C. Jourdain (1838), pp. 28-9.

672
CHAP. XXIX LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION 673
Pious, Charlemagne's successor, when we are told that there was no great lord but had his own astrologer. Adalmus, before he became abbot of Castres, wasted much time upon this pseudo-science, and Rabanus Maurus showed tendencies in that direction. In the tenth century such celestial phe- nomena as comets and eclipses were feared as sinister por- tents, and men resorted to enchantments, auguries, and other forms of divination,^ A brief treatise in a manuscript of the ninth century in the Vatican library also develops the thesis that comets signify disasters.^ In the eleventh century Engel- bert, a monk of Liege, and Odo, teacher at Tournai, were devoted to the study of the stars; and Gilbert Maminot, bishop of Lisieux, and for a time chaplain and physician ^to William the Conqueror, would rather spend his nights in star-gazing than in sleep. "But what was the outcome of all this toil and study?" inquires the Histoire Litteraire and replies to its own question, ''The making of some wretched astrologers and not a single true astronomer !" ^
These words were written nearly two hundred years Figures of ago, but such a recent investigation of manuscripts in French cal'^medi- libraries as that of Wickersheimer on figures illustrative of cme. astrological medicine from the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries has on the whole confirmed the importance of astrology in the meager learning of that time.^ The manu- scripts in English libraries, I have found, tell a similar story. Of the human figures marked with the twelve signs of the zodiac, which become so common in the manuscripts by the fourteenth century, and in which the head rests upon the
* HL IV, 274-5; V, 182-3; VI, siccles, in Transactions of the g-io. Seventeenth International Con-
' Palat. Lat. 487, fol. 40, open- gress of Medicine, Section XXIII,
ing, "Nouo et insolito siderum History of Medicine, London,
ortu infausta quaedam uel tristi- 1913. P- 3i3 et seq. I have not
tia potius quam laeta uel prospera seen A. Fischer Aberglauhe iinter
miseris uentura significari morta- den Angelsaclisen, Meiningen,
libus pene omnia ueterum aesti- 1891, or M. Forster, Die Klcin-
mauit auctoritas." littcratur des Abcrglauhens im
' HL VII, 137. Altenglischen, in Archiv. f. d. Stu-
* Ernest Wickersheimer, Ft- dium d. Netier. Sprachen, vol. gures mcdico-astrologiques des no, pp. 346-5S.
neuvieme, di'xieme et onzicme
674
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
The divine quaterni- ties of Raoul Glaber.
Ram, the feet on Pisces, while the intervening members of the body are marked by their respective signs, — of these Wickersheimer found none before the twelfth century. But in a medical manuscript of the eleventh century the twelve signs with their names and the names of the parts of the human body to which they apply are grouped about a half figure of Christ, who has His right hand raised to bless, while about His head is a halo or sun-disk with twelve rays.^ Less favorable to astrology is the accompanying legend, "According to the ravings of the philosophers the twelve signs are thus denoted." On the page following the text de- scribes the twelve signs "according to the Gentiles." Schemes in which the world, the year, and man were associated, and where are shown the four elements, four seasons, four humors, four temperaments, four ages, four cardinal points, and four winds, are frequently found in extant manu- scripts of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries.^
Such association reminds one of the opening of the chronicle of Raoul Glaber, written in the eleventh century, "Since we are to treat of events in the four quarters of the earth, it will be well to touch first upon the power of divine and abstract quaternity." There are four elements, he gives us to understand, four virtues and four senses. There are four Gospels and they have their relation to the four elements. Matthew, dealing with Christ's incarna- tion, corresponds to earth; Mark to water, since it empha- sizes baptism ; Luke to air, because it is the longest Gospel ;
* Charles Singer, Studies in the History and Method of Science, Oxford, 1917, Plate XV, opposite p. 40, reproduces this illumination. The MS, BN 7028, seems to have once belonged to the abbey of St. Hilary at Poitiers.
' Besides those in France men- tioned by Wickersheimer may be noted two of the tenth century at Munich: CLM 18629, fol._ 105, "Tabula cosmica cum nominibus ventorum, germanicorum quo- que"; CLM 18764, fols. 79-80. "Schema de genitura mundi."
Also Vatic. Lat. 645, 9th century, fol. 66, Ventorum imagines et m circulo Adam in medio f erarum ; fol. 66v, Planetarum figura. This same MS contains a conjuration written in a later hand of the eleventh or twelfth century: fol. 4v, "In nomine patris. . . . Tres angeli ambulaverunt in monte. ..."
For such an astrological dia- gram in an Arabic work of the tenth century see E. G. Browne (1921), 1 17-8.
XXIX LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION 675
and John to fire or ether as the most spiritual. In like manner can be associated with the four cardinal virtues those four famous rivers which had their sources in Para- dise : Phison and prudence, Geon and temperance, the Tigris and fortitude, the Euphrates and justice. Finally the ages of the world are found to be four by Raoul, instead of the six eras corresponding to the days of creation which we find in Isidore, Bede, and other medieval historians ; and these four ages also relate to the four virtues. The days of Abel, Enoch, and Noah were days of prudence; but on leaving Noah we have temperance marking the age of Abra- ham and the patriarchs ; fortitude is the feature of the time of Moses and the prophets; while justice characterizes the period since the incarnation of the Word.
The faith of Raoul and his contemporaries in the mystic Celestial significance of numbers, if not also in astrology, and the a°a*other fact that they were constantly on the lookout for portents marvels, and prodigies, are further attested by the stress laid in his chronicle upon the thousandth anniversaries of Christ's birth and of His passion. Says Raoul, "After the multiplicity of prodigies which, although some came a little before and some a trifle afterwards, happened in the world around the thousandth year of Christ the Lord, there were many in- dustrious men of sagacious mind who prophesied that there would be others not inferior to these in the thousandth year of our Lord's passion." That they were not mistaken in this premonition he shows later by several chapters, includ- ing an account of the eclipse of the sun in that year. Like many another medieval historian, Raoul is careful to note the appearance of comets — in the Bayeux tapestry of the same century one marks the death of Edward the Confessor; Raoul also believes that if a living person is visited by spirits, either good or evil, it is a sign of his approaching death ; he holds the usual view that demons may sometimes work marvels by divine permission, and tells of a magician- impostor whom he saw work miracles upon pseudo-relics.
676
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
An
eleventh
century
calendar.
Astrology and divi- nation in ecclesias- tical Compoti.
But from the superstition of medieval chroniclers we must turn back to astrological manuscripts proper.
An eleventh century calendar at Amiens ^ reveals both a simple form of astrological medicine and a belief in some peculiar significance of the number seven, whether as a sacred or an astrological number. At the head of each month are brief instructions as to what herbs to use during that month, as to bleeding and bathing, and what disease may most easily be cured then.^ In the same manuscript one miniature shows someone striking seven bells with a hammer, perhaps as notes in a scale, and another miniature represents a seven-branched candlestick, of which the branches are respectively labeled, "Spirit of piety, Spirit of fortitude, Spirit of intellect, Spirit of wisdom, Spirit of prudence, Spirit of science, Spirit of the fear of God." ^
Indeed works of astrology and divination are especially likely to be found in the same manuscripts with ecclesiastical calendars and coniputi. Computus or compotus, as one manuscript states, was "the science considering times." * For example, in a brief compotus of the ninth century ^ a divining sphere of Pythagoras occurs twice, and we have also a moon book, an account of the Egyptian days, and a method of divination from winds. In a twelfth century manuscript,^ sandwiched in between calendars and reckon- ings of Easter and eclipses and Bede's work On the Natures of Things, are a sphere of divination, an account of Egyp- tian days, a method of divination from thunder, and a por- tion of a work on judicial astrology beginning with the eleventh chapter which tells how to determine whether any- one will be poor or rich by inspection of the planet in his nativity.'^
* Amiens, fends Lescalopier, 2, nth century, fols. 1-12.
^ For instance, for February, "Bibe agrimoniam et apii semen ; oculos turbulentos sanare debes" : for March, "Merum dulce primum bibe, assum balneum usita, san- guinem non minuas, ruta et leves-
tico utere."
^ Ibid., fols. II and 19.
■• Pembroke 278, early 14th cen- tury, fol. 25, "Compotus est sci- encia considerans tempora."
° BN nouv. acq. 1616, 14 leaves.
'BN 7299 A.
' BN 7299A, fols, 35v, 37V, s6r.
XXIX LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION
677
The very dating of Easter itself might be the occasion for indulging in mystic speculation of a semi-astrological nature. Thus Notker Labeo, c 950-1022, the well-known monk of St. Gall/ in a treatise to his disciple Erkenhard on four questions of compotus,~ states that the principal problem, with which all others are connected, is that of the date of Easter. He gives the time as in the first full moon after the vernal equinox, but adds that this is because of a certain mystery. For if there were no mys- tery connected with the date of Easter, and it merely cele- brated like other festivals the memory of an event which once happened, there is no doubt but that it would occur every year without variation upon the twenty-seventh of March, which was the day of the Lord's resurrection. But as after the vernal equinox the days grow longer than the nights, and as at the full of the moon its splendor is revolved on high, so we should overcome the darkness of sin by the light of piety and faith and turn our minds from earthly to celestial things, if we wish to celebrate Easter worthily.
But let us consider in more detail the methods of divina- tion found in such manuscripts. Simplest of all perhaps are predictions as to the character of the ensuing year ac- cording to the day of the week upon which the first of January falls. For example, "If the kalends of January shall be on the Lord's day, the winter will be good and mild and warm, the spring windy, and the summer dry. Good vintage, increasing flocks; honey will be abundant; the old men will die; and peace will be made." ^ In some
^ Notker is especially famed for his translations with learned com- mentaries from Latin into Ger- man, of which five are extant, namely: The Consolation of Phi- losophy of Boethius, The Mar- riage of Mercury and Philology of Martianus Capella, the Psalter, and Aristotle, De catcgoriis and De hiterprctatione : see Piper, Die Schriften Notkers, Freiburg, 1882- 1883, vols. MIL
^ BN nouv. acq. 229, fols. lov- 14V. Notker erkenhardo dis- cipulo de nil guestionibus com- poti. It seems not to have been printed.
'Cotton Tiberius A, III, a MS written in various hands before the Norman conquest, partly in Latin and partly in Anglo-Saxon, and containing among other things the Colloquy of Aelfric Our item occurs at fol. 34r in
Notker on the mystic date of Easter.
Prediction from the Kalends of Janu- ary.
678
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
manuscripts these predictions concerning the weather, crops, wars, and king for the ensuing year are called Suppiitatio Esdrae or signs which God revealed to the prophet Esdras.^ In another manuscript " the weather for winter and summer is predicted according to the day of the week upon which Christmas falls and Lent begins. Christmas of course was sometimes regarded as the first day of the new year and in any case it falls on the same day of the week as the following first of January. In a ninth century manuscript ^ predic- tions for the ensuing year are made according as there is wind in the night on Christmas eve and the eleven nights following. For instance, "If there is wind in the night on the night of the natal day of our Lord Jesus Christ, in
Latin with an Anglo-Saxon inter- linear version, and at fol. 39V in Anglo-Saxon only.
Cotton Titus D, XXVI, loth century, fols. lov-iiv, gives a slightly different version for some days of the week.
^ Harleian 3017, lOth century, fols. 63r-64v, CLM 6382, nth century, fol. 42, Supputatio Esdrae; Incipit, "Kal. Jan. si fuerint dominico die hiems bona erit."
Vatican, Palat. Lat. 235, lO-iith century, fol. 39, "Subputatio quam subputavit Esdras in templo Hie- rusalem," opening, "Si in prima feria fuerint kl. lanuarii hiemps bona erit."
Also found in Egerton 821, fol. ir, which is of the twelfth cen- tury and adds a more elaborate method of divination according to what planet rules the first hour of the first night of January and which of its 28 mansions the moon is in.
CLM 9921, I2th century, fol. i, is a calendar with verses begin- ning, "Jani prima dies et septima fine timctur."
* Sloane 475, this portion per- haps nth century, fol. 2i7r. Other MSS of later date than the period we are now considering are : Harleian 2258, fol. 191, "prog- nostica a die nativitatis Domini
a luna et somniis petita," pre- dictions from Christmas, the moon, and dreams. CUL 1338, 15th century, fol. 65V, Prognosti- cations derived from the day on which Christmas falls (in Latin) ; fol. 74V, Prognostications drawn from the day of the week on which the year commences, CU Trinity 1109, 14th century, fol. 148, "Prognostica anni sequentis ex die natalium Domini."
^ BN nouv. acq. 1616, 9th cen- tury, fol. I2V. Similar later MSS are :
Digby 86, 13th century, fols. 32-4, Prognosticatio ex vento in nocte Natalis Domini, and fols. 40v-4ir, "Les singnes del jour do Nouel," predictions in French ac- cording to the day of the week on which Christmas falls.
Digby 88, 15th century, fol. 77, "Howe all ye yere ys rewlyde by the day that Christemas day fallythe on," and fol. 4or, "Prog- nostication from the sight of the sun on Christmas and the ten days following" (Prognosticatio ex visione solis in die Natalis Dom- ini et in decern diebus subsequen- tibus), and_ fol. 75, a poem of prognostications for Christmas day. This same MS contains a large number of other brief anonymous treatises in the fields of astrology and divination.
XXIX LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION 679
that year kings and pontiffs will perish," and "If on twelfth night there shall be wind, kings will perish in war."
Divination from thunder is another form of judicial Other astrology, if it may so be called, found in these early manu- by the scripts. Perhaps the simplest variety of it is according to ^^y °^ the day of the week on which thunder is heard. ^ Pre- dictions were also made according to the month in which thunder was heard,^ or the direction from which it was heard.^ It may be recalled that the three chapters of Bede's translation of some work on divination from thunder had been respectively devoted to these three methods by the di- rection from which the thunder is heard, the month, and the day of the week. Nativities of infants are also given ac- cording to the day of the week on which they are born, and further taking into account whether the hour of birth is diurnal or nocturnal.'* It is also regarded as important to note upon which day of the week the new moon occurs,^ and we are further informed of the various hours of the days of the week when it is advisable to perform blood- letting.® In a method of divination according to the day of the week and the letters in the boy's or girl's name the Lord's day is assigned the number thirteen, the day "of the moon" eighteen, and that "of Mars" fifteen."^ Since
* Titus D, XXVI, fol. 9v. Ti- we are told of what the Egyptians berius A, III, fols. 38r and 35r. write, and of famine in Babylon. Cockayne, Leechdonis etc.. Ill, In CUL 1687, I3-I4th century, 150-295, in RS vol. 35, published fols. 68v-69r, Latin verses con- this and a number of other ex- taining prognostications concern- tracts from Tiberius A, III, and ing thunder are followed by "a other early English MSS. list of the number of quarters of
Vienna 2245, 12th century, fols. flour, beer, etc., used in the year
59r-69v are devoted to various at the monastery" and by "a note
prognostications, beginning with, on the symbolism of the pastoral
"Three days are to be observed staff."
above all others," and ending ^ Combined with the method by
with, "Thunder at dawn signifies the day of the week in BN 7299A,
the birth of a king." A dream 12th century, fol. 37V. book by Daniel follows at fols. * Tiberius A, III, fol. 63r ; Vati-
69V-75r. can Palat. Lat. 235, fol. 40.
'Vatican Palat. Lat. 235, fol. ° Tiberius A, III, fol. 38V.
40, "In mense lanuario si tonitru " Sloane 475, fol. I35v.
fuerit." In Egerton 821, 12th ^ Sloane 475, fol. i33r. The
century, the significance of thun- method is almost identical with
der is given according to the that of the spheres of life and
twelve signs of the zodiac, and death, of which we shall speak
68o
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
the days of the week bore the names of the planets, it was not strange that they should have been credited with some- thing of the virtues of the stars.
A commoner method of divination and one more nearly approaching approved astrological doctrine was that by the day of the month or moon. Briefest of such moon-books is that which merely designates each of the thirty days as favorable or unfavorable.^ We also find a Lunarium for the sick, stating the patient's prospects from the day of the moon on which he contracted his illness ; ^ a work as- cribed to "Saint Daniel" on nativities by the day of the moon; ^ and an equally brief interpretation of dreams upon the same basis. ^ Or all these matters may be considered in the same treatise and each of them somewhat more fully, and we may be told whether the day is a good one on which to buy and sell, to board a ship, to enter a city, to operate upon a patient, to send children off to school, to breed ani- mals, to build an aqueduct or mill, or whether it is best to
presently. In CU Trinity 987, The Canterbury Psalter, about 1150 A. D., the value assigned Dies So lis is 24.
^ Vatic. Palat. Lat. 235, fol. 40, "De lunae observatione : Luna I omnibus rebus agendis utilis."
Tiberius A, III, fol. G^r, where, however, such parts of the day as morning and evening are fur- ther distinguished.
Vatic. Palat. Lat. 485, 9th cen- tury, fol. 15V, "Ad sanguinem minuendum," merely states which days of the moon are favorable or unfavorable for blood-letting.
St. John's 17, 1 1 10 A. D., fol. 4, Luna quibus diebus bona est et quibus non; fol. 154V, a table of lucky and unlucky numbers.
' Harleian 3017, fol. sSv ; the Incipit states that it is by the same author as the preceding Sphere of Pythagoras and Apuleius.
Titus D, XXVI, fol. 8.
Cotton Caligula A, XV, loth century, fol. 121V, Latin and Anglo-Saxon.
Egerton 821, fol. 32r, is a
twelfth century instance.
The method seems combined or confused with the Egyptian days in Vatic. Palat. Lat. 485, 9th cen- tury, fol. 13V, "Dies aegyptiaci. Signa in quibus aegrotus an peri- clitare aut evadere non potest," but opening, "Luna I. qui ceciderit in infirmitatem difficile euadit."
* Harleian 3017, fol. 58V, "In- cipit lunarium sancti danihel de nativitate infantium. Luna I qui f uerit natus vitalis erit ; Luna II, mediocris erit . . . Luna IIII, tractator regum erit . . . Luna XII, religiosus erit . . . Luna XXX, negotias multas tracta- bit."
Tiberius A, III, fols. 63r and 34V.
Titus D, XXVI, fols. 7v and 6v.
'Tiberius A, III, fol. 33v- Titus D, XXVI, fol. 9r. CLM 6382, nth century, fol. 42, De somni ueris uel mendosis quidam incipiunt in aetatibus lunae ex- ploratis.
XXIX
LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION
68i
abstain on it from most business. Also such predictions as that the boy born on that day will be illustrious, astute, wise, and lettered ; that he will encounter danger on the water, but will live to old age if he escapes; while the girl born on the same day will be "chaste, benign, good-looking, and pleasing to men." That anyone who takes to his bed on that day will suffer a long sickness, but that it is a favorable day for blood-letting, and that one should not worry about dreams he has then, since they possess no significance either for good or evil. Also what chance there is of recovering articles stolen on that day.-^ In later manuscripts at least it is further stated that certain Biblical characters were born on this day or that day of the moon : Adam on the first. Eve on the second, Cain on the third, Abel on the fourth, and so
2
on
* Tiberius A, III, fols. 30V-33V, "Finiunt somnia danielis proph- ete."
Sloane 475, fols. 21 1-6, is almost identical, but I believe does not mention Daniel as its author.
Vatic. Palat. Lat. 235, fol. 39V.
BN nouv. acq. 1616, 9th cen- tury, is roughly similar but names no author and does not distinguish the fates of boys and girls. It usually states whether slaves who run away and thieves who steal on the day in question will be caught or escape. It opens and closes thus : "Luna prima qui in- cenditur in ipsa sanabitur et bona et in omnibus dare et accipere et nubere et navigare in mare et vendere et emere et omnis qui- cumque fugerit in ipsa aut servus aut liber non poterit sed capitur aut qui incendit incendio sana- bitur (presumably an allusion to the medical practice of cauteriza- tion) et qui natus fuerit vitalis erit .../... Luna XXX bona est ambulare in piscatione et qui fugit post multos annos rever- titur in loco suo et qui natus fuerit dives erit et honoratissimus erit et qui incadit aut manducet aut non vivet periculo mortis habebit."
Titus D, XXVII, fols. 22-25r,
"judicia de diebus quibusdam cuiusque mensis" ; fols. 27-9, "ar- gumentum lunare, quando et qualiter observentur tempora ad res agendas."
Of the twelfth century, Vienna 2532, fols. 55-9, "Luna I. Hec dies omnibus egrotantibus utilis est .../... Puer natus negotia multa sectabit."
' Sloane 2461, end of 13th cen- tury, fols. 62-4. No Biblical char- acter is mentioned for the fifth and sixth days, but we are told that on the seventh day of the moon Abel was slain by Cain.
BN 3660A, i6th century, fols. 53r-57r, ascribes the birth of Nebuchadnezzar to the fifth day, leaves the sixth blank, has Abel slain on the seventh, Methusaleh born on the eighth, Lamech on the ninth, and so on.
Egerton 821, 12th century, fol. I2r, "Natus est Samuel proph- eta. . . ."
Digby 88, 15th century, fol. 62r, has English verses beginning:
"God made Adam the fyrst day of the moone, And the second day Eve good dedis to doone." A similar poem occurs at fol. 64 of the same MS and in Ashmole 189, fol. 213V.
682
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
In the early manuscripts moon-books are anonymous or ascribed to Daniel, but in later medieval manuscripts other authors are named. The name of Adam is coupled with that of Daniel in both of two rather elaborate moon-books in a fourteenth century manuscript,^ where Adam is said to have worked out these " lunations" "by true experience." A fifteenth century one is attributed to a philosopher, as- trologer, and physician named Edris,^ perhaps the Esdras of the method of divination by the kalends of January rather than the Arab Edrisi. It briefly predicts from the relation of the moon to the twelve signs whether patients will re- cover and captives escape. In a sixteenth century manu- script at Paris are "Significations of the days of the moon which the most excellent astronomer Bezogar revealed to his disciples and transmitted to them as a very great secret and most precious gift." ^ But such an ascription is rather obviously a late fiction.
Determining the fate of the patient from the day of the moon upon which his illness was incurred enters also into certain spheres of life and death which were much em- ployed in the early middle ages. But in these the number of the day of the moon is combined with a second number obtained by a numerical evaluation of the letters forming the patient's name. This method came down from the ancient Greek-speaking world, as in a "Sphere of Democ- ritus, prognostic of life and death" found in a Leyden papyrus,* while the very similar Sphere of Petosiris, the
^Ashmole 361, mid 14th cen- tury, fols. 156V-158V, "Iste sunt lunaciones quas Adam primus homo disposuit secundum veram experientiam quam etiam suis filiis tradidit et quam maxima Abel et ceteris de posteritate ad quos etiam concordavit Daniel propheta . . ."; fol. 159, "Modo agitur de numero lune ad viden- dum que sit bona vel que mala et usum istarum lunacionum invene- runt Adam et Daniel propheta."
'Canon. Misc. 517, fol. 3Sr, "Incipit scientia edita ab edri
philosopho astrologo et medico." 'BN 3660A, fols. 53r-57r. In the catalogue of Ashburnham MSS at Florence the name of Giovannino di Graziano is con- nected with a moon-book in Ash- burnham 130, I3-I5th century, fols. 25-6, "Luna prima Adam natus fuit. . , ." But perhaps this name should go only with some prognostications, exorcisms, and recipes which occur at the close of the predictions for the thirty days of the moon. *Ed. Leemans, 1833-18S5.
versions.
XXIX LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION 683
mythical Egyptian astrologer, is variously dated by W. Kroll from the second century before Christ, by E. Riess from the first century before Christ, and by F. Boll in the first century of our era.^ The so-called "Sphere" is really only a wheel of fortune, circle, or other plane figure divided into compartments where different numbers are grouped under such headings as "Life" and "Death." Having calculated the value of a person's name by adding together the Greek numerals represented by its component letters, and having further added in the day of the moon, one divides the sum by some given divisor and looks for the quotient in the compartments. This method of divination was also employed in regard to fugitive slaves and the out- come of gladiatorial combats.^
In the medieval Latin versions of these Spheres of life Medieval and death the numerical value of the Greek letters was nat- urally usually lost and arbitrary numerical equivalents were assigned to the Roman letters or some other method of calculation was substituted. The Sphere of Petosiris was perpetuated in the form of a letter by him to Nechepso, king of Egypt. ^ But more common than this in manu- scripts of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries was the Sphere of life and death of Apuleius or Pythagoras or both'* which replaced that of Democritus. Like it, it con- sisted of the numbers from one to thirty arranged in six compartments, three above a line each containing six num- bers, and three below the line having four each. John of Salisbury, in the twelfth century, presumably refers to
''Bouche-Leclercq (1899), 537- of Nechepso and Petosiris (Phi-
42; (1879- 1882), I, 258-65. Ber- lologus, Suppl. VI, 1891-1893,
thelot, Alchiniistcs grecs (1888), pp. 382-3) from Cod. Laur.
I, 86-90. K. Sudhoff (1902), pp. XXXVIII, 24, 9-ioth century, fol.
4-6. 174V. Wickersheimer (1913), PP-
^Arundel 319, 13th century, fol. 315-7, notes BN 17868, loth cen-
2r, Versus de faustis vel infaus- tury, fol. 13. For other MSS see
tis nominibus pugnantium, is a Appendix I to this chapter,
medieval Latin example. ■* Printed by Paul Lehmann,
' Printed among treatises of Apidciusfragmente, Hermes
dubious or spurious authorship XLIX (1914), 612-20. For a list
with Bede's works, Migne, PL 90, of some MSS of it see Appendix
963-6; and more recently in I at the close of this chapter. Riess' edition of the fragments
684
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
it when he speaks of divination or lot-casting "by inspec- tion of the so-called Pythagorean table" ; ^ and it continues to be found with great frequency in the manuscripts of subsequent centuries.^ It is not to be confused, however, with the Prenostica Pitagorice, a more elaborate, although somewhat similar, method of divination by means of geomantic tables, of which we shall treat later in the chapter on Bernard Silvester. A Sphere ascribed to St. Donatus in a twelfth century manuscript includes instructions how to determine the sign of the zodiac under which a person was born by computing the difference between his name and his mother's name. If this amounts to four letters, he was born under the fourth sign, and so on.^
The survival of such superstitious methods of divina- tion into the later middle ages is attested not only by the frequent recurrence of the Sphere of Apideius and the divinations from the kalends of January in manuscripts of the later centuries, but by the medical notebook, written in middle English, of John Crophill, who practiced medicine in Suffolk under Henry IV.* Besides a record of his patients and the sums of money due from them, rules of dieting and blood-letting for the twelve months of the year, and his "more regular and masterly observations upon Urin," his notes include a treatise on astrological medicine which, in the sarcastic language of the old catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts, concludes "with a masterpiece of art, namely, a tretys or chapter of 'Calculation to know
^ Polycraticus I, 13, ed. Webb, I, 54. Mr. Webb in a note refers to an article in a German periodi- cal (K. Gillert, Neues Archiv d. Gesellschaft f. altere deutsche Geschichtskunde, V, 254) concern- ing a MS of the Sphere of Py- thagoras preserved at Petrograd, but says nothing of the MSS in the British Museum listed in Ap- pendix I to this chapter, — a good illustration of the unnecessary ob- sequiousness of English towards German scholarship which has frequently prevailed in the past.
* A few of them will be found listed in Appendix I to this chap- ter.
^ Egerton 821, 12th century, f ol. i5r, "Hec est spera quod fecit sanctus Donatus. Quicumque egrotare incipit. . . ." It is fol- lowed on the next page by the usual figure for the Sphere of Apulcius.
* Harleian 1735 ; the passages referred to in the following ac- count occur at fols. 36V, 41, 43, 29, 44V, 40, and 39V respectively.
XXIX LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION 685
what thou wilt,' and this by observation of persons' names." The notebook also contains "Oracular Answers prepared beforehand by this great Doctor for those of both Sexes who shall come to consult him in the momentous affair of Matrimony; according to the several Months of the year wherein they should apply themselves." Further contents are an incantation in Latin for women in child-birth, and "The names of the 12 signs with such marks as shew that this John Crophill was a dabbler in Geomancy."
Brief lists of "Egyptian Days" are of rather common Egyptian occurrence in both Latin and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts of ^^^" the ninth, tenth, and succeeding centuries.^ Often it is merely stated what days of the year they are; sometimes it is simply added that the doctor should not bleed the pa- tient upon them. As early as a ninth century manuscript.^ however, we are further warned not to take a walk or plant or carry on a lawsuit or do any work upon these days. And under no circumstances, no matter what the seeming necessity, is it permitted to bleed man or beast on these days. Two Egyptian days are then listed for each month, one reckoned as so many days from the beginning and the other as so many days before the close of the month. Eleven days is the farthest removed that any Egyptian day is from the first of the month and twelve the most from the close, so that they never fall in the middle of a month nor on the very first or last day. Our ninth century manuscript then mentions three of these days in April, August, and Decem- ber as especially dangerous. Whoever falls ill or receives a potion on them is sure to die soon. Whoever, male or female, is born on one of them will die an evil and painful death. "And if one drinks water on those three days, he will die within forty days." The account then closes with the statement that on the Egyptian days the people of Egypt were cursed with Pharaoh. In another ninth century manu-
*See Appendix II to this chap- notes. ter for a list of MSS other than ^ BN nouv. acq. 1616, 9th cen-
those mentioned in the following tury, fol. I2r.
686 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
script a bare list of the Egyptian days is followed by a somewhat similar account of the three which must be ob- served with especial care.^ In a calendar of saints' days in this same manuscript only the third of March and the third of July are marked dies egiptiaffus.^ Egyptian days are also marked in the calendar of Marianus Scotus, the well- known chronicler and chronologist.^ A somewhat different account in a twelfth century manuscript states that "these are the days which God sent without mercy." It also, how- ever, lists two of them for each month and distinguishes the three in April, August, and December as especially dan- gerous.* Their There seems to be no doubt that these Egyptian days
history. -were a relic of the unlucky days in the ancient Egyptian calendar,^ of which we learn from several papyri, although of course the ancient Egyptians were also accustomed to distinguish further the three divisions of each day as lucky or unlucky. The Egyptian days are noted in official calen- dars of the Roman Empire about 354 A. D., and in the Fasti Philocaliarci there are twenty-five in all, of which three fall in January. In the middle ages, as has already been illustrated, there were usually but twenty-four, two to each month.® They were mentioned in the Life of Proclns by Marinus, and both Ambrose and Augustine testified that many Christians still had faith in them.'^ Indeed, they passed into the ecclesiastical calendar, as the Franciscan, Bartholomew of England, states in the thirteenth century.^
*Digby 63, end of 9th century, another isth century MS.
f ol. 36. "" Cited by Bouche-Leclercq,
'Ibid., fols. 40-5. L'Astrologie grecque, 1899, pp.
"CU Trinity 1369, nth century, 485-6, 623.
fol. IV. ^ De proprietatibus rerum, 1488,
*BN" 7299A, i2th century, fol. Lindelbach, Heidelberg, IX, 20.
37V. This is not to say, however, that
"For further information on they always appear in medieval
this point see Budge, Egyptian calendars; I did not find them in
Magic. 1899, pp. 225-8; Webster, any of the 14th and isth century
Rest Days, 1916, pp. 295-7. calendars from Apulia and
"Webster (1916), pp. 300-301, lapygia published by G. M. Gio-
however, speaks of 30 in a 14th vene, Kalcndaria Vetera, Naples,
century MS, 32 in an English MS 1828. His calendars consist of lit-
of Henry VI's reign, and 31 in tie save saints' days, although
XXIX LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION 687
By that time the notion had become prevalent that they Medieval were anniversaries of the days upon which God afflicted ^^ explain Egypt with plagues, as our citations from the manuscripts them, have shown. Bartholomew, indeed, is at pains to explain that the days are placed in the church calendar, "not be- cause one should omit anything upon them more than upon other days, but in order that God's miracles may be recalled to memory." The circumstance that there are twenty-four days does not embarrass him; he simply explains that this proves that God sent more plagues upon Egypt than the ten which are especially famed. Our citations from earlier manuscripts have shown that most people would not agree with Bartholomew that nothing should be omitted on these days. Moreover, other explanations of their origin had been already given in the middle ages than that from the plagues of Egypt. Honorius of Autun stated in the twelfth century that th^y were called Egyptian days because they had been discovered by the Egyptians, and since Egypt means dark/ they are called tenebrosi, because they are declared to bring the incautious to the shadows of death. ^ The Dominican, Vincent of Beauvais,^ who probably wrote his encyclopedia soon after that of Bartholomew, did not find the discrepancy between ten plagues and twenty-four days so easy to explain away. He states that of the two Egyptian days in each month one comes near the beginning and the other near the close, as we have already learned. He adds that some call them lucky days, while others say that the astrologers of Egypt discovered that they were un- lucky. Yet another explanation of their origin is that on these days the Egyptians were accustomed to sacrifice to demons with their own blood, a circumstance which would not seem to recommend them for inclusion in the ecclesias- tical calendar. Bernard Gordon, a medical writer at the
in some of them the beginning of country,
dog-days is marked and when the 'Imago mundi, II, 109.
sun enters each sign of the zodiac. 'Speculum natiirale, XVI, 83,
^ "Black earth" was the name printed by Anth. Koburger,
given by the Egyptians to their Niirnberg, 1485.
688 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
end of the thirteenth century, reverts to the position that the Egyptian days were in memory of the plagues in Egypt. He declares that there is no sense in the prohibition of blood-letting upon these days, since they have no astrological significance, but are the anniversaries of miracles worked by special providence.^ Gilbert of England, earlier in the thirteenth century, had advised against bleeding on Egyptian days, if the moon was then influenced by any evil planet.^ Other On the other hand, not only did the twenty-four Egyptian
days. days and the three in April, August, and December which
were considered especially dangerous, continue to be listed in the fourteenth and fifteenth century manuscripts, but imitations of them appeared. Thus in a fourteenth cen- tury manuscript we read of forty perilous days which should be observed with the utmost care and which Greek masters have tested by experience ; ^ while in a second manuscript of the closing medieval period appear fifty-eight dangerous days "according to the Arabs." * Of the Greek days only twenty-nine are actually listed, seven in January, three in February, and so on, omitting the months of July and Au- gust entirely, which perhaps should contain the missing eleven days.^ The Arabic days vary in number per month from seven in March, which is the first month listed, to three in February. "And there are four other days and nights according to Bede on which no one is ever born or con-
^ HL 25, 329. My impression is 75. Ad-Damiri states in his zoo-
that some medieval astronomers logical lexicon, (ed. A. S. G.
also denied to these Egyptian days Jayaker, 1906, I, 134) that Mo-
any astrological importance, since hammed is reported to have sgid,
they always came upon the same "Be cautious of twelve days in the
days of the months without ref- year, because they are such as
erence to the phases of the moon cause the loss of property and
or courses of the other planets : bring on disgrace or dishonor." but I cannot put my hand on such ^ M. Hamilton, Greek Saints
passages. and Their Festivals, 1910, p. 187,
*And is approvingly cited to states that "in all parts of (mod-
that effect by Arnald of Villanova, ern) Greece on certain days of
Regulae generates curationis mor- August and March it is consid-
borum. Doctrina IV. ered necessary to abstain from
'Ashmole 361, mid 14th century, particular kinds of work in order
fols. 158V-1S9. to avoid disaster."
*BN 7iZ7, I4-I5th century, p.
XXIX LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION 689
ceived, and if by chance a male is conceived or bom, its
body will never be freed from putridity." ^
That astrological knowledge in England, at least soon Firmicus
after the Norman conquest, was not limited to such meager arch- '^ ^"
and simple treatises as the moon-books described above from bishop of
X ork Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, is seen from the closing incident
in the career of Gerard, a learned and eloquent man, bishop of Hereford under William Rufus and archbishop of York under Henry I, whom he supported in the investiture strug- gle with Anselm and the pope. The story goes that Gerard, who had been feeling slightly indisposed, lay down to rest and enjoy the fresh air and fragrance of the flowers in a garden near his palace, asking his chaplains to leave him for a while. On their return after dinner they found him dead, and beneath the cushion upon which his head rested was a copy of the astrological work of Julius Firmicus Maternus. Gerard had not been popular with the inhabi- tants of York, and when his corpse was brought back to town, boys stoned the bier and the canons refused it burial within the cathedral, which, however, his successor granted. "His enemies," we are told, "interpreted his death, without the rites of the church, as a divine judgment for his addic- tion to magical and forbidden arts." At any rate the story shows that the work of Firmicus was well known by this time; it is from the eleventh century that the oldest manu- scripts of it date; and we suspect that some of his enemies were rather hypocritical in the horror which they expressed at a bishop's reading such a book. "Too independent a thinker for his contemporaries," writes Miss Bateson, "his opponents held up their hands in horror that an astrological
^ Mention may perhaps be made citizens of Abbeville won a law- in this connection of the "Tobias suit with the bishop of Amiens nights," three nights of abstinence who claimed the right to grant which newly wedded couples were dispensations from the observance sometimes accustomed to observ^e of the Tobias nights and re- in the middle ages in order to quired that fees be paid him for defeat the demons. The practice that purpose. See J. G. Frazer is mentioned in the Vulgate, but (1918), I, 498-520, where analo- not in most ancient versions of gous practices of primitive tribes the Book of Tobit. In 1409 the are listed.
690
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Relation of Latin astrology to Arabic.
work by Julius Firmicus Maternus should be found under his pillow when he died." ^ The style of Firmicus is much imitated by the anonymous author of The Laws of Henry I and another legal work entitled Quadripartitus written in 1 1 14. F. Liebermann states that the author was in the serv- ice of archbishop Gerard aforesaid.^
Charles Jourdain once made the generalization that be- fore the translation of the Quadripartite of Ptolemy and the works of the Arabian astrologers into Latin in the twelfth century, astrology had little hold among men of learning in western Europe.^ An even more erroneous assertion was that in Burckhardt's Die Kultur der Renaissance in Itcdien that "at the beginning of the thirteenth century" the super- stition of astrology "suddenly appeared in the foreground of Italian life." ^ Even Jourdain's assertion the entire pres- ent chapter tends to disprove, but since it has been quoted with approval by a subsequent writer on the thirteenth cen- tury,^ we may deal with it a little farther. The reason which Jourdain added in support of his generalization was that before the translations from the Arabic "those who culti- vated astrology had no other guides than Censorinus, Manil- ius, and Julius Firmicus, who might indeed seduce a few
* Bateson, Medieval England, 1904, p. 72; I have in the main followed the fuller account in DNB "Gerard," from which the previous quotation is taken. Wil- liam of Malmesbury, Gesta Pon- tiiicum Anglorum, III, 118 (ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton, RS, vol. 52, 1870) does not say definitely that the book found under Gerard's pillow was Firmicus. Also he says nothing of boys stoning the bier or of Gerard's enemies interpreting his death as a divine judgment, and in his autograph copy of the Gesta Pon- tificum he afterwards erased the statements that rumor accused Gerard of many crimes and lusts, and that he was said to practice sorcery because he read Julius Firmicus on the sly before the
mid-day hours, and that people say that a book of curious arts was found beneath his pillow when he died. This, the late medieval chroniclers say, was Firmicus : see Ranulf Higden, ed. Lumby, VII, 420, and Knyghton, ed. Twysden, X, SS., 2375.
'Firmicus Maternus, ed. Kroll et Skutsch, II (1913), p. iv; and F. Liebermann, ed. Quadripartitus, Halle, 1892, p. 36, and Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, Halle, 1903-1906, I, 548.
' C. Jourdain, Nicolas Oresme et les astrologues a la cour de Charles V , in Revue des Ques- tions Historiques, 1875, p. 136.
* English translation, ed. of 1898, p. 508.
'N. Valois (1880), p. 305.
XXIX LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION 691
isolated dreamers but did not have enough weight to con- vince philosophers. Ptolemy and the Arabs, on the con- trary, appeared as masters of a regular science having its own principles and method." This sounds as if Jourdain had not read Firmicus who gives a more elaborate presenta- tion of the art of astrology than the elementary Quadripar- tite of Ptolemy. It is true that Ptolemy had a great scien- tific reputation from his other writings, but Manilius is a poet of no small merit, and there would be no reason why an age which accepted Ovid and Vergil as authorities con- cerning nature and regarded such works as De vetula and the Secret of Secrets as genuine works of Ovid and Aris- totle, should draw delicate distinctions between Firmicus and Albumasar or Manilius and Alkindi. It was because reading Firmicus and even practicing the cruder modes of divination which we have described had already aroused an interest in astrology that other works in the field were sought out and translated. Moreover, there is an even more cogent objection to Jourdain's generalization which will be de- veloped in the following chapter, and it is that the taking over of Arabic astrology had already begun long before the twelfth century. We have, indeed, in the present chapter told only half the story of astrology in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and must now turn back to Gerbert and the intro- duction of Arabic astrology.
APPENDIX I
SOME MANUSCRIPTS OF THE SPHERE OF PYTHAGORAS OR
APULEIUS
Besides the copies noted by Wickersheimer (191 3) in French manuscripts from the ninth to the eleventh centuries, such as Laon 407, Orleans 276, and BN nouv. acq. 161 6, where in fact it occurs twice : at f ol. 7v, "Ratio spere phyta- gor philosophi quern epulegiis descripsit," and at fol. 14T, "Ratio pitagere de infirmis," — the following may be listed.
BN 5239, loth century, jf 12.
Harleian 3017, loth century, fol. s8r, "Ratio spherae Pythagorae philosophi quam Apuleius descripsit."
Cotton Tiberius C, VI, nth century, fol. 6v, Imagines vitae et mortis quarum utraque rotulum tenet longum literis et numeris quae ad sphaeram Apuleii ad latera adscriptis, cum versibus pagina circumscriptis. The figures are of Vita with halo, robes, and angelic face, and of Mors, who wears only a pair of drawers, whose ribs show through his flesh, and who has wings like a demon. One has to turn the page upside down in order to read some of it.
CU Trinity 1369, nth century, fol. ir, just before the Calendar of Marianus Scotus, "Racio spere pytagorice quam apuleius descripsit."
Chartres 113, 9th century, fol. 99, following works by Alcuin, "Spera Apuleii Platonis."
Ivrea 19, loth century, # 5, De spera Putagorae.
CLM 22307, lo-iith century, fol. 194, Ratio sphaerae Phitagoreae philosophi quam Apulegius descripsit, "Petosiris philosophus Micipso regi salutem . . .", where it would seem to be confused with the letter of Petosiris to Nechepso.
Vatican Palat. Lat. 176, loth century, fol. i62v, "Eulogii ratio sperae Pitagorae philosophi," in a MS containing works of Jerome, Augustine, and Ambrose.
692
CHAP. XXIX LATIN ASTROLOGY AND DIVINATION 693
Vatican Urb. Lat. 290, ii-i3th century, fol, 2v, Ratio spere Pitagoras quam Apuleius descripsit; fol. 3, Petosiris Micipso regi salutem.
I suspect that the following would also prove upon ex- amination to be one of these Spheres of life and death.
CLM 18629, loth century, fol. 95, Characteres literarum secre- tarum, item incantationes. Alphabetum Graecorum et numeri per tabulam dispositi; fol. 106, Tractatus de literis alphabeti (mysticus).
Vatican Palat. Lat. 485, 9th century, fol. 14, Litterae graecae cum interpretatione alphabetica et numerica.
Vatican 644, lo-iith century, fol. i6v.
Of the numerous occurrences of the Sphere of Pythag- oras or of Apuleius in MSS later than the eleventh cen- tury I have noted only a few examples.
Vienna 2532, 12th century, fols. 1-2, Tractatus astrologicus de divinando exitu morborum e positionibus lune et de sphere Pythagore.
Vatican 642, 12th century, fol. 82, a somewhat different mode of divination, by which one tells what another is thinking or is holding in his hand, is attributed to Bede.
Madrid 10016, early 13th century, fol. 3, "spera de morte vel vita"; fol. 85V, the letter of Petosiris to Nechepso. It is interesting to note that this MS originally belonged to an English Cluniac monastery: Haskins, EHR (1915), p. 65.
BN 7486, 14th century, fol. 66v, "Canon supra rotam Pictagore," opens, "Pictagoras is said to have written thus to Nasurius, king of the Chaldees;" then at fol. 6yv comes "The Sphere of Pictagoras the philosopher which Epuleus Platonicus briefly described;" which is followed at fol. 68r by a long treatise ascribed to Ptolemy, Exortatio ad artem prescientie ptholomei regis egypti, in which various questions are answered by nu- merical and alphabetical calculations and one is also by the same method referred to nativities arranged under the 28 mansions of the moon.
CU Trinity 1109, 14th century, fol. 15, Spera apulei et platonici; fol. 20, "Ratio spere pictagis philosophe quod apoUonius scripsit;" fol. 392, S(p)era Fortune.
Digby, 58, 14th century, fol. iv. "Spera philosophorum."
694 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap, xxix
Bodleian 26 (Bernard 1871), I3-I4th century, fols. 207 and 2i6v.
Bodleiati 177 (Bernard 2072), late 14th century, # i, Pythagorae sphaera quam Apuleius exaravit ut scias an aeger convalescat ; # 14, fol. 22r, Apuleii Platonic! Sphaera de vita et morte et de omnibus negotiis quae inquirere volueris.
Amplon. Quarto 380, 14th century, at the close of a Geomancy by Abdallah, "Spera Apuley de vita et morte vel de omnibus negociis de quibus scire volueris; sic facias. . . ."
Additional 15236, I3-I4th century, fol. 108, "Spera (Pictagore) de vita et morte sive de re alia quacunque secundum Apuleium."
Harleian 531 1, 15th century, folder i, "Spera ApuUei."
S. Marco XI, iii, i6th century, ascribes a wheel of life and death to "Bede the presbyter," and another to ApoUonius and Pythag- oras.
APPENDIX II
EGYPTIAN DAYS IN EARLY MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS
The following citations could probably be greatly mul- tiplied.
BN nouv. acq. 1616, 9th century, fol. I2r.
Digby 63, end of 9th century, Anglo-Saxon minuscule, fol. 36,
"Dies Egipciachi." Berlin 131 (Phillips 1869, Trier), 9th century, fol. I2r. Lucca 236, about 900 A. D., on its last 3 leaves are Egyptian days
and a dream-book; described by Giacosa (1901), p. 349. Harleian 3017, loth century, fol. 59r, De diebus Egiptiacis qui mali
sunt in anno circulo. The catalogue dates this MS as 920 A. D.
but at fol. 66r the date is given as DCCClxii or DCCCClxii
(962 A. D.) — a letter seems to have been erased which probably
was the fourth C. Harleian 3271, loth century (?), fol. 121, Versus ad dies Egyp-
tiacas inveniendas. See also Baehrens, Poet. lat. min. V, 354-6;
Mommsen CIL I, 411. Sloane 475, this portion of the MS lo-iith century, fol. 2i6v,
Versus de significatione dierum mensis, opening, 'Tenebrae
Aegyptus Grecos sermone vocantur. ..." Additional 22398, loth century, fol. 104. Cotton Caligula A, XV, written mostly in Gaul before 1000 A. D.,
fol. 126, a list of lucky and unlucky days for medical purposes,
in Anglo-Saxon. Cotton Titus D, XXVI, loth century, fol. 3V. Cotton Vitellius A, XII, fol. 39V. Cotton Vitellius C, VIII, in Anglo-Saxon, fol. 22,, de tribus anni
diebus Aegyptiacis. CU Trinity 945, early nth century, fol. 2)7- CU Trinity 1369, nth century (perhaps 1086 A. D.) fol. iv. Vatican 644, lo-iith century, fol. 77r, versus duodecim de diebus
aegyptiis, and a fragment "de tribus diebus aegyptiis." Dijon 448, io-i2th century, fol. 88, Calendrier, avec jours egyp-
tiaques ajoutes; fol. 191, "De Egyptiacis diebus." Bede's De
695
696 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap, xxix
temporihus and De natura rerum occur twice in this MS and
at fol. 181 is an incantation for use in fevers. Harleian 1585 and Sloane 1975, where the Egyptian days are
found with the Herbarium of Apuleius, are both 12th century
but probably copied from earher MSS. So in Chalons-sur-Marne 7, 13th century, fol. 41, verses on the
Egyptian days occur with the Ars calculatoria of Helpericus of
Auxerre who wrote in the ninth century.
I have usually not noted the occurrence of the Egyptian days in later manuscripts. A few exceptions are :
BN 7299A, i2th century, fol. 37r.
CLM 23390, i2-i3th century, the last item is, "Verses concerning the twelve signs and the Egyptian days." The previous con- tents were mainly religious.
Cambrai 195, fol. 208; 229, fol. 56; 829, fol. 54; all three MSS of the 1 2th century.
Cambrai 861, early 13th century, fol. 56.
Sloane 2461, end of 13th century, fols. 62r-64v.
The verses concerning the ten plagues of Egypt contained in CLM 18629, loth century, fol. 93, and ascribed by the catalogue to Eugenius Toletanus have, I presume, no connection with the Egyptian days. Such proved to be the case with BN 16216, 13th century, fol. 25 iv, de decem plagis Egyptiorum et de vii diebus, although from the fact that it follows "Precepta Pithagore" I suspected before examining it that it might have something to do with divination. But not even the Pythagorean precepts have in this case.