Tertullian, De idololatria

Animaduertimus inter artes etiam professiones quasdam obnoxias idololatriae. de astrologis ne loquendum quidem est. sed quoniam quidam istis diebus prouocauit defendens sibi perseuerantiam professionis istius, paucis utar. non allego, quod idola honoret, quorum nomina caelo inscripsit, quibus omnem dei potestatem addixit, quod propterea homines non putant deum requirendum praesumentes stellarum nos immutabili arbitrio agi: unum propono, angelos esse illos desertores dei, amatores feminarum, proditores etiam huius curiositatis, propterea quoque damnatos a deo. o diuina sententia usque ad terram pertinax, cui etiam ignorantes testimonium reddunt! expelluntur mathematici, sicut angeli eorum. urbs et Italia interdicitur mathematicis, sicut caelum angelis eorum. eadem poena est exilii discipulis et magistris. sed magi [et astrologi] ab oriente uenerunt. scimus magiae et astrologiae inter se societatem. primi igitur stellarum interpretes natum Christum annuntiauerunt, primi munerauerunt. hoc nomine Christum, opinor, sibi obligauerunt. quid tum? ideo nunc et mathematicis patrocinabitur illorum magorum religio? de Christo scilicet est mathesis hodie, stellas Christi, non Saturni et Martis et cuiusque ex eodem ordine mortuorum obseruat et praedicat. at enim scientia ista usque ad euangelium fuit concessa, ut Christo edito nemo exinde natiuitatem alicuius de caelo interpretetur. nam et tus illud et myrram et aurum ideo infanti tunc domino obtulerunt quasi clausulam sacrificationis et gloriae saecularis, quam Christus erat adempturus. quod igitur isdem magis somnium sine dubio ex dei uoluntate suggessit, ut irent in sua, sed alia, non qua uenerant, uia, id est, ne pristina secta sua incederent, non, ne illos Herodes persequeretur, qui nec persecutus est, etiam ignorans alia uia digressos, quoniam et qua uenerant ignorabat, adeo uiam sectam et disciplinam intellegere debemus. itaque magis praeceptum, ut exinde aliter incederent. sic et alia illa species magiae, quae miraculis ope. ratur, etiam aduersus Moysen aemulata patientia dei traxit ad euangelium usque. nam exinde et Simon Magus iamiam fidelis, quoniam aliquid adhuc de circulatoria secta cogitaret, ut scilicet inter miracula professionis suae etiam spiritum sanctum per manuum inpositionem enundinaret, maledictus ab apostolis de fide eiectus est: alter magus, qui cum Sergio Paulo, quoniam isdem aduersabatur apostolis, luminum amissione multatus est. hoc et astrologi retulissent, credo, si qui in apostolos incidisset. attamen cum magia punitur, cuius est species astrologia, utique et species in genere damnatur. post euangelium nusquam inuenias aut sophistas aut Chaldaeos aut incantatores aut coniectores aut magos, nisi plane punitos. ubi sapiens, ubi litterator, ubi conquisitor huius aeui? nonne infatuauit deus sapientiam huius saeculi? nihil scis, mathematice, si nesciebas te futurum Christianum. si sciebas, hoc quoque scire debueras, nihil tibi futurum cum ista professione. ipsa te de periculo suo instrueret, quae aliorum climacterica praecanit. non est tibi pars neque sors in ista ratione. non potest regna caelorum sperare cuius digitus aut radius abutitur caelo.

We notice that among the arts there are also certain professions liable to idolatry. Of astrologers one ought not even to speak. But since a certain man lately challenged [us], claiming for himself the right to continue in that profession, I will say a few words. I do not allege that he honours idols, whose names he has inscribed on the sky and to whom he has assigned all the power of God, [nor] that because of this people think God need not be sought, presuming that we are driven by the unchangeable will of the stars. One thing I put forward: that those angels, the deserters of God, the lovers of women, were also the betrayers of this curious lore, and for this reason too were condemned by God. O divine sentence, persisting even down to the earth, to which even the ignorant bear witness! The astrologers are expelled, just like their angels. The city and Italy are forbidden to astrologers, as heaven is to their angels. The same penalty of exile applies to pupils and to masters. 'But magi [and astrologers] came from the east.' We know the alliance between magic and astrology. So interpreters of the stars were the first to announce the birth of Christ, the first to present him with gifts. On this account, I suppose, they put Christ under obligation to themselves. What then? Will the piety of those magi therefore now act as patron to astrologers too? Astrology today, of course, is about Christ: it observes and proclaims the stars of Christ, not those of Saturn and Mars and each of the dead of that same order! But in fact that science was permitted only until the gospel, so that once Christ was born no one should thereafter interpret anyone's nativity from the sky. For the reason they offered that frankincense and myrrh and gold to the Lord, then an infant, was as a closing of worldly sacrifice and glory, which Christ was going to take away. As for the dream which, doubtless by the will of God, prompted those same magi to go to their own [land], but by another way, not the one by which they had come (that is, so that they should not walk in their former sect; not so that Herod should not pursue them, for he did not even pursue them, not knowing that they had departed by another way, since he did not know by which way they had come either): by it we ought to understand 'way' as sect and discipline. Thus the magi were instructed to walk differently from then on. So too that other kind of magic, which works by wonders, having rivalled even Moses, God's patience let run on until the gospel. For thereafter Simon Magus too, already a believer, because he was still thinking something of his juggler's sect, namely that among the wonders of his profession he might also make merchandise of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, was cursed by the apostles and cast out of the faith; and another magus, who was with Sergius Paulus, because he opposed these same apostles, was punished with the loss of his sight. Astrologers too would have got the same, I believe, if any had run up against the apostles. And yet, since magic is punished, of which astrology is a species, the species is surely condemned along with the genus. After the gospel you will nowhere find sophists, Chaldaeans, enchanters, diviners or magi, except plainly punished. Where is the wise man, where is the scribe, where is the inquirer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? You know nothing, astrologer, if you did not know that you would become a Christian. If you did know, you ought also to have known this: that you would have nothing to do with that profession. The [profession] that foretells the climacteric [years] of others would itself have instructed you about its own danger. You have no part or lot in this matter. He cannot hope for the kingdom of heaven whose finger or [measuring] rod abuses heaven.