An abridgement of the notable woorke of Polidore Vergile conteignyng the deuisers and firste finders out as well of artes, ministeries, feactes & ciuill ordinaunces, as of rites, and ceremonies, commo[n]ly vsed in the churche: and the originall beginnyng of the same. Co[m]pendiously gathered by Thomas Langley

❧The .xiiii. Chapiter. ¶Astrologie, the course of the sterres, sphere, nature of the wyndes.

THE yearth is moste sub∣iect to the influence, and operacion of the Planet∣tes, and by the temperate seasonablenesse of the cō∣stellacions it bryngeth furthe aboundaunce of fruites: and as Iulius Firmicus supposeth, the sterres haue also a power in the birth of menne to make them of one fashi∣on or other,* 1.1 this or that complexi∣on, of good or bad disposicion, accor∣dyng to the respectes, coniunctions or opposicions procure. And the E∣gyptians

haue deuysed and appoin∣ted to euery night and day his pecu∣liar God,* 1.2 and what destenie, & what death shall chaunce to him y^t is borne on any suche day.* 1.3 And the Chaldees sayd, that to acheue any good or hurt¦ful thyng, the planettes helpe muche

By this occasion men, through di∣ligent obseruyng of the celestial bo∣dies,* 1.4 inuented Astrologie, wherin the whole mouable course of the heauen, the risyng, the goyng doune, and or∣dre or the Planettes bee comprehen∣ded, whiche the Egiptians aduaunce thē selues to haue found:* 1.5 Albeit some say Mercurie was auctour of it, and Diodorus affirmeth it to be Actinus the sonne of Phoebus.* 1.6 Neuerthelesse, Iosephus plainly declareth, that A∣braham enstructed thē,* 1.7 and also the Caldees in that arte, & thence it came into Grece, for all the learned menne of Grece,* 1.8 as Pherceides, Pithagoras Thales acknowledge that they were disciples to the Egyptians and Chal¦dees. But Plinie writeth that Atlas was finder of it,* 1.9 & therfore the Poe∣tes fayne that he beareth heauen on

his backe. Seruius thinketh it was Prometheus thar found it. Neuer∣theles al these, as I take it, were the beginners of this facultie euery man in his owne coūtree onely, where he dwelled: for euen frō the beginnyng of the worlde,* 1.10 the sonnes of Seth di∣uised fyrst the science of the sterres, and for somuche, as they feared least their art should perishe, afore it came to the knowledge of menne (for they had heard their graund father Adam saye that all thynges should bee de∣stroyed by the vniuersal fludde, they made two pyllers, one of stone,* 1.11 the o∣ther of brycke, to thentent that if the bricke wasted with water or stormes, yet the stone should preserue the let∣ters whole and perfecte, and in these pyllers they graued al that cōcerned the obseruaunce of the sterres. And therfore it is credible that the Egyp∣cians and Chaldes lerned Astrologie of the Hebrues, and so consequently it spred abrode in other nacions, and thus beganne Astronomie conceyued to seduce mens wittes. Among y^e Ro∣maynes Sulpicius Gallus, in Grece

Thales Milesius perceiued the cause of theclipse of the Sunne and Mone Endymeon marked fyrst the course of the Moone and her changyng as Pli∣nie writeth.* 1.12 Pythagoras (as some say (obserued the course of Venus cal¦led the daye sterre, but as Laercius supposeth it was Permenides. The Sphere was diuised by Archemides a Siracusian, but Diogenes taketh it to haue bene Museus, and Plinie a∣scribeth it to Anaximāder. The win∣des were fyrst obserued by Aeolus, as it is reported, vpon this reason. The inhabitantes of the Ilelandes about Sicile prognosticate by the smoke of the sayde Isles three dayes before, what wynde they shal haue, and for that cause they say that Aeolus hath dominion ouer the wyndes. The win¦des, as some deuide theim, bee foure accordyng to the foure principall re∣gions of the ayre,* 1.13 they that bee more curiouse, make eight. And specially one Andronicus Cyrrestes,* 1.14 whiche buylded in Athens a turret, and sette on euerye syde of it the Images of wyndes, grauen agaynst the region

whence the wyndes came, and sette them on pyllers of marble, and in the myddle he sette a brasen Image of Triton,* 1.15 whiche he had made so that it would turne with the wynde and stand w^t his face towarde the wynde that blewe, and poincte with a rodde to the Image of the same wynde,* 1.16 whiche maner is nowe vsed in al countrees, for they sette vp wethercockes or fanes to shewe out of what quarter the wynde bloweth.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Thre power of the sterres.
• * 1.2

  Obseruyng of daies.
• * 1.3

  Chaldees.
• * 1.4

  Astrologie.
• * 1.5

  Egiptians.
• * 1.6

  Mercury.
• * 1.7

  Abraham.
• * 1.8

  Grecians ler∣ned in Egipt.
• * 1.9

  Atlas.
• * 1.10

  Seth his posteritie. Astrologie.
• * 1.11

  Two pyllers preserued A∣strologie frō the fludde.
• * 1.12

  Eclipse of y^e Sunne and Moone.

  Endymion perceiued the course of the Moone.

  Pythagoras. obserued the day sterre.

  Archemedes deuised the sphere.

  The wyndes. Aeolia.
• * 1.13

  Foure wyn∣des.
• * 1.14

  Andronicus.
• * 1.15

  Images of wyndes.
• * 1.16

  Wethercor∣kes. Fanes.