AlKindi on Judicial Astrology. the Fourty Chapters Charles Burnet 1993

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Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, vol. 3 (1993) pp. 77-117Copyright 0 1993 Cambridge University Press

AL-KINDI ON JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY:'THE FORTY CHAPTERS"

CHARLES BURNETT

Let all astrologers honour thee thus:Alkindus, Thou art Kinde to all of us.

R. 52

Al-Kindi's Forty Chapters was one of the most influential astro-logical texts in the Middle Ages in the Arabic and Latin-readingworld. Yet it has never been studied by modern scholars andhas not even been properly identified in the standard bibliogra-phies and encyclopaedias of Arabic literature. In the one extantArabic manuscript of the text - MS Jerusalem, Khãlidi Library,21(2)-Astr.-2 - the work is entitled Kitãb ft mudkhai ilã 'jim al-nujüm ('the book on the introduction to the science of thestars'), but is said to be 'called al-arba 'üna bãban ('The FortyChapters')'. ,' Since the latter name is also used by 'All ibn Abial-Rijãl (as we shall see), it seems appropriate to use it here. Inall our manuscripts it is attributed to al-Kindi. This attributionneed not be doubted.' Rather, this work fills out our picture ofthe intellectual range of the 'first philosopher' of the Arabs. Myaim is to draw together the texts which are most important for

This paper is an off-shoot of a project for cataloguing all the works in Latinattributed to al-Kindi. For this project I am greatly indebted to the resources of theEquipe of the Centre national de Ia recherche scientifique, Histoire des sciences etdes philosophies arabes et médiévales, and to the help received there from M. JeanJolivet and M. A. Ben Chehida. M. Roshdi Rashed kindly lent me his copy of themicrofilm of MS Jerusalem, Khàlidi Library, 21(2)-Astr.-2 (= 1(h). 1 could not havewritten this paper without the help of Silke Ackermann, Hillary Wiesner, DavidPingree, Fritz Zimmermann and Luc Deitz.

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

On the title page the work is called 'kitãb al-mudkhal 11 ahkãm 'ilm al-nujUm',which does not make sense. 'Ahkãm' should either replace "ilm' or should follow"ilm'. The Latin titles 'De iudiciis' and 'ludicia' imply that 'alkám' was part of thetitle of the Arabic text(s) known to the translators in Spain in the mid-twelfth cen-tury.

The appearance of 'abü (Isaq)' instead of 'ibn (Isaq)' in the Khalidi manuscriptis probably a scribal error and should not arouse the suspicion that there is anotherauthor with a similar name to the Philosopher of the Arabs.

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78 CHARLES BURNETT

revealing the original state of the work and its early transmis-sion; an account of its sources must await further research.,'

I

The Forty Chapters is a substantial work of twenty-two folios inthe Khãlidi manuscript and one hundred printed pages in eachof the two Latin versions. The Arabic text begins with a shortPreface:

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In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate.The book of Ya'qUb abü Isaq al-Kindi <addressed> to some of his brethrenon the introduction to the science of the stars, which is the book called 'TheForty Chapters': He said (may God grant you success in the guiding of your

The Forty Chapters is cited by the chapter-numbers of the Arabic text (with thoseof Robert of Ketton's Latin translation in brackets), and a continuous sequence ofsection () numbers into which I have divided the Latin texts. A modern descriptivenote 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 thefolios from the beginning of al-Kindi's text, referring to the title page as folio 1. Forfull details of the manuscripts of the Arabic text and Latin translations, the list ofchapters, and an edition of a specimen chapter from the Arabic text and two Latintranslations see the Appendices below. The beginning of the Arabic text and of thetwo Latin translations is edited in C. Burnett, 'A group of Arabic-Latin translatorsworking in Northern Spain in the mid-twelfth century', Journal of the Royal AsiaticSociety (1977): 62-108 (see pp. 98-102). The author has printed out a full edition ofthe two Latin translations in parallel columns (200 pp.), and bound copies of this edi-tion may be obtained directly from him.

AL-KIND! ON JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY: 'THE FORTY CHAPTERS'79labours and may he facilitate for you the attainment of your goals in theeasiest of outcomes and the most perfect well-being): I shall devise for you aconcise and compendious introduction, to make it easy for you to retain inthe memory the natures of the heavens, the aspects to the places from theirdirections and all the particular aspects in themselves. And I shall producefor you in it rules for knowing Nativities, Commencements of actions,Interrogations and Choices. From that I have devised general <headings?>so that the whole should be secure (?) through the mention of premisses andwhat is needed. Then I divided (?) it into chapters, making it 40 chapters,concisely and in accordance with (?) the established composition. Therebywe shall repeat... (?). Make sure that you remember the chapters of thebook!6

This is followed by the titles of the forty chapters, numbered ina mixture of Hindu-Arabic numerals and abjad numerals. TheIntroduction announced in the Preface consists of succinctdescriptions of the layout of the cosmos, the nature of the zodi-acal circle, the characteristics of the signs of the Zodiac, theplanetary houses, the decans, the planetary hours, theEgyptian terms, the characteristics of the planets and theeffects of their aspects one to another, and other astrologicalinformation. Then come the forty chapters themselves, eachdevoted to different topics on which the astrologer's clientmight ask the astrologer a question. These topics include per-sonal concerns such as marriage, children, slaves and illnesses;business affairs such as making a partnership, sending goodsby ship and making a journey by land; matters which are rele-vant especially to the ruler, such as battles, besieging cities, andknowing which of one's subjects might be a traitor; and recre-ation, such as the banquet, the hunt and horse-racing.

There is very little philosophical or theoretical material inthe text. A theoretical statement occurs in an appendix toRobert of Ketton's Latin translation where we read:It is established among wise men that the comings-to-be and the passings-away of things happen by the perpetual movement of the heavenly bodies,whose effect principally proceeds from the nature, condition and order ofthe luminaries, the other planets and the heavenly sphere when the lumi-naries are in conjunction and opposition .7

6 The Arabic is obscure and appears to be garbled in the Khãlidi manuscript.'Constat apud sapientes rerum generationes corruptionesque motu perpetuo

celestium corporum contingere, quarum effectus ex luminum et ceterorum plane-tarum celique natura, modo simul et ordine, in luminum coniunctione opposi-tioneque principaliter procedit' (Robert of Ketton's translation, §699).

80 CHARLES BURNETT

It is unlikely that this was part of al-Kindi's original text sinceit does not occur in the Khãlidi manuscript, but it could havebeen a marginal annotation or appendix in the Arabic text usedby Robert. An analogy between astrological events and biologi-cal development occurs in the Arabic text and both the Latintranslations in The Forty Chapters, Introduction, §9:

ti ;-tt Li .LLt ;jl- z,liLJiLA; L4.i ;i t+iJ

'

<The Zodiac> begins with Spring because it awakens" the beginning of allgrowth, in agriculture and reproduction. For these begin with life-givingmoisture and heat. Then, when their strength grows, heat and drynessincrease in them. Then coldness and dryness increase in them. Thenhumours return in them with an excess of coldness (dryness, Arabic MS),because they dissolve, and they remain inside them causing decay andputrefaction.'

Metaphorical language is used in the description of the move-ments of the heavenly bodies relative to each other, which arecompared with events and stages in human life. A planet in itsown house is like a man in his own house getting on with his

MS Kh, fol. 2' appears to give 'nabbaha' ('it awakens/arouses'); the Latinmanuscripts imply 'yushbihu' ('it resembles'). See following note.

'MS Kh, fol. 2'. Compare the Latin versions: 'Ipsorum autem inicium ver satisidonee statuitur, quoniam ipsum pre ceteris omnium rerum origini cuiuscumquegeneris assimilatur. Res quippe singule suum ex calore et humore vegetativo con-trahunt inicium. Deinceps etate ineunte, vigoreque florente, caloris siccitatisquevires subintrarit. Unde sua calori subtracta materia, frigor cum siccitate succedit.Hisque vigentibus cum frigoris sit excessus, ipsius superhabundanciam humorumcrementum cornitatur. Unde cibus sumptus, cum in huiusmodi rebus bene digerinequeat, huinores putridos atque corruptos, remanens in eorum corporibus, pro-creat' (Robert of Ketton's translation); 'Veruntamen hec temporum differencia avere ducit exordium. Est enim quedam ipsius cum biformi, seminum videlicet et ani-malium, nativitate conveniencia. His namque duobus calor vitalis et humor subsis-tenth prebent initium. Cum eorum virtus in ulterioris vite spacium roboratur, caloret siccitas preferuntur. Deinceps autem calor cum frigore suo tempore convalescit.Ad ultimum quoque humor expressa frigiditate copulatus cum nullo caloris vel sicci-tatis fomento hauriatur, in utero remanens corrumpitur et putrescit' (Hugo ofSantalla's translation). This is similar to a statement in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, BookI, chapter 10, but adds the statement concerning the dissolution of the organism dueto the presence of corrupted humours.

AL-KINDI ON JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY: THE FORTY CHAPTERS'81

own job; a planet in its exaltation is like someone reigning; inits term it is like a man who is in his own land and surroundedby his family; in its triplicity it has the form of one who is pro-tected by his guards, defenders and supporters; in its decan it islike a craftsman sculpting forms and images; when it is increas-ing in speed it is like a man in a hurry; when it is rising, it islike a child; when it is setting, it is like an old man.'°

Most of the language of The Forty Chapters, however, isstraightforward and practical in its orientation. To give anexample of the tone of the text one may summarize the chap-ters on journeys, by land (chapter 8 (12)) and by sea (chapter18 (22)). For journeys on land it is advisable that the Sun, theMoon, the Lords of the Ascendent and of the Lot of Fortune,and the Lords of the syzygies should not be in the cardines. Italso helps if the Lord of the third or the ninth place, or Mars, isin conjunction with the Lord of the ascendent, and the Moon isin conjunction with one of these. The duration of the journey isdetermined by the number of degrees in which the conjunctiontakes place - read as hours, days or months as appropriate.When you have no hesitation about undertaking the journeyitself you might like to know what kind of thing might happenon the way. The cardines indicate good things: Jupiter in a car-dine will indicate the acquisition of wealth; the Sun, honouringby kings and nobles - or by hunting or telling fortunes; Saturn,enriching by an old man or because of some old thing or someinheritance; Venus because of intercourse with women, games,dancing etc. If Venus is fortunate in the tenth place, she bringsjoy and prosperity from those things which belong to her andare pleasing to behold. The distance of one of these planetsfrom the seventh place will indicate at what distance fromone's destination such a good should be expected, whereas thedistance from the ascendent will indicate the point on thereturn journey at which the boon might occur. Malefics in badplaces indicate respectively shivering disease, a danger fromanimals, acute illnesses, robbers, poisonous snakes, violent law-suits, ambushes, etc.

If the journey, on the other hand, is by sea, one must considerthe following: If the cardines are bright with the light of thebeneficent planets, both the ship and its cargo will reach thedesired port without harm. But if malefics are in cardines or

"Introduction, §69-71. See also n. 66 below.

82 CHARLES BURNETT

succedents they bring danger to that part of the ship desig-nated by the place in which the malefic is situated (the attribu-tion of the parts of the ship to the twelve celestial places isgiven). Saturn breaks up the ship and sinks it. Mars in a placeof Saturn's power and in an earthy sign indicates the same asSaturn, but also a massive collision of waves and heaving ofwaters. However, if the malefics are in these positions butaspected by the benefics, and the Lords of the cardines aresecure and unblemished, after the aforesaid threats of wavesand surges of waters, the wholeness of the ship and the safetyof the cargo is, for the most part, protected. But if Mars himselfcorrupts the Lords of the cardines and the Lord of the Moon, heattracts the disaster of an overpowering storm and variousattacks of enemies. If misfortune accompanies this corruptionof the signs, it produces war, it affects the sailors with wounds,and it carries away the merchandise by theft, especially whilemalefics are in the places which protect the higher parts of theship. Saturn and Mars together add death and captivity, whileSaturn on its own spares the sailors from death, but makesthem captives and robs them of their money. But if Mars is cor-rupted in medium caelum he brings down from above thunderand lightening and whatever fiery things the collision of cloudsis wont to add. But Mars in imum caelum burns the lower partsof the ship. In a human sign he burns the ship at the hands ofan enemy, and affects with fire the part of the ship which thecorrupted place possesses. But if Saturn takes the place of Marsin medium caelum he brings down the mast of the ship shakenby the force of winds, and tears the sail.

II

The Forty Chapters belongs to the tradition of catarchic astrol-ogy, in which the astrologer judges what is the best time tobegin some activity, taking into account the most auspiciousstate of the heavens. The closest term in Arabic for this genreis ibtidã'ãt (al-cf mãl) ('commencements (of activities)') - aterm which al-Kindi uses in the Preface to The Forty Chapters.Arabic astrologers, however, often used the more general termmasã'il ('questions') for this type of text, since the astrologer'sjudgement is given in reply to the question of his client. Hence,as we shall see, chapters from al-Kindi's text were included in

AL-KIND! ON JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY: 'THE FORTY CHAPTERS'83

Arabic texts with masã 'ii as part of their title. In Latin transla-tion The Forty Chapters became part of the Liber triumiudicum and Liber novem iudicum, which were included in thechapter on the astrological genre 'interrogationes' in AlbertusMagnus's Speculum astronomiae." Already in Greek astrologykatarkhai ('commencements') included questions concerningpresent matters which were hidden or unknown, such as theidentity of the thief, the state of the absent person, or the sex ofthe unborn child. The subject-matter of Arabic and Latin textstreating this range of material was often called 'judgements (ofthe stars)' (a,ikãm (al-nujüm) or iudicia (stellarum)) and thegenre of astrology could be described as 'judicial astrology'.This was a thoroughly practical kind of astrology, which pro-vided the astrologer with his bread and butter.

The classical Greek source for judicial astrology was, princi-pally, the fifth book of the Carmen astrologicum of the first cen-tury A.D. Greek astrologer, Dorotheos.' 2 This book was referredto in Arabic as being both 'fi al-masã'il ('on Questions') and 'Iiamr al-ibtidã" ('on the matter of Commencernents')J TheCarmen astrologicum was translated into Middle Persian in thethird century A.D., and thence into Arabic by 'Umar ibn al-Farrukhãn al-TabarI in the late eighth century. Judicial astrol-ogy was particularly popular amongst the Arabs, and textswere written on the topic not only by 'Umar ibn al-Farrukhãnal-Tabari himself, but also by Mãshã'allãh who took part with'Umar in establishing the horoscope for the foundation ofBaghdad in 762, and by their contemporary, Theophilos ofEdessa (who wrote in both Greek and Arabic). It was continuedin the next generation by AbU 'All al-Khayyã, a pupil ofMãshã'allãh, and Sahi ibn Bishr (first half of the ninth cen-tury).'4 Al-Kindi would have known texts by these authors, but

See Albertus Magnus, Speculum astronomiae, ed. P. Zambelli et al. (Pisa, 1977),chapter 9, PP. 23-5.

II Dorotheus Sidonius, Carmen Astrologicum, ed. D. Pingree (Leipzig, 1976), Thisbook includes the Arabic text, an English translation, and the Greek and Latin frag-ments.

Dorotheus, Carmen Astrologicum, p. 106."For the relevant works see the entries in F. Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen

Schrifttums (Leiden, 1979), VII, and D. Pingree, 'Astrology', in Cambridge History ofArabic Literature, 2 Religion, Learning and Science in the 'Abbasid Period(Cambridge, 1990), PP. 290-300. Several early Arabic texts which have masã 'ii intheir titles were incorporated into compendia such as those of al .Qasrani (see below),and the Liber novem iudicum, whose sources I am investigating.

84 CHARLES BURNETT

may also have had access to other, Greek astrological textsderivative from Dorotheos. For they may have travelled withthe Greek philosophical texts which were translated in his 'cir-cle'. Most of the topics in The Forty Chapters can be found inDorotheos's Carmen astrologicum, while others appear inHephaestio of Thebes's Apotelesmatica (written Ca. 415 andheavily based on Dorotheos) and Theophilos of Edessa's workon military katarkhai.'5

Al-KindI's text, however, is conspicuous for its lack of refer-ence to authorities. Even in the brief Preface in the Khãlidimanuscript there is no mention of so much as 'the Ancients' or'my predecessors'. In the Latin translations two names occur:Dorotheos and 'Abeniucef' or 'Abiniozuf'. But when one turnsto the Khãlidi manuscript neither of these is present, since theyboth occur in final portions of chapters which are absent fromthe Arabic manuscript, and may therefore be additions. Thereference to Dorotheos occurs in one of the two Latin transla-tions, in section 244 of the final portion of the chapter on theft(chapter 6(10), §238-47), and also, under the rubric 'qalaD.ràniyUs' in the context of this same final portion in 'Ali ibnAbI al-Rijäi's Kitàb al-Bàn

'Abeniucef is credited with several examples of finding lostobjects, at the end of the chapter on 'fugitives and lost things'(chapter 7(11), §270-82).' This last portion is also missing inthe Khãlidi manuscript. However, one of the examples of'Abeniucef' reappears in 'All ibn Abi al-Rijal's Kitãb al-Banunder the rubric 'AbU Yüsuf'. 18 This is the first element in al-

11 1 am indebted to David Pingree for this information. Whether there is agreementin the contents of chapters which have the same title, and, if so, what are the stagesin the transmission of those contents from the Greek texts to The Forty Chapters,are subjects which require much more extensive investigation.

§244 (Robert of Kettori's translation): 'Dorothio rursum teste, Sol in quovis on-ente nisi in Libra et Aquario repertus, inventionem nunciat, sicut et Luna quoque inascendente cum Venere loveque'; K. al-Ban', London, British Library, Oriental andIndia Office Collections, Additional 23399, fol. 89". Cf. Dorotheos, Carmen astrologi-cum, V.35.17.

See §270-3: 'quoddam exemplum abeniucef de furto subiciatur... Ainissionisquidem astrologus idem tale dedit exemplum... Idem eciam actor hoc de furti ques-tione supposuit exemplum' (Robert of Ketton's translation); 'Exemplum abmiozufquestione de furto facta... Item astrologi eiusdem aliud questionis de re amissa exem-plum... Ait ergo iudex idem abiniuzuf... Item eiusdem sub alia furti questione exem-plum' (Hugo of Santalla's translation). Unfortunately the horoscopes give too littleinformation to permit one to date them.

"MS Add. 23399. fol. 88": 'Wa qala Abu Yusuf...' ( = §272).

AL.KINDI ON JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY: 'THE FORTY CHAPTERS'85

Kindi's name, and since the Kitãb al-Bàn' was composed inIfriqiyä it is tempting to think that the examples of 'AbU YUsuf'were added to a maghribi version of The Forty Chapters whichtravelled through North Africa to al-Andalus. However, alreadyin the ninth-century compendium of al-Qaräni the whole ofthe final portion of chapter 7(11) is found intact, and this timethe examples are attributed not to 'AbU Yüsuf but directly toal-Kindi. 19 These references to al-KindI in the third person arereminiscent of the references to the 'notes of al-KindI' and thedrugs and stomachics 'according to al-Kindi' at the end of hisAqrabad/un, to which the arrangement of The Forty Chaptersbears a resemblance, as we shall see.

One further self-reference must be pointed out. That is al-KindI's allusion, in the first person, to 'his larger book on theSecrets of the Stars 'P20 By characterizing this as the 'largerbook' he is presumably contrasting it to The Forty Chapterswhich, in the Preface, he emphatically states as giving a conciseintroduction. Al-Kindi's book on the Secrets of the Stars has notbeen identified in any manuscript, but may be the same as the'Letter to Z.rn.b, his student, on the secrets of the stars andthe instruction on the commencements of actions' mentionedby Ibn AbI Uaybi'a.2'

The earliest known citation of The Forty Chapters is in anastrological work which could have been written shortly afteral-Kindi's death, al-Qarani's Kitãb al-math 'ii ft 'urn ahkãm al-nujum. 22 This is a compendium of interrogations compiled fromthe works of at least seven astrologers, including Theophilos,Mashã'allah and Abü 'All al-Khayyat. Al-Qarani includes FortyChapters, chapters 6(10) (without §238-47), 7(11) (without0248-69), 8-9(12-13), 11(15), 13(17), 18(22), 20-1(24-5), 23-

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Marsh 211, fol. 111': 'mithál II amr al-sariqa: qala al.Kind!...'

Introduction, §25, Khalidi MS, fol. 2": '11 kitãbinã a1-a'am fi asrär al-nujUm'; 'inlibro nostro maiore De steilarum secretis' (Robert and Hugo's translations).

21 Risãla ilã z.rn.b tiim.zdhihi /1 asrãr al-nujüm wa Sa'lirn mabãdi' al-a'inal; IbnAbi Uaybi'a, 'Uyun al-anbd' fi abaqat a1-aibbã', ed. N. Riçla (Beirut, 1965), II, p.185; R.J. McCarthy, S.J., al-Tasanif al-mansüba ilã faylasuf al- 'arab (Baghdad,1963), P. 103, n, 79, gives 'Dharnab' as the dedicatee.

See Sezgin, Geschichte, VII, pp. 134 and 138, and D. Pingree, 'Political horo-scopes relating to late 9th century 'Alids', Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 36(1977): 247-75. The horoscopes discussed by Pingree were cast by al-Qaranibetween 864 and 884, but the horoscopes discussed below appear to be a few yearslater.

86 CHARLES BURNETT

4(27-8), 29(33), 31(35) and 35-6(39-40); i.e., more than a thirdof al-Kindi's work. No title is given to al-Kindi's text, theexcerpts from which are introduced merely with the phrase'qawl al-KindI f...' ('al-Kindi's statement on...').

The excerpts from al-Kindi in MS Bodleian Library, Marsh211 of al-Qarani's work are very close" to the text of theKhSlidli manuscript, except in two instances:

1) In the chapter on hidden treasure (chapter 35(39)), the cen-tral portion (642-7) is replaced by a passage describing a pro-cedure whereby the space where one thinks the treasure is tobe found is divided geometrically (this is illustrated in a dia-gram) .2) The passages on theft (chapter 7(11)) are completely differ-ent from those in the Khãlidi manuscript. They occur in the fol-lowing sequence: First there is a detailed account, attributed toal-Kind.i, of how to discover the name of the thief 25 Then thereare two unattributed horoscopes, which can mostly plausibly beinterpreted as for 18 September 888 and 27 September 892. (Iowe these interpretations to David Pingree). These horoscopesare presumably original to a1-Qarani, and would give a termi-nus post quem for his Kitab al-masã'il. The horoscopes are fol-lowed by the 'example concerning the matter of theft: al-Kindisaid...' and the passage which follows corresponds exactly to§*270-82 in the Latin translations, which, as we have seen, aremissing in the Khãlidi manuscript.

Two further Arabic testimonies to The Forty Chapters maybe noted. A substantial section of the Introduction - on the sig-nificance of each of the planets - is included in al-BirUnI's'Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology'(written in 1029 A.D.).` Al-BirUni does not give the title of thework, but implies that al-Kindi provides a convenient introduc-tion to astrology:

" The main variants are in terminology. For example, al-Qarani tends to use'rabb' in place of 'à12ib' for 'Lord (of the nth place)'.

MS Marsh 211, fol. 55".2 Ibid. p. 110: 'qa.Ia al-Kindi Ii ma'rifat istikhraj jam a1-li'. I have not discovered

this account in any other Arabic or Latin source.AI-BirUni, Kitab al-Tafhim li-awã'il sineiat al-tanjim, ed. R.R. Wright (London,

1934), pp. 301-4 (I487-8), correspond to Forty Chapters, Introduction, §44-52.

AL-KINDI ON JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY: 'THE FORTY CHAPTERS'87

We have extracted from Ya'qUb ibn Ishaq al-Kindi all that a beginnerrequires to know with regard to the different indications of the planets as totheir powerful influence in orientality and their weakness in occidentality,although these differences do not amount to being exact opposites.27

The second is a short text in a paper manuscript written in1242 A.D., and entitled: Qala Abü Yusuf Ya 'qub ibn al-abbã,jal-Kindi ft al-mawãçii allati yuannu anna al-dafina fl/ia mmkanzin aw ghayrihi ('AbU YUsuf Ya'qUb ihn al-Sabbab al-Kindisaid on the place where one suspects that something is hidden,like treasure or something else: '),28 The manuscript contains acollection of texts on astronomy, astrology, geometry andmedicine, and the treatise on treasure follows al-KindI's Risãlaft 'amal al-sã 'at ft qafl4a tuntabü 'ala sai muwãzi li-l-ufuq('Letter on determining the hours by a sundial which is set on aplane parallel to the horizon')," which, in turn, follows ananonymous treatise in forty chapters on the astrolabe, Risãla ft,al- 'amal bi-al-kura. 30 The text on treasure corresponds to chap-ter 35(39) of The Forty Chapters, except that the same substitu-tion of the central portion occurs here as in al-Qa.ranI's text.Works on finding treasure by astrological methods were partic-ularly popular in the Middle Ages, 3 ' and al-KindI himself mighthave excerpted the chapter in The Forty Chapters, and rewrit-ten it as a short risala.

The most significant citation of The Forty Chapters, however,occurs in the Kitãb al-Ban of the eleventh-century Tunisianastrologer, 'All ibn AM al-Rijãl. 32 Not only does 'All ibn AM a!-Rijál quote extensively from The Forty Chapters, but he alsonames the text and gives a chapter-number which agrees withthe chapter-number in the Khãlidi manuscript. The first threebooks of the Kitãb al-Ban' are devoted to interrogations. In a

Wright's translation, p. 301.MS Oxford, Bodleian Library, Marsh 663, pp. 196-7, first noted in Sezgin,

Geschichte, VII, p. 133, no. 15.Sezgin, Geschichte, VI, p. 154.Ibid., p. 285.

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

'All ibn Abi al-Rijal served the Zirid prince al-Mu'izz ibn Badis at Qayrawan anddied after 1037; see D. Pingree, 'Ibn Abi'l-Ridjãl', Encyclopaedia of Islam, secondedition (Leiden, 1971), III, p. 688.

88 CHARLES BURNETT

chapter on illness (Book II, chapter 2) 'All ibn AbI al-Rijãl hap-pens to come across an error in a text by AbU Ma'shar, whereAbU Ma'shar is reproducing Dorotheos. This prompts a digres-sion on how even the best astrologers make mistakes. First, 'Allibn Abi al-Rijãl points out errors in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos.Then he refers to al-Kindi. It is worth quoting the relevant pas-sage in full, both to show what great respect he gives to al-KindI as an astrologer, and to demonstrate his use of al-Kindi'sForty Chapters.33

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Al-Kindi also erred in spite of his excellence, his expertise and his skill inthis science, and he is like Ptolemy among the Muslims. But both of themare obscure in expression, enigmatic in meaning, and far from clarity. Theirbooks are difficult for those intermediate in the science, not to speak ofapprentices, and the profit from them is very small except for him who istrained in the science and opens up its obscurity, and for whom God makeseasy by His grace what he would find difficult without Him.

Among al-KindI's books are two sections (falani) of eight folios in which isthe science of the stars. If one commented <on them>, then it would bemore than eight volumes. In this al-Kindi erred in that he criticized the divi-sion proposed by the Ancients for the decans of the signs of the Zodiac. Inhis larger book and in 'The Forty Sections' (al-arba 'üna fa1an) he argues asfollows: "And each sign of the Zodiac is divided into three divisions, eachdivision being of ten degrees, and they are called the 'faces' (wujuh; i.e.,decans) because of their signifying the appearances ('faces') <of things>.The first decan of Aries the majority of men assign to Mars, the second to


the Sun, the third to Venus, and so on according to the order of the spheresuntil the last decan of Pisces falls to Mars. But this division does not hangtogether because the last decan of Pisces is adjacent to the first decan ofAries, so that two adjacent decans get assigned to one planet. In our view,the correct division is as established by us in our larger book on the 'Secretsof the Stars', where we assigned the decans according to the arrangement ofthe signs. For we assign the first decan of Aries to Mars the Lord of Aries,the second decan to Venus the Lord of Taurus, and the third to Mercury theLord of [Gemini, and the last of Cancer is assigned to Jupiter the Lord of]Pisces which is the last of the signs. Then we begin the first of the second,fiery, signs <by assigning the decan> to Mars. Then it returns in this orderuntil the last decan of Scorpio falls to Jupiter which is the Lord of Pisces[also, and the first of the third, fiery, signs falls to Mars, and the last decanof Pisces falls to Jupiter, Lord of Pisces], and the first decan of Aries returnsto Mars." Here ends the statement of al-Kindi.

I say that he criticized the sequence of the last of Pisces and the first ofAries in decans since they are <both> assigned to Mars and an assignmentlike this one that we have mentioned does not happen in any of the<other> twelve signs. He did not realize that in that <order> which headvances the decans come successively three times to Saturn (<to pick thisplanet out> as an example) - once in the sign of Cancer, another time in thesign of Scorpio and a third time in the sign of Pisces.

He is equally mistaken in the eleventh chapter (bab) of 'The Forty Sections'(al-arba 'üna fa.lan), where, in considering wars and fighters and rebels, hesays: "It is necessary when Mars is in the Eastern part of the Sphere, whichis from ten degrees of Taurus to ten degrees of Leo and from ten degrees ofScorpio to ten degrees of Aquarius, that the Eastern rebel begins the battle.And when it is in the Western part, which is from ten degrees of Leo to tendegrees of Scorpio, and from ten degrees of Aquarius to ten degrees ofTaurus, the Western rebel begins the battle." Thus the whole sphere and itstwelve signs are assigned to the East and the West. But the situation is notlike this, since there is in the sphere North and South and, for the fightersalso, four directions - East, West, North and South: sometimes the rebel orthe king comes from one of these directions, and sometimes the encounter isbetween the East and the West, at other times between the North and theSouth for both kings and rebels.

And the procedure in this case is that Mars from ten degrees of Taurus toten degrees of Leo is Eastern, from ten degrees of Leo to the same <numberof> degrees of Scorpio is Southern, from ten degrees of Scorpio to the same<number of> degrees of Aquarius is Western and from ten degrees ofAquarius to the same <number of> degrees of Taurus is Northern.

The words in square brackets are missing from 'All ihn Ahi al-Rijal's text, butare present in the Khàlidi manuscript of The Fortly Chapters, fol. 2'.

92 CHARLES BURNETT

As for the world, who can make a reckoning of it and its decline, and whocan keep in mind the extent of its error?" Al-Kindl in any case surpasseseverybody in judicial astrology, although his exposition is too brief and hiswords are obscure. He is the opposite of Abü Ma'shar because Abü Masharrarely hits the mark, but gives many sleepless nights; his accuracy (?) isslight: he is <like> a collector of firewood at night."

'All ibn AbI al-Rijal's reference to al-Kindi's writings on the sci-ence of the stars is not crystal clear. The 'two chapters of eightfolios' may be the same as the work referred to as the 'risãla fia1-falayn' by Ibn al-Nadim 37 and Ibn Abi Uaybi'a, 38 but theonly text that 'All ibn Abi al-Rijãl shows evidence of knowing atfirst hand is The Forty Chapters.

The first quotation from al-KindI's Forty Chapters in theabove passage from the Kitãb al-Ban corresponds exactly with024-5 of the Arabic work, which is the only passage in thewhole text in which al-Kindi dares to put forward an opinion ofhis own, at variance to that of the majority of astronomers, andis the only context in which he cites another work of his, 'TheSecrets of the Stars'.39 The second passage is correctly referred

36 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'.

"For the last phrase compare the Castilian translation: 'es t.al como qui faze lennade noche que toma buena e mala'.

Thn al-Nadim, Kitäb al-fihrist, ed. G. FlUgel (Beirut, 1871), p. 257.tJyün al-anbä', vol. II, p. 184.See above. Compare the Latin translations: Introduction, §*24-5: 'Harurn <Sc.

triplicitatum> item singulis partibus in novenas divisis, earum sixigule x. gradusoptinent, qui facies ex eorum ducatu super rerum facies, nuncupantur. Arietis itaqueprimam faciem plereque gencium Marti tribuunt, secundam Soli, terciam Veneri.Fitque successus deinceps secundum circulorum compositiones ordinatas. Facies igi-tur postrema Piscium et Marti contingit. Huiusmodi quidern divisio iimaturalis dig-naque repudio cernitur, cum bine continue facies, postrema scilicet Piscium,Arietisque prima, uni stellarurn accidant. (25) Facierum autem assignatio nostroquidem iudicio naturalis atque sana velud in libro nostro maiore "De StellarumSecretis" explanavimus planetis secundum suorum signorum ordinem attingit.Arietis igitur faciem primam Mars suus dominus sortitur, secundam Venus Tauridomina, terciam, Mercurius Geminorum dominus. Talisque progressus ordo IoviPiscium scilicet signi postrerm domino, faciem ultimam Cancri tribuit' (Robert ofKetton's translation); 'Singule igitur harum partium in tres partes recipiunt see-tionem quarum quelibet .x. gradus assumit. He autem facies nominantur, quoniamanimalium facies significare videntur. Primam itaque Arietis faciem quampluresMarti, secundarn Soli, terciam Veneri et deinceps pro circulorum ordine quousquePiscium facies ultima Marti denuo succedat, concesserunt. Que tamen incongruavidetur particio, quoniam Piscium ultima facies Arietis primam ordine sequitur.Unde duas continue eadem scilicet inconvenienter suscipit stella. (25) Apud nos igi-


to as coming from 'chapter 11' of The Forty Chapters, for it ispart of the chapter 'On War' which is chapter 11 in the Khãlidimanuscript, and chapter 15 in Robert of Ketton's translation.40

'All ibn Abi al-Rijal's respect for al-Kindi's work is illustratedby the fact that he uses several chapters from The FortyChapters,4 ' underlining al-Kindi's importance on one occasionby noting that 'the best of what is said concerning ships is thesaying of al-Kindi. 142 The Kitãb al-Ban was frequently copiedin Arabic, and was one of the texts that was translated intoCastilian under the aegis of Alfonso X, el Sabio, King of Castileand Leon, and subsequently into Latin, Portuguese, Frenchand English. The Castilian translation (and subsequent trans-lations) retains the attributions to al-KindI, but, strangely, the'example of Abü Yüsuf concerning a lost thing (discussedabove) has become an example of 'All himself.43

The passages and whole chapters from The Forty Chaptersquoted verbatim by astrologers such as al-Qasrani and 'All ibn

tur priore pocior et conveniens ea videtur divisio, quam in libro nostro rnaiore "DeStellarum Secretis" inscripto prediximus. Ibi enim facies pro signorum ordinedescribens, primam Arietis Marti eiusdem signi domino concessimus, SecundaVeneri que Tauri dominatum possidet, relicta eat. Terciam quoque MercuriusGeminorum dominator retinet. Unde accidit ut Cancri novissima lovi dominoPiscium et in ordine signorum ultimo relinquatur' (Hugo of Santalla's translation).

Compare the Latin translations of chapter 11(15), §408: 'Marte quoque a decimoTauri gradu usque ad decimum Leonis vel a decimo Scorpionis usque ad consimilemAquarii circuli partem orientalem sortito, orientali certamen est fructuosum et corn-mendabile. Illo vero inter Leonis et Scorpioms vel Aquarü Taurique gradus decimoscirculi partem occidentalem occupante, in occidentem tendenti bellum incoandum'(Robert of Ketton's translation): 'Mars item in orientali parte circuli, a decimo scil-icet gradu Tauri usque ad Leonis decimum gradum et a decimo Scorpionis ad deci-mum Aquarii, in orientis partem pugnandum admonet. In occidentali parte a decimoscilicet Leonis usque ad decimum Scorpionis, item ab Aquarii decimo usque ad deci-mum Tauri gradum, in occidentis partes dimicandum hortatur' (Hugo of Santalla'stranslation).

K al-Ban 1.30 (MS Add. 23399, fol. 36r) = Forty Chapters, 28(32); 1.39 (fol. 41")= 35(39); 1.48 (fol. 47r) = 21(25); 1.50 (fol. 49r) = 29(33); 1.51 (fol. 52") = 27(31);11.29-32 (fol. 77r) = 20(24); 11.33 (fol.78") = 7(11) (only §*248-69); 11.34 (fol. 80")(without attribution) = 6(10) and part of 7(11) (173-241, 272, 277-82, 242-7);111.14 (fol.121 T) = 18(22); 111-17 (fol. 122") = 23(27); VII.22 (fol. 287") = 16(20)(482-3);WI.24 (fol. 287") = 16(20) (**488-9). The chapter divisions of the K. al-Ban' are those given in MS Loth 735, fols 1"-4", which match those in the Castilianversion as far as it goes.

42 MS Add. 23399, fol. 121r,El libro cornplid.o, ed. G. Hilty, p. 92b: Di.xo 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 dixque 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.

94 CHARLES BURNETT

Abi al-Rijãl can help us to establish the original text of al-Kindi's work, as well as give some idea of the way it was used.For example, both these astrologers indicate the existence offuller versions of the chapters on theft (chapter 6(10)) and fugi-tives and lost things (chapter 7(11)). These fuller versions wereclearly present in the text of The Forty Chapters which wasavailable in al-Andalus in the mid-twelfth century, when it wastranslated twice into Latin.

The fact that there are two translations in itself indicates thepopularity of the work amongst the Arabs in al-Andalus. It isclear that the text was recommended by Muslim practicioners,and one Arabic-Latin translator, Hermann of Carinthia, in turnrecommended al-Kindi to his colleague Robert of Ketton as 'themost suitable and true judge amongst astrologers' and per-suaded him to translate The Forty Chapters.'

Robert of Ketton was an archdeacon of Pamplona Cathedraland a canon of Tudela between the years 1145 and 1157. Hewas active in disputes between neighbouring bishops over terri-tory newly acquired from the Arabs, and was commissioned byPeter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny, along with Hermann ofCarinthia, to translate a corpus of Muslim texts into Latin,including the Qur'an. However, Robert and Hermann's princi-ple interest was in the translation of mathematical and astro-nomical works. Robert translated The Forty Chapters on theinsistence of Hermann, and Hermann uses Robert's translationin his own compendium on finding lost treasure.46

The date of Robert's translation is not known, but it wasprobably composed in the late 1130s or early 1140s when weknow Robert and Hermann to have been collaborating. After apreface of his own composition (which appears to incorporatesome phrases from al-Kindi's Preface)'"' Robert gives a list of

"See Robert's Preface in Appendix I below.'See J.M. Goni Gastarnbide, 'Los obispos de Pamplona del siglo XII', Anthologica

Annua, 13 (1965): 254-64."See Hermann, De occultis, MS Oxford, Bodleian, Laud Misc., 594, fol. 149", with

the rubric: 'Alkindis vero post doctissirnum Messehallem ad hunc modum'.See Appendix I below, sentence 4.


chapter headings which probably correspond to those of theArabic manuscript he was following. The order of the chapterson the forty different topics is exactly that of the Klhãlidimanuscript. However Robert, or his Arabic source, has subdi-vided the Introduction in the Khãlidi manuscript into four sec-tions and made these the first four chapters of the book.Moreover, an extra chapter on the effects of the Moon has beenadded at the end. Hence Robert's text has forty-five chapters incontrast to the Khãlidi manuscript which has an Introductionfollowed by forty chapters. Robert avoids using Arabic terms.48Moreover, he states in his Preface that he wishes to enclose thesubject-matter in a brief style of exposition." Robert andHermann both agreed that the Arabic language was prolix andit was appropriate to abbreviate and miss out things whenmaking a translation into Latin,' and Robert's translation ofThe Forty Chapters fully exemplifies his spare style.

The second Latin translation has a more complicated history.Al-Kindi was one of the 'nine Judges' in the popular Latin com-pendium known as the Liber novem iudicum ('Book of the NineJudges'). It is possible, by extracting all the chapters under al-Kindi's name and putting them together in a different order, toreconstruct almost the whole of a translation of The FortyChapters which is completely different from that of Robert. Themanuscripts and editions of the Liber novem iudicum givehardly any clues as to either who put the whole work together,or who was responsible for translating the works of the individ-ual authors contained in it. However, there also exists, in threeincomplete manuscripts, a Liber trium iudicum ('Book of theThree Judges'). These three judges are the Arabic astrologersSahi ibn Bishr, 'Umar ibn al-Farrukhan al-Tabari and al-Kindi,and the excerpts from the latter two authors correspond to theexcerpts in the Liber novem iudicum. We are fortunate in that

" One may note that his revision of Adelard of Bath's translation of al-Khwãrizmi's astronomical tables involved finding Latin equivalents for the Arabicterms which had been left untranslated; see R. Mercier, 'Astronomical tables in thetwelfth century', in C. Burnett (ed.), Adelard of Bath: An English Scientist andArabist of the Early Twelfth Century (London, 1987), PP. 87-118 (see pp. 97 and 116-18).

See Appendix I below, sentence 2,See Hermann's Preface to his translation of Abu Ma'shar's Maius introthzcto-

rium, in C.H. Haskins, Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science, second edition(Cambridge, Mass, 1927), pp. 45-7.

96 CHARLES BURNETT

we possess the translator's (or compiler's) preface to thissmaller work. 5' The translator tells us that he has found somany volumes on astrological judgements written in Arabicthat he has decided to make a selection of works, translatethem into Latin and bring them together in one volume. Infact, the titles of each of the three works used, together withtheir number of chapters, are given at the head of the firstexcerpt from each work. 'Umar's work is said to have 138 chap-ters and to be translated by Hugo of Santalla. SahI's work isdescribed as being divided into 56 chapters. Al-Kindi's work iscalled 'the book concerning judgements divided into 66 chap-ters'. It seems clear from the statement in the Preface andfrom the construction of the Liber trium iudicum that theLatin translator was working with a complete text of al-KindI'sForty Chapters, one which, moreover, may have had a similardivision of chapters as Robert's text, if we may amend the num-ber of chapters from 66 (.lxvi.) to 46 (.xlvi.).52

In two of the three manuscripts the compendium isaddressed to Bishop Michael," who can only be Michael, bishopof Tarazona from 1119-50, who received all the translationswhich have dedications made by Hugo of Santalla. Hugo's dis-tinctive style (as evidenced in the translations firmly ascribedto him) can be recognized in al-Kindi's Forty Chapters. He hassome pretensions to writing literature. He appears to get boredwith the repetitive phraseology characteristic of astrologicaltexts, and he insists on finding alternative ways to express thesame concept. Thus when there is a list of which planets'rejoice' in which astrological places, Hugo finds a differentword for rejoicing on each occasion. Compare the Khalidimanuscript (Kh, fol. 5r):

" This preface is edited, and the composition of the Books of Three Judges andNine Judges is discussed in Burnett, 'A Group', pp. 78-97. Since this article appearedanother manuscript of the text has come to light: MS Dublin, Trinity College, 368.

The MSS are agreed in giving the number of chapters as 'lxvi'. If this is not asimple mistake for 'xlvi', made by transposition, it may be explained by the fact thatseveral of the longer chapters are subdivided already in the Khãlidi manuscript (inwhich the subsections have rubricated titles beginning with 'bãb...'), and these sub-divisions appear as separate chapters in the Liber trium iudicurn and Lther novemiudicum.

Burnett, 'A Group', p. 92: 'Tibi, ergo, mi domine antistes Michael'. The thirdmanuscript has a dedication to 'karissime R' ('dearest R<obert>'?), which suggeststhat Hermann of Carinthia might also have had a role in compiling the work.


L.I jL_J)

?

Mercury rejoices in the ascendent and the Moon in the third <place> andVenus in the fifth and Mars in the sixth and Saturn in the twelfth andJupiter in the eleventh and the Sun in the ninth.

and Hugo's translation:

Mercurius itaque in ascendente gaudet, Luna in tercio exultat, Venus inquinto letatur, Mars in sexto tripudiat, Saturnus in duodecimo resultat,Jupiter in undecirno plaudit, Sol itidem in nono gratulatur.

Mercury rejoices in the ascendent, the Moon exults in the third place, Venusis happy in the fifth place, Mars waltzes in the sixth place, Saturn dances inthe twelfth place, Jupiter applauds in the eleventh place, and the Sun cele-brates in the ninth place.','

Moreover, Hugo adds glosses to explain obscure terms or pas-sages in the Arabic, as can readily be seen by a comparison ofHugo's translation and Robert's terse rendering in the samplechapter in Appendix II below.

Robert's translation was never printed, but was frequentlycopied and exists in several manuscripts of the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries. Hugo's translation, by being incorpo-rated into the Liber novem iudicum was printed at least twicein the Renaissance, 55 and a French translation of the Libernovem iudicum was made for Charles V in the fourteenth cen-

The Forty Chapters, Introduction, § 112. Compare Robert of Ketton's translation:'Letatur item Mercurius in ascendente, Luna in tercio, Venus in quinto, Mars insexto, Sol in nono, lupiter in .xi., Saturnus in xii.'. Hugo's style is the same in histranslation of Liber Aristotilis de 255 Indorum volurninibu.s... summam continens,ed. D. Pingree and C. Burnett (in progress), III iv 1,3: 'Mercurius in oriente discur-nt, Luna in tercio moratur, Venus in quinto tripudiat, Mars in vi. erit alacrior, Solin nono congaudet, lupiter in .xi. resultat, Saturnus in .xii. plaudit'. For more exam-ples of Hugo's translating style see C. Burnett, 'Literal translation and intelligentadaptation amongst the Arabic-Latin translators of the first half of the twelfth cen-tury', in La diffusione delle scienze islamic/i.e nel medio evo europeo, Convegno inter-nazionale de!l'Accadeniia nazionale dei Lincei (Rome, 1987), pp. 9-28.

The two printings are by Peter Liechtenstein (Venice, 1509) and HenricusPetrina (Base!, 1571). The printed editions omit the introductory chapters.

98 CHARLES BURNETT

tury. 56 Moreover, it was al-Kindi's Introduction that provided'the rules for knowing Nativities and Commencements ofActions and Interrogations and Choices"' at the beginning ofthe Liber novem iudicum, and thus educated several genera-tions of European readers in the precepts of astrology.

lv

How does al-Kindi's Forty Chapters fit in with the rest of hisceuvre? The interest of the 'Philosopher of the Arabs' in astrol-ogy is well-documented." Ibn al-Nadim devotes whole sectionsof his bibliography of al-KindI's works to 'his books on <astro-logical> judgements' (kutubuhu a1-aikãmiyyàt) 59 and 'hisbooks on premonitions' (kutubuhu a1-taqaddumiyyãt). 6° Theseinclude 'a first, second and third letter on the art of judgementsby division (taqasirn)', and letters on 'the degree of usefulnessof the art of judgements and who deserves to be called anastrologer', 'providing knowledgeable answers to interrogationsfrom the significations of the higher bodies', 'the introductionto <astrological> judgements by way of interrogations', 'oninterrogations (masã'il)', 'on the significations of the twomalefics in the sign of Scorpio', 'on the usefulness of choices(ikhtiyãrãt)', 'on the revolution of the years of nativities', and'anticipating knowledge by the signification (istidlàl) of theheavenly bodies'. 6' These titles alone cover the fields ofInterrogations, Choices and Revolutions of Nativities. As wehave seen, al-KindI mentions the usefulness of The FortyChapters for Nativities, Commencements, Interrogations andChoices in his Preface. His interest in political astrology is

See L.A. Shore, 'A case study in medieval nonliterary translation: Scientific textsfrom Latin to French', in J. Beer (ed.), Medieval Translators and their Craft(Kalamazoo, 1989), pp. 297-328 (see p. 308).

See al-Kind's words in his Preface, p. 78 above.The pioneering study in this field was 0. Loth, 'Al-Kind! ala Astrolog',

Morgenlandische Forschungen, Festschrift ft2r Herrn Professor Dr. H.L. Fleischer(Leipzig, 1875), pp. 261-309. See also R. Waizer, Greek into Arabic (Oxford, 1962),pp. 199-200.

M'Fihrist, ed. Flugel, p. 259.Ibid., p. 260.See B. Dodge, The Fihrist of al-Nadim (New York and London, 1970), pp. 621-2

and 624. See further Sezgin, Geschichte, VII, pp. 133-4 and M. Ullmann, Die Natar-and Geheimwissenschaften im Islam (Leiden, 1972), pp. 313-14.


shown in his works on Conjunctions (Qiranat): a short work oncalculating the duration of the Arab rule from the conjunctionof Saturn and Mars in Cancer, 62 and a work entitled 'Qiranat al-kawãkib' ('Conjunctions of the planets') in an Escorialmanuscript." To these strictly astrological genres could beadded astrological methods in weather-forecasting andmedicine, which al-Kindi subscribed to. Thus his writings cov-ered the whole range of medieval astrology.

Only his letters on the duration of the Arab rule and 'onchoosing the most convenient time when one expects that Godwill hear your prayer by way of astrology' have up to now beenpublished. The rest of al-KindI's astrological works survive

62 Risãla ft mulk al- arab Wa kammiyyatihi ('Letter on the rule of the Arabs and itslength'). This letter was included in AbU Ma'shar's Kitãb al-Qiranat ('Book of theConjunctions') and edited and translated in Loth, 'Al-Kindi als Astrolog'.

Escorial 918; see Ullmann, Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften, p. 313.For Arabic texts on astrometeorology attributed to al-Kindi see Sezgin,

Geschichte, VII, pp. 326-7. A Risãla ft aidãth al-jaww ('letter on the happenings inthe atmosphere'), has been edited by F. Rosenthal in 'From Arabic books andmanuscripts VI: Istanbul materials for al-Kindi and as-Sarabsi', Journal of theAmerican Oriental Society, 76 (1956): 27-31, and by Y.Y. Maskuni, 'Risäla ft a1däthal-jaww' (University of Baghdad, 1965) (One must note Rosenthal's hesitation con-cerning the authenticity of this text). Two letters on astrometeorology by al-Kindiexist in Hebrew and Latin: for manuscripts of the Hebrew texts seeM. Steinschneider, Die hehräisch.en Uebersetzungen des Mittelaiters ond die Judenals Dolmetscher (Berlin, 1893), pp. 564-5; for the Latin text, which combines the twoletters, see the incipit Rogatus fui in L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, A Catalogue ofIncipits of Mediaeval Scientific Writings in Latin, second edition (London, 1963).The Latin text was published in Venice in 1507 and Paris in 1540. Al-Kindi uses thetheory that the Moon causes crises in illnesses in his 'Letter on the causes of crisesin acute diseases' (Risãla fi illat al-bahàrin li-I -am.rãd a1-hãdda), edited, translatedinto German and discussed by F. Klein-Franke in 'Die Ursachen der Krisen beiakuten Krankheiten. Eine wiederentdeckte Schrift al-Kindi's', Israel OrientalStudies, 5 (1975): 161-88. Note that this last text, like The Forty Chapters, is dedi-cated to 'some of his brethren' ('ha ba'di ikhwãnihi').

For the latter - Risãla ft taiirir waqt yurjã fihi Uabat al-du 'a' wa al-taclarru' ilãAllah ta'ãlti min jihat al-tanjim - see M. TUrker-Kuyel, 'Kindi'nin sanilan kucuk biryildiz bakim kitabi', Ara,tirma, 10 (1972 (1976)): 1-18 (edition of Arabic text,Turkish translation, Turkish and French introduction), and M. Mandi, 'Al-ta'ãlimwa al-tajriba fi al-tanjim wa al-rnusiqa (NuU ghayr manshUra li-l-Kindi wa al-Fãrãbi)', in 'Uthmän Amin (ed.), Nu?üq falsafiyya muhdät jUt al-Duktür IbrahimMo4kür (Cairo, 1976), pp. 53-78 (edition of Arabic text together with a similar textby al-Fãrãbi). This text would seem to belong to the genre of astrological Choicesand complements the chapter on asking for things from people in The FortyChapters (c. 30 (34)). A further treatise on Choices - Ikhtiyarãt al-ayyam - has beentranslated into German and studied by E. Wiedemann in 'Ueber einen astrologis-chen Traktat von al Kindi', Archiv für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaflen und derTechnik, 3 (1912): 224-6.

100 CHARLES BURNETT

only in manuscript, and many texts remain to be identified.Several of the references to al-Kindi in the works of otherastrologers, listed by Sezgin and Ullmann, might be discoveredto come from The Forty Chapters. 6 It is possible, too, that awork by al-Kindi on the Revolution of Nativities survives in theform of a large number of paragraphs ascribed to al-KindI inthe compendium on that subject by al-Damaghani.6'

The Forty Chapters is a full-length book rather than a letter.Al-KindI has hitherto been known primarily for writing philo-sophical and scientific works in the form of short essays, or let-ters, each addressed to one particular subject or problem.' 'Allibn AbI al-Rijãl, as we have seen, is particularly struck by thebrevity of al-Kindi's style, and refers to a work on the science ofthe stars in eight folios. However, we know of at least two otherworks by al-Kindi which have a more extended form. These arehis Kitãb ft kimiyã' al- eitr wa al-ta? 'idat ('Book on the chem-istry of perfume and distillation') 10 and the Aqra bad hin('Medical Formulary'). 71 Both these are practical works basedon al-Kindi's own professional experience, as is clear from thefull heading of the latter:

The Aqrabadhin of AbU YUsuf Ya'qUb ibn Ishaq al-Kindi and his selection ofexamined and tested drugs, which he actually used .12

For example, aside from the passage from al-Qabii's k. al-mudkha.l ild 'iln al-nujüm referred to in Ullmann, Natur. und Geheimwissenschaften, p. 314, a para-graph attributed to 'quidam' ('certain people') in the Latin translation of a1-QabIi'swork (Alcabitii ad Magisteriuni iudiciorum. astrorum Isagoge (Paris, 1521), fol. a5 r)reproduces The Forty Chapters, §69-70. Moreover a very similar passage appears in'Achmat the Persian"s introduction to astrology, MS Vatican City, Biblioteca apos.tolica Vaticana, Pal. 312, fol. 92' (transcribed by David Pingree). 'Achmat"s work isknown only in Greek, but is a Byzantine translation of what is probably a ninth-cen-tury Arabic text; see D. Pingree, The Yavanajãtaka of Sphujidhvaja (Cambridge,Mass., 1978), II, p. 419.

17 Majnzü aqawil al-hukamä' al-munajjimin of Abu Sa'id ManUr ibn 'All Bundàral-Damaghäni (written 507 A.H./1113 A.D.); see Sezgin, Geschichte, VII, pp. 20-1.

This is clearly the case too of the 'Secrets of the Stars' mentioned in The FortyChapters as 'our larger book'.

' In this he may have been following the example of Alexander of Aphrodisiaswhose Quaestiones have a similar form, and were (at least partially) translated intoArabic. The influence of Alexander of Aphrodisias on al-Kindi is being uncovered inthe current research of Silvia Fazzo and Hillary Wiesner.

° This is edited and translated into German by K. Garbers (Leipzig, 1948).' This is printed in facsimile and translated into English by M. Levey (Madison,

1966).' Italics mine; Aqrabadhin, ed. Levey, p. 29: '... allati kãna yasta'miluha'.


The same may be said about The Forty Chapters: it is a practi-cal manual with theoretical discussion cut down to a minimum.Moreover, it includes internal references to al-Kindi's ownexperience, just as the Aqrabadhin refers to drugs and stom-achics 'according to al-Kindi' or from 'a note of al-Kindi'. Thetheoretical underpinning for al-Kindi's astrological beliefs canbe located in other texts, 73 What is significant about The FortyChapters is that it shows how al-KindI puts that theory intopractice. His short rasã'il may reflect his discussions with hispupils and fellow philosophers. The Forty Chapters and hisworks on drugs and perfumes, begin to reveal to us anotheraspect of his work: i.e., that of comprehensive introductionsand handbooks to practical subjects which were the concern ofthe people as a whole.

E.g., in his 'Letter on the proximate efficient cause of generation and corrup-tion', in M. A. Abu Rda, Rath'il al-Kindi al-fa/safiyya, 2 vols. (Cairo, 1950-3), I, pp.224-5, and his 'Letter on the prostration of the furthest body', ibid., pp. 247 and 252.

APPENDIX I: THE ARABIC AND LATINMANUSCRIPTS OF AL-KLNI)I'S

THE FORTY CHAPTERS

I. The Arabic Text

The Arabic text is found in MS Jerusalem, Khãlidi Library,21(2)-Astr.-2, fols 648-70 (1'-21'); a manuscript of the 10th/16thcentury. The following words appear on the title page (fol. ir):

KitãJ, al-mudkhal ft ahkãm 'jim al-nujüm li-dh al-facfã'il al-bãhira Ablszaq al-Kindi rahima

The book on the judgements of the science of the stars" by the possessor ofshining qualities, Abü Ishaq al-Kindi. [May God] have mercy [on him!]

The text begins on fol. 1":

(Bismillãh) kitãb Ya 'qub ibn Isiiaq al-Kindj ilã ha i ikhwànihi ft mudkhalilã 'ilm al-n ujüm we huwa al-kitãb al-musammã "al-arba'üna bãban"...76

This is followed by the list of chapter-headings:77

i )t çJLJI 01 J]ll U1(44 j) iO4li XLiI

Ljflj (unclear)

[JLI Li

3L.II,

' Since I cannot read the folio numbers on the microfilm of this manuscript, Ihave numbered the folios from the beginning of al-Kindi's text.

76 See n. 3 above. See p. 78 above.The variants in the chapter-headings as they occur in the text are added in

square brackets.

AL-KIND! ON JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY: THE FORTY CHAPTERS'

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104 CHARLES BURNEVP

1. On the fortunes of this world and the great amount of importanceattached to them (it ?).2. On the failure of matters and their fulfilment.3. On the classification of the haylajat.4. On significations [On commencements of actions].5. On relations with other people and every matter between two people.6. On theft (without §242-7).7. On fugitives and lost things (without §270-82).8. On the journey.9. On a position of authority, whether it will be attained or not.10. On the siege of cities.11. On war.12. On whom one suspects of treason.13. On seeking wealth.14. On acquiring real estates and landed properties.15. On laying the foundations of cities and houses.16. On digging canals, cultivating the land, [wells], and constructing wellsand dams.17. On building ships.18. On questions concerning ships and what happens in the way of safetyand injury.19. On acquiring slaves.20. On marriage.21. On pregnancy and child-bearing.22. On asking for friendships and companionships.23. On prisoners.24. On the absent one.25. On acquiring domestic animals, cattle, sheep [and camels].26. On the hunt on land and water.27. On the feast [and what happens at it].28. On news - its truth, its falsehood and its consequences.29. On messengers and posts.30. On asking for the things one needs.31. On sick people and what their conditions lead to.32. On blood-letting and scarification.33. On treating wounds by surgery.34. On giving purgative medicines.35. On the place where one suspects something is hidden, such as treasure[or something else].36. On betting on horses and the race-course [and other matters].37. On prices and what commodity falls in price, and what rises.38. On the changes of the weather.39. On the years of plague and of good health.40. On the revolution of the years of the world.

The text breaks off at the bottom of fol. 21' in the middle of aline, ten lines short of the end of the chapter 40(44) in the


Latin text: 'thumma nur ma'a dhãlika mawçli' al-mirrikh fa-inkãna sharqiyyan aw gharbiyyan aw yaminiyyan aw janUbiyyanfa-inna al-ghalaba...'

II. Robert of Ketton 's Translation

Judicia Alkindi Astrologi.

The translator's preface begins: 'Quamquam post EuclidemTheodosii cosmometrie libroque proportionum libencius insu-darem...'The text begins: 'Circulus itaque spericus, cuius atque terrecentrum est idem.,.'This translation is found in the following manuscripts:

- CLondon, British Library, Cotton App.VI, s.xiii, fols1O9r 162".

- BOxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmole 179, pt.4, ca. 1600A.D., pp. 1-62.

- G Ibid., Ashmole 209, s.xvii, fols 211-59 (collated againstanother MS).

- AIbid., Ashmole 369, s.xiii, fols 85'-101".- FIbid., Ashmole 434, pt.12, s.xvi, fols 1-23.- DIbid., Digby 51, s.xii, fols 55'-78'.- EIbid., Digby 91, s.xvi, fols 86r126\r.79- VLeiden, Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit, Voss.Lat. 0.52,

s. xvii, fols 3r83r50- FParis, Bibliotheque de l'Université, 640, s. xiv, fols

10725.s1

78 Fda 87 and 88 are replacements. There is a squash to et everything in on thesereplaced folios, and the text on the last part of fol. 88 is taken from Hugo ofSantalla's translation of al-Kindi's text (see below).

This manuscript belonged to Thomas Allen, and the copy of al-Kindi's ludiciafollows a copy of the De radiis attributed in Latin manuscripts to al-Kindi.

Apparently copied from MS Digby 91; see K. A. de Meyier, Codices VoesianiLatini (Leiden, 1977), pp. 97-8.

See Catalogue général des MSS des Biblisthéques publiques de France:Université de Paris (Paris, 1918), pp. 159-60. The MS lacks fols 123 and 126; conse-quently the text ends in c. 33(37), §637. This manuscript was brought to my noticeby R. Lemay in his 'L'authenticité de la preface de Robert de Chester a sa traductiondu Morienus (1144)', Ch,ysoperia, 4 (1990).

106 CHARLES BURNETT

MS D is both the earliest and the most reliable manuscript. Itis written in several contemporary hands, but corrected andannotated throughout by one twelfth-century hand. 82 Themanuscript consists almost entirely of translations from theNorth of Spain - in particular, the works of Plato of Tivoli,whose translation of AbU'Ali a1-Khayyã's De nativitatibus alsoaccompanies the ludicia in MS C. MS A is an importantEnglish collection of texts on judicial astrology. MSS BEFG areclosely related. All four of these MSS give as the explicit: 'Finitliber Alkindi, translatio Roberti Angligenae de Chebil'. 83 MSSBEG also give the date of translation as 1272, which is clearlyan error. After the explicit MSS ACDE include the Appendixbeginning 'Constat apud sapientes...' (E in an abbreviatedform).Here is the preface as given in MS D:

1 Quamquam post Euclidem Theodosii cosmometrie libroque propor-tionumm libencius insudarem unde commodior ad Almaiesti - quo pre-cipuurn nostrum aspirat studium - pateret accessus, tamen, ne per meamsegniciem nostra surdesceret arnicitia, vestris nutibus nil preter equum pos-tulantibus, mi Hermanne, nulli Latinorum huius nostri temporis astro-nomico secunde, penitus parere paratus, eum quem commoclissimum etveracissimum inter astrologos iudicem vestra quam sepe notavit diligencia,voto vestro serviens transtuli, non minus amicicie quarn pericie facultatibusinnisus. 2 In quo turn vobis turn ceteris huius sciencie studiosis placereplurimum studens, enodato verborum vultu, rerum semen et effectum atquesummam stellarium effectuurn pronosticationisque quorumlibet eventuurnMLatine brevitati diligenter inclusi. 3 Cuius examen vestram manurnpostrerno postulans, non indigne vobis laudis meritum, si quid assit, corn-muniter autem fructus pariat, mihique non segne res arduas aggrediendicalcar adhibeat, si nostri laboris munus amplexu favoris elucescat. 4 Sed neproemium lectori tedium, lectionique moram afferat, illius prolixitate<rn>supersedendo, rem propositam secundum nature tramitem a toto gener-alique natis exordiis texamus, prius tamen libri totius capitulis enumeratisad rerum evidenciam suorumque locorum repertum facilern.

' This hand has also written some words in maghribi script on fol. 88v.This place name, clearly written in G, is difficult to read in the other MSS.

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

ãportionum.eventu D.


1 Although after Euclid I would have more willingly sweated over theCosmoinetria of Theodosius and a book of ratios, so that a more convenientpath towards the Almagest - which is the principal goal of our studies -should be cleared, nevertheless, lest our friendship should fade awaythrough my laziness, dear Hermann, second" , to no Latin astronomer of ourtime, I was prepared completely to obey your wish which is not unreason-able, and I translated that author whom your diligence has often noted to bethe most suitable and true judge amongst astrologers, answering yourrequest and relying on the services not less of your friendship than of yourexpertise. 2 In this I have attempted especially to please both you and otheradepts of this science, and, having unravelled the surface-tangle of thewords, I have carefully enclosed the seed and result of things and the sumof the effects of the stars and of the prognostication of every event within abrief Latin style. 3 Finally, this work calls for your scrutiny: it would pro-vide the merit - supposing the book contains anything of merit - ofunstinted praise for you, and rewards for both of us, and it would give me aspur to tackle hard things with a lively spirit, if the offering of our work ismade splendid by being embraced by your favour. 4 But lest the introduc-tion bring boredom to the reader and a delay to the reading, replacing itsprolixity, let us weave the matter in hand according to the path of nature,taking as the beginning, whole and general principles - first, however, enu-merating the chapters of the whole book to show what it contains and tofacilitate finding the right place.

The preface continues with the following list of chapters (thesection numbers are given in square brackets):

1. Primum igitur capitulurn zodiaci divisiones earumque proprietates tamnaturales quam accidentales generaliter amplectitur [*1]2. Planetarum formas, naturas et effectus turn ex se turn ex suis locis edocet[*44]3. Est de planetarum coniunctionibus [*82]

This is a pun on the name by which Hermann preferred himself to be known:Hermannus Secundus, as has been pointed out by R. Lemay in his 'De la scola8tiqueA l'histoire par le truchement de ]a philologie', in La diffusione delle scienzeislamiche, pp. 399-535 (see pp. 440-1).

For Robert's metaphorical use of the word 'semen' see his translation of TheForty Chapters, c. 28(32), §600: 'Ex his quidem velud ut a quampluribus turn thetisturn dicendis a nobis semine dato, diligens lector multa proferat' ('When the seedhas been planted from these words as from many other things both said and to besaid by us, the diligent reader will bring forth many things'). This sentence has noequivalent either in the Arabic or in Hugo's translation. The reading 'seriem' whichis found in the other manuscripts and adopted by Haskins seems to be a banalizationof Robert's distinctive vocabulary.

This last sentence appears to incorporate statements found in al-Kindi's prefaceto The Forty Chapters (see p. 78 above).

108 CHARLES BURNETT

4. De receptionibus [*9215. In accidentibus mundi [*113]6. In effectu rerum sive defectu [*132]7. In aihilegech reperiendis ex ordine [*13818. In rerum initiis [*14219. De cuiusvis participum coniunctionis eventu [*150110. De fure simul et de furto [*173]11. De fugitivis et amissis [*248]12. De itinere [*283113. De cuiusvis honoris adeptione [*320114. De civitatis obsidione [*348]15. De preliis [*382116. De cuiusvis in suum regem insultu [*423117. De repertu pecunie [*453118. De congrua dispositione planetarum atque signorum ad cuiuslibet hered-itatis adeptionem [*469119. In urbium et suorum edificiorum edificationibus [*477120. In fluminum et rivulorum ad irrigandum alveis necnon in coloniisputeisque gerendis [*482121. In compositione navium [*490122. De successu naufragioque navis in itinere [*496123. In servorum emptione [*512124. De coniugio [*519]25. De conceptione et partu [*537]26. De participationis ac societatis et amicitie connexu [*546]27. De incarcerato [*553]28. De quovis absente [*567]29. In emendis quibuslibet animalibus [*578130. De venatu [*584131. In convivio [*587132. De discretione rumorum inter verum et falsum [*599133. De legatis et viatoribus [*604134. In petitione rei [*608135. De exitu morbi [§612136. De scarificatione atque flebothomo [*626137. De cirurgia [*632]38. De purgatoriis per utramque regionem [*635139. De thesauri repertu [*639140. In certamine cursus equorum [*649141. De pretio rerum quolibet tempore [*662]42. In aeriis qualitatibus anni [*669143. Utrum annus morbidus sit an salubris [*683144. In revolutionibus annorum mundi [*688]45. In effectibus Lune [*694].


III. Hugo of Santalla 's translation

Liber Alkindi de Iudiciis ,lxvi. capitulis discretus.

The text begins: 'Celestis circuli forma sperica idem cum terracentrum obtinet...' This text was incorporated into the Libertrium iudicum which is found in the following MSS:

- DDublin, Trinity College, 368, s.xii, fols 431'-137' (almostcomplete).

- ALondon, British Library, Arundel 268, s.xii, fols 75'-84"(opening chapters only).

- BOxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 430, s.xiii, fols 50r

122" (incomplete).

Most of the same passages from the ludicia have been takenover from the Liber trium iudicum into the Liber novemiudicum, which has to be consulted for the last chapters of thetext, missing in all three manuscripts of the Liber triumiudicum. For the Liber novem iudicum the following MSS havebeen used:

- CCambridge, Clare College, 15, ca. 1280 A.D., fols 69'-144r.

- VVienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, 2428, s.xii,fols 1-160.

MS V often gives a better reading for the text of al-Kindi thanthe MSS of the Liber trium iudicurn. While the chapter num-bers have not been retained in the two astrological compendia,most of the original titles to the chapters seem to survive. 90 Inthe following list they follow the number of the Arabic chapter:

1. De fortuna secularium et summa eorumdem dignitate.2. De eligendis ducibus et eorum significatione.3. (chapter missing)4. De incipiendis negociis.5. De his que inter duos solent accidere.6. De furto.

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 ofthe chapter (e.g., cc. 7, 10 and 20).

110 CHARLES BURNE'N'

7. Utrum aliquid secum detulerit.8. De itinere.9. Be honoris adeptione.10. Utrum hostes urbem obsessuri veniant.11. Do preliatoribus.12. De egressis a rege et qui rebelles fiunt.13. De acquirenda pecunia.14. De terrarum, agrorum et consimilium statu.15. De urbium sive domorum edificatione.16. De alveis fluminum effodiendis et de his que ad imganda arva pertinentet de incolenda terra.17. De construendis navibus.18. De navibus quid boni vel mali his accidere debeat.19. Dc captivorum et servorum emptione.20. In firmando coniugio.21. De pregnante.22. De amicicia ineunda vel consorcio firmando.23. De captivis et eorum statu.24. De absentis statu.25. De emendis animalibus, bobus videlicet, ovibus et camelis.26. Do venatu et piscatione.27. De conviviis et his que in convivio accidunt.28. De nunciis.29. De rumoribus et eorum fine.30. (chapter missing)31. (title missing)32. De fleubotomia et ventosis.33. De cirurgia.34. De potionibus sumendis.35. De thesauris et qualibet re occulta.36. De equorum cursu et eorumdem victoria.37. De rebus venalibus.38. De aeris qualitate per singulos annos.39. De annorum peste et salute.40. (chapter missing).41. ( = c. 45 of Robert's translation) Do Lune potentia et de signis secun-dum tropica et bicorpora et firma.

The following paragraphs are missing in one or other Latintranslation:

1) Paragraphs missing from Robert of Ketton's translation:

[§90 1 Another form of applicatio[245-6} Alkindius quantum recuperari debeat[541] Alkindius de hora partus[619] Questio de medico

AL-KINDI ON JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY: 'THE FORTY CHAPTERS'1112) Paragraphs missing from Hugo of Santalla's translation:

[*27] Facies planetarum[*43] Termini Egyptiorum[*73] Introduction to the 12 places[*81] Coniunctio planetarum[*113] A brief introductory passage[**138-411 In aihilegech reperiendis ex ordine (c. 3(7)).[§247 1 One or many thieves[0821 A brief introductory passage[*5431 One or many children in the womb[*591] Characteristics of the feast[**608-11] In petitione rei (C. 30(34)).[*615] Exitus morbi[**652-611 The colour of the horses and their ownership[**688-93] In revolutionibus annorum mundi (c. 40(44)).

It remains to be investigated whether this discrepancy in con-tents is the result of the vicissitudes of the Latin tradition, orreflects the use of Arabic manuscripts with differing contents.

APPENDIX II: THE FORTY CHAPTERS,CHAPTER 16(20)

As a specimen of the Arabic text and Latin translations of TheForty Chapters I have taken one of the shorter chapters - thaton when to dig irrigation ditches, wells and dams. This is agood example of catarchic astrology, and, as such, portions ofthis chapter appear in the seventh book of 'All ibn Abi al-Rijãl'sKitãb al-Ban which is devoted to ibtidã'ãt ('Commencements')or, as the title states, ikhtiyarat ('Choices'). 9' A chapter ofHephaestio of Thebes's Apotelesmatica is 'on the digging ofwells and cisterns' ('peri freatOn orugés kai lakkOn'), but thecontents are not the same.92

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MS London, British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections, Additional23399, fol. 277": 'al-juz' al-sãbi'... 11 ahkam a]-nujüm fihi al-ikhtiyarãt khàatan'.§*482-3 and 488-9 of al-Kindi's chapter are found on fol. 287.

See Hephaestio Thebanus, Apotelesmatica, 111. 15, ed. D. Pmgree (Leipzig, 1973),I, pp. 268-9.

112 CHARLES BURNETT

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The Sixteenth Chapter: On Digging Canals, Cultivating theLand and Constructing Wells and Dams.

§482. As for digging canals, that should be done when the Moon is in thefirst quadrant of the Sun, made fortunate, and received in the cardines; andthe cardines are firm and direct; and the Lord of the ascendent is Eastern,in its dignities, cardinal or in a succedent; and the ascendent is a waterysign, made fortunate by a strong benefic; and the cardine of the fourth<place> is made fortunate too by a strong beneficY 3 §483. And the Lord ofthe Moon is in its dignities, received and made fortunate; and the Lot ofFortune is made fortunate in the aspect of the Moon and Sun; and thedegree of the conjunction is in the aspect of the benefic; and the applicationof the Moon, at its departure from the Sun at the time of the conjunction oropposition, 94 is a strong benefic in a cardine or succedent; and the Lord ofthe conjunction or opposition is like this; and the malefics are falling from(i.e., distant from) the cardines and the luminaries and the Lot of Fortuneand the Lord of the Moon. §484. For if that is judged to be as we havedefined, it signifies ease of toil, abundance of water, a large number of prof-its from this water, a small amount of harm from it, and the safety of ves-sels travelling on it, and it will ensure that it lasts for a long time (?).

§485. As for the construction of wells, that should be done when theascendent and the <other> cardines are firm, not receding and direct, andthe ascendent is an earthy sign - and the cardine of the earth likewise;(486) and the cardines are clear of malefics and fortified by benefics, espe-cially if Venus is in the ascendent or the fourth and this is an earthy sign;and the Moon is in an earthy sign, being dominant in the North or theSouth, especially in its dignities, and it is received by a benefic in the East.

§487. Likewise the construction of dams is like the construction of wells.For wells are dams.

§488. As for the cultivation of the earth, this should be done when theMoon is received by a benefic, with it <and> its recipient being in cardinesor succedents; and it is better if both are in cardines or the Moon at least;and the condition of the Lord of the ascendent is the same as the conditionof the Lord of the Moon; and the cardines are clear of malefics and fortifiedwith benefics, especially if one of the two benefics is Lord of the house ofwealth or Lord of the Lot of Fortune or Lord of the Lot of Wealth; and theconjunction or opposition is <in> one of the cardines; (489) and [the Lordof] 96 the application of the Moon when it departs from its conjunction with

On both occasions the Arabic for 'made fortunate by a strong benefit' should be:'mas'üdan bi-al-sa'di al-qawiyyi', and this is the text implied by the Latin transla-tions. In the Arabic text as it stands h should be read as 'qawiya' and the phrasetranslated either as 'made fortunate by the benefic, and which has become strong',or 'made fortunate, and which has become strong through the benefic'.

Literally: 'full moon'; the Kitãb al-Ban gives 'istiqbal'.Literally: 'full moon'.'the Lord of, omitted in the Kitãb al-Ban'.

114 CHARLES BURNETT

the Sun or from its opposition is with a benefic in a cardine or succedent;and the Lord of the conjunction is a benefic, and likewise the Lord of theMoon and the Lord of the fourth <place>.

The Latin Translations

In the following editions the orthography of the base manu-scripts has been retained, except in cases of ambiguity or incon-sistency. Punctuation is my own. 97

Robert of Ketton's translation:

XX. In fluminum et rivulorum ad irrigandum alveis necnon in coloniisputeisque gerendis.

§482. In alveorum fluminum eductionumque suarum opere, cardinem fir-mum atque directum in primo Solis quadrante fortunata necnon et receptaLuna sorciatur orientisque dominus orientalis in suarum aliqua potencia-rum in cardine yel receptus existat. Oriens item signum aqueurn terrequecardo a felicissimo fortunentur. §483. Sitque Lune dominus in sua dignitatereceptus et fortunatus, partemque fortune lumina, gradumque coniunctio-nis felices, aspiciant. Luna rursus in primo de subradiis exitu dominusqueconiunctionis cum felicissimo in cardine yel succedente iungantur, infelicesa cardinibus atque luminibus parteque fortune necnon et a lunari dominoquam diligenter alienentur. §484. Hoc enim labore modico commodumimmensum, aquarum copiam et salubritatem nulliusque naufragii pestisveseu detrimenti capacem, diuturnitatem eciam efficit.

§485. Similiter in ciconiis sint oriens ceterique cardines stabiles et nul-latenus intricati, (486) directi et ab infelicibus mundi, felicibusque corrobo-rati, precipueque oriens seu terre cardinem, que terrea sint signa, Venusoptineat, et Luna in signo terreo in septemtrionem vel sursum accedens,precipueque sit in suarum dignitatum quamvis ab orientali felice fortunata.

§487. Hec eadem quoque dispositio suffragiumque sidereum in rotisaquam trahentibus sunt necessaria.

§488. In coloniarum quidem fundamentis et iniciis est utilhimum ut Lunaa felice recipiatur, earumque utraque ye! saltim Luna cardinem vel succe-dens, precipue tamen cardinem tenente. Sitque similis et concors habitusdominorum orientis et Lune cardinesque firmi, ab infelicibus mundi feli-cibusque corroborati, potissimumque felicium quevis domicilio substantiepartisve fortune seu pecunie dominetur. §489. Luna rursus in suo de sub-radlis exitu yel expositione a stella felicissima sit fortunata yel recepta, coni-unctioque sui vel oppositio in cardine vel succedente, et eorum alterius acLune terreque cardinis domini felices ye! fortunati.

The Latin texts are taken from my edition of the two translations which I cansupply on request.


Hugo of Santalla's translation:De alveis fluminum effodiendis et de his que ad irriganda arva pertinent etde incolenda terra.

In excidendis fluviorum alveis Luna in primo Solis tetragono fortunata etrecepta in cardine, cardines eciam firmi et directi disponantur, ascendentisquoque dominus orientalis in aliquo dignitatis sue loco, in cardine aut postcardinem, ascendens eciam signum aquaticum et a vigenti fortunio secunda-turn. Quarti quidem loci cardo fortis, felicium beatitudine non privetur.§483. Lunaris vero doniinus in sue dignitatis loco receptus, beatus. Parsitem fortune Solis et Lune respectu faveatur. Alestirna quidem gradus fortu-natorum respectu secundetur. Lune vero applicatio post primum a Solisconventu vel oppositione secessum cum fortunio forti in cardine yel postcardinem fiat. Dominus item conventus aut oppositionis eodem modo sehabeat. Infortunia quidem a cardinibus cadant et a Sole et Luna et partefortune, lunari domino. §484. Quod si ut determinavimus possibile est fieri,ab excidendo aiveo inpedimentum repellit, aquas multiplicat et utiitati nonmodice facit subservire, easque innocuas conservat, naves et navigantesincolumes custodit et indeficientes reddit. §485. In erigendis item puteorumquibusdam instrumentis quibus ad exhauriendas aquarum altitudines apudgentes nonnullas uti consueverunt, que etiam propt.er forme similitudinemvulgari nomine ciconias nuncupant, ascendens et cardines firmi et inmobilesnec reducti, directi etiam statuantur, ascendens quoque signum terreum.Terre quidern cardo et reliqui in hunc modum. §486. Cardines tamen abinfortuniis mundentur et fortunati a felicibus muniantur. Potiorem quidemeffectum Venus in ascendente aut in quarto, in signo scilicet terreo, confi-ciet. Luna necnon in signo terreo et in septemtrionem super aliou - videlicetethera - sublimata et in sue potestatis loco a fortunio orientali recepta idem.

§487. Rotarum item fabricatio quas Arabes azenias vel annoras clicuntpreclicturn puteorum sequetur artificium. Utriusque enim instrumenti ben-eficio in agrorum irrigacione aque extrahuntur.

§488. Terrarum vero inhabitationi precipue Luna a fortunatis receptaconsulit, ea quidem a qua recipitur cardinalis aut post cardines fiat. Potiorvero ipsa in cardine aut saltem Luna, ascendentis item domini status cumlunaris dornim statu communis. Cardines item ab infortuniis mundi a feli-cibus muniti roborentur, precipue dum fortunatorum alterum dornus pecu-me aut partis fortune aut partis pecume dominus st.atuatur. Conventus itemaut oppositio in cardine accidat. §489. Luna deinde applicatio Solis conventuaut oppositione relicta ad fortunium aliquod in cardine aut post cardinesdirigatur, alestima vero - videlicet conventus - dominus felix, lunaris itemet quarti dominus eiusdem felicitatis munere pociantur.

The following points may be noted about the two Latin transla-tions:

§482. Robert confusingly translates both 'maqbul' and 'rnuqbil' as 'receptus'('received'), whilst Hugo correctly translates the first as 'receptus' and the

116 CHARLES BURNETT

second as 'post cardinem' ('in a succedent'). Robert's abbreviating tendencyis demonstrated in his bringing together into one clause the first twophrases ('As for digging.,. firm and direct') by not repeating 'cardines'; andin his running together of the last two phrases, so that he avoids repeatingthe words 'made fortunate by a strong benefic'. Hugo, on the other hand,both follows the Arabic in repeating the later phrase, and, in characteristicstyle, finds two different ways of expressing the same Arabic words in Latin:'vigenti fortunio secundatum' and 'felicium beatitudine non privetur'.

§483. Similarly Robert combines the second and third phrases, allowingthem to share the same verb 'aspiciant' (they should aspect'). Hugo findsyet another word for 'made fortunate' ('faveatur'), and retains an Arabicword in Latin transliteration ('alestima' = a1-ijtimã"). It is difficult to seewhy he does this here and in §489 below, when he elsewhere translates theArabic word as 'conventus' - unless, again, he is aiming at variety. Robertavoids using Arabic words, and, in this instance, uses the appropriate Latinterm 'coniunctio'. Robert combines the fourth and fifth phrases, whichshare the verb 'iungantur' ('they should be joined'), but adds a cautionwhich is absent in the other versions: 'quam diligenter' ( ... <should be keptaway> as carefully as possible'). Hugo retains the Arabic word order.

§484. Hugo appears to read 'karw' ('digging') in place of 'kadd' ('toil'), butotherwise keeps close to the Arabic as in the Khãlidi manuscript. Robertparaphrases the Arabic.

§485. Robert and Hugo both seem to have in mind the shadoof when theArabic speaks of wells. Robert simply replaces 'wells' by 'ciconiae' (literally'storks'). Hugo retains the word 'wells' ('puteorum') but adds a long glossdescribing the shadoof: 'In erecting certain machines of (in?) wells whichthey (the Arabs?) were accustomed to use amongst certain peoples for draw-ing off high levels of water, and which they call 'storks' in the common lan-guage, because of the similarity of their form...' This might be a reflection ofHugo's own experience of irrigation methods in al-Andalus. From at leastthe time of Isidore of Seville, the Spaniards were known to have called amachine for drawing water from wells a 'ciconia',91 and the Spanish vernac-ular equivalents of this word have been used since medieval times to signifythis machine."'

§486. In the phrase 'super aliou - videlicet ethera - sublimata' Hugoagain uses a transliterated form of an Arabic word. However, the word'aliou' does not appear in the Khãllidi manuscript, which gives only the oneword 'ghàliban' ('prevailing/dominant') for Hugo's phrase. What seems to

Isidore, Etyrnologiae, ed. W,M. Lindsay, XX, 15.3: 'Telonem hortulani vocantlignum longum quo auriunt aquas... Hoc instrumentum Hispani ciconiam dicunt,propter quod imitetur eiusdem nominis avem, levarites aqua ac deponentes rostrum,dum clangit' ('Cultivators call a long pole by which they draw water a 'telo'... Thismachine 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').

See J. Corominas, Diccionario crItico etirnologico de la lengua castellana., 4 vols(Bern, 1954), s.v. 'ciguefia'.


have happened is that Hugo (and possibly Robert) read "aliyan' ('high/sub-lime') for 'ghaliban'. Hugo then emphasizes or explains the mode of eleva-tion of the Moon by adding 'super aliou', which, as the Latin equivalent('ethera' = 'aether'! 'upper air') shows, must mean 'above al-jaww ('the air'!'atmosphere')'.

§487. Robert and Hugo both have in mind water-wheels ('rotae')'°° for theArabic 'dams' or 'jetties' ('musannayãt'). Once again Hugo appears to add agloss from his own experience of Andalusian society: 'The construction ofwater-wheels, which the Arabs call "sãniya" or "n'üra"...' Both these wordswere taken over into the Spanish vernacular. 'Saniya' is attested in Spanishdocuments as early as 945 A.D. (in the form 'azenia'), while, up to now, thefirst secure attestation of 'nã'üra' (as 'annora') is in a document of 1148)ul

§488. Robert and Hugo seem to interpret the Arabic here as meaning'breaking virgin soil' or 'establishing new farms'. Robert omits the lastphrase 'and the conjunction or opposition is <in> one of the cardines'.

Hugo's use of words of Arabic origin may indicate not so much a desire topreserve the Arabic terms he found in his Arabic original as his familiaritywith the Spanish vernacular into which many Arabic words had alreadybeen assimilated. Robert, not being Spanish himself, would not have been sosusceptible to the influence of vernacular vocabulary. Although neither ofthe translators follow a literal style of translating (like that of John ofSeville or Gerard of Cremona), their translations can give us clues as towhat the Arabic text of The Forty Chapters as known in al-Andalus in themid-twelfth century looked like.

For this meaning, see Isidore, Etyrnologiae, XX, 15.1: 'Rota... est... machina dequa e flumine aqua extrahitur' ('A <water->wheel is a machine by which water isdrawn from a river').

Corominas, Diccionario crIlico etimológico ,s. v. 'aceña' and 'noria'. For the useof Arabic irrigation techniques in Spain and the significance of some of these termssee T.F. Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages (Princeton,1971), pp. 68-76.

Documents

AlKindi on Judicial Astrology. the Fourty Chapters Charles Burnet 1993