Working Paper on Astrological Physiognomy: History and Sources

<strong>Working</strong> <strong>Paper</strong> on Astrological Physiognomy: History and Sources
Appendix II. Bonatti’s Sign-based Physiognomy Rules
Book of Astronomy, translated and edited by Ben Dykes, Treatise 3, Chapter 12, pp. 193-194.
For Aries makes a man having a long neck, and a long face, much hair on the head, eyes
sometimes grave [or heavy], small ears, and a body often curved [or bent].
Taurus makes a man having a full face, sometimes curved [or bent]; and if he did not have a full
face, he will have a grand nose; and if he did not have a naturally grand one, in the space of time
he will have long nostrils by accident; black and grave [or heavy] eyes; shaggy or raised hairs on
the head; a thick and fat neck, almost more than is decent; modest, who looks at the ground when
walking; proceeding honestly, not stable [but] almost wandering, but you should not trust your
wife to [be with] him in secret.
Gemini makes a man having an average stature, a full chest, an agreeable person. 49
Cancer makes a man having a disarranged body, and thick skin over his whole body; and it
renders a man thin above, thick below, having twisted teeth, small eyes.
Leo makes a man active, and very noted, and intelligent, thick above, thin below; nor is he made
unsuitable [or not handsome] from thence; magnanimous; thin legs.
Virgo makes a man having a beautiful person, and a good will, beautiful eyes, and a decent face.
Libra makes a man having an agreeable face, average flesh 50 , who even will love women.
Scorpio makes a man having a ruddy and small face, much hair on the head, small eyes, long
legs, big feet, quickly changeable; in whose mouth truth is hardly or never found; growing angry,
a litigator; and having lawsuits and quarrels with everyone (and doing it practically for nothing).
Sagittarius makes a man having long hips, and a long face, and a full jaw on the face; a subtle
mind and often more beautiful from the back than from the front; thin hair on the head, and
sometimes a belly bigger than it ought to be; and he delights in riding horses.
Capricorn makes a man having thin legs, a dry body, a face like a goat’s, much hair on the head.
Aquarius makes a man tall and vain, haughty and arrogant, who even will be a great expounder
[or interpreter], and often he is wasteful, and a devastator of goods; having a beautiful and
colored face, and sometimes one leg longer than the other.
Pisces makes a man having a full chest, a small head, a beautiful and blooming beard, and a full
haw of the face in relation to his head; a white color, having round eyes, magnanimous.
49 “Person” should be understood in terms of bodily form, not personality.
50 I.e., average “build.”
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