American Philosophical Society

Girolamo Cardano and the Tradition of Classical Astrology the Rothschild Lecture, 1995
Author(s): Anthony Grafton

Source: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 142, No. 3 (Sep., 1998), pp.
323-354
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of
GirolamoCardanoandtheTradition
ClassicalAstrology
TheRothschild 1995
Lecture,
ANTHONY GRAFTON
DodgeProfessor Princeton
ofHistory, University
I. CONTINUITIES OF IDEOLOGY AND TECHNIQUE
F
ortwoanda halfmillennia, havescrutinized
astrologers
orderto predictthecareersofindividuals,
theskiesin
theresultsofcommercial
ventures,thefortunes ofindividualcountries,andthehistory oftheentire
world. The oldest survivingindividualhoroscopesare the work of
Mesopotamianastrologers, preparedin thefifth centuryB.C., and after1
The most recentones thatcouldstillclaim statusweredrawnup
scientific
by some of the most technicallyadvancednaturalphilosophersin
seventeenth-century Rome and London.2No modernuniversity has a
department ofastrology,butit stillflourishes
acrossthewesternworld,
in elegantoccult bookshopsfromGeneva to Pasadena as well as in
supermarkets and thebackpagesoftabloidnewspapers.To judgefrom
the expensivecarsthatregularly park outsidethe house of one of my
neighbors, who didpioneering
an astrologer workon thedevelopment of
computerprogramsforrapidand accuratecompositionof horoscopes,
membersofthemodernsocialandintellectual elitestillfindthisancient
artofconsiderable interest.
Anyhistorian who attempts to studyan individualsegmentofthis
longhistory mustrepeatedly riskmistaking traditional,andevenancient,
ideas and methodsfornew ones.For thehistorianofclassicalastrology
confrontsa traditionthat lastedmany centuries,one that combined
1 On theoriginsofastrologysee theclassicstudyofA. Sachs,"BabylonianHoroscopes,"

JournalofCuneiform Studies6 (1952), 49-75,andthemorerecentworkofF. Rochberg-
Halton,e.g."NewEvidencefortheHistory ofAstrology,"JournalofNearEasternStudies
43 (1984): 115-40and"BabylonianHoroscopesandtheirSources,"Orientalia58 (1989):
102-23. For surveysof thehistory of astrologyin theancientworld,see S. J.Tester,A
Historyof Western Astrology(Woodbridge,1987), and T. Barton,AncientAstrology
(LondonandNew York,1994),whichhavethemeritofexistingeveniftheydo notfillall
needs.
2
See respectively
G. Ernst, ragionee natura(Milan,1991),chaps.10-11,andP.
Religione,
Curry,Prophecyand Power(Princeton, 1989).
PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, VOL. 142,NO. 3, SEPTEMBER, 1998
323

324 ANTHONY GRAFTON
remarkable witha durablecommitment

in application
flexibility to a
recognizablyuniform setof ideasandtechniques. of
The astrologers
Romein thetimeof Cicero,theastrologers ofBaghdadin theageof
HarunarRashid,andtheastrologers ofNiirnberginthegenerationof
AlbrechtDiirerworked from thesamecosmological premises,
projected
thesamebeneficentandthreateningimagesintotheheavens,andusedfor
themostpartthesamemathematical Buttheyworkedfor
techniques.
radicallydifferentsocietiesand clients,and in radicallydifferent
institutional and professional The historianof astrology,
settings. then,
must somehowmanageto do justiceto both the durabilityand the
ofthetradition:
flexibility to combinea senseofthescientific longuedure'e
thatastrologyachievedwithan eyeforthecontinualtransformation of
the social worldsit servedand the techniquesand ideas of which it
consisted.
The continuity oftheastrological traditionis,perhaps,unmatched
in theintellectualhistory ofthewest.All astrologers-whether in ancient
Babylonor Hitler'sMunich-assumethattheyunderstand thelanguage
of thestars.They believethattheypossessa setofhermeneutical rules,
whichenablethemto decipherthe book of theheavens.This analogy
may sound verymodern,even modish.Currentintellectualfashion
dictatesthecomparisonofeventsto texts.Efforts to treatall systemsof
symbolsas languages flourish wildly:originalrecentbookshaveshednew
lighton thelanguagesofpolitics,offlowers, and ofclothing.3 Butin the
case of astrology,the analogyitselfformspart of a long-established
GiovanniGiovianoPontano,whopublisheda treatise
tradition. De rebus
coelestibusas longago as 1512,arguedexplicitly thatthelanguageofthe
starsconformedin all essentialways to the languageof humans.The
twenty-six lettersof the Roman alphabet,he pointedout, could be
combinedin tensofthousandsofwaysto formnew words.Verysimple
alterationsin spellingcausedmajorchangesin sense.The adjectiveavidus,
forexample,readilybecomesthemoreintenseavidior,avidiorbecomes
the stillmore intensiveavidissimus, and avidissimus, in its turn,sinks
downto become avidulus after onlyminor surgery. Everytransformation
ofthesigntransforms itsmeaning.'
Starsand planets,Pontanoargued,formedthe lettersof a cosmic
alphabet.Clear,simpleattributes-color, externalappearance,speedof
inEarlyModernEurope(Cambridge,
3A. Pagden,ed.,TheLanguagesofPoliticalTheory
Sex and Suits
1987); J.Goody,TheCultureofFlowers(Cambridge,1993);A. Hollander,
(New York,1994).
4G. G. Pontano,De rebus coelestibuslibri 14 (Basel, 1530); cf. C. Trinkaus,"The
CosmosandRhetorical
Astrological CultureofGiovanniGiovianoPontano,"Renaissance
38 (1985): 446-72.
Quarterly

GIROLAMO CARDANO 325
motion-expressed thecharacter oftheindividual Theredcolor

planets.
thatsupposedly characterized for
Mars, example, revealeditshot,dry,
warlike nature.Everyplanet hadnotonlyitsownqualities, moreover, but
alsoitsalliesandopponents amongtheotherplanets, thestars,andthe
degrees andsignsoftheZodiac.A taxonomic gridthattookbothqualities
andrelationships intoaccount enabled theastrologer toestablish
a fullset
of qualitiesforeachcelestialbodyand place.Venus,as Mars'schief
opponent, necessarily hadtheopposedqualities, coldandwetness.
Everyplanet, inother words, played theroleofa letter withdefined
qualities.Everyastrologically significantconfiguration oftwoor more
planets-aconjunction, forexample-resembled a wordora phrase, the
senseofwhichtheastrologer coulddetermine. Theconjunction ofMars
andVenusoffers a simple example: whathappened whena beneficentand
a maleficentplanetmetontheZodiac.Everyastrologer knewthatinthis
caseVenuswouldovercome herbrother, as loveis stronger thananger.
Thisapparently simpleprinciple inspired boththephilosopher Marsilio
Ficino,who devotedto it a splendid setpiecein hiscommentary on
Plato'sSymposium, andtheartist SandroBotticelli, whoembodied it,in
a spectacularlyerotic form, inhispanelpainting ofMarsand Venus, now
intheNationalGallery, London.'
European astrologers made use not only of this celestial
hermeneutics, whichcameoriginally fromMesopotamia, butalsoofa
cosmology, whichcameoriginally from Greece. According thescheme
to
firstlaid out by Platoandthenmuchmoreelaborately developedby
Aristotle andothers, theuniverse hastwomainparts:theupperrealmof
thecelestialspheres, whichrevolve around theearth, andthelowerrealm
ofthefourelements. In theupperrealm,"toutn'estqu'ordreetbeaute,
luxe,calmeetvolupte." Thestarsandtheplanets, embedded incrystalline
spheres, createtheunchanging musicofeternity. In thelowerrealm, by
contrast, thingsandcreatures composed ofthefourelements, earth,
air,
fireandwater, arebornandgrow, becomeoldanddie.Downhere,things
change incessantly: theelements playanunending drama, whichseemsto
haveno clearscript. Butthatwhichiscomplete anddoesnotchange, and
movesin a uniform way,is higher thanthatwhichchanges. Andthe
higherrightly rulesthelower.Accordingly, themusicofthespheres in
theupperrealmextends itsinfluence tothelivingcreatures inthelower
realm.Theyfollowit-tothelimited andimperfect extentallowedbythe
messyand changeable matter of whichtheyconsist.The cosmology
thehermeneutics:
justified itexplained, asdozensofmanuals andlecture
coursespatiently madeclear,whytheastrologer couldinferfromthe
smoothandperpetual movements oftheplanetsthejerkyanduneven
S See E. H. Gombrich,
SymbolicImages(Oxford,1972; repr.1978),66-69.

326 ANTHONY GRAFTON
future movements ofplants, animals andhumans on earth.6

The astrologer, finally, reliedon a setofmathematical dataand
techniques,which combinedthe methods and discoveries of
Mesopotamian andGreekastronomers andastrologers-and thoseofsome
of theirsuccessors. Astronomical tablesenabledastronomers and
astrologers to predict thefuture movements of the planets and their
significant
astrologically positions withreasonable accuracy. Astrologers
usedthesetechniques tolayoutthepositions ofthesignsoftheZodiac
andtheplanets ata significant moment: thatofthebirth orconception of
forexample.
a client, Theyalsousedthemtodivide theZodiacupintothe
twelvesegments, calledhouses,thatdefined the effects of planetary
influence.Thepresence ofplanets inthese determined, in succession,how
longclients wouldlive,whattalents theywouldpossess, andhowmuch
theywouldprosper. Mostfrequently ofall,theyuseda simplified setof
computations to determine what influence the planets would exerciseat
a particularly
important moment ina client'slife.Short-term predictions
aboutmarriage, investment, prescriptions ofdrugs andproscriptions from
politicscould allbe given a sound quantitative basis.7
Astrologers' tasksvaried widely. Themostintellectually ambitious
of themusedastrological principles to investigate worldhistory. The
simple rulethat Saturn and Jupiter reach conjunction every twenty years,
forexample, couldbecomea sortofground bassforworldhistory as a
whole,asPersian, Arabic, andEuropean astrologers inturnusedittofix
andaccount forthegreat turning pointsinworldhistory, liketheriseof
newreligions, andtopredict history's end.8 PierreD'Ailly,a Frenchman,
setthisquitecorrectly-in a special,French sense-inA.D. 1789.9Ordinary
astrologersinvestigated specific configurations bythethousands, working
outtheprospects fora cureforanything from lovesickness tohousemaid's
knee.10 The centraltaskof theskilledastrologer remained thesame,
however, overthecenturies andmillennia: todrawupthehoroscopes that
wouldexplain howcelestial influences formed thecharacter ofindividual
people,cities,andcountries, "asthehotsealstamps thewax."
6 For a good introduction in

as itwas knownand illustrated
to thiscosmologicaltradition
TouchesofSweetHarmony(San Marino,1974).
earlymodemEurope,see S. K. Heninger,
7 Sky(Oxford,1984), describesastrological
J.C. Eade, TheForgotten terminologyand
Fora moretechnicalstudyofthewaysoflayingouthoroscopes,
techniques. see J.North,
HoroscopesandHistory(London,1986).
andtheFortunes
"Astrology
8 J.North, Centaurus24 (1980):
ofChurches," 181-211.
9 L. Smoller,History,Prophecyand theStars (Princeton,1994). Smollerprovidesan
to medievalandearlymodemastrology.
excellentgeneralintroduction
10M. MacDonald,MysticalBedlam(Cambridge,
1981).

GIROLAMOCARDANO 327
II. CONTINUITIESOF FUNCTION
The long-term similaritiesbetweenancientand earlymodern

astrologyextendbeyondthe realmof theoryand technique.Any
historian who wantsto studythesocialhistoryof astrology in the
Renaissance shouldbeginwitha marvelous bookaboutthesocialhistory
ofastrology inHellenistic
Egypt: FranzCumont's desastrologues.
L'Egypte
Here,"stripped ofallastrology," appearsa worldofclients appealing to
the astrologer foradviceand helpin a rangeof personaland public
situationsthatmatches,withsurprising precision,therangeofsituations
inwhichRenaissance astrologersalsocarriedouttheirjobs."1In Egyptas
inItaly,astrologers
counseled allorders ofsociety.
Emperors andprinces,
merchants andhousewives tookadvicefrom them.In Egyptas inItaly,a
cosmicreligion becameintermingled withtheolderofficial cult.The
proudLeonoraof Aragonrefused to prayuntilthe Ferrarese court
astrologer Prisciani
Pellegrino explained toherthatsheshouldimitate the
kingsof Greece(whomhe did not identify further).
Theyprayed,
Priscianitoldher,whenthemoonreached conjunction withJupiterand
othernecessary conditions werefulfilled, whichexplained whythey
alwaysobtained theirwishes.12InEgyptasinItaly,finally,theastrologer
determined codesofconduct, fromgreatpubliceventsto tinyprivate
decisions.TheFlorentineRepublic, a bastion
ofearlypolitical
rationality,
gaveitsgenerals theirbatonsofcommand at astrologically
sanctioned
moments. Leonellod'Este,a tastefulanderuditeprince,theprizepupilof
Guarino ofVerona, madehiswardrobe decisionsastrologically.
Everyday
he woreclothesof a colorchosento drawdownfavorable celestial
influences."3
InRenaissanceEuropeasinHellenistic
Egypt,theomnipresence of
astrologyrefutes todrawfirm
anyefforts distinctions
between highand
low,eliteandpopularculture. forexample,
Consider, thecaseofDiirer.
He drewon astrological imagesand ideasin his subtleand erudite
MelancoliaI, a mysterious
engravingthatheaimedata coterie
publicof
humanists.Buthealsodidso inhissimple whichheproduced
broadsides,
fortheordinary menandwomeninthemarketplace (where,indeed,his
wifesoldthem)."4 Thepreservedhoroscopesandtextbooksofastrology
F. Cumont,L'Egyptedes astrologues(Brussels,1937),as describedby0. Neugebauer,
TheExactSciencesinAntiquity,
2d ed. (Providence,1957;repr.New York,1969),56.
'
E. Garin,"MagicandAstrology,"ScienceandCivicLifein theItalianRenaissance,tr.P.
Munz(Gloucester, Mass., 1978).
13
AngeloDecembrio,De politialitteraria,
MS Vat.lat. 1794,fol.6 verso.
14 See, e.g. the famousastrological
woodcutthatDtilrer
providedforthe 1496 syphilis
FlugblattofTheodoricus Ulsenius.

328 ANTHONY GRAFTON
anxieties
mirrorthehopesand expectations, of a whole
and terrors
society.
Almosta hundred yearsago,Aby Warburg showedthatthese
resemblances didnotcomeaboutbychance. Thehumanistically educated
astrologers of the Renaissance readand used classicalastronomical
texts-notably theAstrologica ofManiliusandtheMathesis ofFirmicus
Maternus. Thesedescribed in detailnotonlythegeneraldoctrines of
astrology,butalsotheEgyptian decans, curious divinitieseachofwhich
ruledtendegrees oftheZodiac,andotherdoctrines ofNearEastern origin
transmitted to the West in the Hellenisticperiod.Workingin
collaborationwithBollandSaxl,Warburg revealed thattheastrology that
cameto richlycoloredlifeon thewallsofthePalazzoSchifanoia in
Ferraraandelsewhere representeda revivalofthisancient synthesis, down
tominute detailsofimagery andpractice."5
At thehighest level,astrologers ancientandearlymoderncarried
outthetasksthattwentieth-century societyassignstotheeconomist. Like
theeconomist, theastrologer triedto bringthechaoticphenomena of
everyday lifeintoorderbyfitting themto sharply defined quantitative
models.Liketheeconomist, theastrologer insisted, whenteaching or
writingforprofessional peers, thatastrologyhadonlya limited abilityto
predictthefuture. Formally speaking, after
all,astrology concerned itself,
atitsmostscientific level,withtheinterplay ofgeneral forces rather than
theoutcomeofa singleconfiguration ofthem.Liketheeconomist, the
astrologerproved willing when
inpractice, powerful clientsdemanded it,
to predictindividualoutcomesanyhow.Like the economist, the
astrologer generally foundthattheevents didnotmatchtheprediction:
andliketheeconomist, theastrologer normally received as a reward for
thisconfirmation ofhisart'spowersa better job anda higher salary.
Like theeconomist, theastrologer becamethebuttofuniversal
criticism-and stillprovedindispensable. Eventhesharpest criticsof
astrology didnotreallyescapetheinfluence ofthisubiquitous science.
Thepragmatic historianFrancesco Guicciardini ridiculedastrologers ashe
didhis friend Machiavelli, arguing that the human intellect could not
possibly predict thetangled futurecourseofsocialandpolitical life.He
pointedout,perhapsforthefirst time,thattheesteemof astrologers
restedona psychological condition, a confirmation bias,thattheyshared
withtheirclients. Bothremembered the
only astrologers' successes, the
predictions thatcameoutcorrectly. Theirfarmorefrequent errors were
15 Weissagung
Heidnisch-antike in WortundBildzu LuthersZeiten(1920),
See A. Warburg,
inAusgewdhlte undWurdigungen,
Schriften 2d ed. (Baden-Baden,1980),
ed. D. Wuttke,
Lectures(London,1957),1: 73-
199-304;F. Saxl,"TheRevivalofLateAntiqueAstrology,"
84.

simplyforgotten. Guicciardini took thepopularityoftheastrologers as

clearproof of the fallibilityof the human intellect(something he never
hesitated to assert).For centuries, Guicciardini,likeLuther,enjoyedthe
reputationof havingseenthroughthe mostwidespreaddelusionof his
culture. Recently, however, Raffaella Castagnola has published
Guicciardini's own horoscope,usinga widerangeofotherdocumentsto
set it into context.The historian,like the contemporaries he mocked,
consulteda specialist in predictionafterall. He had hishoroscopedrawn
up byRambertoMalatesta, a former who retired
signore to Florenceafter
murderinghis wife and losing his possessionsto a popular revolt.
GuicciardinievidentlyknewMalatestasurprisingly well,to judgefrom
the detailsgivenabout him in the text,and he seemsto have studied
Malatesta'spredictionswithsome care."6The clear-eyedcynicwas no
more rigorousin his rejectionof astrologythanthe foolsborn every
minutearoundhim.Nowadaysno one escapestheterrestrial economy;
in thesixteenth century, as in theHellenisticand Romanworld,no one
escapedthecelestialeconomy.
III. DisCONTINUITIES
ANDEXPLANATIONS
For allthesesimilarities,however,theastrologyoftheRenaissance
was morethana simplerevivalofitsclassicalforerunner. The astrological
tradition,afterall, does a
not form seamlesswhole. The social context
withinwhichastrologers workchangedradicallybetweenantiquityand
the Renaissance,and their own activitieschangedwith the times,
especiallyas theirart grewin popularityand sophistication fromthe
twelfthcenturyonward. The astrologers of the Renaissanceand their
enemiescoulduse new media,forexample,thatno ancientwritercould
have imagined.In 1524 a threatening conjunctiontook place in the
ZodiacalsignofPisces.Paola Zambellihasidentified severaldozenprinted
texts,rangingfromprimitivebroadsidesto sophisticated that
treatises,
predicteda secondFlood for 1524 (none happened)."7 Lutherfoundit
tellingthatso manyastrologers
particularly foresawa delugethatdidnot
take place,whilenone of thempredictedthe Peasants'Revoltthatdid
occurinthenextyear.18 At allevents,ancienthistorycanshowno parallel
to thisfirstmediaeventof moderntimes-orfortheelaboratelystaged
ritualsof humiliationto which some Italian cities subjectedlocal
16
See I Guicciardinie le scienzeocculte,ed. R. Castagnola(Florence,1990).
17
p. Zambelli,
ed., "Astrologi
hallucinati":Starsand theEnd oftheWorldinLuther'sTime
(BerlinandNew York,1986).
18 Warburg,
231-32,277.

330 ANTHONY GRAFTON
astrologerswhentherainsdidnotcome."9 As astrology becametheobject

of newformsofpublicdebate,as thesein turnreachednewstrataof
partlyeducated anduneducated readers,theancient artentereda public
spherethatdidnotexistinantiquity.
The content, as wellas theform,of astrology underwent major
changes inthecourseoftime.Astrology resembles of
Itconsists
a glacier.
severaldifferentstrataandformsof material; it movesconstantly, if
imperceptibly; and it revealsmanyfissures and crevasseson close
inspection. CentraldoctrinesofRenaissance astrology-like thatofthe
GreatConjunctions ofSaturn andJupiter-did nothaveclassical origins.
Centralrelationshipsbetween astrologyandotherpredictive disciplines
tookon newforms intheearlymodern world.In antiquity, astrologers
anddoctors competed,as representativesofseparate arts.Ptolemy,who
wrotethe one ancientsystematic handbookof astrology to survive,
compared thetwosciences,admitting thattheyserved somewhat similar
ends.But he also emphasized the differences betweenthe kindsof
specializedknowledgetheyhadtooffer.20 Eveninantiquity, asonewould
expect, anddoctors
astrologers borrowed ideasandtechniques fromone
anotheranyhow(Ptolemy himself praisedtheEgyptians forunifying
medicine IntheMiddleAges,inboththeIslamicandthe
withastrology).
European manytried
worlds, tocombine thetwoarts.Italianuniversities
as one ofthe
formalcoursesin astrology,
"ofartsand medicine"offered
liberalartsmostlikelyto be usefulto a medicalman.Doctorsoften
competed todrawuphoroscopes,
withastrologers sincetheyhadlearned
Some medicalmen triedto applythe precise,
to do so at university.
methods
quantitative ofastrology Doctorsplayeda
in medicalpractice.2"
list of
prominentrole in Symon de Phares's late-fifteenth-century
astrologerswho had attainedworldlysuccess.22At the same time,
however,debaterangedoverwhether illnesseswerebest
particular
grounds.BoththeBlackDeath
accountedforon medicalor astrological
of 1348 and thesupposedadventof syphilisjustbefore1500stimulated
againstone anothers'
anddoctorsto directpolemicaltreatises
astrologers
explanatory claims.23
19 o.Niccoli,Prophecyand Powerin RenaissanceItaly,tr.L. G. Cochrane(Princeton,
1990),chap.6. Note,however, thatNiccoli'sconclusion werefully
that"urbanpopulations
aware of astrology,but. .. gave it littlecredit"(167) goes farbeyondthelimitsof her
evidence.
Tetrabiblos1.3.
20 Ptolemy
21N. Siraisi,Medievaland EarlyRenaissanceMedicine(ChicagoandLondon,1990).
ReasonandSocietyintheMiddleAges(Oxford,1978; repr.withcorrections,
22 A. Murray,
1985),208.
23 Studienzu den
For the Black Death, see the materialscollectedby H. Pruckner,

Sometimes the development of astrological doctrinefollowed

that
directions ancientthinkerswould never have expected.Somemedical
men-likeFicinoandParacelsus-went so farastotreatastrology as the
coreofmedical doctrine,a central
sourceofreliable therapiesanddietetic
Somephilosophers-like
advice.24 Pomponazzi-went so faras to treat
astrologyasa universalcausalexplanation forallphysicalprocessesinthe
universe-including theeffects ofprayers.25 Meanwhile, someoftheir
competitors triedto exposeastrology as a tissueoffraud anderror. Pico
dellaMirandola, forexample, framed a brilliant,
systematic critiqueof
astrology,whichrestedon a radically different setofassumptions and
methods from thoseoftheolderanti-astrological polemics ofCiceroand
someFathersof theChurch.Ptolemyhimself had admitted, as Pico
emphasized, thatastrology couldofferonlyapproximate predictions,not
preciseones,giventhewiderangeofotherinfluences thatshapedand
individuals'
affected charactersandfates.26Piconotonlyappropriated this
searching critiqueof astrology by an astrologer; he addedto it a
penetratingphilologicalexamination ofastrology's founding claimto be
an ancientNear Easternart.Usingonlythe fragmentary evidence
inGreekandRomansources,
available Picomanaged to exposescientific
astrology,in itsclassicalform,as a relativelymodernart.He showed,
contrary to widespread that
belief, itwas not a ofsagepriestswho
creation
lived long millenniabeforethe birthof Christ,but an applicationof
mathematical theory
planetary thattookshapeonlyinthesecondhalfof
thefirst
millennium Picodiedbefore
B.C. 27Sadly, hecouldcompletehis
intheyearpredicted
work-supposedly bytheastrologers.28
Buthiswork
astrologischen Schriftendes HeinrichvonLangenstein (LeipzigandBerlin,1933) andG.

W. Coopland,Nicole Oresmeand theAstrologers (Liverpool,1952); forsyphilissee the
textsassembledinDie altesten uberdieLustseucheinDeutschland,
Schriftsteller von1493
bis 1510, ed. C. H. Fuchs(Gottingen, 1843) and theanalysisof P. Zambelli,L'ambigua
naturadella magia(Milan,1991),chap.4.
24D. P. Walker,
SpiritualandDemonicMagicfrom
Ficinoto Campanella(London,1958);
W.-D. Muller-Jahncke, TheorieundPraxis in derHeilkundeder
Astrologisch-magische
fruhenNeuzeit,Sudhoffs Archiv,Supplement 1985); see also M. Ficino,Three
(Stuttgart,
Books on Life,ed. andtr.C. V. KaskeandJ.R. Clark(Binghamton, 1989). (Alchemy,of
course,playedthemostcentralroleinParacelsus'ssystem.)
Cassirer,TheIndividualand theCosmosinRenaissancePhilosophy,
25 E. tr.M. Domandi
(New York,1963),chap.3.
26SeeA. A. Long,"Astrology:Arguments inScienceandSpeculation,
ForandAgainst," ed.
J.Barneset al. (CambridgeandParis,1982), 165-93.
27
G. Pico della Mirandola,Disputationes
contraastrologiamdivinatricem,
ed. and tr.E.
Garin(Florence,1946-52).
28 CfL. Gaurico,Tractatusastrologicus(Venice,1552),58 recto:"etmultosediditlibros
etunumvolumencontraastrologossuae aetatisadmodumiratus,quoniam
elegantissimos,

332 ANTHONY GRAFTON
provokedandstimulated laterreaders,fromtheGermandoctorswho
debatedthecausesof syphilis earlyin thesixteenth century downto
JosephScaligerand Johannes Kepler,the latter of whom seriously
consideredundertakinga learnededition ofPico'sbook.29Thenature and
leveloftheRenaissancedebateaboutastrology, inshort,wereas novelas
thepublicitreached andthemediathatfostered itsdevelopment.
Distinguished culturalhistorians have devisedsome powerful
models, withwhichtheyproposeto describe andexplainthenature and
impactofearlymodern astrology.Warburg saw astrology as a but
vital,
partoftheclassical
alsoa dangerous, tradition.Astrology embodied inhis
eyessomething likea perpetual Dionysiactemptation to throwoffthe
burden ofpersonal to ascribe
responsibility, control overone'semotions
and actionsto superior,malevolent forces.Everythinkerof the
Renaissancehadtostruggle withthisdarkforce inorder towintheroom
forfreethought thatcreative require.
activities Ernst Cassirer tookthis
showing
lastpointfurther, thatthesystematic characterofastrology in
roomforinnovative
factcreated thinking. ItaidedPomponazzi andothers
todevelopa radicallynewvisionoftheuniverse, oneinwhichthesame
powerspervadedand ruledthe celestialand the physicalworlds,
continuously and withoutinterference-an absolutistastrological
cosmologyquite alien to the astrological traditionitself.30 Michel
Foucault,by contrast,portrayedRenaissanceastrologyas a revealing
"episteme"-asystemofrulesas
exampleofthewaysin whicha particular
as a Piranesi
dark,andsubterranean
grandiose, the
basement-controlled
thoughtandwriting ofa wholeepoch.No philosopheror scientist could
escapethewebofassumptions thatcompelledthemto seethemselves, and
all othernaturalbeings, as controlledby a network ofhigherand lower
forces, in a stickywebofinfluences.3"
as prisoners KeithThomas,finally,
emphasized thesocialrole,ratherthanthetechnicalcontent, ofastrology.
the
In hisview, fragile environmental and social of
situation earlymodern
people clearlyexplainedtheirfascination withastrologyand othernon-
rationalformsof predictivemagic.Fire,flood,and faminethreatened
everyone, therichas wellas thepoor.No rationalmeansofpredicting or
on
preventingsuch eventsexisted.Insurance,whichrested statistical,
ei mortem
vaticinabantur
trespotissimum anno33. suae aetatisferecompleto,ex directione
horoscopiad Martem,sicutiaccidit."
"GiovanniPico dellaMirandolaandhisSources,"
9 See theclassicstudybyP. 0. Kristeller,
di
L 'operae ilpensiero Giovanni Pico della Mirandola(Florence,1965), 1: 34-133; A.
Grafton,JosephScaliger(Oxford,1983-93),1: chap.7; Zambelli,L 'ambiguanaturadella
magia.
30 See Formand History(New Haven,1987).
J.Krois,Cassirer,Symbolic
31
M. Foucault,Les motset les choses(Paris,1966).

ratherthan celestial,measurements, came into beingonly in the

seventeenth century. Onlytheastrologer couldusethebestquantitative
methodsofthetimeto predict thefuture andofferusefulcounselsfor
avertingriskandexploiting opportunities.32
Each ofthesemodelsemphasizes a vitalaspectofastrology-but
noneofthemis comprehensive. Warburg neverrealizedthatastrology
was,initsownway,a greatachievement ofclassical
reason:thatit,like
geography, represented one of thegreattaxonomic disciplinesof the
Hellenistic andearlyImperial periods.33 Cassirer,whodidunderstand
Renaissance astrology inthisway,tooklittle inthepractice
interest ofthe
discipline.Foucaultneveradmitted, though hecertainlyknew,thatthe
astrology andnatural philosophy oftheearlymodern periodcontained
basic assumptions and procedures takenover directly fromearlier
sources-anadmission thathas radicalconsequences forhis method.
Thomas,whoforthefirst timeshedreallighton thesocialbackground
ofearlymodernastrology, couldnotdo fulljusticeto therichness and
complexity ofearlymodern astrology asanintellectualsystem, especially
asthisreached itsfullestdevelopment outside England.
The workofthesescholars-and ofmanyspecialist historiansof
Renaissance astrology, notablyEugenioGarin,Paola Zambelli,and
GermanaErnst-offers essentialaid andstimulus. Nonetheless, I have
triedto raisedifferent questions,to go a different way.I wantedto do
justiceto boththe rationalism and the irrationality of Renaissance
astrology,tobothitstraditional anditsnovelcontents, tobothitsancient
sourcesanditsmodern socialrole.I wanted toaskiftheastrologers ofthe
Renaissance,who occupiedthemselves in part with readingand
commenting onancient texts,
might havesomething to contribute tothe
interpretation of ancientastrology-if theymighthelp us set the
seemingly dryworksof Ptolemyand Firmicusinto a morefully
articulatedsocialandcultural context, whichcouldhelpto restore their
humaninterest. Aboveall,I wanted tobe surprised.I wanted todevelop
myspecific analytical questionsnotinadvance, butas I workedthrough
primary sources: to putthemto rawdataassembled notin accordance
witha modern archivist'sorhistorian's choices,butbythoseofanearly
modern intellectual.
IV. GIROLAMOCARDANO(1501-1576)
In July1572,HugoBlotius,
an intellectual
fromtheNetherlands
32
K. V. Thomas,Religionand theDeclineofMagic (New York,1971).
33 See 0. Murray,
reviewofR. MacMullen,EnemiesoftheRomanOrder,JournalofRoman
Studies59 (1969): 261-65at 262-63.

334 ANTHONY GRAFTON
whowouldsoonbecomecourtlibrarian to theHolyRomanEmperor
Maximilian II, finishedan accountof his travelsin Italyduringthe
previous yearanda half.He meant thecodextoserveas botha guideand
a notebook fora youngfriend, Ludwig vonHutten.Hencehecastmany
ofhisexperiences intheform ThoughBlotius
ofinstructions. hada sharp
eyeforallofItaly's pleasuresanddangers, fromspectacular landscapesto
bad inns,he tookparticular in Bologna,a splendid
interest citywitha
splendiduniversity. Here,he remarked, mostforeigners visitedfour
scholars:thehistorian CarloSigonio,thejurisconsultAngeliusPapius,the
doctorand philosopher VlysseAldrovandi and Giovanni-hemeant
Girolamo-Cardano, to whomhe prudently clidnot assigna single
profession.Blotiusgave the addressesof all fourmen, praising
Aldrovandi's hospitalitywithspecialwarmth: "Others areveryamiable,
andthemostaccessible ofallisVlysseAldrovandi, whohasinhischarge
thegarden ofsimples atthepalaceoftheLegateorGovernor. Athomehe
hasa spectacular museum, withevery
stuffed kindofflowering herb,and
all theothernatural things thatareto be seen."34Aldrovandi, in other
words, offered northern openaccesstohisfantastic
callers museum ofthe
natural world, withitsthousands ofexhibitsandhundreds ofdrawings of
exoticplantsand animals,andevidently did so withgreatgraceand
warmth.35 Bycontrast, Blotiuswarned, thosewishing to visitCardano
musttakeextreme care:"Theymustnotpraisehimto hisface,theymust
be brief, andtheymustaskwhether theycan expectanymoreofhis
booksto appearin thenearfuture."36 Otherwise, histonesuggested,
Cardanomightexplode,showinghisgueststhedoorrather thanthe
secretsof nature.Yet Blotiusclearlythought thisdangerous voyage
worthwhile.
Like Blotius,I havedecidedto visitthisdifficult butintriguing
figure:indeed, I havedecided tofocusmystudy onhisastrologicalworks,
thoseofhisrivalsandhisreaders, and theirsources.The reasons arenot
farto seek(as theywerenotforBlotius).Cardanowroteat fantastic
length,and in a fantastic style,abouteverytopicin the astrological
MS 6070,fol.25 recto-verso:
Nationalbibliothek
3 Osterreichische "Aliise facilespraebent,
omniumque facillimum VlyssesAldrovandus
se exhibet qui [Ms: cui] hortisimplicium qui
estincumbit.
Bononiaead PalatiumLegatiseugubematoris Domietiamhicmusaeumhabet
maximemirabile,omniherbarum caeterarumque
fruticum, rerumnaturalium, quae sub
oculos cadunt,genere,refertissimum."On Blotius see H. Louthan,The Quest for
Compromise (Cambridge,1977),53-84.
delmondo(Bologna,1992) andP. Findlen,PossessingNature
35 Cf.G. Olmi,L 'inventario
(BerkeleyandLos Angeles,1994).
36
Nationalbibliothek
Osterreichische cautio
MS 6070,fol.25 recto:"Cardanumsalutaturis
utpaucisremabsolvant,
essedebet,ne ipsuminos laudent, rogentquenumquos alios libros
propediem aedendosexpectare possint...."

tradition(andmanyothers).37 His Operaomnia,published longafterhis

death,fillten foliovolumesand someseventhousandpages.Every
columnoffers a strikingobservation,anecdote,orreference. Thisbrilliant
astrologerdrewuphoroscopes forthelivingandthedead,wrotetechnical
andcommented
treatises, ina uniquely frankwayon hisdiscoveries, his
experiences, and his relationswithhis clients.The vast size and
considerable difficulty of his books have deterredscholarsfrom
approaching him.Thoughgoodmonographs describe hisworkon the
mathematics ofgames ofchance, hisnaturalphilosophy, andhismedicine,
onlyonescholar, Germana Ernst,hasanalyzed hisastrologicalworkin
anydetail.38 A projected critical
editionof Cardano'sworkshas only
reacheda preliminary stage.Foryearsto come,allstudents ofhiswork
willbecondemned toplaytheroleofcaterpillars exploring tinyportions
ofanenormous flowering garden.Riddles outnumber solutions,anddark
areassurround every lightone.Evennow,inshort, theroadto Cardano
hasitsshareofdangers.
Cardanostudiedin PaviaandPadua:aftera verydifficult early
career,he taughtwithsomesuccessandconsiderable notoriety at the
universitiesofPaviaandBologna.He makesappearances inhistoriesof
mathematics, asoneofthecreators ofmodern algebra;alsoinhistories of
technology, as oneofthecreators ofwhatEuropeans call"lecardan" or
"dasCardangelenk," theuniversal joint.His bookssoldwell,notonlyin
Italy,butthroughout Europe;some,likehisencyclopedic De subtilitate,
becamebest-sellers thatreceived thehighest literarycompliments ofthe
period,ferocious attackandshameless The mostimportant
plagiarism.
naturalphilosophers ofthesixteenth andearlyseventeenth centuries
mentioned andcitedhimregularly. He evenreceived andacceptedan
invitationto travelto far-off Paris-andthen,to distant andbarbarous
Edinburgh-toprovidemedicaladviceforJohnHamilton,the last
Catholicarchbishop ofSt.Andrews. Cardanosavedthearchbishop's life,
receiving an enormous honorarium andgivinghisluckyclientfifteen
moreyearsto enjoybefore Protestantsexecuted him.
Cardano's lifecouldsupply materialforseveralkindsofimaginative
writing.In hisyouthheplayedtheroleoftheprotagonist ofa historical
novelinthebestpurplestyleofthenineteenth century. One day-ashe
accountsofCardano'sliferemainthatin 0. Ore,Cardano,theGambling
37 The bestshort
Scholar(Princeton, 1953),andDictionary ofScientific

Biography, s.n.Cardano,Girolamo,
byM. Gliozzi.See alsoA. Ingegno, Saggiosullafilosofia di Cardano(Florence,1980); the
important studiescollectedinE. Kepler,ed.,GirolamoCardano:Philosoph, Naturforscher,
Arzt(Wiesbaden,1994);andthecomprehensive studyofhismedicalcareerandthought by
N. Siraisi,TheClockand theMirror(Princeton, 1997).
38G. Ernst,"'Veritatisamordulcissimus':Aspettidell'astrologia
in Cardano,"in Kepler,
158-84.

336 ANTHONY GRAFTON
toldthestory,muchlater, inhisautobiography-Cardano gambled with

a Venetian.Realizingthathisopponent wascheating, heforced hisway
out of thehouse,recovering hismoney.Cardanothenwandered the
forsomehours,
streets ofdiscovery.
frightened Trying toboarda ship,he
stumbled onthegangway andfellintoa canal-infullarmor. The relief
he feltwhenthecrewofa boatpulledhimoutofthewaterturned to
horrorwhenhe recognized theship'scaptainas hisopponentofthe
morning. Fortunately, thecaptaindecidedto helphim,sincehe too
presumably wantedno troublewiththenotoriously strictVenetian
As anoldman,bycontrast,
authorities.39 Cardanoplayedthepartofthe
heroofa tragedy oropera-perhaps a Lear.He ragedandmourned when
his olderson, a gifted doctorin his own right,was arrested, tried,
convicted,andexecuted formurdering hiswifewitha focaccialacedwith
andwhenhisyounger
arsenic, sonturned outto be a worthlesscharacter
andpetty thief.
ButCardanoplayedhisbestroleas a middle-aged man,whenhe
becametheheroofa university novelinthestyleofDavidLodge.As an
importantprofessorCardanodevised manyofthecustoms andpractices
ofmodern academic life.He drewup,forexample, a listoftheseventy-
threeimportant writers who had citedhim,or mentioned himwith
praise.40Cardano's list becamein its turna model forlaterscholars'
autobiographies andbiographies, whichfollowed himin documenting
theirsubjects'
reception thecredit(ifcredit
indetail.He thusdeserves is
due)fora devicemostpeoplewrongly thinkofas a creationofmodern
sociology ofscience, index.Cardanoevenanticipated
thecitation many
ofthenewscientific andliterary
possibilities bythecomputer.
offered To
readersof his On subtlety,forexample, he offered an easyrecipefor
writinga newbookorrevising anoldone.Simply taketwocopiesofthe
writtentext;cutthemup intosections andtrythemin newsequences
gluetheresults
untilsatisfied; intoa stoutnotebook madeofcardboard
and giveit to thepublisher.Anyonewhohasreadtwotexts,or two
versionsofonetext,byCardanoknowshowseriously hetookhisown
advice-andhow well he would haveused the mergefunction of a
personalcomputer.
Cardano regularlyrevealed
thevanity thatmarks allgreat
professors.
He wrotenotone,butfourversions ofhisautobiography, aswellasthree
analysesofhisownhoroscope. He interpretedthemythofNarcissus in
a novelway:theyouthwhofellinlovewithhisownreflection in the
ofthisstoryinCardano,De
39 See theversions vitapropria30 (Operaomnia[Lyons,1663],
(ibid.5: 521); cf.theepisodedescribedinDe ludoaleae liber
1: 19); Liberxiigeniturarum
chap.20 (ibid. 1: 271).
40
Cardano,De vitaproprialiber48, Opera omnia,1: 45-47.

waterstood, he thought,forthe scholarwho lost himselfin pleasure

readinghisown work.Cardanopridedhimselfon thefactthat-atleast
in thevirtualformofhisown books-he was regularly lovedby beautiful
readers("womenreadtoo,"he reminded hisown,presumably male,gentle
reader).41Andlikeallgoodheroesofsatirical novels,he paidtheprice,and
morethantheprice,forhismisdeeds. In 1557Cardanobecametheobject
oftheworstbook reviewinthehistory ofEuropeanletters. JuliusCaesar
Scaliger,anothervainandarticulate naturalphilosopher ofItalianorigins,
devoted more than nine hundredquarto pages to refutingone of
Cardano'sbooks,On subtlety, andpromised to.returnto thesubjectatstill
greaterlength.Though Scaligerdied withoutproducingmore than a
fragment ofthispromisedpolemic,hisExercitationes becamea standard
work in university curriculums-perhaps the only book reviewever
knownto undergotransformation intoa textbook.42
Cardanocontributed something to everyformofastrology practiced
in earlymodernEurope. He also providedhis customerswithall the
services that astrologersnormallyoffered.His works yield rich
information not onlyabouthis own ideasand methods,but also about
those of his contemporaries and his relationswiththem.And though
some formsof evidencethatone would liketo have are missingin his
case-like his correspondence, which he burned-enoughcollateral
materialsurvives bothto confirm muchofwhathe saysandto providea
contextforit.
in short,the investigation
For all its difficulties, of Cardano's
astrologyhas proved remarkablyrewarding.His interpretations of
classicalastrological hisfullandpenetrating
texts-especially commentary
on Ptolemy'sTetrabiblos-shed newlightbothon ancientastrologyand
on modemaspectsofhisownpractice. His livelyanddetailedportraits of
thesocialcontextwithinwhichhe worked,takentogether withfurther
contemporaryevidence,shed new light on the functionsthat the
astrologer carriedout-and suggestnew andprovocativewaysoflooking
at ancient,as well as early modern,astrology.What began as a
microhistory,a fine-grained and minute examinationof a single
astrologer,has graduallyevolved into an oblique but large-scale
investigation oftheclassicaltraditionin astrology as a whole.
IV. THE PoLmCs OF SCIENCEAND THE SCIENCEOF POLMCS IN

CARDANO'SASTROLOGY
41
Cardano,De librispropriis
(1554), Opera omnia,1: 78.
42
See thefineanalysisbyI. Maclean,"The Interpretation
ofNaturalSigns:Cardano'sDe
subtilitate
VersusScaliger'sExercitationes,"
in Occultand Scientific
Mentalitiesin the
Renaissance,ed. B. Vickers(Cambridge,1984),231-49.

338 ANTHONY GRAFTON
Cardanosawastrology art.He urgedthe

as,atitscore,a political
whowished
astrologer tomakea career totryabovealltopredict political
andmilitary eventsforprominent clients.By doingso, theastrologer
couldmakea name.Unfortunately, healsorisked bringing himself into
eitherpoliticalor scientific Duringhisgreatvoyagethrough
discredit.
northernEurope,Cardanodrew up horoscopesfor the French
ambassador inLondon, thehumanist andstatesman JohnCheke,andthe
youngkingEdwardVI. The last horoscope,in particular, proved
morethandelicate.
politically Cardanopredicted that hisyoung client
wouldhavea longlife,manychildren, and a successful reign.Such
positivepredictions were,ofcourse, thenatural resultofcomputations
madebyan ambitious, low-born astrologerfora royalornoblepatron.
Cardano's rivalLucaGaurico, forexample, toldtheHabsburg archduke
thathewoulddefeat theTurks,leadthesultanintriumph withhisarms
boundbehindhim,and becomemoreimportant thanthe emperor
himself-all thisat a timewhentheHabsburgs wereluckyto keepthe
TurksfromtakingVienna.43 Unfortunately, Cardano'sclientproved
unluckierthanGaurico's. He died,almost atonce,butwellafter Cardano
publishedthe horoscopein question.The poor astrologer faceda
dilemma: hehadto explainhowhecouldhavemadeso grossan error,
without bringing either himselforhisartintodiscredit.
Cardanoexplained, articulately,thathe had devotedat leasta
hundred hoursto thestudyofa fewchosenaspectsofthehoroscope.
Nonetheless hehadfailed tolearnthetruth. Sadder butwiser, henowsaw
thatonemorehouroflaborwouldhaveenabled him to rectifyhisresults.
True,headmitted, onecouldfeeltempted toexplain hiserror astheresult
of a cleverpoliticaldecision.If he hadopenlyconfessed thatdangers
threatened theyoungking,he wouldhavefallenundersuspicionof
plottingagainst Edwardhimself. Onlyluck,ordivineprovidence, saved
Cardano'slife,byinducing himtomakea technical mistake. Otherwise
he wouldhavefaceda politicaldilemmathatno levelof technical
expertise couldsolve.Paradoxically, it becameclearthatthe court
couldnot,insomecircumstances,
astrologer carry outhisprincipal duty
oftellinghis the
client exacttruth."
4 Osterreichische MS 7433,e.g. 2 verso-3recto:"Immo,ni me celestia

Nationalbibliothek
fallant,proculdubioMartetuo poterisRex invictissimeRegumTurcharum rabiemmox
superaremalam,ipsorumque Ducem manibusposttergarevinctum duces.Dein Magno
blandior
Caesaremaioreris.Nil profecto for1534-35):
tuaeMaiestati";10 recto(revolution
urbissceptraet coronamsuscipiesuti ex illius
". . .et uti reorConstantinopolitanae
horoscopoetannuaehuiusconversionis elicitur."
" Cardano,Liberxii geniturarum,Opera omnia,5: 507-08. Cardanothusbothhas his
cake-shows thathis artcould have predictedtheking's imminent death-and eats it
thathe is too honestto pretendthathe had carriedouttheprediction
too-by insisting

WhenCardanoemphasized the politicalproblemsthathedged

aroundtheastrologer'sdrawing board,heself-consciously drewattention
toa long-established
featureoftheastrological traditionas a whole.Like
manyothermedicalmenofthetime,Cardanowasa goodhumanist as
wellas a goodastrologer, one dedicated to closephilological studyof
ancienttextsandthetraditionstowhichtheybelonged.45 Accordingly, he
did historicalresearchto drivehomehis pointaboutastrology and
He pointed
politics. outthattheastrologersoftheRomanimperial court
hadfacedexactly similar
problems. WhenTiberius, inhisexileon Capri,
took advicefromhis astrologer Thrasyllus, a slave(or the emperor
himself)stoodreadyto hurltheseerintotheoceanifhelied.After the
astrologer thatrecalltoRomewouldcomesoon,Tiberius
predicted asked
whatheforesaw forhimself.Thefuture, Thrasyllus replied,lookedvery
dark-andbythismelancholy answersavedhislife.OnlyThrasyllus's
topredict
ability hisowndeath,inotherwords,enabledhimto avoidit:
the astrologer enteredthe quicksandsof courtlife with a heavy
professional burden,underwhichhe could easilysink.Manyhad.
Diocletian'sastrologer
Ascletarion, forexample, paidforhisprediction
oftheemperor's deathwithhisown(whichhehadforeseen). In insisting
on tellingDiocletianthetruthnonetheless, Ascletarion displayed his
technical andhisprofessional
ability ethicsatoneandthesametime.46
Extinction threatenedRoman astrologersmore than
once-especially in thelateryearsof theempire,whentheirway of
explaining politicsand history cameintoconflict withthoseof the
Christianchurch andtheemperors, sincebothclaimed dominion overthe
universe.Firmicus Maternus,astrologer andChristian bishop,proposed
a solutionthatbecamepopular.Emperors, he explained, beinggods,
escapedthecontroloftheplanets.4' ManyRenaissance astrologers cited
thissaying.Gaurico,Cardano's rivalanda majorplayer inthepapalCuria
oftheHighRenaissance, treatedFirmicus as a primesourceinhiswork,
eventhoughhis own technical mastery of the subjectfarexceeded
properly
andconcealedtheresults.
45 Cf. M. Muccillo,"Luca Gaurico:astrologiee 'prisca theologia,"'Nouvellesde la
des Lettres2 (1990): 21-44.
Re'publique
46
On thesocial historyof astrologyat Rome see therecentstudiesof M. T. Fogen,Die
Enteignungder Wahrsager(Frankfurt a.M., 1993); D. Potter,Prophetsand Emperors
(Cambridge, Mass.,1994);andT. S. Barton, PowerandKnowledge (AnnArbor,1994). On
thepoliticalactivities
ofmedievalastrologers see H. Carey,Courting Disaster:Astrology
at theEnglishCourtand University in theLaterMiddleAges(London,1992).
47FirmicusMaternus, Mathesis2.30.5; fortheoriginalcontextof thisargument-which
perhapsreflected
Diocletian'sinsistence
on hisowncontrol ofall earthly
powersandevents,
hisrefusal
toaccept,as earlieremperors
had,thesuperiority
oftheskiesto hisownwill-see
Fogen,276-84.

340 ANTHONY GRAFTON
Firmicus's.Cardanorejected boththeancient authority andhismessage.

Firmicus, heaccurately insisted,wasa grammarian, notan astrologer:he
collectedbitsofastrological doctrinebutshowed nounderstanding forthe
technicalcore of the art.48 The high-flying astrologermightfacea
politically
delicate buthecouldnotescapeitsimply
situation, byducking
responsibilityforhighpolitics.
The moregifted theastrologer, in short,themorehazardous his
career.Cardanodrovethispointhomemorethanonce.It seemslikely
thatthehoroscope he drewup forJesus, thoughbyno meansthefirst
one,playeda majorrolein landing him,as thereligious andcultural
climateofItalybecamechillier, underarrest bytheRomanInquisition.49
Buthisexperience ofhighriskwasnotunusual inthetrade.Gauricomade
thesamepointmoredirectly, whenhe described theoutcomeofthe
accurateprediction he had made"in a certainprinted The
forecast."
astrologerwarned thatGiovanni Bentivogliowoulddestroy himselfand
his houseif he did not humblehimself beforeJuliusII. Bentivoglio
condemned himto"four torturesofthearms"-the sameterribletorture
underwhichTommasoCampanella wouldholdup,manyyearslater,
untilhistormentors declared himinsane-and twenty-fivedaysinprison.
WhenJulius II soondefeated theBentivoglio andleveledtheirpalaceto
theground, he boreoutGaurico'sprediction, butthatdidnothing to
mitigatetheastrologer's long-remembered pain:"Thusthetruth hurtthe
poorprophet," Gauricowroteyearslater, casting as Cassandra.50
himself
A political astrologermustunderstand politics,aswellas astrology,
ina subtleandsophisticated way.As Cardanointerpreted thebookofthe
heavens, hemanaged to findthere, amongothermessages, manyofthe
preceptsofthenewpolitical scienceofthesixteenth century.Thegeneral
ideathatsomestarsandplanets, andtheirhumanchildren, mustcontrol
washardly
others, new.LorenzBeheim, forexample, drewon a standard
source,the Centiloquium long ascribed to Ptolemy,whenhe used
WillibaldPirckheimer's horoscope to explainthestrange relationship
between DiirerandPirckheimer.51 Thestars declaredthatthegiftedclient
would rule his patron.Cardano,however,read largeportionsof the
Fromthe
intothe classicconstellations.
politicsof the Renaissance
ed. Cardano,34, Opera omnia5:

Quadripartitum,
48 Ptolemy, 118: "cumille purusesset
grammaticus expersqueomninohuiusartis,nonsolumomniaabsqueiudicio,bona,mala,
disiunctaque
coniuncta
continentia,
falsa,vera,ex totoetex parteveritatem in unumabsque
discrimine compegit, sed quod multanonintelligens atquecorruperit.
confuderit . ."
'9 See Siraisi,epilogue.
49 verso:"Itaquemisellovativeritasnocuit."
50 Gaurico,Tractatus,
Beheimto W. Pirckheimer,
51 L. Nachlass,ed. H.
23 May 1507,inA. Diirer,Schriftlicher
Rupprich(Berlin,1956-69),1: 254.

positionsofthezodiacalsignsand planets,he argued,one could explain

whycertainindividuals weredestined to slavery.In particular,one could
understand whycertainkingsfoundthemselves deceivedbytheirfriends
or obedientto evilcounselors.52
The powerofthestarsexplained, in other
words,notan individualcasebuta generalsituation:whyso manyIagos
foundmorevirtuouslisteners readyto accepttheirpoisonouscounsels.
Other interpretations were even more up-to-date. From the factthat
revolutions takeplaceattheequinoxes,Cardanodrewan explanationfor
thespecialcruelty ofthePeasants'Warof 1525andtheKingdomofGod
at Miinster. The powerofthesun,he inferred, dissolvedinhibitions and
"lita torchin themindsofmen." It causedtheneglectofmorality, the
disdainforlaw,andthedestruction ofthefamilythatcharacterized early
modernrevolutions.53 Cardano'spoliticalastrology, in short,bothsheds
a lighton theastrological
traditionas a wholeand represents something
characteristicofhistime.54
Cardano'sastrologywas politicalin anotherrespectas well-in the
sense best conveyedby the GermantermWissenschaftspolitik. Many of
Cardano's remarksrevealthatthe Renaissanceastrologer workedin a
highlypublicsituation,a dangerously exposedone in whichclientsand
competitorsconstantlythreatenedto undermineor overthrowhis
authority. The sameclientswho askedCardano'sadvicedeliberately gave
him falsedataabouttheplacesand datesoftheirbirths(ratheras some
clientshadgivenmedievaldoctorstheurineofdogsor horsesto analyze
as theirown).Jealouscompetitorssurrounded theastrologer, andlostno
opportunityto criticizeeveryaspectof his work unmercifully. They
attackedCardano,forexample,on thegroundsthathe confinedhimself
to analyzing thehoroscopesofindividualswho hadalreadygrownup and
madetheircareers-butdidnotdareto publishhoroscopestheoutcome
ofwhichhe couldnotforetell.55 OthersinsistedthatCardanomusthave
falsifiedhis own horoscope:thispredictionof a seriesof disasters,they
argued,showinga nice sense of the paradoxical,could not be the
52Ptolemy,Quadripartitum,
ed. G. Cardano(Basel, 1554),73 (Opera omnia5: 148-49)on
1.15-16.
Ptolemy,
53 Quadripartitum,
ed. Cardano,138-39,Opera omnia,5: 199: "faxquaedamin
mentibus
hominum accensa."
54 Cf. also Cardano'sinteresting
discussionof anthropophagiand othermonstrous races,
againtakingofffromPtolemy topursuea periodtheme:Quadripartitum, ed. Cardano,108
(Opera omnia5: 176-77). See F. Lestringant,
La Cannibale(Paris,1994).
55 Cardano,Libelli duo (Nuremberg,1543), ep. ded., sig. [A iiij recto]:"Addidimuset
illustrispuerigenituram,utquod nobisobiicisoletdilueremus, nos publicede praeteritis
tantum pronunciare."

342 ANTHONY GRAFTON
horoscope ofa brilliantlysuccessful

manlikeCardano.56
Astrologers had alwaysconfronted jealous competitors. The
members ofthegroups thatworkedup predictionsin ancientBabylon
attackedone anothercontinually. The astrologers who drew up
horoscopes insandtablesinthepublicmarkets ofmedieval Baghdad and
Damascus worked ina terrifyinglyexposedposition,
ringed
bycrowdsof
articulate EvenPtolemy's
critics.57 drytextbook,theTetrabiblos,came
alive on the fewoccasionswhenhe feltobligedto abusethe more
primitivemethods ofhiscolleagues.58
Cardano, however, hadnewwaysofestablishinghisreputationand
demolishing thoseofhisrivals.Aboveall,ofcourse,he hadaccessto
printing. Even quite ordinaryastrologers, men who harboredno
ambitions ofelaborate literarycareers,
published shortbroadsidesand
almanacs intheirvernaculars, whichpredictedthenaturalandpolitical
climateforthenextyearmonthbymonthanddaybyday.Theyaimed
thesetextsata limited,localpublic,hopingtowinmoreclients fortheir
practices.Cardanobeganin exactly thisway,witha shortastrological
pamphlet,writtenin Italian,whichoffered its readersa curious
combination oftechnical Savonarolan
astrology, apocalypticprophecy,
andweather predictions.59
In the1540s,however, CardanocameintocontactwithGerman
intellectuals-notablyAndreasOsianderandGeorgJoachim Rheticus,
who betweenthemplayedthechiefrolesin makingCopernicus'sideas
public.The Nuremberg publisherJohannesPetreiusproposedto reissue
Cardano's Latin works in astrology,which had appearedin a very
unattractiveMilan editiononly.60
His collectionof horoscopesand his
treatiseson astrologysuddenlybecame part of the same list,which
ofthetime.In 1543Petreiusbroughtout
includedtheleadingscientists
notonlyCardano'sDe revolutionibusnativitatum,butalso Copernicus's
orbium
De revolutionibus coelestium.
The Nuremberg editionsoonreached
a widepublic:themedicalwriter
JanusCornarius, forexample,boughthis
56 Ibid.,horoscope19,sig. [P iiij recto]:"Itaquecumquidamnonhuiusartisexpertes

eam
[Cardano'sgeniture] meamesse posse negarunt,
vidissent, argumentosumpto,quod nec
Cf. Ptolemy,
vitae qua hucusquefungornec ullius dignitatisvestigiuminvenirent."
ed. Cardano,21 (Opera omnia5: 108); 76-77(151).
Quadripartitum,
On thesepointssee thesplendidsynthesis
57 in
byG. Saliba,"The Role oftheAstrologer
MedievalIslamicSociety,"BulletindEtudes Orientales44 (1992): 45-68.
58
See e.g. PtolemyTetrabiblos1.20.
59G. Cardano,Pronosticoo veroiudiciogenerale... dal 1534 insinoal 1550 (Venice,
1534): Paris, BibliothequeNationale,Res. V. 1179; cf. Ernst,"'Veritatisamor
dulcissimus."'
60 Cardano,Libellusqui dicitur almanach...
supplementum (Milan,1538).

GIROLAMOCARDANO 343
copyinMarburg intheyearofpublication.6"
Somereaderswreathedtheir
copiesofCardano's bookswithelaboratenotesinwhichtheycompared
hisresults
toGauricus's-or decorated
their
copiesofGauricuswithnotes
on Cardano.62 The Italianlocalherobecamea Europeansavant,and
chieflythankstothenewtooloffered himbyprinting andhisownsense
ofhowtomanipulate it.No wonderthatBlotius,
priminghispupilfora
visitto Bologna,toldhimto assureCardanothat"hisworkswereread
withgreateagerness bymanyeagerreaders inGermany andBelgium."63
No wondereither thatCardanohadto payforhisearlysuccessinthe
Protestantworld,ascensorhiptookholdinItalyandhisconnections
with
prominenthereticsbecame a cause for suspicionratherthan
congratulation.64
This analysismaysoundtoo modern,or postmodern, to be true.
Afterall, fewof Cardano'sletterssurvive,and none thatdescribehis
maneuversin theworldofthepublishersin detail.But portionsof the
correspondenceof anotherastrologerwho publishedwith Petreius,
ErasmusReinhold,do survive,andtheseoffersomesuggestive evidence.
In a long letterto Reinhold,the publisherinvitedhim to writean
astrologicaltreatisein whichhe wouldgivefullandpreciseinstructions
on how actuallyto drawup a horoscope:a how-tobook forastrology.
Petreiuscarefullyasked Reinhold to definea basic technicalterm,
"angulus."On the otherhand,he expresslydeclaredthathe had no
inelaborateseriesofworkedexamples,
interest andforpurelycommercial
reasons:"So faras thepredictions
theseconstellations
yield,theyneedn't
be includedhere,sincelotsofthemhavealreadybeenwritten andprinted,
andI thinka textbooklikethisshouldn'tbe unsaleable."65
Petreiusknew
61Houghton
Library,
HarvardUniversity, signedon thetitlepage: "Janus
*IC5.C1782.5431,
and datedat thebottomofthepage:"Marpurgi,
ComariusMed. physicus," menseOctob.
1543."
62
See e.g. the copies of the Libelli duo in the HoughtonLibrary,Harvard;the
Osterreichische Vienna(72 J 123,Melanchthon's
Nationalbibliothek, copy;72 X 5); and
thoseof hisLibelliquinquein theBritishLibrary(53 b 7; C 112 c 5), as well as Gabriel
Harvey'scopyof Gaurico'sTractatus, citedbelow.Forinterestingly contrasting accounts
of theimpactof printingon Cardano'scareersee W. Eamon,Scienceand theSecretsof
Nature(Princeton,1994), and thedetailed,ratherpessimisticcase studyby I. Maclean,
"CardanoandhisPublishers, 1534-1663,"inKepler,309-38.
Nationalbibliothek
63 Osterreichische MS 6070, fol.25 recto:.... magnaenimcupiditate
ipsiusoperainGermaniaetBelgio legi."
6 See I. Maclean,"CardanoandhisPublishers,
1534-1663,"inKepler,309-38.
65
Petreiusto Reinhold,St. Lucy's day 1549; GeheimesArchivPreu,ischerKulturbesitz,
HBA A4 223: "Itemmeinswissens/ so hab ich bisherin trucknitgesehenein kurtz
Compendium, scilicetquomodoprimoerigendaesintnativitates
et inscribendae
in schema
celeste,etquomodosigna,planetaeetstellaeintaleschema,etin 12 domos,et in angulos

344 ANTHONY GRAFTON
whereofhespoke:hislisthadlongincluded worksofdiverse
astrological
Hisandhisauthors'
kinds.'6 expert oftheirjoint
inthediffusion
interest
products toallthedetails
extended Petreius,
ofproduction. forexample,
askedReinholdtodecide"inwhichtypeitshouldbeprinted-that is,in
thebigtype,asCopernicuswasprinted,orthemedium, likeCardanoDe
forexample,Schoner'sopuscula."
orthesmall,as I printed,
nativitatibus,
He recommended "themedium,as Cardanowas printed... on ordinary
crownpaper."67Astrologerandprinter workedwithintheframework of
marketplace.
a literary forproducing
Bothtook responsibility a saleable
product,and each triedto steerthe otherin economicallyas well as
culturally directions.
productive The sceneseemsall too familiar-rather
preludeto Linguafranca.
likea sixteenth-century
V. ECLECTICISM
Astrologerscompetednot only with one another,but with

ofa widerangeofotherarts.Unlikethevotariesofa modem
practitioners
science,theyevidently regarded thissituation, andtheirown inabilityto
claimexclusivevalidity fortheirart,as quitenatural.Sincelateantiquity,
it seems,mostclientshad beeneclectics.Theychosetheirmedicinesfor
melancholyfroma variedrepertoire, includingsacredas well as secular
healersandcures-asortofMediterranean medicalkoine,whichlastedas
longand changedas gradually as astrology andthecomponentsof
itself,
which rested
on radically divergent premises.68 In Cardano'stime,as for
centuriesbefore,an Italianwho felttoo lethargic to carryon a normallife
couldconsulta doctor,an astrologer, or an exorcist-ormakea pilgrimage
to a shrineknownto heal the sick.In SouthItalyone could also hire
domorum (et quid angulisint)dividenda,welchesirbesserwisset,denichsanzeigenkan.

Was aberdie praedictiones das dorftmannichthierein
sindtex talibusconstitutionibus,
setzen/ den von solchenviel geschrieben und getruckt ist,und deuchtmichein solch
Compendium soltnichtunkeuflich sein."
66 See his prefatory De iudiciisnativitatum
letterto Rheticus,in Antoniusde Montulmo,
liberpraeclarissimus (Nuremberg, 1540),sig.A ij verso.
67
GeheimesArchivPreupischer Kulturbesitz,HBA A4 223: .. . undmitwas schrieft
solchergedrucktsoltwerden/nemlichobs mitdergrossenschrieft /wie derCopernicus
gedrucktist/odermitdermittel /odermitderkleinen/wie
/wieCardanusde nativitatibus
ichetwaSchoneri gemhetten
/was irfureinschrieft
opusculagetruckt /diewoltichdieweil
/diemitler
zurichten /wieCardanusgetruckt /gefielmirambestenaufgemeinCronenpapir
danMedienoderregalpapiris hirschwerlich zu bekommen."
68 Cf. G. Dagron,"Le saint,le savant,I'astrologue: Etudede themeshagiographiquesA
traversquelquesrecueilsde 'Questionset reponses'des Ve-Vlle siecles,"Hagiographie,
and the
cultureset societes,ive-xiiesie'cles(Paris,1981), 143-56;P. Brown,Authority
Sacred (Cambridge,1995),69.

inthisdisease:musicians,
specialists whoplayedtheso-called Tarantella
whilethe patientdancedhimself backto health.69 Bittercomplaints
circulated aboutthecharlatanry ofindividual doctors,astrologers, and
exorcists.Sometimes a criticwentso faras to argue,in a polemicor a
thatallpractitioners
satire, ofastrology ora rivalartwerequacks.On the
whole,however, mostpatients seemtohavebelieved, to someextent, in
thecompetence ofthesepractitioners. Theychoseto consulta particular
one on groundsthat are oftenanythingbut clear-especially as
practitioners ofsacredandscientific, learned andpopularartsofhealing
regularly borrowed fromoneanother's repertoiresofprocedures.
Astrologers, fortheirpart,didnotfindthissituation wrongor
unfair.On thecontrary, Cardanoandmanyofhisrivalswereexactly as
eclecticastheircustomers. Cardano, aswehaveseen,mastered morethan
one artofpredicting humanfates.A doctoras wellas an astrologer, he
wrotemoreaboutmedicine thananyothersubject andpridedhimself, as
NancySiraisihasshown,on hisability to readthesignsofthehuman
bodyas wellasthoseoftheheavens. Moresurprisingly, atfirst he
sight,
alsoreliedonforms ofprediction thatseemfarmorealienthanmedicine
fromthe rigorous, rule-bound worldof astrology. Cardanotook a
passionate forexample,
interest, intheinterpretation ofdreams. In oneof
hismostsuccessful books,theSomniaSynesia,herecounted a longseries
of his own dreamsin meticulous detail,confirming theprinciples of
interpretation fromhis own experience.70 He developeda theoryof
physiognomics, and one forreadingpalmsas well (thoughhe also
denounced thelatterartasfalse).Andhefound vitalcluestothefuture in
a vastrangeofeveryday phenomena: inthesmellofhotwax,wherethere
were no candles;in the buzzingof a greatwasp; and in whathe
frustratingly called"theobstinatebehaviorof my clock,"without
explaining itfurther1-rather asa character ina story byM.R.James tells
hisownghoststory, whichconsists onlyofa sparebutchilling outline:a
manlockshisbedroom door,climbs intohisold-fashioned bed,pullsthe
heavybedcurtains shut,andthenhearsa thinvoicesay,"Nowwe'reshut
in forthenight." "Wearepermitted," Cardanoexplicitly arguedin his
autobiography, "todrawconclusions from thesmallest things, iftheylast
unusually long.I haveshownelsewhere thatasa netconsistsofindividual,
uniform holes,so everythinginhumanlifeconsists oftinythings, which
arerepeated overandoveragain,andformed, likeclouds,intoa variety
69
See D. Gentilcore,
FromBishopto Witch(Manchesterand New York, 1992); cf. G.
Tomlinson,MusicinRenaissanceMagic (Chicago,1993).
70See A. Browne,"GirolamoCardano'sSomniorumSynesiorum
libriIIII," Bibliotheique
d'HumanismeetRenaissance40 (1979): 123-35.
71
Cardano,De vitaproprialiber43, Opera omnia1: 38: "contumaciahorologii."

346 ANTHONY GRAFTON
Cardanoalsoheldthata supernatural
offigures."72 beingaccompanied and
guidedhimthrough mostofhislife.Thebulk,though perhapsnotall,of
hisstrange experiencesheexplained astheresult ofthisspirit's
efforts to
communicate withhim.73
Itmayseemparadoxical thatCardanousednotonlyastrology and
medicine, rule-bound and technical methodsof prediction, but also
prodigies and otherformsof directrevelation. On theone hand,he
inferredthepastandfuture from theregular motions oftheplanets. On
theotherhand,healsoplacedspecialweight on events thatappeared to
violate the normallaws of nature.Not only twentieth-century
butsomeRenaissance
intellectuals, onessawtheapplication ofthesetwo
approaches interms.
asa contradiction CasparPeucer, forexample, agreed
inhisCommentary ontheprincipalforms ofdivination,whichappeared in
1553,withthe widelyheld view thatdivineprovidence normally
expressed itselfthrough the birthof misshapen animalsand similar
portents.Theabnormal shapeofa two-headed calf,forexample, offered
a keythatcouldunlockmuchoftheimmediate future.By contrast,
Peuceradmitted thateclipseswereregular celestialevents,whichtook
placeregularlyandforseeably: hefounditentirely thata reader
plausible
might objectstrenuously tohisascribing them"portentous" content.74
In practice,however, many of Cardano's contemporaries readthe
worldmuchas he did,evenifdoingso required a hightolerance for
inconsistency.Peucerinsistedthatthestarsplayed theroleofdivinesigns,
whentheyunderwent
especially eclipses.
Eclipsesinthepast,afterall,had
regularlypreceded oraccompanied greatandtragic events.GodHimself,
moreover, haddeclared asmuch:"Erunt vobisinsigna." Peucer
Logically,
could not explainwhy astrology should work;theologically and
empirically,however, nodoubtarose,asempirical andscripturalevidence
72Cardano,De vitaproprialiber41, Operaomnia1: 35-36,e.g.:"Nonnumquam ex minimis

cumimmodice perseverant,coniecturam facerelicet:cumex minimis,utalias declaravi,ac
uniusmodi,velutretiummaculisomniaapud hominesconstent, et in diversas
repetitis,
figurasutnebulaeformatis: nec solumperminimaaugeantur, sed etilla minimasensimin
utitadicam,dividere
partes,
infinitas inconsiliis,in negociis
iisquesolusinartibus,
oportet:
erit,et ad summumculmenperveniet,
civilibuspraestantissimus qui haec intelligetet in
opere ipso observarenoverit:quamobremin quibuslibeteventibustalia minimaerunt
observanda."
n See esp. De vitaproprialiber47, Opera omnia1: 44-45.
depraecipuisdivinationum
74C. Peucer,Commentarius 1553),291
generibus(Wittenberg,
recto:"Sed fortasse quispiam,curportentosa
obiecerit casus
faciamdeliquia,etsingulares
eventaque cumnec contraobservatum,
praeireaffirmem,
tristia notum,etusitatum naturae
cursum,nec secunduminsuetiorem minusqueordinariamrationemaccidereea luminibus
constet, motuum
sed ex legeet consequutione necessaria."

bothconfirmed.75 TheCatholicjurist JeanBoclininterpreted thefatesof

countriesina similarly eclectic
way.True,herejected astrological
history,
attacking Cardanoand Gauricusalike.But he developedelaborate
numerological rulestodetermine thefatesoflandsanddynasties, trying
tosetabsolute limitsfortheduration ofanygivenstate. Atthesametime,
hedrewontheHippocratic usingtheclimates
tradition, ofthelandsfrom
whichpeoplesoriginally cametoexplain theircharacters.76
ButBodinalso
hada tutelary spirit,whichguidedhimwithblowson theshoulder and
othersigns.
Cardano'sfellowprofessional astrologers resembled him most
closelyof all. His competitor Gauricoboastedof his divinegiftfor
foretellingthefuture aswellas ofhisquantitative skillsas astrologer
and
astronomer. He devotedconsiderable space, in his collectionof
horoscopes, to explaining theastrological causesofthesuccessofnon-
astrologicalprophets. WhenGiovannide' Medici,justhavingescaped
Frenchcaptivity after thebattleofRavenna, cameto Mantua,Gaurico
tookhimto see "a certainmonkwitha woodenleg,namedbrother
Serafino,an oldman."He promised thatSerafino woulddrawfromthe
linesinGiovanni's hands"precisepredictions ofthefuture events"ofthe
cardinal'slife.Afterthreedaysofsilentpalmistry, carried outeveryday
beforelunchin a littlegarden, Serafino toldGiovannithattheMedici
wouldsoonreturn to FlorenceandthatGiovannihimself wouldsoon
becomepope.Theseapparently ludicrous predictions provedentirely
accurate,showingthat Serafinowas, as Gauricohad claimed,a
"Chyromanticus egregius."77Laterastrologers likeSimonFormanand
JohnDee assumed without furtheradothatastrology formed onlyoneof
themanycolorson thepalettes ofpredictive methods thattheydeftly
wielded.78
Numerousexamplesshowthatthisform
ofeclecticism
wasnotnew.
Revealing occurinRomanastrological
parallels literature
andintheNeo-
Platonism
oflateantiquity.
Censorinus,
writing
hisstrange
little
bookDe
75 Ibid.,291 verso- 292 recto,
esp.291 verso:".
. . insistoreliquisduobuskriteriois,
eruditae
ac veraeexperientiae
ac verboDei." On thetensionsin Peucer'sthought see R. Barnes,
Prophecyand Gnosis(Stanford,1988), 99, 107-08,148. Barnesalso offersa wealthof
information
aboutthelargercontextwithinwhichPeucerworked,theluxuriant jungleof
different
formsofprophecy thatflourished
in Lutheran Germany throughoutthesixteenth
century.
76
J.Bodin,Methodusadfacilemhistoriarum cognitionem
(Paris,1566); De re publica
(Paris,1576).
77Gaurico,Tractatus,
fol.19 recto-verso.
78 Forafurther
exampleofeclecticuse ofastrology
andmanyotherdisciplines
ofprediction,
also fromEngland,see thefineeditionofAnAstrological
DiaryoftheSeventeenthCentury:
SamuelJeakeofRye,1652-1699byM. HunterandA. Gregory (Oxford,1988).

348 ANTHONY GRAFTON
dienataliinA.D.238,citednotonlythehoroscopeofRomedrawnup for
VarrobyLuciusTarrutius ofFirmumbutalsothetwelvevulturesseenat
Rome's foundingwhen he triedto determinethe lengthof the city's
future.79Proclus,thatquintessenceof the divinelyinspiredsage,used
astrologyandtheurgy together to defendtheholycityofAthens.80 The
brilliantastrologerSosipatraused both the astrologicalprinciplesshe
learnedfromtwo mysterious Chaldeansand themysticalpowerofher
own divinepropheticgiftto carryoutthewonderful deedsdescribedby
Eunapiusin hislivesoftheSophists.8"
The eclecticwonder-workers of late antiquityloomed large in
Renaissancevisionsof whatpredictionshouldbe and do. The English
humanistGabriel Harvey, who read both Cardano and Gaurico,
comparedthe modernpalm-reader Serafino,whom he read about in
Gaurico, to the ancient eclecticdivinerSosipatra (the comparison
redoundedto her,not his,advantage):"Buthow muchtruerand more
certainwas Sosipatra'sdivination,which rested,as it seems,on the
astrology andphysiognomy oftheChaldeans,and was accomplishedby
certainCabalisticprinciplesandtrials."82GabrielNaude,who wrotethe
firstbiographyof Cardano,thoughtit obviousthathis superstitious,
giftedprotagonist stoodin thetraditionoflaterPlatonism.83
Tradition,in otherwords,requiredthe astrologer to possessnot
onlytechnicalrules,butalsosecretformsofknowledgeaccessibleonlyto
theinitiated.84Withoutknowingtherules,theastrologer couldnotclaim
to practicea mathematicalscience.Withoutknowing thatno rules
secrets
couldconvey,thanksto a special,divinegift, theastrologercouldemploy
onlya lifelessaggregateoftechniques.Renaissance ofmanyarts,
theorists
frompainting raisedthequestionoftherelationbetween
to courtiership,
rulesandspontaneity, disciplineand inspiration,systemandsprezzatura.
Evidentlyastrologers foundtheyhad to raiseit too. But in claiminga
divinegift, oftendeparted
astrologers fromthetechnicalbasisoftheirart,
following cluesthatlackedanymathematical or astronomicalbasis.The
7' De die natali17.15,21.4-6.

Censorinus
80MarinusVitaProcli.
81
Prophetsand Emperors.
Potter,
See generally
82GabrielHarvey,noteinhiscopyofLuca Gaurico,Tractatusastrologicus(Venice,1552),
BodleianLibrary4toRawl.61,fol.19 verso:"Sed quantoadhucveriorcertiorqueSosipatrae
e Chaldaeorum
divinatio, utvidetur
Astrologia etPhysiognomia:Cabalisticisnescioquibus
etexperimentis
principiis expedita."
mirabiliter
83 G. Naude,"De inCardano,De vitaproprialiber,2d ed. (Amsterdam,
Cardanoiudicium,"
1654),sig. *6 verso-*7recto.
84Cf.Barton,Powerand Knowledge.

divinely becamea divinely

astrologer
gifted gifted inprediction
specialist
Cardano
ofallsorts. has been seenas eccentric
becausehe onhis
insisted
owndivine help,triedtofuseorcombine allsortsofpredictive
disciplines
withhisown,andatthesametimeadmitted thatformsofpredictionthat
rather
reliedoninspiration thanartcouldreachtheirresults "exquisitius"
thanastrology.85In fact,in suchcasestheloverofscientific "subtlety"
agreed, for once, whole-heartedly with his predecessorsand
contemporaries.
In thisrealmtoo Cardanowentfurther-or showeda larger
toleranceforcontradiction-than most.At leastonce,he portrayed
himselfandhiscolleagues an austerely
as inhabiting Cartesiancosmos
filledwithmatter andmenin motion,propelled onlyby impersonal
forcesorpersonalemotions.No occultforcesorsympathiesofanykind,
pervadedthiscosmos-whichCardanohimself
visibleor invisible,
described toanyofhistraditional
asinaccessible In
disciplines.
predictive
De ludoaleae,Cardanoconsidered
histreatise thepossibleoutcomes of
throwsofdice.He insisted thata simplemathematical formula could
predicttheprobabilityofa successfulone. Determinethenumberof
favorableoutcomes thata throwoftwodicemayhave;divideitbythe
wholenumber ofpossibleoutcomes;andyouhavetheprobability that
anygiven throw willwin. Cardano denied
explicitly that any outside
forcecouldmodify thisstrict rule.He treated
quantitative diceas rigid
piecesof matterdancingto the musicof mathematics, theirsteps
unaffected prayer,or incantation.86
antipathy,
by sympathy,
Sometimes,Cardano'saccountsofthehumanworldrevealthesame
fundamental, bleakmodernity as his discussionsof dice,the same
clear
despairingly sense
that many eventshappened notbecauseofdivine
orderorstellar
influencebutsimply from blindchance.LeavingMilanfor
Bologna,Cardanoalmostlosthisstoreofunpublished manuscripts.He
foundthem,he tellsus,onlybecausehe hadbrokenhisgarter. When
climbing toleave,herealized
intohiscarriage thathehadtourinate.After
urinatinghecouldnotdo uphishose,andfoundno newgarters forsale
in thethreehaberdasheries in theneighborhood. He turnedbackto
obtainoneofthenewpairsofgarters hehadleftina chestinhishouse.
And oncethechestwasopenedhe saw,hishairstanding on endwith
horror,themanuscripts thathethought he hadtakenwithhim.Some
thehouseinquestion
weekslater, wasbroken intoandthecontentsofthe
chesttaken."Ifithadnotbeenformygarter," Cardanowrote,"I should
I shouldhavelostmyposition,I
nothavebeenableto givemylectures,
85See Ptolemy, ed. Cardano,18 (Opera omnia5: 105).

Quadripartitum,
86See thetranslation on De ludoaleae liber,in Ore.
ofandcommentary

350 ANTHONY GRAFTON
wouldhavebecomea beggar, allthosemonuments wouldhaveperished,

andI shouldhavediedsoonofgrief. Andallthisdepended on aninstant!
Alas forthe condition-orratherthe wretchedness-of mankind."87
Chanceandfortune, humanwillandaccident, seemto holddominion
overall. In thislight,thewholeprojectofrational seemsa
prediction
meredream-aquixotic fantasyrather
than a firm handleon thefuture.
Cardanoneverseemsto have takensuch experiences, or his
tothem,
reactions astrology.
forrejecting
asreasons saw
Ifheoccasionally
theworldinterms in
belief
thatrejected occult he
influences, consistently
resortedto astrology, as a practice,a well-usedset of tools,worn and
polishedby theuse ofdecades.No particular failureor setoffailuresto
predictan event astrologicallycould remove astrologyitselffromits
establishedstatus.As to Cardano'sabilityto use other,radicallydifferent
tools at the sametime-thisshouldoccasionlittlesurprisein a society
some of whose membersuse computersto writeand faxmachinesto
submitthepapersin whichtheyunmaskall ofmodernscienceas a social
product,a gamelikeanyother.
VI. THE ASTROLOGER AS MORALIST
Cardano showed his more traditionalside, however,when he

on describing
insisted astrologyas a moraldiscipline.This assertionmay
soundparadoxical. Manyancientthinkers-aboveall theStoics-insisted
thatthe wise man does not take any interestin the future.Since one
cannotcontrolthe fateof one's fortune,family,and familiars, to say
nothingofpoliticalandeconomicdevelopments, one shouldkeepone's
emotionsundercontrolby noteventrying to predictthefuture(ust as
one should not continuallygo over the past,anotheruncontrollable
realm).PierreHadot has argued,in a brilliantessay,thatmorethanone
ancientphilosophicalschool saw the dutyof the wise man as Goethe
encapsulatedit in one versein Faust:"Die Gegenwartalleinist unser
87Cardano, De vitaproprialiber49, Operaomnia1: 47-48:"Si ligulanonfuisset, profiteri

nonpoteram, excideram munere,mendicassem, totmonumenta perierant, brevi
ex tristitia
obiissem:atqueid ex momento o humanam
perpendit, conditionem, autmiseriam." In the
Proxeneta, however, Cardanotreatsthesameepisodeas an instanceoftheprovidential care
he has enjoyed:Arcanapolitica1.4 (Amsterdam, 1635),28-29 at 28: "Dicam autemquid
mihicontigeret nuper,utintelligasquamminimisDeus servetautperdatquemvelit."For
similarruminations on withattempts
near-disasters, causesand
to specifytheirastrological
theroleofprovidence, seeAnAstrologicalDiary,ed. HunterandGregory, 176-77,188-89,
226-27,230-31,236-37,240-41,245 (30 August1694): "About9h 8'a.m.A Tile fromthe
Eves ofmywoodhouse, felldownjustclearofmyhead:so nearthatthedustoftheMortar
thatcamedownwithit,flewuponmyHat.Butthemerciful ProvidenceofGod preserved
me ... [a figureoftheheavensfollows]NotethatMarswasjustthenrisen:&c."

Gliick."88
Astrologyseemsto lie at an extremedistancefromsuch
of
disciplines present-mindedness.
Ptolemyalreadytriedto defendhisartagainst
suchcriticisms.
He
heldthatthewisemanwould,infact, direct
hisattention
regularly
tothe
future.One who loseshis fortuneor his childrenunexpectedlywill
certainlynotmaintaina philosophicalcalm.Buttheclientof a good
astrologer,
knowingofthesedisasters
inadvance,willbeablebothtofend
someofthemoffandto preparehimself morallyforthosehe cannot
avoid.89
Cardanodiscussed thispassageextensively inhisowncommentary
onPtolemy, borrowing further argumentsinthesameveinfrom Peucer.90
He departed from precedent,however, whenheargued thattheastrologer
couldbestattain themoralendsofhisartbyanalyzing hisowncharacter
andexperiences inpublic.Cardanodrewup andcommented on hisown
horoscope. Hereasinhisautobiography, whichbeganwithananalysis of
hishoroscope andfollowed thetraditional, form
disjointed ofhoroscopic
analysis,Cardanodescribed hishabits inminute detail:"Iliketospendten
hoursinbed.... Fordinner I liketohavea dishofvegetables, mostofall
mangold, sometimes alsoriceorendivesalad."He recounted hisstrangest
experiences: "[Asa child,as I layinbedinthemorning, I saw]forms of
differentkinds,likeairybodies, whichseemed toconsist oflittle
ringslike
chainmail,though uptothenI hadneverseenchainmail.... Therewere
picturesof castles,houses,animals,horseswithriders, plants,trees,
medical He evencriticized
instruments."'91 hisowncharacter inunsparing
detail.Cardanodescribed himself inhiscommentary on hishoroscope as
"pious,faithful,a loverofwisdom, a contemplative... modest, curious
aboutmedicine, interestedin miracles,an architect,tricky, deceptive,
a specialist
bitter, inmysteries, serious,
hard-working, laborious, diligent,
ingenious, livingfortheday,frivolous, a despiserofreligion."92Fromhis
ownaccount, heemerged asa figure offun,a wackyprofessor whomade
himself ridiculous evenbyhisirregular wayofwalking. Staggeringalong
thestreet, gesturing wildly,Cardanohardlyembodied thedignity for
88
P. Hadot,Exercicesspirituels
etphilosophieantique(Paris,1981).
89
PtolemyTetrabiblos1.3.
90Ptolemy,
Quadripartitum,
ed. Cardano,24-25(Opera omnia5: 110-11).
De
91 Cardano, vitaproprialiber37, Operaomnia1: 27: "Videbamergoimaginesdiversas
quasi corporumaereorum(Constareenimvidebantur ex annulisminimis,quales sunt
loricarum,cum tamenloricasnunquameousque vidissem)ab imo lectiangulo dextro
ascendentespersemicirculum, lenteet in sinistrum utprorsusnonapparerent:
occidentes,
Arcium, domorum, animalium,equorumcumequitibus, herbarum, arborum,instrumentorum
medicorum, hominum
theatrorum, diversorum habituum,vestiumque variarum....."
92
Cardano,Liberxiigeniturarum,
Opera omnia5: 523.

352 ANTHONY GRAFTON
whichhestrove so hardinmuchofhiswriting.93
Cardano'sconfessions werenot, of course,so frankas they
appeared.He didnotdescribe thatmadehima
thesexualinclinations
pedophile-andbroughthim legal penalties.The flood of lesser
thebric-a-brac
revelations-like thatsurroundedthepurloinedletterin
attention
Poe'sstory-distracted fromthisandother thatmight
traits well
havedoneCardanomorediscredit thanthoseheadmitted.94Still,many
readersfoundit bizarrethatCardanorevealed so manyweaknesses of
character Naude,forexample,
voluntarily. reproached Cardanowith
havingdestroyedhisownsocialandintellectual InhisProxeneta,
position.
a manualforsuccessful lifeat court,Cardanoadvisedthecourtier to
maintain silenceaboveall.Anyrevelation aboutone'smeansor emotions
couldonlyhelpone's competitors. Yet Cardanographically revealedhis
mistakesand characterflawsto readersand rivalsalike. In the age of
Gracian'scold morality,the philosophyof the personalityhard and
featurelessas a billiardball, Cardano's franknessrepresented a basic
violationoftherulesofprudence.95
In fact,however,Cardano broke the rules deliberately.The
astrologersofthelaterRenaissance vitalto explorethe
sawitas absolutely
flawsin theircustomers'characters-even theworstofthem-so faras
basic self-preservationallowed.In somecontexts,ofcourse,unpleasant
character ends.Whena Viennadoctordrewup
traitscouldservepractical
horoscopesforthechildrenofMaximilianII, he feltimpelledto reveal
that Maximilian'seldestdaughterwould show a masculineseverity,
incliningto be bothirritableandvengeful.However,he also commented
that these qualitiesshowed that she was well equipped for public
responsibility.96Usually,however,no suchcompensations appearedfor
thedefects written in thestars.WhenCampanellaproduceda horoscope
forSirPhilibert VernoteintheprisonoftheInquisition in Naples,he had
to explainthathis youngcustomer tended toward sexual passivityand
could evenhave becomea pervert, had he not been a northerner.The
clientbarelyescapedboth sterility Astrologyoffereda
and priapism.97
9Cardano, De vitaproprialiber21, Opera omnia1: 14-15.

An AstrologicalDiary, ed. Hunterand Gregory,26,
9' Cf. Hunter,"Introduction,"
thatJeake-likeCardano-wrotewithhisaudienceverymuchinmind.
emphasizing
95Naude,sigs.*5 verso-*6recto.
96
Bartholomew Reisacher,horoscopeforAnna,archduchess of Austria,Osterreichische
NationalbibliothekMS 10754, fol. 40 recto:"Prae se feretigiturvirilemquandam
severitatemac authoritatem,erit ad iramprocliviset vindictaecupida. Erit idonea
alicuius."
ac administrationi
gubernationi
MS Ashmole176,fol.36 recto:"Cumlunain signomasculinoetsol in
97Bodleian Library
faciunt
reperiantur,
feminino nuncmolleminvenereis,eoque
vicibusnuncvirilem,
mutatis

meansof understanding one's own character-and not allowingit to

becomeone'sdestiny. Butonlyfrank speechabouttheunspeakablecould
in advanceas Vernote-oras Cardano
servea clientas deeplyafflicted
himself.
Cardanoputtheseprinciples intopractice
whenheanalyzed hisown
personality.He seemsto have succeeded,moreover,in
star-haunted
making hisastrologicalcharacterologyintoa workable formoftherapy.
Thesecondchapter ofhisautobiography offersa striking exampleofhis
successattreating
himself. Thereheconfessed thathehadbeenimpotent
as a youngman,fortenyears.Thepositionofthestarsathisbirth, he
argued,accounted forthiswretched condition:
"Because Jupiterwasinthe
ascendant andVenuswastherulerofthehoroscope, I washarmed only
inmygenitals, sothatfrom mytwenty-firsttomythirty-first yearI could
notsleepwithwomenandoften mourned mysadlot,envying allothers
fortheirs."98
Anyhistorian mustfindCardano'sexplanation remarkable. In his
timeimpotence andfearofimpotence werepandemic. Everyone knew,
moreover, thatwitchescausedthisdreadedcondition. The German
woods,so theDominicans KramerandSprenger arguedin theMalleus
maleficarum,swarmed withevilwomenwhostolemen'spenisesandhid
theminbirds'nests. Worseyet,someaccused witches ofeating thepenises
theystole(consider,forexample, thesausage-like
objects thatwitches grill
in theworksof thatgifted misogynist Hans Baldung).99 This widely
disseminated fantasycontributed to thesixteenth-century
greatly witch
craze,butit didnotinfect Cardano.He firmly believedin witchcraft,
refusingto writea testimonialfora womanaccusedofit(tobe sure,he
interpretedtheinvitationtodosoasa trapsetbyhisenemies). Buthealso
refusedtoblamea womanforhisownimpotence -ven oneoftheyoung
oneswithwhomhe madeenergetic, ifineffectual,
efforts to relievehis
condition.Histherapy worked:anditworked againwhenitenabledhim
to surviveandgoon working aftertheterrible
deathofhisson.Evenin
hislastyearsofhousearrest in Rome,heemerged as a powerful figure,
activelyparticipatingin themeetings oftheRomandoctors'guildand
enlarging,as wellas modifying, hisearlybooksin thehopeofgaining
deteriusquod venusest masculinaet marsfoemininus

ex naturasigni:et pollutioneshi
naturales,non tamencontranaturamindicant,praesertimin boreali viro, sicuti in
docuimus."
Astrologicis
98Cardano,De vitaproprialiber2 (Opera omnia1: 2).
99 Cf. S. Schade,Schadenzauberunddie Magie des Korpers(Worms,1983), and J.L.
TheMoment
Koemner, ofSelf-Portraiture
inGermanRenaissanceArt(ChicagoandLondon,
1994).

354 ANTHONY GRAFTON
approvalfornew editions.1?? Only the monstrous condescension of

hasmadeitimpossible
posterity toseehoweffective Cardano'stherapies
reallywere.
Astrology, inshort,providednotonlythelarge-scalepredictions,
butalsothefine-grainedcharacter thatsixteenth-century
analyses, clients
needed.No wonder thatsome ofthemost penetratingcharacteranalyses
ofthetime-like JohnAubrey's wonderfullybrashBriefLives-began as
horoscope (nowondereither
collections thatmodern editors,
showing a
typicaldisdainforastrology,
havethoroughly obscured theseorigins in
their withAubrey's
dealings Thelate-seventeenth-century
manuscripts).101
Rye merchant SamuelJeake,whoseastrological diaryhas recently
receivedan exemplary editionfromMichaelHunterand Annabel
Gregory, foundin astrology,evenmorethaninhisPuritan beliefs,the
forhismeticulous
inspiration examination ofthetiming andmeaning of
hesuffered
andnear-disasters
allthedisasters in aneventfullife.Gabriel
Harveyshowedrealinsight, then,whenhesystematically compared the
horoscope ofGauricoandCardanowithPaoloGiovio'sElogia
collections
ofgreatmen.Thegoodastrologer-like thegoodbiographer-promised
to makehisreadera Menschenkenner. In thisrealmat least,Cardano's
astrologyandthatofhiscompetitorsclearly something
represents typical
oftheirtimeandplace:notonlypartofa classical butalsopart
tradition,
of thatcultureof endlesscuriositythathistorians havetraditionally
withtheRenaissance.102
identified
100See Siraisi.
's BriefLives,
101See Aubrey L. Dick (London,1949;repr.AnnArbor,1957),liv-lv,
ed. 0.
JohnAubreyand theWorldofLearning(London,1975).
c; cf.M. Hunter,
102
Warmthanksto theWissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin,theEcole des HautesEtudesen
SciencesSociales,Paris,andtheIntemationales
Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften,
Vienna,forresearchsupport;and to Ian Maclean and Nancy Siraisi fordiscussion.I
remember withspecialgratitude a longandhelpfulconversation aboutastrologywiththe
lateThomasKuhn,whichtookplaceon themorning afterthislecturewas delivered.


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Girolamo Cardano and the Tradition of Classical Astrology the Rothschild Lecture, 1995

Author(s): Anthony Grafton

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I. CONTINUITIES OF IDEOLOGY AND TECHNIQUE

1 On theoriginsofastrologysee theclassicstudyofA. Sachs,"BabylonianHoroscopes,"

PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, VOL. 142,NO. 3, SEPTEMBER, 1998

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remarkable witha durablecommitment

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motion-expressed thecharacter oftheindividual Theredcolor

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future movements ofplants, animals andhumans on earth.6

6 For a good introduction in

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II. CONTINUITIESOF FUNCTION

The long-term similaritiesbetweenancientand earlymodern

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simplyforgotten. Guicciardini took thepopularityoftheastrologers as

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astrologerswhentherainsdidnotcome."9 As astrology becametheobject

21N. Siraisi,Medievaland EarlyRenaissanceMedicine(ChicagoandLondon,1990).

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Sometimes the development of astrological doctrinefollowed

astrologischen Schriftendes HeinrichvonLangenstein (LeipzigandBerlin,1933) andG.

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ratherthan celestial,measurements, came into beingonly in the

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tradition(andmanyothers).37 His Operaomnia,published longafterhis

Scholar(Princeton, 1953),andDictionary ofScientific

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toldthestory,muchlater, inhisautobiography-Cardano gambled with

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waterstood, he thought,forthe scholarwho lost himselfin pleasure

IV. THE PoLmCs OF SCIENCEAND THE SCIENCEOF POLMCS IN

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Cardanosawastrology art.He urgedthe

4 Osterreichische MS 7433,e.g. 2 verso-3recto:"Immo,ni me celestia

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WhenCardanoemphasized the politicalproblemsthathedged

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Firmicus's.Cardanorejected boththeancient authority andhismessage.

ed. Cardano,34, Opera omnia5:

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positionsofthezodiacalsignsand planets,he argued,one could explain

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horoscope ofa brilliantlysuccessful

56 Ibid.,horoscope19,sig. [P iiij recto]:"Itaquecumquidamnonhuiusartisexpertes

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Astrologerscompetednot only with one another,but with

domorum (et quid angulisint)dividenda,welchesirbesserwisset,denichsanzeigenkan.

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72Cardano,De vitaproprialiber41, Operaomnia1: 35-36,e.g.:"Nonnumquam ex minimis

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bothconfirmed.75 TheCatholicjurist JeanBoclininterpreted thefatesof

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7' De die natali17.15,21.4-6.

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divinely becamea divinely