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M* HEPHAISTIOM*
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* OF THEBES
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*
M* Apotelesmatics M*
M*
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Book II
M* e
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Translated & Annotated by
Robert H. Schmidt *
~

**
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Project Hindsight
Greek Track
Volume XV
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~ 1*1*1 1*1*1~ 8
 This booklet is a facsimile reprint of one volume from
PROJECT HINDSIGHT’S GREEK TRACK, Robert Schmidt’s
early provisional translations of various Hellenistic
astrological texts done from 1993 through 2000.
We say provisional because it was a cardinal principle of
PROJECT HINDSIGHT from its outset that no one in the world
– however learned in the Greek language – was in a position
to do a final translation of any single item from this large
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Hence, this translation was not published as a final edition,
but only as provisional; this word was stressed and it was
hoped that the homemade character of the original book,
duplicated in this reprint, would serve to reinforce the idea
of the “temporary” character of the translation inside.
But now the situation is different. After spending the past
seventeen years studying the entire surviving corpus of
Hellenistic astrological writings, Robert Schmidt is now
ready to publish his final translations of all the selections
first presented in this and other GREEK TRACK volumes.
Accompanied by extensive notes and commentary, these
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RECORD OF THE EARLY SAGES * (acronym TARES). It will
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You’ll have to visit our website to see how beautiful our
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 REPRINTS* of the The Astrological Record of the Early Sages
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VOL. I. Paulus Alexandrinus: Introduction to Astrology.
We used this title once before for VOLUME X of our original
VOL. II A. Anonymous of 379: On the Bright Fixed Stars. GREEK TRACK, which contains fragments from many ancient
authors; now we have chosen it again for a much larger role as
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VOL.VI. Vettius Valens: Anthology, Book I. When complete, TARES will contain not only the entirety of
the original GREEK TRACK in Robert Schmidt’s revised trans-
VOL.V. Ptolemy: Tetrabiblos, Book I.
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VOL.VI. Hephaestio of Thebes: Compendium, Book I. Hellenistic astrological treatises and fragments, accompanied
by Schmidt’s extensive notes and commentary.
VOL.VII. Vettius Valens: Anthology, Book II.

VOL.VIII. Vettius Valens: Anthology, Book III.

VOL. IX. Teachings on Transits.

VOL. X. The Astrological Record of the Early Sages in Greek.

VOL. XI. Vettius Valens: Anthology, Book IV.

~TARES~
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VOL. XIII. Vettius Valens: Anthology, Books V & VI.

VOL. XIV. Ptolemy: Tetrabiblos, Book IV.

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HEPHAISTIO OF THEBES

Apotesmatics
Book II
Translated & Annotated by
Robert H. Schmidt

Project Hindsight
Greek Track
Volume XV

The Golden Hind Press

Project Hindsight is funded entirely by
the astrological community through
subscriptions and donations.

@ Copyright 1998 by
Robert H. Schmidt

Published by
The Golden Hind Press
532 Washington Street
Cumberland MD 21502
 Table of Contents

T ranslator's Preface ................... . ..... .. •. . . . v

Book II of Hephaistio's Apotelesmatics

Prooemium ..................... .

I. Concerning Conception and Birth

2. Concerning the Degree Marking the Hour ......... . 8

3. Concerning the Dividing Up and Ordering of Natal Theory

...... . .. . .............................. . \4

4. Concern ing Parents ......................... . .... 16

5. On the Predeceasing of the Parents . ......... ........ 18

6. Concerning Siblings. . . . . . . . . . .. . ........ ... .. ... 18

7. Concerning Males and Females . . ... ..... . .... . . 20

8. Concerning Twins ..... ....... . . .. ... ......... 20

9. Concerning Monsters . ...... .. .... 20

10. Conce rning Those Who Go Unnourished .......... .. 20

11. Concern ing the Length of Life

According to the Truth and Ptolemy .... . .... 28

12. Concerning Bodily Form and Mixture . . . ...... ..... 46

13. Co ncerning Bodily Injuries an d Ailments ....... .... .. 47

14. Concerning the Lot of Injury ... .. .. . ...... ....... . 51

15. Concern ing Qua lity of Soul . .... 52

16. Conccrn ing Ail ments of the Soul .52

'"
17. Concerning Fortune Pertaining to Acquisition ......... 53

18. Concerning Fortune Pertaining to Rank .. .. ..... .... 53

19. Concerning the Quality of Action ....... .. .... ..... 66

20. Concerning Slaves .......................... .... 68

21. Conce rning Marriage and Sexual Union ..... . ....... 68

22. Concerning Children ..................... .. ..... 70

23. Concerning Friends and Enemies ....... ... .... .. ... ... 71

24. Concerning Travel Abroad ............. ... .. ..... 73

25. Concerning the Quality of Death ............ . ..... 75

26. Concerning the Division of the Times ............... 76

27. Concerning the Year .................. ..... ..... 80

28. Concerning the Month and Day ................... 82

29. Divisio ns of 10 years and 9 months ......... . . . ..... 83

30. Concerning the Time-Lordship of Kronos .... . • ...... 85

31. Conce rning the Time-Lordship of Zeus ....... .. ..... 88

32. Concerning the Time-Lordship of Ares .. .... .• .. .... 9 1

33. Concerning the Time-Lordship of the Sun ... .. ....... 94

34. Concerning the Time-Lordship of Aphrodite .......... 97

35. Concerning the Time-Lordship of Hermes ...... .... 100

36. Concerning the Time-Lordship of the Moon ......... 102

IV
 Translator's Preface

The second book o f the Apotelesmatics presents Hephaistio's

treatment of astrological "topics,~ or special subject areas in the
native's life. It is organized along the lines of Bk III & IV of
Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos and in fact quotes extensively from that work .
In addition, it quotes (often in verse) o r summarizes the opinions
of Dorotheus and other authors on these various topics; much of
this material is found in no othcr Hellen ist ic source.
Let me give you a somewhat imprcssion ist ic account of the
highlights of this book. Chapte rs 2 & 3 contain an extensive
summary of Hellenistic procedures fo r chart rect ification and the
study of the conception cha rt. This is thc first time we have seen
several of these methods in the Hellenist ic writings. A number o f
them do not seem to have been transmitted to the Med ieval
Arabian ast rologers, and were thus eHcct ively lost until now. The
elaborate Egyptian proce-dures for determining the hour and day of
conception and relating the conception cha rt to the natal chart
(discussed in chapter 1) are unparalleled in their scope and
complexity. Unfortun ately, the rationale behind these highly
systematic methods is unclear. It will take a good deal of work on
the part of a large number of astrologers to untangle the reasoning
in this chapter, let alone to put these methods to the test.
Chapter 11 contains Hephaistio's commentary on Ptolemy's
nOlOriously difficult treatment of length of life. Hephaist io draws
on two earlier commentators: Pancharios, who evidently wrote the
first commentary o n the Tetrabibfos, and Porphyry, both of whose
commentaries are lost. In this chapter we see astrological doctrine
being created (in my opinion) before our very eyes. At the
beginning of this chapter is an expositio n o f the system of ho use
division that Ptolemy uses for this topic (and which may perhaps be
inte nded only for this purpose). Ptolemy prese nts what appears to
be a st raightforward equal house system beginning five degrees
above the Ascendant , altho ugh there arc a number of maddening
obscurit ies in the Greek text. Pancharios evidently believed that
Ptolemy had a diffe rent system of house division in mind, which he
was merely hinting at in this passage, and he proceeds to uncover
a system that we might call the modified "Alchabitius" system . We
begin to wonder how much later astrological doctrine is likewise due
to such ('Tcative interpretations.
In chapler 18 o n ra nk and honor, Hepha istio's includes as

v
examples three charts from a collection assembled by the astrologer
Antigonus of Nicaea. The first of these, evidently the chart of the
emperor Hadrian, is the most elaborate and detailed example of a
chart reading in the Hellenistic manner that survives, and it covers
numerous topics in the native's life. I think the reader will be
surprised (and intrigued) by the factors that the ancient astrologer
considered to be relevant and important, and no less so by his
delineations of them.
Chapters 19 through 26 offer Hephaistio's account of the
time-lord method later called decennials. His discussion is accom-
panied by fairly elaborate delineations of planet pairs. It will be
interesting to compare these delineations with those accompanying
Valens' profection method in Bk IV of the Anthology, to detennine
whether time· lord delineations are in any way unique to the time-
lord systems.
There is also a great deal of miscellaneous astrological lore
preserved in this book and nowhere else. For example, there is a
passing remark that concerns when to expect the effects from a
cazimi conjunction, but I am not going to tell you where it is!
As far as historical seholarship is concerned, Bk II is particularly
valuable for two reasons. First of all, from Hephaistio's comments
we can often infer whether Ptolemy'Streatment of a given topic was
perfectly faithful to the earlier tradition, traditional but adjusted to
accommodate Ptolemy's own astrological perspective, or original
with Ptolemy himself. For example, Hephaistio explicitly asserts
that Ptolemy'S treatment of the topic of children (chapter 22) was
derived directly from Petosiris. while it is clear that his treatment of
profession (chapter 19) is based on the tradition but modified. On
the other hand, Hephaistio makes the explicit assertion that the
treatment of quality of soul (chapter 15) was unique to Ptolemy.
Secondly, we have a chance to compare the Arabic version of
Dorotheus as translated by Pingree (the Arabic version being it self
a translation of an earlier Persian translation of the Greek) with the
frequent quotations and summaries of Dorotheus by Hephaistio,
who is much closer to the source. Through this comparison a fair
amount can be inferred regarding the accuracy and completeness of
the Arabic version. There are, in fact, several Dorothean passages
in Hcphaistio that cannot be correlated to any sections of the
Arabic version . These refer to entire topics evidently treated by
Dorotheus but not represented in the Arabic text. A case in point
is found in chapter 19, dealing with the topic of profession. where

VI
Hcphaist io summarizes Dorotheus' detailed instructions Co r dete r-
mining the planet having rulcrship over the type of work the native
will do. But there are several other examples, which I have not ed
in my annotations.
Again, there is evidence of interpolatio n in the Arabic text.
One very important instance occurs in chapter 26 where Hephaistio
is discussing Dorotheus' procedure of establishing time-lords by
direction . There the four traditional dignities domicile , exaltation,
trigon, and bound are mentioned ; in the corresponding passage in
the Arab ic version, the decanate is added to this list. I had long
thought that it may have been on Do ro theus' authority that the
Arabian astrologers added the decanate as a fifth dignity, since it is
clearly abse nt in Ptolemy, but now it seems more likely that it was
tota lly a Medieval innovation. Other such differences from the
Arabic text arc pointed o ut in the annotat ions.
On the other hand, Hephaistio's sum maries arc often so brief
that they give no hint of the detail to be found in the Arabic
version. We will have a bett er opport unity to compare the accuracy
of the Arabic version when we come to Bk III of Hephaistio's
Apotefesmalics, which is concerned wit h katarchic astrology (the
collective Greek terms for horary, electional , and event-o riented
astrology). This book contains numerous and lengthy verse
quotations from Dorotheus' didactic poem.

About the Translation

Due to the length of Bk II , I have omitted a number of the direct

quotat ions from the Telrabibfos when Hepha istio's text is largely
the same as Ptolemy's, indicating in square brackets the extent to
which Hephaistio paraphrases or abridges Ptolemy, as well as any
significant differences as to astrological content . The omitted
pa ssages can be found in my translations o f Bk III & IV of the
Tetrabibfos and arc cross-referenced accordingly. I have reta ined
any Ptolemaic quotations that arc integral to Hephaistio's own
presentation (such as the outline of topics in chapter 3), or
integrated into his own commentaries (as in chapters 10 and II ).
In a few cases I have retained the Ptolcmaic quotations simply as
examples of quota tion style . All the remaining text of Bk II is
translated and presented here.
With regard to my own annotat ions in the two long and difficult
chapters JO & 11 , where Hcphaistio presents a paragraph by

..
VII
paragraph (or in some cases line by line) commentary on the
Ptolemaic text, I have not repea ted the extensive annotations I
made on Ptolemy's exposition in my earlier translations of those
chapters, thinking that it would be more interesting and more
instructive here to bring into relief those passages that Hephaislio
considered to be in need of commentary.

Robert H. Schmidt
Cumberland Maryland
July 1998

VlIl
 Book II of Hephaistio's Apotelesmatics

Prooemium

With the primary and universal matters having been set out by US,1
o At hanasius, most excellent of fr iends, next it would fitting to
subjoin the genethliological pa rt [of astrology] for those who
cultivate it, in accordance with each type, and especially with a view
to proof and conciseness, as much as is possible ; fo r, the manifold
character of the theory here necessitates to a certain extent using
severa l [approachesJ. And in a truth-loving fash ion we set out word
for word the things thus discovered by the ancients or rendered into
verse as well, while for our part we will also try to improve what bas
come down to us with conlinuous testing and scrutiny o f a large
number of nativities. And besides, some industrious lover of
learn ing, starting from the ancient compositions and from these
writings, may augment the art and may discover a great many truths
in relation to the foreknowledge of events for humankind. And
next we will begin in an orderly manner, as follows .

I. Concerning Conception and Birth

Now, t hey say that human conception comes about in the sq uare on
the left of the Sun at birth in the case of births in the tenth month
(for when the Sun was there, the conception occurred), but in the
case of births in the seventh month , in the diameter. And they say
that of these very tenth-month births, those of the longest birth are
brought to term after 288 days and 8 hours, those of the
intermediate birth after 273 days and 8 hours, and those of the least
birth after 258 days and 8 hours; while of the seventh-month births,
those of the greatest birth are aft er 206 days and 8 hours, those of
the least birth aft er 176 days and 8 ho urs, and those o f the
intennediate birth after 191 days and 8 hours.
The ancient Egypt ians around Petosiris are strong in their
assertion that where the Moon chances to be at the birth , that
Iz6idion i will mark the hour for the conception; and whe re the
Moon chances to be ror the conception, this [z6idionJ or the one

I In 13k I of the APOldtl·" Wlicl.

diametrical to this will mark the hour at the birth.
Some take it in the following manner, which does not seem very
satisfactory to us. Multiply, they say, the pre-ascending degrees of
the z6idion marking the hour at birth by the multitude of ho urs and
project the resultant degrees from the Horoskopos at thirty ]per
zoidion ), and wherever the number should fall out, that [z6idion I will
mark the hour of the sowing of the seed. l
In the case of the Moon, others have different things to say.
Anliochus the Athenian says thaI the following method lays claim
to some truth . Consider, he says, with what [degree] of the Moon
someone was born, and add lScr to this number, and keep
subtracting from the natal month at 29 [days per mo nth) . And for
the day at which the number should leave off, examine where the
Moon was then; for let the widion over which it is passing be
regarded as also the very one fo r the conception,· since it has the
transit of the Moon.s And Ihis method itself is not satisfactory in

2 This procedure seems clear except for one point. We fiBt determine
the number of whole degrees of the Ascendant sign preceding the
Ascendant degree in the order of signs; thus, if the Ascendant is 10
degrees, 20 minutes of Aries (or in the fourth degree according to the
Greek manner of counting), there are 10 whole degrees of Aries preceding
the Ascendant. We then multiply this mlmber of degrees by the num ber
o f hOUB that have elapsed on the day of binh as o f the birth time itself, but
here is where the problem arises. How do we reckon the hours? My guess
is that we should use the Greek system of seasonal hours (the system the
Helle nistic astrologers used for planetary hours), where for a given dale of
tbe year the interval of daylight is divided into 12 equal "h OUB,~ and
likewise with the interval of nighttime. (In this system a diurnal "hour" is
unequal in length to a nocturnal ~hour" except at the equinoxes.) Thus if
someone were born in the 9th diurnal hour, we would multiply the 10
degrees by 9, giving us 90 degrees. Then, we project this number from the
Ascendant degree; in our example, the procedure would take us into
Cancer, and we would declare Cancer to be the Ascendant o f the
conception.
The same proced ure is described in almost the same words by Porphyry
in chapter 38 of his Introduction (CCAG 5, 4).
) Several of the Hephaistio manuscripts do not have rp here, but pr,
which is nOI the propcrway of writing a number and may indicate a written
abbreviation of some son instead of a numeral.
.. That is, the Ascendan t sign of the conception.
S Apparently the same procedure (again attributed to Antiochus) is

2
all cases, but we have set it out for the sake of practice and for the
purpose of finding the same agreement from many [methods].
Nevertheless, Antigonus does not seem to have thoroughly
examined the accuracy of these methods, for which reason he rejects
(them] altogether.
Of the methods set fo rth by way of preface, that of the ancient
Egyptians is more sa tisfactory than the others; wherefore, consider
th is topic skillfully after the fash ion of the Egyptians, thusly. For
since (as (theyl said) the point' marking the hour at the birth was
found in continuous trials to possess the Moon at the co nception,
as also those observing the time of conception find the same degree
of the Moon at that time to be marking the hour at the nat ivity, for
this reason it is necessary to examine the Horoskopos first, either
from the cano ns, or else methodically by mea ns of the prenatal
syzygy of the childbirth, thusly.
In the case of a [prenatal] conjunction, count from the Sun up
to the degree of the Moon, and taking a twelfth of the resultant
degrees, subtract backwards from the solar degree; and that degree
which it comes down to will be nearly the degree of the prenatal
conjunct ion . And if the prenatal syzygy were a whole moon, count
in a similar fashion fro m the degree diametrical to the Sun up to
the Moon, and again taking a twelfth , subtract 7 from the degrees of
the Sun; and that degree at which it leaves of[ will be close to the
degree of the prenatal whole moon.'

described in Porphyry's Imrod/lelion (CCAG 5, 4), although it raises some

proble ms.
"Consider, he says, with what degree of Ihe Moon someone was born, and
add 5 to Ihis number, and keep subtracting from the natal month at 29
[days per monthl, and fo r the [da y] where the number leaves off, that was
the (day] of the conception; then, after consulting the canon, sec in what
z"idion the Moon was then .~
This lexi has '5' where Hephaistio has 180 (although see note 1 above);
anot her Porphyry manuscript ellen has '10'. Furthermore, this procedure
purports to be calculating the lIery day of conception, alt hough it is not
clear how this could possibly be the case given thc algorithm as it stands.
6 simeiofl.
7 kouphizo. Literally, '10 lighten'.
I TIns rough but handy rule of thumb is based on Ihe fael that the
Moon I"allcls about 13 degrees pe r day, while the Sun travels aboul I

3
 With the degree of the prenatal ~gy known, the day on which
it occurred will be clear from the multitude of degrees between the
syzygy and the natal Sun when they are subtracted backwards from
the natal day, with each degree reckoned at one day. And with
these things known in this manner, the Horos/ropos will be approxi-
mately clear. For reckon the degrees between the prenatal S'fVj&Y
and the natal Sun in o rder from the ziiidion in which the Sun is, one
degree for each zoidion, and that (place] at which it leaves off will
be the H6roslwpos.' It will be made precise in a methodical manner
by means of the lunar degree of the birthday.
And one must know that whenever the Moon should be found
upon the Horos/wpos at childbirth, they say that the new-born babe
is of an intermediate birth, that is, of 273 days, 8 hours; but if the
Moon should be found in the zoiditl fo llowing the Horos/ropos. the
babe will be beyond the intermediate birth; and if the Moon should
be found in the widitl preceding the Horoskopos, then it will be of
fewe r days than the intermediate birth. If then the Moon sho uld be
found in the next w idia [rom the Horos/ropos, count [rom the
degree of the Horoskopos to the Moon and d ivide the resultant
degrees [by] the mean daily oourse of the Moon, which is 13
degrees, 10 minutes; and divide the hours left over in addit io n to
the days [by] the Moon 's hourly oourse, which is 33 minutes. Add
the resultant days and hours to the 273 days, 8 hours of the
intermediate birth, and subtract the resultant quantity backwards
from the birthday, and you will find the day of concept ion. But if
the Moon should be found in the zoU/ia pre-ascending the hour 1o at
childbirth, do it the opposite way. Count from the Moon to the
degree of the Horoskopos and likewise divide the resultant degrees

degree per day. For example, one day after the prenatal conjunction the
Sun has advanced 1 degree and the Moon 13, and 12 degrees is the
difference. One-twelfth of these is 1 degree, whK:h if we subtract it from
the posit ion ofthe Sun, we get right back to the place of oonjunction. Two
days after the conjunction, the Sun has advanced about 2 degrees and the
Moon 26, the difference being 24; one-tv.telfth of these is 2 degrees, which
is again how much the Sun has advance since conjunction. And so o n.
9 There may be something wrong with the text here, for as il stands
everyone born on the same day would have the same ascendent in their
natal charts. However, the very same algorithm is repeated in the next
chapter (just before the Anubio quotation).
10 /1('J ro .

4
(byl the mean daily and hourly cou rse o f the Moon. And subtract
the resultant days and hours from the 273 days, 8 hours o f the
intermediate birth, and sublract the remainder from the birthday;
and you will roughly find the day and ho ur of conception.
For the purpose of finding this out more precisely, count the
Moon and the Sun in accordance with the day and hour declared 11
for the conception. And if you should find the natal Moon in the
zoidia following the Sun of Ihe conception, say that the conception
occurred during the day; but if you should find the natal Moon in
the z6idia pre-ascending the Sun of the conception, conside r the
conception to have occurred at night. Accordingly, if the concep-
tion was found to be during the day, count from the Sun o f the
conception up to the natal Moon (the degrees in between); and
having learned in what kind of degrees they ascend according to the
appropriate zone,n divide by the hourly timcs U placed next l 4 to the
sola r degree of that day or that in which the conception fell, and as
many hours or portions of an hour you should find , say this to be
the exact hour of conception. And coun t the Moon cxactly for that
hOUf, and the degree upon which it is, is the exact degree of the
nativity. And it is clear that th e degree marking the hour in the
H 6roskopos of the conception will be the sa me as Ihe degree of the
natal Moon, as we have said before. If then the degree of the
Moon of the conception from the aforesaid [procedures] should be
fo und to be in accord with the degree of the H6roskopos, we say
tha t the H orosknpos of the nativity is given exactly. But if the
degrees sho uld be different, and the Moon of the concept ion sho uld

II anaphaintJ.
12 Thai is, ta ke the difference of the ascensional times (in degrees) of
the Sun of conception and the natal Moon.
13 Hourly ti mes refer to the Greek system of seasonal hours, which are
obtained by dividing the period o f day or night by twelve. The length of a
given seasonal hour is dependent on the geographical latitude and day of
the year. These hourly times are measu red by degrees on the equalo r. A
place on the equator, whe re night and day are equal, always has a seasonal
hour of 15 degrees (360 di vided by 24). The seasonal hours of a place on
any olher latitude will be more or less than 15 degrees (except at the
equinox). In Ptolemy's Almagtsl the seasonal hours arc tabulated for
va rious latitudes depending on the position of the Sun in the zodiac (thai
is. dependi ng on the day of the yea r).
U In the table of asce nsions.

5
be found to have fewer degrees than the H6roslropos found for the
given hour, it is clear that you subtract the d ifference from the
/-Ioroslropos, while if it should be found to have more degrees, you
add, since it is always requisite to consider that the degree marking
the hour is the same as the Moon of conception . And if the
conception should be found in the night , make it from the natal
Moon up to the Sun of conception and do the same things as said
before .
Of what sort are births in the seventh month and those in the
eighth month may be known as follows. For, after having examined
the conception day for every nativity as for births in the ninth
month in the manner we have shown above, and the conjunction
preceding the same day of conception, and after taking the degrees
in between with a third part of [these degrees), we project [them)
from the conjunction preceding the conception. And if the number
of degrees should fall beyond the day of the conjunction that occurs
after the conception, we say that the infant is in the seventh month.
if the number should be found to be Jess, in the ninth month.
Again, knowing the z6idion that marks the hour and the degree
for the hour of the conjunction preceding of the conception. just as
we learned for the ninth month [pregnancy). we frame a right
angled triangle from this widion (dearly. the o ne marking the
hour), having the first, subtcnding side (be] of 150 degrees from the
Ascendant in the preceding direction, after which the upturned
side u is of 120 degrees. and the remaining side consists of the
remaining 90 degrees of the circle, for the filling up of the 360
dcgrees of the zodiac. !6 Again, after these [matters I we will likewise

tS hupnios.
16 The right triangle being constructed hcre may appear at first to be
a triangle inscribed in the zodiacal circle. Yet, this cannot possibly be the
case because the triangle formed by marking off an arc of l50 degrees from
the Ascendant degree backwards in zodiacal order, and likewise ma rking o ff
an arc of 120 degrees from the Ascendant forward in zodiacal o rder, and
connecting the extremities o f these arcs to the Ascendant degree itself, is
not a right triangle. (All right triangles inscribed in a circle have a dia-
mete r as the hypotenuse, which subtends an arc o f lBOdegrees.) However,
it is true that the three arcs of 90, 120, and ISO degrees (which arc
proportional to 3, 4, 5 respectively) have themselves a relationshi p
analogous to a right triangle. because if 5 is made the long side o r a
triangle, 4 the side intennediate in length, and 3 the short side, Ihis tria ngle

6
investigate the degree marking the hour for the prenatal conjunct ion
of the birthday, on what side of the three it fall s; if it fall s on the
subtending side, we say that the birth is of nine months; if it fall s on
the lupturned] side, we say that it is of seven months; but if it falls
on the uprigh t side, we will suspect that what has bee n born is an
irra tional animal or something of an unusual nature or one who is
short -lived.
They also consider the degrees of the two conjunctions of the
birthday and the conception; and if they should find t he one
conjunction upon the subtending side of the said triangle, while the
other is upon the upturned side, they say that the birth is of nine
months; and if the o ne is upon the upturned side, while the other
is upon the right side, one of seven months; but if one is upon the
subtending side, while the other is upon the upright side, it signifi es
some irra tio nal animal or something of an unusual nature or one
short-lived.
For an illustratio n, let someone 17 have been born in the 97th
year from the reign of Diocietian, in the 30th of Athyr!8 at the 6th
hour in the third zone, at which hour we find the Sun in
approxima tely the 4t h degree of Sagittarius, the Moon in the 47th
minute of Taurus, the H6roskopos in the 25 th degree of Aquarius.
Since then the Moon is found in the z6idia followi ng the
H6roskopos, it is requisite to count from the Horoskopos up to the
degree o f the Moon, and we found 65 degrees, 47 minutes; applying
these to the daily motion of the Moon (tha t is, 13 degrees) we have
fo und 5 days, and likewise applying the left-over 47 minutes to the
mean daily motion of the Moon, we found approximately 1% hour.
We therefore added the 5 days and I Va hour to the 273% days of
the first birth and they became 278 days and 9V3 hours, and with
these subtracted by us backwards from the birth day and hour, the
30th of Alh}'T at the 6th hour, it first came to the 26th to the 27th
of Mecheir, at the 8th nocturnal hour. With the fourth part of the

will be a right triangle (since 32 + 41 = 52). Such triple ts of numbers ....'Cre

called fl Pythagorea n right triangles." Compare the last two books of the
A rililmt tic of Diophan tus of Alexandria.
17 If we compa re th is data with the data In the exam ple in the next
chapter, il is clea r that this is He ph ais uo's own chart .
18 TIlis is the th Ird month !O the Alexandnan calendar (sta rting 28
Octobe r, Julia n da te).

7
intercalated day and night, 6 hours,19 there is found the second hour
in the 26th to the 27th day of Mechi~ in the 96th year [of
Diodetian]. at which hour we have found the Sun in the ...21 degree
of Pisces, the Moon in the ....12 degree of Aquarius.
With the time of conception known either by method or by
obsetvation, one must make use of it for the dose investigation of
the properties of body and soul, from the figure of the stars at that
time and from the transmission of the environing [atmosphere].
Also, one must pay attention to the birth itself as the greatest
(inception] and capable of signifying the same things, and as lacking
with respect to the inception of the conception only in this-that the
circumstances prior to birth, which concern the infant when still
imperfect in the womb, can be foreknown through that beginning,
but with the birth can be foreknown the circumstances of the man
already matured; whence, the conception might reasonably be called
the genesis of the human seed, and the latter the genesis of a man.
For, very many [characteristics] additionally accrue to him at that
time, which were added when he was in the womb. Therefore, by
examining the beginning at birth, we make conjectures more
accurately from it of all the human events that happen, and here
through the same study also of the properties that happen at the
time of conception.21

2. Concerning tbe Degree Marking the Hour

The truth-loving Ptolemy set out a certain method for the degree
marking the hour, which we also find to be satisfactory in nearly all
cases. He says that, since an impasse often arises concerning what
is the first and most authoritative part (that is, the part of the hour
at the time of birth), because, on the whole only observation at the
very time of birth by scientific observers with hour-marking

19 This is the 'I. day left over from a 365 day year.
20 This is the sixth month in the Alexandrian calendar (starting 26
January, Julian date).
2] Lacuna in text.
Z2 Lacuna in text.
2J This last paragraph assembles a few scattered sentences and
thoughts from Bk 111, Chapter 2 of the Tetrobiblos.

8
astrolabes is able to submit the minute of the hour; whereas nea rly
all o ther hour-marking [devices] to which most of the more careful
[astrologers) pay att ention are frequently capable of being utt erly
deceived about the truth , the solar [deviccs ] by occasional disto r-
tions of the positions and gnomons, and the water clocks by the
cessations and irregularities of the flow of water by different ea uscs
and through chance: for this reason , it would bc necessary for it to
be explained beforehand, with a natural and consiste nt account , how
one might find the degree of the zodiac that ought to rise, with the
degree marking the hour presupposed as ncar to a given hour,
through the method of ascensions.
It is necessary, then, to take the prenatal syzygy nearest the
birth, whether it should be a conjunction o r a whole moon; and
when we have examined precisely the degree (if it is a conjunction
clearly the degree of both the lights, if a who le moon the degree of
the light that is above the earth at the time of birth), it is necessary
to sec those stars that have a rulership relatio n to it, with the
manner o f rulership in general being con templated in these five
[waysl: by trigon and by domicile and by exaltation and by bound
and by phase or configuration; that is, whenever the place in
question has one or most or even all of these in relat ion to the star
that is about to rule. If then we should find one of the stars that is
sit uated in a familiar manner in relation to all or most of these,
whatever degree this star exactly occupies in the z6idiolZ it is
transit ing at the time o f birth, we will say that just so many degrees
mark the hour in the z6idion that is foun d by the method of
ascensions fo r the given hour; for in this manner, from these
degrees when they are made exact, the finer parts 24 o f the degree
marking the hour are also found to be equal in number to the
position of the star. But if we should find two or more co-ruling
stars, we will make usc of the one whose quantity of degrees
chances to be nearer to the degree roughly marking the hour (that
is, we will make use of the exact quantity of degrees), and we will
say that the z6idion marking the hour, marks the hour at a degree
of thiswidion equal in number. Nevertheless, if the distancc o f the
degrees of the rulership to the degree of the rough H 6roskopos
should be greate r than [its distance) to the like Midheaven, making
usc of this same number which is rcJat ed to the culminating degree,

H 'ilia! IS , the minutes of the degree.

9
we will thereby also place separately the remaining pivots.2.S
These [treatments] concerning the degree marking the hour
Ptolemy sets out in a skillful and natural manner. But let there also
be set out, for the sake of elaboration, the treatments published
by others on the finding of the H()roslcopos in a rough manne r, if
it is not possible to make the very degree precise in the manner of
the divine Ptolemy. One must, then, make use of the method set
out beforehand in the account of the conception. which finds the
Horoskopos in an approximate manner. For by projecting the
degrees between the prenatal syz:yp;j and the natal Sun from the
Sun, giving one degree for each w idion, the z()idion that it comes
down to will be roughly the H6rrukopos .
And Anubio says the following in his elegiac verses:

The other stars aside, you may learn the ho ur-divider

Of the hour by examining the Moon and G reat Helios.
For birth by day contrive from Helios
Finding the houses' master where sta nds the god,
Thence with star (groups] counted in a row
Up to the star set up over Selene,
Project this number entire from the Sun;
Where it sho uld stop, there 100 the Hour· Divider.
One must subtract the number of a prior Selene
If you examine at a nocturnal ho ur of a theme.
If Helios should have but few degrees of the stars,
Inspect both squares and diameters of the places.

Examine, he says, the ruler of the domicile in which the Sun is, in
the case of diurnal nativities, and count w idia from it up to the
ruler of the Moon, and project the quantity of z6idia from the
domicile in which the Sun is, and at the z6idion where this quantity
should fall out, there will be the H()fQskopos. And in the case of a
nocturnal nativity, it is requisite to begin from the Moon with th e
same method, and to project likewise from her or from the Sun the
quantity of intermediate w idia .7io And if the Sun, he says, chances

25 This text in this paragraph is substantially the same as that of

Pto lemy's Bk III, chapter 3, with a few am plifications, and a fewabridg-
me nts near the end.
26 The re is a certain vagueness in the verse instructions for a nocturnal

10
to be in the beginning of the z6idia, it is requisite to examine the
squares and diamcters of the quan tity being projected, should the
H6roskopos not be upon one of them. Fo r us, the method itself is
in agreemcnt in nearly all cases.
We must also set out another best method, which is also in
agreement. It is requisite to be given beforehand whether the birth
was at night or in the day, and with this given, investigate the
degree of the Sun , and always adding to it 21/2 degrees when inves-
tigating from ThOthZ7 10 Mechir,2S but again always subtract 2112
degrees fro m PhamenOth5 to Mesori.lO And having taken twelve
limes the resulting quantity of degrees of the Sun, project [t hem I
from the degree of the Sun, and the zoidion on whieh it falls out
will either mark the hour, or else its trigon will, as the procedure
confi nes Ithe result) to two w idia signifying the Horoskopos; for , the
other zoidion of the trigon will be found under the earth .
There will be an illustration of th is. Jl l was born on the 30th of
A t h ~! during the day, with the Sun occupying approximately 4
degrees of Sagittarius; I added 21/:;0 to the 4 degrees, and after
multiplying the 6V:;o degrees twelve times, I project from the degree
of the Sun, and it fa lls on the final part of Aquarius. Then either
Aquarius or Gemini-or Libra were ma rking the hour. However, it
impossible for Libra to mark the hour since it is under the earth;'»
similarly also for Gemini since the triangular side falls on the final
part of it and is likewise under the earth; (or, the Sun chances to be

nativity, perhaps accounting for Hephaistio's uncena inty as 10 whether the

num ber should be projected from the Sun or the Moon herself.
27 The firs t month of the AJexandrian calendar (starting 29 August,
Julian date).
28 The sixth month of the Alexa ndrian calendar (starting 26 January,
Julian date),
29 The seventh month of the Alexandrian calendar (starting 25
February, Julian date),
JO The twelfth month of the Alexandrian calendar (starting 25 July,
Julian date),
Jt Th is is Hephaistio's own birth da ta. Compa re with the example in
the previo us cha pter.
)2 Th is is the third month of the Alexandrian calendar (staning 28
October, Julian date).
JJ Smce it has been posited tha t this is a d iurnal nativity.

11
at the beginning of Sagillarius, and from it up to the beginning of
Gemini is likewise the hemisphere above the earth by day. One
must , then, have confidence that the H 6rosiwpos falls only in
Aquarius. But if ever two w idia of the trigon should be above the
eart h, which we suspect to be the H6rosiwpos, we indeed make a
conjecture as to which kind of z6idion is more like the fonn of the
man, and we make our declaration in relation to this one.
Those born when Aries is marking the hour are bony, hairy,
moderate rather than good-sized, and the fina l portions of this
zoitiion cause danger, and the natives have their face bent
downwards, and they are cowardly and dancers and foul-mouthed.
Those born when Taurus is marking the hour are snub-nosed and
bull-eyed, somewhat dark, with a broad forehead and broad nose,
with their hair turned up, and at times they are bald and have small
ears, hypocrites, those who pretend to be good, sometimes having
thick lips and large nostrils and th ick eyebrows, and the last part of
this w idion gives birth to those who are lewd. Those born when
Gem ini is marking the hour are symmetrical in body, long of nose,
at times they are wooly-haired and have large ears and are fleshy in
the shoulders. Cancer makes the natives bony, round-faced, at
times dark depending on the (geographical) zone, bald in the
forehead, those who have many teeth, those who arc at times
disproportionate in their height (for the lower parts will be larger
while the upper parts will be smaller), and the natives have their
bellies protruding under their chest, and the chest itself is broad.
and the ir eyes arc suffused with cataracts, especially all the natives
who have the HfJroskopos near the Manger,:W which is cloud-like.
Leo makes those who are grey. with red hair. strong, humped, broad
in the upper parts. hairy, especially when they are born in the first
degrees, and it makes the natives wooly-haired and thick-nosed, with
a leo nine face , gluttonous, with thin legs, but in the final degrees
around the backbone, it makes them thin of hair, bald in the
forehead, at times also lewd. Virgo makes the natives symmetrical
in height and rather large, well-molded, with a large gut and upright
and well-behaved. Libra makes those who have beautiful eyes,
somewhat dark, at times both large and wooly-haired and just and
modest. Scorpio makes those who are small-eyed, sallow, with small
ears, at times the chin is bald o r the eyes grey, and it makes those

:H Plwtnl.

12
who have a protruding pharynx and broad shoulders, who arc long
of leg and swift , jealous, rapacious, and the last part of the zo,dioll
around the sting makes the natives lewd, and al times those who
have some ca taracts in the eyes on aceount of the cloud around the
st ing, and it makes them bald in the fo rehead. Sagittarius makes
the natives long in the th igh, flexible in the legs, well-bearded.
pot-bellied, with hands of good complexio n, those who swim well ,
those who love to ride animals, those who a rc bald, and the final
pa rt of the zoidion makes them lewd, and at times also those who
grow grey first in the beard. Capricorn makes the nat ives short .
especially in the fi rst degrees, and it makes those whose chesl is
slight , with fine legs, a point ed beard, at times with hairy legs, bony,
those who are bent over, lascivious. Aqua rius makes the natives
ample-bodied, full-bearded, light , al times also pot -bellied. and
those who have one leg lo nger than the other. Pisces makes the
natives quite broad in the shoulders, with beautiful hair, a white
fo rehead, and it makes those who have a large chest, at times also
those who are bent over, with black eyes. those who speak slowly,
who mind their own business.
The zoidia themselves signify these things and such things as
these by themselves in the fl6roskopos, but when the planets chance
to be present in them, eaeh alters (these sign ifications] in a certain
manner related to their own properties. Kronos makes the natives
dark and badly formed and dry; Arcs. sallow, with grey eyes, straigh t
ha ir, grim, wit h sma ll cars; Zeus, pale, with ample flesh, large eyes,
fu ll bea rd, those who are good in the ir behavior; Aphrodite makes
the natives, along with these things, graceful and attract ive; Hermes,
fee ble, wan, symmetrical and curly-haired, good and noble; the Sun
and the Moon are turned in the directio n of those planets they
chancc to fall in with, but in a special manne r the Sun makes the
natives well-grown, well-spoken of, wh ile the Moon makes them
tempe rate and well-fl eshed.
From the things that havc been prefaced concerning the nature
of the zoidia and the 7 planets, it is possible to find the Horoskopos
in a rough manner in the case of men who have already come to
maturity, if we make use of the nat ure of the z6idia and stars and
the Idiffe rent] climeS with continual testing and practice; and it is
possible to make precise the degree marking the hour in accordance
with the method of the divine Ptolemy, which we have found to be
true in nearly all cases.

13
 3. Concerning the Dividing Up and Ordering of Natal TbeQry"

Ptolemy speaks in a reasonable manner {on this subject ). If some-

one should wish to divide the universal of natal theory as regards its
very order, he would find, of the natural and possible appre-
hensions: the apprehension of the events which are solely prio r to
birth, such as that of the account concerning parents; the
apprehension of the events both before and after birth, such as that
of the account concerning siblings; that of events at the birth itself,
which may no longer be apprehended singly nor simply; and finally,
the apprehensions of events afterbirth, this also being contemplated
in terms of more parts.36
Of the inquiries made at the time of birth itself there is the
account concerning males and females, and that concerning twins or
multiple births, and that concerning monsters, and that concerning
those who go unnourished. Of the inquiries made after the birth
there is the account concerning length of life since it is not
connected to that concerning those who go unnourished; then the
account concerning the shape of the body and that concerning
ailments or bodily injuries; next the acrount concerning quality of
soul and that concerning mental ailments; then the acrount
concerning fortune which pertains to acquisition and that concerning
fortune which pertains to dignity, after which is the acrount
concerning quality of action; then the account concerning the
companionship which is marriage, and that concerning the begetting
of children , and that concerning associations and partnerships and
friendships ; next the acrount concerning foreign journeys; and
fina lly, the acrount concerning the quality of death, which in
meaning is akin to the acrount concerning length of life, but in
order gets reasonably placed at the end of all these.11

}5 The text of this entire chapter is largely identlcalto that of Ptolemy

Bk HI, chapter 4, although there are a few interesting differences.
However, I am not omitting it because it explains the order and o rgan i-
zation of topics in Hephaislio's own second book. I will note the few
diffe re nces in fOOlnotes.
36 This paragraph is virtually identical to Ptole my's.
37 "Ibis paragraph is a slightly paraphrased version of Plolemy's own
text. It is worth nOling that Hephaistio has omitted Ihe last part of this
passage whe re Ptolemy rejects lots and certa in numerical procedures as so
much nonsense, perha ps because Hephaistio himself will be citing with

14
 First it is necessary to examine that place of the zodiac which is
fam iliar to the specific heading in question in the nativity, as for
example, the Midheaven fo r the inquiry concerning what one does,
or the solar (place] for the inquiry concerning the fathe r. Then it
is necessary to observe the planets having a relationship of rulcrship
to the posited place according to the five ways we spoke of above.
And if there should be one essen tial ruler, it is necessary to give
him the rulership of that prognosticatio n. But if there are two or
three, to those having more counters.)8
After these matters, for the quality of the effect it is necessary 10
examine the natures of th e ruling stars themselves,:" as well as the
places having fam iliar ties to them .
For the magnitude of the effect, it is necessary 10 examine their
power, whether Ihey happen to be actively disposed in relation to
the cosmos itsel f and in relation to the na tivity, or the opposite.
For th ey are most effective whenever they should be in their own or
familia r places with respect to the cosmos; and again , wheneve r they
chance to be orient al and additive in numbers. And they arc most
effective with respect to the nat ivity whenever they should be
passing through the pivots o r the post·ascensional twelfth-parts, and
especially the primary pivots (I mean those ascending and those
culminating) . They are weakest with respect to the cosmos when·
ever they should be in another's or unfamiliar places, and occident al
or retreating in their course. And they are weakest with respect to
the nativity whenever they should be declining from the pivots.
For the genera l time of the effect, it is necessary to examine
whether they arc east or west relative to the Sun and the
H6roskQpos, (the quadrants preceding each of them and their
diameters being cast, while the remaining quadrants arc west).
Also, whethe r they should happen to be upon the pivot points or
post·ascensions. For when they are cast or upon a pivot point they
become more effective at the commencement, while when they are

favor a number of other authors who do use such methods. In keeping

with Ih is, the reader should compare the beginn ing of Ilcph atStio's chapte r
on siblings with Ptolemy'S own beginning to that tOpiC.
3. This is nca rly verbatim Ptolcmy'S own tC:d .
39 HcphatStio omits "and the na tu res of the twclfth -pa r'..~ in which they
arc."
west and upon the post-ascension, they arc tardy .~

4. Concerning Parents

The guiding outline, he says, of the examination of specifics, then,

to which it is fitting to adhere throughout, has this character ....

{I o mit the remainder of this chapter, because Hephaistio quotes it nearly

verbatim with no changes in astrological content He only alte rs Ptolemy's
text near the end, leaving out Ptolemy's digression about his combinatory
procedure and issues of rulership in the final paragraph . He also replaces
Ptolemy's own conclusion about timing with the fo llowing:

However, we will find the time of the issuance for the effect from
the contact, either bodily or in accordance with rays, of the stars
causing [it), and from the risings of the ztJidiIJ upon which the
parental places chance to be. We of course find these (treatments)
to be satisfactory , which Ptolemy has indeed proposed through his
natural and amazing investigations.

He has made this last paragraph read as if it were Ptolemy's, but it is not.
I pick up with his discussion of Dorolheus.)

In verse Dorothe:.lS advises examining the trigon lords of the lights,

and in what sort of places the lights themselves chance to be, and
in what bounds, and which of the stars are co·present or seeing
[them), and with these one must make a disclosure for each of the
parents-the Sun clearly signifying matters of the fath er, the Moon
those of the mother. If then the Sun should be present in benefic
places and with benefic stars, one must suppose that the
circumstances of the fatber are fortunate and wealthy, and that the
patrimony will be kept safe for the child himself; likewise also, when
the Moon chances to be so, it makes the same things. The opposite
will result when the lights are found in the opposite condition (that
is, when they are afflicted).41 That is, it is accustomed to make for
ill success and injuries in the bodies of the parents. When the light's

40 These last two paragra phs are nearly verbatim the text of Ptolemy.
41 We find implicit in this passage two conditions contributing to
affliction (kak~sis).

16
happen to be in the last degrees of the zoidia, especially when
malcfics look on, it signifies tha t the circumstances of the pa ren ts
are disreputable; and when the Moon chances to be in the places of
ecl ipse,~' even if it should be in good bounds, it signifies that the
family is free , but poor and subordinate and doing servile work.

"And the Moon in the ho med pivot under the eart h,"

here examine the mother as was done fo r the Sun.41

There is anothe r method, he says. Taking the hours of the
bi rth, extend from the zoidion in which the Sun is, giving one ho ur
to each zoidion in succession, and at the zoidioll at which the
number leaves off, examine the pivots of that zoidioll and the other
relat ionsh ips and make a statement about the mother.~ And again,
he says

"When the Sun is setting, he brings to pass the

separation of the parent s."

And Manctha thus:

HWhen Ares is culminating for day births, it will do these things:

It destroys the life for the first of the parents and
It parts the marriage bed by death or disagreement."

Also, one must conside r the place concerning parents, that is, the
subterraneous piVOI , how the bcncfics and malcfics are related to it.
When Kronos is upon the setting pivot and looks at Zeus upon the
Hour,.u he causes discord in the childre n toward the paren ts; but
when it is triangular to Zeus, it causes harmony.

U The lunar nodes.

41 Cf. Bk I, 12 of the Arabic ve rsion of Dorotheus in Pingree's
translation. On the one hand, the Arabic version seems to be much morc
detailed, panieularly in the discussion of Ihe triplicity lords; on Ihe other
hand, it seems 10 leave oul some of the material, such as Ihe lights being
in Ihe last degrees of a zI'>idion.
+4 I cannol fj ll d Ih iscurious melhod mentioned in Ihe d iscussion oflhe
mOlher in Bk T of the Arabic \'ersion as transla ted by Pingree.
45 The HJroskopos.

17
 S. On the Predeceasing or the Parents·
Examine which of the lights is afflicted in the nativity and
conjecture from that conce rning the one of the parents who is taken
first by death. And see which of their Lots is more affli cted and
conjecture likewise. Also consider this, which o f the lights in the
nativity, through the turning of the motion of the whole, arrives first
at the subterraneous pivot, and reckon thus the o ne taken first by
death; for the Sun signifies the predeceasing of the father, the
Moon of the mother.

"And they will destroy the begetter sooner than

she who gives birth."

Dorotheus (saysj these things. And he also says this, that when
Ares chances to be with Kronos, and especially when it is upon a
pivot, they cause the father to predecease the mother.
Anubio says as follows. When the Moon is waxing, if she
chances to be in Pisces, it causes the fath er to predecease. And
when waning and likewise coming to conjunction, if she chances to
be in a masculine ro idion , it causes the fath er to predecease; if in a
feminine z6idiol1 , the mother.

6. Concerning Siblings

If someone should wish to examine what is universal and possible

in the matter of siblings, he will accuratelyt7 find the number of
children of the same mother from the culminating z6idion and the
post-ascension to it; for they encompass both the maternal placc'"

46 This material derives from Dorothc us (Cf. I, 15 of the Arabic

version). It is nol a separate Ptolemaic topic.
41 Hephaistio has made what seems to be a sneaky alteration of the
Ptolemaic text here by saying that we can find the exact num ber of children
using these methods. Ptolemy actually says, "As for the topic of siblings-if
one exam ines here also on ly the un iversal and does nOI inquiry beyond
what is possible into the exact number and whal is particu lar-~
48 I think we see here the beginnings of a crucial misreading of the
Ptolema ic text, which assigns the 10th place to the mothe r (an assignlllent

18
a nd the place o f children. If then be nefics should be configured
with t hem, we will declare an abundance of siblings in relation to
the multitude of stars seeing and fo llowing and in relation to the
nature of the z6idia, whether they are of a single form or prolific.
And if malefics should be tra nsiting o r configured with the place by
a square o r diametrical figure , they arc indicative of a fewn ess of
siblings, a nd especially if they take the Sun in addition ... : 49

[I o mit the re mainder of Hephaistio's quo tation since it is vi rtually

identical to the received text of Ptolemy.]

Ptolemy says these things, but Dorotheus this,

~ Of all of the m atop shaggy Sagittarius a nd Leo"

... One must examine if thero are helped by each o the r both from
the Lot of Fortune and the Lot of Siblings, and from the sta rs
seeing them or present upon them .sl

rOUlinely made in the Medieval trad it ion. In my opin ion, a careful

translation of the corresponding Ptolemaic text would rc,ad, "that which
concerns o nly children of the same mother would more na turally be taken
from the cu lminating twelfth-pan of the maternal place, that is. from the
place containing Aphrodite by day and the Moon by night. This is because
this ZOidion and the one post-ascend ing it are made the place concerning
the children of Ihe mOlher, wh ich ought to be the same as the place
concerning siblings of the offspring." In other words, the place of children
of the native's mother is the 10th place from the place of Aphrodite or the
Moon in a derivative house system; the place of the mother is not the 10th
place nata lly, but rather simply the place of Ihe native 's children.
4'.1 The re mainder of this paragraph is only slightly different from the
PtolemaIc original, which reads, "If, then, bcnefics are configured with this
place, we win declare an abundance of siblings, making our conjecture in
reference to the number of these vel)' stars and whether they chance 10 be
in wilila of a single form or bicorporeal. But if malefics have a superior
posIt ion over them or are diametrically opposed, they are indicat ive of a
fewness of SIblings, especially if they should also include the Sun ... ."
so '!lIe siblings.
51 Compa re 1, 18 and I, 20 (possibly) of Ihe Arabic version of
DOTOlheus.

19
 7. Concerning Males and Females

With these accounts being prefaced, next would be to make a

beginning of the events at the birth itself, and first concerning males
and females. This topic is studied from both the luminaries and the
H6roslwpos, and from the stars having a relationship 10 these,...

[This entire chapter is a slightly abridged version of the Ptolemy text

(corresponding to Bk Ill , chapter 7 of my translation), with no astrolo-
gical differences, and so I have omitted it. There are no references to
Dorotheus or any other astrologers.)

8. Concerning Twins

And concerning those who are born two or more at a time, it is

likewise befitting to observe the two lights and the H6roslwpos; ...

[This chapter is a slightly abridged and paraphrased version of Bk 1Il,

chapter 8 of the Ptolemy text, and so I have omitted it in this
translation . Hephaistio omits Ptolemy's fi nal sentence.]

9. Concerning Monsters

The account of monsters depends on the aforesaid inquiry. "For, in

such cases the lights .. ."

[The lext of this chapter is virtually identical wilh Bk III. chapler 9 of

the Tetrabibfos . No other astrologers arc cited. So I have not trans-
lated it here.]

10. Concerning Those Who Go Unnourlsbed

The manner [of inquiry) that concerns those who go unnourished

does pertain to that concerning length of life, but the inquiry is not
considered to be made for a stretch [of time) such as a quantity of
yea rs (as it is in length of life), but rather the life of those who arc
wasting away is scarcely allowed for hours or days or a few months.
due to an excess of afnict io n; whence, each [topic] was kept

20
separate by the ancients, the forme r (that concerning length of life)
also having a inquiry of more parts, but this o ne of fewer parts.
Ptolemy, then, says, for it is simply this: if one o f the lights should
be pivotal a nd one of the malefics should be present o r else in
opposition Ito itl,52 and these to the degree and by equality of leg,
SJ with no benefic being configured and the ruler of the lights being
taken in places of malcfies, the offspring will go unnourished and
will have the end of his life because of them. If this happens
without equa lity of leg, but the boltss.! of the malefies closely
post-ascend the places of the lights; and if there should be two
malefics harming either one or both of the ligh ts by post-ascension
or diametrically; or if each ma lefic in a class should respectively
harm o ne o f the lights; or if the one malefic harms by being
diametrical while the othcr by post-asce nding: he also comes to be
lacking in any timc span, the multitude of afflictions obliterat ing
that which is beneficial to a duration of life from the interval of the
post-asce nsion.
The star of Arcs, especially, harms the Sun by post-ascension,
while the star of Kronos so harms the Moon; but conversely, the
star of Kronos harms the Sun by being diametrical or by being in
superior position, while the star of Arcs harms the Moon in th is
way-and above all if they chance to have rulership of the lights and
the H6roskopos." And if there chances to be two diametrical
oppositions, all lhe moreSli when the lights are upon the pivots and
the malcfies at equality of leg, at that time too the infant s are born
eithcr dead or half-dead. And with thesc things being so, if the
lights chance to be separat ing from one of lhe benefics o r should be
otherwise configured with them while (the benefiesl even so bring
their rays to bear on the pa rts preceding {he lights themselves, th e
one born will survive, (though] instead of the [n umber} of degrees

52 I mistranslated this in my translation of Bk 111 of the Tetrabiblos.

53 It is st ill not dea r to me whether the expression ~e quality of leg" is
a synonym for a partile aspect, or whether it has some other mean ing.
S4 Another word for ra y.
S5 Ptolemy has "and above all if as rulers they control by place ~jlh~,
the lights or the Horoskopos.
56 Ptolemy docs not have the words "all the more" here; th us
Hcphaistio makes the upcoming phrase an add itional supporting condition
while Ptolemy regards il as pari of the necessary cond ition.

21
that we reckon between the releasing and the nearer of the rays of
the malefics [be ing equated to a year, toJ an equal number of
months or days or hours, in proponion to the magnitude of the
affliction and the power o f those (stars] providing the cause. But if
the rays of the malefics bear on the places preceding the lights while
those of the benefics bear on the succeeding places, the child that
has been exposed will be taken up again . And if the benefics in
configuration should have malefics in superior position to them , (he
will live] in affliction and subjection; whenever (the benefics] should
have the superior posit io n. [he will livel by substitution under other
parents.57 And if one of the benefics should also make a rising
[from] the Moon Y while one of the malefics is subject to setting. he
will be taken up by the parents themselves.
And the same manner of inquiry lholdsl in cases of multiple-
births. If o ne of the stars that are configured two by two or else by
more at a time should be at setting, a half-dead child will be born
along with the offspring, or an imperfect lump of fle sh." But if it
should have malefics in superior position to it, the o ne co-born with
the cause applying to him will go unnourished or will be without a
time-span.
Ptolemy sets out these matters in a perfect and wondrous
manner. but let there be an illustration o f what he has said. The
Moon is marking the ho ur in Taurus at the 25th degree, and none
of the benefics either trines or squares or regards the Moon in any
other way; Aphrodite, who has the ruiership of Taurus, chances to
be in the domiciles or bounds of Kronos or Ares. 60 The native
having this will of necessity go unnourished; and both Antiochus
and Apollinarius are in agreement with these lmatters]. But let the
diameter of the malefi c not be acoording to the same degree. Here
there is need of a multitude of malefics (t hese two, Ares and

Sl That is, by adoption.

5. The Ptolemaic text has here" And if o ne of the bencHes should
make its rising or in application to the Moon while o ne o f the malefics is
at setting." The Hephaislio texl reads as if the bcnefics or malefics arc
mak.ing a rising or setting relative to the Moon.
59 The Hephaistio text of this phrase is an improvement over the
received Ptolema ic text.
ro Hephaistio seems to have left out here the condition that one o r the
malefics be present with the light, or diametrical to it to the degree, o r else
Mby equality of leg," although he refers to it at the end of Ihis paragraph.

22
Kronos) and of a multitude of those afflicted (these 1W0, the Sun
and Moon), and two powerful figures, the diameter and that of
post-ascensio n.
He says, then: "If this happens without equality of leg, but the
bolts of the malefics closely post-ascend the places of the lights; and
jf they sho uld harm either one or both of the lights." The manner
of harming, he says, is according to post-ascension or by diametrical
opposition-for example, if Ares and Kronos should be diametrica l
to the Sun and Moon or both should be diametrical to both, this
being one figure ; or again, if Ares and Kronos should post-ascend
them at the same time ; and again, another figure, he says, whenever
Ares sho uld be diametrical to the Sun while Kronos post-ascends
the Moon; or again , when Arcs post-ascends the Sun while Kronos
is diametrical to the Moon. For, all of these figures are without
time-spa n, the mult itude of afflictions obliterating that which is
beneficial to the duration of life by means o f the interva l o f
post-ascension.
Also, both ApolJinarius and the Egyptians think it worth con-
sidering both the zoidiOfI pre-ascending the H oroskopos, which they
call the Evil Spirit,6l as well as the zoidion post-ascending it , which
they call Life;62 fo r when [a malefic) occupies the Evil Spirit at the
Hour, it results that every danger happens to the [mother] giving
birt h and to the child born, with the infant already falling into the
mouth of the womb and the fasten ings of the pregnant mother
loosen ing so that there is danger of simultaneous death for both, to
the child through being drowned, and to t he mother through the
slackening of the passages of the woman's nature beyond what is
required. And again, after the birth, if malefics should be found in
Life and they succeed~ the Moon o r the Sun, they cause the life to
disappear and the native to be short-lived.
And again, Ptolemy says, "The star of Arcs, especially, harms
the Sun by post-ascension, while the star of Kronos so harms the
Moon; but conversely, the star of Kronos harms the Sun by being
diametrical or by being in superior posit ion (that is, accord ing to a
right square), while the star o f Arcs harms the Moon in th is way.

61 The twelfth place in the whole-sign system o f houses.

61 TIle second place in the whole-sign system of houses.
/,) diadechomai. There is some possibility that Ihis verb refers to the
reception of the Sun or Moon by malefioo 10 the second place.

23
And others of the ancients have said that these figures are
considered in a natural manner; for, the star of Ares, having an
untempered fire in the degrees post-ascending, intensifies the Sun,
which is hot, for destruction; but the star of Kronos, being cold,
chills the Moon, which moistens. And they say that the intensi-
fication of affiiction occurs especially when the malefics chance to
possess the places of the stars having ruJership over the lights; for
example, if the lights should be in Pisces, and Ares or Kronos have
superior position in Sagittarius, which is the domicile of Zeus and
the star ruling over the place of the lights (that is, Pisces). And
[they) are capable ot post-ascending it the lights should be in
Capricorn, while the malefics should be in Aquarius; but they can
no longer diametrically oppose the lights, but rather they can
[afflict) from the bounds, since in each widion there are bounds of
the five stars.
And if the two malefics should be diametrical to the lights by
equality of degree, while the lights are pivotal, it is clear, he says,
that the child is born half-dead, ~but if the lights chance to be
separating from one of the benetics or should be otherwise
configured with them while [the benetics] even so bring their rays
to bear on the parts preceding the lights themselves, the one born
will survive instead of the InumberJ of degrees that we reckon
between the releasing and the nearer of the rays of the malefics, an
equal number of months or days or hours, in proportion to the
magnitude of the affliction and the power of those [stars) providing
the cause. For if the Sun and the Moon, in making a separation
R

from one of the benefics, should apply to the malefics in the

degrees ascending after them, the natives will exist for the interval
of the Sun and Moon to the maleflcs, in acx::ordance with the
ascension of the afflicted w idion , only instead of the times
distributed to them in accordance with the ascensions, they will live
either months or days, with the difference arising from the
magnitude of the affliction.
The erudite Porphyry lays down an illustration of this. Let Zeus
be in Cancer, he says, and let the Moon have separated from it (let
it have been carried to the 8th degree o f Leo); let Ares be
ascending after the Moon at the 8th degree of Virgo. The native
will live for just such a span of time as there are degrees between
the 8th degree of Leo up to the 8th degree of Virgo, but not with
the intermediate degrees reckoned in terms of years, but rather in
terms of months or days or hours. And should Zeus not be in

24
Cancer, but configured with the Moon in Leo by regarding the
Moon with a triangular ray from Aries, lei it hurl its ray not onto
the degrees after the 8 degrees of Leo bul ralher onto the degrees
before the 8 degrees;M for if the fay fi s hurled betweenl6.S by Zeus,
the degrees will be unaffected. Thus, wilh the malefics possessing
the lights o r ascending aft er them, the one born will live, but in this
manner he will be short-lived, as the ascending degrees do not
furnish a number of years, but rather a number of months or days
or hours.
Next Ptolemy says, "But if the rays of the malefics bea r on the
places preceding the lights while those of the benefics bear on the
succeeding places, the eh ild that has been exposed will be taken up
again and will live. And if then it should be configured, etc." We
must do an exegesis of th is, since both Antioehus and Apollinarios
say nearly the same things. For example, let the Sun and Moon be
in Leo, and let Kronos hurl rays from Aries onto Cancer by squares,
and let Arcs hurl rays onto the first degrees of Leo diamet rically
from Aquarius, with the Sun and Moon ten degrees distant from the
first degree of Leo, and lei Zeus hurl a ray triangularly from
Sagitlarius onto the first fifteen degrees of Leo. The child born in
this manner, unless he should be otherwise harmed from the
conjunction of the lights, will be taken up again and he will live;
however, with Zeus in superio r posit ion to Kronos in a triangular
figure,66 he will be taken up fo r adoption. And if the benefics
should have the malefics in superior position, the natives will be
taken up and they will live, though they will be slaves. Nevertheless,
if benefics or one of these should be o riental or should make an
application to the Moon,67while the malefics or one of these should

64 AnOlher case where the hurling of Tays is not restncted to aspects

cast backward in zodiacal order.
65 mesembole~. According to Antiochus, "there is intervention
(mesembolisis) whenever a star should hurl its ra ys onto the in termediate
degrees of the application.~ If we understand the Moon 10 be applying to
the malefic Ares, Ihis definition applies, except Ihal thc ray is here hurled
forward in zodiacal order.
66 Here we see thaI the defin ition ofsupcrior position is not restricted
to right hand squares.
fiJ Th is passage is corrupt in the complete quotation made by
Hephaistio al the beginn ing of this chapte r. TIle present text is iden tical
to that of Ptolemy.

25
be toward selting, the native will be taken up again by his own
parents.
And it happens in the same fasbion, he says, for tbe figures of
twins or of multiple-births. This figure is studied from the lights
and from the HtJroskcpos, and from the stars and places having a
relation to them. For when these three places are double-bodied,
and especially when the stars having mastership over the places are
likewise in double-bodied places, with the accidents being studied
in relation to the lights and the HtJroskcpos, it results that twins are
born. In such a manner he discusses twins. If then, he says, "one
of the stars that are configured two by two or else by more at a time
should be subject to setting, a half-dead child will be born along
with the offspring, or an imperfect lump of flesh , which they call a
superfetation;63 and if it shouJd not be subject to setting, but if it
should have malefics in superior position to it, the one co-born with
the cause applying to him will go will go unnourished," he says, "or
be without lifespan." One of the twins happens to live, the other
dies right away or after a short time.
Dorotheus also talks about these things in his verses concerning
length of life ." For those born at night, he says, count from Ares to
Kronos and extend such from the H6roskopos,70 and if Kronos has
authority over the z6idion at which it leaves off, while it is pivotal.
one who goes unnourished is begotten. Again, for those born by
day, from Kronos to Ares and an equal amount from the Hora-
skopos. and if Ares is found to be lord of the place at which it
leaves off, while being pivOlal, it will likewise make one who goes
unnourished. And if Ares and Kronos should be under the earth in
bestial zlJidia and look upon the Moon. they will cause the same
thing.
Kritodemos in his Table says the same. When the luminaries
are in the last degrees of the z6idia , they make [the natives] be
without time-span. When the Moon in the place of ecJipse71 is

61 epiJcuinl4.
" I cannot locate this material in 8 k m of the Arabic version of
Dorotheus. One might also expect to find it somewhere in chapters 4-9 of
Bk I of the Arabic ve rstem of Dorotheus, but I cannot locate it there or
anywhere else.
70 In Valens and others this is also called the Lot or Accusatio n.
71 The lunar nodes.
looked upon by the Sun and Arcs, it makes them be without
time-span ; and especially when she is looked upon by Arcs
accord ing to a square or d iameter, while waning in the south, it
makes them be without time-span. When the Moon is waxing with
Ares marking the hour, and waning with Kronos marking the hour,
it makes them be without time-span. And if thc malcfics occupy the
pivots in the places of others. while the luminaries arc in the idle
place n , it makes the native be non-viable and devoured by wild
dogs. If the malefics should be rising while the benefi cs are go ing
into hiding, they make the children be without time-span. In the
eclipses of the Sun and Moo n, if the lord of the Horoskopos should
be going into hiding and should not be figured , it makes them be
without time-span. If the last part of a z6idio1l should be marking
the hour, while malefics possess the first degrees, Jlhe natives] are
brought fo rth with no time-span , as on the whole those born during
eclipses are without time or blind. And if the Moon should apply
to a malefic star while it is stationing, it makes the children be
shon-lived.
And one must know that, for him who is investigat ing the topic
of length of life, it is requisite to make use of the ascensions of the
z6uJiQ in the manner of Ptolemy, whose method we also employ as
the most true and most natural. For, it is necessary to examine the
appropriate ascensions in accordance with methods from [this
author] ; however, one must not suppose that since the ascensions
are found otherwise and in a different manner under the same
parallcl, this would be so at another time.71 How many times of the
cq uipartite circle 7• co-rise with each z6idioll (which are indeed taken
for years), we will know from the canons of ascensions of each zone,
in relat io n to which a method is set out in the following. If we
should want to roughly find the co-ascensions of each z6idiorz by
hand, or the co-culminations, we do as follow s: Let it be the case
that Aries rises with 21 degrees, 40 minutes according to the
ancien ts, which become 21 years and 8 months. Thcn I multiply the
21 yea rs and 8 months by 12 fmonth sJ and they become 260, which

72 The 8th housc.

13 oltch huponoi/t:oll IIIm/ot h()s I()n allaplwr(jll aiMs kat aIMs
htwukonrtll()11 hltpo Ion awoll pamlfiloll htttroll I..mrou all de. I a m nOI
confiden t of my tra nslatIO n of tim. ~n t c n ce_
7~ lllC C(I":l tor
I divide among the 30 degrees of the widion; and each degree is
allotted 8 months, 20 days, and two degrees are clearly 17 months,
10 days, and three are likewise three times the magnitude. And let
the same method be for each widion and zone.

11. Concerniog tbe Leogtb of Ute

According to tbe Trutb and Ptolemy

The discussion oonceming the years of life, Ptolemy says, goes

before the events subsequent to hirth, since it is first requisite to
know the years to be lived (oonceming which this inquiry is made),
and then to adapt the particulars of the effects accordingly. This
heading is entirely dependent upon the places that pertain to
releasing and upon those that are capable of having releasers in
relation to life, and again upon those capable of destroying. And
each of these is decided upon as follows.
He marked out as places for releasing those in one of which it
is requisite for the star assuming the releasing to be: the twelfth-part
around the H6roskopos, from five degrees toward the rear part
pre-ascending the hour-marking degree up to the remaining
twenty-five degrees post-ascending this degree; and right hexagonals
to these 30 degrees,75 of'" the Good Spirit ; and [right] squares, of

7S The Hephaistio text is entirely lacking in definite articles here and

in the upcoming parallel passages, whereas the Pto lemaic text evidently had
articles., althoug.h the various manuscripts are not consistent in the gender
of these articles or their placement. I have discus.sed this problem in some
detail in the foolJlotes to my translation of BK m, 11 of the Tt trobibfos, as
well as its implications for the kind of house division intended by Ptolemy.
76 It is hard to know bow to interpret the genitive here and in the
upcoming parallei passages. It is preceded by no relative pronoun (a1tho ug.h
most of the Ptolemaic manuscripts have such a pronoun preceding the
genitive). One possibility is that there is an implicit -the place or here and
in the parallel passages, in which case Ptolemy would be transrerring the
traditional place names for the whole·sign houses to his own equal bouse
system. Another possibility is that we are being instructed to take the
hexagonal "sides· that are JHlrt of the lIth w illion from the HlJros/wpos (the
Good Spirit), for in$tance, or b-e/onging to it. But this would make the
places of releasing the intersections of the fmt, ninth, tenth, and eleventh
signs with the first , ninth, tenth, and eleventh "houses" of the Ptolemaic

2R
the Midheaven above the ea rth; and (right] triangulars, of the
so-called God; and diamct ricals, o f the Descendant. He called the
hexagonals and squares and triangulars "sides" and not "z6idia"
becaus.e the Midheaven does not always fa ll on the 10t h z6idion
from the H6roskopos, nor the Good Spirit on the 11th; nor the one
called God on the 9th. n And through these he hinted 73 that it was
not always necessary to give 30 degrees to the three places around
the Midheaven, but rather sometimes it is requisite to make more
than the 30 degrees, and again sometimes icss, applying to each
differently in proportion to the degrees between the two pivots. If
then the degrees of the quadra nt should be more than 90, he would
augment the degrees by just as much as they should be greater,
wh ile if they are less than 90 degrees, he would lessen them
proportionately.
Let there be an illustration of what has been said. Let someone
be supposed to have the Horoskopos in the very 25th degree of
Aquarius; it is clear that the Horoskopos is taken fro m the fifth
degree of those pre-ascending ldegrees], that is, from the 20th
degree of Aquarius up to the 20th degree of Pisces; and from the
20th degree of Aquarius backward to the 20th degree of Capricorn
will be the 12th and Evil Spirit (if we should find some releaser in
t hese degrees, we do no t accept it); and likewise from the 20th
degree of Capricorn to the 20th degree o f Sagiltarius will be the
11th; and from the 20th degree of Sagiltarius to the 20th degree o f

division. Th is is certainly a baffling text!

n This sentence might also be tra nslated as follows: "He called the
hexagonals and squares and triangulars 'sides' and not 'z(jidia' because they
do not always fall on the 10th ztJidion from the H6roskopos, or the
Midheaven; nor on the l1th, or the Good Spirit; nor on the 9th, which is
called God ." Under this alte rnative translation, the traditional names fo r
the houses would be re tained by the signs of the whole sign system of house
d ivision and not transferred to the new houses created by the Ptolemaic
division. Compare Valen's treatment of the Porphyry system of dyna mical
house division (Bk 1lI, 2). However I have not favored this translation
beca use Hcphaistio clearly tra nsfers these names to the new house divisions
in the next paragraph.
78 He re we see that the modified "Alchabitius" style house system that
will soon be d iscussed may have been an interpretat ion (and in my opinion
a misinte rp retation) of th is passage, based on the supposition that Ptolemy
was pa rtly concealing his true inten tions.

29
Scorpio will be the 10th, Midheaven; and from the 20th degree of
Scorpio to the 20th degree of Libra will be the 9th; and from the
20th degree of Libra to the 20th degree o f Virgo will be the 8th,
unconnected to the Horoskopos (and we dismiss it for releasing);
and from the 20th degree of Virgo to the 25th degree 111 of Leo will
be the Descendant, and the other 5 pre-descending degrees up to
the 20th degree of Leo.
Most people divide the releasing places thus, but Pancharios, the
commentator on this topic, did not always approve, as we have said,
of giving 30 degrees to the three places around the Midheaven, but
rather he did as follows: For since the Horoskopos is at the 25th
degree of Aquarius, and the Midheaven is approximately at the 5th
degree of Sagittarius, I count from the 5th degree of Sagittarius up
to the 25th degree of Aquarius, and the 80 degrees found are
lacking from 90 degrees by 10 degrees, which are a ninth part of
those 90 degrees. I arrange 131h1Kl degrees (which are themselves
lacking from 15 degrees by a ninth part) from the Midheaven
degree on the side of the Ascendant, instead of 15 degrees (half of
the widion), and it comes down to 181(3 dcgrees of Sagittarius. And
similarly, I arrange the thirty degree [part] of the Good Spirit rto be
lacking) by 31(3 degrees,11 which is from the 18th and V3 degree o f
Sagittarius up to the 15th degree of Capricorn. Again, we likewise
count from the setting horizon up to the culminating degree; I find
100 degrees, which are again more than 90 degrees by a ninth part
of them . Therefore, from the 5th degree of Sagittarius backwards
to the 20th degree of Scorpio are 15 degrees (half of the zoidion);
they come to 16 degrees, 40 minutes; for I again made the ninth
part of these 15 degrees, for 16 degrees, 40 minut es, and they come
down to the 18th and 1h degree of Scorpio. The ninth part likewise
exceeds by 31f3 degrees, and it comes down from the 18th and V3
degree of Scorpio to the 15th degree of Libra .
It is requisite, the n, to make the 5 places of releasing with preci-
sion in this manner in o rder that the releaser should never escape
our notice, as he says, by falJing out in an idle place, and in order

79 The Greek lext has 15 degrees of Leo which must be a mistake.

80 The Greek. lext has 3'h degrees wh ich Pingree has correctly
amended to \311l.
SI Pingree has corrected 3'h to 13'h, which in this case is incorrect.

30
that we do not set a planet that is upon the Midheaven in an idle
place, o r ascertain it to be in another place when it is not truly so.
And let these things have been sa id fo r the sake of clarity; for,
one must not shrink from extending this subject just because it is a
mult i-partite and notorious study. We have the 5 places of releasing
marked off in this manner, and of the ones preferred even among
these [places] for the power of predominat ion arc first the [degrees]
according with the Midheaven above the earth, then those according
with the Ascendant, then those according with the post-ascension of
the Midheaven, then those according with the Descendant, finally
those according with the precedent of the Midheaven . For o ne
must properly refuse the whole hemisphere under the ea rth so great
an autho rity, except only those degrees coming into the light along
with the post-ascension itself, and the degrees pre_descending,t2
while of the whole hemisphere above the earth, it is not fitting to
accept the part unconnected to the Horoskopos (which is the 8th) ,
nor the twelfth, since the stars in them, in addition to declin ing, also
have the thick and misty exhalation from the moisture of the earth
as an impediment. in relation to the efflux from them to the earth,
by which the stars do not appear to have their natural colo rs or
magnitudes.
After the places of releasing. he distinguished the releaser by
day if it is indeed in one o f the places of releasing: the Sun; but if
it is not , the Moon; and if the Moon should not be found in one of
these places, the star capable of having the five relationships o f
rulership to the Sun and to the prenatal conjunction and to the
Horoskopos, not so that [the star] should necessarily have the
relationship of rulership to the three (for this is impossible unless
the conjunction should be upon the Horoskopos). but rather even if
to one of these (such as the Sun or the prcnatal conjunctio n or the
H6roskopos), and even if to rwo of these (for example to the Sun
and the conjunction) , and even if to the three . And that it is not
necessarily to the three Ptolcmy himself makes clear in the fo llowing
whcn he says "whenever, there being five places of rulership, it
should have three to one or even more~ (not places of releasing but
rat her the releasers themsdves, by which I mean the Sun and the
prenatal conjunction and the Hour)-whenever, then, some star
should be found to have more relations of rulership in the five ways

BI The Ptole maic lext does not mention these prc-desccnding degrees.
(of domicile, trigon, bound, exaltation, phase or config-uration) , as
he was saying, to the Sun or the conjunction or the Hour, and this
star was in one of the places of releasing when the Sun was not so,
then we will use it for the releaser; but if no star should likewise be
found in a place of releasing, we will finally do the releasing from
the degree marking the hour.
And while we do these things in the case of children born in the
day, in the case of those born at night it is necessary to take the
Moon as the first releaser if she should be in one of the places of
releasing; but if nOl, the Sun (it is clear that he may nol be found
in a place of releasing at night except only in those 25 degrees of
the post-ascension under the earth close to the horizon, and the 5
degrees that have pre-descended); bUI if he should not chance to be
in a place of releasing in this manner, one must take the star having
the relation of rulership to the Moon and the prenatal full moon
and the Lot of Fortune, which is by night a distance equal to that
of the interval from the Sun to the Moon , from the place of the
H6rosiwpos; for in a certain fashion he wishes it to serve the
purpose of the H6rosiwpos, as Ptolemy himself says, that as the Sun
is related to the oriental horizon, so the Moon is 10 the Lot of
Fortune. Also, that the ancients around Nechepso and Petosiris
gave hints for positioning it the same way, because they project the
interval from the Moon to the Sun in the reverse manner in the
case of those born at night (that is, projecting it from the Hour in
the direction of the preceding z6idia ).0
Here Pancharios says, why is this worthy of attention only for
the star having a relation to the prenatal full moon and not fo r the
one having a relation to the prenatal syzygy simply? For perhaps,
whenever a oonjunction has preceded birth, it would be unoon-
vincing, in the case of those born at night, to evaluate the ruler of

13 Pingree has had to do a fair amount of text restoration on th is

passage so that Ihis reading must remain conjectu ral. However, the point
seems to be that in nocturnal nativities, if the inte rval fro m the Moon to
the Sun is projected backwards fro m the Asce ndant degree, this will give
the same position as projecting the interval from the Sun to the Moon
forword from the Ascendant; thus, the position of the Lot of Fortune wo uld
be the same both day and night. The question is whether this was rea tly
the intention of NechepsolPetosiris, since other Hellenistic astrologers read
the ir accoun t and concluded thillt the calculat ion of the Lot should be truly
reversed by day and by nigh t.

32
the full moon as though it were al ienated [from its own nature I.
Yet in the case of those born diurnally, if the prenatal fu ll moon
syzygy should be closcst, it does not seem absurd to have rccourse
to the conjunction as the initiating s)'ZY'Cj. But perhaps, he says,
Ptolemy has recoursc to the full moon by night because the
conjunct ion of the Moon is unilluminated, and yct he manifestly
seeks the closest syzygy in the following (topicsl. Perhaps, then, he
is intimating that if the prenatal syzygy chances to bc a full moon,
it is more reasonable for the master of it to be taken , but in general
he desires the nearest syzygy to be taken , from the next words he
givcs; for he says that if the ruler should not be found in the places
of releasing, it is necessary to make use of the Lot of Fortune as
releaser if the prenatal syzygy should be a full moon, if the Lot
should be in the places of releasing; but if it is conjunctive, it is
necessary to use the H oroskopos.
And if it happens, he~ says, that the Sun and Moon are upon
places of releasing, and also the ruler of the appropriate sect (that
is, by day the ruler of the Sun or the (prenatal] conj unction or the
l-/oroskopos, by night the ruler of the Moon or the full moon or thc
Lot of Fortune), we must then examine which of them possesses the
more powerful place and has more relations of rulers hi~, and we
must additionally avail ourselves of that one in the acco'unts o f
releasing.
Others gave the following explanation: If it should happen that
the lighls and the ruler with regard to sect arc in the placcs of
releasing, [we must take] the one in the more authoritative place
anyhow, according to the order that was distinguished; but then we
must give preference to the ruler only when along with being
present in the more authoritative place, it also has a relatio n of
rulership to those sects.as
With 86 the releaser distinguished, we must furthermore assume
two modes of releasing: that in the direction of the succeeding
z6idia alone, subject to the so-called hurling o f rays, whenever the
releaser should be in the region of the east wind, (that is, in places
from the Midheaven to the Horoskopos); and that not only in the

&.4 He being Pancharios.

H This is the same as Ptolemy'S account. I am not su re why it is
attributed to certain ·others."
86 Hephaislio resumes his direct quoting from Ptolemy here .

33
direction of the succeeding ziJidia, but also that in the direction of
the preceding zoidia in accordance with the so-called hOrimaia,
whenever the releaser should be in places declining from the
Midheaven."
With these things being so, destructive degrees for the releasing
in the direction of the preceding pon ions of the zodiac become only
that of the setting horizon, since it makes the lord of life disappear.
The degrees of stars thus meeting or bearing witness only take away
or add years to the total years up until the setting of the releaser,
and they do not destroy, on account of their not being carried to the
place of releasing, but rather that place is being carried to them.
Also, the benefic stars add, while the malefic stars take away, with
the star of Hermes again being attached to whichever of them he is
configured with. The number of the addit ion or the subtraction is
contemplated through the degree-position in each case. For, as
many as are the hourly times of each degree-diumal times when it
is day, nocturnal limes when it is night-just so many will be the
complete multitude of years. And we must reckon this very multi-
tude when [they) are upon the orient; then we must subtract in
proponion to their separation (from the orient) until at their setting
the (number) comes down to nothing.
Ptolemy calls the place from the ziJidion of the Midheaven up
to the z6idion of the Horos/wpos ftsubjcct to the hurling of raysft and
·succedent,ft while that from the decline of the Midheaven (that is
from the 9th) up to the Descendant he names · precedent· and
fthourly.... If therefore some releaser should be found in this place,
not only, he says, does he take the releasing in the direction of Lhe
succeeding z6idia, but also in the direction of the preceding z6idia ;
but conversely, in the former he does not take the releasing in the
direction of the preceding z6idia . Bul if the releaser should be in

17 It is not clear whether in this second mode of releasing we are

supposed to use bolh procedures all the lime, or the one of them Ihal is
appropriate depending on the position ofth e releaser. As we will see lale r,
Pancharios read the passage in this latter manner in order to take account
of releasers in the rIVe degrees just unde r the Descendan t.
88 Pingree has reconstructed the word Ittarti morion here (which means
'quadran!') on the basis of a few nearly legible leiters. Howeve r, il wo uld
be just as possible 10 restore these missing leiters as Ie Mn·maion, titerally,
'and horimaic' (or perta ining 10 the hour), which makes more sense.

34
the degrees that have declined from the Midheavcn, he will also
reckon it as up to the descending degree. which he calls destructive;
for he says that it threatens and that the releaser, which is the lord
of life, is made 10 disappear. so that when rays or Slars arc
themselves additionally present between the degree of releasing and
the descending degree, they arc thus not capable of destroying that
releaser when they are destroyers. or of preserving it as benefics, but
rather the latter add?' the former subtract fro m the whole array
between the releaser and the descending degree, and Ihey are
capable of subtracting or giving just as many years as there are
hourly times ascribed 10 the degree of each [star ] (that upon which
it is) in the appropriate zone-by day the times laid down for the
degree of each one, by night those laid down for the diametrical
degree. However, [he says] that these times are powerful as wholes
when Ihe [stars] should be upon the Horoskopos, but when they are
distant from it, they subtract [such twelfths] from the hours in
accordance with the quantity of seasonal hours of the interval
between; for we do so until at the twelfth hour [the years] come
down to nothing, whence he calls such a method of releasing
"1rorimaic."1111
For example, let someone have the Horoskopos at the 10th
degree of Aries, the Descendant at the 10th degree of Libra in the
zone through the Hellespont, and let the releaser be found at the
8th degree of Sagittarius. The whole distance of life cxpectancy of
nearly 75 years is tota lled from the 8th degree of Sagittarius up to
the 10th degree of Libra. For by introducing in to the canon of
ascensions of th e zone through the Hellespont the 8th degree of
Sagittarius, 1 find lying next to it 266 times, 37 minutes; and next to
the 10th degree of Libra I find 191 times, 40 minutes. And by
subtracting the lesser times of Libra from the times of Sagittarius,
I find 74 ascensional times [57 minutes], which I assume to be
nearly 75 years. 90

8') This adjective is property descriptive since the method itself uses the
hourl y times h6riaioi chronoi of the degrees. We have also scen this
method occasionally cited in Valens.
90 Here we will append the followingscholium of Leon the Philosopher
to the Mrimaia; it seems to be referring to the very same example above,
"With th is example and with this fault , POJTlhyry too was guilty of
unintelligence, indeed far from the thought of the great Ptole my. For the

35
With this being founc\ let Ares be at the 10th degree of Aries at the
same degree as the H,roskopos. I go to the same zone and find I S
ho urly times and 7 palls of a n ho uri lying next to91. the 10th degree
of Aries; they becom! 15 years, 7 months. Since the n Ares is
marking the hour,' ) it SJbtracts 15 years and 7 months from the 75
years, and the remainin, 59 years 5 months are left over if no o the r
malefic should subtract years o r no benefic a dd them. And if Ares
should be at the 10th degree of Libra, it neithe r adds no r subtracts
a nything. And if it shouJd be upon the degree of the Midheaven,"
clearly it subtracts half of the I S )ears a nd 7 months (that is, 7
years, 9 months, and IS days). AnG for the re maining distances
(rom the point of rising, it is necessary to subtract proportionately
until, as the star o r its ray becomes more distant , [the years] should
come down to nothing. And the beneflCS add years in a similar
fashion .
We know the proportion in relation to the bours, and how the
hours [a rc found) that [the stars] are dista nt from the orienta l
horizon as follows: Taking the degrees between the star or ray and
the Horoskopos, we compare by day the hourly times laid down for
the degree of the natal Sun, by night those laid down for the
diametrical (degree); and as many ho urs and parts of hours as

releaser in Sagittarius does no l arrrve allhe Descendanllhroug,h 75 diurnal

limes, but Ihrough 40. For the cano n of Ihe 5 zones does nOI contain the
descensions ofSaginarius and Libra, but clearly the ascensions. Then if 10
Aries is at the Ascendant in the first position and 5, 40 ascensional times
are laid alongiide it, when 8 Sagittarius is setting in the second position, 8
Gemin i has to be at the ascendant, having 45, 45 times. The excess is not
75 times, but 40, 5 minutes.~
I think that Leon is correct in his criticism. Evetything that Ptolemy says
about direction later in this Chapter would indicate that oblique descenslons
should be used here instead of ascensions.
91 The Qed text sim ply has 15 hours, 7 finer [times). The 7 can
hardly be minutes, however, in view of the upcoming equation of these
hourly times 10 15 years, 7 mont hs. Thus I assume here that the finer
divisions of the hour are twelfths, instead of sixtieths.
92 That is, in the table.
'H And capable of hurling a trine ray between the releaser and the
Descendant.
~ And capable of hurling a sextilc ray between the releaser and the
Descendant.

36
should turn out, we know the star or ray to be so many hours
distant from the oriental horizon. When the releaser is upon the
so-ca lled God, it is as we said; if it is upon the Horoskopos, we do
the releasing in the direct ion of the preceding (w idia); and if, with
the releaser chancing to be upon Descendant, see, Pancharios says,
that if we do not do it in this manner (that is, in the direction of the
preceding (zoidia J from the degree nearest the descending degree,
which he calls destructive), the lord of life will be lacking in time.
This, he says, either escaped Ptolemy's notice, or else, if it did not
escape his notice, he omitted it, whe nce he judges that if the
releaser should be found upon the occidental horizon, we do the
releasing of it in the direction of the succeeding (zoidia ). For in this
manner, [the part] that has ascended before [the occidental horizon )
will be in accord with the releasing, not only in the direction of the
succeeding (widia ], but also in the direction of the preceding ones.
For in the case of the 5 degrees before the descending degree,
nothing will be in dispute; it is only necessary, he says, for it to be
the case that we carry the releaser to the setting degree itself in the
direction of the succeeding [zoidia), but it will equally be the case
that if this same descending degree is destructive, the nativity will
be short-lived. For we have often found by experience, he says, that
the releaser can be upon these degrees and upon those next to the
descending degree and the nativities have not become short-lived.
Concerning, then, the zoidion in relation to God and the occidental
horizon, and concerning the releasings from them, let such things
have been said.
Ptolemy, having changed over to the other place of releasing,
that from the Midheaven up to the Horoskopos also says the
following things himself: For the releasing in the direction of the
succeeding port ions of the zodiac, the places of the malefics, Kronos
and Ares, destroy, either when they go forth to meet bodily or when
they bring a ray to bear fro m anywhere any lime they are square or
diametrical; and sometimes also when hexagonal upon on the z6idia
of hearing and seeing due to their equal power; and the sq uare to
the place of releasing from the succeeding [widia J itself [destroys),
and sometimes too the hexagon upon the twelfth-paris of long
ascension when affli cted, but the triangle on the twelfth-parts of
short ascension.

37
 In the case of a releaser that lets Ihe releasing begin 9S in the
other place from the culminating roidion up to the zoidion marking
the ho ur, one must observe, he says, the bodily enoounters of the
malefics Kr(lnos and Ares in the same widion or even in the nelCl,
or the square or diametrical rays that are brought to bear from
anywhere, though likewise in the degrees after the releaser, for he
supposes the releaser to be immoveable, while the destroyer comes
to the releaser and in this manner destroys it.
The square and diametrical figures, then, we accept as
destructive, the triangular as sympathetic, and the hexagonal like-
wise, though weaker. Sometimes, he says, destruction also occurs
from these, though not simply nor in an ordinary way, but rather as
a hexagon when upon the widia hearing and seeing in accordance
with eq ual power. And they say that z6idia equidistant from the
equipartite widia hear one another. And it does nol seem to
Thrasyll us tha t the two equipart itc widia themselves hear, Aries
Libra or Libra Aries, nor that they see one another, because the
equipartile zQidio inspect the circle of the earth (which [is also the
case ) for the two remaining tropical zOidia) . And they say that the
widio equidistant from the tropical widio, and the tropical widia
themse lves, see [one another). And hexagons arc equal in power in
two widia .... henever the distance should be sixty degrees. For
example, lei the releaser be in the 1st degree of Pisces, the
destroyer in the 30th degree of Aries; this hexagon becomes
destructive because they [the degrees) are equidistant from the
equipartite Icircle)!/16 (that is, in widio that hear o ne another), and
they have a sixty degree distance . Similarly for thczoidia see ing one
another, if the releaser should be in the 1st degree of Gemini, while
the destroyer is in the 30th degree of Cancer. And hexagonal
figures occurring in this manner destroy.
And again he says: sometimes when the hexagon is corrupted
upon the z()idia that take a long time (to rise] (when it has clearly
stretched out nearly to the side of a square) , it also destroys; and
again, when the triangle is corrupted upon the z()idia that take a
short time (to rise] (that is, when it is likewise drawn together by the
zlJidia of short ascension almost to side of a square), it also destroys.
lois is what was also said by Ptolemy concerning the said degrees.

' 5 tpi de tm aphelou Ii/I aphuin aphitrllos.

')6 This is a name for the equatorial circle.

38
 Pancha rios speaks from the beginning about the exact
Midheaven, in the course of which he demonstrates it ,'fl and there
he intima tes that it is not always necessa ry to give to the three
places around the Midheaven a thirty degree intelVal; and places are
dest ructive by means of what has been said, he said, and the squa re
itself to the place of releasing; for, it is impossible to overstep the
side of a squa re apart from a malefic.'18
Next Ptolemy writes: When the Moon is releasing, the place of
the Sun also destroys. Fo r, the encounters in such a releasing also
have the power to dest roy and presetve, since these are themselves
brought to the place of releasing. However, one must not at all
times suppose that these places always destroy, but only whenever
they are afflicted. For they are prevented (from destroying) if they
fall within the bound of a benefic. and if one of the benefics should
bring its ray to bear in square, triangularly or diametrically either
toward the destruct ive degree itself, or in the direction of the
degrees succeeding it (for Zeus not beyond 12 degrees, for
Aphrodite not beyond 8 degrees), and if bot h the star releasing and
tht: one encountering it are bodies, lit is prevented from destroying]
when the latitude of the two is not the same.
Whenever, then, there should be several from each class-5ome
succoring and contra riwise some destroying-<>ne must inquire as to
which of the two forms predominates, both in accordance with the
mu lt itude of those con tributing to each side, and in accordance with
their powe r; in accordance with their mult itude, whenever the ones
are sensibly more than the others, but in accordance with power,
whe never some of the succoring o r destroying stars should be in
their fam iliar places, others nOI , especially when some are o rie nt al,
and some occidental. For. in ge neral. one must nOI take any of
those which are under the beams to be eithe r for destruction or for
succor, except that when the Moon is the releaser, the place of the
Sun itse lf destroys if it is turned in that direction by the presence of
a malefic and is not freed by any of the benefics.
With the Moon releasing, he says, the solar place ca n also
destroy, especially if should be turned by the presence of a malefic

di ' llQu . I am not sure of this construction.

97 sWlist(l/O i
98 No mailer where the matefia; are situated relative to the releaser,
there will be square o r diametrical rays from these matefics somewhere in
the quadrant following the releaser.

39
and is not freed by any benefic, and again it can preserve when it
has the opposite [conditions]. And over and above these things, he
brings up that the same cause is observed for the power of a malefic
if they should fall in the bounds of a benefic or if one of the
benefics should jointly bring its rays to bear in square or triangularly
or diametrically, either with the same degree as the destructive
degree itself, or else in the direction of the {z6idia I succeeding it (in
the case of Zeus, not beyond 12 degrees. and in the case of
Aphrodite, not beyond 8 degrees); however, if the destruction comes
about bodily. it is necessary to examine if the destroye r and the
releaser should be running at the same latitude (in accordance with
the same wind); for if they should be so, destruction will occur.
And [he also adds] that the stars under the beams are weak fo r the
purpose of either destroying or preserving. And he says in addition
that it will be necessary to compare which kind have authority.
whether those that succor and those that hann, from the multitude
and power of each [class] of them in relation to the intensification
or relaxation of [each of them).
Having given these precepts, he passes on to the account of the
intervals. that is. how it is necessary to reckon the life expectancies,
by explaining and censuring at the same time that it was not
reasonable for those before him to make use of ascensional times
only, but rather he says that it is necessary to make use of therr
only when the releasing comes about from the Horoskopos or frOIT
one of the stars present upon it; but in the case when the releaser
is upon the Midheaven , it is necessary to make use of the
co-culminat ions upon the right sphere; and in the case of the
occidental horizon, it is necessary to make use of the desccnsions
(that is, the ascensions of the diameters); and in the case when the
releaser is in the places between these, proportionately to its
position relative to the two pivots enclosing it. He wishes to say this
concisely, since, when he introduces it, he explains the reason for
the inequality of such a passage of the times in the pedagogical
manner of a good scholar.
Well , we will also add to this part. The equipartite times,99 he
says, pass uniformly through both the horizon and the meridian of
the right sphere; for, the z6idia both rise and set and culminate in
the same number of times, from aU quarters, and for this reason he

99 That is, the times along the equator.

40
supposes these (timesjlo be useful for the matter before us!OO And
sinee no other is proposed, (the task) is now to see after how many
equipartite times the putative dest ructive degree comes to be beside
t he place of the releaser, and since the times do not pass uniformly
in every zone as upon the righ t sphere (for those of the rising are
different. those of the culminating are different , and those of the
setting are ot her, the difference of which is found in the canons of
ascension). for this reason, if the releaser sho uld be found between
the pivot's, it is necessary to know here also after how many
equipartite times Ihe destructive degree comes to this position; for
it is necessary that there be a cerlain difference in the times of the
transit past those in the pivots.
How there is a difference and in what manner is clear from
these things. For, a similar and same place is one having on the
sa me side a similar position in relatio n to both the horizon and the
meridian together. This happens most nearly to those places lying
on o ne o f t he sc mici rcles drawn through the intersections of the
meridian a nd horizon, of which each makes, throughout that sa me
posit ion, a ncarly equal seasonal hour. And should (each semi-
circle) be described around the said intersect io ns. in just the manner
that it goes over the same position as the ho rizon and the meridian
while making the times of the passage of the zodiacal (section]
(over) each unequal, it likewise renders the transits fo r the positions
of the ot he r distances in t imes unequal to [the former).IOI
Again, Pancharios explains this place as follows: just as we said,
he says, in regards to the obliquity of lhe zodiac relative to the
equatorial circle, a place is similar and Ihe same that has a similar
position o n the same side relative to both the ho rizon and the
meridia n together. And if the degree of the releaser upon the
zodiac should be between Ihe pivots, it has the same position o n the
same side, if the obliquity should be present relative to the northern
or southern (sides) of the equipart ite (circ\e ),102 and it has a similar
position in respect to the meridian and the horizon. And this

tOO Beca use it makes sense 10 use them as a measure and refere nce.
tOt The Hepha istio text IS esse ntially Klentical to the Ptolemaic in this
Import:,"t passage . We will sec in late r Project Hindsight translations on
the latin track how mISinterpretatIOns of this passage gave rise to both the
Placidus and the Reglomontanus schemes of direction and house dIVision.
t02 The equatonal circle.

41
results, he says, if b)'. making a semicircle from the intersections of
the horizon and the meridian (these sections themselves are the
(meridian) heightlQ) of the sphere and its diameter), and by turning
it around, we should pass through this degree of the zodiac; and we
seek another point of the zodiac equally remote from the meridian,
until, with the said semicircle having been carried around the
sphere, it makes nearly the same seasonal hours from the meridian
as those of the original position. And just as, he says, when the
turning is done, it was the same position (as we said) in regard to
the pivots (that is, in regard to the meridian and the horizon), while
the passages of the zod iac are unequal for each, so also, if the
posit ion is between these (that is, between the horizon and the
meridian). the passage through them will be through unequal times.
In expressing this reason he makes use of this method. For, he
says, taking the culminating degree and that of the releaser (which
he calls the precedent degree) and the destructive degree (which he
calls the succcdent degree), he examines how many seasonal hours
distant from the meridian the precedent degree is. This is done as
follows (for it will be necessary to sct out the method more clearly
since in the entire e1CpOsition Ptolemy makes use of this method in
the most precise manner). We make the number of hours distant
from the meridian as follows. We will see how many degrees of
ascension on the right sphere are laid down 11U for the Midheaven
itself, and how many are laid down for the releaser, and after
subtracting the lesser number of degrees from the greater, we will
divide the remaining degrees by the hourly magnitude that is laid
down for the degree of the releaser in the appropriate zone if it is
above the earth, but if it should be below the earth (that is, in the
degrees around the horizon), the hourly magnitude that is laid down
for its diameter, and we will have from this the (divided) hours (or
parts of hours) that the releaser is distant from the Midheaven.
Then we see what sort of position the succeeding place has in
relation to the Midheaven, again by knowing what is laid down for
it upon the right sphere and by comparing it to those degrees of the
Midheaven which we have (that is, by subtracting the lesser from
the greater). Having the remaining degrees of its position, then,
and again knowing what is laid down for the degree of the

L03 anmla.
104 That is, laid down or listed in the tables.

42
succeeding destroyer itself in the appropriate zone if the succeeding
place should be above the earlh, but if under the earth , what is laid
down for the degree diametrical to it , and multiplying the hours that
the releaser (t he preccdent) is distant from the Midheaven into th is
hourly magnitude, and comparing the resulting number to that of
the position of the succedent, which we have, (that is, we subtract
the lesser from the greater), and we will have the remaining times
after which we will say that the succedent place comes to the
precedent, which times we will make equal in number to years. The
method itself is general and most prccise; he fi nds it accurately with
the releaser in every position.
For Ptolemy, the circuit from the aforesaid cause has been
accomplished; for , having inverted it , he says that since the sect ions
of the zodiac distant from the meridian by the same seasonal hours
comc to be a long one and the same of the said semicircles, it will
also be necessary to find after how many equipartite times the
succeeding section also will be distant from the meridian by seasonal
hours equal to the preceding. When we have determined these, we
will also investigate by how many equipart ite times the succeeding
degree at its original position was distant from the degree of the
same Midheaven , again by means of ascensions on the right sphere.
[And we will investigate ] how many seasonal hours it made to the
preceding by multiplying them into the number of hourly times of
the succeeding degree (again, if the compa rison of seasonal hours
was in relation to a Midheaven above the earth, multiplying it into
the number of diurnal hours, if in relation to a Midheaven under
the earth , into the number of nocturna l hours). And by taking the
result from the excess of both of the intervals, we will have the
number o f years in question.
In these passages, as I said, he has manifestly inverted the
argument in order that it should provide the same position for the
succedent place that the releaser had, by seasonal hours equal to
those that the preceding place was distant from the Midheaven, and
find ing the mult itude of times from places left over.
In order that what is being said should be made clearer, he says,
let an ill ustration be laid down. And let it be supposed that the
releaser is upon the beginning of Aries, and the succeeding place
upon the beginning of Gem ini, and the zone being that through
lower Eb'YPI. Ptolemy makes usc of differen t positions. First, that
the releaser is marking the hour; and since th is is six hours distant
from the Midheaven (for the /16roskopos is 90 degrees distan t from

43
the degree at the peak, and the magnitude of the hourly times has
15 degrees, by which the 90 degrees are divided, making 6 hours),
and he also takes the hourly times in the succeeding degree (that is,
in the beginning of Gemini) in the same zone, which are approx-
imately 17, and he multiplies the 17 times into the six hours, and
they come to 102 limes. Again, it is necessary to take the original
posit ion of the succedenl (at the beginning of Gemini) in relatio n
10 Ihe Midheaven (that is, in relation to the beginning of Capri-
corn), and finding the first degree of Gemini in the right sphere to
be in 148 times, and subtracting the 102 times of the 6 hours, he
had the remaining times of the interval, which very times are
totalled from the ascensions of Aries and Taurus in the 3rd zone.
After this, he again supposes that the releaser culminates; since
it is at the very place of the culminating degree, he makes use only
of the position of the succedent upon the right sphere, and the
beginning of Gemini is distant from that of Aries by 58 times.
Thirdly, he supposes the releaser to be selling, distant from the
culminating degree by 6 hours. Again he multiplies these into the
17 times of the succedent , and they become 102 degrees. Since,
then, the beginning of Cancer now culminates for this arrangement,
while the beginning of Gemini is distant {rom Cancer in the
preceding direction by 32 times, for this reason, after having
subtracted these times from 102 times. 80 times are the remainder.
And the same number is found in the case of the descensions of
Ares and Taurus, that is, for as many times as the diameters (thaI
is, the Scales and Scorpio) ascend.
And after the differentiating of the 3 pivots, he supposes that
the release r is between the meridian and the occidental horizon, and
he sets it out that the 18th degree of Taurus culminates. Since
therefore the beginn ing of Aries has 15 hourly times, while the 18th
degree of Taurus is distant by approximately 45 times on the right
sphere. having divided these times by the number 15, he finds the
releaser to be 3 seasonal hours distant from the Midheaven. And
multiplying these into the hourly magnitude of the succedent (that
is, into the number 17),5 1 results. But the beginning of Gemini is
distant from the Midheaven by 13 times in the succeeding direction,
which I collect together with the 51 times, and approximately 64
results.
Nevertheless, it does not appear consistent with this example
that he made use or the aforesaid. For it was necessary, since he
supposed the releaser to be in the 9th place, to investigate when it

44
will come to the setting degree, which he calls destructive, which he
sough t when the succeeding place came to the releaser (that is, the
beginning of Gemini to the beginning of Aries).
He says that another method is simpler, that if the releaser is
found between the pivots (say, now, between the Midheaven and t he
Descendant), it is requisite to take the culminations and the
descensions, as in the case before us, 58 culminations and 70
co-descensions. Then, after learning, as it is prescribed, how many
seasonal hours the releaser is distant from either one of the pivOIS,
however great a part these should be of the six seasonal hours of
the quadrant, just so great a part of the excess of both sums we will
add or subtract from the pivots being compared.
For example, since of the 70 and 58 mentioned above, the
excess is 12 times, while the preceding place was laid down to be
three equal seasonal hours distant from each of the pivots, whieh
are a half-part of the six hours, by also taking half of the 12 times
and eithe r adding to the 58 times or subtracting from the 70 times,
we will find the [result] 10 be 64 times.
Though if it was removed from either of the pivots by two
seasonal hours, which arc a third-part of 6 hours, we will again take
one-third of the 12 excess times, that is, 4. And if the distance of
two hours had been laid down to be from the Midheaven, we would
have added to t he 58 times; but if from the Descendant, we would
have subtracted from the 70 times.
Such arc t he methods of life expectancy that Ptolemy set out.
And for the rest, he adds that it will be necessary to examine with
precision, with the dispositions likewise found for the years lOS,
whether [the encounters] arc terminally destructive if in addition to
the encoun ter being afnicted, the ingress of the [time-lords]l(k; is
found to be harmful in relation to these places themselves; or
whether [the encounters] are only subject to crisis if (as was said
before) one of the natal beneHes should be helpful at the time of

105 From context and a comparison with the Ptolemaic text this seems
to refer to the establishing of the time-lords concu rrent with the directed
encounters.
106 Assuming that the genitive pronoun aur6n here refers back to the
time-lords, since Ptolemy makes it clear at the end of his treatment of the
division of the times that it is the transits of the time-lords that are most
significant.

4S
the encounter (for when the ingress of (the benefic time-lords] is
more powerful than that of the (maleficsl, it provides aid); but
when all are benevolent. one must suppose only torpor or mischief.
Nevertheless, he said that nothing prevents [us), if the releasing is
in doubt lO1 from the fact that these things have happened before,
from having confidence for future events in those (releasings] that
arc more in accord with them; nor is there anything to prevent us
by way of observation from retaining all [the releasingsj due to the
equality of what has been found, while making an examination of
tbem with respect to more and less.ICll!
For all these reasons, Ptolemy gives us leave to consider the
difficulties in regard to the foreknowledge of the completion o f the
expected term of life; fo r, many qualifications are dubious. And
aft er the life has come to an cnd, it is easy to find the contrary
dispositions, though it is difficult while the native is alive, and
especially if someone chances to be unreflective of the ingresses o f
the remaining stars in accordance with the procession of years.
Nevertheless, in the case of those nativities for which the releaser
and the destroyer are not in doubt, and with the ingresses and
positions of the stars in accordance with the procession of years
being known, it is possible, I believe, to show easily the completion
of life. And Manetho says nearly the same things in his verses
concerning tbe length of life.

12. Concerning Bodily .'orm and Mixtuu

We have already made mention quantitativelyl09 of the bodily

107 Read ing distazt1 here instead of diaslilZ6.

108 In other words, if according to the putative releaser the native
should either have died or had a major crisis, yet he manifestly did nOI, we
may no t have selected the correct releaser. Ptolemy says that there is
nothing wrong with trying to work backwards and see if there is a releaser
that does account for the times of crisis in the native's life, yet docs not
predict crises or death when it did not occur. Alternatively, he says that we
may regard all the releasers as being equally entitled, and examine what
happened during the times when the ooncurrcnttime-lords were transiting
the places of releasing.
]09 pows.

46
appcarance liO of each o f the begotten men in our speculations
conce rning the H oroskopos,1I1 and pursuant 10 Ihis we here add on
what pertains to the revelation of the bodily mixture, since the
[partsl of the body are naturally honored llZ before those of the soul,
as Ptolemy says. the body having the appearances of its un ique
intermixtures nearly connate with it because it is more material,...

IAfter Hephaistio's own ope ning, the remaining text in this chapler is
a direct quotation of Ptolemy's own treatment of this topic and identical
to the Ptolemaic tcxt up to the last two paragraphs (according 10 the
paragraphing in my translation of Bk IIJ of the Terrabiblos), where
Hephaistio abridges the Ptolemaic text a liltle. For example, where
Ptolemy says "the quadrant from the spri ng equinox to the summer
solstice makes bodies of good skin, large stature, robust, with good eyes,
abounding more in the wet and the h ot,~ Hephaistio says this same
quadrant "makes same [bodiesJ as the star of Zeus.~ No other
astrologers are cited in this chapter.J

13. Concerning Bodily Injuries and Ailments

Again we will SUbjo in Ithis topic), telling of the )treatm ents] of

Ptolemy1l3 as well as ot her [t reatments), and in sequence after the
bodily fo rms he introduces the injuries and ailments belonging to
these forms. And an injury is what has affected"~ the body all at
once and has a pain that docs not last, while an ailment loccurs)
either continuously or by seizures. It is necessary, Ptolemy says. to
observe carefully the two pivots, (that is, the Ascendant and the
Descendant) and the Pre- Descendant, which is 6th from the
fi6roskopos, and to observe how the malefic sta rs chance to be
confi gured to them. For if either one or both the malcfics should

110 idea.
111 See chapter 3 of this book of Hephaistio.
112 protimat'J.Ptolemy has prorupotJ, which means ~m olded prior to."
113 Tn this chapter Hephaistio substantially reworks, rearranges, and
abridges Bk III, chapter 13 of the Terrobibfos, so I have not omined it here.
In a number of ptaces in Hcphaistio's version there may be some subtle
alterations of Ptolemy's meaning. The reader is encourag~d 10 compare the
two (exls.
11'4 dialilhimi.

47
be in these places, or should be squaring or d iametrically opposed
to the degrees [pre-]aseending them, one must suspect bodily
injuries and ailments for the offspring, and especially if one or both
of the lights chance to be pivotal and the malcfics ascend after them
or chance to pre-ascend them.
And the parts of the z6idja surrounding the injured part of the
horizon will indicate the part of the body, while the natures of the
stars reveal the species and the causes of the accidents. Of the
widja, as we have sa id, Aries is taken for the head; Taurus for the
neck; Gemini for the shoulders and arms; Cancer for the upper
chest and ribs; Leo for the hea rt and breast; Virgo for the belly;
Libra for rump and haunches; Scorpio for the modest and seminal
parts; Sagittarius for the thighs; Capricorn for the knees; Aquarius
for the legs; Pisces for the feet. m
Of the stars, Kronos has authority over the human parts of the
right ears, and spleen, bladder, phlegm, and bones; the star of Zeus
over touch, lung, bronchial tubes, semen; the star of Arcs over the
left ear, kidneys, veins, and (private] parts; the Sun over sight, brain,
beart, sinews, and the right-side of everything; the star of Venus
over smell, liver, flesh; the star of Hennes over speech, reason,
longue, bile, buttocks; the Moon over taste, gullet, stomach, belly,
womb, and the left-side of everything.
It is one of the generalities that injuries happen for the most
part when the malefics imposing the cause are o riental, while
conversely there arc ailments when they are occidental.
Certa in particular (figures) have already gained exceptional
scrutiny. For, impairment of vision is produced whenever the lights
should be indicalive,1I6 for one of the eyes when one of the lights
should be so, and for the two eyes when both should be so. And
especially, the Moon by herself signifies the impairment when she
is in a waning ll1 phase in the aforesaid pivot s, having the Slar of
Ares or the star of Kronos or an afflicted star carried to her while
this star is orien tal, if she also applies to one of cloud-like clusters
in the zodiac, as to the nebula of Cancer (which is called the

llS The assignment of body paris to the zOwiJl is not found in the
Ptolemaic lex!.
116 simantikos.
117 apokrou.ftikos.

48
Manger ll' ) and to the Pleiades and to the arrow point of Sagiu arius
and to the st ing of Scorpio and to the parts around the Lock or to
the pitcher of Aquarius. And if this should happen to both the
lights (that is, the afflicted planets and malefics should be
configured east to the Sun and west to the Moon), they will causc
the impairment for both eyes: configured with Ares, fro m a blow o r
stroke, configured with Hermes, in palacstras and gymnasiums or by
attacks of ma lefactors; and from Kronos by chills or cataracts or
glaucoma.
And from Aphrodite being present with Kronos or Ares while
they are in superior position or diametrical [to her), men become
sterile, while womcn are overwhelmed with miscarriages and
premature births and abortio ns, and especially in Cancer and Virgo
and Capricorn . And they become eunuchs or hermaphrodites or
women without holes and orifices whenever the Moon, while
waxing, should apply to the star of Arcs while Kronos testifies to
Hermes. And with the lights and the star of Aphrodite being
masculinized, and with the Moon waning and the malefics being
carried 10 Aphrodite and the Moon, the men become castrated o r
have their parts injured, and especially in Aries, Leo, Scorpio,
Capricorn, Aquarius; the women become childless and sterile.
Sometimes such natives do not remain without injury to sight ;
but when the star of Hermes and the star of Kronos are present
together upon the said pivots, they will have the tongue impeded,
and espccially when the star of Hermes should also be under the
beams whe n the Sun is setting.1I9 And when the star of Ares sho uld
be configured with them, it loosens the impediment of the tongue.
Again , if the lights should be carried to the malefics upon
pivots, either at the same time or diametrically. or if the malefics
should be carried 10 the lights, and especially when the Moon is
upon the nodes or the bcndings (that is, in the southern or northern
extremity) or upon the blamewo rt hy z6idia, such as Aries, Taurus,
Cancer, Scorpio, Capricorn , the natives become hump-backed o r
crippled or lame. When the malefics are diametrical. they for the

I II PJratlli
11'1 It is interesting tha t the Ptolemaic text he re has "and especially
when the star o f Hermes should also be occidental and bolh are configured
to the Moon." According to Hcpha istio's word usage, 'occiden tal' would
seem 10 be synonymo us with being under the beams.

49
most part cause dangers from hanging or collapses or quadrupeds
or attacks of robbers, and especially when Hermes should be
present or look on. For the most part, injuries come about when
the Moon is near the spring equinox. through white leprosy; near the
summer solstice through lichens; near the autumn equinox through
leprosy; and near the winter solstice, through moles and the like.
But ailments are apt to result whenever the malefics should be
configured upon the above positions, though in the opposite manner
(that is, west with respect to the Sun and east with respect to the
Moon). And again in general, Kronos makes the natives full of
phlegm, emaciated, cold in the belly, prone to dropsy, jaundiced,
prone to coughing, vomiting, colic and those with elephantiasis; it
also makes women prone to disorders of the womb. The star of
Ares makes the natives liable to spit blood, melancholic, diseased in
the lungs, those with scabies, and in addition, it makes the natives
continually irritated by cuts or cauterizing of the hidden parts on
account of fistula s and hemorrhoids or tumors, or also burning
ulcers or sores; and furthermore, it is apt to overwhelm women with
miscarriages or abortions.
The star of Hermes cooperates with them, especially for the
intensification of the ill-effects, with the star of Kronos in the
direct ion of the colder, and rheumatisms and accumulations of
fluids, especially of those around the chest and throat and stomach;
and with the star of Ares by being strong in the direction of the
dryer, as in the cases of ulcerated eyelids and esehars and abscesses
and erysipelas and wild lichens and black bile, or madness or the
sacred disease.
In a particular manner, when Cancer and Capricorn and Pisces
and, o n the whole, the terrestrial and the piseine z6idia , chance to
be upon the place of those furnishing the cause with regard to life,
they cause ailments through ulcers and lichens or scales or scrofula
or fistulas or elephantiasis. Sagittarius and Gem ini cause ailments
through fa lling sickness or seizures. And when the stars are en-
countered in the last degrees of the twelfth-parts, they cause
ailme nts and injuries, especially in regard to the extrem ities. With
these things being so, if none of the benefics should be configured
with the malefics which impose the causes, the ailments will become
incurable and painful; but when these [benetics I are looking on, they
become easily alleviated and mode rate, and at times even easy to
get rid of.
The [treatments} of Dorotheus are likewise ·in accord with these.

,0
One must examine these [figures}, he says: If the 6th z6idiofl is
bestial or mo ist, or the lord of this domicile is itself in such a place,
it causes injury; and Kronos injuries through fluxes; Ares through
burning or bites of wild beasts or by being taken captive by a spear,
but when it is occidental, through coughing up blood; and when
Zeus is afflicted, it causes some bad injury through the drinking of
wine, and at times also it swells the liver.lll!

14. Concerning the Lot or Injury

The Lot of Injury is taken for day births from Kronos to Ares and
an equal amount from the Horoskopos, but in the case of nocturnal
births from Ares to Kronos, and it is necessary to examine the lord
of thc place at which it fall s out, how it is situatcd, and what the
z6idion signifies in relation to parts of the body; we say that the
injury is therc. ' 21 And Dorotheus says that it is necessary to examine
the trigon lords of the subterrancous pivot, and accept the lord of
the sect for the quality of death, and the second lord for injury. It
is requisite, then, to examine how this (lord] lies in the nativity in
relation to {itl and to the Lot of lnjury (which we explained before),
and to declare accord ingly; for, the accord of many bears a truth
that is known well. III

~Wh e n it is carried beyond the culminating z6idion.~

not only when the Moon is in the subterrancous pivot, as he sa id,

are the natives born short, but again when it is ncar to
conjunctionl2:l along with Kronos, and in the occidental horizon; fo r
by observat io n it was found thus.

120 This passage clearly correlates with IV 1,66-7 1 of the Arabic

version of Oorotheus in Pingree's translation. One thing that is interesting
hom comparing the passages is that Hephaistio is clearly using the term
'occidental' more in the manner of Paulus than of Ptolemy, fo r the more
expanded Arabic version speaks of Ares' being ~covered up under the
Sun's lighf where Hephaistio simply says ~occid entaL~
121 Com pare the Arabic version of Dorotheus, IV 1, 75 fo r this 101.
122 Compare the Arabic version of Dorotheus, IV, 1,81-83.
!2J With Ihe Sun .

SI
 IS. Conccl"ning Quality or Sou l

We have already made mention of these [issues) in the treatments

hitherto ; for, the qualities that pertain to the soul arc quanti-
tativelylU subsequent to the corporeal mixture. And since Ptolemy
made mention of these issues in a way peculiar to him,12S we will
again quote the principal matters from his (expositions), with
abridgements. Of such qualities, those concern ing the more noetic
and rational part are grasped through the condition that is stud ied
in accordance with the Slar of Hermes; those concerning the part
that is non-ra tional and that pe rtains to characte r l26 from the Moon
and from the stars configured with her in sepa rations and
applications. T hey are also grasped through the zoidia in which
Hermes and the Moon arc found ; and furthermore from the stars
that assume the predomination over them; and again, from their
figures in relation to the Sun and the pivots.

lin the detailed delineat ions that constitu te the remainder of this
chapter, Hephais(io does what he says in his tirst paragraph, mostly
abridging, oaasionally adding or substituting. He gives such detailed
del ineations lor Kronos and Zeus, both alone and with the co-rulership
of the other planets. He breaks off with Ares, sayi ng that the remain-
ing delineations can be conjectured from the nature and power of those
Slars. He concludes with an abridgment of PlOlcmy's description of the
cont ribution of the Moon and the Suo to the quality of soul.]

16. Concerning Ailments or the Sou l

We have likewise already made mention of these matters also, but

since [Ptolemy) sets them o ut in a manner of his own , in following
him we will quote the same with abridgment.
Epileptics, fo r the most part, arc all those who, when the Moon
and the star of Hermes (as we said) are unconnected 10 each other
and to t he rISing horizon, have the star of Kro nos by day and the

IH poms.
t25 idiaZO'l((js.
lZ6 i tJukOf. llle receIved Ptolemaic text has aisthitikos (pertaining to
sensation) hCIC, which is no SlIIall diffcrence.
star of Ares by night pivota l and scrutinizing the above figure ....

[Hephaistio omits Ptolemy's gene ral introductory remarks to this topic

(first two paragraphs in Bk 1If, chapter 15 of my translation of
Tetrabiblos, quotes the rest virtually word for word, with only slight
abridgme nts toward the end.}

17. Concerning Fortune Pertaining to Acquisition

In the external matters, it is requisite for the circumstances

surrounding acquisition to be connected with bodily affinities and
accordingly to come first. It will be necessary, then, to examine the
Lot of Fortune, as Ptolemy says in a knowledgeable manner, which
always has the interval from the Sun to the Moon and is projected
from the Horoskopos. It is requisite, then, to investigate the stars
that assume the rulership of the twelfth-part upon which it (aUs, and
how these sta rs share in power and fa miliarity ....

[The remainder of this chapter is nearly identical to chapter 2 ofBk IV

of the Tetrabiblos, wi th a few minor and unimportant abridgments.
There is one addition. The Hephaistio text adds that "when Kronos is
simply tri ne to Zeus, even apart from the Lot of Fortune, it produces
those who are exceedingly rich ."}

18. Concerning Fortune Pertaining to Rank

Also, the fortune pertaining to rank was connected to the affinities

of the soul. It will be necessary, the n, to examine matters of rank
and the happiness of such both from the disposition of the lights
and the familiarity of the stars spear-bearing for the m. For when
both the lights are pivotal in masculine z6idia , or again both of
them, or even one of them, a nd especially the light of the sect, also
has the five stars spear-bearing,l27 east relative to the Sun and west

127 Hephaistio's Greek text is sligh tly different than Ptolemy'S here,
representing one possible reading of an ambiguity in the Ptolemy text as we
have it. My translation of the Ptolemaic passage (Bk IV, chapter 3) reads,

"For when both the lights are in masculine z(Jjdia, and again both of them,

53
rela tive to the Moon, the offspring will be kings. And if the
spear-bearing and responsible stars should be pivOlal,lll {the
natives) will become great and powerful and world- rulers; and they
will be even more happy if t he spear-bearing stars are configured to
the right of the pivot under '29 the ea rth. But wit h the other things
being so, if the Sun alone should be in a masculine roidion while the
Moon is in a femin ine one , and one of the lights is pivotal, the
nat ives will be only governors, lords of life and death . And if in
add ition to these, the spear-bearing stars sho uld not be pivotal or
should not testify to the pivots, the natives will be me rely great and
will be in the particular rank that pertains to the wearing of wreaths
or of guardia nship or of military command , and not in that of
governo rs. And if the lights should not be pivotal, but most of the
spear-bearing stars arc either pivotal or configured with the pivots,
they will not come into the ranks that arc morc outstanding, but
into political leadership and a modest degree of expectation
conce rning their livelihood; t hough if the spear-bearing stars arc not
associa ted with the pivots, [the nalivesi are rendered obscure in
their actions and without advancement . And finally , they become
abject and unhappy in their fortun es whenever neither of the lights
chances to be either pivotallJO in a mascul ine z6idioll , or chances to
have benefics as spear-bearers.

or even one of them, are pivotal, and especially when the light of the sect
also has the five stars spear-bearing.. ."

The difference is that Hepha istio 's text forces the pivotal condition back on
both the lights, whereas my transtation assigns it to one or both the lights.
Howeve r, my own translation is in error in the last pari. The correct version
of the alte rnative I am suggesting in my own translat ion should read,

"For when both Ihe tights are in masculine z"idia , and again both of them,
or even one of them, are pivOIal, especially the light of the sec:, with the
five stars also spear-bearing ... •
128 The Ptolemaic text adds here "or configu red to the pivot above the
earth."
t29 The Ptolemaic text has "pivot above the earth."
130 The Ptolemaic text clearly has "wheneve r neither of the lights
chances to be either pivotal or in a masculine Z()iJiO/I , or chances to have
benefi cs as spear·bcarers: again a somewhat important difference corres·
pond ing to the different readings mentioned in the first no te to this section.

54
 [Hephaistio omilS the remainder of Ptolemy's chapter.1

We are setting out both these things to which Ptolemy gave heed
and the treatments by others and Dorothcus, in order that we may
derive the concord of truth from many approved (treatments).
Dorotheus, then, makes his examination from the trigon lords, as
follows.

"Those having authority over the triangle in which B elios is god.~

And he says that it is also necessary to examine how the lords of the
Hour and the Midheaven and of LifeUllie in the nativity (for if they
should be found to be well situated, they signify fine things; if
si tuated in the opposite manner, the opposite things; and if situated
moderately, moderate things). It is also necessary to examine the
Lot of Fortune according to him (that is, from Sun to Moon and an
equal amount from the Hiiroskopos in diurnal nativities, and fTom
Moon to Sun and likewise an equal amount from the H6roskopos in
nocturnal nativities), and what kind of stars see the Lot and how
they arc situated. If then the lord of the Lot should be found in a
bad place and the benefics are in aversion to the Moon, while the
malefics are pivotal or ascending,m know that the native who
chances to have it so will be unfortunate; but if theyllJ should be in
their proper places and should scrutinize the Moon (clearly, with
them seeing the Lot), know that the native will be fortunate. Again,
if we should find the malefics in the nativity to be pivotal, with the
benefies returning,l:W and again if the Moon should be separating
from the malefics, but applying to benefics, such natives will have
good fortune in the last part of their lives. When they arc allotted
the second place of livelihood .... us
Nevertheless, others of the ancients (one of whom is Porphyry)
have said that malefics chancing to be in the 11 th place must no t do

IJI The second l~idion in a whole-sign house system.

ll2 epanerchomai. This is probably a synonym for 'post-ascending,' bUi
the word could also mean 'returning'.
I3J Contexl would suggest that the malefics are meanl here.
1}4 t:panuchomai again.

us Apparcnt lacuna heJc.

55
harm;l36 likewise, it is requisite for those causing (the natives] harm
to take over as the agc advances. Again, hc says, count from the
lord of the second place up to the second itself and projcct an equa l
amount from the Hour, and again examine that zoU/ion upon which
it falls out,m what kind of stars it has and how they arc situated,
similarly to the above {discussions] related to this topic, and make
a declaration . And if benefics should sec the place, they signify
goods things; if malefics, bad th ings. And if one of the benefics
should see the place when it is occidental and about to be orienta l
after 7 days,IJS it will thus furnish wealth and weal.
Also, concerning all the lots he gives this command: if the lot
should occupy a good zoidion and its lord is either in this ztJidio" or
in such a good place and out of the beams, it brings ve ry many good
th ings in the nativity; but if it should be under the beams or just
about 10 go into concealment, whatever they signify , he says,

"dries up quickly when falli ng under the lighl

within a short interval."

And he also says this: examine which of the stars in the nativity first
arrives at the place of the Moon o r Ihat of the Horoskopos; for, in
being the firs t to arrive al these places, this star will reveal the
measure of the fortune. And he makes an examination of the
nativities in such a manner, as he sets out;

"And we will traverse all and each topic

of the nativity that you may learn: LJ9

Uf> That is, if the nalive is 10 be fortu nate.

\}7 Th is is the Lot of Livelihood. Since a whole-sign house system is
intended here, we must take the interval from the lord of the second
z(Jidiotl up to the beginning of Ihe second z(Jidwtl. This 101 docs nOI reverse
by nigh t.
138 Beca use the interval fro m occidenlality 10 orientality is only 7 days
here, il seems likely thaI Dorotheus was using the definition of occ:iden-
tal;ty thaI considen il to be synonymous ....·ilh being under the beams, while
orien taJity mea ns that a planet has already heliacally rise n. Cf. Paulus'
Imrodllclory Malle~, chapler 14.
1}';I Most of th is Dorotheus material can be found in diffe rent places
in Ok I, chapten 20, 21, 24 , 25, 26 of the Arabic vcnio n of Dorotheus as
translated by Pingree.

56
Now, we should also add here the manner in which others (those
around Pctosiris and Nechepso, and of them, Antigonus of Nicaea)
did indeed investigate nativities.
Someone was born,
he said, having the Sun
at the 8th degree of
Aquarius; the Moon and 't1 ~
Zeus and the H6rosko- f
pos, all three upon the ---'------''1------1'''----
first degree of the same D
z6idion Aquarius; Kronos =0
at the 10th degree of
Capricorn; Hermes with
him at the 12th degree; 9
Aphrodite at the 12th )( d
degree of Pisces; Ares
with her at the 22nd 1I
degree; the Midheaven at
the 22nd degree of Scorpio. I"" Such a one, having been adopted as
a son by a cert ain emperor who was of the same family, likewise
became emperor himself around his 42nd year. Being wise and
educated, he was honored like a god with shrines and sacred
precincts. And though he was joined to one wife from her
maidenhood, he was childless. Also, he had one sister, and he was
engaged in rebellions and discord with his relatives. When he came
to about his 63rd year, he died, fall ing victim to a shortness of
breath caused by dropsy.
And the reason why these things happened to him is
invest igated in this manner. He became emperor because the two
lights were on the Horoskopos, and especially because the Moon was
in sect and applying to the Horoskopos to the degree and also to
Zeus, which is going to make its morn ing appearance after seven
days,HI and since the spear-bearers of these stars1ll were themselves

110 This is Ihoug.llI 10 be the natal data of the Roman emperor

Hadrian. The first few paragraphs are also found in Neugebaue r and Van
Hoc.scn's Greek Horoscopa, No. L 76, p. 90.
141 The standard idealized interval for heliacal rising of a planet was
15 degrees. The Sun is presently 7 degrees ahead of Jupiter in the order
of Zt'Jidill. In another 7 days the Sun will be about 15 degrees distant, and

57
found to be fam iliarly (situated), 'u with Aphrodite p rescnt in her
own exaltation, and Ares making a position in his own trigon and
in his own degrees,'" both in their own places and ascending after
the Moon. And in additio n, the lord of the cosmos, the Sun, was
a spear-bearer to her, being in the degrees following her, and itself
had Kronos as a spear-bearer, in its own domicile. and Hermes as
well, both being at their morning rising. It must also be indicative
that the Moon is about to apply to one of the bright non-wandering
stars at the 20th degree;I'5 for, it is not only necessary to examine
the application of the Moon to planets, but also to the non-
wandering stars.
He came to be of good size and manly and gracio us because the
two lights were pivotal, and even on the H6rosk opos, and they were
in a masculine z6idion of human shape. He was wise and educated
and profound because of Hermes chancing to be at its morning
appearance, with Kronos in the twelfth z6idion, and spear-bearing
fo r the Sun. And such was brought about from an early age owing
to the [morning) appearance; for always the morning risers produce
something from youth, while the evening risers show their activities
progressively.
And it is necessary to examine whether the lord of the place at
the peak '.16 is well situated and sees its place . For when it is oriental,
it makes the natives notable and effective and hard to overcome,
and also when it is occidental if it is not poorly situated, as is the
case in the theme l47before us (Ares, the lord of Scorpio, also being
uncorrupted in Pisces in its own trigon and in its own degrees and
sce ingl~ the place at the peak). But if the lord of the place at the
peak is poorly situated, it causes the opposite. And if ever the

Jupiter will fi rst be seen as a morning star, having emerged from the glare
of the Sun.
142 That is, the Sun and Moon.
143 1lle Greek way of expressing that a planet is dignified.
144 That is, in his own bounds (terms).
145 It is not clear what th is star is.
146 A cornmon Greek expression fo r the Midheavcn.
147 Theme is one of the G reek words for a cha rt, something set before
"'. 148 111;11 is, aspecting the Midheaven. Most Greek aspect words rcfer
to looking ahead in the order of the z6idia , but not this time.

58
masters of the unprofitable places chance to be upon profitable
places, they point to moderation in life. For, the star of Zeus
provided that which is of good judgment and high-minded and
munificent and effective in the forelying disposition, since it is on
the H6ros/wpos and is spear-bearing for the Sun and is on the same
pivot as the Moon . The cause of his having many legal adversaries
and many who plotted against him was from the two lights that
comprise the power being enclosedw9 by the two malefics, with
Kronos being at its morning rising and spear-bearing, and Ares
being at its evening (setting). That he prevailed over the hostility of
such persons resulted especially from Hermes being with Kronos in
the domicile of Kronos and both chancing to be in the twelfth place.
That he was honored and reverenced by all resulted from Zeus'
spear-bearing for the Sun while being upon a pivot; for, being
spear-bearer to the Sun and Moon in this fashion always makes
the native extolled and attended and reverenced by those who are
equally honored or even more highly honored; the beneficence also
holds true because of Zeus' chancing to be SO situated. That he was
both beneficent to many in this manner and reverenced by many,
resulted (as I was saying) from the pivotal position of the Sun and
Moon, which have the five planets as spear-bearers while being
familiarly situated. For every time that the Sun or the Moon or
both chance to be on the active pivots especially (that is, the pivot
of the H6ros/wpos or the Midheaven) and have all the stars as
spear-bearers in a fitting manner, they make the offspring who are
in such a condition kings who hold sway over numerous nations.
But since Hermes and Kronos happen to be in the twelfth place
at their morning rising, spear-bearing fo r the Sun, they make the
native wise, educated, and not well-intentioned but rather
treacherous.
That such a one was joined to one woman from maidenhood did
nOI here result from Aphrodite, but from the Moon being carried
under the beams of the Sun. And generally speaking, keep in mind
in the case of every theme, when Aphrodite chances to be upon a
pivot or upon a post-ascensional z6idion,uo and the Moon makes an
application to Aphrodite and to other planets that happen to be
co-present with Aphrodite, or testifying to her, it procures

14'1 In the latc r tradition th is condition is called besieging.

150 That is, a succedcnt house (using the whole-sign house systcnl).

59
marriages l51 fo r thosc who arc so born . And if the Moon only
makes an ~ pJjcation to Aphrodite, it is indica tivc of a singlc
marriage. I1tt if the Moon makes an application neither to
Aphrodite roT to one of the planets present with her or testify ing
to her, and the Moon is being carried to its full or new moon phase,
and Aphroate herself should be present with one star, in this
manner it aiD makes for a single marriage, just as in the case o f the
nativity befae us.
And the matter of the single sister for someone SO born will
sim ilarly be jemonstrated from the application of the Moon; fo r,
the Moon vas applying only to the star of Zeus up 10 her
conjunctive phase with the Sun. But if she had made an application
to several ciher by cont act or by witnessing/52 he would have had
several sibli~s; fo r, as many times as natives so born have the natal
Moon applyng to certain Slars up to a phase, just so many sibl ings
will they ha'IC. Le t this also be kept in mind by you, that for the
applicat ion (f the Moon, since bencfics give siblings while malefics
take them ~ay , the benefi cs also become distributors of good
siblings whcl they make appearances upon the pivots or upon the
post-ascendilg z6idia if they chance to be present with the lights
and familiarly situated, while the malefics become deprivers of
siblings whrnever they should be present with th e lights and
unfamiliarlY lituated. And one must also look at the differences o f
the z6idia, snce if the z6idia that provide fo r the matter of siblings
happen to txbicorporeal or tropical or fecu nd, they become a cause
of having nuny siblings. But why did the Moon not give a mas-
culine siblinr since it was applying to the masculine star of Zeus?
Because whm the Sun is marking the hour in a masculine z{)idion
and acccptilg an application of the Moon, il for the most part
becom es theca use of the fewn ess of masculine siblings.
The postion of the Sun around the Horoskopos brought it about
that this am became childless; for, the Sun having dealings upon
the Ascendm l always beco mes a cause of childlessness. Why was
he engaged in offenses against his relatives? Because o f the
position of Ilermes with Kronos. And what was the cause of such
a one bein! adopted as a son? The star of Zeus making an
appearance ()n the same pivot as the Moon in the firs t z6idiorl .

I ~ I ThaI S, more than one marriage.

152 Appl)'lIg bodily or applying an aspect.

60
What caused his dropsy and shortness of breath and the cha nge of
his life to an evil death? Because the two lights were enclosed by
the malefics, with all the stars having a position in watery z6idia, the
Descendant being in a terrestrial z6idion and enclosed by maleficsO
by a figure,I5J we would say that the cause of the dropsy and the
shortness of breath was made clear ahead of time from these things;
for always, when the destroyers enclose the Sun or the Moon
against the pivots, the causes of evil death come about.
It is not only necessary to examine these, but also the third and
seventh and fortieth day of the birth, just as in the nativity before
us, in the fortieth daym the Moon is found in Cancer, Ares in
Aries, and it results that o n that day the two malefics see the Moon,
Kronos d iametrically and Ares from a square on the right; this also,
Ihen, became a cause of his evil death. And it is not only necessary
10 observe the Moon in these days, bul also how the other stars arc
situated, as in the case of the nativity.
After filling up how much time of life did such a one die? [Thc
Moonl herself, having been found upon the degree of the H6ro-
skopos, becomes the releaser.155 And after living for as many years
as there arc degrees of ascension from the Moon up to the side of
a square l56 (that is, the first degree of Taurus), he will die; and
when she applies to the malefics or to the Sun in the degrees in
between, it will cause a crisis."lS1
Such is the treatment of the first nativity, then , as Antigonus sct
it out concisely from the things said by the ancients.

m Evidently the oppositions to Ares and Kronos, enclosing the

Descendant.
ISoI Here we have an indkation that the fortieth day of the Moon was
used to establish quality o f death.
ISS The releaser, o r aphelfl, is in this case the planet Ihat is directed.
I~ It was standard Hellenistic doctrine that one could not live for
more years than the ascensional degrees up to a square, although o ne could
obviously live for fewer years. Valens repudiated this doctrine since he had
seen counter-examples.
157 When the directed planet (in th is case the Moon) encounters a
malefic bodily or applies to one of its aspects, this was understood to cause
a life crisis, sometimes resulting in death. It is nOI clear from this passage
what directive method is being used.

61
 Next he also made

"_~r-0_;__~__9~
mention o f the second
nativity, as follows. Let it
be the case that someone n
has the Sun in Aries
__ D
__
around 19 degrees, in the
bounds of He rmes; the
Moon in Gemini in the
15th degree, In the H
bounds of Aphrodite;
Kronos in Libra around
20 degrees, acronycal; f2
Zeus in Aq uarius in the
6th degree, in the bounds
of H ermes in a morning
rising; Ares in Aries around l5 degrees, in the bounds of Hermes;
Aphrodite likewise in Aries around 5 degrees, in the bo unds of
Zeus; and Hermes in Aries around 6 degrees, in the bounds of Zeus
(with these three furthermore being subject 10 setting); the
Horoskopos in Cancer in the 24th degree. Ares, he says, will rule
over the nativity.lss The third day of the Moon will be in Cancer,
the seve nth in Virgo, and the forti eth in Scorpio. lS9
The one having the stars so situated will be distinguished among
those who are distingu ished,l60 a man of a uthority who punishes
many, very wealthy because of the trigon (with Kronos and Zeus
and the Moon being in it), but one who is not unjustly accused

158 It is not clear what system is being used here to determine Ares as
the ruler of the nativity. It is not the domicile ruler of the next sign after
the natal sign of the Moon (as advocated by Firrnicus Matemus); nor is it
the bound lord of the dominant light (which is here Hermes, bound lord of
the Su n). It is also hard to see how it could be a quasi-Ptolemaic system
either, since the dom icile lord of the Sun is Ares, the exaltation lord the
Sun (which cannot qualify as ruler of the nativity), the trigon ruler is the
Sun (again excluded), the bound lord Hermes, and the planet making the
closest aspect is Kronos. Perhaps Antigonus simply used the domicile lord
of the predominating light.
t59 This is No. tAO in Neugebauer and van Hoesen's Greek Horoscopes,
p. 79.
160 Neugebauer translates this as ~ve ry distinguished, of very
distinguished (ancestors)."

62
because of the position of Ares and Hennes upon the Midheaven,
both being under the beams, and distinguished beca use of the 4
stars that chance to be in the Midheaven, and because of the
prenatal conjunction ; for no small powe r occurs with the prenatal
conjunction wbenever it chances to be upon a pivot, especialJy the
Horoskopos and the Midheaven. And he happens to be inattentive
with regard to female intercourse and sordid with regard to male
intercourse, especially because of Arcs having position with
Aphrodite and Hermes in Aries, which is licentious, and because of
Aphrodite being seen by Kronos diametrically, and in addition
because of aU the stars themselves being in masculine zlJidia . Now,
since the Sun is upon its own exaltation and upon the Midheaven
and has as spear bearers the stars ascending before it in the same
4

z6idion and also Zeus in Aquarius (for they rema in spear-bearers up

to the pre-ascending square position), the theme rendered the
native splendid, perhaps, and very notable. Likewise, the Moon
waxing in a triangular figure in relation to Kronos and Zeus made
the native happy and very wealthy and one who provides many
offerings and gifts to his father land. And let this not escape your
notice, nOr that with all or most of the stars in their own z6idia or
places, it contributes to making dignified and notable men. The
length of life of this native is known from the releasing of the Sun
and fro m its square position, because it is in an opportune place
and the prenatal conjunction occurred in the same z6idion.
It is requisite, then, to examine the given nativities in this
manner; and so he makes mention of another and thi rd nativity of
someone, whom, he says, engaged in his own destruction and that
of his forefathers around the 25th year. He had the Sun and the
H6roskopos in Aries; the Moon in Taurus; Kronos in Aries, making
an appearance wit h a morning rising after three days; Hermes
likewise in Aries in a morning setting; Zeus in Pisces in a morning
rising; Aphrodite in Pisces in a morn ing station; Ares in Aquarius
in a morning rising; the Lot of Fortune falls on Taurus. The star of
Ares, he says, Tules over the nat ivity.'61 The third day of the Moon
is in Gemini, the seventh in Leo, the fortieth in Libra .' 62

161 Here again. as in the previous nativity, the only feature thai seems
10 distinguish Ares as ruler of the nalivity is the fact that it is domicile
ruler.
162 lll is is No. L113, IV in Neugebauer and Van Hocsen's Gruk

63
 Such a one was from
a great and distinguished
family. I mean that the
father and mother were
most highly esteemed,
though they died violent
deaths; for, the native,
though born with great
expectations and though
it seemed at that time
that he would come into
the kingsh ip, being ill·
advised around his 25th
3>
year, madc a mistake,
and engaging in an accu-
satio n directed at the kingship, was killed with a certain older man
(engaging in treachery because of him) , with the members of his
family being dismissed to humble [conditio ns]. That he became
distinguished was because the Sun is in the H~roskopol and has
spear-bearers; that he was ill-advised was because Hermes and
Kronos chanced to be in the domicile of Ares; that o nc of those of
his family perished was because of the same figure ; that he was cut
in pieces was because the Moon is in Taurus, an amputated widion,
and because Ares hurls rays at the post-asce nsion of the Midheaven;
that the harm was from a man was because Ares is in a z~idion of
human shape ; that he was erotic was because o f Aphrodite and
Zeus; that he was fond of fighting was because the star of Ares is
upon the post-ascension of the Midheaven and Hermes is in the
domicile of Ares; and that he died badly around the 25th year was,
he said, beca use the ascension l61 was the same (of Taurus and of

fioroscopa, p.l OS.

163 Taurus and Aquarius are l6idia of equal ascension. The ascen-
sional time of each of these zaidia is 25, for both the A and B Babylonian
systems; thus, some directive method is implied he re in the determ ination
of le ngth of life, probably the d irection of either the Sun or the Harolkopol
in Aries (the degrees are not given) to a sexlile ray cast by Ares in
Aquarius. Ptolemy (Hk In, 11 , p. 39 of my translation) says that the
hexagonal ray can be destructive if it invofvcs zaidia of seeing or hearing
(wh ich latter are sim ilar 10 z6idia of equal ascensio n).

64
Aquarius, I believe).
Next, in making mention of other nallvlties, he also made
careful observations of a similar kind, and in these nativities he says
that when Aphrodite has declined from the place at the peak, in a
unique manner it always causes instability for men in matters
concerning women; but when Ares has himself declined from the
place at the peak, in a unique manner it likewise causes instability
for women in matters concerning men. And he says that every time
the Moon or some of the wandering stars chance to be upon some
pivot, increasing in longitude and lat itude, along with one of the
non-wa ndering bright stars-for example, with the so-called royal
star l64 upon the heart of Leo at about the 5th degree-they make
the fortunes greater and most highly esteemed; and they also cause
the same thing upon the 5th degree of Aquarius.I60S ) Also, when the
Moon is parallel l" in latitude with [the one] upon the 15th degree
of Taurus,l61 it makes the natives wealthy, thrifty, and great men .
Chancing to be upon the 27th degree,l6& it likewise makes brilliant
leaders, active and religious men every one. Being parallel to the
bright star upon the 30th degree,l69 it makes leaders or brilliant
adm irals; and similar things also come about upon the 7th degree
of ScorpiO,I70 as it makes fri ends of kings or cruel deputies and
makes the natives venturesome and those who spend time away
from home, warlike. In this manner, he says, one must also
conjecture in the case of the other non-wandering stars.
Again, he says that those who have the Moon applying to
benefics while making a separation from bright stars, these natives
will be subordinate to those who have the Moon parallel to one of
the bright stars by widion. And they arc not those suffering viole nt
death ; for some degrees are ones of service, just as the king
Nccbepso says in his general (treatise]. In the case of nativities of
little repute, you will find the Moon subtractive in longitude and in
latitude and in light and being carried to malefics; for in this

164 Regulus.
163 Probably Fomalhaut.
166 ptJrobalM.
161 Aldebaran.
161 Bellall;:O:.
1/,9 Probably Alnilam.
110 Probably Antares.

65
manner it makes the na tivcs weak with respect to their bodies and
rea dy to take offense with respect to their souls.
AJso, in making a collection from the books of the
Solmeschoiniaka,11I he speaks in the same manner as it is there.
And one must also examine the decans, since the first decan of the
Horoskopos dea ls with birth; the 28th from the Horoskopos, which
culminates early, deals with livelihood; the 25 th , which culminates
at noon, deals with sickness; the Il)9th , which rises late in the east,
deals with injury; the 17th, which rises in the west, deals with
marriage and wives; the 8th, door of Hades, deals with children, the
one in the subterraneous [pivot) deals with death. These arc the
places that the ancie nt Egyptians used in evcry nativity.
Let such treatments, then, concerning the soul and livelihood
and adva ncement, have been set out; and wc will begin anothe r
subject likewise accord ing to our sequence.

19. Concern ing the Quality of Action

The quality of action is taken fro m the Sun and from the
culm inating zoidion. TImt is, it will be neccssary to consider bo th
that star nearest the Sun which has already made a morn ing
appearance as well as the sta r upon the Midheaven, when this sta r
has the application of the Moon most of all. And should the sa me
Slar occupy both the said {places), we must make usc of th is onc
alone. And if there should [not] ln be one slar occupying bot h o f
these places, but one should be related to one placc only, we must
likewise make use of it. And if one star has made the nearest
appearance and anothe r gains familiarity with the Midheaven and
the Moon, we must make use of both, giving priority to the one
having more counters for predomination, with regard to rulership
in the 5 ways. And if no planet is found that has either made an
appearance or is upon the Midheaven, we must take the lord {of the

171 This no longer extant book of early Hellenistic astrology was

evidently composed prior to the treatise of Nechepso and Pctosiris, since
it is citcd in that treatise itself. The title means something like ~P ictures."
172 Thc Greek texl has kllli m en h~urethii de eis ech6n ampholtro alia
proJ hefla mOflO" ecllii homoi6$ aUl6i chri$6melha. Thcre is clea rly a
negative missing here. which I have supplied .

66
Midheaven) , tho ugh in relation to occasional pursuits, and such
(natives] are on the whole inactive. The star taking the rulership of
action, then, will be determined in this manner, while the quality of
action is taken from the specific character of the 3 stars Ares,
Aphrodite, Hermes and Crom that of the zoidia they chance to be
traversing, and furthermore from the combinations of the other stars
with the 3 stars Ares, Aphroditc, Hermes.
Dorotheus says nearly the same thing when he says,

"Seek also for activity and what it is for each man,"

though of the pivots he puts the Midheaven first , the subterraneous

pivot second. the H6roskopos third, the Lot of Fortune fourth; he
makes no mention of the Descendant. And whcnever, he says, you
should find all these places void of the three stars Arcs, Aphrodite,
Hermes, then examine which had an application of the Moon in the
nativity. And if you should also find this void, examine which had
an application to the Sun. Here I believe it is not necessary to take
the star as applying to the Sun (for it will be under the beams), but
rather take the star nearest the Sun which has made a morning
appearance, as Ptolemy also says. And if you should not find this
to be the case, then the sixth from the H6ros/wpos. And last of all,
the second z6idion, which is the left trigon of the Midheaven. It is
requisite, then, to examine the priorities among these and (to
consider] the mighty one of the three stars to be the one lying upon
[it], and to assign to it the quality of aetion .m

[Hephaislio resumes his quotation of the Ptolemaic treatment with the

specific delineations of the three stars when they have the lordship of
the action, individually and in pairs, and continues quoti ng all the way
to the end of Ptolemy's chapter. He condenses and rewrites the
delineations somewhat, though they are substantially the same as in
Ptolemy.)

Let there again be set out sueh matters from Dorotheus as they
concern the Lot of Expedition, thusly:

Dorotheus' treatment of action, as represented by Ihis paragraph,

173
does not survive in the Arabic version.

67
 Whoever will be in warlike expedit io ns
You, being wise in th is lesson, will tell.
First count fro m Phainon l7l to Selenet:r.l,
Thereupon from the Hour, and whenever this number
Arrives at Scorpio or at the body of Aries,
Do miciles of Ares, or at Capricorn and Aq uarius,
Of the star crooked of counsel t7lS, that man
Will be in campaigns. And should Ares, sacker of cities,
Possess a pivot, gazing upon the splend id lights,
And should there be light at the hour,
H also divides the spoils by lot.
T ruly a man will not be glorious at the time of campa ign
When he does not have a mixture of Kronos and Ares,t71

20. Concerniog Slaves

In the matter of slaves examine the Lot of Slaves, This is taken

from Hermes to the Moon and an equal amount from the
H oroskopos by day, the reverse by night. Exam ine, then, the place
upon which the Lot fa lls, and the stars configured with it ; for when
good stars look on, the slaves will be good and for a good
[purposeJ ;L78 but when bad stars look on, the opposite. Others took
the Lot of Slaves as follows: taking [degrees) from Hermes up to the
Lot of Fo rtune, they projected an equal amount from the
H6roskopos, t19

21. Concerning Marriage and Sexual Union

And he re we will first set Ollt the treatments of Ptolemy, As he

174 Poetic name for Kronos, mean ing 'Ihe shin ing one',
17S The Moon.
176 Epithet for Kronos.
In Th is fragment from Dorotheus's treatment of activity and
profession cannol be located in the Arabic version.
17. f!1,i kall1i.
t 7'.l Presuma bly Ihis version of the Lot of Slaves is irreversible. The
reve rslhle version is Ihe Lot of Necessity, one of Ihe seven Hennelic lOIS.

68
says, concerning the lawful co-habitation of man and woman o nc
must investigate as follows . In the case of men, it is necessary to
have in view how their Moon is positioned ....

[Hephaistio proceeds to quote the e ntirety of Ptolemy'S chapter 5 in 8k

IV, with a few minor abridgments and attempts at rewording and
rearrange ment. He obliterates somewhat the distinction between lawful
and un lawful unions, as drawn by Ptole my himself.)

Again , we make a synopsis, by pulting togethe r the discussio ns of

Nechepso and others in the verses of Dorothe usYIO

ft We will forthwith tell of an exciting marriage on both side s~

wheneve r the trigon lords!'l should be in bad places while Aphrodite

is in good ones, and the natives accordingly marry well, though afte r
some loss; but if Aphrodite is in bad places while the trigon-lords
are in good o nes, and Zeus and Ares a re looking at Aphrodit e, it
makes, he says

fta woman who roams about in a frenzy , in whieh

manner she obtains co mpanions.~

And whe never the first trigon-lord is well situated, but the second
ill, it signifies that the nrst years of wedlock are good, but the lasl
poor; and it signifies the opposite when things hold in the opposite
way.
And he thinks these things about marriage,

"Always when Aphrogenes lB'2 possesses the occidental pivot ,"

110 The following material corresponds to various passages in n 1-6 of

the Arabic vers)an of Dorotheus in the Pingree translation, which is a fai rly
long treatment of the subject of marriage; the excerpts that Hephaistio has
made are scattered throughout th~ treatment. The delineations of the
planets in the Arabic version appear to be freely modified when compared
to the Greek text here.
111 These are the trigon lords of Venus according to the Arabic
version.
182 Name for Aphrodite.

69
and if Aphrodite should be together with Zeus while Kronos or
Ares looks upon them from another place, they sleep with the
mistresses of the househo ld ; and let similar things be supposed in
the case of women. When Aphrodite divides the hour or culminates
while being out of sect, wit h Ares under the beams white being
pivotal, the woman makes a marriage with someone of lower rank
than she; and with Hermes observing, she lakes to ma rriage o ne of
the populace and one of mixed blood.
And if tbe 7th zoidion from the 1·lour should be afflicted by a
malefic and under the beams, it causes Ih is. And Kronos distin-
guishes the marriage in terms of o ld people or those who arc dying
or fath ers; Zeus in terms of the populace; Hermes in terms of
calculators and such, or it makes the women foul t hemselves with
slaves; Ares makes them adulterers, and if Hermes is also present
with him while he is thus, they make those who are murderers of
their own wives; Aphrodite provides loss and difficult marriage .
... lllAnd if Kronos should be fo und thus, the bed fellow is some
old man or else a seducer;!$( and if Arcs, someone of low estate or
one who traffics in the body; and if Zeus, someone rich; if
Aphrodite, someone in a cheerful and drunken condition; and if
Hermes, someone by fraud and by contract and such like. And as
fo r the times, when Zeus ingresses into the places of Aphrodite by
transit, or even Kronos, it makes marriages, also when Aphrodite
ingresses into her own places. It is requ isite to make these con-
jectu res in the case of those expected to marry soon, but one must
likewise examine the ma rriage lots at that time.

22. Concerning Children

[The text of the first part of this chapter is virtually identical to that of
Bk IV, chapler 6 of the Tetrabiblos. 1

And Ptolemy set OUI these [matters] from the writings of Pctosiris,
and again DorOlheus spea ks (on this topic] while making an

183 Prob.ilble lacuna in lext. The upcoming passage evidently

corresponds 10 II 3, 4-9 in the Arabic version, wherein the discussion is
about the various planelS as Ihe lord of the marriage 101 .
184 phllt~uas .

70
examination concerning children. It is necessary to examine how
the trigon lords of Zeus lie in the nativity. whether in good places
or the opposite, or which of them is and which is not [in a good
place]. and to render [the effects) in relat ion to them •... I&S and
likewise to indicate the first and second [profession]11l6 for them.
Examine if the Lot {of Children] should be in good places and not
in unprolific [places), since if it should be found in the 6th or in the
12th place, the native will either be childless, or else he will weep
for his children. And if the Lot and the Descendant and likewise
the squares to these are lacking in stars, and especially in good
ones,

"I say that these are always lacking in offspring."

If the z6idia that provide children and the stars present upon them
should be of the feminine nature, the children will be female. and
if they are masculine or of mixed gender, the offspring will be
masculine or mixed. lt7

23. Concerning Friends and Enemies l "

Of friendly dispositions and the opposite, some are great and long
lasting sympathies and enmities, but others are occasional
frie ndships, abruptly broken off. In the case, then of those
(dispositions] that are studied as major attributes, it is necessary to
observe the most authoritative places in both nativities, namely, the
solar and lunar places, the place of the H6rosiwpos , and the place

185 Possible lacuna in text.

186 praxis.
187 The material in this short paragraph corresponds to II 8, 1-2, and
II 10, 6-7 of the Arabic version of Dorotheus as translated by Pingree.
1" Although the first several paragraphs of this chapler follow the
general flow of Ptolemy's treatment of frie nds and enemies in chapter 7 of
Bk IV of the Terrobiblos, and even uses much of Ptolemy's own phrasing,
the inlerpretive procedure presented by Hephaistio is different in a number
of important respects. It should be mentioned that Hephaistio docs not
claim that he is ad hering to Ptolemy'S presentation until later in the Chapter
when he begins to quote him verbatim. Thus, this chapter may represcnt
Hephaistio's own modifications of Ptolemy'S treatment.

71
of the Lot of Fortune, since when eithe r all o r most of them eit her
chance to be upon the same twelfth-pa rts o r else exchange places,
and espcciallywhenever the places marking the hour arc apart from
one another about 17% degrees, they make sympathies that do not
fail and are indissoluble and free from insult. But if they a re
positio ned upon twelfth-parts that square or oppose diametrica lly,
they make the greatest cn mities and long lasting oppositions. And
when they chance to be positioned in neither of these ways, but o nly
in twelfth-parts that are configured [with each other I, if they arc in
triangular or hexagonal (configurations), they make the sympathies
lesse r, as there occurs the occasional breaking off and pettinesses in
frie ndships whenever the malefics transit the con figuration, but
truces and restitutions in enmities in accordance with the ingresses
of the benefics to the figures.
And since there are three kinds of fr iendship and enmi ty (fo r
these kinds obtain either absolutely through mut ual preference o r
through need or through pleasure and pain), whenever the places
of the lights alone arc the same, one must suppose the friendship
to be through preference, which is the best kind ; but wh enever
they should be unharmonious to one another, one must likewise
suppose a voluntary enmity without trust. And whenever the Lots
of Fortune [are the same or unharmonious j, one must suppose [a
friendship or enmity) through need; and whenever the /l6roskopoi
[are the same or unharmo niousj, [a friendship or enmity ] through
pleasure or pain. And whenever all or most o f the sa id places are
fa miliarized to one another, the friendsh ip is composed from all the
kinds, just as when they are alt or most of them si tuated in an
unfam iliar manner relative to one another, the enm ity is composite.
Also. for those nativities in which the fi gures ca using friendship
arc contemplated by malcfics. or in the case when malefics ascend
after t hem, one must assign the principal [con tribution] of en mity
to [t he nativity with the contemplation of malefics] . And for those
na tivities in which there should be a superio rity of the figure in the
same or in the nearest z6idion, one must assign the higher autho rity
and mo re commanding [role l in the friendship or enmity to [the
nativity havi ng the superio rityl. And in the case of nativities in
which the contemplation of the stars toward the power of bencfics
is better, o ne must return the more beneficial side of the friendship
and the more corrective side of the enmity to (the nativity having
.~ u ch testimonyl, just as aga in (for nativities in which the
con templation of the slars] by benefies is better, lo ne must give ] the
one being benefited Cram the friendship to [the nativity in which the
contemplation by benefics is betterV"
For those temporary concords and oppositions that are
established from time to time, he says•...

(At this point Hephaistio begins to quote Ptolemy more or less

verbatim to the end of Ptolemy's treatment of this topic, with no
proceduraJ or interpretive changes.J

Let us again set out what has been said so well by Doro lheus.
Others. he says, look at the Lot of Eros. and clearly how it lies. by
what stars it is contemplated. and they examine carefully the matter
of fri endship in relation to this lot.

"And whenever Ares should be in superior position to Hermes."

Likewise, if it should be in the hearing o r seeing w idia. the

nativities will be sympathetic. Those z6idia equidistant from equi-
noctial widion hear each other: for example. Taurus and Pisces,
Gemini and Aquarius. the others in order. but following ThrasylJus
he says that Aries and Libra do not hear one another. And those
w idia equidistant from the tropical widia are seeing widia. But
Aries imposes commands on Libra because in Aries the day is
increased. while in Libra it is decreased. Similarly also, Taurus
commands Virgo in the same fashion , and the rest. And w idia of
equal ascension are sympathetic to one another especially if the
I

Lots of Eros of the two nativities should fall on them. And among
these there is more or less strength, more of it in the w idia from
Aries to Virgo, and less in the other hemisphere. And it is not only
requisite to use the figures already set out for an examination of the
circumstances of friendship in the case of friends, but also in the
case of woman and roan, and in the case of fat her and mother and
chiJdren.11IO

1" The Greek in this entire paragraph is very tricky.

1~ I have not been able to identify any discussion of
the synaslry of
the loIS of Eros anywhere in the receNed Arabic venian of Dorotheus.

73
 24. Concerning Travel Abroad

They carefully examine l91 the matter of travel abroad from the lights
in relation to the posit io n of the pivots, of bot h of them, bu t
especially of the Moon. For when thcy have set or have declined
from the pivots, it causes travel abroad. And when the slar of Ares
is in the 9th (that is, declining from the place al the pea k, or when
it is sctt ing, it causes travel abroad, especially whenever it should
have a position diametrical or square to the lights. And if the Lot
of Fortune should faU out in the zoidia that cause being away from
home, it ma kes the entire lives and the dwellings of the nat ives to
be in foreign lands.
If then benefics regard the said places or are brought to thcm,
(the natives] will have notable and profitable act ivit ies in the foreign
land, and they will have a rcturn journey that is quick and
unimpeded ; but if malefies do so, they will have a return journey
that is full of harm and hard to carry out ; and when benefies and
malefics are mixed, they will have mixed travel abroad.
On the whole , it results that if the lights fall out in the declines
of the eastern quadrants, the travel away from home is towa rd the
orient and the southern pa rts of the inhabited world . But if th ey
fall out in the declines of the western quadra nts or in the
Desce ndant itself, the travel is toward the northern parts and the
occident. And should the zoidia that cause t ravel abroad chance to
be single in form , eit her these themselves or the stars ruling over
them, [the natives] will make journeys away from home after long
imelVa ls and occasionally; but if the zoidia chance to be bicorporcal
or double in form, continuously and for a very long lime .
When Zeus and Aph rodite become lords o f the places that
cause travel abroad and o f the ligh ts, they cause the journey to be
not only without da nger, but even delightful; and when the star of

191 At first glance, it would appear as if this chap ter IS a slightl y

abridged version of Bk IV, chapter 8 of the Tt trnb,blos. iloweve r,
Hephaistio does not allribute it to Ptolemy either 31 the bcgmnlllg or at Ihe
end of the treatment, as is his custom ; instead, he says that -they carefully
examme Ihe mailer of travel," as if he is excerpti ng from some other text
Ihan Ptolemy'S. 111is opens up the possibility that the Ptolemaic text IS
Itself based on an earlier writing, with Ptolemy'S 0 ,,"' 1 e laborat1ons and
rcflllelnC nt ~ This IS why we have translated il in its enti relY.

74
Hermes is prescnt with these stars, it is better through gifts and
honors, But when Kronos and Ares look upon the lights, and
especially if they should be diametrical, the travels are dangerous
and profitless, When they chance to be in watery widia , [this
eventuates] through difficulty in sailing and shipwrecks, or desert
places; in solid wit/ia, by falling from overhangs and through winds;
in tropical and equinoctial widia, through lack of provisions and
discase·ridden conditions; in the zoit/ia of human shape, through
pirates and attacks; in the terrestrial z6idw, through wild animals or
earthquakes, and with Hermes present besides, through accusations,
and moreover through the bites of snakes and venomous animals,
And one must conjecture the significations for the time of travel
abroad from the quality of the occasional ingresses,
And again, for those interpreting the verses, we record the
following for the sake of easy remembrancc, Examine, he says, the
third day of the nativity, in which the infant begins to take
nourishment, whether Ares is present with the Moon at that time,
or squares it, or opposes it diametrically, or if in this day the Moon
should then become .. , I92

~Phain<') n "l and Puroeis,l904 Kronos by night and Ares by day"

Again, amsider the trigon lords of the light of the sect; if they
should be in proper places, they do not cause travel abroad; but in
places alien to them, they dO,I95

25. Concerning the Quality or Death

Here Ptolemy examines the circumstances surrounding death in a

natural and skillful manner, For he says that "if the destruction
should come about by releasing and encounter, it is fitting to
observe the place of the encounter with regard to the quality of
death; but if it should come about by the descent to the setting, the

In Text breaks off at this point,

m Poetic name for Kronos, meaning 'the shining onc' ,
1!1ot Poetic name for Ares, meaning 'the fiery one',
195 I have not been able to cross reference this passage to any section
of the received Arabi<' version of DorOlhellS.

75
place of setting itself....-

[He phaistio continues to quote almost verbatim the entire Ptolemaic

chapte r, with no significant changes as to conte nl or method.i

Othe rs carefully observe the circumstances surrounding the quality

of death from the 8th place, considering its form a nd nature and the
master of this place, and fu rthe nnore also the sta rs oonfigured (with
it), and fro m these they demo nstrate the kind o f death from the said
natures of the stars and z6idia .

"Othe rs, after counting from the Moon to the eighth zOidiofl
Of the HaUl- Divider, gave the m in turn from Kro nos;
Indeed, for the place a t which it left off and the lord of this place
They exam ine the witnesses, whoever they arc;
From these they speak both the shameful and the noble end. 1\16

26. Concerning the Division or th e Times

And he re, afte r having made the rounds of the present examination,
we will first consider It his issue) according to Ptolemy, again in a
natural and gene ral manne r. The man says that , just as in the case
of absolutely all the genethlialogical topics, a certa in destiny grea ter
tha n the particular ones is presupposed, na mely, that of the
count ries themselves, to which the particular matters in the
nativities, though studied in a general manner, are naturally subject
(such as the form of the body a nd the specific characteristics of the
soul and the variations of customs), it is also necessary for the one
who is inquiring in a natural manner to always lay hold of the
primary a nd most authorit at ive cause, then accommodate the
particular circumstances in relation to more and less. Thus, in the
case of the temporal divisio ns, it is necessary to presuppose and

196 Th is is a direct qUOle hom Dorothcus In verse. Thc Arabic version

of Ihis passage in Pingree's translation reads: "Also there were some of
those lea rned in the stars who counted from the Moon to the eighth, then
cast it out from Saturn; where"'er it reached, they looked althat sign, which
It was and whu planet was lord of that sign, [and] then Ihey Judged good
or evil for him." (IV 1, 158). Notice that the testimOOles of the planets has
hcen omitted from the Arabic version.
examine the differences of the temporal ages and their suitability for
each of the effects, lest we should ever unawares furnish marriage
for an infant and the begetting of children or something appropriate
to those who are more youthful for a quite old man, but rather we
consider and adapt according to what the age classes are like and
what they admit of.
There is, he says, one natural general approach of temporal
divisions the same for all of mankind, in accordance with the
likeness and analogy of the order of the seven planets. beginning
from the frrst age and the first sphere [rom us, namely, that of the
Moon, and leaving off with the last of the ages and the outermost
of the planetary spheres, which is called that of Saturn; and in truth,
the properties belonging to each of the ages agree with the nature
of the planet in the comparison, which it will be needful to observe,
in order that we may thereby examine the general [properties] of
the temporal [divisions), while we may examine the differences of
the particular [divisions I from the properties discovered in the
nativities.

[After this somewhat abbreviated version of Ptolemy's opening of the

last chapter of the Tetrabiblos, Hephaistio proceeds 10 quote Ptolemy
nearly word for word up until the end of Ptolemy's treatment. There
are only a few minor word changes, which eQuId be due to Hephaistio's
reading of somewhat illegible words in the manuscript at his disposal.
It is wonh noting that Hephaistio's quotation of the algorithmic and
delineative portion of Ptolemy's directive and profective procedure for
establishing time-lords is just about identical to our own received texts.
The only difference ooncerns one sentence in the following paragraph,
whieh is italicized. We quote our own translation of Ptolemy first, and
then Hephaistio's version.

Ptolemy-"Whether the event will be good or the opposite is taken

by means of the proper natural character of the time-lords in
commixture, and by means of their original familiarization or
antipathy to lhe place that is predominated. At WMt times the effect
will be more marked is shown by means of the configurations of the
yearly and monlhly z6idia to the places responsible, and by means of
the configurations of the z6idia for the ingresses and for the phases of
the SWI and Moon, to the yearly and monthly midia. For, those
[planets] related in a harmonious manner to the places disposed
from the inception in the nativity, and those configured in a

77
harmonious manner to them according to the ingresses, are fit for
the production of good things for the underlying form, even as they
are fit for the production of fo ul things if they should be o pposed;
and those related in an inharmonious manner a nd out of sect arc
causes of bad things if they are diametrically opposed or in square
to the transits, but no longer for the other configu rat ions.~

Hephaistio--Whe ther the evenl will be good or the opposit e IS

taken by means of the proper natural character of the time·lo rds in
commixture , a nd by means of their o riginal familiarizat ion o r
antipathy to the place that is predominated. At what times the effect
will be more marked is shown by familiariza tion of the yearly alu/
monthly z6idia, alld /Jrrollgh the ingresses and configurations of the
Sun ami Moon and stars. For, those [planets) related in a
harmonious manner to the places disposed from the inception in the
nativity, and those configured in a ha rmonious manner to them
according to the ingresses, are fit for the production o f good things
for the underlying form , even as they are fit for the production of
foul things if they should be opposed ; a nd those related in an
inharmonious manner and out of sect are causes of bad things if
Ihey a re diametrically opposed o r in square to the t ransits, but no
longe r fo r the other configurations."

We now resume wilh Hephaistio's chapleron the divisio n of the times. )

These things concerning the investigat ion of the times, then,

Pto lemy sets out in a natural and general manner, while he leaves
it for us to conjecture the particular altacks on the quality o f each
[timeJ from the general treatments. Next we will sct out the
treatments of others on this subject, and what we have found to be
true as we have exam ined them by experience.
Doro theus made use of the primary releaser when d ividing the
times.'!n If the nativity should be diurnal and the Sun upon the
Horoskopos or in the M idheaven or in the e leventh, he used the
lord of its bounds; bUI he did not use it simply, but rather, as he
says, it is requisite that it see its own bounds. And if it should nOI

L97 111at is, he did not use all five releasing places as Ptolemy docs III
dividing the times, but ralher the one of the five that has mOSI authority,
as Plolemy himself docs in his trea tment of lengt h of life.

78
be so, and some other star sees the Sun when the Sun occupies that
star'sl. own domicile, this one is taken; but if this one should be in
aversion to the Sun, while some other star should see the Sun while
the Sun occupies that star's own e1laltation, this one is taken; but if
this one should also be in aversion to the Sun, some other star is
taken that sees the Sun when the Sun occupies that star's own
trigon. These things, then, if the Sun should be in advantageous
places and is seen by the lo rd of its bounds or of its domicile or of
its exaltation or of its trigon. l99 But if the Sun should not be in
advantageous places, but the Moon chances to be in such places, we
prefer its lord in the same manner; but jf not, we prefer the lord of
the Lot of Fortune; and again, if the Lot should not be so found, if
the lord of the prenatal syzygy shouJd be in an advantageous place,
we prefer its lord; and if there is a full moon, we likewise prefer its
lord; and if the lord of these sho uld not be so found, last of all we
take the lord of the H oroskopos in the same manner. As he says,

"Always, then, that the releaser must gain the testimony of these."

In the case of a nocturnal nativity, we prefer the Moon when she is

in an advantageous place; but if we do not find her so, and the Sun
chances to be in the degrees close to the side of the f/oroskopos
under the earth, we will again make usc of its lord. 2OO In addition to
these matters, we must examine the releasing places and give
preference to the one removed from and free from connection to a
malefic. The times are given in the successive order of the bounds

191 tQn idion oikon. There is some ambiguity here (and in the upcom-
ing parallel conslructions) as 10 whether the dom}cile is the other star's or
the Sun's; however, upcoming text and the corresponding passage in the
Arabic version of DorOlheU$ confirm that we must be speak.ing of the other
star's domicile.
199 The Arabic version of Doro theus as translated by Pingree (III 2,
1-13) adds Ihe decanate 10 this list; however, there is not the least trace of
it in Hephaistio's treatment, and I believe that this represents an Arabian
addition to the list of dignit ies.
200 The Arabjc version of Dorotheus as translated by Pingree (III 2,
2.13) had earlier said that in o rder for the Sun to qualify as releaser in a
diurnal birth if it is in the Ascendant, it must be in the degrees above the
horizon.

79
acco rding to the ascensions of the appropria te zone, he says.W1 A nd
let there also be his illustration concerning these matters .... Xl!

27. Concerning the Yea,-lll

Project the multitude of years from the J-/6roskopos, and consider

the lord of the ziiwion at which it leavcs off, whcther it sees the
Horoskopos and whether it is oriental and additive lin numbers] and
in its own places~ (that is, in its bounds o r domicile or trigon or
exaltation). That it is also necessary to set up the Horoskopos of the
year in the counter.nativity,XIS and the stars that contemplate it and
its lord by fixi ryl« and by tra nsit. That the stars occupying th eir
own thronesXl'1 rejoice even if they should be under the beams; the

201 This whole procedure is elabo ra ted in the Arabic version o f

Dorothe us (1II2, 2·13). A much mo re detailed treatme nt with de lineatio ns
ma y a lso be fo und in Bk III of Abu Mashar's Revolulions of dIe Nativil.y
(Project Hindsight's Latin Track Volume XVI). This must be the method
of establishing lime-lo rds by means of the bounds only alluded to by Valens
in Bk IV o f the Anthology. It is interesting that this method seems to be
an inversio n of the Ptolemaic proced ure, in that it makes the bound lo rd
obta ined by direction the principal ti me·lord, and the plane t (or its ray)
encountered in the direction the secondary time·lord. However, we must
also ment ion that the bound lo rd is o nly me ntioned o nce in Ptole my's o wn
procedure (almost in passing), and may no t be a uthentic to his method .
202 The eumple is lacking in the Hephaislio texts.
203 Compare Bk IV 1, 1-22 of Pingree's translatio n of the Dorothe us
lext, altho ugh there is no re ason to think DorOlhe us is the o nly source for
this ma te rial.
204 These four astrological factors aU penain to plane tary power.
Z05 amigenesis. This is the standard Hellenistic te rm fo r a planetary
return, in this case that of the Sun. In the Arabic version of the Dorotheus
text as transla ted by Pingree, the solar re turn is defined as the moment
when the Sun enter:s "the beginning of the minute in whic h it was on the
day of the nativity." This is nOl the return described by Valcns in Bk Y,
cha pler 3 o f the Anlhology.
206 That is, natally. The Greek kata pUis is the standard He lle nistic
express io n fOi the fIXing of the stars in thei r positions al the nativi ty, as
o pposed to their constantly changi ng positio ns by nansi!.
207 DIfferent astrologers give diffe re nt defi nit io ns of what it means for
a planct to bc o n its own th rone. Sometmles it is ide ntified WIth presence

80
benefics increase the good things and the destroyers are changed
over in the direct ion of beneficence. That when the stars are in
opposition to their own domiciles, they are corrupted.- That when
we make the circumambulations209 of the stars in the divisions of the
times, it is necessary to know that the contacts of the planets and
the Horoskopos and the Midhcaven and the Lot of Fortune with the
non-wandering stars have a very great strength and actualization in
accordance with their mixture,210 and especially if they should have
the same wind. m That , before all, it is necessary to investigate the
lord of the year and its mixture and position and phase, and the
planets that see it by fIXity and by transit, and how it was situated
at the nativity, and how it was found at the time of the transit. That
the synodic stars are in power through participat ion in the solar
light, though they render up their actualizations in later tirnes. 2Il
And if the lord should be well configured by benefics, reveal the
year to be the best, and if it should be found in the opposites of the
aforesaid, it is clear that one must suppose the opposite leffect].
And if it also chances to be in another's domicile, it will be worse;
and if the malefics that are so [configured] should be in another's
domicile, st ill worse (for they cause illnesses or condemnations or

in the exaltation z"idion. For Ptolemy, it is the condition where a planet

has two or more dignities in the place it occupies.
ZOI kakun" in passive. This word can either mean 'damaged' or
'weakened' in the physical sense; it can also mean ' made evil' in the moral
sense. The English word 'corrupted' can do service for either of these
meanings. It is unclear which of these senscs is intended here-possibly
both. On the one hand, the discussion has gone from the conditions of
planetary power to their benefic o r malefIC character. On the other hand,
compare chapter 8 of Antiochus, where the opposition of a planet to its
domicile is analyzed in terms of the quality o r character of that planet to
the quality or character of the planet that has the opposed z"idion as its
domicile, which resu lts in a diminution or weakening of the natural
productive character of the planet.
2t;11 Th at is, when we direct the planet.
210 In 8k I of the T~trobiblos the power of the flxed stars is related to
the combination of the powers of planet pairs.
211 That is, o n the same side of the ecliptic as the planet.
212 If this refers to perfect conjunction with the Sun (being "in the
heart of the Sun" or "cazimi"), then Ihis little bit of lore tells us to expect
that ;ts effects sct in later on.

81
travel abroad), but if the benefics [that are so configured should be
in another's domicile). it will be lighter and more moderate (a nd
they ca use suspense, bringing expcnditures fo r a voluntary purpose
in the case of Zeus. some feminine reproaches in the case of
Aphrodite, and fin es and breaches of con tract in the c.I.sc of
Hermes).
When then the malefics arc .....ell situated in the counter-
nalivity,m they cause good things, Ares causing activities with heat,
Kronos energetic act ivity concerning agriculture or domestic
management. But the benefics furn ish better things, Zeus providing
an alliance and good marriage and fri endship and acclaim, and
sometimes also Ihe begetting of children, Aphrodite likewise
providing the same things as well as favor from females. and
Hermes profit from speaking.

~ ITh is was so ) if it went from the hour-divider of the given yea r. ~2H

28. Concerning the Month aod Dall!

And concerning the months and days, likewise examine those of the
stars present upon the z6idion on which the month o r the day falls,
or those seeing it, and make your conjecture accordingly. n le
z6idion on whieh it falls is known from the multitude of mont hs
projected from the natal month at one ziJidion for one month in
succession from the z6idion allotted the year. For each year. he
says,216 keep an eye on the square and diametrical figures of the
malcfics in relation to the zoidion allotted the year, and onc must
likewise examine whether the conjunctions and full moons were
made in relat ion to bencfics or the years in these four places.
For the days project the multitude of days from the birthday
from the zoidion of the month at one w idio n every two and one- half
days, and that z6idion upon which the multitude leaves off will have

UJ alltigenesis. That is, the solar return.

2 1~ Anot her stray line of verse rrom Doro the us.
21S Compare the Arabic version of DorOlhc us in Pmgree's Iranslal10 n
(IV 1, 46).
ZI6 If it is Dorothcus spcaklOg here, [ have not been able 10 find tillS
m the Arahlc version translated by PlOgree.

H2
the days.217 And Dorotheus has the foll owing things to say about
months and days. HAnd let it be for you when inquiring in this
manner that we narrowly watch the month."

29. Divisions of 10 years and 9 monlhs2!8

Some of the ancient Egyptians, having already added together the

periods of the 7 stars, which extend to 10 years and 9 months,219
beginning from the primary light of the sect, divided [this number]
among the stars successively in zodiacal order, giving 10 each planet
its own period; and furthe rmore also ma king a proportionate
subdivision of each pe riod into shorter times, they likewise gave
them to each of the planets in order, [starting] from the time-lord.
For example, le t Kronos be the one having the general times (that
is, 10 years and 9 months); from these Kronos distributes 30 months
to itself, and 12 months to Zeus (if it we re next in order), and aga in
15 months to Ares (if it were next in order) , and similarly to the
stars next in order, 19 months to the Sun, 8 to Aphrodite, 20 to
Hermes, and 25 to the Moon. And this is the primary and highest
division.
In the subdivision, Kronos, from the 30 months it takes,
distributes proportionately to himself 210 days, to Zeus 84 days, to
Ares 105 days, to the Sun 133 days, to Aphrodite 56 days, to
Hermes 150 days, and to the Moon 175 days.
Again, Zeus further distr ibutes from his own 12 months 34 days
to himself, 85 days to Kronos, 42 days to Ares, 54 days to the Sun,
22 days to Aphrodite, 57 days to Hermes, and 7 1 days to the Moon .
Ares, from his own 15 months, further distributes 52 days to
himself, 66 days to the Sun, 28 days to Aphrodite, 70 days to
Hermes. 87 days to the Moon, 105 days to Kronos, and 42 days to

217 Paulus profecls at o ne zaidioll per day to find the ruler of the day
(chapter 31 of Introductory Matters); Ptolemy at one zaidion for every 21h
days.
218 Com pare Bk VI, cha pter 6 of the Anthology for Va1cns' treatment
of this method; also compare Firmicus Matcrous' Malhesis, Ok VI, Chapter
33 and fallowing.
21') It is clear from the calculations in this chapter that the number 10
years, 9 months is based on a 360 day year, as Valens also confirms.

83
Zeus,
The Sun, from his own 19 months, furth er distri b utes 83 days to
himself, 118 days to the Moon, 130 days to Kronos, 52 days to Zeus,
64 days to Ares, 35 days to Aphrodite, and 87 days to He rmes.
Aphrod ite, from her own 8 months, further dist ributes 15 days
to herself, 36 d3ys to the Sun, 47 days to the Moon, 57 days to
Kronos, 22 days to Zeus, 28 d ays to Ares, and 38 days to Hermes.
Hermes, from his own 20 months, further distributes 96 days to
himself, 90 days to the Sun, 117 days to the M oon, 141 days to
Kro nos, 56 days to Zeus, 70 days to Ares, a nd 36 days to Aphrodite.
The Moon, from her own 25 months, distributes 148 d ays to
herself, 115 days to the Sun , 177 d ays to Kro nos, 71 d ays to Zeus.
87 days to Ares. 47 days to Aphrodite. and 119 days to Hermes.
In o rder to keep this in memory.U1 you easily make the pro-
portionate subdivision in the following manner. In the case oi
Kronos, having resolved the 30 months into 900 d ays, divide the
period of these days ta ken togct her by 129 months; they become
approximately 7. Make seven times the perio d of each star, then,
and you will find the fin e r subdivision o f its ten -year period; for
whateve r part 30 months a re of 129 months. 7 mo nths (that is, 210
days) are of 30 months (that is, 900 days). and thusly in the case of
Kronos. And in the case o f Zeus, you again make seven times its
twelve months, and you will find 84 days. And so on for the
remaining stars in order.
And in the case of the finer pam of Zeus in its own ten-yea r
period, divide its very pe riod (t hat is, a year) by 129; they become
approximately 2112 & 1f3, which you likewise mult iply by the period
of each star ; for the twelve months of ea ch year, they also collect
together the five-day period. llI
Nevertheless, it must be known that we find the effects to be
more in accord for the time-lords of the ten-year period whenever
we divide t he releasing of the times from the sect light if it is
pivotal. For when it is d eclining and unconnected to the Horo-
skopos , we do not likewise fin d the effects to be in accord.

220 ex eucherOlU de kai dia mnimd ecMn poiiseis lin tmafogiall tou
epil1lerismou hou/os.
221 I am not su re ..... hy a five-day period is mentioned here, unless 1\
refers to the 5V. day difference between the normal year and the 360 day
year used here.

84
Whenever, then, we should not find the light of the sect to be well
situated, while we do find some other star to be pivotal and more
powerful, we are bound to give priority in the releasing of such
times to that star.lZZ

30. Concerning the Time-Lordship or Kronos

When the star of Kronos assumes the general or even the partial
times in a diurnal nativity, without a diametrical or square position
relative to Ares and in the time of its morning rising, it is described
as not bad but beneficial, and it causes profit from ancient business
or mysteries or from inheritances-from relatives and especially
elders; furthennore, it also accustoms (the native] to work the
ground, and the times will become good and successful for
everything. In the case of a nocturnal nativity, there will be diffi-
culty in everything that one takes in hand (for, dangers and
inactivity and bodily weakness do not pause for a moment); and it
will also cause losses and penalties and pain and judgments and the
deaths of relatives, and the dismantling of ancient things, and the
deceptions and extortions of friends; and it causes trouble to issue
from the land and foundations.
Should the star of Kronos chance to be in a solar z6idiotl, (the
native) will be constrained by superiors with penalties and risks, and
he will suffer in his tendons and have long-lasting sickness and harm
to his patrimony. When it chances to be in a lunar z6idion in a
nocturnal nativity, it causes danger to the stomach, and inactivity.
If the Moon chances to be waning in a nocturnal nativity, it causes
pain and cares and o ppressions in life, and disturbances from fluids
and some kind of sickness of the mother or siblings, and they also
involve dangers of female persons; but when the Moon is waxing by
day, the time will become good and effect ive in everything.

222 Valens gives a somewhat more specific rule for detennining the
releaser if the Sun or Moon do not qualify in day or night nativities,
respectively: use the Moon jf the Sun does not qualify in a diurnal nativity,
if the Moon is well situated; the Sun if (he Moon does not qualify in a
nocturnal nativity, if the Sun is weI! situated; otherwise, the first planet in
zodiacal order after the H~roskopos that is well situated. Valens seems to
indicate that it took him a while to determine this rule from experience.

85
 Should the star of Kronos ehance to be in its own places by day,
it will be good (for it signifies acquisition); b ut the time will be a
cause of very many bad things by night , and he who is allotted
[Kro nos] in its own places encounters angry and sudde n enm it ies.
Being in the places of Zeus by day, [the time] will be good for
everything (for, (the native 1will acquire inheritances and reputat ion
and profits and get advance ment and business), but by night matters
will be idle and irregular in the beginning, though later his business
will go well and [the native] will prevail over his enemies. In the
places of Ares in a nocturna l nativity, the star o f Kronos will bring
about the cooling off of activity and the excision of things and the
insu rrect ion of enemies and oppressions in life and anguish in the
soul, and also bodily weakness.ill In the places o f AphrOdite, it will
bring censure on accoun t of a woman, and [the native] will be
disabled and the time will be tumultuous fo r him ; and for some it
will also effect sickness o f the wife and misery, a nd the time will be
painful and unpleasant in everything. In the places of Hermes, the
star of Kronos will cause extortions and the misery of relat ives, the
dest ruction of children and judgments and fea rs and slanders; and
fo r some it brings pain of the children in the ir care and enmit ies
and treacheries and false accusations and transitions on account of
enem ies and the dismantling of a ncient things, and deceptions.
When Kronos distributes the months and days to the star of
Zeus in a diurnal nativity, it signifies good things and business; for
it causes acquisition and profits and stoutness in the body. or (the
natives] inherit or advance , and they will be prosperous in their
business dealings and they will have notable friendSh ips. But in the
case o f a nocturnal nativity, [the time] is not described favorably; for
it will provide oppositions and inactivity and oppressions in life, and
c mbarrassmc nts~ and disturbances and ce nsures connected with the
family and bodily weakness.
Kro nos distribut ing to Ares in a diurnal nativity is nat urally bad
and harmful (for it brings on diseases an d disturbances a nd the
disma ntling of things, and pain and misery and the squandering of
patrimony, and oppositions and the fai lure to a tta in things), and the
entire time is spent in toil, or it supplies t ravel abroad that is
unprofitable and full of da nger, or pain connected with the fami ly

223 DIUrnal nativity presumably eve n worse.

224 psuchtS.

86
and useless miseries for relatives. But in the case of a nocturnal
nativity, the fo ul things will be moderate and come about slowly,
and the native will survive the unavailing times, and he will become
busy and stout of body and succeed in setting things aright, and the
time will be successful, though with toil and tumult.
Kronos distributing the months and days to Aphrodite in a
diurnal nativity will cause advancements and alliances with frie nds,
complicity in blackmail, and the setting aright of one's life,
especially when Aphrodite is not contemplated by malefics. In the
case of nocturnal nativities, shc will be good for activities, but she
will bring hindrances and pain and harm through women, and if
Aphrodite sho uld be under the beams contemplated by malefics, she
will cause angrf2S (dispositions] and misery for the fa mily and cares
and flights1l6 and thefts, and the time will be disease-ridden and
unpleasant.
Kronos distnbuting the months and days to Hermes in a diurnal
nativity when Hermes chances to be in its o riental [phase), makes
one's affairs go moderately and makes profits from both speaking
and secret matters, causes the benefi cence of friends , but all matters
arc accomplished slowly and with a struggle. But by night and
during the time of Hermes' evening setting or when it is con-
templated by a malefic, the lime will become bad and unpleasant
(for, it signifies inactivity and enmities and lawsuits and losses of
ancient things, of monetary loans, or of persons under surety). and
the time will be full of uproar and lawsuits; and the native will make
oaths and journeys and will cause himself harm and weakness and
make a noose for himself, and he himself will cause labor and
domestic trouble on account of those in his care; and the time will
be harmful and unsuccessful in relation to mediation and
partnership and reconciliation.
Kronos distributing the mon ths and days to the Moon in a
diurnal nativity when the Moon is born along during its rising,
produces the setting aright of matters and the escape from evils, and
action and friendship , though when the Moon is waning, the native
will escape the [evil] matters with indispositions 221 and annoyances
and tumult and doubts and hardship, and he will have an alliance

225 slomachikos.
n6 Reading drasmos for the undocumented word darm os.
227 an" maJia .

87
and pro fit s beyond expectation. But when the Moon is waning by
night, it will cause bodily sickness and trouble in the private places
and coughs, stomach trouble and a distressful time, losses and
dangers; and the lime will be clamorous, and there will be death o f
a wife (for those who have one) or of a female person.
Kronos distributing to the Sun in a nocturnal nativity furnishes
dangers and inactivity and deaths of fami ly members and fears and
bodily wea knesses and the insurrection of enemies and entan-
glements with superiors, and though [the natives) do nothing they
will be without leisure, and their business will be unsuccessful and
suffer hardships, and they will have treachery from their own fam ily
and feve r in the ir body; and for some it also produces reti rement
from public affairs on account of shivering fits; and the t ime will
become suspenseful and full of danger. But in the case of a diurnal
nativity, it makes them survive the ill [effects), though with
indisposition and trouble and doubts and the rivalry of friends; and
it signifies the destruction of enemies, and action, and an alliance
due to the friendship of superiors, and a change over from
inact ivity, whereupon profit will be seen.

31. Concerning Ihe Time-Lordship of Zeus

If the star of Zeus assumes the time-lordship in a diurnal nativity

when it chances to be upon a pivot or post-ascension apart without
a diametrical or square position of Ares, the time will be good and
be neficial (for, it will cause acquisition connected with one's
livelihood), and the native will be subject to good opinions in all
matters, making an alliance and friendship from which (he ) will
derive acquisition and the deliverance fro m evils, and he will be
pronounced blessed, and he will prevail over his wicked enemies,
and the time will be full of success. And well situated by night Zeus
will produce good things, though also with hardship and doubt; but
poorly situated, it will cause pain and hardship, disputes with
superio rs, losses and travel abroad and unemployment, and it will
cause slanders and judgments and jealousy and cares o n account
public affairs, and the insulting treatmcnt of great persons on thc
pari of one's relat ives, and it will produce narrow straits in Ihe area
of livelihood.
Also, if Zeus should chance to bc well situated in a solar
zoidioll, it provides advancements and activities from which the

88
native will he ld in honor and benefited, and he will be in charge of
something fo r superior persons. And should Ze us be in the places
of the Moo n,m it will m ake the natives' dealings all the greater and
full of profit , a nd especially when the Moon is increasing in light ,
and it will offer advancements a nd profits and help from female
persons.
And whe n Zeus chances to be in its own places, it will be
helpful; fo r it also gives inhe ritances and no table advancements and
dealings and dominatio n over one's e ne mies. Chancing to be in the
places of Ares harmoniously [configured] with it , Zeus supplies
bounty from the people o r the military, [and] secures the benefi-
cence o f notable me n; but if it should be square or diame trical, it
will cause indispositio ns and hann a nd tumult and enmities, and the
native will have a time that is unsuccessful with regard to what he
undertakes. Should it chance to be in the places of Aphrodite, the
time will be agreeable, with cause for rejoicing at one's dealings and
advancements and notable friendships, and it provides intimacy and
intercourse of women ; and the native will have a profitable a nd
joyous time; there will be marriage for the unmarried, and the
begetting of children for those who are married. In the places of
Hermes, Zeus signifies a successful and profitable time, and an
alliance and trust from greater persons, a nd the time will be joyous
and profitable in everything; and it especially does this when
Hermes is we ll situated, though when it chances to be poorly
situa ted , it produces unemployment and narrow straits, bankruptcy
a nd enmities.
When Zeus distributes the months a nd days to Kronos in a
diurnal nativity, it brings about reputatio n and allia nce a nd sto utness
of the body and profits a nd no table frie ndships and advancements
a nd domination over e nemies and deliverance from evils, and it
changes o ne's behaviorZZ9 toward the tempera te; and it produces
additio ns to one's livelihood and profits. But by night it signifies
losses connected with o ne's livelihood a nd unpleasantness and pain
and a nnoyances and turbulent times, and slanders from frie nds and
betrayals {rom relatives, and it produces complaints and narrow
maits and oppression from superio r persons; and the time will be

221 Thai is, in a luna r z6iditl, not just Cancer.

m Reading /ropous for /OpoIIS .

89
embarrassing2XI and unpleasant in everything, with hidden
weaknesses and major sickness and suspenseful conditions for the
soul.
Zeus distributing the months and days to Ares in a diurnal
nativity is not good (for it supplies pain and intrigues from one's
relatives, or else enmit ies), and the native will hear random rumors
about himself, and he will be in suspense and fea r and unemploy-
ment, and he will sustain losses, sudden dangers, extortions,
accusations, and disorder in public matters and oppositions [fro m]
magisterial wrathlJ ! (though he will have compensation)2Jl and
domest ic pain. In a nocturna l nativity, it signifies that activities and
campaigns will be accompan ied by annoyance and hardship, and
that the times will be good and full of profit and successful.
Zeus distributing the months and days to Aph rodite in a diurnal
and a nocturnal nativity carries (the native] from a foreign land to
his own, and provides profits and business, and makes for the
domination over enemies, and the natives have intercourse with a
woman, and friendsh ips, and it will cause marriage for the
unmarried, and children fo r those who arc already married; and the
time will be cheerful and concerned with the arts and [othe r]
pursuits and plcdges to friends; but if Aphrodite is contemplated by
a malefic during evening (rising j,m it will cause pain from the
masses and uproar and losses and judgments and slanders and
unemployment, and in general the times will become unsuccessfu l
and needy.
Zeus distributing the months and days to Hennes will cause
advancement and trust and fume due to speaking, and help from
female persons and good friendships; but when Hennes is
con templated by malefi cs while be ing under the beams, the time will
be ha rmful; fo r, it will cause enmities and losses and unemployment
and tumult.
Zeus distributing the months and days to the Sun in a d iurnal
nativity pnxluccs suspenseful times and difficult straits and
judgments and sudden enmities toward one's friends over ancient

no pJllktik05. Litcrally, 'chilling'; possibly merely 'difficult'.

231 ka; cho/6n art:iwntik6n ellollti6stu.
232 /imi.
III The text has only ousts hesperias, but tillS sec ms to be the mea ning
from context and parallel passages.

90
matters, especially in the beginning of the period, and it causes
bodily annoyance and pain in the stomach and head; but later the
natives escape everything with little trouble, and they are favored
and have the reputation of notable men. But in a nocturnal
nativity, the time is nOI actually good (for the time also signifies
destruct io n and slanders and losses and sorrows and dangers close
to those who have (it )), and it will cause bad notoriety and
judgments and intrigues, and enmities from frie nds and relat ives
toward supe rior persons and betrayals by one's fa mily, and
expenditures and the insurrections of enemies; and if Ares comes to
the Sun while the Sun is in possession of the limes, it causes bodily
sickness, bloodshed and madness.
Zeus distributing to the Moon by night and by day while the
Moon is carned along from its rising, signifi es help and
advancement and acquisition and victory over enemies and joy in
the home and abode (for, it also causes travel abroad and changes
of place fo r those to whom it is profitable); but if the Moon is
carried along aft er it begins 10 wa n e,~ it will cause a profitless time,
and the native will have losses and legal enmities and judgments.

32. Concerning the Time-Lordship or Ares

If the star of Ares assumes the times in a nocturnal nativity when

it is upon a pivot or posl·ascension without a diametrical or square
positio n of Kronos, the time is established as effective in everyt hing,
and profitable and subject to good opinions2lS (for, it causes
advancements and acquisition and an alliance with supe rior persons
and public fame), and the time will also be connected with the
mysteries. Fo r a diurnal nativity, especially when Ares is under the
beams, it causes weakness and dangers and slanders and abuse and
annoyances unless a benefic seeing it puts an end to the hardships.
Also, Ares in Ihe domicile of the Sun is not good (for, the
native will have travel abroad and tempestuous affairs216 and

ll4 ex opokrouseOs. According 10 Paulus, this period begins when the

Moon is o ne degree past ilS opposition to the Sun, after which it is sa id 10
be waning meiOsis.
235 doxastikos.
216 cheimasia pragmottm . Literally, 'the wintering of things'.

91
diseases and dangers and cu ts from iron), and if Kro nos should
make a n ingress, the native will also see the death o f olde r re latives;
and if Kronos should con template the Sun while being upon Arcs,
it will e ndanger [the nativel from an intestinal conditio n and it will
put his patrimony at risk (for those who have one), a nd ca use
trouble with the eyes. But in the places of the Moon, Ares will
cause a ngers23l and losses and unemployme nt a nd torpor in the
body, lichens and itches a nd intrigues a nd judgments and pain for
the sake of female persons; and fo r some it also ca uses sutfe ring of
the mothe r or the death of someone in the fa mily, and instabilities
and d isputes with one's fa mily, and harm from th e public, and
dangers from intestinal disease and trouble with the eyes, especia lly
if the Moon should be waxing.
When Ares chances to be in its own domiciles in a nocturnal
nat ivity, it is fine for everyth ing that the native takes in hand (for,
the time is successful and profitable), tho ugh in a diurnal nativity it
is foul , promising both losses and tumult . In the places of Zeus by
day, [it is also faul l, providing suspense on account of the masses o r
public affairs, and promising a lack of success in business and
e nmities and slanders toward supe rior pe rsons, and holding out
judgme nts a nd sudden losses; but chancing to be the re by night, it
is fine for everything the native tak.es in hand, with alliance and
advanceme nt a nd profit and victory over enemies. In the places of
Kro nos it is lik.ewise fine in everything, and it furnishes affairs that
get warmer- as a result of old and unexpected business, and (the
na tive ] will sec the death of some older persons, from who m he will
have hardships and struggles, though with benefits. In the places of
Aphrodite, it will cause censures and insults and e nmities and
angers2Jll and domestic slanders through a female pe rson, and
separations or dangers of wives (for those who have one); but it is
good for activities. In the places of Hermes (it causes ] judgments
and indisp05it ions and slanders and insurrectio ns of e nemies, and
losses and false accusatio ns directed at one's family and fr iends; and
furthe rmo re, it causes pa in from those in one's care or slaves-for,
the whole time will be (subject tolUl thefts and robberies.

2J1 stomachos.
2JI thtrml)ltros .
2J9 stomachal.
240 There may be some word missmg In thIS last clause, SO I have

92
 If Ares distributes the months and days to Kronos (by day), it
signifies that the times will be tumultuous and unstable in regard to
marriage and livelihood and ch ildren, and it signifies inactivity and
judgments and violence and enmities and intrigues and pain and
lack of advancement and sorrow, pa in of helplesslol1 parents,
censures pertaining to one's life-style, and in general [the time) will
become harmful and unsuccessful. But in a nocturnal nat ivity, it is
altogether the worst; for it signifi es abusive treatment of a
commoner, and condemnations, complicities, long illnesses and
sorrow and harm unless they have the testimony of Zeus or
Aphrodite and the release from evils.
Ares distributing the months and days to Zeus in a diurnal
nativity signifies thai the limes are good in everything, and it
provides alliances and friendships with superiors from whom the
natives derive reputalion and advancement and fame and offices,
and the humbling of enemies and deliverance from evils and the
setting aright of everything (and the time will be successful in regard
to everything), and it provides stoutness of body. But in the case of
a nocturnal nativity, at the beginning it provides enm it ies and tumult
and unemployment and the cooling off of things,loIZ though later [the
natives] will escape from the foul things and will have alliances and
profits and friendships, and though they cause harm to few they will
prevail over many.
Ares distributing to Aphrodite by night brings about times that
are good and successful, and the humbling of enemies and
intercourse with women, though with censure, and the native will
make acquisitions and have profits, especially when Aphrodite is in
its morning rising [phase ); but if Kronos sho uld contemplate it, it
causes pain from female persons and censures, but it is good for the
remaining things. In a diurnal nativity, it is good fo r act ivities,
except that it brings on tumult and enmit ies o f women, and
abortions, and the ingratitude of frie nds and censure because of a
woman, and erotic dispositions or adulte ries and separations from
wives and conflicts and slanders and moral condemnation.
Ares distributing to Hermes in a nocturnal and diurnal nativity.
if it is diametrically opposed or squared by this (starl, causes

supplied something likely.

241 tln(jphelis.
242 psuchis.

93
ma lfeasance and piratical attacks and judgments and confi nements
and intrigues from friends and sla"es, and complicities and the
extortion o f things and clamor over loans or persons in one's trust,
and compla ints and oppositions of friends and slaves, and da ngers
to the body, except that Zeus. by rega rding it in some way. will
cause dealings to be good, and respites and domination over
enemies.
Ares distributing to the Sun by day when the Sun is afflicted
causes dangers. tumult, plaints on accou nt of public affairs, and
losses and travcl abroad and the defrauding of patrimony or danger
to the fathe r (for those who have one) and insurrections of enemies
and abuse and diseases and a fall from a cl iff, or it ho lds out
apoplexy or strangulation and suspense, un less Zeus or Aphrodite
in contemplating [it! should also care for [it] and ca use some act ion
and reve rsals, though with ha rdships and doubts, except that it
brings on diseases on account of domestic slaves or children, the
insurrection of the masses, and the natives will have fits o f illness
and trouble with the head and eyes. By night, it is established as
good and conducive to success in everything, and it offers act ivities
and friendships and the deliverance from evils. though with hardship
and doubt.
Ares distributing to the Moon in a nocturnal nativity when the
Moon is carried along from its rising, signifies times that arc
difficult and full of danger; for it brings on fears and troubles from
matters unseen, and losses and sorrows of female persons (of a
mother or chief relative), and the native will be unstable and wea k
and will sustain bloodshed and miscarriage and a change of place,
unless a benefic looking on in some manner should give deliverance
from the evils. But when the Moon is carried aft er it has begun to
wane w in a nocturnal nat ivity. she will be good and helpful for
everything, and the native will have advancement and alliances for
the purpose of public service, and profits and the setting aright o f
one's life, though by day it will throw [the native J into con fusion and
cause harm , but it will transform the evil fo r the better and pu t an
end to it aft er hardships and tumult .

243 a apokmusc6S.

94
 33. Concerning the Time-Lordship or the Sun
If the Sun distributes to itself in a diurnal nativity when it chances
to be upon the H6roskopos, it makes the limes efficacious in
relation to superior persons and in the making of an alliance.
promises efficacious stays away from home, and trust and
friendships and help [rom ancient matters; and the time will be
good and profitable in everything. But by night , if rays are hurled
at it by a malefic, it causes suspense and disputes concerning
superio r persons; and if (the native] chances to be doing something,
he will become idle and he will be in a state of confusion and
dispirited and sick; and it will cause judgments and violence and
narrow straits and pain in the eyes, and it will bring on a trauma
from iron and the death of a fa ther and the diminishment of
patrimony, and it will introduce mailers that concern the head and
pain in the heart; and the time will be unavailing for that to which
the native a pplies himself.
If the Sun chances to be in a domicile of Ares, it causes trouble
with the intestines and ribs, and traumas. and it will make manifest
blood, and it will cause many ills o n account of enemies and due to
intrigue. and it will cause harm and losses and betrayals from the
masses and one's fami ly; but by night the foul things will be more
moderate. In the domiciles of Kronos, thc Sun will cause dysentery
and strangury and abscesses, and if the native should have a father.
he will be in danger, and it promises unemployment and diseases,
especially by night; but by day it puts an end to such matters.
though with doubt and slowly. In the places of Hermes, the Sun
causes the native to lose lawsuits against his superiors, and it
arouses enmities and [causes] the cooling off of matters, and losses
and attacks, especially by night; but by day it causes the native to
escape the fou l things. In the places of Aphrodite the Sun causes
suspense due to a femal e person, and it furni shes censure and pain
and cares. In its own places by day when it is well situated, the Sun
will secure a reputation and an alliance with superiors; but by night
it will be moderate. In the places o f Ze us by nighl , foul things will
become moderate, and it will cause domination ove r enemies.
except that it introduces pain for certain family members; but by day
it is good, and it brings reputation in cverything onc does. In the
places of the Moon. it will be difficult and inefficacious, with the
native changing from place 10 place. and it causes clamor and
weakness and trouble with the eyes and stomach, cspeeiallyby night;

95
but by day it will be good and efficacious if the Moon sholld be
increasing in light.
When the Sun distributes the months and days to the Mool. in
a diurnal nativity it is not good (for, it brings jealousies and losses
for a short time, and expenditures and travel abroad ana
unpleasantness in relation to female persons, and enm ities toward
one's own fam ily); and if the Moon should be increasing in light, it
will cause harm, though by day there will be a deliverance from
evils, with hardship. But if the Moon is carried along by night from
its rising, since the best of times are produced, there will be
harmony and profits, with the native having prosperity.
The Sun distributing to Kronos by night brings on da ngers and
inactivity and the cooling off of things, and judgments and
bankruptcies and suffering in the tendons, and pain and lears
accompanied by clamor, and enmities towa rd those who arc older,
and the native will see the deaths of relatives and fearful sights and
will have anxious though ts; and the time will be harmful for
everything. But in a nocturnal nativity the fo ul things will be
moderate, and it will provide action and the making of an alliance
and the accomplishment of things, though slowly.
The Sun distributing to Zeus in a diurnal nativity will furni sh
great actions and acquisi tion and public glorification from the
masses; and the lime will be fine in every way, and it will give
victory over enemies and inheritances and great fr iendships with
men. But by night it is the cause of very many evils (for, it renders
the times middling and inefficacious and full of loss and vexatious),
and it will cause obstacles to advancement and enmities and
confusions arid bodily disturbances, especially if it is contemplated
by a malefic.
The Sun distributing to Ares in a diurna l nativity is not good
(for , it will become the cause of very many evils), and it will bring
on colla pses''"' and att acks and slanders and dangers and diseases
and bloodshed and falls from heights or from quadrupeds. and
trouble with the cyes and betrayals from one's family and clamor
from one's relatives and enmities of friends and sudden mishaps and
pain connected with the father (for those who have one), and it
rouses enmities. But by night the foul things are moderate and
there will be a del iverance from evils as a result of benevolencc.

96
 The Sun distributing to Aphrodite in a diurnal and a nocturnal
nat ivity when Aphrodite is unwitnessed by malefi cs, signifies action
and further acquisit ion, especially when Aphrodite is orienta l; the
times were described as fine fOT everything (for it provides
prosperity and help either through female persons or a friend or
some pursuit), and the time will be favorable in everything, and the
nat ive will be fortunate in that to which he applies himself. But
when Aphrodite is contemplated by malefics or is in its evening
setting {phase], the times will be more moderate and inefficacious
and subject to confusion and harm, and it will cause attacks and
abuse and harm from one's family and female persons.
The Sun distributing to Hermes in both a diurnal and a
nocturnal nativity makes the times fine and successful and
efficacious, and it produces prosperity from business or trusts o r
reconciliations, partnerships and purchases and domestic manage·
ment; and the time will be cheerful in all regards. But when
Hermes is in the time of its evening setting and is contemplated by
a malefic, it will cause hindrances and confusion and treachery and
losses and the ill·favor and impersonal behavior of friends, and
oppression in life, and deceptions o r fl ights or thefts from slaves, or
diseases of those in one's care and of the stomach, and sudden
enmities, unless an oriental star should make an appearance and
cause the deliverance from evils.

34. Concerning the Time·Lordship or Aphrodite

If Aphrodite assumes the times during its morning rising, when

pivotal and without the contemplation of Kronos, it signifies thai
the times will be good, and that the natives will be successful and
efficacious and subject to good opinio ns,w and that they will have
an alliance with their superiors, and profitable dealings and
domestic bliss and advancement; and furthermore, they will have
friends hips with female persons and stimulating treatment from
which they will be benefited, and they will be prosperous in their
arts and {other] pursuits, and have a good name and prevail over
their enemies; but when Aphrodite is contemplated by malefics, it
brings in clamor and judgments and unemployment and anxiet ies,

2i S doxastiJcos.

97
and the time will be harmful in every way. In a diurnal nat ivity,
Aphrodite will similarly be good when uncolltcmplatcd by mOl lcfics,
but when under the beams and contemplated by ma lefics. it brings
on tumult and battles and transgressions from female persons and
fri ends, and enm it ies, and it produces uncmploymen t and the
cooling off of business and dangers and miscarriages and bloodshed
on the part of women, and diseases.
And if Aphrodite should chance to be in a domicile of the Sun,
it brings about disgraceful affairs. adulteries and precipitate
separations; but in the places of the Moon it brings about jealousies
and enmities on account of a woman, but for the rest it is successful
and profitable in every way.
When Aphrodite is in its own places, the time will be good and
profitable, and it also fu rnishes dealings with female persons and
interventions in one's life and alliances of friends. In the places of
Kronos Aphrodite produces envy and suspense and long illness and
anxiety on account of a woman; and the time will be clamorous and
suspensefu l and unsuccessful, and it will cause dreams to appear.
In the places of Zeus it signifies great progress, marriage for the
unmarried, children for the childless, and the time will be cheerful
in every way. [in the places of Ares .... )2Mi And in the places of
Hermes Aphrodite signifies a favorable time, and activities and the
purchasing of children trained in the way of th e Muses, and these
children will become lovers of a panicular Muse, and the natives
will have an allia nce [based on ) friendship.
Aphrodite distributing the months and days to Kronos in a
nocturnal nativity causes death-bringing dangers for womcn, and
confusion. abuse and pain because of a fema le person, and the time
will be unpleasant and noxious and unsuccessful in every regard
(for, it promises either suspicions of poisoning or intrigues), and the
natives will not have favor in anything that they might do, but rather
they will incur blame and [hey will nOI find favor even though they
act beneficently, and they will experience obstacles in their actions
from injurious cold or discharges or tort urous [illnessJ or trouble
with the spleen, so that they appeal to the gods on the occasion o f
hardship and disease. But in a diurnal nativity, it produces escape
fTOrTi evils and action and profits and advancements fo r the bett er
in mailers that they did not anticipa te, and the lime will be helpful.

246 Lacuna in text.

98
 Aphrodite distributing the months and days to Zeus in a diurnal
and a nocturnal nat ivity will be fine in every way. and it causes
advancements and profits and marriage for the unmarried and
childre n for the childless. and domination over enemies. and the
making of an alliance. and it causes the natives to have a good
report fTom fri ends and fema le persons because of their speaking
and deeds and pursuits. and they will acquire many things and will
be trusted even though they are fal se. and they will be fortunate in
the ir dealings and will be bendited from commercial ventures and
partnerships; and the time will be favorable at home and for
everything with regard to purchases and the fine arts. But if
Aphrodite should be under the beams. it introduces censure and
clamor and losses and oppositio ns o n account of a woman, and
slanders and lack of favor with o ne's frie nds.

[The delineations for Aphrodite distributing to Ares. and Aphrodite

distributing to Hermes are both lacking in the text.)

Aphrodite distnbuting to the Sun in a diurnal nativity when it is

neither under the beams nor contemplated by malefics, produces
great actions and furth er acquisitio n and the making of an alliance
and profit s, and beneficence from female persons and notable
frie nds. and the natives take delight in their home and their actions,
being given a good report in everything. But when Venus is
contemplated by malefics or by Zeus, especially at night, it produces
separations from wives and enmities and censure and clamor o n
account of a woman , but in relation to actions it is good and
profitable .
Aphrodite distributing to the Moon by night and by day when
the Moon is carried along from its rising, reverses litigations.
oppositions, and enmities, and it causes unemployment and
obstacles to things, and cooling off and separations from wives, and
enmities, and the flight of women, o r diseases and the reduction of
servants, and the natives undergo poisonings and they have
suspicio n in re lation to a woman, and it causes jealousies and
demonstrations and unpleasantness around the house, and
unsettlements; and everything that comes in will be spent
stra ightaway; often they are put on trial for certain [actionsJ . But
when the Moon is carried along after beginning to wane, it will help
somewhat and it will provide business and unexpected profit s.

99
 35. Concerning the Time-lordship of Hermes

If Hermes assumes the predominat ion over the times in a diu rnal
and a nocturnal nativity, when it chances to be in the time o f its
morning rising and pivotal without the contemplation of a malefic,
it produces times that arc good and efficacious and profitable, given
to making alliances and auspieious,m and it also produces revenue
from speaking and business affairs, or from a trust or an art or
[other] pursuits, and the destruction of enem ies, domestic joy and
the success of everything. But if Hermes should be contemplated
by malefi cs, it introduces clamor, lawsuit s and legal complaints.
And when Hermes chances to be in a solar z6idion, it causes
business dealing and il freely gives profits. Bul in a lunar z6idion
by nighl , when the Moon is increasing in light, it will cause aclion
and alliances and reputatio n and advancement; but when the Moon
is waning, it will cause unemployment in the beginning, though later
act ivity and a successful time, and it is helpful in advancement and
alliance and friendsh ip.
In its own places Hermes is fine and successful and subject to
good opinions. 2A8 In the places of Kronos, Hermes causes the
cool ing off of business, and losses, unemployment and the
dismantling of ancient things, and enmities. In the z6idia of Arcs
il causes clamor and business intrigues, and accusations and
oppressions and slanders and insurrections of enemies and slaves,
and pain and treachery in dealings. In the places of Zeus, the time
will be favorab le and profitable and subject 10 good op inions,~9 and
il will cause purchases, and the natives will be eagerly in love wilh
a particular Muse.
If Hermes dislribules to Kronos when it is also contemplaled by
Zeus, it introduces unemployment and losses and the dismant ling of
ancient things, and reproofs for secret deeds and pain of household
slaves or children in one's ca re, and diseases and dangers, charges
conce rning more recent dealings, and bodily dislress due to secret
troubles; and the time will be unpleasant for everything.
Hermes distributing to Zeus by night and by day signifies
efficacious times, and it will cause acquisilio n and profits and the

247 ellphimos.
248 doxastikos.
249 doxastikQS.

100
destruction of enemies and domestic joy and good repute and
business in the market place, and advancements through speaking
and writing and commerce and rentals; but if they should be under
the beams and contemplated by malefi cs (especially if Hermes is),
it will hold out enmit ies and losses and lawsuits o r slanders and
jealousy and treachery and suspense from great persons.
Hermes distributing to Ares when contemplated by this star
signifies tumultuous times. and oppressions or extortions and
enmities, or fraud and piratical attacks and denials and perjuries
from friends. and insurrect ions of enemies and losses fro m speaking
or monetary matters; and these natives take on the mistakes and
accusations of others, and it renders stays away from home
ineffectual (for, it prevents the native fro m returning due to a fall
[when) upon quadrupeds), and (it causes] the pain of children or
those in one's care. and the flight of slaves and trouble with the
stomach or the heart, especially by day; but by night it makes the
native escape these evils.
Hermes distributing to Aphrodite in a diurnal and a nocturnal
nativity during Aphrodite's morning rising [phase] and when she is
pivotal, causes intercourse and intimacy of women, and the time is
favorable and profitable, and [it causes) beneficence from friends
and the cessation of evils, and the natives are trusted in whatever
they say, and they will be in love with things connected with music
and dance; if Hermes should be contemplated by malefics while
under the beams, it introduces hardships and pain on account of a
woman, and it produces distressing messages and domestic
unpleasantness.
Hermes distributing to the Sun. especially by day if Hermes is
oriental, signifies travel abroad and changes of place, and they
initiate [the natives l into a faith and the sacred rites, and they put
an end to public unpleasantness,and (the natives) are entrusted with
public funds , and the lime will be fine; though if Hermes chances
to be under the beams of the Sun, [it signifies) trouble and enmities
toward certain persons and being thrown into confusion and later
prevailing. But when Hermes chances to be under the beams by
night, it signifies a suspenseful and harmful time, and it will cause
threats from a great chief and insurrections of enemies and
hardships and accusations and expenditures; the native will be
reviled and harmed by slaves.
Hermes distributing to the Moon by night and by day when the
Moon is also being carried along from its rising, signifies an

101
efficacious and profitable time, but when the Moon is being carried
along after it begins to wane, it provides mean-spiritedness o n the
part of lesser persons, and unpleasantness of a woman, and anxieties
and content ion over things, and pain and slanders; and the nat ives
will put their fai th in things that do not eventuate, and they will be
sick and penalized on account of writing or speaking-and the light
will not be bright for them, and difficulties will be acute and
suspenseful.

36. Concerning the Time-lordship of the Moon

If the Moon assumes the times in a nocturnal nativity when it is

pivotal and increasing in light, it will be finc and efficacious, and it
will promise good travel abroad and the making of an alliance, and
a good name, and for some it will furn ish help from the mother (for
those who have one) or from a femal e person ; but when it is
decreasing in light, il causes a slacker time. When the Moon is
increasing in light by day, it is described as not fine for anything,
though it docs bring actions to fulfillmen t slowly and with hardship;
but when the Moon is decreasing in light by day. it is harmful in
everything, fo r the natives will be dominated and make journeys
abroad to no avail , and they will be fearful and subject to dangers,
and they will be reduced-and if a malefic should make an ingress
upon the place of the Moon while it possesses the times, the native
will be in danger fo r his life and will combat illnesses; but if a
benefic should contemplate it , th ere will be some protection fo r the
evils, and it will cause trouble with the stomach and eycs and
afflictions of the inna rds, and deat hs of relatives. and censures and
loud uproars.
Also, if the Moon should chance to be in her own zoidiofl, she
will cause mean-spiritedness and unavailing communica tions.
especially by day; but by night the time will be painful. In the
places of Kronos, th e Moon causes bodily weaknesses and
discharges, and the dismantling of ancient things, and losses and the
rousing of enemies, and the time will be unpleasant in evcryt hing,
especially if the Moon should be decreasing in light; but if she
should be increasing in light, it will not be harmful. In the places
of the Sun, she causes tum ult and annoya nces and pain in relation
to one's fam ily. In the places of Zeus, she causes a del ivcrance
from evils, and an alliance and reputation and the destruction of

102
enemies, and especially when the Moon is in her rising (phase); but
when she is decreasing in light , it is not good, but rather it makes
the beneficence mo re moderate. In the places o f Arcs, the Moon
causes weakness of the eyes, especially by day, and fevers when she
is increasing in light, and bleeding, dangers, tro uble with the
stomach, and reversals; but by night she is good in everything that
the na tive takes in hand, and she quickly resolves business
(difficulties), and when (the natives) seem to be hurt, they are
unexpectedly helped. [n the places o f Aphrodite, she ca uses
jealousies over matters and the opposition of women , though she is
not harmful, but rather helpful in everything, and the natives will
prevail over their enemies; but the time will be tumultuous in regard
to female persons. In the places of Hermes, the Moon causes
bankruptcy in business at the beginning, though later she causes
them to survive, and it even renders the native trustworthy.
The Moon distributing to Kronos by nigh t when decreasing in
light , is established as in want of nOlhing,250 or else it signifies lack
of help and ill-success and transitory weakness and judgments and
losses, and the time will be unpleasant for everything, though o nly
moderately; but when increasing in light and contemplated by a
benefic; the Moon causes an alliance and action and the setting
aright of one's life, though with hardship. In a diurnal nativity when
increasing in light, the Moon augments and is good fo r everything
and for the accomplishment of unexpected mailers; but when
decreasing in light by day, the Moon brings o n illness and dangers,
trouble in the private places and the innards, and the recollection
of long-lasting and ancient matters, and pain and slanders and
anxieties of women , and furthermore, it brings on ophthalmia and
shivering and fevers unless Zeus by looking on should in some way
keep (the MoonJ safe, promising the fo rgett ing of the evils.
The Moon distributing 10 Zeus by day when increasing in light
signifies good things and victory over enemies and publ ic reputation
and stoutness of body, and an alliance and help from a female
person,2S1 and it produces a good report ; but when she is decreasing
in light, it offers these good t hings, though with hardship and
doubts. When by night she is increasing in light , she is good and
helpful; but when decreasing in light, the time is unpleasant and

2SO anentlets.
251 upha/i.

103
unsuccessful, and fou l things are avoided, though with struggle and
fear.
The Moon distribut ing to Ares in a nocturnal nativity when she
is increasing in light, is good and efficacious in an alliance, and she
causes advancements from superior persons and acquisition from
popula r affairs and a good report {rom the masses and from military
persons, and the time is successful (or everything (for a trust, for
beginnings, for change that is likely), and it signifies marriage and
intimacy of a woman under favorabl e circumstances, and especially
when the Moon is in a triangula r position relative to Arcs; and
when the Moon is carried along after beginning to wane, the time
is not bad, but full of upset and vexatious in the beginning, though
later it will cause profits and advancements and the debasement of
enemies. In a diurnal nativity when decreasing in light, the Moon
will be good but not so helpful, and the natives will evade foul
things, though with clamor and opposition and the interference of
enemies; but when the Moon by day is increasing in light, she will
be bad and unpleasant, for she will cause dangers and enmities and
losses and an attack of robbers, and fears from public affa irs,
demonstrations and threats from superiors, and furthermore , the
pain or theft of slaves, and bodily illness and danger from iron or
fire and falls,and she causes vexatious travel abroad and ophthalmia
and miscarriages, and in general the times will be harmful.
The Moon distributing to the Sun when the Sun is in a feminine
z6idion, or both arc subject to (masculine I zoidill, makes fo r a
certain erotic sympathy; and should the Sun again be in a feminine
zoidion wh ile the Moon is in a masculine one, it causes anxiety and
rivalry over a woman, and the natives are helped by their relatives
after having first been thrown into confusion. And if the Sun
should be in a masculine zoidioll and the Moon in a feminine one,
when the Moon is increasing in light, the time will be good and
profitable, and it causes an alliance and notable fr iendships and
intima(.), of a woman and marriage or adultery, and a time that is
quite profitable, and public deeds and domination over enemies; but
if the Moon chances to be decreasing in light, it is not good, fo r it
produces jealousies and losses and censures and disturbances from
fluids-and if a malefic should contemplate the Moon, it will also
endange r life.
The Moon distributing to Aphrodite by night when it is
decreasing in light is established as good and helpful (for, it cnuses
an alliance of marriage or of a woman, and profits from fc mnJc

104
persons, and it furnishes reputation and cheerfulness and activity);
but when the Moon is increasing in light , she causes clamor and
domestic fighting due to a woman and oppositions and suspense and
jealousies and censure and enmities, though later it causes the
natives to prevail. And likewise by day, if the Moon chances to be
increasing in light while being contemplated by bencfics or under
the beams of the Sun, she will cause censure and abuse of women
and hypocrisy of friends. and harm and domestic unpleasantness and
illness of those in one's care or slaves; and the times will be factious
in every regard, and the Moon will also cause bodily annoyance
from undigested nourishment 2S2 or an excess of winc, or due to
chilliness or baths or meat, or from a cena in erotic inclination, or
they [these stars] will cause troublc 2Sl from an ill-timed expenditure.
The Moon distributing to Hermes by day and by night when
increasing in light, signifies efficacious times. and an alliance and
friendship and reputation and profits and success and a good report,
and the natives will be shrewd in their dealings, achieving much as
powerful men,lS' and they prevail over their enemies. But when the
Moon is decreasing in light, it causes financia l short-falls and
intrigues and contention and transgressions and lack of favor of
friends, except that the time is not entirely without resources; and
if the Moon should be contemplated by Kronos, it brings on losses
or flights or irascible dispositions from slaves, but if she should be
contemplated by Ares, it brings on complaints, forge ries. intrigues,
thefts and sorrows, and the time is unsuited for anything.

It is to be remembered lSS that if one examines these effects from

the nature of thc distributing star and the star accepting, you will
also find nearly the same cffects in the same fashion as in
ingresses. 2S6 Seeing that some divide the years into the times, some

252 apepsin trophi.

25) Iulkoprogmonro .
2S4 Ms dunastili polla anuontes.
255 esti din mnimis p's Iuli tiluta til apotelesmatil echein.
256 Here Hephaistio compares time-lord delineatIOns wilh those of
transits. However, Valens (Bk IV, chapter 25) evidently relates the
principles behind time-lord delineation to those behind dispositorship and
aspect, which may perhaps be conceptualized in terms or the Aristotelean
form/matter distinction. It is pertinent thai transits are generally

105
also divide the year among the 7 gods in proport ion to their least
periods: 85 days to }(ronos, 34 days to Zeus, 42 days to Ares, 54
days to the Sun, 22 days to Aphrodite, 52 days to Hermes, 71 days
to the Moon. And from the transiting lord of the binhday2'l they
dist ribute the year among the stars in succession according to how
they lie in tte nativity.
Again, tbe fine r further division of these times is as follows.
Kronos first distributes to himself 20 days 2S8 from the 85 days, 8 to
Zeus, 10 to Ares, 13 to the Sun, 5 to Aphrodite, 14 to Hermes, 16
to the Moon; Zeus first distributes 3 days to himself from the 34
days, 8 to Kronos, 4 to Arcs, 5 to the Sun, 2 to Aphrodite, 5 to
Hermes,7 tothe Moon ; Arcs fi rst distributes 5 days to himself from
the 42, 10 to }(ronos, 4 to Zeus, 3 to Aphrodite, 5 to the Sun, 7 to
Hermes, 8 to the Moon; the Sun first distributes 8 days to himself
from the 54, 12 to Kronos, 5 to Zeus, 6 to Ares, 4 to Aphrodite , 8
to Hermes, 11 to the Moon; Aphroditc fi rst distributes I day to
herself from the 22, 5 to Kronos, 2 to Zeus, 3 to Arcs, 3 to the Sun,
4 to Hermes, 3 to the Moon; Hermes firs t distributes 9 days to
himself from the 57, 13 to Kronos, 5 to Zeus, 9 days to Arcs, 8 days
to the Sun, 3 days 10 Aphrodite. 10 to the Moon; the Moon first
distributes 14 days to herself from the 81,16 days to }(ronos, 7 days
to Zcus, 8 days to Ares, 11 days to the Sun , 4 days to Aphrodite, I I
to Hermes.
O thers make the distribution to the 7 gods from the master of
the zoidion allotted the year, [giving] to the lord of itself its own
period in days, and then to the lord of the next zaidion, and the
days of the twelve z6idia totalled together 184 (for only 30 days arc
given to Krooos because its domiciles are next to eaeh other. For
example, let some star have the year in Aries; we first provide 15
days to Arcs, 810 Aphrodite, 20 to Hermes. 25 to the Moon, 19 to
the Sun, 20 to Hermes, 8 to Aphrodite, 15 to Ares, 12 to Zeus, 30

understood to intensify or relax the quality o f thc transited plane t, and thus
are not the inposition of a form on a matte r. Th is requires furth er
investigation.
257 kai tJ?O tis genelhliakis hemeras apo IOU kuriou 1011 parodikoll.
Presumably, ',ie are to take the lord of the birthday in question in the
manner described by Hephaistio in chapter 28, and begin the distributio n
procedure frem il.
2S8 All the following values are, o f CQurse, o nly approx imations.

106
10 Kronos, 12 10 Zeus; and these total 184. And aga in we provide
15 days to the lord of Aries, and to the next in succession for a
second time, until\we come to) the star at which the year is fill ed
Up.2S9 And these divisions are not very concordant to us, but we set
them out so that they will not go unnot iced.

lS9 This procedure resembles Valens' met.hod of zodiacal releasing(Bk

IV, chapter 4) scaled to a single year, and commencing fro m the z6idion
occupied by the rulcr of the year (by profect ion) instead of from the z6idiotl
occupied by the Lot of Fo rt une or Lot of Spirit.

\07
 REPRINTS* of the The Astrological Record of the Early Sages
Project Hindsight Greek Track
(aka “TARES”)
VOL. I. Paulus Alexandrinus: Introduction to Astrology.
We used this title once before for VOLUME X of our original
VOL. II A. Anonymous of 379: On the Bright Fixed Stars. GREEK TRACK, which contains fragments from many ancient
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PROJECT HINDSIGHT Companion to the Greek Track
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Visit our website WWW.PROJECTHINDSIGHT.COM for

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 This booklet is a facsimile reprint of one volume from
PROJECT HINDSIGHT’S GREEK TRACK, Robert Schmidt’s
early provisional translations of various Hellenistic
astrological texts done from 1993 through 2000.
We say provisional because it was a cardinal principle of
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hoped that the homemade character of the original book,
duplicated in this reprint, would serve to reinforce the idea
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RECORD OF THE EARLY SAGES * (acronym TARES). It will
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