eligions,
popular superstition in Italy and Greece attributed a number of odd actions
to the sun, the moon, and the constellations as well.[27]

The Chaldaei, however, claimed a predominant power for the stars. In fact,
they were regarded as gods _par excellence_ by the religion of the ancient
Chaldeans in its beginnings. The sidereal religion of Babylon concentrated
deity, one might say, in the luminous moving bodies at the expense of other
natural objects, such as stones, plants, animals, which the primitive
Semitic faith considered equally divine. The stars always retained this
character, even at Rome. They were not, as to us, infinitely distant bodies
moving in space according to the inflexible laws of mechanics, and whose
chemical composition may be determined. To the Latins as to the Orientals,
they were propitious or baleful deities, whose ever-changing relations
determined the events of this world.

The sky, whose unfathomable depth had not yet been perceived, was peopled
with heroes and monsters of contrary passions, and the struggle above had
an immediate echo upon earth. By what principle have such a quality and so
great an influence been attributed to the stars? Is it for reasons derived
from their apparent motion and known through observation or experience?
Sometimes. Saturn made people {173} apathetic and irresolute, because it
moved most slowly of all the planets.[28] But in most instances purely
mythological reasons inspired the precepts of astrology. The seven planets
were associated with certain deities, Mars, Venus, or Mercury, whose
character and history are known to all. It is sufficient simply to
pronounce their names to call to mind certain personalities that may be
expected to act according to their natures, in every instance. It was
natural for Venus to favor lovers, and for Mercury to assure the success of
business transactions and dishonest deals. The same applies to the
constellations, with which a number of legends are connected: "catasterism"
or translation into the stars, became the natural conclusion of a great
many tales. The heroes of mythology, or even those of human society,
continued to live in the sky in the form of brilliant stars. There Perseus
again met Andromeda, and the Centaur Chiron, who is none other than
Sagittarius, was on terms of good fellowship with the Dioscuri.

These constellations, then, assumed to a certain extent the good and the
bad qualities of the mythical or