The Astrology of P. Nigidius Figulus (Lucan I, 649–65)

Extract

No sooner had Pompey and the Senate fled in terror from Rome before Caesar's approach than the fears of those who remained in the city were heightened by new portents. The Etruscan soothsayer, Arruns, who was called in by the frightened townspeople to discover the will of the gods, proceeded to give such instructions as might be expected from one of his profession, and then, on sacrificing a bull, found that the omens were unfavourable. As if this were not enough, at v. 639 the famous Neopythagorean scholar and friend of Cicero, P. Nigidius Figulus, appeared in order to consult the skies, for, as Lucan observes, he was in advance of even the Egyptians in his knowledge of astrology. He began by remarking that, if this science meant anything at all, considerable trouble was in store for the Romans; and then went on in vv. 651–65 to reveal what he saw when he looked at the heavens, expressing his meaning in words which, apart from a couple of technical expressions, may be immediately translated with some incidental interpretations as follows:

‘If the cold baneful planet Saturn were kindling his black fires summo caelo’ (the inference, of course, is that he was not doing so), ‘a flood like that of Deucalion would have been pouring from Aquarius’ (or, because Aquarius is sometimes identified with Deucalion, the meaning may be ‘Aquarius would have been pouring out such a flood as could be expected from him’) ‘and the entire land would have been hidden in the spreading expanse of water.