The Dodecatemoria of the Planets
Finding the twelfth-parts of the planets.
[p. 77] But there are many sorts, to find the trueWise Nature orders we must all pursue;This is her Will: Tho partial Search may fail,Yet He's secure of Truth who seeks for All.For Instance, grant it were thy great ConcernTo know the ²⁸Planet's Twelfths; securely learn:I'll shew the Method: As you count the Signs,First mark that Sign's Degree where Phoebe shines,And views the new-born Child; that multiplyBy Twelve: (because Twelve Signs adorn the Sky)Observe the Product, and from thence assignTo those gay Stars where Phoebe's found to shineThrice ten Degrees: Then go in Order on,Assigning Thirty till the Number's done;And where the Number ends there fix the Moon;That is her Twelfth. The following Planets lieIn following Twelfths, and there enjoy the Sky.
[p. 78] Another Method claims my next Essay,Another differing from the former way;This too I must explain, its Rules impart,And fix the subtle Niceties of Art.First take the ²⁹Sun's true place, and that confest,Observe the Portion by the Moon possest:Count those Degrees the middle Space contains,Take all the Thirtys thence, and what remainsDividing into Twelfths, from thence assignTo those gay Stars in which the Moon does shineOne Twelfth: To Signs that orderly come onApply their Twelfths, till all the Number's done,And where the number ends there fix the Moon.That is her Twelfth. The following Planets lieIn following Twelfths, and there enjoy the Sky.
The Task's not done: The Muse must next unfoldA nicer thing, in fewer Numbers told:Which less in show and in extent appears,Yet than the Greater more of Force it bears:In every ³⁰Twelfth a Twelfth the Planets claim,The Thing is different though we use the Name;'Tis thus describ'd. Five half Degrees do lieIn every Twelfth, Five Planets grace the Sky,And every Planet in its proper CourseOne half Degree possessing there exerts its Force.'Tis useful therefore to observe the Sign,And mark the Twelfth in which the Planets shine;For where the Planets, as they rowl their Course,A Twelfth possess, they there exert their Force.These must be jointly sung: yet these belongTo future Thoughts, and claim another Song:
[p. 79] 'Tis now enough that I have clearly shownThings hid before, and made their Uses known;Let it suffice, that I have brought the MuseMaterials proper, and prepar'd for Use:When all is ready, let her build the Frame,And raise a lasting Monument of Fame:The single Elements distinctly knownShee sees her Way, and may go safely on;And all the Parts describ'd the Verse will roulWith freer Force, and orderly erect the whole.
For as to Boys at School we first propoundThe Letters, show their Form, and teach their Sound,And then go on, instruct them how to Spell,And join their Letters in a Syllable;Then to frame Words, and thence their Fancies raise,To bind these words in Verse, and reach the Bays.And as the Boys proceed, they find their past,And first Acquirements useful to their last;For Precepts without Method got by pain,Prove empty, and the labour is in vain:So since my Songs Fate's dark Intrigues reherse,Their Influence show, and bind the Stars in Verse;Since they mount high, and from the Signs above,Bring down the God, and open hidden Jove;All must be taught, and I must first impartThe Elements peculiar to this Art;That thence, as she proceeds, my labouring MuseMay draw Materials, and go on to Use.
And as wise Builders, who design a Town,First clear the Field, and cut the Forest down,And streight new Stars behold as new a Sun:From Antient Seats, and Hospitable GladesThe Beasts are forc'd, and Birds forsake their Shades.Some Stones for Walls, some Marble square for Shrines,And suit Materials to their great Designs;And when they have provided fit SuppliesFor future Art, the Piles begin to rise;Nor doth the interrupted work disgrac'tBy any stop, accuse their foolish haste:So I, that raise this mighty Work, must chooseMaterials proper to employ my Muse,Bare fit Materials; and not build one part'Till all lies ready to compleat the Art;Lest whilst my Thoughts the noble work pursue,As all Materials lay expos'd to view,They start surpriz'd, and stop amaz'd with new.
The notes
²⁸ Scaliger affirms, that Manilius proposeth two ways to find the Dodecatemoria or Twelfths of the Planets; Huetius says he gives but one: This Dispute will be best determin'd by observing the Poet himself, and illustrating his Doctrine by two Instances: Let the Moon be in the Sixth Degree of Aries, multiply Six by Twelve, the Product is Seventy two: Out of this Seventy two give the first Thirty to Aries, the second to Taurus, and then there remain Twelve; and therefore the Dodecatemorion of the Moon is in the Twelfth Degree of Gemini, that is, in the Second of the Five half Degrees of the Dodecatemorion of Gemini. (Creech’s note, 1697)
²⁹ To this Method Scaliger applies this Example: Let the Sun be in the Thirteenth of Gemini, the Moon in the Twenty Third of Scorpius, the Arch of the Zodiack between the two Planets, contains one Hundred and Sixty Degrees: In this Number there are five Thirties, which being taken away there remain Ten; divide these Ten by Twelfths, or two and an half, the Quotient is four Twelfths, or Dodecatemoria; of which give one to Scorpius, another to Sagittarius, a third to Capricorn, and the fourth falling in Aquarius, shews the Moons Dodecatemorion to be in the twenty third Degree of that Sign. (Creech’s note, 1697)
³⁰ The third sort of Dodecatemorion is this. In every Dodecatemorion or Twelfth, there are five half Degrees, and the Planets (which the Antient Astrologers counted but five, not reckoning the Sun and Moon amongst the Planets) have in each Dodecatemorion or Twelfth, one half Degree assign'd to every one of them. (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).