In astrologos.

Against astrologers

Icare per superos qui raptus & aëra, donec
In mare praecipitem cera liquata daret,[1]
Nunc te cera eadem fervensque resuscitat ignis,[2]
Exemplo ut doceas dogmata certa tuo.
Astrologus caveat quicquam praedicere, praeceps
Nam cadet impostor dum super astra vehit[3].

Icarus, you were carried through the heights of heaven and through the air, until the melted wax cast you headlong into the sea. Now the same wax and the burning fire raise you up again, so that by your example you may provide sure teaching. Let the astrologer beware of prediction. Headlong will the imposter fall, as he flies beyond the stars.

Icarus filius fuit Daedali, qui una cum patre
se volatilem fecit, alis ex cera & pennis com-
pactis, sed cùm ultra patris iussa nimium su-
blime volans, à solis calore, cera qua pennae
continebantur liquefacta, alaeque fictitiae ruptae
  Link to an image of this page  [f6v p92]fuissent, in mare decidit, ibique periit, sic ab eo
Icarium mare appellatur, ut Ovidius lib. 1. de
Tristibus.

Dum petit infirmis nimium sublimia pennis,
Icarus, Icariis nomina fecit aquis.

Eius itaque tristis casus, omnibus etiam in poste-
rum Astronomis exemplo esse debet, ut à fi-
ctitiis atque incertis caveant, nedum imposto
res futura imprudenter praedicere ac nimium
alta petere volentes, simili modo cadant. Dae-
dali verò & Icari ex Creta fuga, causa, & exi-
tus legitur apud Ovidium lib. 2. de arte amandi &
lib. 8. Metamorphoseon Syl[4]. lib. 14. & Diodorum lib. 5.