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a yield of wool; and being in one of these, [or] this one being unrolled in the opposite direction, according to the power naturally inherent in it, through the intermingling of properties, to fashion such a destiny for those who are born. What then? Tell me, is the bull willingly a beast of burden? And do you say that being shorn is pleasing to the ram? And is the inherent power—the harmful and benumbing quality for the one that circles the highest pole, or the hot quality for the fiery one, or for any other of the observed celestial bodies—present willingly or 48 unwillingly? If they are willingly in evil and become harmful by choice, then he who says these things openly condemns them for their wretchedness, because when the better lot lies within their power, they take pleasure in choosing what is more dishonorable; but if each of these is not by choice what it is thought to be, but came to be out of some necessity, then has some other fate, set over them in turn, spun the particular qualities of their natures and powers; so that it is necessary to seek other stars superior to these, with a peculiar motion of their own, whose particular combination, according to some necessity of fate, has made Taurus servile or Aries harmful or Cancer headless, or whatever other nonsense the wise men relate about each of these. And if these phenomena that appear to us are such by the necessity of some fate, then reason will surely devise another coercive cause of such a state for that superior necessity, and another for that one, and again another for the other; and so the argument, proceeding to infinity, will never stop, fabricating a fate upon a fate, a destiny upon a destiny, and a necessity upon a necessity. But as I was recounting these things and, through such thoughts, driving the argument to absurdity, the philosopher conversing with me interrupted the argument as it rushed onward, saying, "Why do you fight," he says, "against the clear evidence? And why do you not follow those who through numbers have observed the truth of reality, who, if the hour of the child's birth were taken with precision, foretell 49 the entire subsequent life of the one born; the time, the manner, the peculiarities of character, dangerous circumstances, marriages and the begetting of children and the attainment of honors, or even the opposite: childlessness and diseases and dishonors and brevity of life and the evils that come from poverty? So when these things have been foretold with precision and their truth has been witnessed by the outcome, what argument do you still have for disbelieving in the necessity of fate?" But I, saying that I would investigate the causes of such prophecies a little later, asked: whether the cause of such outcomes is irrational and a matter of chance, or do they also jointly discover some reason with this observation, so that what happens does not happen contrary to what is likely? "Very much so," he says, "and a reason does attend the things that happen. For when, from the particular coincidence of the qualities among the stars, such-and-such a temperament of body is constituted for the one being born, he who has grasped with precision the theory of the heavenly bodies both foresaw that this temperament would be constituted in the one born, and that life would be able to last for such a length of time—longer in the case of a more robust bodily temperament, and shorter, in turn, in the case of a more sickly one." But I, laughing at what he had said, replied to him, "It had escaped our notice that you believe the fates to be the descendants of Galen and Hippocrates and their kind, since they too, dismissing the motion of the stars, conjecturally foretell the future from the subject at hand. When eyes are hollow and temples sunken and the skin on the forehead is hardened, they portend death. But for many," I said, "whose bodies were in a more sickly condition and who were expected 50 to die at any moment, the threads of such a fate were unwound to the contrary by the medical art; as, for instance, Plato’s account has related of the trainer Herodicus, that through his experience in gymnastics, although the disease was fatal, he was not able to restore his body to complete health, but always

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ἐρίων φοράν· ἐν ἑνὶ δὲ τούτων γενόμενον [ἢ] τόνδε τὸν κατὰ τὸ ἐναντίον ἀνειλούμενον κατὰ τὴν φυσικῶς ἐνυπάρχουσαν αὐτῷ δύναμιν διὰ τῆς τῶν ἰδιωμάτων ἐπιμιξίας τοιάνδε τῶν τικτομένων μοῖραν κατασκευάζειν. τί οὖν; εἰπέ μοι, ἑκὼν ὁ ταῦρός ἐστιν ὑποζύγιος; καὶ καταθύμιον τῷ κριῷ τὸ κείρεσθαι λέγεις; τό τε βλαπτικὸν καὶ ναρκῶδες τῷ τὸν ἀνωτάτω περιοδεύοντι πόλον ἢ τὸ θερμὸν τῷ πυρόεντι ἢ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν θεωρουμένων ἡ ἐνυπάρχουσα δύναμις ἑκουσίως ἢ κατὰ τὸ 48 ἀκούσιον πρόσεστιν; εἰ μὲν ἑκόντες ἐν κακοῖς εἰσι καὶ βλα πτικοὶ ἐκ προαιρέσεως γίνονται, δυστυχίαν ἄντικρυς αὐτῶν ὁ ταῦτα λέγων καταψηφίζεται τῷ κατ' ἐξουσίαν αὐτοῖς προκειμένης τῆς κρείττονος λήξεως ἐν ἡδονῇ τὸ ἀτιμότερον τίθεσθαι· εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἐκ προαιρέσεως τούτων ἕκαστόν ἐστιν ὅπερ νομίζεται, ἀλλ' ἔκ τινος ἀνάγκης ἐγένετο, ἄρα τις καὶ τούτοις ὑπερκειμένη πάλιν αὐτῶν εἱμαρμένη ἑτέρα τὰς τῶν φύσεών τε καὶ δυνάμεων ἐπέκλωσεν ἰδιότητας· ὥστε ζητεῖν ἐπάναγκες ἄλλα ἄστρα τούτων ὑπέρτερα καὶ κίνησιν ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν ἰδιάζουσαν ὧν ἡ ποιὰ συμπλοκὴ κατά τινα εἱμαρμένης ἀνάγκην ἢ δούλειον εἶναι τὸν Ταῦρον ἢ ἐπιζήμιον τὸν Κριὸν ἀπειργάσατο ἢ τὸν Καρκίνον ἀκέφαλον ἢ εἴ τι ἄλλο περὶ ἑκάστου τούτων οἱ λῆροι τῶν σοφῶν διέρχονται. καὶ εἰ ταῦτα τὰ φαινόμενα ἡμῖν κατ' ἀνάγκην τινὸς εἱμαρμένης ἐστὶ τοιαῦτα, πάντως καὶ τῆς ὑπερκειμένης ἐκείνης ἀνάγκης ἑτέραν αἰτίαν ἀναγκαστικὴν τῆς τοιαύτης καταστάσεως προσ επινοήσει ὁ λόγος κἀκείνης ἄλλην καὶ πάλιν ἄλλην τῆς ἄλλης, καὶ οὕτως εἰς ἄπειρον προϊὼν ὁ λόγος οὐδαμοῦ στήσεται εἱμαρμένην εἱμαρμένης καὶ μοίρας μοῖραν καὶ ἀνάγκης ἀνάγκην προσαναπλάσσων. Ταῦτα δέ μου διεξιόντος καὶ διὰ τῶν τοιούτων νοημάτων πρὸς τὸ ἄτοπον τὸν λόγον ἐκβάλλοντος ἐπικόψας μεταξὺ διὰ καταφορᾶς προϊόντα τὸν λόγον ὁ προσδιαλεγόμενός μοι φιλόσοφος, Τί μάχῃ, φησί, τῇ ἐναργείᾳ; τί δὲ οὐχ ἕπῃ τοῖς διὰ τῶν ἀριθμῶν παρατετηρηκόσι τὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀλήθειαν, οἷς εἰ πρὸς ἀκρίβειαν ἡ ὥρα ληφθείη τῆς τοῦ ἀποκυηθέντος γεννήσεως, πᾶσαν δι' ἀκολούθου τὴν ζωὴν τοῦ τεχθέντος προ 49 αγορεύουσι· τὸν χρόνον, τὸν τρόπον, τὰ τῶν ἠθῶν ἰδιώματα, τὰς κινδυνώδεις περιστάσεις, γάμους καὶ παιδοποιΐας καὶ ἀξιωμάτων ἐπιτυχίας, ἢ καὶ τὸ ἔμπαλιν, ἀπαιδίας καὶ νόσους καὶ ἀτιμίας καὶ βραχύτητα βίου καὶ τὰ ἐκ πενίας κακά; τούτων οὖν δι' ἀκριβείας προσημανθέντων καὶ τῇ ἐκβάσει τῆς ἀληθείας μαρτυρηθείσης, τίς ἔτι σοι λόγος ἐστὶν ἀπιστοῦντι τῇ τῆς εἱμαρμένης ἀνάγκῃ; ἐγὼ δὲ τῶν τοιούτων προρρήσεων τὰς αἰτίας μικρὸν ὕστερον εἰπὼν ζητήσειν ἠρόμην· πότερον ἄλογός ἐστι καὶ συντυχικὴ τῶν τοιούτων ἐκβάσεων ἡ αἰτία, ἤ τινα καὶ λόγον τῇ παρατηρήσει ταύτῃ συνεφευρίσκουσιν, ὡς μὴ ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος γενέσθαι τὸ γινόμενον; Καὶ μάλα μέν τοι, φησί, καὶ λόγος ἔπεστι τοῖς γινομένοις. ὅταν γὰρ ἐκ τῆς ποιᾶς τῶν κατὰ τὰ ἄστρα ποιοτήτων συμπτώσεως τοιάδε σώ ματος κρᾶσις τῷ τικτομένῳ συστῇ, ὁ κατειληφὼς δι' ἀκρι βείας τῶν οὐρανίων τὴν θεωρίαν καὶ τὸ συστήσεσθαι τήνδε τὴν κρᾶσιν περὶ τὸν τεχθέντα προκατενόησε καὶ τὸ δύνασθαι μέχρι τοῦδε τοῦ μέτρου τὴν ζωὴν ἐξαρκέσαι, πλείονος μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρρωμενεστέρας, ἐλάττονος δὲ πάλιν ἐπὶ τῆς νοσω δεστέρας τοῦ σώματος κράσεως. ἐγὼ δὲ τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν ἐπι γελάσας, Ἐλελήθεις ἡμᾶς, πρὸς αὐτὸν εἶπον, Γαληνοῦ καὶ Ἱπποκράτους καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἐγγόνους εἶναι τὰς εἱμαρμένας δοξάζων, ἐπεὶ κἀκεῖνοι χαίρειν τὴν τῶν ἄστρων ἀφέντες κίνησιν ἐκ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου στοχαστικῶς τὸ μέλλον προαγορεύουσιν. ὅταν ὀφθαλμοὶ κοῖλοι καὶ κρόταφοι συμπεπτωκότες καὶ τὰ μέτωπα περιεσκληκότα τῷ δέρματι, τὸν θάνατον προμηνύουσι. πολλοῖς δέ, εἶπον, νοσωδέστερον διακειμένοις τὰ σώματα καὶ ὅσον οὐδέπω προσδοκωμένοις 50 τεθνήξεσθαι πρὸς τὸ ἔμπαλιν ἐξ ἰατρικῆς ἀνεκλώσθη τῆς τοιαύτης εἱμαρμένης τὰ νήματα· οἷον δὴ καὶ τὸν παιδοτρίβην Ἡρόδικον ὁ Πλάτωνος ἱστόρησε λόγος, ὅτι διὰ γυμναστικῆς ἐμπειρίας εἰς παντελῆ μὲν ὑγιείαν ἐπιθανατίου τοῦ νοσήματος ὄντος ἐπαναγαγεῖν τὸ σῶμα οὐχ οἶός τε ἦν, ἀεὶ δὲ