Chapter XI. The Duration of Life

OF all events whatsoever, which take place. after birth, the most essential is the continuance of life: and as it ts, of course, useless to consider, in cases wherein the life of a child does not extend to the period of one year, what other events contingent on its birth might otherwise have subsequently happened, the inquiry into the duration of life cone

13th Chapter of this Book ; which shews that, in the instance now mentioned, it woutd be a laminary, either in the sscendant, or im the midheaven, ;

séquently takes precedence of ail other questions, as to the events subsequent to the birth. ; The discussion of this inquiry is by no means simple, nor easy of execution ; it is conducted in a diversified process, by means of the governance of the ruling places. And the method now about to be laid down seems, of all others, the most consonant. with reason, and with nature: because the influence of the prorogatory places, as well as of the rulers of those places, and the disposal of the anzretic* places or stars, perform the whole operation of regulating the duration of life. Each of these influences is to be distinguished in the mode pointed out in the chapters immediately ensuing. -

The Prorogatory Places. | Firsty, those places, only, are to be deemed sacrriluiy: to which the future assumption of the dominion of prorogation exclusively belongs. These several places are the sign on the angle of the ascendant, from the fifth degree above the horizon, to the twenty-fifth degree below it ;—-the thirty degrees in dexter sextile thereto, constituting the eleventh house, ‘called the Good Demon ;—also the thirty degrees in dexter quartile, forming the mid-heaven above the earth ;—those in dexter trine making the ninth house, called God ;—and lastly, those i in opposition, belonging to the angle of the west.

Secondly, among these places, the degrees which constitute the mid-heaven are entitled to preference, as being of a more potent and paramount influence :—the degrees in the ascendant are next in virtue ;—then the degrees in the eleventh house succedent to the mid-heaven;—then those in the. angle of the west ;—and, lastly, those in the ninth house, which precedes the mid-heaven.

ne ee ee ee ee * The epithet anaretic is a term of art, adopted from the Greek, signifying fatal, (OF destructive.

rhap. XIII.] —- PTOLEMY’s TETRABIBLOs. 13}

- No degrees under the earth are, in any manner, eligible to the dominion now in question; except such only as enter into light actually above the succedent, or, in other ' words, with the ascendant. And any sign, although it may be above the earth, is still incompetent to partake in this dominion, if it be inconjunct with the ascendant: hence the sign which precedes the ascendant, and constitutes the twelfth house (called that ‘of the Evil Demon), is incompetent ; and not only for the above reason, but also because ' jt is cadent, and because the beams cast by the stars posited therein, towards.the earth, are impaired by the thick and dark exhalations arising from the earth’s vapours, which produce an unnatural colour and magnitude in the appearance of stars so posited, confusing, and in some measure annihilating, their beams. © °

Thus far with regard to the places of prorogation, —

The Number of Prorogators, and also the Part of Fortune. Arter due attention has been given to the instructions in the preceding chapter, the Sun, the Moon, the Ascendant, and the part of Fortune, are to be considered as the four principally liable to be elected to the office of prorogator ; and their positions, together with those of such planets as rule in the places of their positions, are to be observed. The part of Fortune is ascertained by computing the number of degrees between the Sun and the Moon; and it is placed at an equal number of degrees distant from the ascendant, in the order of the signs. It is in all cases, both -by niglit and day, to be so computed and set down, that the Moon may hold with it the same relation as that which the Sun may hold with the ascendant ; and it thus becomes, as it were, a lunar horoscope or ascendant*,

* The Latin translation, printed at Perugio in 1646, has here the ‘following passage in addition ; “ But it must be seen which luminary

Among the candidates for prorogation, as beforementioned, by day the Sun is to be preferred, provided he be situated in a prorogatory place; and, if not, the Moon; but if the

““ may follow the other in the succession of the signs ;. for if the Moon ‘‘ should so follow the Sun, the part of Fortune is also to be num- ‘* bered from the horoscope or ascendant, according to the succession “of the signs. But if the Moon precede the Sun, the part of For- ‘“‘ tune must be numbered from the ascendant, contrary to the suc~- ** cession of the signs.”

There is a long dissertation on the part of Fortune, in Cooper's Piacidus, from pp. 308 to 318; and, among the directions there given for computing its situation, the following seem the most accurate and simple : viz. “In the diurnal geniture, the Sun’s true distance ‘‘ from the east is to be added to the Moon’s right ascension, and in “‘ the nocturnal, subtracted ; for the number thence arising will be “‘ the place and right ascension of the. part of Fortune : and it always “has the same declination with the Moon, both in number and “ name, wherever it is found. Again, let the Sun’s oblique ascen- “ sion, taken in the ascendant, be subtracted always from the oblique “ ascension of the ascendant, as well in the day as in the night, and “‘ the remaining difference be added to the Moon’s right ascension ; *‘ the sum will be the right ascension of the part of Fortune, which “« will have the Moon’s declination.” It is shewn also by this dissertation, that the situation of the part of Fortune must be necessarily confined to the lunar parallels; that it can but rarely be in the ecliptic ; and that its latitade is ever varying. Cooper also adds, from Cardan’s Commentaries on the ‘Tetrabiblos, that “if the Moon ‘is going from the conjunction to the opposition of the Sun, then the “ Moon follows the Sun, and the part of Fortune is always under “the Earth, from the ascendant; but if the Moon has passed the ** opposition, she goes before the Sun, and the part of Fortune is “before the ascendant, and always above the earth.” This remark of Cardan’s is, in effect, exactly equivalent ta what is stated in the additional passage inserted in the Perugio Latin. translation, and given above.

In the Primum Mobile of Placidus (Cooper’s translation, p- 45), the following remark and example are given :—‘ The paxt of Fortune ‘‘ 3 placed according to the Moon's distaace from ihe Sua ; and you

Moon, also, should not be so situated, then that planet is to be elected which may have most: claims to dominion, in reference to the Sun, the antecedent new Moon, and the . ascendant; that is to say, when such planet may be found to have dominion over any one of the places where these are situated, by at least three prerogatives, if not more; the whole number being five. If, however, no Planet should be found so eucumateores) the Ascendant is then to be taken.

By night, the Moon is to be elected as prorogator, provided, in like manner, she should be in some prorogatory place; and if she be not, the Sun: if he also be not in any prorogatory place, then that planet which may have most rights of dominion in reference to the Moon*, and the antecedent full Moon and the.part of Fortune. But, if there be no planet claiming dominion in the mode prescribed, the Ascendant must be taken, in case a new Moon had last preceded the birth ; but, if a full Moon, the part of Fortune, -

If the two luminaries, and also some ruling planet of appropriate condition, should be each posited in a prorogatory

<< must observe what rays the Moch has to the Sun, for the latter “‘ ought to have the same, and with the same excess or deficiency, ‘‘ as the part of Fortune to the horoscope. As the Moon is to the “ Sun, so is the part of Fortune to the boroscope; and as the Sun is “ to the horescope, so is the Moon to the part of Fortane. So, in “ the nativity of Charles V, the Moon applies to the ultimate sextile to he Soe; ut vee a deficiency of 7° 45’: I subtract the 7° 45/