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He proceeded to argue, with all the zeal and vehemence of conviction, that Serapis was the most terrible of all the heathen daemons, and that all the oracles of antiquity, all the prophecies of the seers, and all the conclusions of the Magians and astrologers would be proved false if his fall which the present assembly could only regard as a great boon from Heaven did not entail some tremendous convulsion of nature.
Such is a brief outline of the lives and fortunes of those two persons in whose society Mannering now found himself comfortably seated. Do not the hist'ries of all ages Relate miraculous presages Of strange turns m the world's affairs, Foreseen by astrologers, soothsayers, Chaldeans, learned genethliacs, And some that have writ almanacks? Hudibras.
The priest detected at once the change in his features and said gently: "Thou deem'st thyself a lost man because the heavens prognosticated evil at thy birth; but take comfort, Psamtik; I observed another sign in the heavens at that moment, which escaped the notice of the astrologers. Thy horoscope was a threatening, a very threatening one, but its omens may be averted, they may . . ."
Among the Hindoos of Southern India the eating of the new rice is the occasion of a family festival called Pongol. The new rice is boiled in a new pot on a fire which is kindled at noon on the day when, according to Hindoo astrologers, the sun enters the tropic of Capricorn. The boiling of the pot is watched with great anxiety by the whole family, for as the milk boils, so will the coming year be.
A good deal of hard cash is spent in getting the advice of astrologers, who pretend to understand and explain the occult art, and pleasure or consternation is thus usually the result of what might have been explained naturally either by one of the above-named causes, or by the victim having feasted the previous evening on something indigestible.
At length, however, a son was born, whose birth was celebrated by public rejoicings and feasts, which, during forty days, announced to the people the happiness of the Sovereign. This time was employed in a very different manner by the astrologers who were employed to cast the infant's nativity. They could not conceal from the Sultan that an evil star had presided at the birth of his son.
He referred to his astrologers, who, however, hesitated, and were unwilling to afford an explanation of the mysterious vision. At length one of them, upon the solicited promise that the king would not punish him for divulging the truth, described the nature of the warning implied in what had been witnessed. "And now I throw aside the veil, Which hides the darkly shadowed tale.
It was so funny to read how the girls of Old Egypt had consulted palmists and fortune tellers and astrologers just as girls did in Bond Street now; and that what 'Billikens' and 'Swasticas' and birth-stones were to us, images of gods were to the girls of Egypt who lived before the days of Moses!
Alexander's invasion of India. Insubordination of the army. Alexander's address to the army. Address made to him. The army refuses to go further. Alexander's disappointment. Alexander resolves to return. He is wounded in an assault. Alexander's excesses. He abandons his old friends. Entrance into Babylon. Magnificent spectacle. The astrologers. Study of the stars. Warning of the astrologers.
I am glad that, after my shipwreck, I came so fortunately hither to defend you against all those that would attempt your death; I will not leave you till the forty days are expired, of which the foolish astrologers have made you so apprehensive; and in the mean time I will do you all the service that lies in my power; after which I shall have the benefit of getting to the main-land in your vessel, with leave of your father and yourself; and when I am returned into my kingdom, I shall remember the obligations I owe you, and endeavour to demonstrate my acknowledgments in a suitable manner.
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