Book 1. "^^ Temple of Wifdome. lag

ted from the work^ by a dreadful Apparition. The KxngcaWdior the Aftrologers and wifewen^ who after Sacrifice v\g\\t\y ferforntedy difcovered an appearance of Almarick^ or Man, It was agreed therefore
rib/il a magnifisent Jentple jhouid he ereUed to hU name^ a and his ftatue there fet pp^ and that the foun^
* dation ef the Citjijhould he laid under his Afcen'
* denty a &c. Alfo an Anniverfary of three dajes * * fejtival v^s infiitutedy &c. and the Au-
* thor faith, that tbefc things continued
G^Di mny nbVi* "^by n^inn pt^ •'cs^ nno '•nn
rmtil the Manifejiation of Jefus the Son of Mary, feact and the Frayer cf God be upon hkn.
This Tradition of the Arabian includes another inanner of the Ancients laying the foundation of their Metropolitan Cities under a certain Configur a* tion of the Heavens^ihe raoft propitious that could be crcftcd for the time being.
So Muazs^us the Top o( ¥atim£an [family, cau- fed the City of Gran Cairo to be fet up under the fame Afcendent ofAlmarick^ I^Q^fc^ "iHc^p tni that as Mars had a coercive power in the fuperior world, fo the Cicy might be CoaUrix Orbit here bclow^there- fore the name of it was called Alchahira, as the Note upon Elmacinhs in the larich Mulfiimimrum^ iib.^. p, 227.
The Afcendent of a City (faith H^/y J is that (Ign cujus afcenfione quis incipit collocare primarium lafidem^ Vhichrifeth in the Horofcope at the laying of the fir jl Stone.
The Art of this is to be taken out of the firftpart
ofApotelefmaticalCoHJiruUiony called b,y Ftolevty^ CO"
:thcliconyfftrabik,i. Where he appointeth bis Aftro-
' loger
190 rAe Temple tf/Wifdome. Book I
loger in giving judgement of the Accidents of aCity, to take knowledg of the Sun and Moon's place in the Zodiac}^ which they had tv t&h icetrA^ x^^ ^ KTiaiav* nt the layitfg of the foundatioHy ^ ^ aivTiav ^xo'A/r«t tI (^es^KO's^v, but efpccially of the Afcendent as the moft principal Angel : And the Figures of Geomancy^
According to thefc Rule^ Jarucim Firmicut call the Nativity ofKonte^ and Veliius Vaiens an Aftro- Joger of Antioch, that of CoHflantinople^ the figure whereof, is extant in a Greek Manufcriptin the Vatican, The Horofcope was Cancer^ ^ and the ^ AftrologCfj judged by the appearences that the ** Ciryfhouldftandyo'i. ycars^ zs the Vatican booK-> * * as C^ of thofe years, cf on ri, ^ ^ohnud; lT»f sVto l^n '^ * 3^ HfltTctrcea-/? , in which the City flourijhed under a full ftate ef d^i:ipUne 'y the Ajlrologer was not fo much out, as Glycas thinketh. And moreover before the tak- ing of the City by Mahovnet the fecond, a great Conjunftion was obfcrved under the Horofcope, But in affigning the Afcendent of this City, the Greek^s and Arabians agree not, nor the Arabians them- c felves. For in the Tables o( AlkjtSyConllantinople * is fet under ^ilPO'^c^ Libra^ ^ in Ben. ifaac'^s * ife Geography under '^yxy^ f^ Taurus^ ^ and though * the fame place may have feveral HorofcopeSy * yet to fo much variety it will be hard to recon- T" cile the matter. *
This Superftition hath b^en as commonly * * and more lately pra6tifed in the JVeji. *
At the inftauration of Konte by Faul the * it third, Gauricm drew the Vigure of the Heavens, Vincentius Canfpanatius obferved the time by h'lsAjirt' labe toward the inftant whereof he cryed out with a loud voice, Ecet^ adeft hra prACifa decima fexta