Page:Commentaries of Ishodad of Merv, volume 1.djvu/63

Rh say, the Ram, the Hull, the Twins, the Crab, the Lion, the Virgin, the Balance, the Scorpion, the Archer , the Goat, the Water-bearer, and the Fish; and of those seven they say that they go from west to east, but that these twelve go round from east to west, that is to say, they revolve with the body of the heavens which revolves like a wheel and an axis round the earth; and the earth stands in the middle as a centre, and like a grain of sesame standing in the middle of an inflated bladder. And to the days of the week they assign Planets. The first day of the week, it is said, is the day of the Sun; the second day of the Moon; the third of Ares (Mars); the fourth of Hermes (Mercury); the fifth of Bel; Friday of Aphrodite; and the Sabbath of Kronos (Saturn). And also the parts of the human body, it is said, these created; the Sun the Brain; the Moon the Skin; Ares the Blood; Hermes the Nerves and the Veins; Bel the Bones; Venus the Flesh; Saturn the Hair. And also those twelve signs of the zodiac they call types of the twelve months of the year, some of them male, and some of them female. They say of every one of these that it regulates one of the parts of a man. The Ram is male, and it establishes the Head; the Bull is female, and it made the Neck; the Twins are male, and they made the Hands; the Crab is female, and it establishes the Breast; the Lion is male, and it establishes the Sides; the Virgin is female, and it created the Lumbar-bone; the Balance is male, and it created the Belly; the Scorpion is female, and it establishes around the Bladder; the Archer is male, and he fixed the Thighs; the Goat is female, and it formed the Knees; the Water-bearer is male, and he stretched out the Legs. The Fish is female, and it establishes the Feet.

By means of a Star, then, He announced to them the birth of the Messiah; for many reasons; first, because it was His custom many times to shew His guidance by means of strangers, and by what was true amongst them; as was done with Balaam, and with that woman who evoked spirits, the Endorite, and with Paul's Pythoness, etc.; second, that even our Lord was called by Balaam a Star, and by Isaia a Light, and by Malachi a Sun, and by Jeremia a Branch of Righteousness; and our Lord calls Himself the Light of the World; third, that so they might be led to the Sun by means of a star: in order therefore that in proportion as the Magians approached the Sun the star hid the properties of the Sun and of the stars, and was never again seen by them hence