Astrology

rationem cum domino crebro putet. operarium, mercennarium, politorem diutius eundem ne habeat die. nequid emisse velit insciente domino, neu quid dominum celavisse velit. parasitum nequem habeat. haruspicem, augurem, hariolum, Chaldaeum nequem consuluisse velit. segetem ne defrudet: nam id infelix est. opus rusticum omne curet uti sciat facere, et id faciat saepe, dum ne lassus fiat:

He must go over the accounts with the master often. He must not keep the same day laborer, hired hand, or cultivator for more than a day. He must not buy anything without the master’s knowledge, or hide anything from the master. He must not keep any hangers-on. He must not consult any diviner, augur, fortune-teller, or astrologer. He must not cheat the crop [of seed or care], for that brings bad luck. He must make sure he knows how to do every kind of farm work, and he must do it often, but not so much that he wears himself out.

Videsi negli anni di Cristo, dalla sua salutevole incarnazione 1346, la congiunzione di tre superiori pianeti nel segno dell’Aquario, della quale congiunzione si disse per gli astrolaghi che Saturno fu signore: onde pronosticarono al mondo grandi e gravi novitadi; ma simile congiunzione per li tempi passati molte altre volte stata e mostrata, la influenzia per altri particulari accidenti non parve cagione di questa, ma piuttosto divino giudicio secondo la disposizione dell’assoluta volontà di Dio.

In the year 1346 of Christ’s saving Incarnation, a conjunction of the three upper planets was seen in the sign of Aquarius. The astrologers said that Saturn was its lord, and so they foretold great and grievous events for the world. But a similar conjunction had appeared many times before. So its influence, together with other particular circumstances, did not seem to be the cause of this pestilence. The cause seemed rather to be God’s judgment, as the absolute will of God ordained.

Di questa pestifera infermità i medici in catuna parte del mondo, per filosofia naturale, o per tisica, o per arte d’astrologia non ebbono argomento nè vera cura. Alquanti per guadagnare andarono visitando e dando loro argomenti, li quali per la loro morte mostrarono l’arte essere fitta, e non vera: e assai per coscienza lasciarono a ristituire i danari che di ciò aveano presi indebitamente.

Doctors everywhere in the world, whether they relied on natural philosophy, medicine, or astrology, found no remedy or true cure for this deadly sickness. Some went around visiting the sick and giving them remedies to make money. By dying themselves they showed that their art was false and not true. And many, out of conscience, left orders that the money they had wrongly taken for this be paid back.

Dico adunque che già erano gli anni della fruttifera Incarnazione del Figliuolo di Dio al numero pervenuti di mille trecento quarant'otto, quando nella egregia città di Fiorenza, oltre ad ogni altra italica bellissima, pervenne la mortifera pestilenza, la quale, per operazion de' corpi superiori o per le nostre inique opere, da giusta ira di Dio a nostra correzione mandata sopra i mortali, alquanti anni davanti nelle parti orientali incominciata, quelle d'innumerabile quantità di viventi avendo private, senza ristare, d'un luogo in un altro continuandosi, verso l'Occidente miserabilmente s'era ampliata.

I say, then, that it was the year 1348 since the fruitful Incarnation of the Son of God when the deadly pestilence came to the noble city of Florence, more beautiful than any other city in Italy. Whether it came through the workings of the heavenly bodies, or was sent upon us mortals by the just anger of God to correct our wicked ways, it had begun some years before in the lands of the East. There it had taken the lives of countless people. Then, without stopping, it had moved on from place to place and spread, wretchedly, toward the West.

Nec mora consentio, ut Magistrum illa suum accersat, et consideo, paratus ad audiendam totam et itineris rationem, et regionis descriptionem. Tempus jam erat vernum, Lunâ crescente in cornua, quæ ut primum Sole sub Horizontem condito cepit enitere, juncta Planetæ Saturno in Tauri signo; mater seorsim à me se recipiens in proximum bivium, et pauculis verbis, clamore sublato, enunciatis, quibus petitionem suam proponebat; cæremoniisque peractis, revertitur, prætensâ dextræ manus palmâ silentium imperans, propterque me assidet. Vix capita vestibus (ut conventum erat) involveramus; cum ecce screatus exoritur blæsæ et obtusæ vocis; et statim in hunc modum, sed idiomate Islandico, infit.

I agreed at once that she should call her master. I sat down, ready to hear all about the journey and a description of the region. It was spring. The Moon was a waxing crescent. As soon as the Sun had set below the horizon, it began to shine, in conjunction with the planet Saturn in the sign of Taurus. My mother went off by herself to the nearest crossroads. She raised her voice and spoke a few words, making her request, and performed some ceremonies. Then she came back, held out the palm of her right hand to command silence, and sat down next to me. We had barely wrapped our heads in our clothes, as agreed, when there came the sound of a throat being cleared, in a dull, lisping voice. At once it began speaking, like this, but in Icelandic.