But even in the very conception of twins, which certainly occurs at the same moment in the case of both, it often happens that the one is conceived a male, and the other a female.I know two of different sexes who are twins.Both of them are alive, and in the flower of their age; and though they resemble each other in body, as far as difference of sex will permit, still they are Very different in the whole scope and purpose of their lives (consideration being had of those differences which necessarily exist between the lives of males and females),--the one holding the office of a count, and being almost constantly away from home with the army in foreign service, the other never leaving her country's soil, or her native district.Still more,--and this is more incredible, if the destinies of the stars are to be believed in, though it is not wonderful if we consider the wills of men, and the free gifts of God,--he is married; she is a sacred virgin: he has begotten a numerous offspring; she has never even married.But is not the virtue of the horoscope very great ? I think I have said enough to show the absurdity of that.But, say those astrologers, whatever be the virtue of the horoscope in other respects, it is certainly of significance with respect to birth.But why not also with respect to conception, which takes place undoubtedly with one act of copulation ? And, indeed, so great is the force of nature, that after a woman has once conceived, she ceases to be liable to conception.Or were they, perhaps, changed at birth, either he into a male, or she into a female, because of the difference in their horoscopes ? But, whilst it is not altogether absurd to say that certain sidereal influences have some power to cause differences in bodies alone,--as, for instance, we see that the seasons of the year come round by the approaching and receding of the sun, and that certain kinds of things are increased in size or diminished by the waxings and wanings of the moon, such as sea-urchins, oysters, and the wonderful tides of the ocean, --it does not follow that the wills of men are to be made subject to the position of the stars.The astrologers, however, when they wish to bind our actions also to the constellations, only set us on investigating whether, even in these bodies, the changes may not be attributable to some other than a sidereal cause.For what is there which more intimately concerns a body than its sex ? And yet, under the same position of the stars, twins of different sexes may be conceived.
Wherefore, what greater absurdity can be affirmed or believed than that the position of the stars, which was the same for both of them at the time of conception, could not cause that the one child should not have been of a different sex from her brother, with whom she had a common constellation, whilst the position of the stars which existed at the hour of their birth could cause that she should be separated from him by the great distance between marriage and holy virginity ?
CHAP.7.--CONCERNING THE CHOOSING OF A DAY FOR MARRIAGE, OR FOR PLANTING, ORSOWING.
Now, will any one bring forward this, that in choosing certain particular days for particular actions, men bring about certain new destinies for their actions ? That man, for instance, according to this doctrine, was not born to have an illustrious son, but rather a contemptible one, and therefore, being a man of learning, he choose an hour in which to lie with his wife.He made, therefore, a destiny which he did not have before, and from that destiny of his own making something began to be fatal which was not contained in the destiny of his natal hour.Oh, singular stupidity ! A day is chosen on which to marry; and for this reason, Ibelieve, that unless a day be chosen, the marriage may fall on an unlucky day, and turn out an unhappy one.What then becomes of what the stars have already decreed at the hour of birth ? Can a man be said to change by an act of choice that which has already been determined for him, whilst that which he himself has determined in the choosing of a day cannot be changed by another power? Thus, if men alone, and not all things under heaven, are subject to the influence of the stars, why do they choose some days as suitable for planting vines or trees, or for sowing grain, other days as suitable for taming beasts on, or for putting the males to the females, that the cows and mares may be impregnated, and for such-like things ? If it be said that certain chosen days have an influence on these things, because the constellations rule over all terrestrial bodies, animate and inanimate, according to differences in moments of time, let it be considered what innumerable multitudes of beings are born or arise, or take their origin at the very same instant of time, which come to ends so different, that they may persuade any little boy that these observations about days are ridiculous.For who is so mad as to dare affirm that all trees, all herbs, all beasts, serpents, birds, fishes, worms, have each separately their own moments of birth or commencement ? Nevertheless, men are wont, in order to try the skill of the mathematicians, to bring before them the constellations of dumb animals, the constellations of whose birth they diligently observe at home with a view to this discovery; and they prefer those mathematicians to all others, who say from the inspection of the constellations that they indicate the birth of a beast and not of a man.They also dare tell what kind of beast it is, whether it is a wool-bearing beast, or a beast suited for carrying burthens, or one fit for the plough, or for watching a house; for the astrologers are also tried with respect to the fates of dogs, and their answers concerning these are followed by shouts of admiration on the part of those who consult them.
