Page:Tycho brahe.djvu/99

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ORATION ON ASTROLOGY.
77

to Jupiter, the kidneys to Venus, the milt to Saturn, the gall to Mars, and the lungs to Mercury, and the resemblance of the functions of these various organs to the assumed astrological character of the planets is pointed out in a manner similar to that followed by other astrological writers. He believes experience to have shown that those who are born when the moon is affected by the evil planets (Saturn and Mars) and is unluckily placed, have a weak brain and are under the influence of passions, while those in whose case the sun was influenced by those planets suffered from palpitation of the heart. But if both luminaries are in unlucky aspects, those born at that time are of weak health and intellect. Those people at whose birth Saturn, the highest planet, was favourable, are inclined to sublime studies, while those whom Jupiter has influenced are attracted to politics. The solar influence makes people desire honour, dignities, and power; that of Venus makes them devote themselves to love, pleasures, and music; while Mercury encourages people to mercantile pursuits, and the moon to travelling.

Many philosophers and theologians, continued Tycho in his lecture, have contended that astrology was not to be counted among the sciences, because the moment of birth was difficult to fix, because many are born at the same moment whose fates differ vastly, because twins often meet with very different fortunes, while many die simultaneously in war or pestilence whose horoscopes by no means foretold such a fate. It had also been maintained that a knowledge of the future was useless or undesirable, and theologians added that the art was forbidden in God's Word and drew men away from God. To these objections Tycho answered, that even if there was an error of an hour in the assumed time of birth, it would be possible from subsequent events to calculate it accurately. With regard to war or pestilence,