CHAPTER I

The sphere is divided into 360 even parts, called degrees ; and on that point there is unanimity of
agreement among all the ancients and their successors, because that number is divisible by all
integers up to 10 with the exception of 7. It is also divided into 12 parts and they are called signs;
and each sign has 30 normal degrees; and in each degree there are 60 minutes, and in each
minute 60 seconds, and so on until the tenths.
The names of the signs are : Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius,
Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces.
These are in the upper sphre, which is the eighth one, together with the northern and southern
figures; and they form a total of 48 figures, and the number of their stars is 1022, according to the
opinion of all the ancients including Ptolemy. Of them there are in the figures of the signs 346
stars.
The first figure is Aries, which has 13 stars including the horns and the stomach. In the sign of
Taurus there are 33 stars, and the Pleiades are on their back. In Gemini there are 18 stars; in
Cancer there are 9; in Leo 27; in Libra 8; in Scorpio 22; in Sagittarius 31; in Capricornus 28; in
Aquarius 42; in Pisces 34.
The southern figures number 15 and they have 316 stars. The first one is the lion of the sea, which
some people call bear, and it has 22 stars. The second figure is the strong dog, and it has 38
stars. The third is the river, and it has 34 stars. The fourth is the hare, and it has 13 stars. The fifth
is the great dog, and it has 18 stars. The sixth is the little dog, and it has 2 stars. The seventh is
the ship, and it has 45 stars. The eighth is the wild beast, and it has 25 stars. The ninth is the
goblet, and it has 7 stars. The tenth is the raven, and it has 7 stars. The eleventh is the one which
carries the lion ; half its figure is that of a man and the other half that of a horse, and it has 36
stars. The twelfth is the leopard, and it has 5 stars. The thirteenth is the censer, and it has 7 stars.
The fourteenth is the crown, and it has 13 stars. The fifteenth is the southern fish, and it has 11
stars. The northern figures number 21, and they have 360 stars.
The first is the little bear, and it has 7 stars. The second is the great bear, and it has 17 stars. The
third is the dragon, and it has 31 stars. The fourth is the lady of the flame, and it has 11 stars.
The fifth is the barking dog, and it has 22 stars. The sixth is the northern crown, and it has 8 stars.
The seventh is the one which goes on its knees, and it has 28 stars. The eighth is the falling eagle,
and it has 10 stars. The ninth is the chicken, and it has 17 stars. The tenth is the one which sits on
the seat, and it has 13 stars. The eleventh is the one which carries the head of the devil, and it has
26 stars. The twelfth is the shepherd who has the bridle in his hand, and it has 14 stars. The
thirteenth is the one which holds back the wild beast, and it has 24 stars.
The fourteenth is the wild beast, and it has 18 stars. The fifteenth is the devil, and it has 5 stars.
The sixteenth is the flying eagle, and it has 9 stars. The seventeenth is the sea-fish, and it has 10
stars. The eighteenth is the head of the horse, and it has 4 stars. The nineteenth is the winged
horse, and it has 20 stars. The twentieth is the woman who had no husband, and it has 23 stars.
The twenty-first is the triangle, and it has 4 stars.
Now is finished the enumeration of the aforesaid stars, which total 1022. The ancients divided
them into six degrees, because every star whose light is great they ascribed to the first magnitude,
and those whose light is smaller they ascribed to the second magnitude; and thus they continue
getting smaller and smaller until the sixth degree, which is the lowest of all. The stars of the first
magnitude number 15, of the second 48, of the third 208, of the fourth 474, of the fifth 217, and of
the sixth 49, plus three dark stars which resemble clouds.
The seven planets are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. The most elevated of
all them is Saturn since it is in the seventh sphere in opposition to the earth, and after it comes
Jupiter, and so on until reaching the Moon in the first sphere which is close to the earth.
The signs are divided into four parts in accordance with the four natures, with three signs to each
nature.

They are as follows: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius are hot and dry as the nature of fire; Taurus, Virgo,
and Capricornus are cold and dry as the nature of the earth; Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius are hot
and moist as the nature of air; Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces are cold and moist as the nature of
water.
Saturn is cold and dry; Jupiter is hot and moist; Mars is hot and scorching dry; the Sun is hot and
dry; Venus is cold and moist; Mercury is variable, for its nature corresponds to that of the satellite
which accompanies it; the Moon is cold and moist. Some of these seven are male and others are
female; some of these stars are diurnal and others are nocturnal, and they are either beneficial or
baneful. They are: two luminaries, two beneficial ones, two baneful ones, and a mixed one
which varies with each nature. One of the luminaries is the Sun, which is male and whose force is
diurnal. The other one is female, namely the Moon, and its force is nocturnal. One of the beneficial
ones is male, belonging to the diurnal stars, and it is Jupiter; and the other one is female,
belonging to the nocturnal stars, and it is Venus. One of the baleful ones is male, belonging to the
diurnal stars, and it is Saturn; the second one is female, belonging to the nocturnal stars, and it is
Mars.
Mercury is mixed since it tends to be male sometimes and female at other times, belonging
sometimes to the diurnal stars and at other times to the nocturnal stars, sometimes beneficial and
at other times baneful according to the nature of the star which goes together with it either in
conjunction or in aspect, as I shall explain in the proper place. The nature of the five planets,
together with the Moon, varies according to the distance from the Sun, as I shall also explain.
Furthermore, they have another variation in ascending or in descending, since sometimes
they are near the earth and at other times they are far from it, sometimes they are to the left and at
other times they are to the right. Now when the star is in the high degree of the eccentric orbit
which is not in the center of the earth, then the star is in the point of its elevation from the earth,
and conversely when it is in the point of its declination. Their dragon is in the place of the union of
the star's circle, which resembles the signs' circle, together with its leaning circle, and the head of
the dragon is the beginning of the north and the tail is the beginning of the south ; and when the
constellation is in the Moon together with the head or the tail, then it will be in the elliptical orbit of
the signs of the zodiac, and in the other places it will have width either to the left or to the right
according to its distance from the two points. The planets have power in the circle. There are the
power of house, power of honor, power of triplicity, power of limit, and power of face ; the power of
the house is 5 forces, the power of the honor is 4, the power of the triplicity is 3, the power of the
limit is 2, and the power of the face is 1.
Now when the star is in a sign, which is its house, it has power over the whole sign, and likewise in
a sign which is the house of its honor; but the star has greater force in the degrees of the honor
than in the other degrees of the sign. I shall mention in this book all that in which there is
agreement in the opinion of the ancient Babylonians and the wise men of Persia, India, and
Greece, whose chief is Ptolemy, and I shall recall the groups of nine and of twelve signs, the bright
and the dark degrees, those which are blank, the males and the females, the degrees of the stars'
censer, the degrees which increase grace and glory, and the abundant places of the stars which
are in the orbit of the signs, together with their longitude and latitude and the conjunction of the
largest ones, until my book will be complete and there will be no need for any other book besides it
in the introduction to this science.