Tag: Anna Comnena

This is part 2 of 2. Part 1 is here.

Οὐ μὴν διὰ τοῦτο αὐχμός τις ἦν ἀστρολόγων τὸ τηνικάδε, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ εἰρημένος Σὴθ κατ’ ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ ἐξήνθησε, καὶ ὁ Αἰγύπτιος ἐκεῖνος Ἀλεξανδρεὺς πολὺς ἦν τὰ τῆς ἀστρολογίας ἐμφαίνων ὄργια. ὃς καὶ παρὰ πολλῶν ἐρωτώμενος ἀκριβέστατα προεμαντεύετο· ἐν ἐνίοις δὲ οὐδὲ ἀστρολάβου δεόμενος, ἀλλὰ διά τινος ψηφηφορίας τὰς προρρήσεις ἐπεποίητο. ἦν δ’ ἄρα καὶ τοῦτο μαγικὸν μὲν οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλὰ τέχνη τις Ἀλεξανδρέως λογική. ὁρῶν δὲ ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ τὴν νεότητα συρρέουσαν ἐπ’ αὐτὸν καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ προφήτην τὸν ἄνδρα λογιζομένην, δὶς καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦτον ἐπηρωτήκει, καὶ τοσαυτάκις καὶ ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεὺς εὐστοχήκει τῆς ἐπερωτήσεως· δειλιάσας δὲ ἵνα μὴ πολλῶν βλάβη γένηται, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ματαιότητα τῆς ἀστρολογίας ἀποκλίνωσιν ἅπαντες, κατὰ τὴν Ῥαιδεστὸν τούτῳ τὰς διατριβὰς ἀφώρισε τῆς πόλεως ἀπελάσας, πολλὴν τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν προμήθειαν ἐνδειξάμενος, ὥστε δαψιλῶς αὐτῷ τὰ πρὸς χρῆσιν ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν ταμιείων ἐπιχορηγεῖσθαι. ναὶ μὴν καὶ ὁ διαλεκτικώτατος Ἐλευθέριος, Αἰγύπτιος καὶ οὗτος ἀνήρ, τὰ τῆς ἐπιστήμης ταύτης πρεσβεύων εἰς ἄκρον ἤλαυνεν εὐφυΐας, μηδενὶ μηδαμῶς τῶν πρωτείων παραχωρῶν. ἐν ὑστέροις δὲ καὶ ὁ καλούμενος Κατανάγκης Ἀθήνηθεν εἰς τὴν μεγαλόπολιν καταλαβὼν, τὰ πρωτεῖα τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ φιλονεικῶν φέρειν, ἐπερωτηθεὶς παρά τινων περὶ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος, πότε τεθνήξοιτο, καὶ τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ προκαταγγείλας, ὡς ᾤετο, ἐψεύσθη τοῦ στοχασμοῦ. συνέβη δὲ τηνικαῦτα τὸν θῆρα λέοντα ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις διαιτώμενον ἐπὶ τέσσαρσιν ἡμέραις πυρέξαντα τὴν ψυχὴν ἐξερεύξασθαι· εἰς ὃ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἔδοξεν ἡ τοῦ Κατανάγκη πρόρρησις τελευτῆσαι. καιροῦ δὲ παρερρυηκότος ἱκανοῦ, αὖθις τὸν τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος θάνατον προὐμαντεύσατο καὶ διεψεύσθη· ἐτεθνήκει δ’ ὅμως ἡ βασιλὶς Ἄννα καὶ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην, ἣν ὁ Κατανάγκης προεῖπεν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεύς, ἐπεὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ πολλάκις προμαντευσάμενος τοσαυτάκις διήμαρτε, τῆς πόλεως τοῦτον μεταστῆσαι οὐκ ἤθελεν αὐτέλεγκτον γενόμενον, ἅμα δὲ καὶ ἵνα μὴ δι’ ἐμπάθειαν δόξῃ τοῦτον ἐκεῖθεν ἀπελαύνειν. ἀλλ’ ἡμεῖς γε ἐντεῦθεν πάλιν ὅθεν ἐξεληλύθειμεν ἀναστρέψωμεν, ἵνα μὴ δοκοίημεν μετεωρολέσχαι τινὲς καὶ ἐξ ἀστρολογίας ὀνόμασι τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἱστορίας καταζοφοῦντες.
(Anna Comnena, Alex. 6.7.4-6)

Yet in spite of this there was no dearth of astrologers at that time, for the Seth I have mentioned flourished then, and there was also a famous Egyptian, Alexandreus, who was a strong exponent of the mysteries of astrology. He was consulted by many and used to give most accurate forecasts in many cases, not even using the astrolabe, but made his prophecies by a certain casting of dice. There was nothing magical about that either, it was an art practised by the Alexandrians (or by Alexandreus). When the Emperor saw how the young people flocked to him and regarded the man as a species of prophet, he himself consulted him twice and each time Alexandreus gave very correct answers. But the Emperor was afraid that harm might come to many from it and that all, would be led away to the vain pursuit of astrology, so he banished him from the capital, assigned Raedestus as his dwelling-place and showed great consideration for him, and his means of living were amply supplied from the imperial treasury. Nay more, the great dialectician, Eleutherius, also an Egyptian by birth, cultivated this art too and carried it to such perfection that he yielded the palm to no one. Later again, a man called Catanances from Athens came to the capital, anxious to carry off the first prize among astrologers and when questioned by some about the date of the Emperor’s death, he foretold it as he thought, but was proved wrong in his prognostication. It happened, however, that the lion which was kept in the palace died that day, after four days’ fever, so the vulgar considered that the prophecy of Catanances had been accomplished. After some considerable time he again foretold the date of the Emperor’s death and was mistaken; yet the Emperor’s mother, the Empress Anna, died on the very day Catanances had foretold. Because Catanances had made repeated mistakes in his predictions about him, the Emperor did not like to banish him as he was self-convicted, and also it might seem that he banished him in anger. But now let us return to the point in our history where we abandoned it, otherwise we shall be thought to be star gazers, obscuring the main theme of our history with the names of astrologers. (tr. Elizabeth Dawes)

 

This is part 1 of 2. Part 2 is here.

Τὴν δὲ τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου τελευτὴν μαθηματικός τις Σὴθ καλούμενος μεγάλα ἐπ’ ἀστρολογίᾳ αὐχῶν, μετὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ Ἰλλυρικὸν αὐτοῦ διαπεραίωσιν προειρήκει διὰ χρησμοῦ, ὃν ἐν χάρτῃ ἐκθέμενος καὶ σφραγίσας, τισὶ τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως οἰκειοτάτων ἐνεχείρισε, παραγγείλας κατέχειν αὐτὸν μέχρι τινός. εἶτα τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου τετελευτηκότος, ἐξ ἐπιταγῆς αὐτοῦ λύουσι τὸν χάρτην. εἶχε δὲ ὁ χρησμὸς οὕτως· “μέγας ἐχθρὸς ἐξ ἑσπέρας πολλὰ κυκήσας ἄφνω πεσεῖται.” ἐθαύμασαν μὲν οὖν πάντες τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἐπιστήμην· ἦν γὰρ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ σοφίᾳ εἰς ἄκρον ἐληλακώς. καὶ ἵνα τι βραχὺ παραδράμωμεν, τοῦ λόγου τῆς ἱστορίας μικρὸν ἀποστάντες, οὕτως ἔχει τὰ κατὰ τοὺς χρησμούς. νεώτερον μὲν τὸ ἐφεύρεμα, καὶ οὐκ οἶδε ταύτην τὴν ἐπιστήμην ὁ πάλαι χρόνος. οὔτε γὰρ ἐπ’ Εὐδόξου τοῦ ἀστρονομικωτάτου ἡ τῶν χρησμῶν μέθοδος ἦν, οὔτε ὁ Πλάτων τὴν σύνεσιν ταύτην ᾔδει, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ Μανέθων ὁ ἀποτελεσματικὸς περὶ ταύτης ἠκρίβωκεν. ἀλλὰ λῆψις ἦν ἐκείνοις ὡροσκόπου, ἐν οἷς προὐμαντεύοντο, καὶ πῆξις τῶν κέντρων καὶ τοῦ ὅλου διαθέματος ἐπιτήρησις καὶ ὁπόσα ἄλλα ὁ τὴν μέθοδον ταύτην εὑρηκὼς τοῖς ἐς ὕστερον παρέδωκεν, ἅπερ ξυνετὰ τοῖς περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ματαιάζουσιν. ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐκεῖθέν ποτε ὀλίγον τι τῆς ἐπιστήμης ταύτης ἡψάμεθα, οὐχ ἵνα τι τοιοῦτον διαπραξαίμεθα (μὴ γένοιτο), ἀλλ’ ἵνα τῆς ματαιολογίας ταύτης ἀκριβέστερον καταγνόντες, καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὴν ἠσχολημένων καταγινώσκοιμεν. ταῦτα δὲ γράφω οὐκ ἐπιδείξεως ἕνεκα, ἀλλ’ ἵνα ἐνδειξαίμην ὅτι ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος τούτου πολλαὶ τῶν ἐπιστημῶν εἰς ἐπίδοσιν ἐληλύθεισαν, τιμῶντος τοὺς φιλοσόφους καὶ φιλοσοφίαν αὐτήν, εἰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ μάθημα τοῦτο τῆς ἀστρολογίας δυσχεραίνων πως κατεφαίνετο, οἶμαι, διότι τοὺς πολλοὺς τῶν ἀκεραιοτέρων ἀφίστασθαι ἀνέπειθε τῶν ἄνωθεν ἐλπίδων καὶ κεχηνέναι τοῖς ἀστράσιν. αὕτη αἰτία γέγονε πόλεμον ἔχειν τὸν αὐτοκράτορα πρὸς τὸ μάθημα τῆς ἀστρολογίας.
(Anna Comnena, Alex. 6.7.4-5)

A certain mathematician named Seth who boasted much of his knowledge of astrology had forecast Robert’s fate by an oracle, after his crossing to Illyria, written this forecast on a paper, sealed it and entrusted it to some of the Duke’s intimates, bidding them keep it till a certain time. After Robert’s death they opened it by the astrologer’s order and the prophecy was as follows: “A great enemy from the west shall fall suddenly after having stirred up great confusion.” This caused everybody to marvel at the man’s knowledge; and in truth he had delved very deeply into this branch of science, and if I may be allowed to make a short break in the course of my history, the following are the facts about astrological prophecies. The discovery is fairly recent, and the science of it was not known to the ancients. For this method of divination did not exist in the time of Eudoxus, the greatest of all astronomers, neither did Plato have any knowledge of it, and even the astrologer, Manetho, had not brought it to perfection. Now these (astrologers) observe the hour of the birth of the persons about whom they intend to prophesy, and fix the cardinal points and carefully note the disposition of all the stars, in short they do everything that the inventor of this science bequeathed to posterity and which those who trouble about such trifles understand. We, also, at one time dabbled a little in this science, not in order to cast horoscopes (God forbid!), but by gaining a more accurate idea of this vain study to be able to pass judgment upon its devotees. I do not mention this for the sake of boasting, but to prove that during my father’s reign many of the sciences made great progress, as he honoured both philosophers and philosophy itself, but towards this teaching of astrology he showed some hostility, I believe because it tended to make people of a guileless nature reject their faith in God and gape at the stars. This was the cause of the Emperor’s waging war against the teaching of astrology. (tr. Elizabeth Dawes)