De astronomia.
Distinguishing the Two Disciplines
Astronomy and astrology are distinguished by their names: 'law' versus 'discourse' about the stars.
Astronomy and astrology seem to differ in this respect: astronomy takes its name from the law of the stars, whereas astrology is so called as if it were a discourse discoursing about the stars. For -nomia is interpreted as law, and logos as discourse or word.
The Scope of Astronomy
Astronomy investigates the law of the stars, the revolution of the sky, and the naming of constellations.
Thus astronomy appears to be the discipline that discourses on the law of the stars and the revolution of the sky — investigating the regions, circles, courses, risings, and settings of the constellations, and why each one is so named.
The Two Faces of Astrology
Astrology is partly natural—concerned with bodily temperaments and weather—and partly superstitious, venturing into matters of free will.
Astrology, on the other hand, considers the stars according to the observation of birth and death and of any other events whatsoever — an observation that is partly natural and partly superstitious. It is natural in relation to the temperaments of bodies, which are varied according to the tempering influence of the higher bodies, such as health, sickness, storm, serenity, fertility, and sterility; it is superstitious in relation to contingent matters and those things that are subject to free will — the part that mathematicians deal with.
Read the original Latin
Astronomia et astrologia in hoc differre videntur, quod astronomia de lege astrorum nomen sumpsit, astrologia autem dicta est quasi sermo de astris disserens. nomia enim lex et logos sermo interpretatur. ita astronomia videtur esse quae de lege astrorum et conversione caeli disserit, regiones, circulos, cursus, ortus et occasus siderum, et cur unumquodque ita vocetur, investigans. astrologia autem quae astra considerat secundum nativitatis et mortis et quorumlibet aliorum eventuum observantiam, quae partim naturalis est, partim superstitiosa; naturalis in complexionibus corporum, quae secundum superiorum contemperantiam variantur, ut sanitas, aegritudo, tempestas, serenitas, fertilitas et sterilitas; superstitiosa, in contingentibus et his quae libero arbitrio subiacent, quam partem mathematici tractant.
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