Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/637

 Books and Science in the Middle Ages 543 thirteenth century : " Satyrs be somewhat like men, and have Strange /-111 1-1 ^ I. manlike crooked noses, and horns in the forehead, and are like to goats creations in their feet. St. Anthony saw such an one in the wilderness of m?n^^ These wonderful beasts be divers ; for some of them be called Cynocephali, for they have heads as hounds, and seem beasts rather than men ; and some be called Cyclops, and have that name because each of them hath but one eye, and that in the middle of the forehead ; and some be all headless and noseless and their eyes be in the shoulders ; and some have plain faces without nostrils, and the nether lips of them stretch so that they veil therewith their faces when they be in the heat of the sun. Also in Scythia be some with so great and large ears, that they spread their ears and cover all their bodies with them, and these be called Panchios. ..." " And others there be in Ethiopia, and each of them have only one foot, so great and so large that they beshadow themselves with the foot when they lie gasping on the ground in strong heat of the sun ; and yet they be so swift that they be likened to hounds in swiftness of running, and therefore among the Greeks they be called Cynopodes. Also some have the soles- of their feet turned backward behind the legs, and in each foot eight toes, and such go about and stare in the desert of Lybia." Two old subjects of study were revived and received great attention in Europe from the thirteenth century onwards until recent times. These were asU'ology and alchemy. Astrology was based on the belief that the planets influence the Astrology make-up of men and consequently their fate. Following an idea of the Greek philosophers, especially Aristode, it was believed that all things were compounded of " the four elements " earth, air, fire, and water. Each person was a particular mixture of these four elements, and the position of the planets at the time of his birth was supposed to influence his mixture or " temperament." By knowing a person's temperament one could judge what he ought to do in order to be successful in life, and what he should