Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos · Ptolemy
CHAPTER XII
THE PARTICULAR NATURES OF THE SIGNS BY WHICH THE DIFFERENT CONSTITUTIONS OF THE ATMOSPHERE ARE PRODUCED[101] The sign of Aries has a general tendency, arising from the presence of the Equinox, to promote thunder and hail. Certain of its parts, however, operate in a greater or less degree, according to the nature of the stars which compose the sign: for instance, the front parts excite rain and wind; the middle are temperate; and those behind are heating and pestilential. The northern parts, also, are heating and pernicious, but the southern cooling and frosty. [101] According to Wing, in his “Instructions to the Ephemerides,” printed in 1652, the signs, as mentioned in this chapter by Ptolemy, are to be considered in their quality as constellations, and not as spaces of the heavens. This opinion, however, seems to me to be erroneous; for Ptolemy has already devoted a chapter in the 1st Book to the detail of the influences of the several stars in the respective constellations of the zodiac; and he moreover speaks, in the present chapter, of the operation of Aries, as owing to the presence of the Equinox. This he could not have done, had he spoken of the signs as constellations instead of spaces. The sign of Taurus, in its general character, partakes of both temperaments,[102] but is nevertheless chiefly warm. Its front parts, and especially those near the Pleiades, produce earthquakes, clouds and winds: the middle parts are moistening and cooling; those behind, and near the Hyades, are fiery, and cause meteors and lightnings. The northern parts are temperate; the southern turbulent and variable.
Sagittarius, generally, is effective of wind. The front parts are moistening; the middle temperate; and the hinder parts fiery. The northern parts promote wind, and the southern variation and moisture. Capricorn’s general tendency is to operate moisture. But its anterior parts are pernicious by means of heat, its middle parts are temperate, and its latter parts promote rain. Both its northern and southern parts are injurious by means of moisture. Aquarius, in its general character, is cold and watery. The front parts are moistening; the middle temperate; and the latter parts productive of wind. The northern parts are heating; the southern cause snow. Pisces, in its general character, is cold and effective of wind. The front parts are temperate; the middle moistening; the hinder parts highly heating. The northern parts excite wind, and the southern are watery.
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