[6] ‘quinque stellarum potestates Chaldaeorum observatio excepit’ Seneca, N. Q. ii 32, 6.
[7] This is well described by Cicero, translating from a Stoic source: ‘cum fato omnia fiant, si quis mortalis possit esse, qui colligationem causarum omnium perspiciat animo, nihil eum profecto fallat. qui enim teneat causas rerum futurarum, idem necesse est omnia teneat quae futura sint’ Div. i 56, 127. It seems reasonable to suppose that this general conception of ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’ is deduced from the unchanging movements of the heavenly bodies.
[8] ‘videbis quinque sidera diversas agentia vias; ex horum levissimis motibus fortunae populorum dependent’ Sen. Dial. vi 18, 3.
[9] ‘aiunt quadringenta septuaginta milia annorum in periclitandis experiundisque pueris, quicunque essent nati, Babylonios posuisse’ Cic. Div. ii 46, 97. I assume that the original tradition named the smaller number suggested above.
[10] ‘duo apud Chaldaeos studuisse se dicunt, Epigenes et Apollonius Myndius’ Sen. N. Q. vii 4, 1; ‘Diogenes Stoicus [Chaldaeis] concedit, aliquid ut praedicere possint’ Cic. Div. ii 43, 90. Seneca concludes against their authority, observing (i) that a proper horoscope should include all the stars in the heaven at the moment of birth, and (ii) that twins should always have the same fortune, which is obviously untrue; see N. Q. ii 32, 6 to 8, Ben. vii 1, 5.
[11] ‘tu ne quaesieris (scire nefas), quem mihi, quem tibi | finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios | temptaris numeros’ Hor. C. i 11, 1-3.
[12] See the interesting tale of Thrasyllus and Tiberius in Tac. Ann. vi 21, to which the author affects to give some credit.
[13] e.g., ‘seu Libra seu me Scorpios adspicit | formidulosus, pars violentior | natalis horae, seu tyrannus | Hesperiae Capricornus undae, | utrumque nostrum incredibili modo | consentit astrum’ Hor. C. ii 17, 17-22.
[14] ‘Eudoxus, qui inter sapientiae sectas clarissimam utilissimamque [artem magicam] intellegi voluit, Zoroastrem hunc sex millibus annorum ante Platonis mortem fuisse prodidit: sic et Aristoteles’ Pliny, N. H. xxx 2, 1; cf. Diog. L. Prooem. 2 and 8.
[15] Williams-Jackson, Zoroaster, p. 161.