[102] The temperaments here alluded to are, probably, heat and cold.
[103] “Before.” Although I have thus Englished the word, προ, I think it properly requires to be here rendered, by “at” or “near to” rather than “before.” Firstly, because my author (in speaking of the commencement of each quarter of the year, in the 11th Chapter, [p. 93]), has expressly stated that “the spring is to be dated from the new or full Moon taking place when the Sun is nearest (εγγιζα) to the first point of Aries; the summer from that, when he is nearest the first point of Cancer,” &c., &c.; and ([in p. 94]) he states that certain general effects are brought about by the new or full Moon occurring at (κατα) the aforesaid points. Secondly, because, in a few lines further on, in speaking of the monthly consideration, [p. 98], he again uses only εγγιζα, in reference to the present passage, in which, however, he has used only προ. Thirdly, it is a proper inference that he meant to point out here the new or full Moon which may happen nearest to the tropical or equinoctial points, because he has previously and explicitly taught that the principal variation of all things depends upon those points. Lastly, Allatius has here rendered the word by no other than proximé, which is also the word given in the Perugio Latin of 1646.
On the other hand, Whalley, in his note on the present chapter, says, that “according to this Prince of Astrologers” (meaning Ptolemy), “we are to observe the new or full Moon preceding the ingress, only, for our judgment on the succeeding quarter, and not the lunation succeeding: and the reason I conceive to be, because the lunation, which immediately precedes the ingress, carries its influence to the very position of the ingress itself, but not so that which follows the ingress.” Wing, in his Introduction to the Ephemerides (London, 1652) also says, that “for the knowledge of the weather, it is requisite to observe the conjunction or opposition of the luminaries next preceding the Sun’s ingress into the first point of Aries.”
Now, if a new or full Moon happen immediately after the Sun’s transit or ingress, the previous full or new Moon must have happened a fortnight before the said transit or ingress; and, after considering the other parts of Ptolemy’s doctrine, I do not conceive, that he intended to teach, in this chapter, that a previous lunation, when at so great a distance before the important ingress, would have a greater influence over the ensuing quarter of the year, than a subsequent lunation taking place so closely after the said ingress.
[104] “Both the places.” These are the places of the new or full Moon, and of the following angle; as before mentioned with regard to the quarterly consideration.
[105] Similar precepts may be found finely illustrated in Virgil’s 1st Georgic, vide I, 433 et infra:
“Sol quoque et exoriens et cum se condit in undas
Signa dabit:”——
[106] Virgil has said almost the same thing in these beautiful lines:
“At si virgineum suffuderit ore ruborem