Pièce 11 - Letter from A. E. Housman to W. H. Semple

1 sheet, 1 envelope

(With an envelope.)

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Transcript

Trinity College, 5 Feb. 1927

Dear Semple,

It will probably be most convenient for you if I put down in writing what there is to say about Sidonius ep. VIII 11 9. It is the case that he is making a show of knowledge which he does not possess, and using terms which he does not quite understand.

thema is the position of the heavens and all the heavenly bodies at the instant of the birth. geniturae schema is the same thing; schema itself is a more general term, though sometimes used for thema, as also genitura sometimes is. constellatio properly means only the relative position of the seven planets, but practically comes to the same thing. diastemata zodiaca are probably not the 12 signs of the zodiac but the 12 τόποι into which it was divided at the birth, of which I give an account in my 2nd book of Manilius pp. xxix–xxxi.

asyndetus is rightly explained by Sirmond, and has the same sense in the passage you cite from Rufinus. It is not inconsistent with super diametro, because a planet might be in the diametrically opposite τόπος (or sign) and might nevertheless be asyndetus because not at the diametrically opposite point; in technical language not μοιρικῶς or partiliter opposite.

retrogradus you explain correctly, but it is not only the outer planets which retrograde: Venus and Mercury do so, though to a less extent.

apocatastaticus in itself is a vague term, applicable to anything moving in a circle and so arriving at a spot where it has been before. If it here has a precise meaning, it probably is that Mars was in the middle of Scorpius, which is the position he occupied at the creation of the world.

super centro, ἐπίκεντρος, is the opposite of asyndetus, and means configurated, whether by diameter or trigon or tetragon or possibly hexagon. A planet thus placed is best able to exert its influence; and the influence of Mars is malefic. Sidonius apparently supposed the sense of the word to be something more special than it is.

amici nascentis anno and erexerat and in occasu taken together seem to be mere gabble, for of course planets have no annual rising or setting. inrubescentes is another piece of nonsense, Saturn being dull white in fact and black in astrological fiction.

I am nearing the end of my troubles and shall be able to see you at 6 o’clock on Tuesday the 15th if you like to come.

Yours sincerely
A. E. Housman.

[Direction on envelope:] W. H. Semple Esq. | St John’s College

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On the back of the envelope, which is not stamped or postmarked, are various abortive and corrected Latin verses (not in Housman’s hand), apparently written in the process of composing a dedicatory inscription.