The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism [1911] - Get a Free Blog

ASTROLOGY AND MAGIC. 175
the celestial virgin a sign of the zodiac, they assumed
a character very different from the one they had orig
inally possessed. It has been shown^ 2 how, in Syria,
the idea of an infinite repetition of cycles of years
according to which the celestial revolutions took place,
led to the conception of divine eternity, how the theory
of a fatal domination of the stars over the earth
brought about that of the omnipotence
of the "lord of
the heavens," and how the introduction of a universal
religion was the necessary result of the belief that the
stars exerted an influence upon the peoples of every
clima,te. The logic of all these consequences of the
principles of astrology was plain to the Latin as well
as to the Semitic races, and caused a rapid transforma
tion of the ancient idolatry. As in Syria, the sun,
which the astrologers called the leader of the planetary
choir, "who is established as king and leader of the
whole worhl,"33 necessarily became the highest power
of the Roman pantheon.
Astrology also modified theology, by introducing
into this pantheon a great number of new gods, some
of whom were singularly abstract. Thereafter man
worshiped the constellations of the firmament, particu
larly the twelve signs of the zodiac, every one of which
had its mythologic legend; the sky (Caelus) itself, be
cause it was considered the first cause, and was some
times confused with the supreme being ;
the four ele
ments, the antithesis and perpetual transmutations of
which produced all tangible phenomena, and which
were often symbolized by a group of animals ready to
devour each other ;34 finally, time and its subdivisions.^
The calendars were religious before they were secu
lar ;
their purpose was not, primarily, to record fleeting