of 88 would be by water and therefore very politikely they began to prepare for it betime longer a great deale then euer Noah did for the flood And sure they might haue done well if they had bin prouided of a pilot such as was Hen. Nicholas in Chaucer But it fell out reasonable well with them for they sped almost as well in their Calloones as if they had bin in his tubs Some of these figure-flingers vpon their skil haue bin so confident that before hand vpon their predictions they would venter neuer to keep shop longer in that trade if their predictions failed Their predictions failed they haue bin as good as their word by neuer medling that way since A maine maister in these matters no lesse then Leouitius Iliad 1. vers 91. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wold needs giue out to the world the day of his death The day being past and the man aliue and as well for health as euer he was one told him of it maruelling that so learned a man wold be so fowly ouershot but he seeking to put it off with a iest answered that he neuer made a more happielie Pope Iohn the 22. was also very presumptuous this way giuing out to all his friends in a solemne meeting and feast to their great comfort as he thought that he was to liue a long time yet for all his skill he died within foure dayes after In 88. what cause had men to beleeue that prediction when in all the yeares before they saw no preparation to any such matter neither in heauen nor in earth If the world was then to die there would haue gone some signes of decay as it were sicknesse before except they thought it was to die in a sound or an apoplexie When men are thus readie to father all their follies vpon heauen imputing to it the cause of whatsoeuer hapneth who can hold and not exclaime with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alacke how men do heauen accuse When they themselues do it abuse Neither are their predictions only false but also most infortunate as running still vpon infortunate and dismall effects or euents as may appeare by their learned Almanackes where you shall find such catalogues of diseases warres treasons and such like without anie one mention of anie good to come that a man would thinke there were no goodnes in heauen For such dismall Wisards may well serue that of the Poet Iliad 1. vers 106. where Agamemnon brauing Chalcas vseth these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Could Prophet most infortunate that neuer yet could tell Of any thing that should befall or happen to me well Thou lou'st such things to prophecie as meanes no good but ill Thou neuer spake good word as yet or did good with thy will CHAP. IX Of the subiect of Predictions BVt some are woont to oppose them thus Of things wee see done because some are necessarie some casuall and some in our free power The Astrologers must needes say that their predictions hold either in necessarie things or in casuall euents or in those things which are in our power If they say in necessarie things then are their predictions in vaine for that which hapneth necessarily wee cannot auoid but will we nill we it wil come to passe whereas predictions are then onely auailable when by them we can escape Secondly if they say in casuall euents then they do professe an impossibilitie For casual euēts are vncertain but of vncertainties which may happen this way or that way there can bee no certaine or sure prediction It remaineth therfore that their predictions be in things which are in our power which also is impossible For that which is in my power whether it shall happen or no neither hath any further cause at the first that can no man foretell the Astrologers therefore haue no certaine subiect for their predictions The same reason as serued Tullie against the Wisards of his time may likewise fit vs against these whom we now deale with in the secōd de Diuinat thence we reason thus Astrologie auaileth neither where Sence Arte Philosophie or ciuill policie is vsed therefore it auaileth no where nor in anie subiect First for Sence To iudge colours we haue our eyes to iudge sounds our eares for smelles our nose and such like Neither were an Astrologer if he were blind able to iudge of colors or if he were deafe of sounds were he neuer so skilfull As for matters of Art who wold leaue the Physitian to know of him what physicke he should take or what diet he should keepe or what veine he should open what humour he were to purge and how much and with what dosis in what forme of purge whether with pilles potions or bole and such like The squaring of circles the doubling of cubes and such like haue alwayes beene left to the Geometrician For Arithmetike who euer went to him to learne to adde or subtract For Musike to learne to frame his voice to know how to diuide the Monochord or whether Diatessaron be a concord or a discord For Astronomie to know of him whether the earth or Sun were greater whether the interposition of the earth be the cause of the eclipse of the Moone For Philosophie who euer went to them to know his dutie toward his friend or fo kiffe or kin prince or subiect How he was to frame a syllogisme what were the elements whereof all things are made What Prince for gouerning his realm did euer vse them rather then wise and sage Councellours If the question be of the best forme of gouernement what lawes what fashions are fittest who in these causes conferreth with the Astrologer and not rather with the States-man If for answer to these and the like obiections they shall tell vs that their predictions are in another maner of subiect as in particular actions of men depending vpon their natiuitie who doth not see how they seeke shifts and euasions such as at this time my leisure can not stand vpon For particulars can they tell vs whether Peter was euer at Rome where King Arthur died and how and where he was buried and such like CHAP. X. Of the small vse of Predictions though they were true FArther we say that if their predictions or prognostications be true thē they are of necessitie and if of necessitie they cannot be auoided and if they cannot bee auoyded they are knowne in vaine for to what end should we know things so before if wee cannot preuent and auoide them Nay by this meanes we should be in much worse case then if wee knew nothing being tormented and vexed not onely with the present euils but with expectation of them long before This well knew Seneca as may well appeare by those words Epist lib. 13. Epist 89 Whether the starres saith he be causes of euents what auaileth the knowledge of a thing immutable or signifie onely to what end wouldest
that heauen vseth only these meanes in working to wit light and motion Euen Ptolemy also in certaine books de Fato prouidētia yet extant hath abundantly confuted these follies shewing them not to be the causes of these effects but sometime perhaps to signifie being but vniuersall and confused signes whence procedeth a very deceitful and vncertaine coniecture Wherefore Porphyrie writing his life saith that after long study of Astronomy hee perceiued there was no trust to be giuen to the doomes of Astrologers which is also proued plentifully by Auicen in the last booke of his metaphysickes Aulus Gellius hath recorded a long and large discourse of the great philosopher Phauorinus against Chaldeans the chiefe brokers and brochers of this art Picus also sheweth how Diogenes Laert. Seneca Plutarch Seuerianus and diuerse others both auncient and moderne reiected these toyes and in his last booke cap. 6. he relateth that saying of Porphyrie that then oracles did faile and fitten whē they would answere by Astrologie which Porphyrie also as testifieth Philip Morney cap. 13. de verit relig saith that Apollo when he could not answere out of the starres was wont to desire men to depart and aske him no questions for if they did he threatened to tell them nothing but lies This was faire warning and plaine dealing and I thinke the truest oracle that he euer vttered Alexander Aphrod the chiefe interpreter of Aristotle among the Greekes writ a booke de Fato to Seuerus the Emperour Antonius his sonne in which confuting Fatum he saith nothing of Astrology which the very name of Fatum would haue forced him to if he had not vtterly contemned it In this iumpe with him the rest of the interpreters who if at any time they name Astronomy they shew that they meane only that which considereth the course of the heauens Ammonius the interpreter of Porphyrie in the beginning of his worke hath sufficiently vttered his minde Auerroes chiefe expositor among the Arabians euery where baiteth and hunteth Astrology affirming it to be no art and the figures imagined in heauen to be but a meer fable and a tale of a tubbe without which notwithstanding Astrology can hardly stand It were infinite to recite the late Philosophers that haue banded against this vanitie That of Plautus Horentinus is worth the marking he when he had liued 85 yeares cast his owne natiuitie examining it with as much art and diligence as he could notwithstanding he could finde no signe of long life in it As for those that haue written in defence or approbation of this art either new or old there is such paucity that you may wel say of them that apparent rari nautes in gurgite vasto they appeare here one and there one like drowned rats otherwise they would neuer flye for succour to those counterfeits to wit a booke of Arist intituled of great coniunctions and secrets to Alexander which was neuer his With the like folly they attributed to Plato certaine bookes bearing the name of institution bookes stuffed with toies and trifles Likewise they alleage a booke of Ouid de vetula vpon which frier Bacon relieth much They father also vpon Albertus magnus and Tho. Aquinas a booke de Necromanticis imaginibus a bable not worth the name of Thomas farre from his iudgement in many other places Thus we see what poore shift they make to saue themselues much like a man in drowning who catcheth roūd about at euery thing to help himselfe But they wil say that they haue of euery side good Philosophers if we could hitte on them As for example Ptolemy Haly Firmicus Albunasar and others For Ptolemy as he was a rare man in mathematiques so for this matter of astrology one said very wel of him that he was optimus malorum that is of bad the best but for his philosophy and vnderstanding of Aristotle diuerse learned men haue taken exception for his diuisiō of contemplatiue philosophy in his beginning of his Almagest into Theological Mathematical Naturall because all things as he there saith consist of matter forme and motion which are separable by thought only and not in deed farther yelding the cause why the Moone is moist he ascribeth it to the vapours which it draweth frō the earth thē how much more moist should the Sun be which is knowne to draw infinitely more thē he saith that Saturne is cold because of his distance from the Sunne and Mars hot by reason of his vicinity To which may be said that of Mars hath his heat from the Sun why is not the Sun as hot or hotter then Mars These things are ridiculous in philosophy not worthy confutation Of Albumasar I haue said before so much as may bewray his weaknes For Firmicus as I haue said in an other place he is but a talker He writeth that Mercurie in a night natiuitie may possesse medium coeli or the tenth house whereas it is plaine that Mercurie can neuer be there then For euer on the night time the Sun is more then fortie degrees from any part of mid-heauen and Mercurie is alwayes within thirtie degrees or thereabout of the Sun for which cause he was wont to be called Pileatus as wearing an hat to saue him from the heat of the Sun which was so nere him I haue in another place spoken of his wise opinion how the starres and heauen haue nothing to doe in Emperours natiuitie Guido Bonatus feareth that the foure mathematikes can not stand if strology faile But ful wisely as if he knew not the difference of Astrology and Astronomy Bardesanes also a man very well learned in these points hath a very good edge this way as appeareth by Eusebius lib. 6. Euang. praepar cap. 8. because the place there is very notable I wil here set it downe It is as followeth Among the Seres the law forbiddeth murder adultery idolatrie so that in those countries is neither whore theefe nor murderer neither doth the firie starre of Mars in the middest of heauen there force any mans will to manslaughter neither could Venus in coniunction with Mars cause any to mistresse another mans wife Although it cannot be chosen but that euerie day once Mars moueth to the middest of heauen neither can it be denied but in so great a country men are borne euerie houre Among the Indians and Bactrians there be manie thousands of those whom wee call Brachmanni who what for tradition by fathers what for lawes neither worship images nor eate any liue thing neither euer drinke either wine or ale but refraining from all euill tend only vpon the seruice of God In the meane time all other Indians their countrie-men wallow in murder drunkennesse and Idolatrie There are also found some or rather there is an whole nation in the Indies dwelling in the same climate which hunting and sacrificing men deuoure them neither do anie starres bee they neuer so good keepe them from bloud and villanie neither anie stars so bad
that they can make the Brachmanni commit folly By the lawes in Persia men might marrie their daughters and mothers neither did they this in Persia only but when they change their country and climate they retaine and vse these abominations for which cause other countries detesting their filthines call thē Magussaeos And there be to this day in Egypt Phrygia and France many of these Magussaei which by succession from their fathers are stained polluted with this geare Yet we cannot say that they were all borne in the house of Saturne or Mars being in coniunction with Venus The Amazones haue no husbands but in the spring time go to their neighbour countries lie with the men so it cōmeth to passe that by the course of nature they must all bee deliuered at once and killing the males they bring vp only the females becomming all warlike by a great care of actiuitie It were folly to thinke that all these women were borne vnder the same constellation This may be fortified and confirmed by the example of the Iewes who liuing dispersedly continually circumcise on the eight day rest the Sabbath day Now all the Iewes had not the same position of heauen in their natiuities neither could any celestial power hale and pull them from the rites and customes of their fathers But what shall wee say of Christians who being scattered infinitely all ouer the world keepe the same kind of life and doctrine from which we cānot be moued a whit with rewards threats or punishment Will they say that all Christians had one Horoscopus But that of all others is most forcible that they which before their conuersion were most earnest in the waies of their ancestors after they were once conuerted changed religion maners kind of life so cleane as if they had neuer beene the same men Wherefore so manie Parthians as be Christians keepe not many wiues nor the Medes cast their dead to the dogs nor the Indians burne their dead nor the Persians marrie their daughters and sisters nor the Egyptians worship the dogs or Apes and such like but in all places they follow the same lawes rites and maners To be short daily men are borne euery where and euery where we see them obserue their own lawes and fashions neither do the birth-stars force the Seres to commit murther or the Brachmanni to eate flesh neither can they reclaime the Persians from their incestuous mariages nor the Medes from casting their dead to the dogs nor the Parthians from multitude of wiues for all nations as they list c. when they will vse their libertie in obeying their lawes and customes Hitherto Bardesanes With like arguments to these you might fill whole volumes and ouercharge the world Ethiopians were all blacke were they belonging to one constellation Farther it is no fable which is receiued of Hermophrodites which play both the man and womans part as they list and at their choise Such are the people beyond the Nasamones and their next neighbours Madians as saith Calliphanes and such bee found also in Europe not only among the people called Lumenses among whom it is seuerely looked to prouided that euery one shall at the first chuse whether sexe hee will and hold himselfe to it in paine of death must these therefore for this conuenience be all borne vnder one starre And should not the same constellation make Hermophrodites here as well as there The like may be said of the great people called Arimaspi who are all borne with one eye only which accident Eustathius vpon Dyonys doth refer not to the stars but to their winking of one eye when they shoote for with much winking in aiming that eye waxed lesse first in the fathers then in the sons then in their children and so still lesse and lesse till at last it was quite out and so continued Herodotus in Thalia reporteth that the braine or sculs of the Persians were so soft and tender that one might pierce them with a small peble stone but the sculles of the Egyptians so hard that they would not breake with a great stone which difference he referreth not to any constellation but to the diuersity of education the Egyptians vsing to shaue their heads and go in the sunne whereby their sculs were hardened the Persians contrarie neuer shauing but keeping their heads warme with caps and tires Therfore we may see that there is more required to the conueniences and differences then the position of starres according to that of Aristotle Sol homo generant hominem not Sol alone nor homo alone whence it will follow that for the foreseeing of future effects there is more required then the knowledge of celestiall causes Philosophie teacheth vs that vt res habet ad esse sic se habet ad cognosci that is by what causes any thing is made by the same it must be knowne if we seeke for sure and certaine knowledge With those prophane testimonies alleaged a little before agreeth that of Ecclesiastes cap. 7. vers 1. For who can shew what is good for man in the life and in the number of the dayes of the life of his vanitie seeing he maketh them as a shadowe for who can shew vnto man what shall be after him What a vaine question were this if euerie Astrologer could by casting of natiuities and setting of figures foretell our actions and accidents But more vaine were it if that brasen head made by Albertus magnus placed in his study could answere ad omnia quaesita as is reported by Tostatus Num. to 1. fol. 22. col 2. This head by like was wont to tel schooletales and therefore S. Thomas his scholler getting into his study fell vpon it and brake it and defaced it this head was made by Astrologie and arte magike as witnesseth the same Tostatus He also relateth the like of another brazen head shrined at Zamara in Spaine That euer any such head spake we neede not to beleeue but if it did it was the diuell that answered within it whom God doth often permit thus to delude vs because we delight in errour and willingly deceiue ourselues harkening to lies rather then truth When men broch such bables to the worlde affirming them to be done by Astrologie or a certaine wicked concealed Arte called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are they not worthily derided and called coniurers yea though they haue studied manie yeares spent much money and trauelled many countries For their long study if it be but of toyes they may worthily heare that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For their great charges and expences they may heare that of Horace Dedecorum pretiosus emptor a child will giue more for a rattle or a hobby-horse then a wise man will doe for some good thing And lastly if after such long trauell they can make no more vse of their labour but to tell vs tales of Hobgoblin and Will with wispe let them pitie them that list only the pitie
abhomination to God and that this was one of the cheefe causes why God displaced the nations and banished them And in the second booke of Kings it is said that their vanitie was the ouerthrow of the people of Israel for there is said that they applied Southsayings which folly also is derided of Iob in these words Dost thou know saith he the order of heauen and wilt thou reduce the course of it to the earth And againe who shal declare the order of heauē In which place also is touched a double errour of astrologers the one that they ascribe many things to heauen which belong not to it another that euen the very effects of heauen they cannot foresee by heauen Vpon these so plentifull plaine places the church grounding hath not spared from time to time to censure these men most seuerely as appeareth by many decrees as you may reade in secūda parte Decretorum cap. xxvi the fiue first questions in the first Bracaren Councell cap. ix and x. and in the first counsell of Tolledo In which councels there is this Decree against Astrologers If any put his trust in astrology let him be anathema Also in the first chapter de sortilegijs is prouided that none shal listen to diuinations In the second chapter of the same title is concluded that it was an hainous offence that one tooke vpō him by the help of his astrolabe to recouer a stolne thing although he did it simply and of good zeale By a decree also of Gregory the younger Astrologers are accursed vnder the name of Aruspices as I haue shewed els where What hath bin the iudgemēt of the fathers concerning these men you may see if you please to reade either Basil Hom. vi in Genesin or Chrisost and Gregorius Magnus vpon the second chapter of Mathew or Olympiodorus vpon the seuenth and tenth chapter of Ecclesiastes or Cassiodorus vppon the 70.118 Psal But especially S. August lib. 2. vpon Genesis ad literam cap. 17. And lib. 2. De doctrina Christiana cap. 21. Saint Augustines authoritie is of the more waight because he confesseth that himselfe was of that damnable crew in the third booke of confessions in the seuenth booke his words be these Now also I had renounced the false predictions and wicked follies of Astrologers and meaning thē farther saith whome christian and true pietie expelleth and condēneth And in his booke de natura Daemonum he affirmeth that it is not lawful for any christian to cast natiuities In his second booke de doctri Christ he saith it is a great madnesse and follie to goe about to tell by the stars the manners actions and euents of men And in the same booke he saith Whosoeuer giueth a peny to an Astrologer goe he neuer so free vnto him he returneth from him a bondman With these agreeth Eusebius lib 14. cap. 4 de praeparatione Euangelica lib. 6 cap. 9. Athanasius also vpō those words to the Colossians According to the elements of the world and not according to Christ condemneth al these Astrological obseruations of times Basil in his Hexam saith It is ridiculous to confute Astrologers yet necessarie least others should be intangled by their cunning Damas in theologicis sententijs graunteth that there may bee signes in heauē of raine drowth heat cold winds but not of our actions With these auncient fathers agree also the schoolemē as Aquinas in expositione symboli Bonauenture in 1 Centiloquij parte Petrus Tarantassius in 4. Conuentariorum in senten and Iohn Gerson and diuerse others both papists and protestants Iulianus Apostata plaied but his part when he would proue Abraham to be an astrologer out of these words cap. 15. of Genesis God brought out Abraham and said to him view the heauens number the starres if thou can for so shal thy seed be Notwithstanding confesse we must that Philo in his booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 attributeth to Abraham great perfection in Astronomy yet that shall no waies helpe to excuse Iulian their minds wherwith they spake it being as differēt as may be Farther Iuliā maketh or wold make Abrahā an Astrologer but Philo an Astronomer Now what is the difference of Astronomy and Astrologie may be plaine by that of Cassiodorus vpō the 118. Psal His words be these Astronomy is an art which cōsidereth the course figures of starres and their mutuall aspectes both among themselues and in respect of the earth Which Arte our ancestors haue not much reiected so that it goe no farther But whē men erroniously glaunce into Astrology thinking to picke the liues of men out of the course of the starres then they are abhominable and starke blinde taking vpon them to foresee those things which the creator for good cause meant to conceale from vs. That Abraham was instructed skilful in Astronomy Philo proueth out of the interpretation of the name Abraam signifying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if one shuld say a loftie or mounted father this title of loftie or mounted father being giuen him because hee lifted and mounted himselfe from the earth by study of high and heauenly matters searching what was the greatnes of the Sun what was his course how he doth determine the seasons of the yeare by his comming and going to and fro searching also concerning the moon of her diuerse lights forms waxings wainings of the motions of the other stars both fixed and not fixed For saith he the study enquiry of these things is not base barren but of al other most liberall and full of good fruite so that they bee referred as they ought to be to the vse of life mēding of māners For saith he as trees are nothing worth vnlesse they beare fruit so Philosophy auaileth nothing if it bring not forth godly life as her fruit Insomuch that some cōparing philosophy to a field haue likened the natural parts of it to the Plants the logical part to the fence and hedges but the morall to the fruit affirming that the hedges fences round about are made onely for the safty of the fruit but the plants to bear fruit so say they must the natural logicall parts of Philosophy be referred to the moral part wherwith is taught honest cōuersation goodlife By this place of Philo we see both how farre Abraham waded in Astronomy to what end Thus hauing cleared him from the troopes of the enemie it remaineth that we leaue him not so but proceed in the pursuit But first thus wee reason against these men The hearts and wayes of all men are in the hands of God who doth dispose and turne them as seemeth best to him according to that Pro. cap. 27. Homo proponit Deus autem disponit If therefore no mā know his own waies for the time to come much lesse can the Astrologers know them Againe the diuell himselfe knoweth not certainly future causes for if he did he would neuer haue egged the Iewes forward to crucifie
Philosophers with good groūd of reason Salomon whom we all know to haue excelled all that euer were both for learning and wisdome as being inspired rather from God than taught by man witnesseth in plaine words and at large that hee learned of God whatsoeuer pertained to the framing and motion of the heauens both for the order of the spheres and their motion in how much time euerie Planet passeth the Zodiake with what varietie of course neuer so altering or varying but that still at the same time they returne to the same place Now if diuine Plato passing all that euer wrote or spake both for varietie and grauitie when he marked the whole earth firme and round in the middest and withall the figure of the world to be most capable as able to receiue all other figures hauing neither rub nor stop nor angle nor corner nor falling nor swelling when he I say marked these things if he brake out with this golden sentence Of all Geometricians God is the greatest why may not wee viewing the wonderfull swiftnesse and constant conuersion of heauen yearely finishing the same course with the singular preseruation and maintenance of all things very truly and well say that there is no Astronomer to God True it is but it were long to shew with how many reasons it may be proued that both this arte and all the rest are deriued from God himselfe For the dignitie of this arte that also maketh not a litle that being so well borne so famously descended when now it was brought from heauen to earth it crept not into a corner or sought to conuerse with base people but tooke that course whereby shee might easily keepe her owne by spreading the beams of her fame renowne far neere Wherfore cōmonly she hath made her companions kings and great men conuersing euer most familiarly freely with them as being stirred vp of God for her protection wherfore to seek the original Adā the first man and our first father whom al things did most wonderfully and diligently obey is thought first to haue obserued the course of the Sun and the Moone and the other starres with their rising and setting and such other matters After him came Seth in yeares I meane after him but in this skill nothing behind him These two as writeth Iosephus how truelie I cannot tell when by their diligent perusing of heauen they foresaw the double destructiō of the world the one by drowning the other by burning erected two pillers the one of bricke the other of stone in which both of them graued their inuentions that if the bricke one should happen to be defaced with the water the stone piller as suruiuer might remaine to shew men what inscriptions it bare This stone piller in Iosephus his time was to be seen in Syria The same Iosephus but in another place sheweth how Abraham hauing heard of the great fertilitie of Egypt went thither and imparted to them both these artes to wit Arithmetike and Astronomie Againe when S. Luke in those admirable actes of the Apostles writeth that Moses was so furnished with those Egyptian artes is he deceiued himselfe or would he deceiue others What shuld we say of Romulus who is reported to haue built Rome by starcraft the Moone being in Libra of Ptolemie who for his wit paines and learning was so rare and excellent that he seemed to be out of the common reach of men of Alphonsus King of Spaine who for his skill was called by the name of Astrologus And to come nearer home for me thinks our owne and later things are much more pleasant then those ancient forren examples what shall we say of Ethelstanus who in our chronicles is recorded to haue compiled in this art a fine and learned worke Of King Henrie the seuenth of that name whether for wisdome or wealth more to be admired it is hard to say but how oft by some is he reported to haue by the constitution of heauen and starres to haue directed his Christmasse keeping Of his sonne Henrie the eight a son worthy such a father who if he be compared with other Kings not of England onely but of all Europe doth so far passe them all for princely vertues as the tallest tree doth the lowest shrub for height Neither are we here to hearken to Osorius a man in his own conceit very learned in the iudgement of others not vnlearned he in the fift booke of the Education and training of princes doth in word and shew allowe his prince some little smatch in Astronomy but in deed and effect disallowed it For he would not haue his prince to spend much time in this studie For by a certaine abundante caution he is affraid least while he maketh too long abode and stay in euery of these arts he should too much alienate seuer his soul frō the body become after a sort sencelesse and so vnfit for gouernment But Alexander the great whom al princes may wel and safely follow and so are wont ought was not only skilfull in this science but had attained not to a sophisticall pratling shew of artes but to that perfection which the Greekes in one word are wont to call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filthie Epicure in describing the nature of God Osorius in his Education seeme to haue taken the like course For Epicure when for his credit sake and to avoid slaunder he had admitted certaine thorowelight perflable gods hauing an appearance of a body with out all solide substance in the end confesseth that his God hath not a very body but as it were a bodie nor any true blood but as it wer blood In like sort Osorius wil haue his prince but a smatterer in al things not an Astronomer but as it were an Astronomer not a Musitian but as it were a Musitian not a Logitian but as it were a logitiā in a word not learned but as it were learned But to dismisse Osorius with good tearmes much good do it him with his Kings of his owne breed In the meane time let vs hold vs to those old ones Alexāder Romulus Ptolemy Alphōsus Ethelstanus the rest Wherfore to cōclude this part of dignitie me thinke I haue alreadie sufficiently shewed you not only the countrie of Astronomie but her kind and nurserie and tracts of her auncestours Wherefore it wil be good to stay here and not proceed farther that we may come sooner to the rest It is a generall receiued opinion wherewith all men are possessed that Astronomie is of great name great renowne great shew but of no benefit no commoditie as hauing no certaine end whereat to aime or whither to refer it selfe To firret this lewd opinion out of the enimies of good arts to plucke vp by the roote all the sprigs of this madnesse I will declare so much as at this present commeth to my mind concerning the benefit which issueth from Astronomie While I am in this cogitation