Lessico
Giulio Firmico Materno
Iulius Firmicus Maternus: apologista cristiano del IV secolo. Siciliano, di ceto senatorio, prima si diede all'avvocatura, alla filosofia neoplatonica, e poi scrisse un ampio trattato di astrologia (Matheseos libri octo). Una decina di anni dopo, verso il 345, passato al cristianesimo, indirizzò agli imperatori Costanzo e Costante, figli di Costantino, un libello, De errore profanarum religionum, in cui attaccava violentemente i riti e le istituzioni della religione pagana, proponendone la soppressione. Firmico si colloca tra i primi apologisti del cristianesimo.
matheseos libri viii - Ancient Astrology Theory
& Practice - Firmicus Maternus, translated by Jean Rhys Bram, $29.95 (January 5,
2006) - Contents:
Book 1: Opening letter, arguments, difficulties, refutations,
conclusions.
Book 2: Introduction, signs, domiciles, exaltations, falls, decans, degrees,
diurnal/nocturnal sects, matutine & vespertine, rising times, signs &
winds, dodecatemoria, life cycles, houses, angles, aspects, human body, length
of life, chronocrators, antiscia, etc.
Book 3: Planets in houses, Mercury/planet conjunctions, moon in houses, moon
with Part of Fortune.
Book 4: Moon applying to planets, moon void of course, moon translating light
from planets, Parts of Fortune & Spirit, Lord of the geniture, climacteric
years, vocational indicator, full & void degrees in decans, masculine
& feminine degrees, angular lunar conjunctions, etc.
Book 5: Angles by sign, ascendant by terms & conjoined planets, Saturn
& Jupiter by sign, Mercury & Moon by terms or decans, advice on
interpretation.
Book 6: Bright stars, planets in trine, square, opposition & conjunction,
lunar configurations before birth, unfortunate nativities, sexual proclivities,
planets as chronocrators, etc.
Book 7: Astrologer's oath, exposed infants, twins, monstrous births,
infirmities, parental death, orphans, number of marriages, homosexuality,
murder of spouse, infertility & celibacy, royal genitures, violent death,
criminal nativities, eunuchs, hermaphrodites & perverts, occupations, etc.
Book 8: Astrologer's creed, Enenecontameris (90th degree), beholding &
hearing signs, degrees in zodiacal constellations, extra-zodiacal
constellations, the Myrogenesis (degrees of the zodiac), bright stars, advice
on interpretation, conclusion.
Ed ecco il brano che a noi interessa, dove ci sono anche i sacerdoti di Cibele:
Matheseos,
Book 7, Chapter 25 house of sexual desire 1.
If the Sun and Moon are in feminine signs, either together or in
different houses, Venus is in a feminine sign on any angle, and the
Moon and Mars are together on another angle, they will make eunuchs or
hermaphrodites. If the Sun and Moon are in masculine signs and Venus
is also in a masculine sign in a woman's chart, women will be born who
take on a man's character and desire intercourse with women like men. 2.
If Venus is in the house of Mercury and vice versa, or if they are ill
each other's terms, the Moon in Virgo, Capricorn, Taurus, or Leo, and
the other masculine planets are in feminine signs and the feminine in
masculine, hermaphrodites will be born. 3.
If Mercury and Venus are in conjunction in the 19th degree of' Aries,
they make the native impure of mouth. If Venus and the Moon hold the
30th degree of any sign and are in square aspect or opposition to each
other, they will exercise these vices secretly. But if the rulers of
those signs in which the Moon and Venus have the 30th degree are in
any aspect to these signs, they exercise these vices publicly, without
shame. 4.
Mars and Venus in conjunction in a morning rising and in a masculine
sign make women shrewish and sterile. In an evening rising in feminine
signs, in a man's chart, if Saturn is in any aspect, they make
perverts who serve in temple choirs. If this combination is found in
Aries or Capricorn, these same afflictions are indicated. But if Venus
is in opposition or square aspect and there is no influence of Jupiter,
women will be born with masculine character, but men will become
castrates or eunuchs or male prostitutes. 5.
If the Moon is in opposition to Saturn, but Mars is so placed that he
is in square aspect to them and in opposition to Venus, and all these
four are in each other's houses, this combination makes women sterile
and shrewish, and makes men male prostitutes. 6.
The same is true of Venus and the Moon in conjunction, also the Sun
and Venus in the eighth house, Mercury and Venus in the houses of
malefic planets, with Mars and Saturn in the house of Venus. 7.
I shall briefly show how you may observe this more accurately: count
the signs from the Moon to Venus and the same amount from the life
ascendant. If the number falls in a feminine sign, and the Moon is in
a feminine sign from the 25th to the 30th degree, you will find male
prostitutes who exercise their vice secretly; in a woman's chart the
indication is for prostitutes. 8.
But count the signs from Venus to the Moon and again from the
ascendant, and if the number falls in a feminine sign, say that men
will be detected in their practices. You will say the same in women's
charts. If Venus and the Moon are located in feminine signs in the
first degrees of these signs, the women perform their practices with
public scandal. 9.
If Venus is not with the Moon but is in an evening rising located in
the first degree of a feminine sign, aspected to the Moon also in the
last degrees of a sign, this makes both men and women prostitutes,
both of whom hide their practices. But if, with all as we have
described, Saturn in a feminine sign is in square aspect to Venus or
the Moon, this will make degenerates who are deformed and
poverty-stricken. 10.
If all are located as we have said, and Mars is found with Saturn, he
makes castrates. If Venus is in the last degree of her sign and in
aspect to Saturn and Mars, the degenerates will have good fortune and
be entrusted with duties in temples; in a woman's chart they will be
noblewomen involved in prostitution. 11.
Mars, Mercury, Venus, and the Moon together in tropical signs, either
in conjunction or in square aspect to each other, produce prostitutes,
but their motivation varies according to the nature of the signs. If
they are in feminine signs, this makes prostitutes, but in masculine
signs, shrews. 12.
If the Moon is on the ascendant with Mars and Venus, the Sun in the
twelfth house, Saturn in opposition or square aspect to the ascendant,
this will make castrates, but only if all influence of Jupiter is
lacking. If Venus and Saturn are together, or in square aspect to each
other, or are hidden by the Sun's rays, and the Moon and also the
ascendant are in feminine signs, this makes secret degenerates. 13.
But if Saturn and Venus are in a morning rising, they make these vices
public. If Mars is in an evening rising in opposition or square aspect
to Saturn and Venus, he will make public perverts. But if all are
located as we have said and Mars is on any of the angles, this will
make castrates. If it is a wornan's chart and all are located in
masculine signs, they make her lustful and a shrew. 14.
In general if the Moon, Sun, and ascendant are in the face or back of
Capricorn, Aries, Taurus, or Leo, they indicate all kinds of sexual
impurities together with extreme effeminization of the body. In all
charts, if the Moon is found in the tail of Leo it will produce
homosexuals who serve as tympany players to the mother of the gods.
But if Venus is found in the face of Leo, or of Capricorn, Aries, or
Taurus, she drives both men and women to all kinds of vices. 15.
If the Moon is in the signs mentioned above, Saturn and Venus in the
seventh house in square aspect to the Moon, this makes perverts; also
if Mars is in any aspect to the Moon, and if Mars and Saturn are in
any aspect to Venus in Taurus, Leo, Virgo, or Capricorn. 16.
If the moon is in the sixth or twelfth house in a nocturnal chart, or
the Sun by day in these houses and the Moon by night, or the Sun by
day in the terms of Venus, Venus in the seventh house or on the IMC in
her own terms, degenerates are born. But if Mars is in opposition or
square aspect, he will make castrates. In all this look for the
influence of Jupiter, for he to a certain extent mitigates or conceals
these vices. 17.
Eunuchs are produced if the Moon is in sterile signs, Saturn in
conjunction with her, Venus in any aspect to them, but Saturn in the
terms of Venus and vice versa, and Jupiter not in aspect to the Moon.
But if the Moon is with Venus in earth signs, and Venus exchanges
terms with Saturn, still with the influence of Jupiter lacking,
eunuchs will be produced, but they will have intercourse with women. 18.
Now I shall show you the house of sexual desire so that you may be
able to find all vices and lusts. Count the signs from the Moon to
Saturn, and again from the ascendant and in whatever sign the last
number falls, that is the sign of vices and the house of desire. 19.
If the house of sexual desire falls in a feminine sign, if a malefic
planet aspects this house in square or opposition, and if Venus is
located on any angle, degenerates are born but their vice is hidden.
And if the house of desire has been exactly computed and found in
dejected houses in a feminine sign, the native will be polluted by all
impurities. But if it is located as we said and the Moon is in the
first degrees of Pisces, Capricorn, or Leo, or in the last degrees of
Taurus, the natives will be involved in all vices. 20.
If the house of desire is located in dejected houses and attacked by
influence of malefic planets, and the Sun and Moon are in dejected
houses in signs of malefic planets or in their humiliation, they make
public perverts engaged in all vices. These vices grow stronger if the
house of desire is in Capricorn, Aries, or Taurus. 21.
If Venus is ruler of the chart and is together with Mars in a feminine
sign and in dejected houses, but Saturn in a masculine sign is in
trine to the ascendant in his own sign or his own terms, and the Moon
is in a dejected house, degenerates will be born. If the Moon, Venus,
Mars, and Saturn are in feminine signs in dejected houses and are
either together or in square aspect to each other, they make male
prostitutes. But if one of these is well located the natives will
exercise their vices secretly. 22.
If Venus and Saturn are in feminine signs in the seventh house but the
Sun, Jupiter, the Moon, and Mercury are in dejected houses, this
without doubt will make degenerates. And if all are located as we said
and Jupiter alone is on the first angles, this will indeed make male
prostitutes, but they will have the highest position, and glory and
royal offices will be entrusted to them. If in this combination the
Moon is found on the first angles, this will make them wealthy as well.
23.
Venus and Mars in tropical signs, if they are in opposition or square
aspect to each other in feminine signs, make perverts, but secret ones.
Located as we said, without influence of Jupiter, they make women
prostitutes and men homosexuals. |