Day Signs and Night Signs
Day signs and night signs.
[p. 57] How vast this Knowledge, and how hard to gain,The Subject still encreasing with the Pain;Yet my swift Muse, like Larks on towring WingsMounts to the Skies, and as she mounts she sings:She sees Signs various in her Aiery Flight,Some Signs of Day, and other Signs of Night;Not so ¹¹distinguish'd Cause those Signs maintainThose times distinctly, and then choose to reign:
[p. 58] For then as Years roul round, the Circling LightsWould all be of one kind Day's all, or all the Night's.But 'cause wise Nature in her first DesignsBy Laws Eternal fixt them to these Times:The Centaur, Lion, and the golden Ram,Fish, Crab, and Scorpio with his venom'd FlameOr near in Site, or in an equal spaceBy two alike divided, are the Day's:The rest the Night's. But who can hope to seeOpinion's join, or find the World agree!Some with the Ram begin, and thence conveyThe Five in Order following to the Day,The rest from Libra are to Night confin'd:Whilst others sing Male Signs affect the Light,And Female safely wanton in the Night.
The notes
¹¹ Concerning Day and Night Signs, there are different Opinions: Some fancy that Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, are the Days, and the other six the Nights. Others teach that the Male and Female are the same with the Day and Night Signs. But the Opinion that Manilius follows is this. Aries is a Day Sign, Taurus, Gemini, Night. Cancer, Leo, Day. Virgo, Libra, Night. Scorpius, Sagittarius, Day. Caper, Aquarius, Night. Pisces Day. So that begin with Pisces, and then you find two Day Signs together, and then two Night Signs, and so in Order. (Creech’s note, 1697)
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The text is Thomas Creech's 1697 verse translation, checked word by word between three scans of the same type (the 1697 printing, the 1700 printing and a third copy). The long s is printed as s; every other spelling is Creech's. Pages are cited as the 1697 printing numbers them. The portrait is William Marshall’s engraving of Lilly from the front of the 1659 printing (Wellcome Library, public domain).