which he reiterates the statement that he was forced to adopt his
astrological opinions from direct and positive observation. He despises
"The common herd of prophesiers who describe the operations of the stars
as if they were a sort of deities, the lords of heaven and earth, and
producing everything at their pleasure. They never trouble themselves to
consider what means the stars have of working any effects among us on
the earth whilst they remain in the sky and send down nothing to us
which is obvious to the senses, except rays of light." His own notion is
"Like one who listens to a sweet melodious song, and by the gladness of
his countenance, by his voice, and by the beating of his hand or foot
attuned to the music, gives token that he perceives and approves the
harmony: just so does sublunary nature, with the notable and evident
emotion of the bowels of the earth, bear like witness to the same
feelings, especially at those times when the rays of the planets form
harmonious configurations on the earth," and again "The earth is not an
animal like a dog, ready at every nod; but more like a bull or an
elephant, slow to become angry, and so much the more furious when
incensed." He seems to have believed the earth to be actually a living
animal, as witness the following: "If anyone who has climbed the peaks
of the highest mountains, throw a stone down their very deep clefts, a
sound is heard from them; or if he throw it into one of the mountain
lakes, which beyond doubt are bottomless, a storm will immediately
arise, just as when you thrust a straw into the ear or nose of a
ticklish animal, it shakes its head, or runs shudderingly away. What so
like breathing, especially of those fish who draw water into their
mouths and spout it out again through their gills, as that wonderful
tide! For although it is so regulated according to the course of the
moon, that, in the preface to my 'Commentaries on Mars,' I have
mentioned it as probable that the waters are attracted by the moon, as
iron by the loadstone, yet if anyone uphold that the earth regulates its