Five Books of M. Manilius

by Marcus Manilius

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genres: Astrology, Poetry, Classics, Nonfiction, History

196 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 1942

About the author

Marcus Manilius is an enigma, and an enigma not often sought out. Even his name is uncertain, the "Marcus" is partly conjectural. All that we know of this man comes from his sole, known work, his didactic monograph, the "Astronomica", a five book Latin poem that discusses astrology and Stoicism.

The poem is bereft of direct biographical content, however, we can deduce that he was intelligent, knowledgeable of his subject matter, and a devotee of both astrology and the philosophy of the Stoa—the two are one and the same, each an expression of the other—to Manilius.

It is also likely that he was well connected. The imperial family of Augustus delved into astrology and philosophy from time to time. Augustus' successor, the dour Tiberius, had his own, personal astrologer, the famous Thrasyllus, while occasionally persecuting and exiling other astrologers due to the potential social upsets (speculating on the date of the emperor's death) they might cause.

It is most likely that the poem was first composed in the last years of Augustus (~10-14 CE), and completed under Tiberus (the 20s CE). The first book of the poem is dedicated to Augustus, and the latest date is the 9 CE defeat of the three legions of Varius, governor of Germany, by rebellious tribes.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the centrepiece of my Masters on Manilius (as you would expect), and was of importance in my Phd, which examined Roman astrology. By the end of this my copy was dog eared indeed.
I found that Manilius' astrology was only a few, small excerpts from several different astrological systems, and that he presented a strong and well reasoned argument for Stoicism, within the lines of astrology text. Well written, perhaps surprising that it apparently paid so little importance in later Roman astrology.

[Addison Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably one for the specialists, but it's nonetheless an essential text if you're interested in Roman astronomy and astrology or hoping to get a fuller sense of the Posidonian stoicism that is so often boiled down for contemporary readers as a "stiff upper-lip philosophy" devoid of metaphysics. The lengthy technical introduction is essential to understanding the abstruse middle books, but the fifth and final book is enjoyable enough in its own right - first as a book of characters and then as a truly bizarre Melvillean seascape elaborating on the sources of good fish sauce.

[Marcos Augusto · Rating 4 out of 5]

The earliest work on astrology that is extensive, comprehensible, and mostly intact, the Astronomica describes celestial phenomena, and, in particular, the zodiac and astrology. The poem—which seems to have been inspired by Lucretius's Epicurean poem De rerum natura—espouses a Stoic, deterministic understanding of a universe overseen by a god and governed by reason. The fifth book contains a lacuna, which has led to debate about the original size of the poem; some scholars have argued that whole books have been lost over the years, whereas others believe only a small section of the work is missing.

[Scout Adams]

I only got through one of the five books in the volume(and the intro, which is like half of the volume oof). I definitely started at the randomest spot ever for the subjects, which to be fair Goode warned me I was doing, so only me to blame lol. We’ll definitely be circling back to this one later though; I’m gonna count this though, because so far it’s been like pulling teeth. But surprisingly really pretty! I also really appreciated the thoroughness of the context (very helpful for the rube lol)

[Harrison Entwistle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one actually took way longer than expected. Usually have about three or four 'irons in the fire' and am an enthusiastic follower of languages. For no other reason except that both English and Latin are used to describe Roman Astrology- um yes please!

Overall there was a great excerpt about how a man can lose all notice and awareness of shame and being shamed. It was beautiful. To be honest, any book that is written well enough you feel as though some one reaches through time and grabs you by the shirt collar and says 'look at this.'

To sum up you must adapt to skipping ea. & every turned page to read the English, but it's not a hinderance. By any means necessary I would recommend this book. Thank you GP Gookd for a masterful translation, and truly invaluable information to not only my but future generations of young young enthusiasts.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read by any means. The introduction to the Loeb edition was indispensable for me, and the work is an important data point for research into ancient astrology leading up to Ptolemy. The poetry (at least in the Loeb edition I read) doesn’t speak well for Manilius’ talents, more compendious than it is lyrical (a reasonable complaint about most Didactic poetry I would think), excepting in one place, near the close of book V, where he gives one of the most beautiful and striking retellings of the myth of Perseus, Andromeda and the slaying of the sea-creature Cetus that I have read.

[E.J. Matze]

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[Lecy Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A long and comprehensive look at astrology. I really appreciated the introduction, which helped me better grasp what I was reading. A difficult read, but a good one.