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In the time of the ancient fathers, to speak concerning illustrious
persons, there were born two twin brothers, the one so immediately
after the other, that the first took hold of the heel of the second.
So great a difference existed in their lives and manners, so great a
dissimilarity in their actions, so great a difference in their
parents' love for them respectively, that the very contrast between
them produced even a mutual hostile antipathy. Do we mean, when we
say that they were so unlike each other, that when the one was walking
the other was sitting, when the one was sleeping the other was waking,
which differences are such as are attributed to those minute portions of
space which cannot be appreciated by those who note down the position of
the stars which exists at the moment of one's birth, in order that the
mathematicians may be consulted concerning it? One of these twins was
for a long time a hired servant; the other never served. One of them
was beloved by his mother; the other was not so. One of them lost
that honor which was so much valued among their people; the other
obtained it. And what shall we say of their wives, their children,
and their possessions? How different they were in respect to all
these! If, therefore, such things as these are con-netted with
those minute intervals of time which elapse between the births of
twins, and are not to be attributed to the constellations, wherefore
are they predicted in the case of others from the examination of their
constellations? And if, on the other hand, these things are said to
be predicted, because they are connected, not with minute and
inappreciable moments, but with intervals of time which can be observed
and noted down, what purpose is that potter's wheel to serve in this
matter, except it be to whirl round men who have hearts of clay, in
order that they may be prevented from detecting the emptiness of the
talk of the mathematicians?
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