[93] It is perhaps unnecessary to remark, that, in speaking of ruling places, as liable to be situated in Aquila, Delphinus or Argo, Ptolemy alludes only to the places of the fixed stars in dominion: since the ecliptical place and the planets must be confined to the zodiacal signs.
[94] According to Whalley, Cardan, in reference to the nine modes of configuration, applicable to the fixed stars, says, “When a fixed star is with any planet, or in any angle, consider whether it be by any of these ways; if not, it is most weak; if it be, consider whether it be with the Sun, and not to be seen; then it is very weak. Or if it is to be seen, and is with the Sun occidental, it is indifferent. Or if it be seen, and is not with the Sun, it is stronger; or if it be seen, and is oriental, then it is strongest.”
[95] That is to say (technically speaking), by reception, or by being posited in a sign in which another planet has a certain dignity or prerogative.
[96] In conformity to the rule laid down in Chap. VI of this Book, those individuals whose nativities may thus resemble the position of the heavens at the time of an eclipse, and who are here stated to be chiefly liable to the effects of the eclipse, will be more affected by it, if it should be visible to them.
To the precepts contained in this chapter, Placidus makes the following allusion in his remarks on the nativity of Cardinal Pancirole. “Any significator whatever, together with the other stars, whilst they are moved by a converse universal motion, change the aspect alternately, and consequently the mundane rays, as it likewise happens when they acquire parallels: the rays thus acquired are of a long continuance, and denote a certain universal disposition of the things signified, either good or bad, according to the nature of the aspecting stars; as it happened to this Cardinal, who some years before his death was always sickly: and this observation is wonderful in the changes of the times and weather; for this principle Ptolemy adhered to in the Almagest, lib. VIII, cap. 4; and this doctrine he also mentions in the 2nd Book of Judgments, in the chapter on the Nature of Events.”—(Cooper’s Translation, p. 272.)
[97] When a comet appears out of the zodiac, a line should be drawn from one zodiacal pole to the other, through the spot where it appears; and that spot is to be considered as being in familiarity with the same countries as those parts of the zodiac which may be on the same line.—[Vide Chap. IV of this Book], relative to the manner in which fixed stars out of the zodiac hold familiarity with certain regions and countries.
[98] The Neomenia, or new Moon, was observed as a festival with much solemnity in earlier ages and by the most ancient nations. It was celebrated by the Israelites, as well as by Pagan; and it may perhaps be gathered from the 5th and 6th verses of the 20th Chapter of the 1st Book of Samuel, that it was kept once in a year with greater ceremony than at other times: this was done, probably, at the “New Moon of the Year,” as Ptolemy calls it; or, in other words, at the new Moon nearest to the vernal equinox.
[99] That is to say, at the new and full Moon taking place during the Sun’s progress through each sign.
[100] The passage marked thus “ ” is not in the Greek, but is found in two Latin translations.
[101] According to Wing, in his “Instructions to the Ephemerides,” printed in 1652, the signs, as mentioned in this chapter by Ptolemy, are to be considered in their quality as constellations, and not as spaces of the heavens. This opinion, however, seems to me to be erroneous; for Ptolemy has already devoted a chapter in the 1st Book to the detail of the influences of the several stars in the respective constellations of the zodiac; and he moreover speaks, in the present chapter, of the operation of Aries, as owing to the presence of the Equinox. This he could not have done, had he spoken of the signs as constellations instead of spaces.