Question I: On Conjectation from the Stars
On astronomy, and its praise. On astrology: here it is taught at length that this astrology is vain and forbidden. Its four species. On John Stadius of Bergamo. What astrology of revolutions can divine; and how the other species can do so. A threefold mortal sin occurs here.
Astrology is attacked by arguments and authorities of every kind.
The arguments of the astrologers are answered. Genesis 1:14; Isaiah 34:4; the passages of St. Augustine are reconciled. Psalm 103:2 and Revelation 6:14. The passage of Arethas of Caesarea, and where it must be corrected. Judges 5:20; Revelation 12:3; Psalm 18:12. The examples brought forward concerning the truth of certain predictions are answered.
On Thrasyllus. Why the laws join mathematicians with harmful magicians, and who are properly called mathematicians. In what way and why God permits them sometimes to predict the truth. On Ascletarion.
Several examples of false predictions. The death of Pope John XXI.
The Hebrews who were authors of iconoclasm. Pancratius; Constantine Stethatus. Those who predicted the coming of Antichrist. Peter Leonis of Spoleto. Abraham confounded these people by disputing. Manuel Comnenus was deceived by them. John Galeazzo deceived an astrologer. The lies of Peter of Monte Licino. King Alfonso of Aragon despised these people, and why. Ludovico Sforza’s foolish love of astrology. The judgment of the Alexandrians on these people, and the tax called blakennomion.
On a certain foolish and superstitious astrology of physicians and also of surgeons. On critical days. On astrology that investigates hidden things.
Question II: On Conjectation from Elements, Meteors, Plants, Trees, and Brutes
There seem to be only three elements.
A passage of Ausonius. On the things which are generated in the middle region of the air. On prediction from comets, and that they sometimes predict favorable things. The book of Chaeremon. Remarkable examples from Nola Bodcensis, from the bell of Villila, and from the little fish of the monastery of St. Maurice.
On foreknowledge from winds; likewise from clouds, hail, and similar things.
Pisidas is noted.
On the swelling of the sea and on earthquake. Remarkable prodigies of the air. Indian diviners badly punished. The Peruvian volcanoes. On the rainbow, halo, and so forth. What things may be conjectured from trees, plants, flowers, and so forth. A certain superstition here.
What things may be conjectured from living creatures. Whether they themselves perceive and announce things beforehand.
Question III: On the Conjectation of Physicians
A certain rule is handed down.
Question IV: On Physiognomic Conjectation
On its three species. Writers on it. Melampus and others. A passage of Juvenal. The foundations of the art. Isaiah 3:9.
On King Matthias Corvinus.
It is proved that a certain form of physiognomy is lawful, and to what extent. The saying of Socrates. A passage of Cassius the physician.
Question IV: On Physiognomic Conjectation
On what things the physiognomist may judge, and on what not. The example of Antonius Tiberius of Cesena is examined.
Question V: On Chiromancy
Its two species: physical and astrological. Verdier’s error concerning this.
The prohibition of Sixtus V. The vanity of the art. Writers on it. A passage of Juvenal.
The arguments of the opposite side are solved. Exodus 13:9 and Job 37:2; what “the hand of God” signifies in Scripture.
Exodus 24:31, 2 Samuel 3:15, Isaiah 8:11, Ezekiel 1:3, 33:22, and 37:1.
Examples of chiromantic predictions are examined: Bartholomew Cocles and Alexander Medicus. Jovius is noted.
Who the Zingari are, and whether princes should tolerate them. A Corinthian law on expenses.
Question VI: On Conjectation from Dreams
Writers on oneiromancy. The division of dreams. The foundations of this vanity.
On the book called Daniel’s Dream-Book and the canon Non observetis, 26, question 5. Synesius is noted.
Certain things may lawfully be observed, against Xenophanes and the Epicureans; certain things may not lawfully be observed, against the Stoics. A passage of Prudentius. From what the certainty or fallacy of dreams must be sought. On the efficient cause of dreams. The error of Synesius and Porphyry; likewise of Plato and Aristotle. Hippocrates’s division is not sufficient.
On natural dreams from an intrinsic cause: first, from an animal cause; the passage of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, verse 2; second, from an intrinsic bodily cause, and what dreams are proper to each predominant humor. On a natural extrinsic cause, and its division.
When it is lawful to attend to dreams arising from natural causes. The individual causes are explained by examples. It is not lawful to divine about future contingents, such as gifts freely given by God, nor about actions of free will.
On diabolical dreams. A passage of Homer and Ecclesiasticus 27:7. On lectisternia and the capturing of dreams among the Gentiles; on Venus of Gaza as interpreter of dreams. The dreams of Enthusiasts and Anabaptists; likewise of Epitelis of Messenia and Aedesius the philosopher.
The dreams of the mother of Attila, Ptolemy, Nestorius Atticus, Julian the Apostate, Odatis and Zariadres. What may lawfully be observed in demonic dreams. The dream of Conde. The story of Dinothus. What dreams are divine.
Certain examples of divine dreams: of Emperor Theodosius, Arnobius the rhetorician, Emperor Maurice, Bardas, Eulogius, and Alexander the Great. A passage of Peter of Blois. The observation of such dreams is lawful, and to whom their interpretation belongs. How divine dreams are to be distinguished from others. Ecclesiasticus 34:6.
Examples of those for whom the observation of dreams was very harmful: Agamemnon, Xerxes, Onomarchus, Antigonus, and Pompey. A certain narrative of Justus Lipsius, book 4, chapter 1, concerning a little woman of Brussels, and the story is carefully examined.