Astrology and Astronomy in Horace

Author(s): D. R. Dicks
Source: Hermes, Vol. 91, No. 1 (1963), pp. 60-73
Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag
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ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY IN HORACE
No writer, and especially no writer of poetry, can escape being influenced
by the intellectual climate of his own age. Even scholars, traditionally the
most insulated members of the community, react to this influence in their
own particular way. The 20th century is by general consent ))the scientific
age((, and it is significant that it is in this century that the study of the history
of science has at length become an academic discipline in its own right, and that
research has been directed towards the history of ancient science in an ende-
avour to trace the evolution of scientific ideas and methods from their earliest
beginnings and to assess them with respect to the civilizations that produced
them. One interesting result of such research has been the discovery that not
infrequently it has been a regard not for pure physics, chemistry, or astronomy
that has inspired men to develop the ideas and techniques leading to modern
science as we know it today, but an interest, or rather a firm belief in, the
>)pseudo-sciences'# so-called of magic, alchemy and astrology. Thus it was the
search of the alchemists for the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life that
led to the development of chemical techniques such as evaporation, filtration,
distillation, and crystallization; it was astrology that kept alive an interest in
astronomical observation during the dark ages of the decline of the rational,
scientific spirit of early Greek astronomy, and also served to perpetuate the
arithmetical methods used by the Babylonian astronomers in their calculations';
and a belief in magic was by no means incompatible with a zeal for natural
history (e. g. Pliny's Naturalis Historia), and even acted as an incentive to-
wards practical experimentation 2.
Unfortunately, astrology (with which this article is mainly concerned) tends
nowadays not to be regarded as a respectable subject for academic research;
the disrepute into which it has fallen , the unfamiliar patterns of thought that
lie behind all astrological thinking4, the barren dryness, unrelieved by any
1
For the importance of astrology in the transmission of astronomical knowledge, see
especially 0. NEUGEBAUER, The Exacc Sciences in Antiquity, 2nd ed., I957,
P.I
67H .
2 Cf. L. THORNDIKE'S monumental
work,
A
History
of
Magic
and
Experimental Science,
8 vols., I923-1958.
3
At least in Western Europe among the better educated; but even so, all the mass-
circulation daily newspapers in England still carry a column or two devoted to >predictions
of the stars<(, )>what the stars foretellh(, and the like, and it is hardly conceivable that
valuable space would be thus used, were it not that a substantial body of readers expected it.
4
Yet this unfamiliarity is a comparatively recent development which dates, in fact,
from the rise of modern science. It is safe to say that at least up till the end of the i6th
century (and in many respects well after this time) astrological concepts dominated most
men's thinking-particularly on cosmological matters. It is as well to remember that
Kepler cast horoscopes and Newton himself is said to have believed in the astronomical
knowledge of the centaur Chiron; cf. my Geographical Fragments of Hipparchus, I960,
P.
12.
Astrology and Astronomy in Horace 6i
-tinge of creative imagination, of the contents of astrological texts', and (not
least) the incredible complexity and arbitrary arrangements of the various
astrological systems2, all combine to make this an unattractive and difficult
field of study. Yet it is one that must be studied if we are to try to understand
the intellectual atmosphere in which writers of the first century B. C. and
succeeding centuries produced their work. The wide-spread influence of astro-
logy (used here in its broadest sense to include what we would call meteorology
of a sort-the term commonly used is astro-meteorology, i.e. weather lore
based on observation of the heavens at different seasons of the year) from
Hellenistic times onwards can hardly be exaggerated. CRAMER , in a book
that badly needed writing, has traced the rise of astrology, its development as
not only an esoteric body of doctrine, but a complete )>Weltanschauung<, and
its acceptance by the Roman intelligentsia (after an initial scepticism4) with
its consequent profound influence on Roman life, literature and politics. It is
useless to try to ignore or belittle this influence on a poet like Horace as so
many of his commentators do (wrongly interpreting Odes i, ii, on which see
below5). Such an attitude is merely the irrational projection of our own
dislike of a ))wretched subject#6 on to the mind of a writer steeped in a literary
tradition and a mental environment which is fundamentally different from that
to which modern science has accustomed us from childhood onwards. This
article has been written to attempt to show that Horace is not oddly unique in
remaining unaffected by one of the strongest intellectual currents of his day,
and that the extent to which he was influenced by astrological thinking has
been unduly underestimated.
The evidence from Horace's own writings may be marshalled under four
headings: (i) passages referring to purely astronomical phenomena; (2) pas-
sages referring to astro-meteorology; (3) passages referring to catasterism,
i. e. translation to the stars; (4) passages referring to personal astrology
proper, whether this be horoscopic or 'catarchic' astrology (on this latter,
see below).
(i) Passages referring to purely astronomical phenomena.
1
See the excerpts in Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum, 12 vols.,
I898-I953; for what can be done with them, see F. CUMONT, L'Itgypte des astro-
logues, 1937.
2
See A. BOUCHE-LECLERCQ, L'astrologie grecque, I899, and A. E. HOUSMAN'S prefaces
to his volumes of Manilius.
3
F. H. CRAMER, Astrology in Roman Law and Politics,
1954.
4
Op.
cit. p. 63; cf. 8o.
5
E.g. FRAENKEL, WILKINSON, CAMPBELL, VILLENEUVE-a notable exception is J. F.
D'ALTON, Horace and His Age, I9I7, especially ch. 6; NoYEs and the earlier editors
ignore astrology altogether in relation to Horace, but KIESSLING-HEINZE at least discusses
its implications for him.
6
Cf. 0. NEUGEBAUER, The study of wretched subjects', Isis, vol. 42, I95I, P.
III.
62 D. R. DIcKs
That Horace was sensible of the wonder and majesty of the heavens and
knew something of current astronomical problems and theories, is clear from
Ep. I, 6, 3-5, hunc solem et stellas et decedentia certis/tempora momentis sunt
qui formidine nulla/imbuti spectent, and Ep. I, I2, i6ff., quae mare compescant
causae, quid temperet annum,/stellae sponte sua iussaene vagentur et errent,/quid
premat obscurum lunae, quid proferat orbem,/quid velit et possit rerum concordia
discors,/Empedocles an Stertinium deliret acumen. Horace, however, is no Aratus
or Manilius, and apart from completely general references to the sun, moon,
and stars, both in their literal and metaphorical senses, such as any writer
might make, astronomy proper plays a very small role in his poems. Like any
good countryman, he was familiar with its basic postulates (e. g. Sat. I, I, 36,
simul inversum contristat Aquarius annum -
the sun enters the zodiacal sign
Aquarius a little after mid-January, when the year has been brought round
its full cycle to the beginning again, hence inversum -
and Sat. 2, 6, 25-6,
sive A
quilo radit terras seu bruma nivalem/interiore diem gyro trahit, where the
short day of the winter solstice, bruma, is correctly described as the one when
the sun makes its shortest, and therefore innermost, interiore, circuit of the
heavens - cf. Gow ad loc.), and he is fond of designating seasons of the year
by reference to particular stars or constellations visible during them (for
examples, see the following section). Apart from these few instances, however,
there is no astronomy in the poems
-
Horace is not one to make a gratuitous
display of his knowledge.
(2) Passages referring to astro-meteorology.
These are much more numerous, and show that he was well-versed in the
calendaric writings that are the sources for passages such as Varro, de re rust.
I, 28, Columella, de re rust. II, 2, and Pliny, nat. hist. i8, 207ff.
1
Not only does
Horace use such data in a more or less scientific manner to fix the season of the
year with which he is concerned -
Od. I, 28, 2I-2, me quoque devexi rapidus
comes Orionis/Illyricis Notus obruit undis (the stormy season of early November,
when Orion could first be observed setting on the western horizon before
sunrise, hence devexi Orionis
-
cf. pronus Orion, Od. 3, 27, I7, and tristis
Orion cadit, Epod. Io, io); Od. 4, I4, 2I, exercet Auster, Pleiadum choro/scin-
dente nubes (the same season with the same wind, but this time designated by
the mention of the Pleiades 2, which, as everyone knew, had their morning
setting about Nov. 9th3)
-
but, more frequently, he makes quite plain his
1
On these 'parapegma' texts, see especially A. REHM, 'Parapegmastudien', Abh. d.
Bayerischen Akad. d. Wiss., Phil.-hist. Abt., Neue Folge, Heft i9, I94I, and his article
'Parapegma' in RE, Bd. XVIII(4), 1949, cols. 1295-1366.
2 For the importance of the Pleiades in the agricultural calender, see NILSSON, Primitive
Time-Reckoning, I920,
P.
129f.
3
Cf. Pliny, nat. hist., i8, 222; 225; 3I3; Columella, de re rust., II, 2, 84; Varro, de re
rust. I, 28.
Astrology and Astronomy in Horace 63
own adherence to the almost universally held belief
1
that certain stars and
constellations directly affected the weather (and hence the crops) on earth. In
three passages he refers to the parching exhalations of stars, viz. Epod. 3, I5,
nec tantus unquam siderum insedit vapor, Epod. i6, 6I-2, nullius astri/gregem
aestuosa torret impotentia, and Od. 3, I, 3I, nunc torrentia agros/sidera. In these
the primary reference is doubtless to the baneful influence of Sirius, the heliacal
rising of which towards the end of July ushered in the hottest and unhealthiest
season of the year2, but Horace's actual words apply to the effects of stars in
general. Such effects are also implied in the epithets which he attaches to
several stars and constellations. Thus Orion (for the reason given above) is
nautis infestus and turbaret hibernum mare (Epod. I5, 7-8); the stars of the
constellation Auriga (here denoted by its brightest star, Capra or Capella), which
first rose before dawn at the end of September, the period of the equinoctial
gales, are called insana (Od. 3, 7, 6) - cf. Od. 3, I, 27, where the same period is
connected with the saevus impetus of the setting Arcturus3; the constellation
Leo is described as vesanus (Od. 3, 29, I9; cf. Ep. i, IO, I6-I7, where Leo is
furibundus), because when the sun entered it in the middle of July the season of
greatest heat began; Procyon (Canis Minor, which rises just before Sirius) in
the same passage furit4, and for the same reason; and Sirius, the Dog-star
(see above) is sidus fervidum (Epod. I, 27), invisum agricolis (Sat. I, 7, 26),
causing rabies (Ep. i, IO, i6). The Dioscuri also, appearing to men as stars
(lucida sidera, Od. I, 3, 2 5), exercise their influence on the winds and the waves
of the sea, quorum simul alba nautis/stella refulsit,/defluit saxis agitatus umor,/
1
Geminus, or the author of ch. 17 of Geminus'
Ekraya?yj
eg T ra
Patvo6p.va-unfor-
tunately not included in the latest edition (1957) of the text by E. J. DIJKSTERHUIS
(Textus Minores, vol. 22), which thus loses half its usefulness-is the only ancient author
to give a specific warning against this belief. For the orthodox view see Pliny, nat. hist.,
i8, 278ff.
2 Already known to Homer (Il. 22, 26-3I; cf. 9, 62) and Hesiod (Op. 587; Scut. 153;
397)-
3
Arcturi cadentis-not one of Horace's happiest phrases; the first appearance of a
star in the night sky, ready to let loose its energy on the earth, might well be described as
a 'fierce onslaught' (as e.g. orientis Haedi-Haedi, properly plural, being a double star in
Auriga), but to use the same phrase for the first observed setting of a star that has been
visible for weeks beforehand during the night, is hardly felicitous.
4
KIESSLING-HEINZE
(P.
377 of the 1955 edition of the Odes and Epodes) are right in
stating that the mention of the first evening rising (hence occultum ignem, because previous
risings had been invisible) of the constellation Cepheus (Andromedae pater, Od. 3, 29, I7)
which Horace takes from Columella (II, 2, 5I, VII Id. Iul. Cepheus vespere exoritur), is
incorrect for Italy, because the constellation is always visible there. According to U.
BAEHR'S tables (Tafeln zur Behandlung chronologischer Probleme, Teil I-III,
1955),
the declination of a Cephei in Horace's time was
+54.70;
hence its polar distance was
35.30 and therefore it would have been always above the horizon in Italy.
5
See KIESSLING-HEINzE ad loc.
64 D. R. DIcKs
concidunt venti
fugiuntque nubes, fet minax, quia sic voluere,
pontolunda
recumbit
(Od. I, I2, 27ff.), and save luckless sailors from shipwreck, clarum Tyndaridae
sidus ab
infimislquassas
eripiunt aequoribus ratis (Od. 4, 8,3I-2).
It can hardly be doubted that all these passages, which show an implicit
acceptance of the belief that the stars directly affect terrestrial events, are
indications of a fundamentally astrological element in Horace's thought
processes, which would be entirely in keeping with the intellectual influences
of his time. The evidence is too abundant and too consistent to be discounted
merely as instances of Horace's adherence to literary conventions. Granted
that from Homer onwards, the Greek poets make frequent mention of the
connexion between the risings and settings of certain stars and constellations
and the seasons of the year1, that in the early period such references are non-
astrological in character, but that with the introduction of astrological ideas
from Babylonia about 400 B.C. 2 the stars came to be regarded more and more
as actual causes of terrestrial phenomena rather than mere signs accompanying
them3; granted also that the Roman poets (and Horace is certainly no excep-
tion) borrowed heavily from the Greeks in both style and subject matter;
nevertheless, it is difficult to believe that every single instance of astro-
meteorology in Horace is a deliberate imitation of some Greek model, inserted
by him with his tongue in his cheek as mere poetic ornament, and illustrating
doctrines in which he did not believe. To accept this view would be doing
scant justice to either his craftsmanship or his intellectual honesty, two quali-
ties for which he is justly famous. Moreover, such an attitude would be further
evidence of our inability to appreciate properly one of the most important
elements in the thought of the ancient world (at least from the third century
B.C. onwards). Greek and Roman antiquity from this time, and in fact the
whole civilized world up to the end of the i6th century, was riddled through
and through with astrological concepts and steeped in astrological doctrines of
one kind or another. Men were brought up on the basic tenets of astrology (the
divinity of the heavenly bodies and their direct influence on the earth, which
was fixed immovably in the centre of the cosmos so as to receive all the exhala-
tions and emanations of the stars) as we are brought up to accept as a matter of
course the facts of electricity and the internal combustion engine4. Astrology
1
In common with most primarily agricultural communities the world over-cf.
NILSSON,
Op.
cit.
2
See my Geographical Fragments of Hipparchus, p. I2 f.
3
The difference is well illustrated by a comparison of the treatment of Sirius in Homer
(II. 22, 27-3I) and in Aratus (Phaen. 330-335)-even though Aratus' poem is not
primarily astrological in purpose.
4
The analogy is reasonably close, since just as probably 9o0/0 of ordinary people today
do not understand exactly how an electric motor or a petrol engine works, so only a relati-
vely few adepts in antiquity understood the details of the various astrological systems,
which were far too complicated for the man-in-the-street.
Astrology and Astronomy in Horace 65
formed an all-embracing, logically consistent (granted the basic premisses), and
intellectually (even emotionally) satisfying world-system such as mankind was
not to know again'. The fact that modern science has displaced man from the
physical centre of the universe, and thus invalidated one of the underlying
assumptions of astrology, is no reason for belittling its achievements and
denying its influence in antiquity and in the Middle Ages. The evidence
is there for all to see, and half of it (with respect to Horace) is still to be
presented.
(3)
Passages referring to catasterism.
The idea that a king or some other important personage, after the death
of his mortal body, lived on as a god or an immortal spirit among the stars, was
a common belief in ancient Egypt and is encountered among many nations in
different parts of the world 2. The early Greeks confined this privilege to demi-
gods, heroes and prominent figures of mythology3, but from about the fifth
century B.C. onwards the belief gained ground that all men's souls came
originally from the stars and after death returned to them 4, and in Hellenistic
times and the Graeco-Roman period this belief, combined with the generally
accepted divinity of the celestial bodies (taught by both Plato and Aristotle)
and buttressed by the spread of astrological doctrines, formed an integral
part of the Oriental creeds which swept the Mediterranean world in the two
centuries immediately before and after the birth of Christ5. Thus the ground
was well prepared for the acceptance by the Roman people of the translation
to the stars of the Roman rulers, beginning with Julius Caesar. CRAMER6 has
shown how skilfully the common people's belief that a comet, which appeared
on seven consecutive nights during games dedicated to the memory of Caesar,
was in fact the latter's soul being received into heaven 7, was used by the young
Octavian to further his political ends. In 42 B.C. the Senate and the people
voted that Caesar should be included among the gods of the State.
1 Cf. L. THORNDIKE, The True Place of Astrology in the History of Science, Isis, 46,
1955, pp. 273-8; M. P. NILSSON, Gesch. d. griech. Relig., Bd. II, Die hell. u. rom. Zeit,
in Miillers Handb. d. Altertumswiss., I950,
P.
264ff.; cf. 476.
2 Cf. W. GUNDEL, Sternglaube, Sternreligion und Sternorakel, 2nd ed. I959,
P. 25ff.;
F. CUMONT, After Life in Roman Paganism, I922, ch. 3.
3
Cf. BOLL-GUNDEL, s. v. 'Sternbilder' in RosCHER, Ausfiihrliches Lexikon d. griech. u.
rom. Mythologie, VI,
I937,
cols. 867-1071, who distinguishes two types of astral mytho-
logy, a natural one based on observation, and a learned one incorporating stories inven-
ted by poets and scholars to explain the names given to various constellations.
4
The first specific reference to such a belief is in Aristophanes, Peace 832 f. (produced in
42I B.C.); it is, of course, also Platonic doctrine.
5 For the evidence (e.g. from funerary inscriptions) see F. CUMONT, op. cit., and Oriental
Religions in Roman Paganism (Dover edition, I956).
6
Astrology in Roman Law and Politics, I954,
P.
78f.
7
Suetonius, Div. Iul. 88; cf. Pliny, nat. hist. 2, 23, 93-4.
Hermes 91,1 5
66 D. R. DICKS
This official catasterism was entirely accepted by the Augustan poets - by
Virgil', by Ovid2, and not least by Horace. In Od. I, I2, 46-8, micat inter
omnis/lIulium
sidus velut inter ignis/luna minores, the Iulium sidus forms the
climax to a roll of fame of ancient Rome, and in true Horatian manner acts
as the connecting link for the mention of Jupiter3 in the next stanza (men -+
deified man --> god; cf. the ode's first stanza). There is no justification for
supposing that sidus here has not its normal meaning of 'star' in its widest
sense; the word can be used for any of the celestial bodies, and here refers
to the comet that heralded Caesar's catasterism. KIESSLING-HEINZE'S suggest-
ion that lulium sidus means merely the Julian family, and PLESSIS' belief that
it means the fortune of the Julian family, are equally unconvincing; not only
is no parallel cited for such a use of sidus, but in the context something more
concrete is needed than a vague reference to the family's fortune, and no
Roman hearer of Julium sidus could fail to recollect the famous comet.
With the way paved by the deification of Julius Caesar, and with the
enormous prestige that his successor enjoyed after the battle of Actium and the
subsequent stabilization of the Roman world, it was almost inevitable that
divine honours should be accorded to Augustus himself even during his life-
time4. Again the poets were not slow to give expression to the general feeling.
Virgil refers to him as a god and assigns him a position in the sky between the
constellations Scorpio and Virgo5. Horace is a little more circumspect, but
makes quite clear his own belief that, even if Augustus cannot be regarded as
a divinity while alive, he is certainly destined to rank as one in the after-life.
In Od. 3, 3, II-i2, quos inter Augustus recumbens/purpureo bibet ore nectar, he
pictures Augustus, having attained the fiery citadels (arces igneas) of the
heavens, drinking nectar in the company of Pollux and Hercules; in Od.
3, 5,
2-4,
_raesens
divus
habebiturlAugustus
adiectis Britannis/imperio gravibusque
Persis, he goes further and assures Augustus that he will be considered a god
while still on earth (praesens divus) if he succeeds in adding the Britons and the
Parthians (i.e. the two extremes of the Roman Empire) to his dominion; in
Od. 3, 25, 3-6, quibus/antris egregii Caesaris audiar/aeternum meditans decuts/
stellis inserere et consilio Jovis? we see Horace meditating over a poem to
celebrate the catasterism of Augustus; and, some ten years later (by which
time emperor worship had become well-established not only in the provinces
I
Eel. 9, 46f. 2 Met. I5, 843 f3.; ex Pont. 4, 9, I27ff-
8
Orte Saturno (v. 50) refers, of course, to Jupiter's parentage and has no astrological
significance. A. BOUCH1g-LECLERCQ, (L'astrologie grecque, Paris, I899,
P.
374) misinter-
preted it as referring to Augustus and as further proof that his natal sign was Capricorn
(on this see below), the latter being the house (in the astrological sense) of the planet
Saturn-a slip which HOUSMAN, a little unkindly, characterizes as a ))prodigious blundert
(Manilius, vol. V, Introd. p. 26).
4
Cf. CARY, History of Rome,
1945, PP. 5IO-5II, 5i6.
5 ECd. i, 6f.; Georg. I, 32-5.
Astrology and Astronomy in Horace 67
but in Italy), we find him referring to Augustus as a deus to whom prayers
were offered and libations poured (Od. 4, 5, 3I -5, hinc ad vina redit laetus et
alteris/te mensis adhibet deum;/te multa prece, te prosequitur mero/defuso pateris
et Laribus tuum/miscet numen; cf. Ep. II, I, I5-I6, praesenti tibi maturos
largimur honores,fiurandasque tuum per numen ponimus aras).
Other references to individual catasterism in Horace are Od. 2, I9, 13-I4,
fas et beatae coniugis additum/stellis honorem, where the bridal crown of Ariadne,
Bacchus' wife, which the god translated into the heavens as the constellation
Corona Borealis', is mentioned as a fit subject for a poem, and Epod. I7, 4I,
perambulabis astra sidus aureum, a )>tongue in his cheek# 2
prophecy of Canidia's
eventual fate. As CRAMER points out3, the phenomenon of catasterism belongs
in the realm of religious rather than scientific astrology; but the notion of
peopling the heavens with the immortalized spirits of those who once lived on
earth obviously belongs to the same pattern of thought as produced the ana-
logous idea that the stars themselves and all the celestial bodies had a direct,
and in some cases predictable, influence on terrestrial events4. The basic
assumptions of an astral religion are, in fact, very similar to those of astrology,
and it is just these ideas that gained such wide currency in Horace's time.
Some measure of the extent to which astrological concepts had permeated
everyday life and thought is given by certain phrases which he uses quite as a
matter of course, and which clearly reflect the prevailing trends of thought.
Thus there are several general references to catasterism
-
Od. 3, 2, 2I-4,
virtus recludens immeritis mori/caelum, negata temptat iter via,/coetusque vulgaris
et udam/spernit humum fugiente penna; Od. 3, 3, 33-6, illum ego lucidas/inire
sedes, ducere nectaris/sucos et adscribi quietis/ordinibus patiar deorum; Ep. I, I7,
34, attingit solium Jovis et caelestia temptat
-
and the highest form of praise
is to exalt someone or something to the stars5
-
Sat. 2, 7, 28-9, absentem
rusticus
urbemltollis
ad astra levis; Ep. I, IO, 9, quae vos ad caelumfertis rumore
secundo; cf. Od. I, 35-6, quodsi me lyricis vatibus inseres,/sublimiferiam sidera
vertice; Od. 4, 8, 29, caelo Musa beat, and 4, 2, 23, educit in astra.
(4) Passages referring to personal astrology.
There were two different types of personal astrology, corresponding to two
logically distinct, but in practice frequently not differentiated, modes of
thought about astral influence. On the one hand, there is horoscopic or 'geneth-
lialogical' (yeveO8Ma)oytxo'g) astrology, which deals with the life of the
individual as affected by the positions of the celestial bodies at the moment
1 Aratus, Phaen. 71-72. 2 E. FRAENKEL, Horace, 1957, p. 65.
"
Op. cit., p. 78.
4
Cf. BOLL-GUNDEL in ROSCHER, loc. cit., col. IO63-4, *Solche Schmeicheleien. . .
haben einen festen Untergrund in der Astrologie(.
5
To this day we still speak of ))praising some one to the skies<-a direct echo of the
ancient idea of catasterism.
5*
68 D. R. DICKS
of birth or (less commonly) conception; these positions can be calculated, geo-
metrical relationships between them postulated, and the whole picture inter-
preted according to various arbitrary systems, by means of which certain
physical, mental and moral characteristics are attributed to the particular
individual, and his whole future life can be predicted by knowing the configu-
ration of the heavens at his birth. On the other hand, there is what is known
as 'catarchic' astrology (from
xaraexat
"beginnings', 'opportunities'), a form
of astral divination in which the position of the stars was consulted to ascertain
whether the moment was favourable or not for a particular undertaking, such
as a marriage, a business deal, a voyage, or even a hair-cut; this was much the
most popular type of personal astrology', as it required very little knowledge
of mathematics or astronomy, whereas to cast a horoscope was a relatively
complicated business.
Horoscopic astrology was based on a fundamentally fatalistic conception of
the universe. Man's character and life was completely determined at his
birth, and there could be no deviation from the predestined course of events2;
free will was an illusion; the only happiness for men was to surrender themselves
joyfully to their fate (amorfati), which they could learn to understand and to
foretell because in man himself was a tiny portion of the divine cosmic force
which ruled the universe3. This was the doctrine that blended so well with the
Stoic philosophy4 influential among the Roman nobility and intelligentsia of
the last two centuries B.C., including men like Scipio Aemilianus, Laelius5,
Brutus (under whom Horace served at Philippi), and the younger Cato (whom
Horace always mentions with respect - Od. I, I2, 35-6 and 2, I, 24). The
emperor Tiberius, we are told, himself a firm believer in astrology6, was such
a convinced fatalist that he neglected all religious observances, because these
were useless before the power of fate7. Such an attitude, however, which
implied the complete negation of all individual choice, could not be expected to
appeal to the ordinary man, and for him it was catarchic astrology that
offered a means of foretelling the success or failure of any course of action, and
of propitiating or protecting himself against the powerful stellar deities. In
catarchic astrology, there was the same belief in the all-pervading influence of
the stars on human life as in horoscopic astrology; but, in contradistinction to
the stern fatalism of the latter, some choice was left to the individual who, by
choosing a propitious moment or interpreting correctly the signs of the heavens,
1
Cf. BOUCHE-LECLERCQ, Op. cit., p. 83; 458f.; 487f.; NILSSON, Gesch. d. gr. Relig., II
466.
2 Manilius, 4, I4-i6, fata regunt orbem, certa stant omnia lege/longaque per certos
signantur tempora casus. 3 Id., 866ff.
4
Cf. CUMONT, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. I78ff.; CRAMER,
OP.
cit., p. 94.
5
Cf. Horace, Sat. 2, I, 72, virtus Scipiadae et mitis sapientia Laeli.
6
CRAMER,
OP.
cit.
p.
94. 7 Suetonius, Tib. 69.
Astrology and Astronomy in Horace 69
could (in theory) ensure a successful outcome, or at least avoid the worst that
might befall him. These two mutually contradictory beliefs are frequently
found in combination in the same writer. Thus Manilius, for all his insistence
on the immutable power of fate (see above), yet concedes that something is
left to man's own efforts'; and the same inconsistency can be seen in Firmicus
Maternus 2.
Horace's own astrological creed (as might be expected of a confessed
eclectic in philosophical matters - nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri,
Ep. I, i, I4) seems to have been a combination of some of the features of
horoscopic and catarchic astrology with the old Roman conception of the
'Genius' or guardian angel, which presided over each individual's life, and, as
the Genius of the paterfamilias, was accorded worship in the family lararium 3.
In Ep. 2, 2, I83ff. - a passage conveniently ignored by commentators
wishing to dissociate Horace from astrology - he says that the reason why one
brother turns out so differently from another scit Genius, natale comes qui
temperat astrum,/naturae deus humanae mortalis, in unum/quodque caput vultu
mutabilis, albus et ater (I87-9). Here we see a reference to the natal star of
horoscopic astrology (see below), the influence of which Horace supposes is
governed by the individual's Genius, which itself represents the divine part of
man's nature (naturae deus humanae mortalis4). The Genius is mutabilis because
it is responsible for both good and bad fortune, characterized by the words
albus et ater. This was a proverbial expression normally signifying complete
indifference5; but this cannot be the meaning here, for the Genius can hardly
be said to be indifferent to the individual's fortune, since in all essentials it is
1
4, 395,
admitti potuisse sat est: sint cetera nostra.
2
Cf. G. BLASKO, Grundlinien der astrologischen Weltanschauung nach der Mathesis
des Firmicus Maternus, passim (Innsbruck Dissertation, I956).
3
Astrology in its origin and its later development was closely connected with religious
feelings; the belief in the divinity of the stars was the keystone in the astrological edifice-
cf. CUMONT, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. i63f.; I70f.
4
Deus, because man's soul was part of the divine spirit, originating from and returning
to the stars; mortalis, probably simply to emphasize that the divine spark only inhabited
the body temporarily, and after death returned to its place of origin. Editors punctuate in
different ways, most putting a comma after humanae and taking mortalis with in unum
quodque caput; but this seems less good than punctuating after mortalis (as KIESSLING-
HEINZE), and taking mutabilis with in ... caput. Then deus ... mortalis will be another
instance of Horace's fondness for oxymoron, like insaniens sapientia (Od. I, 34, 2), arida
nutrix (Od. I, 22, I6), and concordia discors
(Ep.
I, I2, I9). KIESSLING-HEINZE (ad loc.)
see a reference to one of the more absurd popular beliefs of the time to the effect that each
man's soul, on the death of the body, became a star shining in the heavens-great men
becoming bright stars and lesser men demones (cf. Pliny, nat. hist. 2, 28). It is, however,
very unlikely that the well-read Horace subscribed to such a naive notion, and there is no
need to bring it in here at all.
6 Cf. Cicero Phil. 2, I6, 4I; Catullus 93,2.
70 D. R. DICKS
the individual'. There would seem here to be some confusion of expression on
Horace's part. Almost certainly the connexion of good and bad fortune with the
colours white and black was intended to refer to the common custom of marking
on the calendar lucky or unlucky days with chalk or charcoal (cf. Od. I, 36, io;
Sat. 2, 3, 246); but the familiar words albus et ater came into his mind and were
automatically accepted for 'white and black', even though the proverbial
meaning of the phrase was not really apposite here.
The locus classicus for astrology in Horace is Od. 2,I7, I7-25, seu Libra
seu me Scorpios aspicit/formidulosus, pars violentior/natalis horae, seu tyrannus/
Hesperiae Capricornus undae,/utrumque nostryun incredibili modo/consentit astrum:
te Iovis impio/tutela Saturno refulgens/eripuit volucrisqueFati/tardavit alas ... Even
FRAENKEL admits that here Horace speaks of it )>in a serious vein'(2. BOLL has
discussed the astrological content of the poem in three articles 3. He draws atten-
tion to the words
aspicit,
consentit, and tutela which belong to the technical vo-
cabulary of astrology, and is almost certainly right in taking pars violentior nata-
lis horae as in apposition to all three of the constellations mentioned and not to
Scorpios only (for otherwise the meaning would have to be that Scorpio displayed
this violent characteristic in everyone's horoscope, whereas in fact it is by no
means an always maleficent sign4), and as referring to the
xorog avat,ertxo of
the horoscope, which governed the length of life of the individual5. Horace
says that his own and Maecenas' natal star (properly speaking a zodiacal
sign 6, but astrum can be used in the widest sense) are in perfect accord; that is
to say, their relative positions signify mutual amity with no discordant influen-
ces to disrupt it 7. There were at least three methods in use for determining the
natal sign. Normally it was taken as the sign rising on the eastern horizon at
the moment of birth, Greek
)edao7rog
8, but some astrologers professed to
obtain more accurate results by calculating the horoscope at the time of
conception, despite the obvious difficulties9; the third method (used particu-
larly
for births at
night)
was to take as the
horoscopus
the
sign
in which the
1
Cf. W1CKHAM ad loc. )>it rules his life, and is the one and only divine power that
touches it; it dies with him; it is in every respect what he is((. 2 Horace, p. 2I8.
3
F. BOLL, 'Paralipomena. I', Philologus 69, I9I0, pp. I64-7; 'Zu Horaz Od. 2, I7',
Zeitschrift fur das Gymnasialwesen, 65, I9II, 765f.; 'Stemenfreundschaft', Sokrates, 5,
1917, iff. (reprinted in Kleine Schriften 1950, p. II5if.; cf. 388).
4
For the attributes of the Scorpion see especially W. DEONNA, Mercure et le Scorpion,
Collection Latomus, vol. 37, I959.
5
Cf. Ptolemy, Tetrab., 3, io (II BOLL-BOER) 127if.
6 CRAMER's assumption (op. cit. p. 87) that natale astrum here means the chronocrator,
i. e. the dominant planet in the natal sign, is unnecessary and unlikely in the context.
7
Cf. Manilius, 2, 6o8ff.-and HOUSMAN'S comment (introd. p. 2I), )>Friendship in
heaven has no foundation but geometry, and even that is insecure((.
8 Cf. Ptol., Tetr. I, I2
(I3
BOLL-BOER), 33; 3, 2
(3
BOLL-BOER), io8f.; Manilius 3, 203-5.
9
Cf. Ptol. Tetr. 3, I (2 BOLL-BOER), IO5-6.
Astrology and Astronomy in Horace 7I
moon happened to be situated at the time of birth. Augustus, for example, had
two natal signs, Libra, the sign rising at his birth, and Capricorn, the sign
in which the moon was at that time 1. Now Horace does not actually tell us
which was his and Maecenas' natal star. He also fails to specify which was the
sign in his own horoscope that was decisive for the hour and manner of his
death (pars violentior natalis horae - ro'ro
avatestlxo'
- cf. BOLL, KI.
Schr., p. I22). He mentions three signs, Libra, Scorpio, and Capricorn, of which
the first and the last he knew to be the natal signs of Augustus, while Scorpio
may possibly have been that of Maecenas - in which case all three may sim-
ply have been mentioned honoris causa, though ostensibly connected with
Horace himself. BOUCHE-LECLERQ (p. 55 I) supposes that Horace was confused by
the disorder of the calendar before the Julian reform, and therefore genuinely
did not know which was the ruling sign in his own horoscope. This seems
unlikely (any practising astrologer would have resolved his difficulties for
him), but in any case Ep. 2, 2, 187 (quoted above) and the whole tone of
Od. 2, I7 make it certain that Horace genuinely believed in the idea of the
natale astrum. It seems, however, a fair inference from his vagueness about the
signs that he never had his horoscope cast2, and it may very well be that he
rejected the strict fatalism that was the logical basis of horoscopic astrology3.
As already mentioned (p. I7), it was only adepts and very determined believers
in Stoic doctrines who could rest content with this comfortless creed in all its
austerity; the ordinary man preferred to believe that something was left to
his own freewill, and Horace's astrological beliefs would seem to have been
much closer to those of the man-in-the-street (as befitted the author of the
Satires and the Epistles) than to those of a Maecenas.
To complete the astrology in this ode: the description of Capricorn as
tyrannus
Hesperiae
undae is a reference to the doctrines of geographical
astrology, whereby each zodiacal sign was allotted a region of the world as
its particular sphere of influence; there were several different schemes, and
1
See HOUSMAN in Classical Quarterly, 7, I9I3, I09-114, and in his Manilius, vol. I,
PP. 93-5.
2
Although
in his youth he had had his fortune told- Sat. I, 9, 30. Certainly, all attempts
to reconstruct Horace's horoscope (such as that made by T. NICKLIN in the Classical
Review, 28, I914,
P.
273) are a waste of time and ink; the doctrines of astrology are legion
and there were dozens of different methods of casting a horoscope; lacking the evidence,
we cannot tell which might have been used in Horace's case.
3
Thus far I agree with FRAENKEL (Horace, p. 2I8); but FRAENKEL errs in assuming
that a rejection of one branch of astrology implies a rejection of the whole amorphous
mass of beliefs and attitudes of mind that constitute ancient astrology. Such a rejection
could only be achieved by a single-minded fanatic like Lucretius. Horace was far too much
a man of the world and a sharer in the intellectual atmosphere of his time to remain unaffec-
ted by astrological thinking. Because to us modems astrology is a disreputable aberration
of the mind, FRAENKEL will have none of it for Horace-truly ))it is easy to smile at the
great scholar's fierce subjectivity# (FRAENKEL, Ioc. cit. on MEINEKE).
72 D. R. DICKS
Manilius also makes Capricorn the sign that presides over Spain and Western
Europe'. The words lovis impio tutela Saturno refulgens refer to the general
principle in horoscopic astrology that the characteristic influence of a heavenly
body (particularly a planet) might be modified or even reversed in effect by
another planet occupying a different position in the horoscope. Thus Saturn,
which was in itself a cold (xQvdstg, Maximus,
rree' %aTaex6v,
ed. LUDWICH,
433, 535; cf. Ptol. Tetr., I, 4) and baneful
(flAale?oe',
C.C.A.G. 2, I64, 25)
planet, need not necessarily bode ill for the individual if, for example, Jupiter
was exerting its more genial influence in opposition 2. Horace suggests that this
was the case when Maecenas recovered from his dangerous illness. Finally,
BOLL has drawn attention to the equation Hermes = Mercury = Pan -
Faunus, in connexion with Horace's oft-repeated assertion that he was under
the especial protection of Mercury3; but the astrological significance of this
deserves further discussion which I hope to devote to it in a separate article.
There remains the oft-quoted passage Od. I, II, I-3, tu ne quaesieris, scire
nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi/finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios/temp-
tayis numeros, which is generally cited as conclusive proof that Horace did not
believe in astrology and, in fact, specifically warned against it. This, however,
is a misinterpretation of Horace's words, which confuses the whole with one
of its parts. The emphatic word in these lines is finem, to which attention is
particularly drawn by the repeated quem ... quem. It is this, the span or
expectation of life (both his and hers), which Horace forbids Leuconoe to
enquire about or to try to work out with 'Babylonian calculations' (Babylo-
nian, of course, like Chaldean, in Horace's time meant simply 'astrological').
In fact (as BOUCHEf-LECLERCQ saw, p. 55I), the injunction is against one
particular aspect of one particular branch of astrology, i.e. horoscopic astrology,
and to interpret this as an injunction against astrology in general is an entirely
illegitimate inference 4. There were various methods for calculating the expecta-
1
See HOUSMAN, Manilius, IV, Introd. p. 12ff.
2
For the modification of Saturn's properties by Jupiter, see especially C.C.A.G., 2,
i6o-I and 1g5f.; cf. BOLL in Philol. 69, I9IO, p. I65. 8 BOLL, Ioc. cit.
4
One might note in passing-although the argumentum e silentio is a notoriously
unsatisfactorv method of proof-that Horace nowhere expresses such a general injunction,
nor does he anywhere display a sceptical attitude towards the doctrines of astrology;
even his warning to Leuconoe not to attempt astrological prophecy concerning the length
of life, is based, not on scepticism (there is no hint of this), but on the fact that such a
practice is nefas, and that it is better to take life as it comes and enjoy it as best we may
(sapias, vina liques . .. carpe diem). Yet, had he been the thoroughgoing sceptic as regards
astrology that some critics make him out to be, it is hard to believe that he would not
have found many opportunities to deride its doctrines, as, for example, in the third satire
of Book 2. Here it is true that he (or rather Damasippus) speaks of tristis superstitio and
alius mentis morbus (79-80), but these are sufficiently illustrated by the examples he
cites in lines 272-3 and 292-5; nowhere does he suggest that a belief in astrology is
enough to rank a man among the insani.
Astrology and Astronomy in Horace 73
tion of
life'.,
of differing degrees of complexity but all equally arbitrary. It
was not in Horace's character to worry unduly about the future (at least after
he had been received into Maecenas' circle and his own circumstances made
secure by the gift of the Sabine estate), and his rejection of this type of astrolo-
gical prophecy is in keeping with the supposition that he had not had his
horoscope cast (see above). In this respect he differed from his patron, who
(to judge from Od. 2, I7, and from what little we know of his character) seems
to have been a firm believer in horoscopic astrology2. In one other ode
(3,
29),
also addressed to Maecenas, Horace inserts a similar warning (vv. 29-32)
against trying to foretell the future, and he may well have had astrological
predictions in mind here also; significantly, in this ode too the reason given is
that it is ultra fas to do so, just as in the injunction to Leuconoe it is scire
nefas. An additional reason for Horace's dislike of this particular branch of
astrology may perhaps be found in the official attitude towards it. CRAMER3
has shown that, from at least 33 B.C., Octavian tended to frown on astrological
consultations a' deux for the specific purpose of discovering the expectation of
life of some individual; obviously, the temptation to hasten or abet the influ-
ence of the stars in particular instances would constitute a social abuse that
would be especially undesirable in the case of prominent persons in official
positions. In fact, in ii A.D. Augustus specifically prohibited such consultations,
and this prohibition seems to have been kept in force until the fourth century4.
Horace, as a faithful supporter of the Augustan regime, may be expected to
have adopted an attitude towards this type of astrological prophecy in con-
formation with official policy.
Nevertheless, rejection of a part does not necessarily imply rejection of the
whole, and it is my contention, based on the evidence presented in this article,
that current astrological modes of thought had a much greater influence on
Horace's views and writings than is commonly supposed.
University of Ghana D. R. DICKS
1
Cf. Ptol., Tetr. 3,
io
(i
i
BOLL-BOER); Paul. Alex. ch. 36 (ed. BOER); BoUCHPi-LECLERCQ,
P. 404fE.
2
CRAMER'S 'attribution (p. 87) of a )>gentlemanly attitude combining astrological
consultations with at least some grains of scepticism(( to both Horace and Maecenas,
although perhaps partly true in Horace's case as regards horoscopic astrology, has no
evidence to support in Maecenas' case.
8
P. 236ff.; 249ff. 4 CRAMER,
P.
250.