is a
hundred years; and in assigning that limit the Upanishads are right
once more.]

A man's individual career is not, as Astrology wishes to make out, to
be predicted from observation of the planets; but the course of human
life in general, as far as the various periods of it are concerned,
may be likened to the succession of the planets: so that we may be
said to pass under the influence of each one of them in turn.

At ten, _Mercury_ is in the ascendant; and at that age, a youth, like
this planet, is characterized by extreme mobility within a narrow
sphere, where trifles have a great effect upon him; but under the
guidance of so crafty and eloquent a god, he easily makes great
progress. _Venus_ begins her sway during his twentieth year, and then
a man is wholly given up to the love of women. At thirty, _Mars_
comes to the front, and he is now all energy and strength,--daring,
pugnacious and arrogant.

When a man reaches the age of forty, he is under the rule of the
four _Asteroids_; that is to say, his life has gained something in
extension. He is frugal; in other words, by the help of _Ceres_, he
favors what is useful; he has his own hearth, by the influence of
_Vesta_; _Pallas_ has taught him that which is necessary for him to
know; and his wife--his _Juno_--rules as the mistress of his house.

But at the age of fifty, _Jupiter_ is the dominant influence. At that
period a man has outlived most of his contemporaries, and he can feel
himself superior to the generation about him. He is still in the full
enjoyment of his strength, and rich in experience and knowledge;
and if he has any power and position of his own, he is endowed with
authority over all who stand in his immediate surroundings. He is no
more inclined to receive orders from others; he wants to take command
himself. The work most suitable to him now is to guide and rule within
his own sphere. This is the point where Jupiter culminates, and where
the man of fifty years is at his best.

Then comes _Saturn_, at about the age of sixty, a weight as of _lead_,
dull and slow:--

_But old folks, many feign as they were dead;
Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead_.
Last of all, _Uranus_; or, as the saying is, a man goes to heaven.

I cannot find a place for _Neptune_, as this planet has been very
thoughtlessly named; because I may not call it as it should be
called--_Eros_. Otherwise I should point out how Beginning and End
meet together, and how