riods of
kingdoms, or religions, of all future accidents, wars, plagues, schisms,
heresies, and what not? all from stars, and such things, saith Maginus,
_Quae sibi et intelligentiis suis reservavit Deus_, which God hath reserved
to himself and his angels, they will take upon them to foretell, as if
stars were immediate, inevitable causes of all future accidents. Caesar
Vaninus, in his book _de admirandis naturae Arcanis, dial. 52. de
oraculis_, is more free, copious, and open, in this explication of this
astrological tenet of Ptolemy, than any of our modern writers, Cardan
excepted, a true disciple of his master Pomponatius; according to the
doctrine of Peripatetics, he refers all apparitions, prodigies, miracles,
oracles, accidents, alterations of religions, kingdoms, &c. (for which he
is soundly lashed by Marinus Mercennus, as well he deserves), to natural
causes (for spirits he will not acknowledge), to that light, motion,
influences of heavens and stars, and to the intelligences that move the
orbs. _Intelligentia quae, movet orbem mediante coelo_, &c. Intelligences
do all: and after a long discourse of miracles done of old, _si haec
daemones possint, cur non et intelligentiae, coelorum motrices_? And as
these great conjunctions, aspects of planets, begin or end, vary, are
vertical and predominant, so have religions, rites, ceremonies, and
kingdoms their beginning, progress, periods, _in urbibus, regibus,
religionibus, ac in particularibus hominibus, haec vera ac manifesta, sunt,
ut Aristoteles innuere videtur, et quotidiana docet experientia, ut
historias perlegens videbit; quid olim in Gentili lege Jove sanctius et
illustrius? quid nunc vile magis et execrandum? Ita coelestia corpora pro
mortalium beneficio religiones aedificant, et cum cessat influxus, cessat
lex_, [6653]&c. And because, according to their tenets, the world is
eternal, intelligences eternal, influences of stars eternal, kingdoms,
religions, alterations shall be likewise eternal, and run round after many
ages; _Atque iterum ad Troiam magnus mittetur Achilles; renascentur
religiones, et ceremoniae, res humanae in idem recident, nihil nunc quod
non olim fuit, et post saeculorum revolutiones alias est, erit,[6654] &c.
idem specie_, saith Vaninus, _non individuo quod Plato significavit._ These
(saith mine [6655]author), these are the decrees of Peripatetics, which
though I recite, _in obsequium Christianae fidei detestor_, as I am a
Christian I detest a