lid’s Reviews > Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans > Status Update

the deep instinct of self-preservation drives human to desire a continuance of life, and feeling revolts against the anguish of an irrevocable separation, against the final loss of all one loves. in imperial rome, there were so many unpunished crimes, so much undeserved suffering, that human naturally took refuge in the hope of a happier future which would repair all injustices of a sorrowful present

life is sombre incident between two endless periods of sleep. based the peripatetics, the divine spark which animated bodies became merged after death in the cosmic fires, from which it had issued without preserving any individuality. from death, they expected nothing but liberation from destiny, of which they were freed from those cruel necessities which those beings are subject who live under the planetary vaults

the true stoicism places the realization of its ideal, for it the aim of existence isn’t the preparation for death but the attainment of perfect virtue. by giving freedom from the passions, virtue confers independence and felicity.

the jews divided time into consecutive groups of seven days ending with sabbath, but these days weren’t each under the planet. the measurement of time originates in the division of the lunar month into four equal parts. it’s connected with the general theory of chronocratories, which assigned to each planet the dominion over an hour, a day, a year, and even over a period of a thousand years.

the absence of free will destroys responsibility: rewards and punishments are meaningless if human act under a dominating necessity; if they are born heroes or criminals, morality entails no merit and immorality no reproach. the metaphysical discussions provoked by this controversy which always has been and always will be, carried on.

all systems of theology invoke the order of nature as a proof of the existence of god. what’s more original is that they took this cosmic emotion which every human feels and transformed it into a religious sentiment. heaven in ancient astronomy was like the earth in their geography, a much limited expression than it is nowadays.

in 274, the claudian emperors worshipped the almighty star not only as the patron but also as the author of its race. the invincible sun, raised to the supreme position in the divine hierarchy, peculiar protector of sovereigns and of the empire. tends to absorb or subordinate to himself all the other divinities of ancient olympus. this readily agreed with stoic hylozoism.

based on chaldean astronomers, the fixed stars and above all the planets, are the authors of all the phenomena of the universe and nothing here below is produced save in virtue of their combined activities. that then, which rules the complicated play of their revolutions and their aspects, will be the arbiter of destiny, the master of all nature.

in the chaldean system, the sun occupies the fourth rank in the series of planets. three are above it, mars, jupiter, and saturn, and three below it, venus, mercury, and the moon. the sun moves in the midst of the heavenly spheres, the central position among the seven circles of the universe.