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Hippolytus
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Introductory Notice to Hippolytus.
[178] This was the great doctrine of astrology, the forerunner of the science of astronomy. Astrology seems to have arisen first among the Chaldeans, out of the fundamental principle of their religion—the assimilation of the divine nature to light. This tenet introduced another, the worship of the stars, which was developed into astrology. Others suppose astrology to have been of Arabian or Egyptian origin. From some of these sources it reached the Greeks, and through them the Romans, who held the astrologic art in high repute. The art, after having become almost extinct, was revived by the Arabians at the verve of the middle ages. For the history of astrology one must consult the writings of Manilius, Julius Firmicus, and Ptolemy. Its greatest mediæval apologist is Cardan, the famous physician of Pavia (see his work, De Astron. Judic., lib. vi.–ix. tom. v. of his collected works).
[179] Sextus adds, “bright-eyed.”
[180] Hippolytus here follows Sextus.
[181] Aratus, from whom Hippolytus quotes so frequently in this chapter, was a poet and astronomer of antiquity, born at Soli in Cilicia. He afterwards became physician to Gonatus, son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, king of Macedon, at whose court he rose high into favour. The work alluded to by Hippolytus is Aratus’ Phænomena,—a versified account of the motions of the stars, and of sidereal influence over men. This work seems to have been a great favourite with scholars, if we are to judge from the many excellent annotated editions of it that have appeared. Two of these deserve notice, viz., Grotius’ Leyden edition, 1600, in Greek and Latin; and Buhle’s edition, Leipsic, 1803. See also Dionysius Petavius’ Uranologion. Aratus must always be famous, from the fact that St. Paul (Acts xiii. 28) quotes the fifth line of the Phænomena. Cicero considered Aratus a noble poet, and translated the Phænomena into Latin, a fragment of which has been preserved, and is in Grotius’ edition. Aratus has been translated into English verse, with notes by Dr. Lamb, Dean of Bristol (London: J. W. Parker, 1858).
Chapter VII.—Practical Absurdity of the Chaldaic Art; Development of the Art.
[182] The Abbe Cruice suggests “freedom from danger,” instead of “cowardice,” and translates thus: “whereby kings are slain, by having impunity promised in the predictions of these seers.”
[183] Sextus makes the number “nine thousand nine hundred and seventy and seven years.”
[184] The parenthetical words are taken from Sextus Empiricus, as introduced into his text by the Abbe Cruice. Schneidewin alludes to the passage in Sextus as proof of some confusion in Hippolytus’ text, which he thinks is signified by the transcriber in the words, “I think there is some deficiency or omissions,” which occur in the ms. of The Refutation.
[185] As regards astrological predictions, see Origen’s Comment. on Gen.; Diodorus of Tarsus, De Fato; Photii Biblioth., cod. ccxxiii.; and Bardesanis, De Legibus Nationum, in Cureton’s Spicilegium Syriacum.
[186] See Plato’s Timæus.
[187] Schneidewin, on Roeper’s suggestion, amends the passage thus, though I am not sure that I exactly render his almost unintelligible Latin version: “For as many sections as there are of each, there are educible from the monad more segments than sections; for example, if,” etc. The Abbe Cruice would seemingly adopt the following version: “For whatsoever are sections of each, now there are more segments than sections of a monad, will become; for example, if,” etc.
[188] Schneidewin, on mathematical authority, discredits the numerical calculations ascribed to Archimedes.
[189] This is manifestly erroneous; the total could only be “four myriads!”
Chapter X.—Theory of Stellar Motion and Distance in Accordance with Harmony.
[190] The Abbe Cruice thinks that the word should be “tones,” supporting his emendation on the authority of Pliny, who states that Pythagoras called the distance of the Moon from the Earth a tone, deriving the term from musical science (see Pliny’s Hist. Nat., ii. 20).
[191] These numerical speculations are treated of by Archimedes in his work On the Number of the Sand, in which he maintains the possibility of counting the sands, even on the supposition of the world’s being much larger than it is (see Archimedes, τὰ μεχρὶ νῦν σωζόμενα ἅπαντα, Treatise ψαμμίτης, p. 120, ed. Eustoc. Ascalon., Basil, 1544).
[192] Colarbasus is afterwards mentioned in company with Marcus the heretic, at the beginning and end of book vi. of The Refutation.
[193] This word (σχεδιάζουσι), more than once used by Hippolytus, is applied to anything done offhand, e.g., an extempore speech. It therefore might be made to designate immaturity of opinion. Σχεδία means something hastily put together, viz., a raft; σχέδιος, sudden.
[194] Schneidewin suggests ὅμως instead of οἱμοίως. The word (ἐρανισάμενοι) translated “appropriating” is derived from ἔρανος, which signifies a meal to which those who partake of it have each contributed some dish (pic-nic). The term, therefore, is an expressive one for Hippolytus’ purpose.
[195] προγνωστικοὺς. Some would read πρὸς γνωστικοὺς.
[196] Some propose δόξης, “opinion.” Hippolytus, however, used the word ῥίζης (translated “school”) in a similar way at the end of chap. i. of book iv. “Novelty” is read instead of “knavery;” and for ἀναπλέου, “full,” is proposed (1) ἀναπλέοντας, (a) ἀναπτεροῦντας.
[197] The subject of the numerical system employed by the Gnostics, and their occult mysteries, is treated of by the learned Kircher, Œdipi Ægypt., tom. ii. part i., de Cabalâ Hebræorum; also in his Arithmolog. in the book De Arithmomantia Gnosticor., cap. viii., de Cabalâ Pythagoreâ. See also Mersennes, Comment. on Genes.
[198] This subject is examined by Cornelius Agrippa in his celebrated work, De vanitate et incertitudine Scientiarum, chap. xi., De Sorte Pythagoricâ. Terentius Maurus has also a versified work on Letters and Syllables and Metres, in which he alludes to similar interpretations educible from the names Hector and Patroclus.
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