The Boke of Noblesse

After a break (p. 50), in consequence of the loss of a leaf of the Manuscript, we find ourselves in the midst of a discussion of the merits of astrology. The author addresses himself to combat the prevalent confidence in prophecies and in the influence of the stars: "which judgments (he avers) be not necessarily true;" but merely contingent or likely, and, he adds, "as likely not to be as to be." For if, he puts the case, "a constellation or a prophecy signified that such a year or within {ix} such a time there should fall war, pestilence, or dearth of vitaile to a country or region, or privation of a country, it is said but dispositively, and not of necessit