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Al-Kindī on Judicial Astrology: ‘the Forty Chapters’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Charles Burnett
Charles Burnett
Affiliation:
University of London, The Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, London WC1H OAB, UK
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Abstract

Al-Kindī's Forty Chapters was one of the most influential astrological texts in the Middle Ages in the Arabic and Latin-reading world. Yet it has never been studied by modern scholars and has not even been properly identified in the standard bibliographies and encyclopaedias of Arabic literature. This study describes the work as it appears in the Arabic MS, Jerusalem, Khālidī Library, 21(2)-Astr.-2; sets it in the tradition of Greek, Persian and Arabic texts on catarchic astrology; and traces its influence on later Arabic astrological works, which give evidence of a fuller text than that in the Khālidī Library. This fuller text appears in the two Latin translations made in the mid-twelfth century by Hugo of Santalla and Robert of Ketton. Finally some comments are added about the place of The Forty Chapters in al-Kindī's œ;uvre. Two appendixes give respectively details of the manuscripts of the Arabic text and the two Latin translations, and an edition of a specimen chapter (concerning irrigation and cultivating the land) from these three versions.

Les quarante chapitres d'al-Kindī furent l'un des textes astrologiques les plus influents du moyen âge dans le monde arabe et dans le monde de culture latine. Néanmoins, malgre son importance ce trait´e n'a jamais été étudié ni même correctement identifié dans les bibliographies et les encyclopédies de base consacrées à l'histoire littéraire des Arabes. Cette étude décrit le texte tel qu'il se présente dans le MS Arabe 21(2)-Astr.-2 de la bibliothèque Khālidī de Jérusalem, le replace dans les traditions grecque, persane et arabe d'écrits sur l'astrologie catarchique, et en suit l'influence sur des textes astrologiques arabes plus tardifs. Ces derniers démontrent l'existence d'une version des Quarante chapitres plus complète que celle du manuscrit de Jérusalem. C'est cette version plus complète qui apparaît dans les deux traductions latines rédigées au milieu du XIIe siècle par Hugues de Santalla et Robert de Ketton. L'étude s'achève sur quelques commentaires visant à replacer les Quarante chapitres dans l'œuvre d'al-Kindī. Deux appendices donnent respectivement une description des manuscrits du texte arabe et des deux traductions latines, et l'édition d'un chapitre sur la culture et l'irrigation des terres dans chacune des trois versions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Arabic Sciences and Philosophy , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 77 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

1 This paper is an off-shoot of a project for cataloguing all the works in Latin attributed to al-Kindī. For this project I am greatly indebted to the resources of the Équipe of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Histoire des sciences et des philosophies arabes et médiévales, and to the help received there from M. Jean Jolivet and M. A. Ben Chehida. M. Roshdi Rashed kindly lent me his copy of the microfilm of MS Jerusalem, Khālidī Library, 21(2)-Astr.-2 (= Kh). I could not have written this paper without the help of Silke Ackermann, Hillary Wiesner, David Pingree, Fritz Zimmermann and Luc Deitz.Google Scholar

2 Oxford, Bodleian, Ashmole 434 (late sixteenth century), pt. 12, fol.1r see p. 105 below. The catalogue of the Ashmolean MSS compiled by W.H. Black (Oxford, 1845), suggests that ‘R. S.’ is Richard Sanders.Google Scholar

3 On the title page the work is called ‘kitāb al-mudkhal fī aḥkām ‘ilm al-nujūm’, which does not make sense. ‘Aḥkā’ should either replace ‘'ilm’ or should follow ‘'ilm’. The Latin titles ‘De iudiciis’ and ‘Iudicia’ imply that ‘aḥkām’ was part of the title of the Arabic text(s) known to the translators in Spain in the mid-twelfth century.Google Scholar

4 The appearance of ‘abū (Isḥāq)’ instead of ‘ibn (Isḥāq)’ in the Khāalidī manuscript is probably a scribal error and should not arouse the suspicion that there is another author with a similar name to the Philosopher of the Arabs.Google Scholar

5 The Forty Chapters is cited by the chapter-numbers of the Arabic text (with those of Robert of Ketton's Latin translation in brackets), and a continuous sequence of section (§) numbers into which I have divided the Latin texts. A modern descriptive note on the microfilm states that the work occupies fols 648–70 of the manuscript, but since these folio numbers are not visible on the microfilm, I have numbered the folios from the beginning of al-Kindī's text, referring to the title page as folio 1. For full details of the manuscripts of the Arabic text and Latin translations, the list of chapters, and an edition of a specimen chapter from the Arabic text and two Latin translations see the Appendices below. The beginning of the Arabic text and of the two Latin translations is edited in Burnett, C., ‘A group of Arabic-Latin translators working in Northern Spain in the mid-twelfth century’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1977): 62–108 (see pp. 98–102). The author has printed out a full edition of the two Latin translations in parallel columns (200 pp.), and bound copies of this edition may be obtained directly from him.Google Scholar

6 The Arabic is obscure and appears to be garbled in the Khālidī manuscript.Google Scholar

7 ‘Constat apud sapientes rerum generationes corruptionesque motu perpetuo celestium corporum contingere, quarum effectus ex luminum et ceterorum planetarum celique natura, modo simul et ordine, in luminum coniunctione oppositioneque principaliter procedit’ (Robert of Ketton's translation, §699).Google Scholar

8 MS Kh, fol. 2r appears to give ‘nabbaha’ (‘it awakens/arouses’); the Latin manuscripts imply ‘yushbihu’ (‘it resembles’). See following note.Google Scholar

9 MS Kh, fol. 2r. Compare the Latin versions: ‘Ipsorum autem incium ver satisidonee statuitur, quoniam ipsum pre ceteris omnium rerum origini cuiuscumque generis assimilatur. Res quippe singule suum ex calore et humore vegetativo contrahunt inicium. Deinceps etate ineunte, vigoreque florente, caloris siccitatisque vires subintrant. Unde sua calori subtracta materia, frigor cum siccitate succedit. Hisque vigentibus cum frigoris sit excessus, ipsius superhabundanciam humorum crementum comitatur. Unde cibus sumptus, cum in huiusmodi rebus bene digerinequeat, humores putridos atque corruptos, remanens in eorum corporibus, procreat’ (Robert of Ketton's translation); ‘Veruntamen hec temporum differencia a vere ducit exordium. Est enim quedam ipsius cum biformi, seminum videlicet et animalium, nativitate conveniencia. His namque duobus calor vitalis et humor subsistendi prebenrt initium. Cum eorum virtus in ulterioris vite spacium roboratur, calor et siccitas preferuntur. Deinceps autem calor cum frigore suo tempore convalescit. Ad ultimum quoque humor expressa frigiditate copulatus cum nullo caloris vel siccitatis fomento hauriatur, in utero remanens corrumpitur et putrescit’ (Hugo of Santalla's translation). This is similar to a statement in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, Book I, chapter 10, but adds the statement concerning the dissolution of the organism due to the presence of corrupted humours.Google Scholar

10 Introduction, §§69–71. See also n. 66 below.

11 See Magnus, Albertus, Speculum astronomiae, ed. Zambelli, P. et al. (Pisa, 1977), chapter 9, pp. 23–5.Google Scholar

12 Sidonius, Dorotheus, Carmen Astrologicum, ed. Pingree, D. (Leipzig, 1976). This book includes the Arabic text, an English translation, and the Greek and Latin fragments.Google Scholar

13 Dorotheus, Carmen Astrologicum, p. 106.

14 For the relevant works see the entries in Sezgin, F., Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums (Leiden, 1979), VIIGoogle Scholar, and Pingree, D., ‘Astrology’, in Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, 2: Religion, Learning and Science in the 'Abbasid Period (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 290–300. Several early Arabic texts which have masā'il in their titles were incorporated into compendia such as those of al-Qasrānī (see below), and the Liber novem iudicum, whose sources I am investigating.Google Scholar

15 I am indebted to David Pingree for this information. Whether there is agreement in the contents of chapters which have the same title, and, if so, what are the stages in the transmission of those contents from the Greek texts to The Forty Chapters, are subjects which require much more extensive investigation.Google Scholar

16 §244 (Robert of Ketton's translation): ‘Dorothio rursum teste, Sol in quovis oriente nisi in Libra et Aquario repertus, inventionem nunciat, sicut et Luna quoque in ascendente cum Venere loveque’; K. al-Bāri’, London, British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections, Additional 23399, fol. 89v.Google ScholarCf.Dorotheos, , Carmen astrologicum, V. 35.17.Google Scholar

17 See §§270–3: ‘quoddam exemplum abeniucef de furto subiciatur…Amissionis quidem astrologus idem tale dedit exemplum… Idem eciam actor hoc de furti questione supposuit exemplum’ (Robert of Ketton's translation); ‘Exemplum abiniozuf questione de furto facta…Item astrologi eiusdem aliud questionis de re amissa exemplum…Ait ergo iudex idem abiniuzuf…Item eiusdem sub alia furti questione exemplum’ (Hugo of Santalla's translation). Unfortunately the horoscopes give too little information to permit one to date them.Google Scholar

18 MS Add. 23399, fol. 88v: ‘wa qāla Abū Yūsuf…’ (= §272).Google Scholar

19 Oxford, Bodleian Library, Marsh 211, fol. 111v: ‘mithāl fī amr al-sariqa: qāla al-Kindī…’Google Scholar

20 Introduction, §25, Khālidī MS, fol. 2v: ‘fī kitābinā al-a'ẓam fi asrār al-nujūm’; ‘in libro nostro maiore De stellarum secretis’ (Robert and Hugo's translations).Google Scholar

21 Risāla ilā z. rn. b tilmīdhihi fī asrār al-nujūm wa ta 'lim mabādi' al-a'māl;Google Scholar IbnUṣaybi'a, Abī, ‘Uyūn al-anbā fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbā’, ed. Riḍā, N. (Beirut, 1965), II, p. 185;Google ScholarMcCarthy, R.J., , S.J., al-Taṣānīf al-mansūba ilā faylasūf al-'arab (Baghdad, 1963), p. 103, n. 79, gives ‘Dharnab’ as the dedicatee.Google Scholar

22 See Sezgin, , Geschichte, VII, pp. 134 and 138,Google Scholar and Pingree, D., ‘Political horoscopes relating to late 9th century 'Alīds’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 36 (1977): 247–75. The horoscopes discussed by Pingree were cast by al-Qaṣrānī between 864 and 884, but the horoscopes discussed below appear to be a few years later.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 The main variants are in terminology. For example, al-Qaṣrānī tends to use ‘rabb’ in place of ‘ṣāḥib’ for ‘Lord (of the nth place)’.Google Scholar

24 MS Marsh 211, fol. 55v.

25 Ibid. p. 110: ‘qāla al-Kindī fī ma'rifat istikhrāj ism al-liṣṣ'. I have not discovered this account in any other Arabic or Latin source.

26 Al-Bīrūnī, , Kitāb al-Tafhīm li-awā'il sinā'at al-tanjīm, ed. Wright, R.R. (London, 1934), pp. 301–4 (§§487–8), correspond to Forty Chapters, Introduction, §§44–52.Google Scholar

27 Wright's translation, p. 301.

28 MS Oxford, Bodleian Library, Marsh 663, pp. 197–7Google Scholar, first noted in Sezgin, , Geschichte, VII, p. 133, no. 15.Google Scholar

29 Sezgin, , Geschichte, VI, p. 154.Google Scholar

30 Ibid., p. 285.

31 The twelfth-century astrologer, Hermann of Carinthia, collected several texts on the topic by Arabic authors in Latin translation, in his De occultis; see Burnett, C., ‘Arabic into Latin in twelfth-century Spain: the works of Hermann of Carinthia’, Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch, 13 (1978): 100–34 (see pp. 118–21).Google Scholar

32 'Alī ibn Abī al-Rijāl served the Zīrid prince al-Mu'izz ibn Bādis at Qayrawān and died after 1037; see Pingree, D., ‘Ibn Abī'l-Ridjāl'’, Encyclopaedia of Islam, second edition (Leiden, 1971), III, p. 688.Google Scholar

33 The edition has been made from London British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections, Additional 23399, fol. 59r–60r (=A) and Ibid., Loth 735, fol. 27v–28r (=L), with variants in the quotations from al-Kindī, from Khālidī 21(2)-Astr. 2 (=Kh). The equivalent passages can be found in the thirteenth-century Castilian translation edited byGoogle Scholar

Hilty, G., Aly Aben Ragel, El libro complido en los Iudizios de las Estrellas (Madrid, 1954), pp. 62–3, and in the Latin translation from the Castilian in MS Cambridge, University Library, Mm.IV.43, fol. 28r.Google Scholar

34 The words in square brackets are missing from ‘Alī ibn Abī al-Rijāl's text, but are present in the Khālidī manuscript of The Forty Chapters, fol. 2v.Google Scholar

35 This sentence is obscure in MS Kh. The Castilian translation (see n. 33 above) gives: ‘E los yerros del mundo e las desacordanças serian luengas de contar’.Google Scholar

36 For the last phrase compare the Castilian translation: ‘es tal como qui faze lenna de noche que toma buena e mala’.Google Scholar

37 al-Nadīm, Ibn, Kitāb al-fihrist, ed. Flügel, G. (Beirut, 1871), p. 257.Google Scholar

38 ‘Uyūn al-anbā’ vol. II, p. 184.Google Scholar

39 See above. Compare the Latin translations: Introduction, §§24–5: ‘Harum <sc. triplicitatum> item singulis partibus in novenas divisis, earum singule.x. gradus optinent, qui facies ex eorum ducatu super rerum facies, nuncupantur. Arietis itaque primam faciem plereque gencium Marti tribuunt, secundam Soli, terciam Veneri. Fitque successus deinceps secundum circulorum compositiones ordinatas. Facies igitur postrema Piscium et Marti contingit. Huiusmodi quidem divisio innaturalis dignaque repudio cernitur, cum bine continue facies, postrema scilicet Piscium, Arietisque prima, uni stellarum accidant. (25) Facierum autem assignatio nostro quidem iudicio naturalis atque sana velud in libro nostro maiore “De Stellarum Secretis” explanavimus planetis secundum suorum signorum ordinem attingit. Arietis igitur faciem primam Mars suus dominus sortitur, secundam Venus Tauri domina, terciam, Mercurius Geminorum dominus. Talisque progressus ordo Jovi Piscium scilicet signi postremi domino, faciem ultimam Cancri tribuit‘ (Robert of Ketton's translation); ‘Singule igitur harum partium in tres partes recipiunt sectionem quarum quelibet.x. gradus assumit. He autem facies nominantur, quoniam animalium facies sigrnficare videntur. Primam itaque Arietis faciem quamplures Marti, secundam Soli, terciam Veneri et deinceps pro circulorum ordine quousque Piscium facies ultima Marti denuo succedat, concesserunt. Que tamen incongrua videtur particio, quoniam Piscium ultima facies Arietis primam ordine sequitur. Unde duas continue eadem sciicet inconvementer suscipit stella. (25) Apud nos igitur priore pocior et conveniens ea videtur divisio, quam in libro nostro maiore “De Stellarum Secretis” inscripto prediximus. Ibi enim facies pro signorum ordine describens, primam Arietis Marti eiusdem signi domino concessimus. Secunda Veneri que Tauri dominatum possidet, relicta est. Terciam quoque Mercurius Geminorum dominator retinet. Unde accidit ut Cancri novissima lovi domino Piscium et in ordine signorum ultimo relinquatur’ (Hugo of Santafla's translation).+item+singulis+partibus+in+novenas+divisis,+earum+singule.x.+gradus+optinent,+qui+facies+ex+eorum+ducatu+super+rerum+facies,+nuncupantur.+Arietis+itaque+primam+faciem+plereque+gencium+Marti+tribuunt,+secundam+Soli,+terciam+Veneri.+Fitque+successus+deinceps+secundum+circulorum+compositiones+ordinatas.+Facies+igitur+postrema+Piscium+et+Marti+contingit.+Huiusmodi+quidem+divisio+innaturalis+dignaque+repudio+cernitur,+cum+bine+continue+facies,+postrema+scilicet+Piscium,+Arietisque+prima,+uni+stellarum+accidant.+(25)+Facierum+autem+assignatio+nostro+quidem+iudicio+naturalis+atque+sana+velud+in+libro+nostro+maiore+“De+Stellarum+Secretis”+explanavimus+planetis+secundum+suorum+signorum+ordinem+attingit.+Arietis+igitur+faciem+primam+Mars+suus+dominus+sortitur,+secundam+Venus+Tauri+domina,+terciam,+Mercurius+Geminorum+dominus.+Talisque+progressus+ordo+Jovi+Piscium+scilicet+signi+postremi+domino,+faciem+ultimam+Cancri+tribuit‘+(Robert+of+Ketton's+translation);+‘Singule+igitur+harum+partium+in+tres+partes+recipiunt+sectionem+quarum+quelibet.x.+gradus+assumit.+He+autem+facies+nominantur,+quoniam+animalium+facies+sigrnficare+videntur.+Primam+itaque+Arietis+faciem+quamplures+Marti,+secundam+Soli,+terciam+Veneri+et+deinceps+pro+circulorum+ordine+quousque+Piscium+facies+ultima+Marti+denuo+succedat,+concesserunt.+Que+tamen+incongrua+videtur+particio,+quoniam+Piscium+ultima+facies+Arietis+primam+ordine+sequitur.+Unde+duas+continue+eadem+sciicet+inconvementer+suscipit+stella.+(25)+Apud+nos+igitur+priore+pocior+et+conveniens+ea+videtur+divisio,+quam+in+libro+nostro+maiore+“De+Stellarum+Secretis”+inscripto+prediximus.+Ibi+enim+facies+pro+signorum+ordine+describens,+primam+Arietis+Marti+eiusdem+signi+domino+concessimus.+Secunda+Veneri+que+Tauri+dominatum+possidet,+relicta+est.+Terciam+quoque+Mercurius+Geminorum+dominator+retinet.+Unde+accidit+ut+Cancri+novissima+lovi+domino+Piscium+et+in+ordine+signorum+ultimo+relinquatur’+(Hugo+of+Santafla's+translation).>Google Scholar

40 Compare the Latin translations of chapter 11(15), §408: ‘Marte quoque a decimo Tauri gradu usque ad decimum Leonis vel a decimo Scorpionis usque ad consimilem Aquarii circuli partem orientalem sortito, orientali certamen est fructuosum et commendabile. Illo vero inter Leonis et Scorpionis vel Aquarii Taurique gradus decimos circuli partem occidentalem occupante, in occidentem tendenti bellum incoandurn’ (Robert of Ketton's translation): ‘Mars item in orientali parte circuli, a decimo scilicet gradu Tauri usque ad Leonis decimum gradum et a decimo Scorpionis ad decimum Aquarii, in orientis partem pugnandum admonet. In occidentali parte a decimo scilicet Leonis usque ad decimum Scropionis, item ab Aquarii decimo usque ad decimum Tauri gradum, in occidentis partes dimicandum hortatur’ (Hugo of Santalla's translation).Google Scholar

41 K. al-Bāri', I.30 (MS Add. 23399, fol. 36r) = Forty Chapters, 28(32); I.39 (fol.41v) = 35(39); I.48 (fol. 47r) = 21(25); I.50 (fol. 49r) = 29(33); I.51 (fol. 52v) = 27(31); II.29–32 (fol. 77r) = 20(24); II.33 (fol.78v) = 7(11) (only §§248–69); II.34 (fol. 80v) (without attribution) = 6(10) and part of 7(11)(§§173–241, 272, 277–82, 242–7); III.14 (fol.121r) = 18(22); III.17 (fol. 122v) = 23(27); VII.22 (fol. 287v) = 16(20) (§§482–3);VII.24 (fol. 287v) = 16(20) (§§488–9). The chapter divisions of the K. al-Bāri' are those given in MS Loth 735, fols 1v–4v, which match those in the Castilian version as far as it goes.Google Scholar

42 MS Add. 23399, fol. 121r.

43 El libro complido, ed. Hilty, G., p. 92b: Dixo Aly, el conpilador d'este libro: A mi fue demandado una uez por una cosa e falle el ascendente Leon e Venus en el, e dix que aquella cosa era en el lecho so la ropa, e esto porque Venus era en el ascendente, e es significador de lecho. E segund esto para mientes e iudga, e acertaras, con Dios.Google Scholar

44 See Robert's Preface in Appendix I below.

45 See Gastambide, J.M. Goni, ‘Los obispos de Pamplona del siglo XII’, Anthologica Annua, 13 (1965): 254–64.Google Scholar

46 See Hermann, , De occultis, MS Oxford, Bodleian, Laud Misc., 594, fol. 149v, with the rubric: ‘Alkindis vero post doctissimum Messehallem ad hunc modum’.Google Scholar

47 See Appendix I below, sentence 4.

48 One may note that his revision of Adelard of Bath's translation of al-Khwārizmī's astronomical tables involved finding Latin equivalents for the Arabic terms which had been left untranslated; see Mercier, R., ‘Astronomical tables in the twelfth century’, in Burnett, C. (ed.), Adelard of Bath: An English Scientist and Arabist of the Early Twelfth Century (London, 1987), pp. 87–118 (see pp. 97 and 116–18).Google Scholar

49 See Appendix I below, sentence 2.

50 See Hermann's, Preface to his translation of Abū Ma'shar's Maius introductorium, in Haskins, C.H., Studies in the Histroy of Mediaeval Science, second edition (Cambridge, Mass, 1927), pp. 45–7.Google Scholar

51 This preface is edited, and the composition of the Books of Three Judges and Nine Judges is discussed in Burnett, ‘A Group’, pp. 78–97. Since this article appeared another manuscript of the text has come to light: MS Dublin, Trinity College, 368.Google Scholar

52 The MSS are agreed in giving the number of chapters as ‘lxvi’. If this is not a simple mistake for ‘xlvi’, made by transposition, it may be explained by the fact that several of the longer chapters are subdivided already in the Khālidī manuscript (in which the subsections have rubricated titles beginning with ‘bāb…’), and these subdivisions appear as separate chapters in the Liber trium iudicum and Liber novem iudicum.Google Scholar

53 Burnett, ‘A Group’, p. 92: ‘Tibi, ergo, mi domine antistes Michael’. The third manuscript has a dedication to ‘karissime R’ (‘dearest R<obert>’?), which suggests that Hermann of Carinthia might also have had a role in compiling the work.’?),+which+suggests+that+Hermann+of+Carinthia+might+also+have+had+a+role+in+compiling+the+work.>Google Scholar

54 The Forty Chapters, Introduction, §112. Compare Robert of Ketton's translation: ‘Letatur item Mercurius in ascendente, Luna in tercio, Venus in quinto, Mars in sexto, Sol in nono, Iupiter in.xi., Saturnus in.xii.’. Hugo's style is the same in his translation of Liber Aristotilis de 255 Indorum voluminibus… summam continens, ed. Pingree, D. and Burnett, C. (in progress), III iv 1,3:Google Scholar ‘Mercurius in oriente discurritt, Luna in tercio moratur, Venus in quinto tripudiat, Mars in.vi. erit alacrior, Sol in nono congaudet, Iupiter in.xi. resultat, Saturnus in.xii. plaudit’. For more examples of Hugo's translating style see Burnett, C., ‘Literal translation and intelligent adaptation amongst the Arabic-Latin translators of the first half of the twelfth century’, in La diffusione delle scienze islamiche nel medio evo europeo, Convegno internazionale dell'Accademia nazionale dei Lincei (Rome, 1987), pp. 9–28.Google Scholar

55 The two printings are by Liechtenstein, Peter (Venice, 1509)Google Scholar and Henricus Petrina (Basel, 1571). The printed editions omit the introductory chapters.Google Scholar

56 See Shore, L.A., ‘A case study in medieval nonliterary translation: Scientific texts from Latin to French’, in Beer, J. (ed.), Medieval Translators and their Craft (Kalamazoo, 1989), pp. 297–328 (see p. 308).Google Scholar

57 See al-Kindī's words in his Preface, p. 78 above.

58 The pioneering study in this field was Loth, O., ‘Al-Kindī als Astrolog’, Morgenländische Forschungen, Festschrift für Herrn Professor Dr. H.L. Fleischer (Leipzig, 1875), pp. 261–309. See alsoGoogle Scholar

Walzer, R., Greek into Arabic (Oxford, 1962), pp. 199–200.Google Scholar

59 Fihrist, ed. Flügel, p. 259.Google Scholar

60 Ibid., p. 260.

61 See Dodge, B., The Fihrist of al-Nadīm (New York and London, 1970), pp. 621–2 and 624.Google Scholar See further Sezgin, , Geschichte, VII, pp. 133–4Google Scholar and Ullmann, M., Die Natur-und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam (Leiden, 1972), pp. 313–14.Google Scholar

62 Risāla fī mulk al-'arab wa kammiyyatihi (‘Letter on the rule of the Arabs and its length’). This letter was included in Abü Ma'shar's Kitāb al-Qirānāt (‘Book of the Conjunctions’) and edited and translated in Loth, ‘Al-Kindīals Astrolog’.Google Scholar

63 Escorial 918; see Ullmann, Natur-und Geheimwissenschaften, p. 313.Google Scholar

64 For Arabic texts on astrometeorology attributed to al-Kindī see Sezgin, , Geschichte, VII, pp. 326–7.Google ScholarA Risāla fi aḥdāth al-jaww (‘letter on the happenings in the atmosphere’), has been edited by Rosenthal, F. in ‘From Arabic books and manuscripts VI: Istanbul materials for al-Kindī and as-Saraḥsī, ’Journal of the American Oriental Society, 76 (1956): 27–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and by Maskuni, Y.Y., ‘Risāla fī aḥdāth al-jaww’ (University of Baghdad, 1965)Google Scholar (One must note Rosenthal's hesitation concerning the authenticity of this text). Two letters on astrometeorology by al-Kindī exist in Hebrew and Latin: for manuscripts of the Hebrew texts see Steinschneider, M., Die hebräischen Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher (Berlin, 1893), pp. 564–5;Google Scholar for the Latin text, which combines the two letters, see the incipit Rogatus fui in Thorndike, L. and Kibre, P., A Catalogue of Incipits of Mediaeval Scientific Writings in Latin, second edition (London, 1963).Google Scholar The Latin text was published in Venice in 1507 and Paris in 1540. Al-Kindī uses the theory that the Moon causes crises in illnesses in his ‘Letter on the causes of crises in acute diseases’ (Risāla fī 'illat al-baḥārīn li-l-amrād al-ḥādda), edited, translated into German and discussed by Klein-Franke, F. in ‘Die Ursachen der Krisen bei akuten Krankheiten. Eine wiederentdeckte Schrift al-Kindī's’, Israel Oriental Studies, 5 (1975): 161–88. Note that this last text, like The Forty Chapters, is dedicated to ‘some of his brethren’ (‘ilā ba'di ikhwānihi’).Google Scholar

65 For the latter – Risāla fī taḥrīr waqt yurjā fihi ijābat al-du'ā’ wa al-taḍarru’ ilā Allāh ta 'ālā min jihat al-tanjim – see Türker-Küyel, M., ‘Kindī'nin sanilan küçük bir yildiz bakim kitabi’, Araştirma, 10 (1972 (1976)): 1–18 (edition of Arabic text, Turkish translation, Turkish and French introduction)Google Scholar, and M. Mahdi, ‘Al-ta'ālīm wa al-tajriba fī al-tanjīm wa al-musīqā (Nusūs ghayr manshūra li-l-Kindī wa al-Fārābī)’Google Scholar, in Amin, Uthmān (ed.), Nuṣūs falsafiyya muhdāt ilā al-Duktūr Ibrāhīm Madkūr (Cairo, 1976), pp. 53–78Google Scholar (edition of Arabic text together with a similar text by al-Fārābī). This text would seem to belong to the genre of astrological Choices and complements the chapter on asking for things from people in The Forty Chapters (c. 30 (34)). A further treatise on Choices -Ikhtiyārāt al-ayyām - has been translated into German and studied by Wiedemann, E. in ‘Ueber einen astrologischen Traktat von al Kindi’, Archiv für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik, 3 (1912): 224–6.Google Scholar

66 For example, aside from the passage from a1-Qabīṣ;ī's k. al-mudkhal ilā ‘ilm alnujūm referred to in Ullmann, Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften, p. 314, a paragraph attributed to ‘quidam’ (‘certain people’) in the Latin translation of al-Qabīsīapos;s work (Alcabitii ad Magisterium iudiciorum astrorum Isagoge (Paris, 1521), fol. a5r) reproduces The Forty Chapters, şş69–70.Google Scholar Moreover a very similar passage appears in ‘Achmat the Persian”s introduction to astrology, MS Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana, Pal. 312, fol. 92v (transcribed by David Pingree). lsquo;Achmat’'s work is known only in Greek, but is a Byzantine translation of what is probably a ninth-century Arabic text; see Pingree, D., The Yavanajātaka of Sphujidhvaja (Cambridge, Mass., 1978), II, p. 419.Google Scholar

67 Majmū' aqāwīl al-ḥukam¯’ al-munajjimīn of Abū Sa'īd Manṣūr ibn Alī Bundāal-Dāmaghāni (Writen 507 A.H./1113A.D.);Google Scholar see Sezgin, , Geschichte, VIII, pp. 20–1.Google Scholar

68 This is clearly the case too of the ‘Secrets of the Stars’ mentioned in The Forty Chapters as ‘our large book’.Google Scholar

69 In this he may have been following the examble of Alexander of Aphrodisias whose Quaestiones have a similar form, and were (at least partially) translated into Arbic. The influence of Alexander of Aphrodisias on al-Kindī is being uncovered the current reseach of Silvia Fazzo and Hillary Wiesner.Google Scholar

70 This is edited and translated into German by Garbers, K. (Leipzig, 1948).Google Scholar

71 This is printed in facsimile and translated into English by Levey (Madison, 1966).Google Scholar

72 Italics mine; Aqrābādhīn, ed. Levey, p. 29: ‘…allatī kāna yasta'miluha’.Google Scholar

73 E.G., in his ‘Letter on the proximate efficient cause of generation and corruption’, in Rīda, M.A. Abū, Rasā'il al-Kindī al-falsafiyya 2 vols. Cairo, 1950–1953), I, pp. 224–5, and his ‘Letter on the prostration of the furthest body’,Google Scholar

Ibid.., pp. 247 and 252.

74 Since I cannot read the folis numbers on the microfilm of this manuscript, I have numbered the folios form the beginning of al-kindī's text.Google Scholar

75 See n.3 above.

76 See n.78 above.

77 The varits in the chapter-headings as they occur in the text are added in square brackets.Google Scholar

78 Fols 87 and 88 are replacements. There is a squash to get everything in on these replaced folios, and the text on the last on the part of fol. 88v is taken from Hugo of Santalla's translation of al-kindī's text (see below).Google Scholar

79 This manuscript belonged to Thomas Allen, and the copy of al-Kindī's ludicia follows a copy of the De radiis attributed in Latin manuscripts to al-Kindī.Google Scholar

80 Apparently copied from MS Digby 91; see de Meyier, K. A., Codices Vossiani Latini (Leiden, 1977), pp. 97–8.Google Scholar

81 See Catalogue général des MSS des Bibliothéques publiques de France: Université de Paris (Paris, 1918), pp. 159–60.Google Scholar The MS lacks fols 123 and 126; consequently the text ends in c. 33(37), §637. This manuscript was brought to my notice by Lemay, R. in his ‘L'authenticité de la préface de Robert de Chester a sa traduction du Morienus (1144)’, Chrysopœia 4 (1990).Google Scholar

82 This hand has also written some words in maghribī script on fol. 88v.Google Scholar

83 This place name, clearly written in G, is difficult to read in the other MSS.Google Scholar

84 I have checked the text of the other manuscripts, but they do not provide any better readings. Corrections have been made to the edition provided by Haskins, C.H., in his Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science, second edition (Cambridge, Mass., 1927), pp.121–2.Google Scholar

85 āaportionum.

86 eventu D.

87 This is a pun on the name by which Hermann preferred himself to be known:Hermannus Secundus, as has been pointed out by Lemay, R. in his ‘De la scolastique à l'histoire par le truchement de la philologie’, in La diffusione delle scienze islamiche, pp. 399–535 (see pp. 440–1).Google Scholar

88 For Robbert's metaphorical use of the world ‘seman’ see his translation of TheForty Chapters, c. 28(32), §600: ‘Ex his quidem velud ut quampluribus tum dictis tum dicedis a nobis semine dato, dillgens lector multa proferat’ (‘When the seed has been planed form these worlds as from many other things both said and to be said by us the dilligent reader will bring forth many things’). This sentebce has no equivalent either in the Arabic or in Hugo's translation. The reading ‘seriem’ Which is found in the other manuscripts and adopted by Hankins seems to be a banalization of Robert's distinctive vocalbulary.Google Scholar

89 This last sentence appears to incorporate statements found in al-Kindī's preface to The Forty Chapters (see p. 78above.)Google Scholar

90 Several chapters have been subdivided and the divisions have separate titles. These are not given, except in the case where the title is that of the first division of the chapter (e.g., cc. 7, 10 and 20).Google Scholar

91 MS London British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections, Additional 23399, fol. 277v: ‘al;juz’ al-sābi'… fi akām al-nujūm al-ikhtiyārāt khāssatan’, §§482–3 and 488–9 of al-Kindī's chapter are found on fol. 287v.Google Scholar

92 See Thebanus, Hephaestio, Apotelesmatica, III. 15, ed. Pingree, D. (Leipzig, 1973), I, pp. 286–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

93 On both occasions the Arabic for ‘made fortunate by a strong benefit’ should be: «mas'ūdan bi-al-sa'di al-qawiyyi’, and this is the text implied by the Latin translations. In the Arabic text as it stands should be read as ‘qawiya’ and the phrase translated either as ‘made fortunate by the benefic, and which has become strong’, or ‘made fortunate, and which has necome strong through the benefic.Google Scholar

94 Literally: ‘full moon’; the Kitāb al-Bāri’ gives ‘istiqbāl’.Google Scholar

95 Literally: ‘full moon’.

96 ‘the Lord of ’, omitted in the Kitāb al-Bāri’.Google Scholar

97 The Latin texts are taken from my edition of the two translations which I can supply on request.Google Scholar

98 Isidore, , Etymologiae, ed. Lindsay, W.M., XX, 15.3: ‘Telonem hortulani vocant lignum longum quo auriunt aquas… Hoc instrumentum Hispani ciconiam dicunt, propter quod imitetur eiusdem nomims avem, levantes aqua ac deponentes rostrum, dum clangit’ (‘Cultivators call a long pole by which they draw water a ‘telo’… This machine the Spaniards call a ‘ciconia’ because it mimics the bird of the same name, raising and lowering its beak into the water, squeaking all the time’).Google Scholar

99 See Corominas, , Diccionario crítico etimilógico de la lengua castellana 4 vols (Bern, 1954), s.v. ‘ña’.Google Scholar

100 For this meaning, see Isidore, , Etymologiae, XX, 15.1: ‘Rota… est… machine de qua e flumine aqua extrahitur’ (‘A ≤water-≥ wheel is a machine by which water is drawn from a river’).Google Scholar

101 Corominas, Diccionaric ctĺtico etimológico, s. v. ‘aceña’ and ‘noria’.Google Scholar For the use of Arabic irrigation techniques in Spain and the significance of some of these terms see Glick, T.F., Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages (Princeton, 1971), pp. 68–76.Google Scholar