§23ἅπερ οἱ παλαιοὶ ἰδόντες μάλιστα μαντηίῃσιν ἐχρέοντο καὶ οὐ πάρεργον αὐτὴν ἐποιέοντο, ἀλλʼ οὔτε πόλιας ᾤκιζον οὔτε τείχεα περιεβάλλοντο οὔτε φόνους ἐργάζοντο οὔτε γυναῖκας ἐγάμεον, πρὶν ἂν δὴ παρὰ μάντεων ἀκοῦσαι ἕκαστα.
These very things the ancients seeing, they especially made use of divinations and did not treat it as a side-matter; indeed they neither founded cities, nor surrounded themselves with walls, nor engaged in slaughters, nor married wives, until they had heard everything from the diviners.
καὶ γὰρ δὴ τὰ μαντήια αὐτέοισι οὐκ ἔξω ἀστρολογίης ἦν, ἀλλὰ παρὰ μὲν Δελφοῖς παρθένος ἔχει τὴν προφητείην σύμβολον τῆς παρθένου τῆς οὐρανίης, καὶ δράκων ὑπὸ τῷ τρίποδι φθέγγεται ὅτι καὶ ἐν τοῖσιν ἄστροισι δράκων φαίνεται, καὶ ἐν Διδύμοις δὲ μαντήιον τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος, ἐμοὶ δοκέει, καὶ τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν ἠερίων Διδύμων ὀνομάζεται.
For indeed, their oracles themselves were not outside of astrology, but among the Delphians, a virgin holds the office of prophetess as a symbol of the heavenly Virgin, and a serpent under the tripod utters a voice because a Dragon also appears among the stars, and in Didyma, there is an oracle of Apollo, which, it seems to me, is also named after the Twins of the heavens.
§24οὕτω δὲ αὐτοῖσι χρῆμα ἱρότατον ἡ μαντοσύνη ἐδόκεεν, ὥστε δὴ Ὀδυσσεὺς ἐπειδὴ ἔκαμεν πλανεόμενος, ἐθελήσας ἀτρεκὲς ἀκοῦσαι περὶ τῶν ἑωυτοῦ πρηγμάτων, ἐς τὸν Ἀΐδην ἀπίκετο, οὐκ
ὄφρα ἴδῃ νέκυας καὶ ἀτερπέα χῶρον
ἀλλʼ ἐς λόγους ἐλθεῖν Τειρεσίῃ ἐπιθυμέων.
And so most sacred a thing did divination seem to them, that indeed Odysseus, when he grew weary of wandering, wishing to hear the truth concerning his own affairs, went to Hades, not in order to see the dead and the joyless region but because he desired to enter into conversation with Tiresias.
καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἐς τὸν χῶρον ἦλθεν ἔνθα οἱ Κίρκη ἐσήμηνεν καὶ ἔσκαψεν τὸν βόθρον καὶ τὰ μῆλα ἔσφαξεν, πολλῶν νεκρῶν παρεόντων, ἐν τοῖσι καὶ τῆς μητρὸς τῆς ἑωυτοῦ, τοῦ αἵματος πιεῖν ἐθελόντων οὐ πρότερον ἐπῆκεν οὐδενί, οὐδὲ αὐτῇ μητρί, πρὶν Τειρεσίην γεύσασθαι καὶ ἐξαναγκάσαι εἰπεῖν οἱ τὸ μαντήιον· καὶ ἀνέσχετο διψῶσαν ὁρέων τῆς μητρὸς τὴν σκιήν.
And when he came to the place which Circe had indicated to him, and dug the pit, and slaughtered the sheep, although many dead were present, among whom was also his own mother, and they wished to drink of the blood, he did not permit anyone beforehand, not even his mother herself, until Tiresias should taste it and compel him to tell him the prophecy; and he endured seeing the shade of his mother thirsting.
§25Λακεδαιμονίοισι δὲ Λυκοῦργος τὴν πολιτείην πᾶσαν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διετάξατο καὶ νόμον σφίσιν ἐποιήσατο μηδαμὰ μηδὲ ἐς πόλεμον προχωρέειν πρὶν τὴν σεληναίην πλήρεα γενέσθαι· οὐ γὰρ ἴσην ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι τὴν δυναστείην αὐξανομένης τῆς σεληναίης καὶ ἀφανιζομένης, πάντα δὲ ὑπʼ αὐτῇ διοικέεσθαι.
And Lycurgus ordered the whole constitution for the Lacedaemonians from heaven, and made it a law for them never to go forth even to war before the moon became full; for he did not think the power was equal when the moon was waxing and when it was waning, but that all things are governed by her.
§26ἀλλὰ μοῦνοι Ἀρκάδες ταῦτα οὐκ ἐδέξαντο οὐδὲ ἐτίμησαν ἀστρολογίην, ἀνοίῃ δὲ καὶ ἀσοφίῃ λέγουσιν καὶ τῆς σεληναίης ἔμμεναι προγενέστεροι.
But the Arcadians alone did not accept these things, nor did they honor astrology, and in their folly and lack of wisdom they say that they are even older than the moon.
§27οἱ μὲν ὦν πρὸ ἡμῶν οὕτω κάρτα ἦσαν φιλομάντιες, οἱ δὲ νῦν, οἱ μὲν αὐτέων ἀδύνατα εἶναι λέγουσιν ἀνθρώποισι τέλος εὕρασθαι μαντικῆς· οὐ γὰρ εἶναί μιν οὔτε πιστὴν οὔτε ἀληθέα, οὐδὲ τὸν Ἄρεα ἢ τὸν Δία ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἡμέων ἕνεκα κινέεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν ἀνθρωπηίων πρηγμάτων οὐδεμίην ὤρην ἐκεῖνοι ποιέονται οὐδʼ ἔστιν αὐτέοισιν πρὸς τάδε κοινωνίη, κατὰ σφέας δὲ χρείῃ τῆς περιφορῆς ἀναστρέφονται.
Those before us, then, were thus exceedingly fond of divination, but of those of today, some say that it is impossible for men to find the fulfillment of the mantic art; for they say that it is neither reliable nor true, nor that Ares or Jupiter moves in heaven for our sake, but those make no account of human affairs, nor is there any association for them with these, but they turn about according to themselves by the necessity of their revolution.
§28ἄλλοι δὲ ἀστρολογίην ἀψευδέα μέν, ἀνωφελέα δὲ εἶναι λέγουσιν· οὐ γὰρ ὑπὸ μαντοσύνῃ ἀλλάσσεσθαι ὁκόσα τῇσι μοίρῃσι δοκέοντα ἐπέρχεται.
But others say that astrology is indeed unerring, but useless; for those things which come upon us as decreed by the Fates are not altered by the art of divination.
§29ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς τάδε ἄμφω ἐκεῖνα ἔχω εἰπεῖν, ὅτι οἱ μὲν ἀστέρες ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ τὴν σφετέρην εἱλέονται, πάρεργον δὲ σφίσι τῆς κινήσιος τῶν κατʼ ἡμέας ἕκαστον ἐπιγίγνεται.
But to these things I have both those points to say, namely, that the stars indeed in heaven turn in their own path, but as a byproduct of their movement, each of the events concerning us occurs.
ἢ ἐθέλεις ἵππου μὲν θέοντος καὶ ὀρνίθων καὶ ἀνδρῶν κινεομένων λίθους ἀνασαλεύεσθαι καὶ κάρφεα δονέεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνέμων τοῦ δρόμου, ὑπὸ δὲ τῇ δίνῃ τῶν ἀστέρων μηδὲν ἄλλο γίγνεσθαι;
Or are you willing to believe that when a horse runs, and birds and men move, stones are shaken and twigs are stirred by the winds of their course, but by the whorl of the stars nothing else happens?
καὶ ἐκ μὲν ὀλίγου πυρὸς ἀπορροίη ἐς ἡμέας ἔρχεται, καὶ τὸ πῦρ οὐ διʼ ἡμέας καίει τι οὐδέ οἱ μέλει τοῦ ἡμετέρου θάλπεος, ἀστέρων δὲ οὐδεμίην ἀπορροίην δεχόμεθα;
And from a small fire an emanation comes to us, and the fire does not burn anything for our sake, nor does it care for our warmth, yet from the stars do we receive no emanation?
καὶ μέντοι τῇ ἀστρολογίῃ τὰ μὲν φαῦλα ἐσθλὰ ποιῆσαι ἀδύνατά ἐστιν οὐδὲ ἀλλάξαι τι τῶν ἀπορρεόντων πρηγμάτων, ἀλλὰ τοὺς χρεομένους τάδε ὠφελέει· τὰ μὲν ἐσθλὰ εἰδότας ἀπιξόμενα πολλὸν ἀπόπροσθεν εὐφρανέει, τὰ δὲ φαῦλα εὐμαρέως δέχονται· οὐ γάρ σφισιν ἀγνοέουσιν ἐπέρχεται, ἀλλʼ ἐν μελέτῃ καὶ προσδοκίῃ ῥηίδια καὶ πρηέα ἡγεῖται.
And indeed, by astrology it is impossible to make bad things good, nor to alter any of the flowing events, but it benefits those who use it in this way: knowing that good things are coming, it gladdens them long beforehand, and they receive the bad things easily; for these do not come upon them in ignorance, but being in practice and expectation, they are guided as easy and mild.
τάδε ἀστρολογίης πέρι ἐγὼν ὑπολαμβάνω.
These things I conceive concerning astrology.