Poem, no date (1569), by Wilhelm Xylander (BP.Erastus.1569-01)
| Author: | Wilhelm Xylander |
| Type: | Poem |
| Date: | no date [1569] |
| Place: | no place |
| Pages: | 2 |
| Language: | Latin |
| Quote as: | https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/index.php?curid=2978 |
| Editor: | Edited by Julian Paulus |
| Source: | Thomas Erastus, Defensio Libelli Hieronymi Savonarolae de Astrologia Diuinatrice, [Genève]: Jean Le Preux and Jean Petit 1569, sig. *4r–*4v [BP.Erastus.1569-01]
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| Translation: | Raw translation see below |
| Abstract: | The poem by Wilhelm Xylander reflects on the notions of fate, astrology, and divine knowledge. On the same day, at the same hour, two children were born under the same celestial signs, sharing the same homeland. Despite being born under identical celestial circumstances, their destinies are profoundly different. One child, Firminus, is destined for great honors, power, and nobility. The other is foreseen to live a life of servitude. Yet, both were seen under the same celestial bodies, with no differentiation by planets like Jupiter, Venus, or Mars. (generated by Chat-GPT) |
| Back to Paratexts Back to Texts by Wilhelm Xylander |
[sig. *4r] Ad Genethliacos, ex B[eati] Avgvstini Confessionvm libro septimo, capite sexto.
Gvilielmi Xylandri.
Vna, eadémque dies, eadem quoque protinus hora,
Atque idem minimi temporis articulus
Humana in lucem duo corpora protulit almam:
Patria sic natis vna duobus erat.
Fulserunt eadem nascentibus astra duobus,
Atque vno radios conseruêre modo:
Idem sideribus positus, respectus & idem:
Diuersum mundi nil habuere plagæ.
Iam quæ natalis pars sit violentior horæ,
Quo cœlúmve illis ordine fata dicet,
Desine scrutari numeris Babylone petitis,
Atque polos bis sex stringere cardinibus.
Alter ad eximios maturè euectus honores
Firminvs fati munere magnus erit,
Nobilitate, opibúsque potens: augebit heriles
Alter in attrito tegmine verna lares.
Atqui non alius respexit Iupiter illum,
Non alia effulsit Luna, Venúsve domo:
Non alios cœlo satus, aut Cyllenius ignes
Extulit, aut aliam Martia stella facem:
Excepit radijs Titania lampas iisdem
Impositum gremio matris vtrunque suæ.
Non alios vitæ cardo, non porta plaentas
Infera, non densæ ianua noctis habet:
Non mediæ cuspis lucis, non templa potentis
Fortunæ, genijs siue dicata loca.
Nihil non ambobus commune volubilis æther,
Affictæq́ue astris continuere domus.
Quòd si fata hominum facie natalis Olympi
Monstrantur, nulla vana futura die:
[sig. *4v] Cur in Firminum nil cœlum iuris habebit,
Seruitio collum quod premit alterius?
Cur miser obscenus tolerabit verna labores,
Firminum fato tot cumulante bonis?
Cur simile est illis, eadem quos astra tuentur,
Totius in vitæ conditione nihil?
Scilicet æterni quæ sint decreta parentis
Arbitrio ostendet linea ducta tuo.
O vani studiorum, ô sese fallere sueta
Pectora, & infami decipere arte rudes!
Quid duodena poli templa, astrorúmque meatus,
Et formidatos quid fautuis radios
Cogitis innumerum? & mortalib[us] ardua fata
Ambiguis trepidi quæritis in tabulis?
Gratia, fama, valetudo, genus, & pudor, & res,
Et status, & vitæ conditio, soboles,
Et quæcunque homini contingunt, aspera, siue
Prospera, mortali dum pede calcat humum,
Soli nota Deo sunt. quem penes omnia solum,
Notibus hîc fatum temperat omne suis:
Non illos stellæ, aut genitabilis angulus horæ,
Aut positu variant astra nouata suo.
In corpus mentémque tuam quod fingis, & horres,
Nullum is corporibus ius dedit ætherijs.
His quis detulerit, liquet ipsáque nomina rerum
Priscæ relliquias impietatis habent:
Autoris documenta suíque amplißima præbent,
Vnum non potuit qui tolerare Devm.
Xylandri.
English Raw Translation
Generated by ChatGPT-4 on 15 August 2023. Attention: This translation is a machine translation by artificial intelligence. The translation has not been checked and should not be cited without additional human verification.
English Raw Translation
Generated by ChatGPT-4 on 15 August 2023. Attention: This translation is a machine translation by artificial intelligence. The translation has not been checked and should not be cited without additional human verification.
To the Birthday Observations, from the Seventh Book, Chapter Six of Blessed Augustine's Confessions.
One and the same day, the same hour too,
And the same moment of fleeting time,
Brought forth into the kind light two human bodies:
Thus, one homeland was for two children.
The same stars shone for the two being born,
And they conserved their rays in one way:
The same position to the stars, the same perspective,
They held no different world regions.
Now, which part of the birth hour is more forceful,
Which sequence of heavens will declare their fates,
Cease to search with numbers drawn from Babylon,
And to constrain the heavens with twelve points.
One, quickly raised to distinguished honors,
Will be great by the gift of fate, Firmius,
Powerful in nobility and wealth: the other will enhance
His master's home as a lowly servant in worn clothes.
Yet Jupiter didn't regard one differently,
Nor did the Moon, or Venus shine from another home:
Not different fires in the sky were raised by Mercury,
Nor did Mars's star raise another torch:
Titan's lamp received both with the same rays,
Each laid on the lap of their mother.
Neither has a different axis of life, nor gate of the rich,
Or door of dense night, or temple of potent Fortune,
Or places dedicated to guardian spirits.
The revolving ether shared everything with both,
And their homes united under the affected stars.
If fates of men are shown by the face of the birthing heavens,
To be revealed in some non-vain day:
Why will the heavens have no right over Firmius,
Whose neck is pressed by another's servitude?
Why will the wretched servant endure toils,
With fate heaping so many goods on Firmius?
Why is there nothing alike for them, watched by the same stars,
In the entirety of life's condition?
Surely what the decrees of the eternal father are,
Will be shown by the line drawn according to your judgment.
O vain studies, O hearts accustomed to deceive themselves,
And to trick the naive with a shameful art!
Why do you urge to understand the twelve temples of the pole, and the paths of stars,
And why do you favor the feared rays
Of the innumerable? And why do you anxiously seek
The daunting fates of mortals in ambiguous charts?
Grace, reputation, health, family, honor, wealth,
Status, life's condition, offspring,
And everything that happens to a man, whether harsh or
Prosperous, as he treads the earth with mortal foot,
Are known only to God. In whom alone everything rests,
Here he tempers every fate with his notes:
Not the stars, or the birthing angle of the hour,
Or the changed position of stars vary them.
What you imagine and fear about your body and mind,
The ether gave no right to those bodies.
To whom they have been given, the very names of things
Hold the relics of ancient impiety:
They offer ample evidence of their author,
Who couldn't endure one God.
