Dodecatemorion
The twelfth-parts: every sign holds a tiny zodiac inside it.
[p. 76] Now with expanded Thought go on to knowA Secret great in Use, tho' small in show;For which our scanty Language, poor in words,No single fit expressive Term affords,But Greek supplies, a Language born to frameFit Words, and show their Reason in the Name.'Tis ²⁷Dodecatemorion, thus describ'd——Thrice ten Degrees with every Sign contains.Let Twelve exhaust, that not one part remains;It follows streight that every Twelfth confinesTwo whole, and one half Portion of the Signs:These Twelfths in Number, as the Signs, are Twelve,And these the wise contriver of the FramePlac't in each Sign, that all may be the same.The World may be alike, each Star may guide,And every Sign in every Sign preside;That all may govern by agreeing Laws,And friendly Aids be mutual as their Cause.And therefore Births, o're which one Sign aspires,In Powers are various, different in Desires;
[p. 77] Males follow Females, and from Man deprestWeak Nature sinks, and errs into a Beast:For all on Signs depend, in which succeedThe different Twelfths, and vary in the Breed.Now whose, and how dispos'd, the Muse must sing,And draw deep Knowledge from its secret Spring;Lest this unknown you should from Truth decline,Mistaking the chang'd Influence of the Sign:Each Sign's first Twelfths is by its self possest,The others shar'd in Order by the rest;Each hath its Twelfth, they take their equal Shares;(Ambition is a Vice too mean for Stars)Thus every Sign hath for its proper ThroneTwo whole, and one half Portion of its own;Of other Signs that rowl in order onEach takes as much, till all the thirty parts are done.
The notes
²⁷ The Dodecatemorion is the Twelfth part, or two Degrees and an half of a Sign. Every Sign containing Thirty Degrees; for Twelve times two and an half make Thirty. Scaliger gives this Instance. Let the propos'd Degree be the Thirteenth Degree of Gemini, multiply Thirteen by Twelve, the Product is one hundred fifty six: Of these give Thirty to Gemini the propos'd Sign, Thirty to Cancer, Thirty to Leo, to Virgo Thirty, and Thirty to Libra: There remain Six, and therefore the Dodecatimorion of Gemini is in the Sixth Degree of Scorpius. But this instance doth not seem to agree with the Doctrine of Manilius. (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).