion tends with Tacitus to consider Lollia
Paulinas indictment a fraudulent one . 129 W hatever her
plans against the state may have been, as a woman
she could not hope to obtain the crown in her own right,
but onlv by marrying an emperor, i. e. Claudius, or a
conspirator who in turn would ascend the throne. The
fact that she had inquired about the imperial m arriage
can hardly be doubted. Curiosity of this kind seems
definitely in keeping with a woman of Lollia's type.
The law of a . d . 11 and its subsequent interpretation
in the courts (for example in the trials of Aemilia
Lepida, Claudia Pulchra, as well as in the earlier one
of Libo Drusus) had forbidden inquiries about any
ones death and had made inquiries de salute principis
the basis of maiestas indictments on more than one
occasion. In Lollias case it is probable that she con
sulted astrologers and other diviners on the date and
circumstances not of the emperors, but of A grip
pina's death, dreaming perhaps of succeeding then in
marrying Qaudius. To inquire about the well being
(ide salute) of an emperors wife had never before been
construed as sufficient evidence of the crime of maiestas.
Agrippina, however, the first woman to win the formal
title of empress (A ugusta),130 may well have been de
termined to make forbidden astrological and other di
vinatory inquiries de salute Augustae as much grounds
for a maiestas indictment as those de salute principis
had come to be. Lollia's contacts with magi do not
appear to have been for the purpose of employing black
magic against her successful rival. At least the insertion
of the word magi by Tacitus amidst the astrologers and
the oracle of the Q arian Apollo speaks for diviners by
magic rather than for practitioners of black magic or
venefici. Nor did Claudius himself intimate any sus
picions of this kind.
117 Pliny, Nat. H ist. 9, 58, 117; Solinus, 53, 29.
115 Pliny, Nat. H ist. 9, 58, 118; Solinus, loc. cit. ; Velleius
The senate obediently convicted Lollia Paulina, stripped
Paterculus, 2, 102; compare also Tacitus, Annals 3, 48; Sue
her of all but five million sesterces and seint, her into
tonius, Tiberius, 12.
11* Rightly assumed by Groag, R E 13, 1926; c. 1377, no. 11,- exile. This, however, did not allay Agrippina's fears.
Lollias death alone could satisfy the empress. A mili
c. 1387. According to Pliny Lollius drank poison.
1=0 Suetonius, Caligula, 25, 2.
tary man was sent out with the necessary instructions.
151 Not C. as Suetonius lists him loc. cit.
As befitted a person of her rank, Lollia Paulina was to
125 Tacitus. Annals 12, 22; Suetonius, loc. cit. ; Pliny, Nat.
be given the privilege of committing suicide. If she
H ist. 9, 58. 117 f.; Solinus. 53, 29.
1:1 Jerome. Chron., 01.204. He does not mention Lollia by refused, the soldier was to kill her. W ith the courage

name: cf. Stein, R E 13, 1926: c. 1394 f.

1=4 Suetonius, Caligula, 25, 2; compare also Cassius Dio, 59,
12, 1; Zonaras, U, 5.
155 Tacitus. Annals 12, 1; see F. Muenzer, Fcstschrift :u O.
Hirschfelds 60. Gcburtstag, 1910: 38.
Tacitus. Annals 12, 2 ff.
1=7 If, as was customary, she had married her first husband in
her early 'teens, Lollia was probably less than twenty years old
when Caligula married her in 38.

la Tacitus, Annals 12, 22. H er accuser

. . obiceret Chaldaeos, magos, interrogaiumque Apollinis Clarii simulacrum super
nuptiis imperatoris.
l- Stein. R E 13, 1926: c. 1394 f.
130 Tacitus, Annals 12. 26; Cassius Dio, ep. 61 (60), 33. 2a;
CIG, no. 3610. H er picture is found on coins, and in the east
she too was worshipped as divine; cf. V. Scramuzza, The emperor
Claudius: 91 ; 262, n. 37 (no. 45. Harvard Historical Studies).

261

of her caste Lollia went through with the then traditional tant cases involved only transgressions of high ranking
rite: She did away with herself. A ghoulish aftermath offenders. The astrologers and diviners who had sup
plied the forbidden political information were of course
was, perhaps falsely, reported by Cassius Dio. When
her dead rivals head was sent to Agrippina, the empress equally guilty, but as persons of lesser station they were
was not assured of its identity until knowing of certain rarely deemed worthy of mention in the surviving his
peculiarities of Lollias teeth, she had opened the heads torical accounts. The few cases concerning culpable
mouth and. finding what she was looking for, was satis diviners themselves will be dealt with later . 134 Mean
while. the continuity of imperial policy in these matters
fied at last . 131
The memory of Lollia Paulina remained alive, how throughout the principate can be traced through nine
ever. The day came in 59 when Agrippinas son, the state trials belonging to the reigns of Claudius. Nero, Do
mitian, Hadrian, Commodus, and Septimius Severus . 135
emperor Nero, signed her death warrant. To blacken
Extending over more than one hundred and fifty years
her memory he then remembered her former victim :
Lollia Paulinas ashes were returned to Rome and this list (table 8 ) shows clearly that the law of topical
and technical restrictions of astrology and other forms
enshrined in a tomb worthy of her rank . 132 H er trial
T A B LE 8
Date
(6)

52

(7)

53

(8)

54

(9)

66

(10)

66

(11)

89?

(12)

90?
138

(13)

189?

(14)

205

Defendant
Furius
Camillus
Scribonianus
and his mother
T. Statilius
Taurus
Domitia
Lepida
Barea Soranus
and daughter
Servilia
P. Anteius and
Ostorius Scapula
Mettius
Pompusianus
Pedanius
Fuscus
Septimius
Severus
Popilius Pedo
Apronianus

Verdict
guilty

Penalty
probaby exile

maiestas ?
impiety,
repetundarum
maiestas

guilty ?
guilty
guilty?
guilty

suicide before the

verdict: property
confiscated
death

maiestas

guilty

death

maiestas

guilty

death

maiestas
maiestas ?
maiestas

guilty
guilty?
guilty

exile
death
death

maiestas

not guilty

none

guilty

death

Indictment
maiestas

maiestas

marked the end of the formative period of legal inter

pretation of the Augustan edict of a . d . 11. There
after divinatory inquiries de salute of the emperor and
his house were treated as maiestas per se,133 a legal prac
tice persisting until the end of Roman antiquity.
3.

V IO L A T IO N S O F T H E A U G U STA N ED IC T
D U R IN G T H E L A T E R P R IN C IP A T E
(A .D . 52-205)

From the trial of Lollia Paulina onward no important

changes were recorded in the legal interpretation of the
Augustan edict of a . d . 11. Unfortunately the few ex131 Cassius Dio, ep. 61 (60), 32, 4.
' Tacitus, Annals 14, 12.
See Paulus, Sententiae 5, 21, 3; compare F. H. Cramer,
The Caesars and the stars (2 ), Seminar 10, 1952: 5 0 1. Capital
punishment was the fixed penalty for inquiries de salute prin
cipis and about affairs of state in general. This broad term
would be interpreted to cover inquiries about the rulers family
also.

of divination was enforced throughout the principate,

and, it may be added, beyond that era at least until the
end of the reign of Theodosius I (d. 395 ) . 136
case

The harsh biblical threat that the sins of the fathers

will be visited upon the children came true in the trial
which in a . d . 52 enmeshed Furius Camillus Scribo
nianus and his mother, Vibia ( ?). His father, who had
reached the consulate in 32 ,137 had rebelled against
1,4 Compare F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars (2),
Seminar 10, 1952 : 29 ff.
IS Ibid. : 1-28. In some cases no conclusive evidence of for
bidden consultations can be found, but the indictment of
maiestas by magic often might have involved not only a
charge of the use of black magic, absolutely prohibited at all
times, but also an accusation of illegal divinatory inquiries by
means of magic.
1M Compare C. Th. 16, 10, 12 (Nov. 8, 392).
1,7 Tacitus, Annals 6, 7.

262

ASTRO LO G Y IN RO M AN L A W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

Claudius earlier in the reign. For this he had paid with

his head.13* H is wife, Vibia (Vibidia ? Junia ?), had
been banished. Small wonder, therefore, that she and
her son longed for the death of Claudius. Although
apparendy neither the mother nor the son fomented an
actual conspiracy, they had sought the confirmation of
their cherished hopes by astrological consultations about
the death of Claudius. This was a clear and flagrant
violation of the Augustan edict of a . d . 1 1 which forbade
all inquiries about the death of anyone. Moreover, when
the emperors death had been the topic, legal practice by
now considered such inquiries as prima facie evidence
of the crime of maiestas. That Furius was a lineal
descendant of Pompey was, under the circumstances, an
aggravating factor. As in the trial of Aemilia Lepida
such descent evoked among friends and foes of the
monarchic order the memory of the bitter civil war
between Pompey and the founder of the Julio-Claudian
dynasty.
That astrological consultations alone were the crime
of the two defendants may be surmised from the sentence
which even Tacitus had to admit was a relatively mild
one in view of the aggravating antecedents of the case.
Claudius was satisfied with seeing Furius banished
nothing is known about the mothers punishment but
the exile did not survive long. Death from natural
causes seemed, as usual under such circumstances, too
unlikely to the contemporaries. Therefore, the custom
ary suspicion in such cases was voiced, i. e. that Furius
had perished by government-administered poison . 139
Although this trial had failed to reveal an actual plot,
it focused the governments attention once more upon
the dangers of inflammatory astrological predictions con
cerning the death of a ruler, i. e. an impending change
of the government. So seriously did the senate view
the situation that it passed in 52 (soon after the trial)
a harsh though ineffectual decree, expelling all as
trologers from Italy . 140
CASE

T. Statilius Taurus in a . d . 53 was the next victim.

He was indicted of maiestas. mainly for occult practices
or forbidden divinatory consultations. 141 Agrippinas psy
chological predilection of using charges of this kind for
ridding herself of her enemies casts a revealing light on
her own character. Not a single state trial involving
138 Ibid. 12, 52; compare Histories 1, 89; Suetonius, Claudius,
35. 2.
Tacitus, Annals 12, 52. A Phrygian inscription. C IL 3,
suppl. 1: 1271, no. 7043; suppl. 2: 2.316, 22, no. 14192, 3, may
refer to him or his brother; compare Groag, R E 7, 1912: c. 351,
no. 50. W ere perhaps Agrippinas tears that Furius might
become her son Nero's rival for the throne the main reason for
the trial?
1.0 See F. H. Cramer, Expulsion of astrologers from ancient
Rome, Classica et Mediaevalia 12, 1-2, 1951: 29-31.
1.1 The second charge, alleging repetundae, was apparently a
mere formality, Tacitus, Annals 12, 59.

such charges was recorded for the eight years of Claudius'

reign prior to her marriage to him in 49, while from
then on during the next five years at least four state
trials were based on such accusations. Could it be that
her family's belief, inculcated in all her children by the
older Agrippina, that her husband Germanicus had
been murdered by black magic . 145 heightened in the
younger Agrippina the fear of magic and occult prac
tices, a fear, common even to the best educated Roman
of her time ? Forbidden divinatory consultations to her
might mean more than a merely factual investigation
of somebodys future death date. They could, in her
opinion, almost automatically lead towards the use of
black magic to ensure the desired death.
So far as Statilius T aurus was concerned, his real
crime seems to have been his magnificent park, coveted
by a Roman Jezebel, Agrippina. Of noble stockhis
father had been consul in a . d . 1 1 , his mother apparently
was a daughter of Valerius Messala Corvinus 143he
himself had reached the consulate in a . d . 44 . 144 As
proconsul he became governor of Africa , 145 probably in
52. A certain Tarquitius Priscus, a strong partisan of
Agrippina, served under him, perhaps already under
secret instructions to spy on his superior and to obtain
material on which to indict him. A trumped-up charge
of repetundae after the return of Statilius to Rome
proved hollow. But when years later Tarquitius him
self was accused of that same crime he was enthusiasti
cally convicted and punished by the senate.14 This
fine fellow accused Statilius of magic superstitions
(magicas superstitiones) ,147 Not long ago a sub
terranean sanctuary, dedicated to some mystic cult,
perhaps the worship of M ithras, has been discovered in
what seems to have been part of the property of the
Statilian family in Rome. The assumption was of
course advanced almost at once 148 that this sanctuary
may have been the scene of those magic rites, partici
pation in which was Statilius alleged crime, but it
remains doubtful if Statilius (even if he partook of the
ceremonies at this shrine) could be accused of maiestas
on those grounds alone . 140 According to Tacitus, the
entire indictment was a fabrication . 150 A strongly pro
government modem historian, on the other hand, has
taken the view that the suicide of Statilius prior to the
verdict was an admission of guilt. 151 To attribute his
143 Ibid. 2, 69-72.
1,1 See Nagl, R E , 2. Reihe, 3, 1929: c. 2205, no. 37,-c. 2207;
compare V. Scramuzza. The emperor Claudius: 9 7 f . ; 263f.,
n. 59 ff.
144 Cassius Dio, 60, 23, 1.
143 Tacitus, Annals 12, 59.
144 Ibid. 1 4 , 46.
147 Ibid. 12, 59.
144 By E. Gatti and F. Fornari, N ot. Scavi, 1918 : 39-52.
144 See V. Scramuzza, The emperor Claudius: 264, n. 62 for
some literature on the matter.
150 Tacitus, Annals 1 2 . 59.
151 V. Scramuzza. op. c it.: 97.

E M P IR E W ID E LEG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y
trial and ruin to Claudius campaign against foreign
cults in general seems, however, wholly unwarranted in
the absence of any corrolxjrating evidence besides the
existence of that mysterious subterranean sanctuary on
Statilian property. Ironically enough Statilia Messa
lina, in all probability the daughter of the luckless owner
of the too-beautiful gardens, subsequently married
Agrippina's son and m urderer in 6 6 , after Nero had
rid Statilia of an inconvenient husband by the simple
device of slaying him in 65.152
case

The gradual extension of the scope of tnaiestas in

dictments for forbidden consultations about the imperial
family was reflected in the trial of Domitia Lepida in
a . d . 54.
The defendant was accused of having attacked
Agrippinas life by means of black magic and of spreading
unrest throughout Calabria through her numerous slaves
banded together in that part of Italy . 153 To what extent
forbidden divinatory inquiries were part of the devotiones with which Domitia was charged cannot be ascer
tained. but that some such violations of the law of a . d .
1 1 had taken place can hardly be doubted.
The character of the accused was not without blemish.
Tacitus called her a woman as shameless and infamous
as Agrippina . 154 She had successfully weathered three
husbands. From the first one she had a daughter,
Messalina of unholy memory. Among Messalinas many
misdeeds seems to have been her support of the fatal
indictment against her own step-father Silanus, Domitia
Lepidas second husband. H e was executed in a . d . 42,
perhaps because he had rejected his step-daughters
amorous advances . 155 The irate Domitia thereupon
broke formally with her daughter, even at the risk of
thereby offending her imperial son-in-law, Claudius.
Not that Domitia herself could have been particularly
surprised at her daughters behavior. For rumor had it
that Domitia had been more than a sister to her own
brother. Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus. the former husband
of Agrippina and the father of L. Domitius, the future
emperor Xero.15 W hen Agrippina was sent into exile
103 Suetonius, Nero, 35, 1; Tacitus, Annals 16, 63. After
Nero's death Otho in turn wanted to marry h er; Suetonius,
Otho, 10, 2. Othos wife, Poppaea Sabina, had left him (.in
years gone by) for N ero's nuptial couch. Now in turn Nero's
widow attracted Otho. Both men apparently had similar tastes.
Statilia was exceptionally well educated (schol. Juvcn. 6. 434) :
usum eloquentiae usque ad usum declamandi . .
had she
m astered; cf. N agl, R E , 2. Reihe, 3, 1929: c. 2209, no. 45,-c.
2210.
103 Tacitus, Annals 12, 65: obiecta sunt quod coniugem
principis devotionibus petivisset, quodque parum coercitis per
Calabriam servorum agminibus pacem Italiae turbaret ; com
pare Suetonius, Nero, 7, 1; Groag, P IR 3, 2nd ed., 1943 : 56 f.,
no. 180.
134 Tacitus, Annals 12. 64.
103 Cassius Dio, 60, 14. 1-4; 15. 1; Suetonius, Claudius, 29, 2;
Tacitus, Annals 11, 29; Seneca, Apocolyntosis, 11, 3.
158 Suetonius, Nero, 5.

263

by her mad brother, the emperor Caius Caligula, Do

mitia Lepida in a . d . 40 had taken her nephew, Agrip
pinas three-vear-old son. L. Domitius. into her own
household. The charge that she neglected the boys
education she is said to have turned him over to a
dancer and a barber as tutors 157cannot be taken
seriously. For Claudius, immediately after coming to
the throne in January a . d . 41, recalled the widowed
Agrippina from exile. H er son, soon afterwards re
turned to her, was then barely four years old. At that
age he could hardly have been irreparably ruined by
unorthodox educational methods.
From this time on, however, a protracted struggle
began between the two women who competed for the
boys affections, a struggle which with some lulls seems
to have lasted until the very time when in 54 Domitia
was brought to trial. The catastrophe which in 47
overtook Messalina (who vainly sought refuge with her
mother and was killed in Domitia's house ) 158 may have
led to a brief armistice between Agrippina and Domitia.
Although she could hardly condone her daughters mis
deeds, Domitia Lepida must have seen with growing
bitterness, how Agrippina took Messalina's place as
the wife of Claudius and at once began to groom her
son. young L. Domitius, for the imperial succession.
Although hereditary monarchy was by no means defi
nitely accepted during the principate , 159 Domitia may
well have entertained some hope that her own grandson
Britannicus, son of Messalina and Claudius, might
eventually succeed his father . 10 That her granddaugh
ter, Octavia, was married to Agrippinas son in a . d .
53, 161 might console Domitia somewhat, but, on the other
hand, would make her all the more eager to resume her
deadly rivalry with Agrippina for Nero's affections.
The long struggle between the two women had now
become an important political issue. W ith Claudius
failing rapidly, the one who would control the young
and seemingly pliable Nero would in fact wield the
supreme power, when Claudius died and Nero mounted
the throne.
137 Ibid.. 5-6.
138 Tacitus, Annals 11, 37.
131 In the two centuries from Augustus to the death of Com
modus ( a . d. 192) only three sons succeeded their fathers: Titus,
Domitian, and Commodus. The lack of any but adopted male
heirs on the part of most rulers of the principate, except in the
case of Vespasian and M. Aurelius, was a curious biological
factor which had a profound influence on preventing the triumph
of the concept of truly hereditary monarchy throughout the
principate. F or no princeps who possessed a son was likely to
omit him from consideration for the succession. Hence the
dearth of sons made it possible to select heirs by adoption
according to fitness; compare V. Scramuzza, op. cit.: 91 f.
18<>The aspiration of Domitia Lepida on behalf of her grandson
has, for example, been considered the main reasson for A grip
pina's venomous hatred by Schiller, N e r o : 87; Berlin, 1872;
Groag, R E 5, 1905; c. 1511, no. 102,-c. 1513, disagrees with this
hypothesis.
wl Tacitus, Annals 12, 58; the marriage seems to have almost
coincided with the trial of Statilius Taurus.

264

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M A N LAW U N T IL T H E EN D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

In this tense atmosphere it is more than likelv that

Domitia Lepida engaged in forbidden consultations about
the future. Agrippina, on the other hand, might well
tear, as her father Germanicus had done, to become the
target of black magic. The indictment of maiestas in
a . d . 54 resolved the long feud.
Domitia Lepida. sen
tenced to death, perished . 102 The emperor Claudius
died soon afterwards, whether by the tender m inistra
tions of his wife. Agrippina, or from natural causes need
not concern us. Young Nero ascended the throne.
Five years later the shades of Lollia Paulina. Statilius
Taurus. Domitia Lepida. and a host of others were
avenged at last, when Nero killed his mother Agrippina.
case

With the accession of Nero in a . d . 54 Agrippina, her

life's ambition realized, apparently refrained from insti
gating further state trials involving charges of forbidden
consultations or black magic. Nero himself began to
resort to accusations of this kind only after the discovery
of the Pisonic conspiracy in 65. Among the ensuing
prosecutions of real and imagined culprits, two trials
dealt with maiestas charges based on forbidden consulta
tions or magic practices. The one was launched against
Barea Soranus and his daughter, the other ruined P.
Anteius and Ostorius Scapula. Barea Soranus had
been consul suffectus in 52.183 Thereafter he had been
governor of Asia, an office which he held before 63,
perhaps in 61-62. On that occasion he offended Acratus. an influential freedman of Nero, by resisting his
attempts to strip the province of pictures and statues,
which probably were to be added to Neros art collection
in Italy. Towards the provincials Soranus behaved
with clemency and beneficence.18* He now was caught
up in the dragnet of the purge following the failing of
Piso's plot in 65.
From the account of lxith Tacitus and Dio (although
Dio ascribed the trial of Soranus to 65, Tacitus to 6 6 )
it seems that Soranus was prosecuted simultaneously
with the Stoic leader of the senatorial opposition, Thrasea
Paetus. 165 Dio relates these events, at least in the
extant epitome, as directly following the death of Seneca
and Senecas brothers. Ostorius Sabinus, a Roman
knight, acted as prosecutor of Soranus and of his
daughter , 160 a task for which he was handsomely re
warded with a quaestorship and a million two hundred
thousand sesterces. 167 According to Tacitus Soranus
was accused of maiestas for ( 1 ) his friendship with the
luckless Rubellius Plautus, dead since several years, and
( 2 ) intrigues to lure his province (long relinquished)
1,18 The brief Tacitean account. Annals 12, l>4 f., is packed with
details and permeated with innuendo.
Ibid. 12. 52; compare Henze, R E 3, 1899: c. 12. no. 2.
Tacitus, Annals 16. 23.
Ibid., 21 ff.; Cassius Dio, cp. 62, 26, 1.
l," Tacitus. Annals 16. 23.
1,7 Ibid., 33.

into thoughts of revolt. 108 Dio, on the other hand,

merely knew that Soranus was slain on the charge of
having practised a kind of magic through his daughter . 169
Even if not a formal part of Soranus indictment, this
accusation, leveled against his daughter, whose convic
tion it caused, was probably meant to implicate him also:
There was a fresh charge involving the daughter in
the peril of her father, to the effect that she had lavished
money on magi.' 170 These magi unquestionably were
diviners, perhaps astrologers . 171 The charge against
Servilia was true, as even Tacitus admitted. He added
as an extenuating circumstance only that she had en
gaged in these forbidden consultations with the thought
lessness of youth she was only nineteen years old
and out of affection towards her father . 172 H er offense,
whether or not inspired by her father, was considered a
grave violation of the edict of a . d . 1 1 . For the topics
about which she had consulted the magi were ( 1 ) de
incolumitate domtis, i. e. on the future fate of her own
family, and (2) whether Nero would possibly relent. 173
The first and second topics were clearly related, but the
first one, although a violation of the edict of a . d . 1 1 ,
was no basis for a maiestas indictment, since only the
salus of private persons had been inquired about. The
second topic, however, although not specifically de salute
principis, involved political issues and could, therefore,
albeit tenuously, be construed as maiestas. Dio, how
ever, related that father and daughter when Nero was
sick had offered a certain sacrifice. 114 His, or his
excerptors, vagueness implies that either divination by
sacrifice and magic, or even black magic may have been
the crime imputed to Soranus and Servilia.
Although allowances must be made for the anti-im
perial bias of Tacitus, his vivid evocation of the drama
tic scene enacted before the senate rings essentially true.
H e absolved both defendants of the charge of having
used black magic against N ero :
W hen the accuser asked h er w hether she had sold h er
bridal p resents 173 or strip p ed her neck of its ornam ents to
1011 Ibid., 23 and 30.
1,9 Ibid., 30 f.; Cassius Dio, ep. 62, 26, 3.
170 Tacitus, loc. cit.
/
171 A. J. Church and W. J. Jackson, The comptfrtc'.viorks of
Tacitus : 414, New York, Modern Library, n. d., translate magi
here with astrologers', but see E. Tavenner, Studies in magic
from Latin literature: 1-12, esp. 10f., New York, Columbia
Univ. Press, 1916. Strangely enough, however, so sharp and
discerning a critic as R. S. Rogers has recentlyapparently
without any reluctance whateveridentified these magi with
astrologers; compare his A Tacitean pattern in narrating treason
trials, Trans. Ainer. Philoi. Assn. 83, 1952: 287 ff. Although
intrinsically possible in this particular case, the unquestioning
identification of magi with astrologers pure and simple seems
unwarranted.
17= Tacitus, Annals 16, 30.
173 Loc. cit.: an placabilis Xero."
174 Cassius Dio, ep. 62. 26, 3.
173 H er husband. Annius Pollio, had recently been punished
with exile; Tacitus, Annals 16, 30.

E M P IR E W ID E LEG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F ASTRO LO G Y
raise m oney for the perform ance of m agic rites, she at first
flung h erself to the g ro u n d and w ept long in silence. A fter
aw hile, clasping the a ltar steps and altar, she exclaim ed,
I have invoked no im pious deities, no enchantm ents, nor
au g h t else in my unhappy prayers, b u t only th at thou,
C aesar, and you. senators, m ight p reserve u nharm ed this
best of fathers. My jew els, my apparel, and the signs of
my ran k I gave up, as I w ould have given up my life blood
had they dem anded it. T h ey m ust have seen this, those men
unknow n to me before, both as to the nam e they b ear and
the a rts they p ractise. N o m ention w as m ade by me of the
em peror, except as one of the divinities. B ut niv m ost
unhappv father know s nothing, and if it is a crim e. I alone
am g u ilty . 178

From this it would seem that the young woman had.

indeed, trafficked with magi, be it to have their more
potent prayers and rites soften N eros heartwhich
would constitute the practice of black magic on him
or to ascertain, whether or not fate had decreed the
death of Soranus. She had been thoroughly fleeced by
those worthies, and then perhaps been denounced by
one of them.
Soranus thereupon demanded from the senate that he
should be tried separately for the accusations brought
against him, but that his daughter should only be tried
for acts of misguided filial devotion . 177 A Stoic philoso
pher, P. Egnatius Celer, a client of Soranus, appeared
as one of the two most damaging crown witnesses. 178
A native of Berytus he had become a professor of philoso
phy. As a Stoic he must have been especially convinced
of the value of astrological predictions. It seems even
that it was he who induced his pupil, Servilia, to under
take the forbidden consultations . 179 Apparently he and
a wealthy Bithynian, Cassius Asclepiodotus, were named
as co-defendants with Soranus, but by turning state s
evidence against his patron Egnatius Celer saved him
self, while Asclepiodotus, steadfastly refusing to admit
any guilt on his part or on that of Soranus, was con
victed, sentenced to exile and stripped of his entire
property . 180
The simultaneous trials of Thrasea. Soranus, and Ser
vilia ended with the expected conviction of all three
defendants. As befitted their rank they were permitted
to choose their way of dying. This they did, committing
suicide rather than fall into the executioner's hands . 181
178 Ibid., 31.
177 Ibid.. 32.
178 Loc. cit.; compare H istories 4, 10 and 40.
179 Juvenal, 3, v. 116; schol. / m m 1, 33. That Egnatius
Celer was a client of Soranus and kept in the patrician
household as a family tutor made his behavior the more odious:
compare on Servilla's relations to him, schol. Juvcn. 6, 552.
1,9 Tacitus, Annals 16, 33.
1,1 The Annals break off at 16, 35, in the midst of the dramatic
description of Thrasea's slow suicide. Undoubtedly Soranus
and Servilia, having received their death sentence (Annals 16,
33), were given the same privilege to die by their own hand.
True to the aristocratic code of honor during this century they
must have chosen suicide in preference to death at the hands of
the executioner.

265

From the conviction of Asclepiodotus it would seem that

Soranus was found guilty of the charge of stirring up
disloyalty in his former province. In all probability the
secret consultations of the magi, although transacted bv
his claughter only, were assumed to have taken place
with his knowledge and consent. The death sentence
resulted. Against Servilia no other charge was brought.
The fact that she too was sentenced to death would imply
that the evidence against her was damning. Forbidden
consultations and the suspected use of black magic com
bined to ruin her. The ban against the use of black
magic had always been rigidly enforced. To tamper
with the edict of a . d . 11 out of political curiosity had
also become a capital crime long ago. Moreover the
fate of Servilia was meant to be another warning lesson
to malcontents.
case

10

In the same year, shortly before the trials of Thrasea,

Barea Soranus, and Servilia, two men were condemned
after the most summary kind of a trial, held not in public
before the senate but apparently in camera by Tigellinus,
Neros praetorian prefect, and Nero himself. 182 The
two defendants were P. Anteius Rufus and M. Ostorius
Scapula. Their indictment was, as usual, for maiestas.
The fatal evidence stemmed this time from the carefully
preserved files of an Egyptian astrologer by the name
of Pammenes. The defendants were accused (1) of
planning a coup detat, ( 2 ) of having engaged in for
bidden consultations about their own future, as well as
that of the emperor . 183 Both men belonged to the high
est stratum of Roman society. Anteius brother may
have been the one slain immediately after Caius Cali
gulas assassination , 184 while Anteius himself escaped
such a fate and rose to the rank of propraetorian legate
of Dalmatia in 51-52.185 He was promised the governor
ship of Syria in 55, but was retained in Rome on some
pretext,18* while the knight and court astrologer, Ti.
Claudius Balbillus, who was at the same time appointed
as prefect of Egypt, safely departed for his province . 187
W hether or not the two men were more closely ac
quainted than could be expected from their inevitable
social contacts is not known, but P. Anteius most cer
tainly was a fervent believer in astrology. When one
of his personal astrological advisers, the above-men
To be inferred from Tacitus, Annals 16. 14, where Tigel
linus advised Anteius not to delay the making of his will, and,
when no one dared to witness the document of the doomed man,
did so himself.
188 Loc. c it.: imminere rebus et sua Caesarisque fata scrutari.
184 Josephus, antiqu. Jud. 19, 1, 15 (end).
181 C IL 3, 1: 310, no. 1977; compare P IR 1 (2nd ed.) : 136,
no. 731.
IS* Tacitus, Annals 13, 22.
187 Except for a small minority headed by Stein there has been
general consensus of opinion for some time about the identity
of Ti. Claudius Balbillus, the astrologer, and Balbillus, the Roman
knight, who became prefect of Egypt from 55 to 59; compare
P IR 2, 2nd ed.. 1936: 184, no. 812; xxi and 184 f.

266

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M AN LA W U N T IL T H E EN D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

tioned Pammenes, was sentenced to exile, Anteius con

tinued to keep him in his pay and proceeded to consult
him from afar . 188
He was not the only one to deal thus with the exiled
astrologer. Among others M. Ostorius Scapula also
seems to have been one of Pammenes' clients. It is
possible, however, that Anteius. in looking fo ra possible
successor to Nero, merely forwarded to Pammenes the
horoscope of Scapula for further investigation in the
belief that Scapula might be imperial timber . 189 In view;
of his record this would not appear out of the question.
Son of P. Ostorius. he had accompanied his father who
then ( about A. D. 50) commanded the Roman army in
Britain. Young Ostorius in that campaign earned a
civic crown for saving a citizen's life. 190 His bodily
skill and his robust constitution supported his reputation
for military prowess demonstrated in Britain . 191 In 59
Xero, still under the influence of Seneca and Burrus,
made him consul suffectus during the second half of that
year.19- Ostorius fearlessness was again demonstrated
when he came forward to save Antistius Sosianus. In
62 Antistius, then praetor , 193 was accused of literary
treason " ; he was said to have recited while dining at
the house of Ostorius some libelous verses, which he
had written about Nero. The prosecutor was none
other than Cossutianus, son-in-law of the all-powerful
Tigellinus. Although witness after witness testified
against the defendant, Ostorius Scapula, the host of that
ill-tated dinner party, insisted that he had heard nothing
of Antistius alleged declamation. His attempt to save
the accused failed, however, butthis being the first
maiestas trial of Nero's reignthe senate was satisfied
with a sentence of exile and the confiscation of Antistius'
property, a sentence so ' mild that Nero only grudg
ingly gave his assent. 194
Four years later Antistius was still on the island to
which he had been banished. It happened to be the
same one to which the astrologer, Pammenes, had been
exiled. Unmindful of any considerations of gratitude
but only eager to rejoin his boon companions in Rome.
Antistius conceived a scheme which might achieve the
revocation of his sentence. He had become aware of
the intense correspondence and the ties which bound
Pammenes to P. Anteius whom he knew to be disliked
by Nero and wealthy enough to make an attractive vic

tim. H e filched from the files of the astrologer the

horoscope of Anteius and documents containing Pam
menes predictions of his patrons future career. A t the
same time Antistius also found the horoscope of O s
torius Scapula and its astrological interpretation by
Pammenes. He now did not hesitate to commend him
self to the emperor by denouncing both menand in
dubitably the astrologer also to Nero, accusing them
of planning a revolt and of forbidden consultations. If
brought back to Rome he would divulge all details.
His plan succeeded to perfection. Some ships were
sent out and he was rushed back to the capital. 195
Surrendering the stolen papers, implementing them
probably with lurid inventions of his own, he reaped
his reward. H e was permittedapparently without a
formal pardon to remain in Rome. Two years after
N eros death, however, it was remembered that he was
still under formal sentence, and he was sent back to his
island exile. 198
In the meantime, however, P. Anteius had long paid
the price of his imprudent violation of the edict of a . d .
11. From the scant record it cannot be concluded with
certainty whether or not he had done more than to in
quire about his own and Scapulas political future. This
evidence alone would now be deadly. F or it came to
light in the panicky atmosphere prevailing after the dis
covery of Piso's plot. If the Anteia, who m arried the
Stoic leader Helvidius Priscus, was, as has been sug
gested , 197 a daughter of Anteius, he would in the eyes
of Nero be linked with the oppositional circle around
the Stoic Thrasea Paetus, whose destruction followed
on the heels of Anteius' ruin . 198 After a most summary
trial in camera, Anteius was told to make his will at
once. Given the gentlemanly choice between death
bv suicide and formal execution, Anteius took poison.
W hen it proved too slow, he severed his veins . 199
Ostorius Scapula, on the other hand, did not even re
ceive an opportunity to answer in person to the charges
against him. H e happened at the time to live on one
of his estates in Liguria. Even allowing for N eros
fears of facing the intrepid, physically powerful defend
ant, whose popularity and military reputation might
arouse great sympathies at the capital, one must assume
that the incriminating evidence from Pammenes' files
was overwhelming proof of Scapula's complicity in A n
teius enterprise. A centurion was hurriedly sent from
1.4 Tacitus, Annals 16, 14.
144 On his name, see C IL 6, 1: 484, no. 2042, 33; cf. Groag, Rome to Scapula's Ligurian domicile, surrounded the
R E 18, 2, 1, 1942. c. 1670, no. 3.
house with guards, entered, and informed Ostorius
1.4 Tacitus. Annals 12, 31: compare 16, 15.
Scapula of his fate. A choice of the method of dying

1,1 Ibid. 16. 15.

1.5 A wax tablet, found in Pompeji, shows him in office on
July 10; C IL 4 , suppl. 1: 391, no. 143; compare 6, 1: 484, no.
2042. 33.
1.3 H e had been severely criticized for his behavior as tribunus
plebis.
1.4 Tacitus, Annals 14, 48 ff. On the trial of Antistius Sosianus
in a . d. 02, see R. S. Rogers, The Tacitean account of a Neronian
trial. Studies presented to David M . Robinson: 711-718.

1,5 Ibid. 16. 14.

Tacitus, Histories 4, 44.
1,7 See v. Rohden, R E 1, 1894: c. 2349, nos. 4 and 5; Plinv,
ep. 9. 13. 4.
1.4 Tacitus, Annals 16, 21 ff.; Suetonius. Nero, 37, 1; Cassius
Dio. ep. 62, 26, 1 ff.
1.4 Tacitus, Annals 16, 14.

E M P IR E W ID E LEG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y
again being given, the intrepid man stabbed himself to
death after having severed his veins . 200
The entire affair revealed how deeply influenced
Romes ranking men were by astrological advice in the
gravest matters of state. Anteius and Scapula had been
encouraged in plotting Neros overthrow. Conversely,
Nero, himself wholly convinced of the accuracy of astro
logical predictions , - 01 knowingly challenged fate by exe
cuting those two caught in such forbidden consultations.
F or a believer in fatalistic astrology this was illogical,
since no one, after all, could escape his fate, but then
what believer in fatalistic astrology has ever thought
logically, especially when facing mortal danger! Two
years later Nero was dead, and Galba, whom the stars
had long promised the throne . - 02 succeeded him.
case

11

The reign of Vespasian seems to have remained free

from maiestas trials based on forbidden consultations.
This may in part have been due to Vespasians serene
faith in astrology. Surrounded by the most renowned
astrologers of his time, men like Thrasyllus son Bal
billus, and Othos erstwhile chief astrologer Ptolemy
Seleucus, 203 the emperor may have felt so absolutely
certain of his sons succession 204 that he considered
maiestas prosecutions as superfluous if forbidden con
sultations were the only charge. This attitude he car
ried so far as to make a man like Mettius Pompusianus
consul, although this senator was reliably reported to
possess an imperial horoscope of which he made no
secret. W arned of this danger Vespasian, believing
Pompusianus harmless, refused to proceed against him
in any way whatever . 208 Said the em peror: H e will
certainly remember me and will certainly honor me in
return. 208 Such imperial leniency seems to have made
Pompusianus even more cocksure of his future grandeur.
H e never went anywhere without taking along a col
lection of the speeches of kings and famous generals,
culled from the works of Livy . 207 He also openly dis
played and studied a map of the world, which according
to Suetonius he also carried about with him , 208 while
Dio relates that it was painted on the wall of his bed
room . 209 Since Dios account of this case even in the
extant epitome is more detailed than that of Suetonius,
it can be assumed that he used not only Suetonius, but
= Ibid., 15.
:01 F or example Suetonius, Nero, 36 and 40, 2.
=0 Cassius Dio, 57, 17, 4 ; already Augustus had been credited
with the foreknowledge of Galba's imperial future.
303 Compare Tacitus, H istories 1, 22; 2, 78; Suetonius, Otho,
4, 1; 6, 1; Plutarch, Galba, 23, 4 ; Juvenal, 6, vv. 557-559;
Stein, R E , 2. Reihe. 2, 1923: c. 1248, nos. 29 and 30.
104 Sutonius, Vespasian, 24 f.
:os Ibid., 14; Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 12, 2-3.
804 Suetonius, Vespasian, 14.
!47 Suetonius, Domitian, 10, 3; Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 12, 4.
:0* Suetonius, loc. cit.
!0* Cassius Dio, loc. cit.

267

also another source than that from which Suetonius had

drawn his own information.
Titus (79-81) continued his fathers lenient policy
towards violators of the law of topical restrictions , 210
but Domitian (81-96), a fanatical believer in astrology,
had none of this easy going attitude. Sometime after
his accession he seems to have arraigned Pompusianus
for violating the Augustan edict of a . d . 1 1 . Indicted
for maiestas Mettius Pompusianus was found guiltv (as
he undoubtedly was) and sentenced to banishment in
Corsica . 211 But when after the rebellion of L. Antonius
(89-90) a veritable reign of terror was ushered in by
Domitian, the full rigor of the law was invoked. Men
were now executed for forbidden consultations with
astrologers . 212 Mettius Pompusianus himself fell victim
to the purge. It is not certain whether a second trial
had been launched against him, or whether he was
merely summarily put to death in his Corsican exile . 213
case

12

The reign of T rajan is the most barren one of the

principate so far as historical accounts are concerned.
The pens of Tacitus and Suetonius apparently did not
deal with it, that of the younger Pliny only very little.
The epitome from Cassius Dio and the works of Byzan
tine historians are but a poor substitute for the richly
flowing sources dealing with the first centurv of our
era. The fact, therefore, that no trial involving vio
lation of the Augustan edict has survived does not
mean that in T rajan s time the government no longer
prosecuted forbidden divinatory inquiries. That there
was no break in the legal continuity during the later
principate is evident from three cases dating from 138,
189, and 204 or 205, respectively . 214 The first of these
state trials occurred at the end of Hadrians reign and
was, as might be expected, directly connected with the
question of the imperial succession.
H adrian himself had no son. His only sister, Pau
lina , 213 married L. Julius Ursus Servianus , 218 who was
a generation older than his bride. Their daughter
there is no record of other childrenmarried in turn
Cn. Pedanius Fuscus Salinator ,-'17 son of a former consul
of the same name. The match was considered a bril
liant one, and Pliny, fatherly friend of the bridegroom,
congratulated his disciple's father-in-law on that occa
sion . 218 The young couple in turn became the parents
114 Suetonius, Titus, 9, 1-2.
111 Cassius Dio, loc. cit.
n * Ibid. 67, 12, 2.
414 Ibid., 12, 4 ; Suetonius. Domitian, 10, 3.
314 See above, cases (7 ), (8 ), (9 ).
511 Compare Stein, R E 5, 1905: c. 1519, no. 108,-c. 1520.
114 Cf. Groag, R E 10, 1919: c. 882, no. 538. H e was thrice
consul, the last time in a . d . 134; on his end see v. Permerstein,
Klio, Beiheft 8 : 38, who suggests that Servianus by H adrians
insulting treatm ent was driven to commit suicide.
1,1 Pliny, ep. 6, 26, 1 ff.; also 11, 1; 7, 9; 9, 36 and*40.
" Ibid. 6, 26, 1.

268

A STR O LO G Y IN ROM AN LAW U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

of the ill-starred Pedanius Fuscus and possibly also of

a daughter. Until recently the birth of their son was
generally assigned to the year 118,-13 the very year when
the infant's father was consul. 220 Only an epitomized
passage of Dio. however, led to that date by asserting
that at the time of his execution, usually assumed to have
taken place in 136. Fuscus was eighteen years old . - 21
But neither the date of Fuscus birth, nor that of his
execution was apparently correctly stated by Dios epitomizer. For Fuscus was about 25 years old when
executed.-2- and. as the S H A rightly reported, executed
only at the very end at H adrian's reign, i. e. after 136.223
It now seems well nigh certain that the child was born
as early as 113."*
As a lineal descendant of Servianus and Paulina he
would be the closest male relative of Hadrian, since he
had no brother. Under the circumstances it is hardly
surprising that young Pedanius Fuscus Paulina being
his grandmother and Hadrian his grand-unclegrew
up in great expectations of an imperial future, although
the hereditary principle was by no means generally
recognized during the principate . 555
Some decades ago a second-century horoscope of
Fuscus was published.22 It stems from a collection of
historical horoscopes compiled by the physicianastrologer, Antigonus of Nicaea, in the middle of the
second century and was excerpted with two others by
Hephaestion of Thebes in the fourth century. Antigonus
not only cautiously stated that Fuscus ruin was due to
his being ill-advised (ucoy9ouXos), but also added
two pieces of information which round out the character
of the ill-starred man. H e was, according to the phy
sician from Nicaea, overly fond of sexual pleasures and
an ardent devotee of gladiators . 227 These traits in par-

ticular would surely displease H adrian. Altogether it

now becomes clear why Fuscus was so definitely ex
cluded (by H adrian) from the imperial succession.
And H adrian was rig h t!
While Antigonus of Nicaea had merely ascribed F us
cus downfall to his being ill-advised, the S H A vita
of Hadrian stated that Fuscus had been charged with
forbidden consultations with prophets and oracular
diviners,-27* sorry advisers, indeed! It was unlikely
that Fuscus grandfather Servianus, the nonagenarian
brother-in-law of Hadrian, hoped for the purple himself,
or had even encouraged the hopes of Fuscus in 137-138.
but he shared his grandson's fate. The order of events
was about the following:

(1 ) Young Fuscus, a gay blade, reminiscent some

how of the ill-fated Libo Drusus, speculated on H adrians
death. F or years he may have consulted diviners, when
the adoption of Aelius by Hadrian in 136 dimmed his
long sustained hopes. Frantically Fuscus, knowing that
Aelius Verus was far from well, sought recklessly the
advice of astrologers and other diviners on the future
well-being (de salute) of Aelius as well as of H adrian.
(2 ) W ith Aelius death on January 1, 138 and the
rapid deterioration of H adrians condition Fuscus, en
couraged by his forbidden consultations, must have seen
his prospects brighten. Hadrian, a fervent believer in,
and himself a practitioner of, astrology, learned of F us
cus doings, suspecting, though wrongly, that old Ser
vianus whose disappointment about the adoption of
Aelius must also have been bitterwas aware of and
abetting the forbidden activities of his grandson.
(3 ) W ith the adoption of Antoninus (who at H a
drians request in turn adopted M. A urelius) Fuscus
soaring hopes once more crashed to the ground. He
now may actually have begun plotting a coup, deluded
51* C IL. 3 : 2253, no. 13826; cf. Groag, R E 19, 1, 1937: c. 21,
perhaps by astrological assurances that he was fated
no. 6.
to mount the throne. Hadrian resolved then on drastic
CIL, 6 : 3027, no. 30831; 3282, no. 32374 (A cta A rv.) ;
action; Fuscus was indicted for maiestas, the incrimi
CIG, no. 1732a. H e resigned on May 1st; compare W . Weber,
nating evidence consisting probably chiefly on charges
Untcrsuchungen ru r Geschichte des Kaisers Hadrian: 81 ff.;
cf. Groag, RE 19, 1, 1937, c. 21, no. 6.-c. 23.
alleging the flagrant violation of the edict of a . d . 1 1 and
221 Cassius Dio, ep. 6 9 , 17, 1, giving Fuscus' age as eighteen active plotting.
a t the time oi his execution in what seems to be the year a . t>.
(4) According to the horoscope of Antigonus, Fuscus
136, was the only known reference to Fuscus age, and hence
led to the assumption that he was born about 118.
dragged down with him Servianus, whose inneotnce the
515Cat. 8, 2 : 85, 19, 29 ; 86, I lf ., if Cumonts convincing
horoscope reaffirmed even more strongly than our
identification is accepted. This would change the date of the
hitherto known records. W hether or not the parents of
execution of Fuscus from the hitherto assumed year 136 to the
Fuscus also perished at this time, or escaped with a
end of 137, or more probably to the first half of 138, on April 6
lesser punishment (exile?), the astrologer failed to
of which Fuscus became twenty-five years old.
reveal.
:!1 SHA. Hadrian, 23, 2-3; compare 15, 8; 23, 8.
!2 Some years ago A. Farnsworth, at the authors request,
(5 ) Fuscus was guilty of the charge. The horoscope
computed the date of April 6, 113 from the astronomical data of
says so, and the author of the Hadrian vita strongly
the horoscope. More recently O. Neugebauer arrived at the
suggests it. The death sentence and the ruin of the
same result The author is greatly indebted to both for per
mission to make use of their findings. For a detailed discussion
family followed.

of the horoscope, see above, pp. 176-178.

ss Compare for example, V. Scramuzza, The emperor Clau
dius : 91 f.
" Cat. 8. 2: 85, 19 and 86, 2; 8 f.
Ibid.. 86. 8 f.

On the threshold of death himself, Hadrian thus ruth

lessly destroyed his next of kin, a monstrous end of a
2!T* See SH A , Hadrian, 23, 3.

E M P IR E W ID E LEG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y
great reign. Yet who can doubt that the Roman empire
fared better with Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius
as H adrians successors than it would have fared with
the light-headed, gladiator-loving F u scu s!
case

13

This trial is unique in that its defendant was a future

em peror: Septimius Severus. Although it may safely
be assumed that almost all rulers of the principate relied
on imperial horoscopes obtainableafter a . d . 1 1
solely through forbidden consultations, not one of them
had had to stand trial for such an offense. Some, like
Galba , - 28 were knowingly spared; others, like Nerva , 328
escaped by sheer luck the wrath of an ever suspicious
emperor. Those caught in the act of forbidden divina
tory inquiries, or subsequently found guilty of having
indulged in them, were, as has been conclusively shown,
treated very severely, whenever political prospects of
the inquirer or of the imperial house had been the topic
of the consultations. Septimius Severus alone is known
to have been accused (presumably of maiestas) of for
bidden astrological inquiries about his future, and,
having survived the trial, lived to have made good the
prophecy by actually reaching the imperial throne.
Bom in a . d . 146 at Leptis in N orth Africa, Severus
grew up in the benign era of Antoninus Pius (138-161)
and Marcus Aurelius (161-180). H e became quaestor,
probably at the usual age of twenty-five, i. e. about a . d .
171, and was then allotted the province of Baetica in
Spain. Owing to political disturbances there, however,
he was sent to Sardinia instead (ca. 172) and afterwards
served as legate to the governor of Africa. Although
he doubtless had investigated his horoscope long before,
he seems to have consulted at about this time another
astrologer. The man, it is said, foretold accurately the
brilliant future in store for him . 2*0 This was of course
a flagrant violation of the edict of 1 1 , punishable as
maiestas. Under the mild rule of Marcus Aurelius,
however, the legate probably felt safe. Via the office of
plebeian tribune to which this well affected ruler ap
pointed him. Septimius Severus reached the praetorship
in 178 at the age of thirty-one . 231 During the first six
years of Commodus reign he held no public office, but
after the assassination of his foe, the praetorian prefect
Perennis. in 186 232 Severus emerged rapidly as one of
the most influential men in the imperial service. He
became governor of the Gallic province of Lyon
(187-88), married, probably in 187, the Syrian Julia
Domna whose husband, according to her horoscope was
destined to mount the throne of the empire, 223 and was

269

recalled to Rome, probably early in 189, to be named

governor of Sicily, where he was in office on Julv 1 .
A t this time he was indicted for consulting about
the imperial dignity (de imperio) with seers and astrolo
gers (vel vates vel Chaldaeos) . 234
His guilt of maiestas through forbidden consultations
was flagrant. U nder normal conditions exile or death
would have been the inescapable punishment of Sep
timius Severus. O ur slender record of the trial, how
ever, has it that because Commodus was now begin
ning to be detested, he was acquitted by the praetorians
of the guard to whom he had been handed over for
trial. 233 The regime of Commodus hated favorite,
Oleander , 230 may have been the reason for this breach
of judicial objectivity. If this were true, then Severus
who owed much to Cleander 237 must have sensed the
coming storm in which the praetorians played a leading
part 238 and severed in time his ties with the doomed
favorite. Be that as it may, the praetorian prefects
closed their eyes, acquitted Severus, and nailed his luck
less accuser to a cross . 239 How fully Septimius Severus
was exonerated was shown by his appointment as consul
in 189-190 and in 191 as governor of the vital province
of Pannonia . 240
CASE 14
His own lucky escape did not soften Severus attitude
towards violators of the Augustan edict. Extremely
superstitious himself, he suspected others easily, espe
cially when their high rank seemed to lend encourage
ment to imperial hopes on their part. Cassius Dio him
self was eye-witness of a maiestas trial held in the senate,
which in a . d . 205 involved Popilius Pedo Apronianus ,241
then governor of Asia, and a few others. Almost thirty
years later Dio still recalled the episode as an incredible
affair even to a spectator like himself. 242 The charges
against Apronianus w ere: (1) His nurse had dreamt
that he should be em peror; ( 2 ) he had used some magic
to this end. Like Ostorius Scapula 243 in the reign of

prospective brides horoscope carefully before marrying her; cf.

Severus Alexander, 5, 4.
5,4 SH A , Severus, 4, 3.
2.1 Loc. cit. W ithin the same year, however, he seems to have
been charged with adultery, but was again acquitted. I t may be
that both indictments were part of the same law suit, however;
cf. Fluss, R E , 2. Reihe, 3. 1923: c. 1940, no. 13,-c. 2002.
2 Cassius Dio, ep. 73 ( 72). 10, 2 ff.; 12, 1 ff.
2.1 SHA , Severus, 4, 4, must be read in the light of Cassius
Dio, 73 (72), 12, 4.
SI* SH A , Severus, 13, 5.
* Ibid., 4, 3.
2,0 Ibid., 4, 2. The chronology of this entire passage is wholly
garbled. Severus did not reach Pannonia before midsummer,
191;
cf. Fluss, loc. cit.
2=8 Cassius Dio, 57, 17, 4.
211 C IL 6, suppl. 1, 2 : 442, no. 1980; compare Windberg, R E
--'Ibid. ep. 67, 15, 5-6.
19,
1,
1937: c. 45, no. 4 ; v. Rohden 2, 1896: c. 272, no. 4, and
230 SH A , Sevenis, 2, 8-9.
273, no. 10.
211 Ibid.. 3, 1 ff.
2.2 Cassius Dio, ep. 77 (76), 8, 1.
2,1 See A. Stein, Das Todesjahr des Gardepraefekten Perennis,
"C o m p are F. H . Cramer, The Caesars and the stars (2 ),
H erm es 35, 1900 : 528-530.
Seminar 10, 1952: 13 ff.
SH A , Severus, 3, 9. Severus was said to have checked his

270

E M P IR E W ID E LEG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M AN LAW U N T IL T H E EN D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

Nero, Apronianus also was hurriedly sentenced to death

in absentia and summarily slain. Evidence against him,
obtained through torture, was forwarded to the senate
by Severus. One of the examiners, inquiring who had
told of the dream and who had heard the prophecy, had
been to ld : I saw a certain bald-headed senator peep
ing in. - 14
Under the impact of the recent overthrow of Severus
former favorite, Plautianus . 245 the senate, already in the
midst of a drastic purge by Severus, was panic stricken.
Said Dio:
W e found ourselves in a terrible position. . . . Such w as
the g en eral consternation th a t even those who had never
visited the house of A pronianus, and not alone the baldheaded b u t even those w ho w ere bald on th e ir forehead,
grew afraid . . . . I w as so disconcerted th a t I actually felt
w ith my hand to see w hether I had any h air on my
head. . . .-**

Eventually the guilty (? ) party was singled out in the

senate: Baebius Marcellinus. a former aedile. He was
summarily done away with before Severus had even
been informed of the death sentence. 247 This was a vio
lation of the legal respite of ten days between sentence
and execution which Tiberius had introduced , 248 but the
terrified senate obviously wanted to impress the emperor
with this zeal in his cause. From the limited informa
tion now extant it seems that Apronianus, stirred up
perhaps by his nurse's dream, had proceeded to seek
confirmation for it by means of forbidden divinatory
inquiries. This apparently was the main charge against
him. No one bothered to give the governor of Asia a
chance to be heard in his own province. H e was con
victed and sentenced to death. The executioner was
rushed to Asia and dispatched him.
From a . d . 16 to 205 legal practice was governed by
the Augustan edict of 11. The most important refine
ment added to it was the division between ordinary
forbidden inquiries and political consultations, i. e.
between those of a private person's solus and that of
the emperor and his house. By a . d . 49 political in
quiries of this kind had come to be regarded as prima
facie evidence of the crime of maiestas. Although our
court records concentrate exclusively on cases in
volving forbidden political inquiries, it cannot be
doubted that lesser violations of the edict of a . d . 1 1 ,
being of course far more numerous than political ones,
were also prosecuted, especially those in which slaves
had consulted their own manuals or living diviners about
the prospective death of their masters . 240 The general
Cassius Dio, cp. 77 (76), 8, 2-3.
S4i SHA , Severus. 14, 5; Cassius Dio, ep. 77 (76), 14, I f f .;

IS, 1 ff.
Cassius Dio, ep. 77 (76), 8, 3 ff.
341 Ibid., 8, 6-7; 9, 1-2.
' Tacitus, Annals 3, 51; Cassius Dio, 57, 20, 4.
* Compare Paulus, Sententiae 5, 21, 3.

policy was stated by Ulpian. The penalties in such

cases were gradated according to the type of forbidden
inquiry.
4.

A ST R O L O G ER S IM C O U RT FO R V IO L A T IO N S
O F T H E A U G U STA N ED IC T

From its inception the Augustan edict was directed

against diviners, as well as against their guilty clients. In
every case, in which an over curious client was brought
to trial, at least one guilty diviner must also have figured.
Owing to the fact, however, that the accused clients
whose names have lieen preserved belonged to Romes
haut monde. historians took cognizance of their legal
plight, while only occasionally they deigned to mention
the equally guilty diviner. A pious wish for the execu
tion of astrologers in general was voiced in the reign
of Nero (54-68) :
All those w ho take horoscopes from observing M ars and
S atu rn a re deserving of one cudgelling. I shall see them
perhaps a t no d ista n t date really learn in g w hat a bull can
do and how stro n g a lion is.-51

Such sanguinary hopes were gratified at least in part by

Vitellius. In 69 he executed astrologers by the score
(although it is doubtful whether this was done for
their refusal to heed his expulsion edict or for publicly
prophesying his impending death ) . 252
That there must have been many more than the few
prosecutions of individual astrologers discussed below
can be deduced from the well known passage in Juvenal
whose exaggeration obviously contained a hard kernel
of truth . 253 Credulous Romans obviously reasoned that
astrologers, so heavily punished by the imperial govern
ment, must have known too much. The men, there
fore, were considered especially reliable sources of astral
information.
The few instances which are known of individual
indictments of astrologers confirm the general picture
drawn by Juvenal. Exile or death were the usual penal
ties in such trials. Occasionally an astrologer saved his
skin by turning state's evidence. A t other times the
conviction of a luckless diviner was based on more than
one indictment, for instance, on his active support of
treasonable plans (table 9).
CASE I

O ur only source for the trial and execution of L.

Pituanius and P. Marcius is Tacitus . 254 The two men
may have been astrologers or sorcerers, or possibly both.
Ulpian, de officio proconsulis, 7, in Coll. leg. Mos. et Rom.,
IS, 2, 3.
101 Lukillios, Anth. Gr. 11, 164.
s Suetonius, Vitellius, 14, 4.
Juvenal, 6, vv. 560-564. Seriphus was one of the most
feared islands of exile. There, for example, the renowned
Cassius Severus had dragged out his miserable existence until
he died; Tacitus, Annals 4, 21; Jerome, Chron., 01.203.
* Tacitus, Annals 2, 32.

271

T A B LE 9
Date
(I)

A . D.
16

(II)

40-41

(III)
(IV )

Defendant
L. Pituanius |
P. Marcius j
Apollonius

Indictment
maiestas

Verdict
guilty

death
..
(but pardoned)

P rior
to 6 6
66 ?
69

(V )

96

(V I)
(V II)

96

371

Pammenes
Ptolemy
Seleucus
Larginus
Proculus
Asclation
Heliodorus

exile
exile?, death?
exile

death

..
states
evidence

..
none

They seem to have fallen afoul of the law in connection

with the conspiracy of Libo Drusus against Tiberius in
a . d . 16,255 for their fate was recorded by Tacitus imme
diately following his detailed account of Libos trial.
The senate had in rapid succession passed two decrees
against astrologers, sorcerers, and all other diviners soon
after the trial . 258 Thereafter, as Tacitus stated laconi
cally. L. Pituanius was hurled to death from the Tarpeian
rock, while P. Marcius was executed outside the walls
in the ancient m anner, i. e. undressed and flogged to
death . 257 Their execution was either due to a violation
of the recent senatus consulta, or to their previous com
plicity in Libo's plot, perhaps in their capacity as diviners
by astrology or magic . 258 T heir part may only have
consisted in supplying him with those exciting predictions
which helped to turn his none-too-strong head in the
direction of sedition . 258 If L. Pituanius and P. Marcius
were, as is most likely, indicted in the catch-all form of
maiestas. their eventual conviction could have been based
entirely or at least in part on their violation of the A u
gustan edict of 11. If additional legal grounds were
needed to convict the two men, it could easily be
found in their being accessories before the fact. i. e.
accessories to perduellio. Their guilt on either count
can hardly be questioned. They may thus have been
the first two diviners to have been executed on charges
involving the breach of the edict of 11. W ith the neat
distinction of Roman Law they being of humbler
,5S Compare R. S. Rogers, Criminal trials: 12 ff.
2* See F. H . Cramer, Expulsion of astrologers from ancient
Rome, Classica et Mediaevalia 12, 1-2, 1951: 21 ff.
257 Tacitus, Annals 2, 32; Suetonius, Nero, 49, 2 ; Claudius,
34, 1; Domitian, 11, 2 ; cf. Th. Mommsen, Roemisches Staatsrecht 2, 1 (1st ed.) : 108, n. 7-9.
"* Cf. R. S. Rogers, op. c it.: 21. In a . d. 14 the comitia had
been abolished. Even if the two men were Roman citizens
therefore, they now could only appeal against a death penalty
to the princeps, i. e. to Tiberius. This surely was not going to
do them any good under the circumstances.
I t has been suggested that they were somehow connected
with the cryptic notebook in Libos handwriting, or had perhaps
inspired his comments about the persons listed in the fatal docu
ment; compare Tacitus, Annals 2, 30.

station were not given the choice of committing sui

cide. a choice reserved for noblemen only.
case

ii

Towards the end of a . d . 4 0 Caius Caligulas madness

and the deepening rift between him and the senate must
have been widely known throughout the empire. While
in Rome predictions of his untoward end were un
doubtedly rife, there were surely countless prophecies
of a similar nature uttered in the provinces also. Every
such prophecy constituted, of course, a grave violation of
the edict of a . d . 1 1 . W hat happened in Egypt was
probably symptomatic. In Alexandria friction between
Jews and non-Jews, always latent, had recently been
vented in wide spread riots. An Alexandrian em
bassy had hurried to Italy to defend the gentiles. The
Alexandrian Jew Philo, on the other hand, had gone
with a Jewish embassy 280 to the emperor to explain the
Jewish position. The city of Alexandria had long been
one of the foremost centers of divination in the empire.
Hence it may be safely assumed that a certain Apol
lonius, who was arrested in Egypt for having foretold
in his native land the actual fate of Caius. had prac
ticed his art in Alexandria, as well as elsewhere in
Egypt.
F o r this he w as sen t to Rom e and w as bro u g h t before the
em peror the very day on w hich the latter was destined to
die, but his p u nishm ent w as postponed until a little later,
and in this w ay his life w as saved.281

Dio to whom we owe the earliest record of this episode

is a somewhat suspect source in matters of this kind.
For his blind faith in astrology, dreams, and other kinds
of divination induced him on more than one occasion
falsely to record subsequent events as having borne out
M* His account of this enterprise is found in Philo, legatio ad
Caium; additional information also in his in Flaccum; compare
above, pp. 108-111.
m Cassius Dio 59, 29, 4, from Xiphilinus.
*

2 72

A STR O LO G Y IN ROM AN LAW U N T IL T H E END O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

divinatory predictions . - 62 Dios story of Apollonius, at

any rate, is a parallel to another one of Dio. involving
under almost identical circumstances a certain Larginus
Proculus at the end of Domitian's reign ( a . d . 96).-c:l
Taking Dio's account at face value, one might tenta
tively reestablish the sequence of legal procedure.
Apollonius was arrested in Egypt for the most serious
type of violation of the edict of 11. If he was a Roman
citizen, he may have appealed a death sentence imposed
on him by the governor of Egypt and may. therefore,
have been brought to Rome as the apostle Paul some
decades later for final imperial disposition of the case.
Even if Apollonius did not possess Roman citizenship,
however, the governor of Egypt, after sentencing him
(presumably to death) may have thought this case of
sufficient importance to send the defendant to Rome,
perhaps in the hope that Apollonius before his execution
might implicate important personages, a betrayal for
which Caius Caligula would be only too grateful. Ac
cording to Dio, Apollonius faced the emperor on January
24, 41, a short time before the emperor was killed.
Caius. eager to attend the Ludi Palatini, seems to have
postponed final action on the matter, but the death of
Apollonius obviously remained a foregone conclusion.
Caligulas death, however, led to an amnesty under
whose terms the new ruler, Claudius, also pardoned
Apollonius. This defendant, therefore, was among the
very few to ecsape the usual penalty of exile or death,
meted out to diviners who had so grossly violated the
edict of a . d . 11.
CASE I I I

In the age of Nero the Egyptian astrologer Pammenes.

a man of no mean reputation,26* fell afoul of the edict
of a . d . 11. While the particular client involved in his
violation of the law is not known, Pammenes himself
was convicted of the charge and in A. d . 6 6 lived on an
island as an exile, widely known [for his prowess] in
the art of the Chaldaeans and therefore a man enjoying
the friendship of many people. 265 The astrologer,
however, did not take his lesson seriously, but behaved
in a manner reminiscent of the fidele Gejaengnis in the
'Fledermaus. H e openly plied his astrological practice
on the island, receiving for example an annual retainer
from P. Anteius Rufus, a Roman client who continued
to consult him by correspondence. Their dealings in
cluded forbidden inquiries about Anteius own future

and, apparently, also about the imperial prospects of

Anteius' friend. Ostorius Scapula. A fellow exile of
Pammenes, Antistius Sosianus, suspected the astrolo
ger's renewed violation of the edict of 1 1 . Antistius
was. however, more interested in trapping the highranking clients of Pammenes than in merely ruining
the Egyptian astrologer. For Antistius hoped to win
Nero's pardon by denouncing important Roman " plot
ters. Having rifled the files of the astrologer, he
obtained sufficient evidence of forbidden consultations
to destroy both Anteius and O storius . 266
W hat happened to Pammenes in consequence of this
exposure of his illegal activities is not known. Already
sentenced to exile, he may have had another trial and,
being convicted once more of gross violations of the
edict of a . d . 1 1 , he would probably be sentenced to
death, mere exile having proven itself to be an insuffi
cient deterrent. Although the actual fate of Pammenes
remains uncertain, his brief appearance on the Tacitean
scene cast a revealing light on the incessant circum
vention of the Augustan edict even by those astrologers
for whom forbidden consultations constituted a very
grave personal risk.
CASE IV

More fortunate than Pammenes was his fellow astrolo

ger and contemporary Ptolemy Seleucus . 267 H e appears
to have been sentenced to exile on more than one occa
sion, obviously for violations of the Augustan edict of
a . d . 11.
His great political influence was still remem
bered by Juvenal who alluded to him in the following
term s:
The most eminent one, indeed, of these [astrologers] is
he who was several times exiled and through whose friend
ship and infallible tables a great citizen [Galba] perished
and before whom Otho trembled. 268

The great astrologer had visited Otho in his semi-exile

in far away Lusitania towards the end of Nero's reign . 289
This may have been the first of his exiles referred
to by Juvenal. His predictions not only kept O thos
courage up, but also undoubtedly influenced Otho's de
cision to depose Galba by a coup in ,69.270 W hen Otho
in turn was overthrown by Vitellius* and committed sui
cide in the summer of 69, his court astrologers, including
Ptolemy Seleucus, were of course dispersed. W hether
Ptolemy was formally tried and banished, or simply fled
2,1 Instances of such technique are found for instance in Dios from Vitellius even before the general purge of astrolo
changing a prediction which was false (Suetonius, Vitellius, 14, gers in Italy began in the late summer of 69,271 remains

4) into an allegedly ' accurate" one; Cassius Dio, 64 (651, 1, 4,

from Xiphilinus.
Cf. F. H. Cramer, The Caesars and the stars (2), Seminar
10. 1952 : 40-42.
3 See A. Stein, R E 18. 2. 2, 1949: c. 303, no. 0; W . Nestle,
ibid., no. 4. Stein suggests that Pammenes may have been the
alchemist mentioned by Syncellus. 1, t. 248 (ed. Bonn : 471). In
anv case he was a well known figure; Aelianus, Xat. Hist. 16,
42.
"'Tacitus, Annals 16. 14.

s Ibid.. 14 f.
On the probable identity of Ptolemy and Seleucus, see
Stein, R E , 2. Reihe, 2, 1923: c. 1248, nos. 29 and 30.
Juvenal, 6, vv. 557-559.
Tacitus. Histories 1, 22; Suetonius, Otho, 4, 1.
370 Tacitus, loc. cit. ; Suetonius, Otho, 6, 1; Plutarch, Galba,
23, 4.
171 Suetonius, Vitellius, 14, 4; Cassius Dio, 64 (65), 1, 4;
Zonaras. 11, 16.

E M P IR E W ID E L EG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STRO LO G Y
uncertain, but it does seem likely that some official action
was taken against him at the time. This would account
for a second exile implied by Juvenal.
As Apollonius before him. Ptolemy-Seleucus was
flagrantly guilty of habitual violations of the edict of
a . d . 11.
Yet. like Pammenes, banishment, not death
did he draw as his sentence (if. indeed, he was indi
vidually dealt with at all in 69). W ith the fall of Vitellius
and the accession of Vespasian, however, a new era of
prosperity dawned for him. He joined Balbillus, son
of the renowned astrologer Thrasyllus, as one of Ves
pasians favorite court astrologers . 272 Thus, instead of
being punished for his perennial transgressions of the
edict of 1 1 , Ptolemy Seleucus was not only pardoned,
but even permitted to continue his political prophecies
in a quasi-official capacity.
CASE

This seems to be the only known case, in which no

ordinary practitioner, however renowned, was arraigned
for violation of the edict of a . d . 11. One of the most
important astrologers of the first century paid the price
for having made forbidden political predictions, albeit
accurate ones. H is name was variously given as Ascletarius . 273 Asclepion,27* or Asclation . 275 Repeatedly he
was referred to as far famed. 276 H is writings,
usually quoted together with those of another astrologer
of that period, Timaeus , 277 enjoyed a lasting reputation.
Vettius Valens (ca. a . d . 150),278 the Anonymus of
a . d . 379 , 279 and Palchus (ca. a . d . 500)280 named both
men among their astrological sources. In the age of
Justinian I (d. 565) John Lydus still drew on Asclations writings . 281 The name itself is of Egyptian origin.
Asclation would thus belong to that group of Egyptian
astrologers of the first century a . d . whose reputation
was empire wide, a relatively small group which included
men like Balbillus, Chaeremon, Ptolemy Seleucus, Pam
menes, and possibly Teucrus the Babylonian.
572 Tacitus, Histories 2, 78. It is uncertain whether or not
Ptolemy Seleucus lived to face Domitians expulsion edicts of
89-90 and 93. In any case, as Vespasian's favorite court astrol
oger, he would probably not have suffered from such measures,
provided of course he had succeeded in keeping in Domitian's
good graces also.
273 Suetonius. Domitian, 15, 3, where one should probably read
Ascleparion in lieu of A scletarion; see Boissevain, Cat. 8. 4: 101.
n .; cf. P IR 1, 2nd ed., 1933 : 239, no. 1198.
!T* Malalas. ed. B onn: 266, 14; Asclepius in Chron. Pasch., ed.
Bonn, 1; 68, 13; Cat. 8, 4 : 101.
27S Cat. 1; 79, 19; 5, 1: 205, n. 1; S, 2: 49, 3; 8, 4 : 101, n.
Malalas and Chron. Pasch., loc. cit.
277 See W. Kroll, R E . 2. Reihe, 6, 1. 1936: c. 1288. no. 9;
compare Pliny, X at. H ist. 5, 9, 55; 16, 22, 82; according to
Suidas, s. v., no. 4, he wrote a p.a0ij*iarticd and a treatise irepi
<pVGli)V,

278 F or example in his Antliologiae, 9, pr., ed. K roll: 3 2 9 , 2 2 f.

:7a Cat. 5. 1: 204. 22 ff.
Cat. 1: 80, 15.
181 Lydus, de ostentis. 2 ( ed. Wachsmuth : 6 >; Cat. 1: 81.

273

Asclation had been arrested, probably late in August

or early in Septeml)er a . d . 96. Having banished astrolo
gers from Rome on two previous occasions, i. e. in 89-90
and a . d . 93 . 2 ,2 Domitian himself a fanatical believer
in this pseudo-science - 80 was hardly inclined to treat
flagrant violations of the edict of a . d . 11 lightly. On
September 17, 96 Asclation faced the emperor, who,
having received astrological warnings of his impending
death (to occur on September 18), was in a harsh mood.
Asclation seems to have admitted his g u ilt: he had dared
to predict Domitians death. The chief reason for Do
mitian's willingness to see the man must have been his
eagerness to pry out of the doomed astrologer some
information about one of the countless plots which, the
more severely suppressed, the more did flourish around
Domitian. The dramatic episode and its sensational
sequel were well rememljered as probably the most spec
tacular case of an astrologers paying with his life for
accurate, but forbidden prophecies de salute principis.
These are our chief sources:
Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 16, 3. 284
Some one else, also, had told Domitian on a previous
occasion both the time and the manner of his death, and
then, upon being asked what manner ot death he, the
prophet, should meet, had replied that he should be devoured
by dogs. Thereupon command was given that he should be
burned alive, and the fire was applied to him, but just then
there was a great downpour of rain, the pyre was extenguished. and later dogs found him lying upon it with his
hands bound behind him and tore him to pieces.
Cassius Dio ( ? ) 285 (tenth century ms.).
The astrologer Asclepius came before Domitian and told
him definitely that he would be slain on the next day, before
the fifth hour of the day had come. The other asked him
laughingly, whether he had something to predict about him
self. The man then also said that he would very soon be
eaten by dogs. The other, wishing to prove him a liar,
ordered that he be burned chained to a stake. But when
they lighted the fire, a most violent rainstorm began and
extinguished the fire. And when the guards had fled on
account of the vehemence of the rain, dogs came and tore
him to pieces. When Domitian heard of it, he began to fear
that the man had said the truth about him also. And so it
turned out.
Suetonius (Domitian, 15) :
N othing, how ever, im pressed him as m uch as the reply
given him by the astro lo g er A scletarius. H e asked the man,
who had been denounced and who adm itted it. too, th at he
had boasted in public w hat he through his a r t had foreseen
of the future, w hether lie perhaps knew w hat end were in
store for him self. A nd when the other confidently answ ered
th at in a sh o rt w hile he would be torn to pieces by dogs.
D om itian gave o rd ers to execute him. indeed, at once.286
51,2 Jerome. Chron., s. a.
:l:l Suetonius. Domitian. 14. 1-2.
s Cf. Boissevain. 3; 184, 12; there can be no question that
Dio's someone was Asciation.
5,5 Cat. 8. 4: 101. 2-12.
Asclation may have been a Roman citizen. This would
have induced Domitian to plan a more decorous end for him
than if he had been a non-citizen.

J"4

A STR O LO G Y IN ROM AN LA W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

;ut also to give him a m ost diligent burial, in o rd er thus

-o prove the falseness of his art. W hen this was being done.
:t happened th at the pyre was blown dow n by a sudden
torm and dogs tore ap a rt the half burned corpse. T he emror learn ed of the m atter a t table along w ith the other
e'.vs of the day th rough the actor L atinus, who accidentally
:iad seen it when passing by the place.

One can easily see why this episode impressed Sue

tonius and later historians. Coming as it did on the
very eve of Domitian's assassination, the astrologers
correct prophecy of his own death, as well as of that
of Domitian furnished believers of astrology with splen
did ammunition in their defense of the infallible accuracy
of this craft. Suetonius outlined, albeit briefly, the legal
background of the case which was to end so dramatically.
According to him the astrologer had publicly boasted
of his discovery of the time when the emperor would die,
having foretold according to Dio both the time and
the manner of Domitian's demise. Honestly con
vinced of the scientific accuracy of his astrological tech
niques the fearless Asclation had also applied them to
ascertain the date and the circumstances of his own end.
H e was. therefore, ready to answer the emperors ques
tion promptly. From the legal point of view the ques
tion whether or not the Augustan edict still permitted
an astrologer to discover the date of his own death was
thus involved. Assuming that the general ban of in
quiries about anyone's death covered the case, one would
have to consider Asclations action as another violation
of the law even though in this instance he had investi
gated only his own future. This lesser offense in any
case was completely overshadowed by the far greater
one for which he had been arrested and tried.
A slight discrepancy exists between Suetonius and the
other sources. The contemporary author of the Life of
Domitian attested that Domitian ordered Asclation's
immediate execution (the manner was not mentioned)
to be followed by cremation. Asclation's ashes would
hardly appeal to any dog, and the prophecy of the astrolo
ger about his own death could thus be proven as fal
lacious. Cassius Dio, on the other hand, reported that
the very mode of execution was the burning at the stake.
The rainstorm caused the guards to flee and extinguished
the blaze that had just been started. Asclation. his
hands tied to the stake, was thus alive, but unable to
tend off the attacking dogs when they tore him to pieces.
The more detailed version of the Anonymus (perhaps
more closely following Dios original text) offered about
the same description. Dio's well known tendency to
mold his account in a fashion which would demonstrate
the miraculous accuracy of diviners, especially of
astrologers . - 97 makes his description of Asclations death
somewhat suspect.
Suetonius, however, named the
urce of his story: an eyewitness account, given by the
ictor Latinus. H e also although without mentioning
' 7 Compare the change from Suetonius. Vitellius, 14, 4 to
issius Dio, cp. 64 (65), 1, 4 (from Xiphilinus).

Asclation as the source was aware of the accurate

astrological prediction of the very hour of Domitians
assassination.-ss Did Asclation perhaps know about the
conspiracy? At any rate he did not betray any secrets
but died proudly, consoled by his knowledge that
Domitian too would die within twenty-four hours.
CASE VI

On September 18. 96 one day after Asclations exe

cution another prophet was haled before the emperor
for a similar violation of the edict of a . d . 11. Larginus
Proculus, variously described as an astrologer, haruspex,
or sorcerer (possibly practising all three arts) had
been arrested in one of the two provinces of Germany
for forbidden prophecies about the emperor's death. He
had apparently confessed his crime, but. as a Roman
citizen, possessed the right of final appeal to the emperor.
W hether it was through his exercise of this privilege
or simply by order of the provincial governor that he
was brought to Rome is uncertain. The governor may
well have acted on his own initiative, knowing Domi
tians passionate interest in matters of this sort. Two
basic accounts of this episode e x is t: one from the pen
of Suetonius, the other from Cassius Dio's. Suetonius,
without referring to Proculus by name, recorded the
m atter as a case involving a haruspex, who through
brontoscopy had ascertained ar. impending change of
rulers (seemingly without a precise date for this event).
Cassius Dio, on the other hand, transmitted the name
of the defendant and as his crime an accurate forecast
of Domitians death date, a technical achievement which
only an astrologer or sorcerer was capable of, but not
a haruspex employing brontoscopy only. The text of
the pertinent passages reads as follows:
Cassius Dio, ep. 67, 16, 2. 289
Larginus Proc[u]lus, having publicly announced in [one
province of] Germany that the emperor would die on the
day when he actually did die, had been sent on to Rome by
the governor, and when brought before Domitian had again
declared that it should so come to pass. He was accordingly
condemned to death, but his execution was postponed in
order that he might die after the emperor had escaped the
danger: but in the meantime Domitian was slain, and so
Proculus' life was saved, and he received 400,000 sesterces
from Nerva.
Cassius Dio ( ? ) 290
For they say that Proculus. an astrologer and sorcerer,
announced publicly in [a province of] Germany the day on
which [Domitian] would die. And for this he was sent in
chains to Rome, brought before Domitian. and told him to
his face the day on which he would die. He, however, gave
orders to guard him in chains because he wanted to witness
the execution. The man, however, said: You will not slay
me. For I am not fated to die by you! In the meantime
Domitian perished.
5,8 Suetonius, Domitian, 16, 2.
* Dio's version was used by Cedrenus, Xiphilinus, and Zon
aras ; cf. Boissevain, 3: 18-). 15.
Cut. 8, 4: 109. 28 ff. and notes.

E M P IR E W ID E L EG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y
Suetonius (Domitian, 16, 1) :
Then early in the morning [of the day of his assassina
tion] he examined an haruspex who had been sent him from
[a province of] Germany and who. when asked about the
meaning of a bolt of lightning, had predicted a change of
rulers. He sentenced him to death.
There is no disagreement between these accounts on
the date of the trial (September 18, 96), the charge
( maiestas, committed by forbidden divination), and the
place where the offense had been committed (one of the
two German provinces, although which one of them is
nowhere stated). On the details, however, Suetonius
differs sharply from Dios excerptors, including the
Anonymus, whose assertion that Larginus Proculus was
an astrologer and sorcerer contrasts with that of Sue
tonius who refers to him as an haruspex. Moreover,
the method used was described as brontoscopy by Sue
tonius, while Dio and the Anonymus suggested astrology
(or magic) as the techniques employed. Suetonius had
the defendant merely prophesy a change of rulers, Dio
and the Anonymus the exact time of the assassination.
Allowing for Dios ineradicable predilection for accu
rate astrological forecasts, one is tempted to assume
in this instance a similar falsification of historical facts
on his part as in the earlier case of the astrological death
prophecies about Vitellius in 69.-9l
Nevertheless there is one point which might tend to
corroborate Dios version: the reward of 400,000 ses
terces bestowed on Proculus by Domitians successor
Nerva. T hat Proculus was guilty of maiestas through
violation of the edict of a . d . 1 1 was admitted by the
defendant himself. A legal precedent for his subsequent
pardon by Domitians successor had been established in
a . d . 41 by Claudius when he spared Apollonius (who
had committed the same crime at the end of Caligulas
reign ) . 262 But to reward a guilty diviner, to reward
him so handsomely, indeed, as Nerva did in the case of
Proculus, this was a novel feature. No explanation for
Nerva's action is given by Dio's excerptors. Could it
be that Proculus had in far away Germany obtained an
inkling of what was brewing in Rome ? Had he, perhaps
under torture, refused to name Nerva as the man whom
he believed to be fated to succeed Domitian ? That
Domitian was deeply suspicious of Nerva is well attested.
Actually he spared the old senators life only when in
formed of the pitiful state of his health, convinced that
in any case he would outlive Nerva . 298 W hat secret
connection (if any) existed between Proculus and Nerva
will probably never be fully known, but without some
personal obligation to Larginus Proculus, Nervas im
pressive donation would be inexplicable.

=B1 Compare F. H. Cramer, Expulsion of astrologers from

ancient Rome, Classica ct Mediaevalia 12, 1-2, 1951: 39.
202 Cassius Dio, 59, 29, 4.
Ibid., ep. 67, 15, 5-6; Zonaras. 11, 20.

275

CASE V II

This case chronologically does not belong among the

trials of the principate. It does, however, illustrate the
continuity of legal practice in dealing with astrological
offenders against the edict of a . d . 11. In 371 a pagan
conspiracy against the emperor Valens was discovered
in Syria . 294 Among the diviners consulted by the plot
ters about the selection of an imperial candidate and the
proper time for the coup of rebellion, an astrologer,
Heliodorus, belonged to the innermost circle of the con
spirators. Arraigned for maiestas, apparently on a two
fold indictment for forbidden astrological practices and
active participation in the plot itself, he confessed his
guilt. In a successful attempt to save his life he turned
states evidence. During the lengthy interrogations he
succeeded in impressing Valens so strongly that the
fanatically Christian emperor not only pardoned him,
but also made him his favorite court astrologer, and even
appointed the unscrupulous turncoat grand chamberlain!
His good fortune went to Heliodorus head, and his
arrogance added to the already large number of enemies
he had made. When an assassin succeeded in murder
ing the grand chamberlain the inconsolable Valens or
dered a state funeral for his court astrologer.
These relatively few surviving instances of legal
prosecution of astrologers for violations of the edict of
a . d . 1 1 belong to the same general category as the state
trials of their illustrious clients. In every case the in
dicted diviner was guilty of the most serious offense of
that law : inquiry into the political future of his client,
the emperor, or of the imperial family. Although our
evidence is inadequate for definite conclusions, it does
seem to support the following hypotheses;
(1) As men personally incapable of claiming the
throne or assuming political leadership, offending di
viners even in maiestas cases tended to receive somewhat
more lenient treatment than their dangerously highranking clients. 295
(2 ) The penalty normally imposed in such cases was
either work in the mines or exile ; 298 death sentences
were meted out only to those who openly predicted the
date of an emperors death, or had actively participated
in conspiracies.
(3) There is apparently no record of any trial of
law breaking diviners for lesser violations of the edict
of a . d . 11. But it is certain that non-political for
bidden consultations remained punishable throughout
the principate . 297
5,4 O ur chief source is Ammianus Marcellinus, 29, 2. A de
tailed discussion will be found in F. H. Cramer's forthcoming A s
trology in Roman law and politics, from Diocletian to Justinian I.
Attested by Paulus, Sententiae 5, 21, 1 and 3.
Loc. c it.; on the imperial administration of the mines, see
O. Hirschfeld, Die kaiserlichen Verwaltungsbeamten, 2nd ed .:
144-180.
2,7 Ulpian, leg. Mos. et Rom. coll., 15, 2, 3; Paulus, Sententiae
5. 21, 3.

276

A STR O LO G Y IN ROM AN LAW U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

5.

LEGAL R E S T R IC T IO N S O F D IV IN A T IO N
D U RIN G T H E P R IN C IP A T E

Fatalistic as well as catarchic astrology belonged to the

almost countless kinds of divination practiced through
out the Roman empire. The scientific aspects of fatalis
tic astrology impressed particularly the educated upper
strata of Roman society from the end of the republican
era until the triumph of Christianity. Although its hold
weakened towards the end of the principate when star
worship, the sun cult in particular, gained ground, it
continued the astrological literature attests it to
retain a devoted following at least among the educated
until the end of the fifth century. The masses through
out the entire period, on the other hand, preferred less
rationalistic methods. Augurs and haruspices, already
discredited with the Roman intelligentsia in the days
of Cicero (himself an augur!), continued to have a
lucrative private clientele apart from their official duties.
Practitioners of oracular, numerological, astrological,
and magical methods now vied with theirs (and each
others) for the pocket books of the common man.
Prophecies and oracles emanated from organized cults
or inspired individuals. Numerology, claiming spiritual
descent from Pythagoras and other ancient scholars,
combined scientific and mystical appeal with con
venient usage, a handbook of numerology being the only
thing required for consultations.
Augurial and haruspicial techniques possessed, at least
for the more gullible, the blended appeal of official sanc
tion, religious tradition, and scientific experience.
Magic, however, extended beyond the realm of purely
divinatory methods. Eventually therefore Roman Law
distinguished three types of magic: ( 1 ) black magic,
outlawed at all times, 288 ( 2 ) white magic, chiefly of a
pharmaceutical character, (3) divinatory magic. As
Cumont among others has pointed out, the belief in
magic like faith in astrology was fundamentally a quasiscientific creed. The sorcerer assumed that the precise
use of the same formulae, incantations, and material
ingredients inevitably in each case would produce the
same specific effect, a tenet which, except for its irra
tional ingredients, has been subscribed to by every
experimental scientist in history. The distinction be
tween the different types of magic in Roman Law was
not based on the techniques involved, but on the aims
of the practitioner and his client. Already the Twelve
Tables contained punitive clauses against theft by magic
and bewitching spells.*9 The use of drugs in medicinal
Compare on the subject two dissertations: E. Tavenner,
Studies in magic jrom Roman literature. New York, Columbia
Univ. Press. 1916: F. Beckmann. Zauberci und Rccht in Rom s
Fmchzeit, diss. 1923, publ. Muenster. 1928; for a general treat
ment of the subject, see L. Thorndike. A history of matjic and
experimental science. 1, esp. ch. ii.
Twelve Table Laws. 8a: qui fruges excantassit . . .; 8b:
neve alienam segetem pellexeris; compare Pliny, .Vat. Hist. 28,

magic was probably also dealt with in the TwelveTables , 300 but no clause referring to this topic has sur
vived. The Latin renenum (equivalent of the Greek
<fntpfMiKov) originally had a neutral meaning denoting
both healing drug or deadly poison ." 01 Mala vcnena.
i. e. poisons, administered with or without magical in
cantations. were of course always tabooed . 302
Among the numerous definitions of sorcerers (yo;r)
in the literature of the principate the one given by Philo
stratus was typical:
S o rcerers claim to alter the course of destiny by h aving
recourse eith er to the to rtu re of lost sp irits 303 o r to b arb aric
sacrifices, o r to certain incantations and an o in tin g s.304

W hat seems to have been the first instance in which

diviners by magic were singled out for legal curbs
occurred in 33 b . c . when Agrippa as aedile banished
yoyjTti, as well as astrologers from Rome .305 Although
the transmitted ordinance was directed against magic in
general, the association of sorcerers and astrologers in
this ordinance clearly pointed to diviners by magic.
Black magic was firmly outlawed anyhow, and prac
titioners of white magic, i. e. the pharmacists of the
time, could hardly be Agrippa's target. No reason to
banish such magi from the capital can be imagined.
That left only diviners by magic for Agrippa to aim at.
In a . D. 16 the Roman senate by two successive decrees
expelled astrologers and other diviners from Rome.
Diviners by magic were obviously included in the group.
Since it was in practice often difficult to draw the line
between them and practitioners of black magic, magi
as a group were subject to far more rigid curbs than
astrologers. Roman legislation on the subject of black
magic has been aptly summarized by Paulus early in
the third century:
I t has been ordain ed th a t those who know about the m agic
a r t shall be punished w ith the h ighest penalty, i. e. they shall
be throw n to the beasts or be crucified. S o rcerers (m a g i)
them selves a re burned alive.30
2, 10 and 17; 3, 41; Seneca, quaest. nat. 4, 6 f . ; Cicero in
Augustine, de civ. dei, 8, 19; Apuleius. apologia, 47.
,0 F. Beckmann, op. c it.: 55 f .; Cicero, de republica 4, 12
(compare Augustine, de civil, dei 2, 9), errs probably in assuming
that the Twelve Table Laws. 8, la and lb, included libelous
writings among the mala carmina which it outlaw ed; see also
Pliny, Nat. H ist. 28. 2, 17 f.
301 Gaius, Dig. SO, 16, 236: Who says venenum must say
whether it is malum or bonum. For medicamenta are also
venctta.
103 F or republican times, see Sallustius, Catiline, 11; Cicero.
pro Cluentio, 57, 148.
303 A necromancer, named Junius, had for example played an
important part in the ill-starred conspiracy of Libo Drusus in
a . d . 16; Tacitus. Annuls 2. 28.
3I Philostratus. Apollonius of Tyana 5. 12; for similar defini
tions. see the second century author of Ps.-Quintilian, declamat.
maiores, 10, 15; Apuleius, apoloi/ia, 26; Tertullian, apologeticus,
23. 1.
305 Cassius Dio. 49, 43. 5.
3* Paulus. Scntentiae 5, 23, 17.

E M P IR E W ID E L EG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STROLO G Y
Diviners by magic inevitably would also know about
the magic art. From the terse sentence of Paulus it
would follow that they too were liable to death in the
arena or on the cross for their theoretical knowledge
alone. But that this was not the case follows logically
from the repeated issue of expulsion decrees against
them. Practicing sorcerers, however, were burned, a
method of execution faithfully adhered to in witchcraft
cases through the middle ages and well into the so-called
modem era. In fairness to the judicial spirit of the
Romans one must assume that if the defendant succeeded
in convincing his judges that he knew of and practiced
only white magic or magic by divination, he would be
acquitted, or at least would escape with a lighter penalty.
Obviously a charge of forbidden knowledge would
usually be substantiated in court by the assertion that
books on magic had been found in the defendant's
possession. The accused then could naturally but
unconvincingly deny ever having read them. To
forestall such pleas, the principate ru led :
N o one is perm itted to have books on the a r t of magic
in his possession. A nd w ith w hom such a re found will be
deported to an island after his goods have been confiscated
a n d these [w ritin g s] bu rn ed in public. P erso n s of humble
ran k w ill be executed. ( N o t only the p ractice b u t also the
know ledge of this a r t is fo rb id d e n ).307

Books on magic thus fared as badly as practitioners

of black magic, but it should not be assumed that the
burning of books applied only to those dealing with
magic. Politically objectionable literature and unau
thorized oracular writings even in the days of Augustus
had been committed to the flames.308 Thus books deal
ing with oracular magic may well have been included
among those which according to Paulus endangered
their possessor and were when confiscated committed to
the flames, a legal practice continued into the later
Roman empire. The double standard of grading penal
ties on the basis of a defendants higher or lower social
rank was not confined of course to owners of magical
literature. It also applied for example to those who
concocted pharmaceutical d ru g s;

277

Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis, deals with the legal con

sequences of making and administering dangerous drugs,
probably often to the accompaniment of magical prayers
or incantations:
The fifth article of the law covers anyone who has made
a drug (venenum t in order to kill somebody, or has sold it,
or has possessed it.310
Under this heading druggists like the notorious Locusta
could be punished for the mere manufacture of deadly
poisons. On the other hand, those who possessed them
or trafficked in them were held accountable to o :
The p e n a lty of this law applies also to anyone selling bad
drugs (mala mcdicamentai acquiring possession of them for
the purpose of killing somebody. The emphasis on bad drugs
clearly implies tfiat there are also some good tlrugs (non
mala venena). . . . The word drug (venenum) thus is
neutral, being applied equally to what is prepared for curing
and for killing, as well as to what is called a love potion
(amatorium). But this law takes cognizance only of any
drug which causes the death of a person.311
The chanting of spells during the making of drugs
(especially amatory potions and the like) was an im
portant part of ancient pharmacology, but Marcianus
made it clear that not medicinal magic as such was out
lawed, but only its application to deadly drugs. So rigid
was the emphasis on the effect of the drug that even
the intention of the druggist who had made or peddled
it was considered secondary :
A senatus consultum ordered relegated a woman who
without evil intent but as a bad example had given out a
drug ( medicameutum > for conception which had caused the
death of the woman who had taken it. Another senatus
consultum extended the penalties of this law to druggists
(pigmentarii) who rashly gave out hemlock, sulphur, aconitum. pitvocampas. buprestis, mandragora. and cantharids for
the arousing of sexual passion.31-

In short the druggist's responsibility was not only

confined to the preparation with or without magic
of healing drugs, poisonous or non-poisonous alike, but
also to their falling into wrong hands, or being adminis
tered in deadly overdoses. The lack of attention paid
to the use of magic in drug making indicates that no
W hen a m an has died from a m edicine which was ad
legal objection was taken to it per se. a view held even
m inistered for the m an s resto ratio n to health, o r fo r alle
in the days of Theodosius L 313
viatin g his condition, the one who h as g iven the medicine
The magic art whose ban under the lex Cornelia
is deported to an island if of h ig h er ran k (honestior) ,
Paulus dealt with could, therefore, hardly include medici
executed if of a low er ( lu im ilio r) .r!0'J
nal magic. If the intent of Roman law in general was
An excerpt from the fourteenth book of Marcianus to punish only attacks upon the health and life of human
lustitutiones has been preserved in the Digests. The beings, then only black magic and dangerous drugs would
passage, a parallel to Paulus interpretation of the le x have to be outlawed, and even inadvertent use of them
punished. Prophets ( and diviners by magic) on the
307 Ibid.: 23. 18. The bracketed sentence may be the additon
other hand, were grouped together with astrologers:
of a later w riie r; see Fontes iuris antejustiniani. ed. J. Bavieri
f t alii 2: 410, n.
39 Compare for example F. H. Cramer. Bookburning and
censorship in ancient Rome, Jour. H istory of Ideas 6, 1, 1945:
157-196.
3" Paulus, Scntentiae 5, 23, 19; compare Dig. 48. 8, 3.

310 Dii/. 48. 8. 3. pr.

3,1 Ibid.. 3. 1-2.
sls Ibid,, 3, 2-3.
31* C. Th. 16. 10. 12 (Nov. 8, 392).

278

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M A N LAW U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

P au lu s: 314
1.
I t has been decreed to expel from the city (civita te)
prophets who pretend to be inspired by a god, lest public
morale (m o res) by hum an credulity be seduced into hoping
'or some p articular thing, or th a t the m inds of the people,
or certain, m ight be excited thereby. A nd thus first
>tTenders are flogged w ith rods and expelled from the city,
but persevering ones a re throw n into public ja il, or d e
ported. o r at least banished.
3. W hoever consults astrologers, soothsayers ( h a rio lo s),
haruspices, and seers about the health (salute) of the em
peror or about high m atters of state is subject to capital
punishment. O ne would do better to abstain not only from
[the practice of] divination, but also from any w ritings on
it, because, if slaves have sought advice about the health
salute) of th e ir m asters, they a re punished w ith the
-upreme penalty, i. e. the cross. Those, how ever, who w ere
consulted, if they supplied an answ er, a re either sent to a
mine o r to an island.
U lp ia n : 3,5
1. F u rth erm o re is forbidden the clever and obstinately
persuasive fraud of the astrologers. N or has this been fo r
bidden to them by law for the first tim e in our own days,
but it is a ban of old standing. . . .
2. T h e question, how ever, has been posed, w hether m ens
knowledge of any th ing is punishable or [only] the practice
o r professional use. A nd indeed it has been asserted in the
w ritin g s of the ancients th a t the professional use, b u t n o t
the know ledge was forbidden. It cannot be denied th a t later
this w as changed and th a t it did become custom ary [for
astrologers] to practice also and to offer th e ir services in
public. T his, how ever, came to pass by the boldness and
daring of those, who openly sought and those who gave
[astrological] advice, ra th er than because it w as [legally]
permitted.
3. V ery often, indeed, and by alm ost all em perors h as it
been decreed th at no one should involve him self in any w ay
ii anything of this kind, and in various ways w ere those
punished who practiced it, in proportion to the kind of
inquiry. F o r those who have sought advice about the health
(salute) of the em peror suffer either capital punishm ent
or some other heavy penalty, but a lighter one, if [they
inquired] about th e ir own [health] o r that of m em bers of
their fam ily. A m ong these [diviners] the seers a re also
included. They too m ust be punished, because a t tim es they
practiced their illicit arts ag a in st the public peace and the
realm of the Roman people.
4. T h ere is. indeed, a decree of the D ivus [A ntoninus]
Pius [138-161] addressed to Pacatus, legate of the province
of Lyon. Since there a re m any w ords to this rescript, I
have here given this brief sum m ary of its content.
5. T h e D ivus M arcus [161-180] also relegated to the
-land of Svrus a seer, who d u rin g the rebellion of [A vidius]
-assius [175] had uttered prophecies and said m any things
as if inspired by the gods. A nd, really, men of this kind
rrast not be tolerated w ithout punishm ent, who under the
pretext of divine com mands announce o r proclaim these or
assert they know n them.

Allowing for the twice repeated process of condensaii n in this text (which the Christian compiler of the
llatio presented of Ulpians summary of a rescript
* Paulus, Sententiae S, 21, 1 and 3.
"l5 Ulpian. de officio proconsulis, 7, in leg. Mos. et Rom.
iatio, 15, 2, 1-6.

of Antoninus Pius) is the most detailed review of Roman

Law concerning the interpretation of the edict of a . d .
11 (while Paulus added specific points on the treatment
of offending seers and diviners). A t the very end of
the principate Ulpian reaffirmed the legal stand of the
government from the historical angle. H e g ave:
(1) A general reference to the expulsion edict of
139 b. c . 316
(2) A specific reference to the second expulsion de
cree of a . d . 16.3lT
(3) According to long standing tradition the knowl
edge of astrological theories was always legal.
(4) Expulsion orders against astrologers were never
formally revoked. Resumption of astrological practice
in Rome and Italy 318 was therefore due to the daring
of individuals rather than to a formal lifting of the legal
ban whose tacit lapse, however, Antoninus Pius admitted.
(5) A direct reference to the edict of 11 insisted that
almost every emperor since Augustus had specifically
reinvoked the edict of 1 1 by outlawing (a) inquiries
de principis salute, i. e. on the (prospective) health of
the emperor [and on high matters of state ] , 310 (b ) in
quiries about ones own future well-being and that of
ones family members, (c) inquiries of slaves about the
future health of their masters.
( 6 ) Penalties were graded according to the serious
ness of the offense: F or (5a) capital punishment or
other very heavy penalties, for (5b) lighter punishment,
[for (5c) death at the cross],
Paulus added the following:
(7) Guilty seers, astrologers, and other diviners were
ordinarily sent to the mines or an island exile. First
offenders were flogged.

E M P IR E W ID E L EG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y
of stars and constellations on the destiny of human
beings. The writings of astrologers even dealt freely
with methods for the prediction of anyone's life span,
although the edict of 1 1 had prohibited the practice of
making such prophecies about anyones prospective
death date. Thrasyllus had gone so far as to announce
openly his own death date , 1- 1 his son Balbillus wrote
authoritatively on the subject, 322 Ptolemy Seleucus freely
revealed to his patron Otho the time of the death of
Galba, and possibly O thos own as well. 323 Apollonius,
Larginus Proculus. and Asclation faced death for such
practices, but Ptolemy , 324 Vettius Valens , 325 and other
astrologers of the second century felt no hesitation about
writing on all forbidden topics. A Mithras priest proudly
called himself studiosus astrologiae, while the emperor
Severus Alexander (222-235) paid state salaries to pro
fessors of astrologia at the Athenaeum, the imperial uni
versity of Rome .326 Priest and emperor thus openly
evinced their interest in public knowledge of astrological
theory. In general the theoretical discussion of accurate
methods for predicting a m ans life span from his horo
scope continued to be treated in many astrological
manuals for centuries after the principate. W ritings on
the subject seem to have circulated freely among the
reading public long after all practice of astrology was
outlawed.
The last detailed non-official discussion of the restric
tions imposed by the edict of a . d . 1 1 upon political in
quiries came from the still pagan pen of Firmicus
Matemus, more than a century after Paulus and Ulpian
had summarized the old laws interpretation under the
principate. Towards the end of Constantine I s reign
(d. 337) Firmicus in his astrological treatise Mathesis,
the last m ajor astrological work of pagan Latinity,
warned the practicing astrologer:

279

but faced increasing official hostility from the govern

ment in which Christianity, arch foe of pagan divination,
became rapidly dominant. Constantine I for example
in two decrees had already attacked the consultation of
haruspices. repeating in one order Tiberius ban of pri
vate consultations of haruspices, while deriding in the
second even public consultations of this kind as mere
superstition . 328 Nocturnal religious or divinatory rites
also became increasingly suspect,329 although not yet
officially outlawed at the time. Firmicus recognized this
trend and warned any astrologer:
N ev er p articip ate in nocturnal sacrifices,
or p riv ate o n e s ! A nd never discuss m atters
secret, b u t publicly, as I have said before, in
ones eyes ply the p ractice of this divine a rt

be they public
w ith anyone in
front of every
[astrology].340

Apart from contemporary reasons for counseling cau

tion Firmicus fully understood trained lawyer that he
was the details of the edict of a . d . 1 1 , which had
forbidden consultations a deux,331 i. e. prescribed the
presence of third parties or public consultations. There
fore Firmicus insisted that astrologers should loyally
warn their clients in advance not to expect any answers
except loudly proclaimed ones. Questions violating the
restrictions listed by Paulus and Ulpian could thus be
forestalled, especially of course political inquiries. Di
vinatory activities of this kind were inevitably the more
attractive (and lucrative!) for being forbidden. That
they were continued, nevertheless, in spite of the grave
danger for client and astrologer, attests the degree of
faith in this form of divination. The great social revolu
tion of the third century had not changed this attitude,
nor had the latter-day despotism established by Dio
cletian curbed the insatiable curiosity of the politically
ambitious. The undiminished appeal of the forbidden
persisted when Firmicus composed his treatise. He,
therefore, took special cognizance of the particularly
perilous political inquiries and reminded his astrologer
read er:

While the knowledge of black magic was outlawed

at all times, U lpians assertion that the theoretical study
of astrology was legal throughout the era of the princi
pate, or at least until his own time (he was killed in
228), is amply borne out by the extant record. In 16
Tiberius allowed all astrologers to remain in Rome,
if they pledged themselves to give up their professional
practice, unrepentent practitioners were driven from the
capital . 320 Again and again by senatorial decree and
imperial edict such expulsion measures were repeated,
but we know of no law against studying the influence

The caution thus advised had probably two reasons:

a traditional legal one, and another one rooted in con
temporary expediency. W hen these lines were written
astrology and other forms of divination were still legal,

Valerius Maximus, 1, 3, 3.
117 Tacitus, Annals 2, 32; Suetonius, Tiberius, 36; esp. Cassius
Dio. 67, IS. 8-9.
31 No total empire wide ban of astrology or other forms of
divination is known prior to the reign of Diocletian. Ulpians
Christian excerptor, who wrote probably at the end of the
fourth century, in his natural enmity towards astrology may
have colored Ulpians original text in such a manner that
it now reads as if all astrology had been forbidden throughout
the principate also.
sl* The bracketed passages stem from Paulus, Sententiae, loc.
cit.
1,0 Sutonius, Tiberius, 36.

111 Cassius Dio, 58, 27, 3.

This passage was clearly a paraphrase of the Augustan
Fragments in Cat. 8, 4 : 235 ff.
*** Tacitus, Histories 1, 22; 2, 78; Suetonius, Otho, 4, 1; 6, 1;
* C .T h . 9 , 16, 1-2 ( a . d . 319).
Plutarch, Galba, 23, 4.
114 Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, 4, 3 (on royal and imperial power) ; * F or subsequent actions against them, see for example C. Th.
3,9, and 4 ,9 (on the computation of death dates from horoscopes). 9, 16, 7 (S e p t 9, 364 by Valentinian I and V alen s); cf. L ex
Visigoth 6 , 7, 3; Zosimus, 4 , 3, 2-3.
,SI Vettius Valens, Anthologiae 1, 3 (forecast of imperial
Firmicus Matemus, Mathesis 2, 30, 10.
power) ; 2, 16 (rise to the throne) ; 5, 9 and 12 (death date
Ml Cassius Dio, 5 6 , 25, 5.
com putation); ed. K roll: 15, 17-23; 70, 32-71, 13; 235, 3 f f .;
*** Firmicus M aternus, Mathesis 2, 30, 4. F or historical data
237. 8 ff.
in this work, see L. Thorndike, A Roman astrologer as a his
* CIL, 5, 2 : 652, no. 5893; SH A , Severus Alexander, 27, 5;
torical source: Julius Firmicus Maternus, Jour. Clasf. Philol. 8.
44, 4.
1913 : 415-435.
331 Firmicus M aternus, Mathesis 2, 30, 3.

Y ou will, indeed, g iv e y our replies in public, and this

m ust be told in advance to those w ho w ill inquire about
inform ation th a t you will pronounce w ith a loud voice your
answ ers to them about w h atev er they m ay inquire, so th at
not perhaps some question m ig h t be put to you the asking
or an sw erin g of w hich is forbidden.327

B e careful n ever to give an answ er to anyone inquiring

about the life of the R om an em peror (d e vita Rom ani im p e ra to ris). F o r it is neith er necessary no r perm itted for us
to le a m an y th in g concerning the state of the realm (d e statu
reip u b lica e) th ro u g h nefarious curiosity. B ut anyone who
w hen asked says an y th in g about the fate of the em peror
(d e fa to im peratoris) is both a crim inal and w orthy of
every punishm ent.332

280

A STR O LO G Y IN RO M A N LA W U N T IL T H E EN D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E

law of topical and technical restrictions of divination

in so far as it applied to the most severely punished
offense, the crime of maiestas through forbidden political
consultations. While Firmicus instructed astrologers to
refuse any answer to such inquiries, he added what
amounted to a novel astrological theory by saying that
it was " not necessary to learn what the future would
hold in store for the country. Meek acceptance of what
ever the future might hold was suggested as the wiser
and certainly as the safer course, a view most popular,
with a despotic government. Firmicus, however, did
not stress the argument of personal security. Instead
he maintained, strange contradiction to the proud claims
of earlier astrologers:

rowed by Firmicus from a Hellenistic Egyptian source,

possibly from the manual of Nechepso-Petosiris . 336 In
Egypt at least the concept exempting the ruler from the
control exercized by the stars might have originated
quite naturally. The thesis presented by Firmicus ad
mitted. however, the existence of an all powerful su
preme deity, the emperor himself being assigned the
second highest level of the heavenly hierarchy. The
stars, according to Firmicus, neither controlled the su
preme power nor this second highest stratum of gods.
Nevertheless, the limitation of astral fatalism to the
lower spheres not only applied to human diviners, but
even prevented lesser divinities from revealing imperial
destinies:

And no astro lo g er has ever been able to find out anything

true about the fate of the em peror. F o r the em peror alone
is not subject to the courses of the stars, and he is the only
one whose fate the stars have no pow er to determ ine.333

T his m atter disturbs the haruspices also. F o r w hatever

divinity may be invoked by them, its pow er is w e a k e r; it
therefore has never been able to unfold the substance of
superior pow er w hich, indeed, is contained w ithin the em
peror. F o r all freem en, all ranks, all rich men, all noblemen,
all dignitaries, and all pow ers serve him . H e has obtained
the m ight of a divinity (d iv in i n u m in is ) and of im m ortal
freedom, and is ranked in the fo refro n t of the gods.337

This was a curious change from traditional concepts.

Originally the stars had exclusively deigned to reveal
the fate of rulers and empires in ancient Mesopotamia.
Roman emperors from Augustus to Severus Alexander
certainly believed that their destiny was fixed by the
stars. While worshipped in the eastern part of the
empire as living divinities according to oriental and Hel
lenistic traditions, most rulers of the principate had not
insisted on official acceptance of their divine status in
the Latin west. Caligula and Domitian had tried for
such recognition, but had run afoul of the concerted
opposition to divine monarchy.
The revolution of the third century, however, culmi
nated in the establishment of a new despotism, which
Diocletian based firmly on the ancient oriental concept
of ruler worship. Logical minds must have been quick
to perceive the astrological difficulties inherent in such
a theory. Could gods be subject to Fate ? The Greeks
had always believed that this was the case, but latter-day
scholars had been prone to point out the inherent contra
diction between the simultaneous acceptance of divine
omnipotence and the gods' helpless subjection to Fate.
Firmicus tried to suggest a solution of this dilemm a:

Such incense was sweet perfume for even a proChristian emperor's nostrils. Let those inclined to dis
miss Firmicus' rantings as empty rambling of hoary
rhetoric compare these passages with some of the ad
dresses tendered in our presumably more enlightened
era to heads of totalitarian states. A ring of ominous
similarity must be audible for those at least who have
ears to hear. Aware of the possibility that his argu
ments might still fail to persuade a prospective client
of the follv of trying to obtain information about the
emperor, Firmicus realized the dilemma in which such
inquiry placed the astrologer. Should he save his own
skin by denouncing a stubborn client to the authorities
who held death in store for such criminals ? No.
said Firmicus. For a true astrologer was a man both
priestly and hum ane:

F o r since he [the em peror] is the lord of the entire

world ( totius orbis d o m in u s), his fate is d irected by the
suprem e god. A nd since the te rrestrial space of the whole
world is u nder the em peror's pow er, he has also him self
been placed am ong those gods to whom the suprem e divinity
has en tru sted the creation and the preservation of all
thin g s.334

T herefore, I do not w ant you to frig h ten w ith a tru cu len t

and stern reply anyone who may have asked som ething
about the em peror, but persuade him w ith learned speech
th a t no one is able to ascertain an y th in g about the life of
the em peror, so that, the e rro r of his, m ind corrected, he
mav, im pressed by your argum ents, abandon tl*; Vfhite heat
of his boldness. N or do I w ant you to denounce anyone who
may have inquired about som ething else in an evil m anner,
lest, when he is subjected to a death sentence on account of
the illicit desires of his mind, you ap p ear to have been the
cause of his death. F o r this is im proper for a m an in a
priest-like position.338

This impassioned plea was somewhat inconsistent with

an earlier invocation in which Firmicus prayed to the
seven planets that they might protect Constantine I and
his sons.'13- It has been suggested that this idea was bor-

In short. Firmicus insisted that no astrologer should

denounce violators of the edict o f a . d . 1 1 , even if their
very inquiries constituted the crime of maiestas. P ro
tecting his own innocence by refusing to answer for

' =:l Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis 2. 30. 4.

134 Loc. cit. ; for the same reason no Hants per could foretell
the emperor's future.
333 Ibid. 1, 10, 14.

330 See K. Ziegler. Zum Zeushvnmus des Kallimachos, Rhein

Mus. 68. 1913 : 336 ff., esp. 343 ff.
337 Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis 2, 30, 6.
538 Ibid.. 30, 7.

E M P IR E W ID E LEG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y
bidden questions, the astrologer nevertheless would run
a very grave risk if and when the authorities should
subsequently discover that he had been approached on
forbidden topical matters. The astrologer's position
was put on a par with that of a Catholic priest learning
of a crime through the confessions of the wrongdoer,
or of a physician discovering in his professional capacity
a violation of existing laws. Actually the Augustan
edict became obsolete within half a century after Firm i
cus wrote his treatise. From then on any professional
divinatory activity, not only those banned by Augustus,
was strictly forbidden. Although secret consultations
of astrologers about political matters continued at least

281

until the age of Justinian I (d. 565 ) and probably

beyond it, they were now punishable under the terms
of a general empire wide lmn of astrology and all other
forms of divination. The merely restrictive Augustan
edict of a . d . 1 1 therefore was important chieflv during
the principate. when it expressed the sum total of
limitations imposed on divination throughout the em
pire. It was then the only permanently enforced Roman
law of its kind, implemented occasionally bv regional
measures outlawing alt astrological and other divinatory
practices in Rome and or Italy. Such legislation was,
however, enacted and enforced only during brief periods
of unrest in the political heart of the empire.

C O N C LU SIO N
W e have reached the end of the first stage of our
labors. Before our eyes the panorama of four centuries
has unfolded, four hundred years of Roman history seen
from one specific angle only. Not the dust of battle,
the heat of political debate or of civil conflict, nor the
evolution and decline of Latin literature has been our
concern. The task set was simply th is: To what extent
and in what way did astrology, born in Babylon, fully de
veloped in the Hellenistic eastern Mediterranean world,
especially in Egypt to what extent then, and in what
way did this pseudo-scientific offshoot of astronomy in
fluence the course of Roman history until the end of
the principate ? Both the catarchic and fatalistic branch
of astrology were important, but fatalistic astrology had
the more profound impact. For it required a W eltan
schauung of so stern, so uncompromising a character
that only the bravest or the most easy going coward
would accept it. It presupposed on the part of its de
votees an absolute surrender of any belief in free will.
No decision whatever remained in human hands. In
stead the constellation prevailing at the moment of con
ception or birth once and for all predetermined the
future of the conceived, or at least the new-born child.
The truly frightening consequences of applying such a
creed to the realm of ethics and morality were fully
recognized. They aroused the passionate opposition of
the leaders of the New Academy. Together with Epi
cureans, Cynics, and Peripatetics the Academicians ham
mered away at the belief in an inexorable Fate. The
Stoics alone remained to champion fatalism and fatal
istic astrology, and in the second century b . c . even they
wavered for a time. But no matter how many times
modifications of astrological claims became necessary,
the astrologers never declared themselves defeated and
succeeded in surmounting all objections to their craft.
From Epicurus to Carneades. from Carneades to Alex
ander of Aphrodisias and Sextus Empiricus the foes of
fatalism launched attack after attack, only to see their
opponents with exasperating resiliency retreat to other

positions, without, however, abandoning their main tenet.

W hat was it that made fatalist astrology survive in the
face of so persistent, so long continued onslaughts from
the best minds of the Greek world ? The source of the
stamina of the Stoics and their allies, the fatalist astrolo
gers, was a faith, as deep as the scepticism of their
enemies. It was the faith in reason. No other Greek
sect had committed itself so firmly to the concept that
reason alone ruled the universe and every atom in it,
as had the Stoics. Descending through the ages ever
since the creation of the world, an unending chain of
cause and effect relations obeyed only the immutable
laws of nature which not even a deity could contravene.
Not a single exception whatever from the law of causal
ity, no miracle was possible. The cosmos func
tioned as the eighteenth and even nineteenth century
western scientists assumed once more like a supremely
well designed machine constructed on rational princi
ples and governed by the rational laws of nature
alone.
It was a universe made for scientists and enthusiastic
ally accepted by them. W ithout committing themselves
to the details of Stoic speculations the great astronomers
and physicists, the physicians and chemists found in
rational fatalism that faith in reason which scientists of
all ages have always consciously or subconsciously
longed for: the philosophical assurance that their own
concept of the nature of things, their own axiom of a
causal order was not merely a scientific necessity, but
also possessed cosmic validity. Ancient scientists be
came the main supporters of fatalism, and most of them
championed fatalistic astrology enthusiastically. Their
logic was irrefutable. The influence of some stars, for
example the sun and the moon, was unquestionable.
There were five other stars, which also moved in cal
culable orbits across the heavens. Were not these
planets, too. likely to influence mundane affairs? The
signs of the zodiac, the houses of the sun were
they not also to be reckoned with ? Moreover, natural

A STROLO GY IN ROM AN LA W U N T IL T H E E N D O F T H E P R IN C IP A T E
iienomena like the equinoctial storms occurred at defi
ne periods when certain constellations were rising on
he horizon. Why should there not be a connection
between such constellations and the weather? W as it
not a fact that whenever Sirius, the Dog-star, was most
visible the summer heat reached a peak, the dog-days
ilaving arrived ?
It was therefore no strange blindness of the scientific
nind which rallied scientists to the cause of astrology,
mt. on the contrary, their awareness of the very real,
or at least their very probable link between astral causal-'
itv and mundane effects. From Hipparchus to Ptolemy,
and. for that matter, from Ptolemy to Kepler and even
'o Newton, fatalist (or at least catarchic) astrology
round its staunchest advocates among the great scientists.
If they led the way. what believer in reason could be
expected to hold out ? But that was not all. The falli
bility of astrologers was in many cases painfully obvious.
Instead of probing the matter, however, to see whether
human frailty, or the axiomatic foundations of astrology
were at fault, most people were inclined to assign all
blame to mortal fallibility. Time and again astrologers
were compared with physicians, and who would question
medical science, even if a physician made a wrong diag
nosis, or failed to cure all diseases! The fundamental
weakness of fatalist astrology was well perceived by its
foes: the body of scientific facts, concerning the spe
cific influence of each star and constellation. These
facts were mere hypotheses. They did not rest on
prolonged observations, or often on any observations
whatever. W hat was accepted as proven fact by fatal
istic astrologers and their champions were but axioms
whose validity was unquestioninglv accepted by the
faithful. In addition the margin of human error re
mained so large that believers in astrology could never
be forced to admit this unsoundness of the supposedly
rational basis of the entire discipline.
The long standing feud between the friends and foes
">f astrology ended in a stalemate, as could have been
xpected. By about a . d . 200 both sides were faced
with the growing power of a common foe, religious
mysticism. All rationalists had come to agree more or
ess that, irrespective of whether one believed in Fate
r not, the traditional worship of innumerable deities
vas meaningless. If Fate ruled, then all prayers and
sacrifices were senseless. If, on the other hand, one
admitted the existence of deities, the growing compre
hension of the immensity, or even infinity of cosmic
space made it more than dubious that such exalted
beings would bother with taking an active interest in
:iuman beings and their petty doings. Sextus Empiri'u s might flatter himself to have demolished fatalistic
istrology, but he had also helped to undermine all faith
n the knowledgeabilitv of anything whatever. N or was
the argument any more valid that human responsibility
for one's actions was morally necessary, if one were
ot to blame the stars rather than oneself for crimes

committed. To assume free will axiomatically, merely

in order to defend the morality of human justice and
social taboos, could convince neither the Stoics nor their
foes, the Sceptics. Rationalism thus could not conquer
the belief in the revelatory, if not fate making, power of
the stars. Only a religious revolution of the first magni
tude could do that. But during the principate it was
not yet forthcoming. A loveless monotheism with an
inexorable Fate as the ultimate supreme power may
appeal to scientists of all ages. It will never satisfy the
deep seated emotional hunger of the mass of men.
The short-lived coup of Elagabalus showed, however,
the writing on the wall. The solar monotheism, intro
duced by an edict in 218, ran counter to too many vested
interests. The organized priesthoods of countless cults
still numbered too many religious devotees in their ranks.
W hat follower of Isis would relegate the beloved god
dess to the background, or deny her entirely? Rome
was still the center of political and social influence in
the empire. The Greek contempt for the barbarian
ritual of the sun god of Emesa, the Roman aversion
against public orgies even in the guise of religious rites,
these were factors which, combined, proved too much
for the revolutionary movement. The death of its leader
meant its collapse. Thereafter the sober regime of
Severus Alexander made one more brave effort to
camouflage the bankruptcy of rationalism in the GraecoRoman world, but with Maximinus T hrax (235-238)
the illiterate dregs of Mediterranean society came to the
top for the first time. The fine spun arguments of
friends and foes of astrology were not for them. Some
deity which would lead them to victory over their rivals,
which would stave off the sword of the assassin, that
was what the barrack emperors of the third century
sought after. On them catarchic astrology might retain
some hold, but the rationalist charms of fatalistic astrology
had little or no appeal for such men.
F or the Latin west astrology from the very beginning
was part of that Hellenistic civilization to which Romans
began to be attracted to an ever increasing extent from
the middle of the third century b . c . onward. Before
even the growing number of educated Roman noblemen
became seriously aware of astrology, the vanguard of
astrologers from the east had overrun Italy, where un
scrupulous quacks turned a quick penny by imposing
on simple country folk or hovering around the gates of
the Roman circus. Men of this type clearly did not
inspire respect for their craft among Roman humanists.
Moreover, the second century b . c . witnessed a remarka
ble counter offensive on the part of Greek thinkers
against the doctrines of the Stoics on which astrology
was chiefly based. The enthusiasm with which Greek
sceptics were greeted in Rome, was indicative of the
negative attitude which educated Romans of that time
held with regard to astrology. That Panaetius, the most
influential Stoic at Rome during this period, joined in
the reluctant Stoic retreat from uncompromising fatal

E M P IR E W ID E L EG A L R E S T R IC T IO N S O F A STR O LO G Y
ism to the extent of rejecting himself the claims of horo
scopal, i. e. fatalistic astrology, created a deep impression
in Roman circles. Soon afterwards, however, the tide
began to turn. Posidonius rehabilitated and rejuvenated
the Stoic faith in Fate and with it the belief in astrology.
W ith Stoicism becoming the favorite creed of Roman
intellectuals and political leaders, astrology now began
to acquire a devoted following among the leaders of
Roman society. The masses, on the other hand, never
treated it as anything but one more method of divina
tion, without bothering about the theories on which
astrology rested.
The earliest definite evidence of astrologys rise to
influence and power survives from the days of Marius
and Sulla. Soon afterwards the first practicing Roman
astrologers began to appear. The illustrious leader of
this small band of pioneers was the senator P. Nigidius
Figulus. From then on the battle between friends and
foes of astrology, which hitherto had been a prerogative
of Greek intellectuals, came to be fought in Rome also.
Lucretius and Cicero for example combatted the astro
logical tenets, championed by Nigidius Figulus and M.
Terentius Varro. But the Roman rationalists fought a
losing battle. W ith the accession of Octavianus Au
gustus an era began in which astrology gained a firm
hold on the rulers of the empire. Soon scholarly Greek
astrologers like Thrasyllus of Alexandria began to exer
cize an unprecedented influence at the imperial court
and in Roman society. N ot until the death of Hadrian
( a . d . 138) was this hold relaxed, although not yet
broken. A rebirth of scepticism both in the east and
west during the second century a . d . contributed once
more to a mellowing of Stoic fatalism. This change
was well reflected in the teachings of Epictetus and the
writings of M. Aurelius.
On the imperial throne in turn the reigns of Anto
ninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius were with the possi
ble exception of T rajan 's the first period in which
again a more moderate attitude towards divination in
general and astrology in particular prevailed. But soon
afterwards, for the last time, an upsurge of fanatical
faith in astrology reached the imperial throne with the
accession of Septimius Severus in 193. Throughout his
reign and that of his son no trace of the scepticism which
the second century had come to espouse was manifest.
Divination of all kinds, indeed, had rarely found more
passionate, not to say frantic, adherents on the throne

283

than Severus and Caracalla. No longer, however, was

the court discriminating between astrology as the scien
tific method of divination, on the one hand, and the
standard religious divinatory techniques on the other.
Astrology had now become for Roman rulers but one
of many kinds of divination. The violent religious revo
lution, which soon after Caracalla's death was unleashed
by Elagabalus. undermined the position of scientific
astrology in Rome still further. For a sun god. clamor
ing for sacrifice and rites, and even for a heavenly bride,
was irreconcilably opposed to the basic tenets of astrology.
The brevity of Elagabalus reign prevented the outbreak
of an open conflict between scientific and religious
astrology. And the last ruler of the principate more
than redressed the balance. Severus Alexanders fever
ish attempt to restore the general cultural pattern of the
earlier principate was also extended to astrology, whose
last practitioner on the throne the young ruler was
destined to be.
It may seem inconceivable to modem minds that
highly cultured Greeks and Romans succumbed to the
spell of what to us cannot but seem a monstruous web
of truth and fiction. Yet unless we try to place our
selves as best we can into the spirit of a given historical
period, we cannot hope to understand it. The two
premises on which the fascination of astrology for many
of the best minds of Rome was based were these: (1) by
the use of the proper techniques the future can be ascer
tained; (2) astrology alone is a truly scientific method
to accomplish this. Today we no longer subscribe to
these tenets, but most of ua still believe that anything
rationally possible is at least theoretically attainable
through scientific, i. e. rational means. W hether or not
a fallacy lurks in this assumption need not be discussed
here. But starting from the two premises, stated above,
the rulers of the principate and their advisers arrived
inevitably, i. e. logically at their profound respect for
astrology. The depths to which that faith led many of
them has been described at length. But in condemning
both their belief and their actions one must in fairness
to them also remember their glowing faith in reason, a
belief which perhaps is the last living faith today within
the western world. May those who feel free from any
fear of the surging ideological emotionalism of our era
cast the first stone on those Roman champions of
astrology whose noblest poet so fondly assumed that
reason conquers all (ratio omnia vincit) .

IN D E X

INDEX
Abonuteichus, 201
Abraham, 14
Abulpharagius, 180
Acadcmic ( neo-), 58, 148
Acadcmv 1new ). 20, 28, 30, 53, 55. 68. 69,
70. 71. 72, 93, 12<>. 148, 178, 194, 195,
200, 217, 281
Academy (old), 58, 148
Achilles. 207
Achinapolus, astrologer, 14, 19, 84
Acilius Attianus, a guardian of Hadrian.
163. 170. 172, 176
Acilius, C., 46. 53
Acoreus. priestly astrologer, 122
Acratus, 264
Acropolis, 153
Actium, 117
Aelia Paetina, 112. 116, 126, 260
Aelian family, 162
Aelius. See Hadrian, emperor, and Aelius
Strabo
Aelius, H adrians great-grandfather, 152
Aelius, Hadrians grandfather, 152, 162
Aelius Hadrianus, expert astrologer, H a
drian's great-uncle. 152, 162, 164, 168
Aelius Hadrianus Afer, Hadrian's father,
152. 162, 163, 190
Aelius Sextus, 48
Aelius Tubero. Q., 49, 57, 60, 61, 77, 139,
140
Aelius Verus. See L. Ceionius Commodus
Aemilia Lepida, 103, 145, 255, 257, 259,
260, 262
Aemilia Pudentilla. 218
Aemilius. See M. and Mamercus Aemi
lius Scaurus
Aemilius Laetus, 211, 212
Aemilius Paulus, L., victor of Pydna, 48,
49, 50, 60
Aemilius Paulus, L., husband of Au
gustus' granddaughter Julia. 91. 92
Aeneas, 73, 87
Aeschrion, 189
Aethon, 157
Agathodaimon, 205
Aglaonice, 196
Agricola. Cn. Julius. Tacitus father-inlaw, 161
Agrippa I, king of Judaea. 136
Agrippa II. king of Judaea, 136
Agrippa. i f f M. Vipsanius Agrippa
Agrippa Postumus, grandson of Augustus,
86. 90
Agrippina the Elder. 86, 91, 104, 105, 106,
112. 116, 257, 262
Agrippina the Younger, 91. 95, 108, 110.
111. 112. 115. 116, 117, 126. 127, 129,
130. 134. 145, 168. 260, 261. 262. 263.
264
Aka (? ) of Commagene. 13, 94, 95. 136
Akhnaton. See Amenophis IV
Alba. Mount. 71
Albinus. Sec A. Postumius Albinus
Albinus, pretender. 212, 213
Alcestis, 172

Alexander of Abonoteichus, 201

Alexander of Aphrodisias, 61, 148, 195,
199, 200. 215. 224, 281
Alexander Polyhistor, 14
Alexander Severus. Sec Severus Alex
ander, emperor
Alexander the Great. 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14,
18. 69, 88, 111, 148. 154, 180, 185, 207.
230
A lexandria(n), 3, 11, 75, 93, 108, 109,
110,
113, 116. 125, 127, 130, 133. 145,
169, 173. 174. 180, 187, 188, 190, 191,
215. 216, 271, 283
Alexandria, University of, 169
Alexianus Bassianus. See Severus Alex
ander, emperor
Allia. 134, 244
Almagest of Ptolemy, 192, 193, 204
Ambracium, 120
Amenophis III, 172, 173
Amenophis IV (A khnaton), 140. 222
Anaxagoras. 8.
Anaxilaus of Larissa, 85, 86, 140
Anchialus. astronomer, 57, 72
Anonymus of a . d 379, astrologer, 184, 185,
190, 191, 273
Anteia, wife of Helvidius Priscus 266
Anteius Rufus, P., 130, 131, 242, 264, 265,
266, 267, 272
Anthologiae of Vettius Valens, 81, 188,
191
Antigenes of Enna. 59
Antigonus Gonatas, 11, 69
Antigonus of N icaea. physician-astrologer,
148, 164, 165, 168, 169, 170, 176, 177,
185. 187, 190, 248, 268
Anti-Mesuranema. 20. 127, 205. See also
Hypogaeum and imutn coeli
Antinoe (Antinoupolis. Besa). See Besa
Antinous, 171, 172, 192, 212
Antioch. 190, 215. 247
Antiochus of Ascalon, 70
Antiochus of Athens, astrologer, 17. 18,
26. 145. 148. 185, 186, 187. 188, 248
Antiochus I, king of Commagene, 13
Antiochus III, king of Commagene, 95.
102. 135, 136
Antiochus IV, Epiphanes, king of Com
magene. 13. 82, 114. 135, 136. 137, 152,
171, 173
Antiochus Epiphanes. C. Julius, son of
Antiochus IV, 82, 95, 114, 136, 137, 139,
142. 152, 173
Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus. C.
Julius, grandson of Antiochus IV and
son of Antiochus Epiphanes. C. Julius,
82. 95. 136. 139, 142, 152, 153. 171
Antiochus. king of Macedon, 26
Antiochus I. Seleucid king, 14
Antiochus, king of the Syrians. See
Eunus
Antipater. 54, 56
Antipatrus. astrologer, 14. 19. 84
Antistius Sosianus. 130. 266. 272
Antonia, oldest daughter of Claudius, 126

284

Antonines, 138. 199. 200, 213, 214, 224

Antoninus. 215, 216, 225. Sec also Caracalla. emperor
Antoninus Pius. T. Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius. emperor, 146, 147. 148,
173. 176. 178, 179. 180, 182. 183, 192,
194,
197. 224. 247. 268, 269, 278, 283
Antoninus, twin brother of Commodus,
emperor, 183
Antonius. L., rebel against Domitian, 143,
246. 267
Antonius (A ntony), M triumvir, 58, 67,
68. 81. 83. 97, 236, 237, 248
Anubio! n ), astrologer. 185, 187
Anubis. 103, 208
Apamea, 58, 59, 62
Aphrodisias. 61, 148, 195, 199, 200, 215,
224, 281
Aphrodite, goddess. 73
Aphrodite, planet. 4, 68
Apicata, wife of Sejanus, 112, 116, 126,
258
Apion. 125
Apollinarius, 92
Apollo, 54, 201
Apollo, Clarian, 260
Apollonia, 83, 209
Apollonius. See Molo
Apollonius, astrologer. 111, 112, 271, 272,
273, 275, 279
Apollonius of Myndus, 15. 19, 121
Apollonius of Tyana, 149, 150, 151, 210,
221, 222. 223, 224, 242 245
Apotelesmata of Manetho, 186, 187
Appian road, 254
Apronianus. See Popilius Pedo Aproni
anus
Apuleius of Madaura, 148, 208. 217, 218,
219
Aquarius, constellation, 124, 143, 165, 177,
205. 207
Aquillius, M., 59
Aquincum (B udapest), 164
Aquinum. 160
Arab, 146
Arabians, 224
Aratus of Soli, 13, 26, 27, 51, 69, 74, 76,
85, 95, 100, 140 ;
Area Caesarea. 230
' '*
Archelaus. king of Cappadocia. 102
Archibius, Ti. Claudius, Alexandrian am
bassador in a . d . 41, 113
Archvtas, 218
Arcturus, star. 13, 45, 48. 76, 77
Arellius Fuscus. 88
Ares, planet. 4, 68
Aries, constellation, 124, 189 Sec also
Ram
Aristarchus of Samos, physicist and cosmologer, 84
Aristobulus, 10
Aristonicus, 60
Aristophanes, 8, 48
Aristotelians, 5, 50, 73

Aristotle, 9, 13, 18, 26, 28. 48, 53, 61. 204,

215
Arles, 148, 161, 195, 197, 201
Armenia. 136
Arnobius, 221
Arnuphis, 183, 221
Arria, 88
A rrian (us I, Flavius, 10, 180
Arruntius Stella. 127
Artemidorus, author of the Oneirocritica,
214
Artemidorus, Caesar's warner. 78
Artemidorus, Stoic, son-in-law of Musonius Rufus, 245
Artemis, 54
Asclation, astrologer, 82, 112, 143, 144,
145, 215, 273, 274. 279
Ascleparius ( A scletarius). See Asclation
Asclepius, astrologer. See Asclation
Asclepius. god, 17, 44, 45, 46. 47, 123, 184,
188, 189, 216-217
Asharidu, 5
Aspasius, 173
Asses, constellation, 27
Assisi. 88
Assyria, 76
A straea (V irg o ), constellation. 120
Astrampsychus, astrologer, 185
Astris, dc. of Julius Caesar, 26. 76, 77
Astronomica of Manilius, 26, 87, 95. 96,
97, 98, 100, 186
Ateius Capito, 100
Athenaeum. 173, 174, 229, 230, 248, 279
A thenio(n), 59
Athenodorus, 159
Athens, 7, 13. 26. 50, 53. 56, 57. 68. 69, 70,
148, 152, 170. 185, 186, 187, 199, 217, 219
Athvr. 172. 173
Atlas, 15
Attalids. 13
Attalus I, king of Pergamon, 13. 14, 90
Attalus II, king of Pergamon, 52
Attalus III. king of Pergamon, 60
Attalus of Rhodes. 27
Attianus. See Acilius Attianus
Atticus. See T. Pomponius Atticus
Augusta = empress, 260
Augusta Bilbilis. 157
Augustinus. 27. 67
Augustus. Octavius Octavianus. triumvir,
later emperor, 3, 16. 63. 67, 68. 78. 79,
80. 81, 82. 83, 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90.
91. 92, 94, 95. 96, 97. 98, 99. 102. 106.
112. 114. 116, 118, 126, 130. 132. 136.
139.
144, 145. 146. 151, 154. 157, 161.
168. 171, 173, 179, 191. 209. 211, 231.
232. 236, 237, 248. 249. 250. 251. 252.
253. 255. 256, 257, 258. 260. 277. 278.
280, 281. 283
Aulus, astrologer, 123
Aulus Gellius. Sec Gellius
Aureliam us ), emperor. 221
Aurelius. M.. emperor. 146. 176. 178. 179.
180. 182. 183. 184. 189. 191.194. 197, 203,
204.
208. 209. 210, 221. 226. 231. 233,
234. 247, 254, 268. 269. 278. 283
Ausonia. 158
Avidius Cassius, rebel against M. A ure
lius. 209. 247, 278
Avitus Bassianus. See Elagabalus, em
peror
Avitus, Julius, father of Mamaea and

grandfather of Severus Alexander, em

peror, 225
Azizus, king of Emesa, 136
Babylon. 9, 68, 88, 89, 146, 154, 194, 218,
224, 281
Babylonia) n ) , 7, 13, 14, 26, 28, 146, 178
Babyloniaka, 14
Babylonians. 202
Bacchanal ( ia ). 28, 47
Bacchus. 44, 47, 235
Baebius Macer, 79
Baebius Marcellinus, 214, 270
Baetica, 209
Bajae, 106, 111
Balasi, 5
Balbilla. Julia, great-granddaughter of Ti.
Claudius Thrasyllus, astrologer, and
granddaughter of Ti. Claudius Balbil
lus. astrologer, 82, 95, 136, 152. 161, 171,
172, 201
Balbillea (Balbilleia, Barbillea), 138, 173
Balbillus, Ti. Claudius, astrologer, son of
Ti. Claudius Thrasvllus, astrologer, 2,
82, 95, 108, 109, 112. 113, 114, 115, 116,
117, 118, 119, 121, 125, 126, 127, 128,
129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 137,
138. 139, 140, 141. 152, 153, 161, 162,
171, 172, 173, 240, 244, 248, 265, 267,
273, 279
Balearic islands, 258
Barea Soranus, 264
Basilius. 67
Bassianus, father of Julia Domna, 210,
222
Bassianus. See Caracalla, emperor
Bedriacum, 137
Bel (u s), 10. 120, 209
Beneventum, 128
Berenice, 13
Berenice, Lock of, constellation, 13, 121,
172
Berenice, mistress of Vespasians son
Titus, 200, 245
Berossus, Chaldaean scholar, 13, 14, 18,
19, 25, 26, 84, 120, 121, 139, 220
Berytus. 265
Besa. 171, 172
Bethlehem, star of, 79, 117
Biothanatoi, 20
B ithynia(n), 171, 172. 180, 265
Blossius, 60
Bolos of Mendes. 85
Bootes, constellation, 157
Borsippa. 90
Borsippeni, 90
Brahmans, 218
Britain. 95, 113. 114, 214, 266
Britannicus, son of the emperor Claudius
and Messalina, 112, 114, 115, 116, 127,
263
British. 212
Bruttium, 47
Brutus, M 97. 236, 241
Bullutu. 5
Burrus. 130. 266, 267
Burytus of Tarentum. 218
Byzantine. 154, 183, 213
Byzantium, 15, 18, 19, 121, 139, 140
Caelestis. ,S'<v Tanit (U rania)
Caerellius. Q., 219

285
Caesar = Augustus, 96; = Claudius, 114;
= Mero, 265; = Domitian, 155, 157,
158; = Aelius Verus, 178; = emperor
180
Caesar. See C. Julius Caesar
Caesennius Paetus, 137
Caius. See Caligula, emperor
Calabria, 263
Caligula, C., son of Germanicus and the
older Agrippina, emperor, 81. 82. 91
104,
105. 100, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111
112, 113, 115. 116. 125, 127, 130, 132^
133, 135, 136. 145, 146, 168, 231 257
260. 263, 265, 271. 272, 275, 280
Callinicus, son of Antiochus IV of Com
magene, 136, 137
Callisthenes, 18
Calpurnia, Julius Caesar's last wife, 74
Calpumius, L., 235
Cancer, constellation, 25, 27, 88, 120 124
205
Canidia, witch, 79
Cannae 48, 72
Capito. See Fonteius
Capitol of Rome, 54, 79
Cappadocia (n ), 102, 180, 222
Capri, 99, 105, 106, 107, 109
Capricorn, constellation, 27, 67, 83, 87, 88,
97, 120, 124, 165
Caracalla. Antoninus Bassianus, emperor,
147,
148, 168, 210, 214, 215, 216, 221,
224, 225, 227, 231, 283
Cardinal Points (S ectors), 20, 169, 205,
206
Carneades of Cyrene, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56,
57, 58, 71, 72. 73, 93, 125, 178, 195,
198, 206. 217, 236, 281
Carrhae, 216
Carthage. 57, 217, 227
C arthaginian(s), 226, 252
Cassander, astronomer, 57, 72
Cassiodorus, 67, 232
Cassius. See Dio Cassius
Cassius Asclepiodotus. 265
Cassius Longinus, C., 97, 236, 241
Castor, 157
Catasterism (catasterized), 78. 79, 82, 87,
88. 98, 117, 118, 151. 158, 172
Catilina (Catiline), 63, 71, 254
Catilius Severus, 176
Cato, M. Porcius, the Elder, 28, 46, 47,
48, 54, 56, 85
Cato. M. Porcius, the Younger, 58, 77,
146
Catti, 134
Celts, 245
Censorinus, 66, 148. 217, 219. 220
Ccntiloquium, falsely ascribed to Claudius
Ptolemaeus, 192
Chaeremon. Egyptian scholar in the
'twenties B. c., 82
Chaeremon. ambassador from Alexandria
to Claudius in a . d . 41, 113, 117
Chaeremon, possibly identical with pre
ceding Ch., tutor of Xero, 82. 116, 118,
123, 124, 145, 248, 273
Chaeronea, 195
C haldaean(s), 4, 5, 8. 9, 10. 11. 13. 14.
15. 18, 20, 25. 27. 28. 48, 54, 57. 62. 68.
69. 72. 74. 75, 84, 88, 89. 90. 101. 120.
121. 126, 132, 139. 142. 146. 160, 183.

286
205, 211, 213, 217, 218, 220, 221, 235,
238,
239, 243, 244, 254, 269, 272
Chaldaika, 14
Charvbdis, 120
Chilo, 46
Chiron, Centaur. 43
Christ, 79, 118, 222. 223
Chrvsippus, 51, 54, 71, 72, 74, 178, 194,
199. 200
Cicero, M. Tullius. 9. U. 18, 26. 46, 47.
48, 49, 50, 51, 54, 55. 56, 57, 58, 61, 62,
(i3, 64. 66. 67. 68, 69, 70. 71. 72, 73, 74,
75. 77, 78,-80, 83. 84. 89. 90, 92, 117,
126, 140, 146. 198, 204, 207, 217, 220,
221. 236, 276, 283
Cicero, Q. Tullius, brother of Marcus, 54,
63. 70, 73
Cidenas (K idinnu), 90
C ilicia(n), 63
Cincius Alimentus, L., 46
Cinna. L. Cornelius, 61
Claudia, daughter of the astrologer Ti.
Claudius Thrasyllus, 95
Claudia, first defendant in maiestas case,
259
Claudia Capitolina, granddaughter of Ti.
Claudius Thrasyllus, daughter of his
son. the astrologer Ti. Claudius Bal
billus. 82, 95, 115, 136, 139, 142, 152
Claudia Pulchra, 105, 145, 256-257, 259,
260
' audius, brother of Germanicus and em
peror, 45, 81, 82, 95. I ll , 112, 113, 114,
115, 117, 118, 123, 125. 126, 129, 130,
132, 135, 145, 146, 151, 168, 234, 237,
240, 241, 251, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263,
264, 272, 275
Claudius Maximus, 218
Claudius Ptolemaeus. See Ptolemaeus
(Ptolemy, Claudius)
Cleander, 208, 210, 269
Cleanthes, 51, 54, 62
Cleon, slave leader. 59
Cleopatra, 58, 67, 81, 236, 237
Climacteric (days, years), 91, 92, 191
Climata, 90
Clio, 154
Clodius Albinus, 147
Clotho, 203
Clouds of Aristophanes, 48
Clutorius Priscus, 253
Cocceius, M., grandfather of the emperor
Nerva, 149
Cocceius. See M. Cocceius Nerva, em
peror
Columella, 76. 123, 125, 126
C om et(s), 78. 79, 99, 117, 118, 127, 128,
135. 136, 137, 139, 148, 152, 153, 171,
201
Commodus, L. Ceionius Verus, father of
L. Verus (co-ruler with M. Aurelius),
172, 175, 176. 178, 268
Commodus, L. Ceionius Verus Antoninus.
See L. Verus
Commodus. L. Aelius Aurelius, emperor,
147, 182, 183. 204, 208, 209, 210, 211,
224. 227, 261, 269
Conon, 13. 121
Constantine I, emperor, 4, 174, 184, 279,
280
Constantinople, 247
Constantius II, emperor, 4, 238

IN D E X

IN D E X
Copernicus, 84
Corbulo, Cn. Domitius, 136, 137
Cordoba, 121
Corinth, 218, 222
Cornelia, half-sister of Augustus, 91
Cornelius, accuser of Mamercus Scaurus,
259
Cornelius Hispalus, Cn., 235
Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, P., 50, 53,
54, 57, 58, 60, 61
Cornelius, Scipio Africanus, P., 46, 49, 50
Cornutus, mentor of Persius, 122
Corsica(n), 142, 267
Cos, 13, 14, 26
Cosmocrator, 169
Cossutianus. 266
Crab, constellation, 76
Crantor, 60
Crassus, M. Licinius, triumvir, 62, 72, 207,
236
Crates of Mallos, 52, 53, 56
Cremutius Cordus, 117
Cretan, 203
Crete, 120
Critodemus, astrologer, 14, 15, 17, 18, 138,
185, 191
Critolaus of Phaselis, 52, 53
Croesus, 200
Crown, constellation, 76
Cuttius Rufus. Q., 159
Cybele (of Pessinus), 44, 46, 226
Cyclades, 160
Cyllarus (in constellation Leda), 157
Cynics, 143, 146
Cyniscus, 203, 219
Cyprus, 13
Cyrene, 13, 218
Dacia, 143
Dacians, 246
Dalmatia, 265
Damis, 221, 223
Damnatio memoriae, 255
Damophilus, 59
Darius III, king of Persia, 10
Decani, 20, 146. 189
Decimus Junius. 160
Delphic oracle. 160
Delphic oracles of Plutarch, 196
Demetrius, son of Demetrius Poliorcetes,
13
Demetrius Poliorcetes, 13
Democritus of Abdera, 8, 73, 83, 93, 200
Demonax, 200, 201
Demophilus. 195
Demotic, 16
Denderah, 13
Derkyllides, 93
Diadumenianus. son of Opellus Macrinus
(em peror), 147
Dicius Mundus, 102, 103
Didius Julianus, emperor, 147, 212, 224
Dido, 171
Dio Cassius, historian, 63, 75, 78, 79, 83.
92, 101, 106. 107, 109, 112, 117, 131, 134.
148, 154, 170, 174, 176, 178, 183, 207.
211, 212. 213, 214, 215, 216, 225, 226,
234, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242. 244,
245, 246. 249. 250, 254, 260, 264, 267,
268, 269, 270, 271. 272, 273, 274, 275
Dio Chrysostomus, 216

Diocletian, emperor, 233, 238, 247, 279,

280
Diodorus, historian, 10, 11, 18, 59, 68, 69
Diodotus. Stoic philosopher, 69
Diogenes of Babylon, Stoic philosopher,
51, 52, 53, 54, 56. 57. 58, 62, 178, 194
Diogenes Laertius, 56, 203
Diogenes of Oeoanda, 148. 195, 198, 199
Diogenes, rhetorician at Rhodes, 94
Diogenianus. 148, 195. 198
Dionean star, 79
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 66
Diophanes, astrologer, 219
Dipper. Big, constellation, 13, 120, 126
Dog, Little, constellation, 77
Dog star, 18. 20. 61. 72. 76. 189, 195.
See also Sirius and Sothis.
Dominus. See Lord of H ouse(s)
Domitia, wife of the emperor Domitian,
150
Domitia Lepida, 108, 115, 116, 145, 263,
264
Domitia Paulina, mother of the emperor
Hadrian, 152, 162
Domitia Paulina, H adrians sister. 152,
163, 267, 268
D om itian(us), T. Flavius, emperor, 63,
81, 82, 104, 112, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143,
144, 145, 146, 149, 150. 151, 155, 157,
158, 159, 160, 161, 163, 164. 168, 169,
171, 215, 222, 223, 231, 234, 245, 246,
247,
261, 267, 272, 273, 274, 275, 280
Domitius. See Cn. Domitius Corbulo
Domitius Afer, 257
Domitius Ahenobarbus, Cn. father of the
emperor Nero, 108, 115, 263
Domitius, L., his son. See Nero, emperor
Domitius Ulpianus. See Ulpianus
Domna. See Julia Domna
Dorotheus of Sidon, astrologer, 185, 186,
187
Drusilla, daughter of king Agrippa I of
Judaea, 136
Drusus, brother of the emperor Tiberius,
86, 89, 99. 116
Drusus, son of the emperor Tiberius,
100, 103, 104, 238. 249, 253, 256, 257,
258
Drusus, son of Germanicus, grandson of
Tiberius' brother Drusus, 104, 105, 106,
110, 111, 112

Drusus. See Scribonius Libo Drusus

D ys(e) is. 20, 25. 98, 127, 205
Gdessa, 216
Egnatius Celer. P., 265
Ekpyros(elis. 25, 50, 54, 62, 64, 68, 73,
122, 140, 207
Elagabalus, emperor (H eliogabalus), 147,
148, 149, 210. 217, 224, 225, 226, 227,
229. 231, 282
Elagabalus, god, 210, 216, 225 , 226, 227,
228 229, 230
Emesa (Em esus), 132, 210. 225, 282. 283
Ennia Thrasylla, 82, 95, 99, 103, 104, 105,
106.
107. 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 127
Ennius, poet, 46, 48, 58
Ennius, L., Roman knight, father of Ennia
Thrasylla. 95, 99, 100, 105, 108
Enoptron, 26
Epanaphora, 177
,
Epaphroditus, 179

Ephesus, 26, 63 ; 30, 133, 138

Epictetus. Stoic philosopher, 174, 179, 180,
184, 194, 250
Epicurus (Epicure), 58, 73. 198, 201, 204,
236
Epigenes of Byzantium, 15, 18, 19, 121,
129, 140
Epiphanes. Sec Antiochus IV of Com
magene. or his son C. Julius, or his
grandson C. Julius . . . Philopappus
Eratosthenes, 84, 85
Esna, 13
Esquiline gate, 238
Ethiopian ( s ), 202, 207
Etruscan. 79, 98
Euclid, 26
Eudemus, physician, 258
Eudoxus of Cnidus, 8, 9, 26, 27, 72, 121
Eumenes, 52
Eunus, Syrian slave-leader in Sicily, 59
Euripides. 8, 52
F.urvsthenes. 54
Eusebius, 14, 85, 221, 223, 246
Fabius, 64
Fabius, M., 85
Fabius Pictor, 46
Faenius Rufus, 127
Fasti Amitcrnini, 254
Faunus, 87
Faustina, daughter of Antoninus Pius,
wife of M. Aurelius, 182, 183
Favorinus or Arles, 148, 161, 195, 197,
198, 200, 201, 202, 208
Felix, governor of Judaea, 136
Festus Avienus, 27, 366
Figulus. See P. Nigidius Figulus
Firmicus M aternus, 14, 25, 26. 27, 76, 98,
174, 186, 187, 191, 279, 280, 281
Firmius Catus, 101, 254
Fish. Sec Pisces
Flaccus Avilius, 110. I l l
Flaminian road, 224
F lav ian (s), also dynastv or era), 141,
142, 144, 144, 146, 149, 154, 155, 157,
158,
160. 161, 179, 246
Flavius, M., 75. 76
Flavius Sabinus, T., 246
Floralia, 75
Florus, 59
Fonteius Agrippa. 101
Fonteius Capito. C., 67, 68, 140
Fortuna. 74, 77, 97, 127, 140, 158, 177,
179, 1%, 203, 205, 213, 216, 223, 225.
See also Tyche
F ratres Arvales, 153
Fulcinius Trio, 101
Furius Camillus. See Scribonianus, F u
rius Camillus
Fuscus. See father and son Pedanius
Fuscus
Gadara. 148, 195, 200
Gaius, jurist. 148
Galba, Servius Sulpicius, emperor, 81, 82,
106, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136, 137,
145, 154. 155, 158, 160, 168, 242, 267,
269, 272, 279
Galen ( u s), 18, 123, 148, 185, 188, 189,
190, 203
Gaul, 133. 197, 209
Gellius, A.. 66. 67, 148, 197

Gemini, constellation, 16, 122, 124

Geminus of Rhodes, 27, 52
Gemonian stairs, 258
Germanicus. See emperors Claudius and
Titus
Germanicus. son of Tiberius' brother
Drusus, 26, 91. 95, 99, 100, 101. 102, 104,
105, 106, 107, 112, 116, 220, 221, 256.
257, 200. 262. 264
German <v ). 97, 117. 133, 144, 151. 211,
230, 246. 257, 274, 275
Gessius Marcianus. husband of Mamaea
and father of Severus Alexander, em
peror. 225
Geta, younger son of L. Septimius Se
verus, emperor, 147, 210, 214
Gilgamesh, 120
Glaucon, 3
Gracchi, i. e. Ti. Sempronius Gracchus,
58, 60, 74, 235, 236, 248: and his
younger brother C., 58, 60, 74. 248

287

Herodes Atticus, 152

Herodianus, historian, 148, 211 215 216
225, 231

Herodotus, 8, 171
Hesiod, 3
Hierapolis. 178
Hierocles, 93
Hindu, 222
Hipparchus, 18, 19, 26, 27, 57. 72, 92, 140
204, 282
Hippocrates, 183. 188, 189
Hispania Tarraconensis. 132, 154, 157
Hispal(l)us. Sec Cn. Cornelius HispaHDus
Homer, 52, 171, 197
Horace, 58, 79, 87, 89
Horasis, 14, 17
Horops, 87
Horos of Babylon. 87, 88
Horoscopal Point (also Horoscopus), 20,
25, 97, 129, 165, 169, 177, 205, 206, 211,
213
Horoscopal Sector, 169, 177
Habinnas, 125
Horse, constellation, 76
Hades, 80, 81
Horus, 140
H adrian (u s), P. Aelius. emperor, 2, 16,
Hyginus, C. Julius, 84. 85
82, 83. 123, 136, 146. 147, 148, 149,
Hypogaeum, 20, 127, 205. See also imum
152, 153, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165,
cadi or Anti-Mesuranema
168,
169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 176, Hypsoma, 169
177, 178, 179, 180, 182, 183, 190, 192,
195, 197. 198, 209, 212, 213, 214, 216,
Iarchas, 223
229, 230, 247, 248, 261. 267, 268, 269, 283 Iatromathematical, 194
Hadrianus, rhetorician, 173
Iatromathematicians. 194
Halicarnassus, 57
Iatromathematics, 188
Hammon, 160
Ibis, 89
Hannibal, 46, 48; and slave, 142
Illyricum, 230
Harpocration, 45
India, 218, 222. 224
H ecato(n) of Rhodes, 60
Iotape, wife of Antiochus IV of Com
Hegetor. 196
magene, 136
Helenus, 87
Iotape, daughter of Antiochus IV of
Heiice, 183
Commagene. 136
Helicon, 96
Ishaq- benHunein, 195
Heliodorus, contemporary of Epictetus,
IshtarShumerish, 5
Isidorus of Seville, 67, 85
Heliodorus, astrologer, 275
Isis. 44, 48, 102. 103, 208, 216, 217, 219,
Heliogabalus. See Elagabalus, emperor
221, 235. 282
Heliopolis, 60
Italica, 162
Helios, 4, 68, 170, 173. See also sun
Helle, 158
Jambulus. 60
Hellespont (u s), 111
Jehovah. 44, 235
Helvidius, son of Helvidius Priscus. 143
Jerome, 27, 85. 234, 245, 246
Helvidius Priscus, 143, 146, 246, 266
Jerusalem. 131
Hemerology, 4
Jesus, 4, 79, 118. 222. Sec also Christ
Hephaestiol n) of Thebes, astrologer, 1, Josephus. Flavius, historian, 14
15. 93, 165, 177, 186, 187, 190. 191, 268 Judaea, 135, 136
Heptazonos. 95,212. See also Septizonium Jugurtha, king of Numidia, 252
Heracles (H ercules), 4, 120, 158
Julia, daughter of Augustus, 90, 91, 92,
Heraclides of Pontus, 9
116
Herculanum, 56, 183
Julia, her daughter from M. Vipsanius
Hercules. See Heracles
Agrippa, 86, 91
Hercules = constellation Leo, 157
Julia, daughter of Livilla and Drusus, son
Herennius Picens, 92
of Tiberius, 105, 258
Herennius Rufinus, 218
Julia Balbilla, great-granddaughter of Ti.
Herennius Senecio. 143, 246
Claudius Thrasyllus, astrologer, and
Hermes (also Trismegistus), god, 14, 17,
granddaughter of Ti. Claudius Balbil
45. 89, 93, 114, 188, 189, 194
lus, astrologer. 82. 95, 136, 139, 152,
Hermes, 4, 25, 68. See also Mercury,
161,
171, 172, 173. 201
planet
Julia Domna, second wife of the emperor
Hermetic, 80
Septimius Severus, 210, 214, 216, 221,
Hermoclides. 123
222, 224, 225. 269
Hermogenes, 127, 128
Julian calendar, 28. 63, 76
Hermon, 26
Juliani. See father and son Juljanus, theHermoupolis, 17
urgians

174

288
Julia Soaemis. J f f Soaemis, Julia
Julian(us) the Apostate, emperor, 95, 186,
200

hiiianus the Chaldaean, theurgian, 183,

217, 221
Julianus of Laodicea, 1
Julianus. theurgian and son of Julianus
the Chaldaean, 183, 217, 221
Julius Bassianus. Sec Bassianus. Julius
Julius Caesar. C , 1, 26, 28, 58, 61, 02, 63,
04, o7, 71. 72. 75, 76, 77, 78. 79, 80, 81,
82. 83. 86, 87, 88. 90, 92, 96, 98, 117,
122. 132, 139. 140, 146, 148, 151, 161,
207, 216, 233, 236, 239, 240, 2S0-251,
252
Julius. C.. son of M. Vipsanius Agrippa
and grandson of Augustus, 86, 90, 91,
94. 101
Julius. L., son of M. Vipsanius Agrippa,
grandson of Augustus, 86, 90, 91, 92,
94,
101. 255
Junia Claudilla, first wife of Caligula,
107,
109
Junius, necromancer, 255
Junius Arulenus Rusticus, 143. 146, 245,
246
Junius Rufus, (M. M ettius?), 82, 95, 114,
136,
142
Juno, 120
Jupiter (Jove), 25, 45, 48, 68, 88, 209,
226.
See also Zeus, god
Jupiter (Jove), planet. 4, 16, 25, 27, 87,
88. 89, 162, 165, 169, 177, 202
Jupiter Sabazios, 58, 217, 235, 252
Justinian I. emperor, 2. 184, 190, 273, 281
Justinian code, 232
Juvenalis, Decimus Junius, poet, 135, 148.
154, 159, 161, 171, 174 270, 272, 273
Juvenalis Flavianus, 210
Kakodaimon. 205
Kepler, Johannes, 92, 282
Kids, constellation, 77
Kite, constellation, 76
Kronos, god, 25. See also Saturn
Kronos. planet, 4, 25, 68, 221. See also
Saturn
Lacedaemonians, 54
Laeiius, C., consul 140 b. c., 50, 54, 57, 58,
61, 80
Laetus. Sec Aemilius Laetus
Lagids, 13
Lamettrie. 73
Lamprias, 1%
Larginus Proculus (P roclus), 144, 151,
215, 272. 274. 275. 279
Larissa. 85
Latinus, an actor, 144, 274
Laws of Cicero, 47, 75
Leda. 157
Leo (Lion), constellation, 13, 77, 88, 120,
124,
157, 189. 205. 207
Leonidas, an Alexandrian, 110
Lepidus, .Manius. 256
Lepidus, M.. triumvir and pontit'ex maximus. 67, 81. 86, 255
Leptis. 208. 209. 209
Lex Apuleia. 252
Lex Cornelia, 252. 257; Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis, 277
Lex Gabinia, 252

IN D EX
Lex Julia (of 46 b . c .), 252, 254
Lex maiestatis (in general), 249
Lex Mamilia, 252
Lex Varia, 252
Liber, 47
Libo Drusus, M. Scribonius. 101, 102, 103,
237, 238, 240. 241, 254, 255, 260, 268,
270
Libra, constellation, 25, 87, 97, 122, 124
Libya, 120, 245
Libyan(s), 202
Licinius Sura, 159
Liguria. 266
Lindus ( Lindos), 52, 56, 57
Livia. last wife of Augustus, 86, 87, 91,
106, 168
Livilla, wife of Tiberius son Drusus, 103,
104, 105, 112, 253, 258
Livius (L ivy), T., historian, 96, 142, 235,
267
Livius Andronicus, 46
Locusta, 277
Lollia Paulina, second wife of Caligula,
111.
116, 145, 240, 259, 260, 261, 264
Lord (domintts) of a House, 25. See
domintts
Lord of Action, 194
Lords of horoscopes, 186
Lucian, 148, 195, 200, 202, 204, 219
Lucifer ( V enus), planet, 89
Lucilius, writer of satires, 57
Lucius, hero of Apuleius Golden Ass,
219, 221
Lucretius, 58, 63. 69, 73, 74, 80, 84, 96,
97, 140, 146. 236. 283
Lugdunum ( Lyon), 209, 278
Lukillios, poet, 123, 124, 125. 128, 146
Lusitania, 272
Lycurgus, 96
Lydus, John. 67, 68, 76, 184, 190, 219, 273
Lyon. Sec Lugdunum
Lyre, constellation, 76, 77
Macedonians, 137
Macrinus, Opellus, emperor, 147, 148, 215,
216. 224, 225
Macro. C. Naevius Sertorius. 95, 105, 106,
107, 259
Macrobius, 66
Madaura, 217
Maecenas, 87
Maesa. grandmother of Elagabalus and
Severus Alexander, 224, 225, 227, 229
Mago. a slave, 142
Maja. 89
Mamaea, mother of Severus Alexander,
emperor. 225, 227. 229, 230
Manetho. Egyptian historian, 185
Manetho, astrologer, 17, 186, 187, 191
Manilius, author of the Astronomica, 4,
26. 84. 87. 95, 96, 97. 98, 99. 100, 117,
145.
178. 186. 199, 221, 248
Marathon, 207
Marcella, niece of Augustus, 86
Marcellinus. See Baebius Marcellinus
Marcellus, M. Claudius, conqueror of
Syracuse. 48
Marcia. Commodus concubine, 212
Marcia, daughter of Cremutius Cordus,
117
Marcianus. jurist. 277
Marcianus. Sec Gessius Marcianus

IN D E X
Marcius, P., 102. 270, 271
Marcomanni, 226, 246
Marius, C., 61, 283
Mars, god, 23
Mars, planet. 4, 16, 27, 68, 88, 89. 123,
127, 165, 177, 194, 270
Marsian augurs. 48
Martial(is), M. Valerius, poet, 150, 154,
157,
158
Martianus Capella. 67
Masgabas, 99
Maternianus. 215, 216, 225
Mathesis of Firmicus M aternus, 27, 279
Matidia, niece of Trajan, 152
Matidia, her daughter, 152
Mauretania, 224
Maximinus Thrax, emperor, 282
Maximus, L., 143
Maximus of Tyre, 148, 196, 197
Maximus, Valerius. See Valerius M axi
mus
Medium coeli. See Mesuranema
Megalensian Games. 98
Memmius Regulus, P., 260
Memnon. 157, 172, 173, 201
Mercury, god, 115, 194. See also Hermes
Mercurv, planet. 16, 25, 27, 68, 88, 165,
169, 170. 177, 194, 202. See also Hermes
Messalina, Valeria, third wife of Claudius,
112,
116. 127, 128, 260
Messina. 59, 127
Mesuranema, 20, 127, 169, 177, 205
Metellus, M., 53
Meteors, 192
Mettius Pompusianus, 138, 141, 142, 145,
151, 267
Milan, 247, 248
Milky Way, constellation, 27
Minerva. 155
Minos. 203
Misenum. 129
Mithradates (M ithridates), 69, 118
Mithras, 44, 208, 216, 248, 262, 279
Mnester, actor, 128
Moeragenes, 223
Moesia(n) inferior, 164, 168, 169
Molo. Apollonius. 61, 69, 70
M onumentum Ancyranum (res gestae
dhi A u g u sti), 91
Moon cult, 226
Moon, goddess. 226
Moon, satellite. 7, 27, 54, 67, 71, 74, 78.
79. 84, 88. 89. 127. 135, 143, 158, 162,
165. 169. 177, 181, 192, 193, 195, 196,
205, 216, 217. 221, 222, 22ft 281
Mosaic laws, 238
Mother, Great. See Cybele (of Pessinus)
Mucianus. 135
Munna. 158
Murgentium, 59
Musaios (M usaeus), 153
Museion of Alexandria, 116, 173, 192
Museion of Athens. 153
Musonius Rufus, C , knight and Stoic,
128. 241. 245
Myndus. 15, 19. 121
Myriogenesis, 21
Nabuachiriba. 5
X'aburianos, 90
Nabu-shumishku. 5
Naevius. 46

Naples, 124
Narni, 149
Nearchus, 10
Nechepso, mythical roval astrologer. 14.
17, 18, 19. 25, 67, 80^ 93. 123, 139, 165,
184, 186, 187, 188, 191, 280
Nectanebos. 10
Nemea, 158
Nemean lion, 157
Nero, son of Germanicus and the older
Agrippina, 104, 106, 112, 127
Nero, I.. Domitius, son of Domitius
Ahenobarbus and the younger A grip
pina. adopted bv the emperor Claudius,
2, 13, 15, 45, 81. 82, 91, 95, 105, 108,
112, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121,
122. 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129,
130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137,
138, 143, 145, 146, 151, 152. 154, 157,
159, 160, 161, 162, 168, 170, 171. 179.
207, 223, 227, 229, 231, 234, 241, 242.
245. 246, 260, 261, 263, 264, 265, 266,
270, 272
Nerva, Cocceius, emperor, 81, 146. 147,
149, 150, 151, 152. 153, 154, 160. 168.
170,
182. 222, 247, 254, 269, 274, 275
Nicomedia, 225, 247
Nicopolis, 179
Nigidius Figulus, P., 25, 62, 63. 64, 65, 66,
68. 69. 70. 78, 80, 83, 86, 139, 140, 145,
168, 221, 222, 236, 283
Nonius, 6
Octavia. daughter of Claudius and N eros
first wife and Messalina, 112. 115, 126,
129, 130, 263
Octavianus. See Augustus, emperor
Octavius, consul 87/86 b . c., 61, 62, 236
Octavius, father of Augustus, 63
Octavius (O ctavianus). See Augustus
Oenomaus (Oinomaus) of Gadara, 148,
195, 200
Oeoanda ( O ioanda), 148, 195, 198, 199
Olympias, 10
Olympic Games, 223
Olympus, Mount. 45. 226
Olympus, prophet. 123
Omar-ben-Farchan. Arabic astrologer. 186
Orfitus. 149
Orion, constellation, 76, 77
Orion's Belt, part of the constellation. 76
Oropus. 53
Orpheus. 14, 140. 202
Orphic. 80
Osthanes. 8
Ostorius Sabinus, 264
Ostorius Scapula. M.. 130. 131. 242. 264.
265. 266. 267, 269. 272
Ostorius Scapula. P.. father of M. Os
torius Scapula. 266
Otho. M. Salvius. emperor. 81. 82. 129,
130. 132. 133, 134, 135. 136. 137, 145, 158.
160, 161. 168. 242. 244. 267. 272. 279
Ovid(ius) Naso, P.. poet. 26. 78. 84. 88, 89,
258
Pacatus, legate. 278
Paccia Marciana. first wife of L. Septi
mius Seserus. emperor. 209
Pacharius. 195
Paetus. See Thrasea Paetus
Palatine hill. 226

Palatine library, 84
Palchus, astrologer, 1, 127, 128, 145, 186.
187. 190. 191
Palestine. 130. 136
Palingenes(e)is, 25. 50. 54, 62, 64. 68. 73,
87, 140
Palladium. 226
Pammenes, astrologer, 82. 130, 145, 242,
265, 266. 272. 273, 274
Pamphilus. 189
Panaetius of Lindus. 52. 55. 56, 57, 58, 59,
60, 61, 62. 72. 73, 89, 92, 125. 178. 179,
194, 282
Pandataria. 105
Pannoiiia(n)(s), 100, 174. 211. 230, 269
Pantheon, 83. 87
Papinianus, Aemilius. jurist. 214, 215
Paranatellonta. 20, 21, 27, 146
Parapegma. 76
Parnassus. 188
Parthenius. 144
Parthian(s). 16, 83. 230
Parthian kingdom, 102
Paulina. 5ft- Lollia Paulina
Paulina, 102. 103, 217
Paulina, H adrians sister. Sec Domitia
Paulina
Paui(us), apostle. 71, 222, 272
Paul(us) of Alexandria, astrologer, 187
Paulus, Julius, jurist. 214, 222, 229, 276,
277, 278. 279
Pausanias. sophist, 173
Pedanius Fuscus, son of H adrians
nephew Pedanius Fuscus Salinator, 152,
174. 175, 176, 177, 178, 190, 213, 268,
269
Pedanius Fuscus Salinator, nephew of
the emperor Hadrian. 152. 176, 267
Peloponnesus, 70
Pelusium. 192
Perduellio. 252. 255, 271
Peregrinus Proteus. 201
Perennis. 208. 209. 269
Pergamenic school, 52
Pergamon (Pergam um ), 14, 52. 60. 114,
189
Pericles, 8
Perseus, king of Macedon. 49
Persia. 222
Persians. 10. 67. 207
Persius. poet. 122
Pertinax, emperor. 147, 211. 224
Pescennius Niger, 147, 212. 213
Petosiris. mvthicai astrologer. 14. 17. 18,
19.
25. 67. 80. 93. 123. 139. 160. 161,
165. 184. 187. 188. 191, 280
Petronius. arbiter elei/autiae, 124. 125,
128.
145
Phaedrus. 70
Phaeiwmena of Eudoxus, versified by
Aratus of Soli. 26, 27, 69, 74, 76, 85,
95. 100
Phamenoth. See Amenophis III
Pharsalus. 74
Phnsi'ii'is of Ptoleinv. 192
Philagrius. 173
Philip, king of Macedon. 10
Philip of Opus (or Medma). 9
Philippi. 81. 117. 236
Philoini. 6 9 . 71
Philom) of Alexandria. 108. 109. 110. 125.
126, 140. 271

289
Philopappus. Sec Antiochus, C. Julius . . .
Philopappus
Philostratus, biographer of Apollonius of
Tvana. 148. 149, 150, 210, 221, 222 223
224. 242. 245. 276
Phnaes, 190
Phoenicia, 225
Phoenicians, 89
Phoenissae of Euripides, 259
Phoenix. 106
Phosphorus, planet, 157
Phrygia, 179
Piiiax of Thrasyllus, 15, 93
Pisces, 25, 76, 88, 124, 165. See also Fish,
constellation
Piso, Cn. Calpurnius, antagonist of Ger
manicus, 100
Piso. C., Calpurnius Licinianus, heir
designate of the emperor Galba, 132,
133,
158, 159
Piso. C. Calpurnius. conspirator against
Nero, 118, 128. 157, 264, 266
Pitenios, Titos, 26
Pituanius, L 102, 238, 239, 270. 271
Platoui). 3. 5. 8. 9, 13, 26, 27, 28. 62. 93,
96, 162. 189, 196, 204, 207. 217, 218, 219
Platonism (and neo-), 68. 71, 93, 125. 195
217, 218
Platorius Nepos, Aulus, 174
Plato Tiburtinus, 195
Plautia Urgulanilla, second wife of the
emperor Claudius, 112
Plautianus. 224, 270
Plautus, 45, 46, 48, 148
Pleiads, constellation, 76
Plinius ( Plinv) Secundus, C. (the Elder),
14. 15. 66, 67, 75. 76. 77, 78. 85, 139,
140.
141. 145, 146, 154, 158. 188, 208
Plinius (P liny), C. Secundus (the
Y ounger), 148, 149, 152, 154, 155, 157,
158.
159. 162, 245, 246, 267
Plotina, wife of the emperor Trajan, 152,
153, 170, 176, 178. 198
Plotinus, 68. 93
Plutarch. 11, 46, 52. 54, 65. 75. 77, 132,
148.
152, 173, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188,
190, 191. 192. 193. 194. 195. 196, 197,
198. 200. 202. 204. 205, 206, 207
Polybius, 50. 57, 234
Pompei, 183
Pompeian. 237
Pompeia Plotina. Sec Plotina. wife of the
emperor Trajan
Pompeius Capito, Q.. 153
Pompeius (Pompev). Cn.. 13. 62, 72, 78,
96. 122. 207. 236. 248, 255. 262
Pompeius Macer, 84
Pompeius. Sextus, son of Cn. Pompeius.
96
Pomponius Atticus. Titus, 70, 73, 158
Pomponius Flaccus. L., 238
Pomponius Mela. 10
Pontia. 105
Pontianus. 218
Popilius I.aenas, M., 235
Popilius Pedo Apronianus. 213, 214. 269,
270
Poppaea Sabina. 128
Poppaea Sabina, Neros second wife, 128,
129,
130, 133, 145
Porcius Cato, M the Elder and the
Younger. Sec Cato

IN D E X

IN D EX

Porphyry, 92. 93, 165, 188. 190

Posidonius. 51, 52. 54, 57. 58, 59, 60, 61,
02. 63, 64, d9, 70, 71, 80, 92, 98, 178,
283
Postumius Albinus, A., 46, 54
Procles. king of Sparta. 54
Proclus, 28. 195, 221
Procvon. 76
Prpditio, 252
Pronoia, '->2. Sec also Providence
Propertius. 87. 88, 91
Proscvnesis, 169
Providence, 180, 184
Ptolemaeus (Ptolemv) I, king of Egypt,
10, 11
Ptolemaeus lPtolemy) III, king of Egypt,
13. 75
Ptolemaeus (Ptolem v), Claudius, 18, 19.
67. 76. 92. 169, 173, 184, 185, 186. 187,
188, 190, 191, 192, 193. 194, 195, 198,
200, 202, 204, 205, 206, 230, 248
Ptolemaeus (Ptolemv) (Seleucus), as
trologer, 82, 129. 130. 132. 133, 134. 135,
141,
148, 158, 159. 160. 161, 162, 170,
244, 267. 269, 272, 273. 279, 282
Ptolemais, 192
Ptolemies, 13
Punic war, second, 46, 162
Pupius Piso, M., 70
Puteoli. I l l
\ Pydna, 49. 50, 60, 100, 114
I Pyrrho, 204
' Pythagoras. 8, 84, 86. 140, 188. 218, 276
Pythagoreanism (and neo-), 80, 91, 93,
222
Pvthagoreans (and neo-), 8, 46, 64, 66,
69, 70, 85, 86, 93, 97, 139, 218
Quadi, 183
Quadripartit(us) of Ptolemy. See Tetra
biblos
Quintilian(us), M. Fabius, father of the
famous rhetorician, 154
Quintilian(us)), M. Fabius, tutor to the
Flavian family, 27, 154, 155, 156, 157,
160
Quirinus, P. Sulpicius, 94, 255, 256
Ravenna, 247
Regulus, M. Aquilius, 158, 159
Republic of Cicero. 48, 49, 50, 54, 61, 70
Republic of Plato, 162, 196
Res Gestae Divi Augusti. See Monumcntum Ancyranum
Rhetorius. astrologer, 1, 186. 187. 191
Rhodes. 52. 56. 60. 61, 62. 09, 70, 91, 92,
93, 94, 97. 131
Romulus. 65
Royal S tar (in Leo, constellation). 77
Rubellius Blandus, 127
Rubellius Plautus. 241. 264
Rtidens of Plautus. 45, 48
Rudiae. 48
Rufius Crispinus, 129
Rupilius. P., 59
Sabina. Sec Poppaea Sabina
Sabina, wife of Hadrian, 82, 136, 161. 170,
171, 172. 173, 174, 183
Sachmet. 16
Sagittarius, constellation, 16. 124, 205
Salii, 226

Sallustius, 64, 67
Salmesehniaka (Salmeschoiniaka, Salmcsachanaka), 16, 17, 19
Salonius Patruinus, C., brother-in-law of
Trajan, 152
Salvius. Sec M. Salvius Otho
Salvius, i.e. king Trypho, slave leader,
59
Samosata. capital of Commagene, 13, 137,
148, 152, 195, 201
Sardinia, 46, 102, 269
Saturn, god, 25
Saturn, planet, 4, 16, 25. 27, 46, 68, 79, 88,
89, 122. 123, 124, 127, 160, 162, 165, 169,
177,
189, 270
Saturninus, knight, husband of Paulina,
102, 103
Saturninus, disciple of Sextus Empiricus,
203-204
Saul(us), 71
Scapula. See M. and P. Ostorius Scapula
Scaurus, Mamercus Aemilius, 256, 257,
258, 259
Scaurus, M. Aemilius, 257
Scholia Sangermannensia, 220
Scipio. See P. Cornelius Scipio and P.
Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus
Scorpio, constellation, 76. 87, 124, 165, 177
Scribonia, first wife of Augustus, 86
Scribonianus, F. Camillus, 240, 241
Scribonius. See M. Scribonius Libo
Drusus
Scribonius, astrologer, 168
Scylax of Halicarnassus, astronomer, 57,
72
Scylla. 120
Scythia, 245
Scythica, 209
Sejanus, 103. 104. 105, 108, 109. 112, 118,
128. 257, 258, 259
Seleuse(i)a, 11, 146
Seleucids, 13
Seleucus Nicanor, king, 14, 69
Seleucus, Ptolemv, astrologer, 82, 120.
130, 132, 133, 134, 135, 138. 141, 148,
160. 161, 162, 244, 267. 269, 272, 273,
279
Seleucus of Seleucia, scientist, 90
Sempronius. See Gracchi
Seneca, Annaeus, rhetor, 84, 88, 154
Seneca, L. Annaeus, son of Seneca rhetor.
15. 51. 67. 95. 115, 116, 117, 118, 119,
120, 121. 126, 127, 128, 130, 140, 141,
154, 157, 178, 180, 197, 241, 254, 264,
266
Septimius Severus, emperor, 10. 147. 148.
168, 199, 204, 208, 209, 210. 211, 212,
213. 214, 215, 216. 221, 224, 225, 261,
269, 270, 283
Septizonium, 219. See also heptazonos
Serapa. astrologer, 124
Serapeum of Alexandria, 114
Serapio (S arapio), astrologer, 188
Serapio (S arapio), astrologer, perhaps
identical with preceding astrologer. 215,
216
Senphus, 160
Serpent. Northern, constellation, 141
Serpent. Southern, constellation. 141
Servianus, L. Julius Ursus. brother-in-law
of Hadrian, 152, 163, 174. 175, 177, 178,
267, 268

Servilia, daughter of Barea Soranus, 264,

265
Servius. commentator of Vergil, 65
Setting Point. See Dyse(i)s
Severus Alexander, emperor, 2, 146, 147,
148,
174, 184, 210, 225, 226, 227, 228,
229, 230, 247, 279, 280, 282, 283
Seville. 67, 85
Sextia, last wife of Mamercus Aemilius
Scaurus, 258
Sextus Empiricus, 148, 195, 203, 204, 205,
206, 207. 224, 281, 282
Sibyl, 14, 102
Sibvlline Books. 45, 46, 249
Sicily, 59, 64, 210. 211. 222, 234, 269
Sicinius Aemilianus, 218
Sicyonians. 53
Sidon. 89. 185. 187
Sidus Julium, 79, 80
Silanus. C. Junius, 258, 263
Simplicius. 18
Sirius (Dog star), 16, 20. 61, 72, 76, 282.
See also Sothis
Sisyphus, 203
Soaemis, Julia, 225
Socrates. 3, 5, 8, 57, 96, 207, 218
Soli. 51
Sol Invictus. 208, 248
Solon. 96, 216
Sosianus. See Antistius Sosianus
Sosigenes, 75. 76, 77, 139, 140
Sostratus. 203
*
Sothis. star. See Sirius
Sozomen, 221
Spain, 132, 154, 157, 162, 164, 209, 224
Sparta, 137
Sphaera Barbarica, 25, 26. 65
Sphaera Graecanica, 25, 26, 65, 146
Spurinna. haruspex. 74, 77, 78, 216
Statilia Messalina, daughter of Statilius
Taurus, 263
Statilius Taurus. T., 262, 264
Status Coeli, 189
Stephanus, 144
Stoa, 51
Strabo(n), 52, 89, 90
Strabo, Aelius. oldest son of Sejanus, 258
Subdecani, 21
Sudines, astrologer. 13. 14, 19, 90, 139,
140,
Suetonius. Tranquillus. C., 52, 66, 67, 83,
85. 86. 92, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 128,
131. 132. 133. 148, 154, 160, 161, 162,
174, 209, 212, 234. 239, 242, 243, 244,
246, 254. 255. 256. 267, 273, 274, 275
Suidas. 145. 183, 221, 245, 246
Sulla, astrologer, 112
Sulla, L., 257. 258
Sulla. L. Cornelius, dictator, 62, 69, 214,
236, 248. 255. 283
Sulpicius Gallus, C., 48, 49. 50. 139
Sun (H elios), 7. 17. 20. 27, 54, 67, 68,
71. 74. 84, 88, 89, 97. 99. 127. 140, 165,
169,
172, 177. 189, 192. 193, 195. 196,
197, 205, 208. 212. 217. 220. 222, 281
Sun cult. 140. 149. 210. 221. 222, 224, 226
Sun priest. 149, 210. 225, 226
Swallow, constellation, 76
Sybaris. 102
Svmpatheia (sympathy), 62, 205
Syracuse. 48
Syria(n), 13, 16. 67, 102, 135, 171, 201, 209,

90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99,
100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107,
108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 116, 117, 118,
125, 126, 128, 131, 132, 134, 135, 145,
149, 151, 155, 161. 162, 168, 169, 171,
209. 213, 235, 237, 238. 239, 240, 249,
Tacitus P. or C. Cornelius, 49, 92, 100,
250,
251. 253, 254. 255, 256. 257, 258.
101, 106, 107. 116, 127, 128. 129, 131,
259,
270, 278, 279
132. 134, 137, 148, 154. 155, 160, 161,
162,
174, 233, 234, 238, 239, 240, 241, Tiberius Gemellus, grandson of the em
peror
Tiberius,
103, 104, 105, 106, 107,
243, 244, 249, 254, 255, 256, 260, 262,
108. 110. I ll , 115, 253, 257
263, 264, 267, 270, 271
Tibullus. 58
Tages. 67
Tigellinus, 131, 241, 265, 266
Tanaquil, 160
Timaeus. astrologer, 17, 139, 140, 145,
Tanit (U rania, Caelestis), 224, 226, 227
248.
273
Tantalus, 203
Timaeus of Plato. 27, 62, 189
Tarchon, 67
Titan, 172
Tarentum, 46, 149, 218
Titus, emperor. 81, 82, 137, 139, 140, 141,
Tarquitius Priscus, 67, 262
142,
145, 146, 151, 152, 157, 161, 168,
Tarraco(nensis). See Hispania Tarraco
171, 200. 245, 247, 267
nensis
Titvus,
124
Tarsus, 137, 222
Tivoli, 171
Tarutius Firmanus. L., gentleman-astroloToth, 17, 45. See also Hermes
ger, 11, 65, 66, 72, 78, 139, 145
T rajan, emperor, 81, 82, 146. 147, 148,
Tatian, 14
149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155. 157,
Taurobolium, 226
159. 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 168, 176,
Taurus, constellation, 74, 124
178, 180. 182, 183, 184, 198, 247, 267,
Terentia, Ciceros wife, 63
283
Terentius. See V arro
Tralles. 123. 146
Terentius Gentianus, 174
Triangle(s), 169
Tertullian. 234, 247
Trier, 247
Tetrabiblos ( Quadripartitus) of Ptolemy,
184. 188, 189, 190, 192, 195, 204, 206, 230 Trimalchio. C. Pompeius, 124, 125, 128
Trojan, 73
Teucrus of Babylon, astrologer, 26, 145,
Trojan Game, 236
161,
162
Troy, 207
Thales, 3
Thebes (E g y p t), 1, 15, 93, 165, 177, 186, Trypho, Salvius, 59
Tubero. See Q. Aelius Tubero
187, 191
Tullius, M. and Quintus. See M. and Q.
Thtm a mundi. 25, 95
Tullius Cicero
Themistodes, 96
Tuscus, 258
Theodorus of Cyrene, 218
Tyana,
151. 221, 222
Theodosian Code, 232
Tyre, 148, 196, 197, 229
Theodosius I. 261, 277
Tzetzes. 145
Theogenes (Theagenes), 83, 209
Theon, 207
Ulpia, aunt of the emperor Trajan, 152
Theophilus. 191
Ulpia Marciana, sister of Trajan, 152
Theophrastus, 28
Ulpian ( house), 152, 162
Thersites, 207
Ulpianus. Domitius, jurist, 148, 214 229,
Thesauroi of Antiochus of Athens, 187
234. 235, 238, 239. 247, 270, 278, 279
Thessalus, phvsician, 18, 45. 123, 145, 146,
Ulpius. .S'ec Trajan, emperor
189
Ulpius,
grandfather of Trajan, 152
Thessaly, 85, 196
Ulpius Julianus. 215, 225
Thomas, St., of Aquinas. 160
Ulpius, M., father of Trajan. 152
Thrasea Paetus. 146. 241, 246, 264, 265
Urania (Caelestis). See Tanit
Thrasybulus. astrologer. 230
Urania. Muse, 71
Thrasylla. Ennia, granddaughter of Ti.
Ursus, 120
Claudius Thrasvllus. the astrologer, 82,
95. 99. 103. 104,' 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, Ursus. Sec L. Julius Ursus Servianus
110. 111. 112, 118, 127
Valens, emperor, 275
Thrasvllus. Ti. Claudius of Alexandria, 2,
13. 14. 82, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, Valeria. See Messalina
100. 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, Valerius Maximus. 96, 151, 155, 233
108, 110, 111. 112, 113, 114, 115, 118, Valerius Maximus, M.. priest of Mithras,
248
125. 128. 130. 131, 132, 135, 136. 137,
139. 140, 142. 143. 144, 145. 146. 149, Valerius Messala Corvinus. 262
153. 160, 161, 162, 168, 171, 173, 186, Varius Marcellus, father of the emperor
Elagabalus, 225
239. 244, 248, 249, 259, 267, 273, 379,
Varro. M. Terentius, 11, 64, 65, 66, 67.
283
68. 69, 70. 71. 78, 83, 84, 139. 222, 283
Thvatira, 138
Varro. P. Terentius Atacinus, 26
Tiber, 45
Tiberius, emperor, 2. 14, 49, 81, 82, 86, Varus. Quintilius, 19, 97, 117, 257
210, 225, 226, 228, 229, 243, 265, 269,
275
Syrus. friend of Claudius Ptolemaeus, 192
Syrus, island, 247, 278

291
Vascoties, 230
Vatinius. 64
Velleius Patercules, 155, 254
Venus, goddess, 25, 73, 74, 78, 79, 80, 83,
96
Venus Genetrix, 118
Venus, planet, 4, 5, 16, 25, 27, 68, 88, 89,
96, 160, 165, 169, 177, 194. See also
Aphrodite
Verania. widow of Galbas heir-designate
Piso, 158, 159
Vergil. 58, 64, 79, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 117,
170,
171
Verginius Rufus. 149
Verus, L., Ceionius Aelius Commodus,
co-ruler with M. Aurelius. 176
Vespasian(us), T. Flavius, emperor, 2, 81,
82, 95, 130, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139,
140,
141, 142, 143, 145, 149, 151, 153,
157, 161, 163, 168, 170, 171, 183, 200,
212, 230, 234, 241, 243, 244, 245, 246,
267, 273
Vesta, 226
Vestinus, Julius, 127
Vesuvius, Mount, 56, 139
Vettius Valens, astrologer, 14, 15, 18, 26,
92, 145, 148, 184. 185, 187, 190, 191, 206,
212, 221. 248, 279
Vibia (Vibidia?, Junia?), mother of F.
Camillus Scribonianus, 240, 262, 273
Vibia Sabina, daughter of Trajan's niece
Matidia, 152
Vibius, C., 101
Vibius, L., husband of T rajan s niece
Matidia, 152
Vibius Serenus, 254
Victor, Aurelius, 174
Vinicius, 128
Vintager, constellation, 76
Vipsania, Agrippa's daughter by earlier
marriage. 90
Vipsanius Agrippa, M., 83, 85, 86, 87, 90,
99, 116, 117, 236, 237, 276
Virgo, constellation, 13, 25, 97, 120, 124,
205, 207
Vitellius. A., emperor, 81, 82, 130, 133,
134, 135, 137, 143, 168. 223, 241, 242,
243, 244, 245, 270, 272, 273, 275
Vitruvius Pollio. architect, 14, 83, 84, 85
Vologeses. Parthian king, 135, 137
Votienus Montanus, 258
Vulcatius, soothsayer, 79
Xanthus, 157
Xenophon, 57
Xerxes. I l l
Xiphilinus, 176, 178, 183, 242, 243, 245.
250
Zaratas (Zoroaster), 5, 140
Zeno(n), 13. 26, 28. 50, 51, 58, 70. 199
Zeus catechized of Lucian. 201. 202
Zeus, god, 25, 124, 202, 203, 209, 219
Zeus, planet. 4, 25, 68
Zodiac. 8, 19, 20, 25, 27, 84, 87, 124, 200,
205, 281
Zodiacal. 5, 11, 13, 16, 20, 2d, 27, 87, 95,
189, 205, 206, 207, 220
Zonaras, 134, 240, 242
Zoroaster. See Zaratas