CENTURIA IV · QUATRAIN XVIII
The Persecuted Stars
Des plus lettres dessus les faits celestes
Seront par princes ignorans reprouves:
Punis d'Edit, chassez comme scelestes,
Et mis a mort la ou seront trouves.
Of the most lettered upon celestial matters
will princes ignorant reprove them:
punished by edict, chased as criminals,
and put to death where they are found.
THE MASTER SAYS…
This quatrain must be very veiled. It relates to the debasement of astrology in the period after Nostradamus. The celestial arts are astrology? Yes. He says that one Frenchman — and he tells me his name — Voltaire, — will help discredit astrology and popularize a completely new philosophical concept. He says that as a result astrologers will be persecuted. Voltaire lived more than a hundred years after Nostradamus. He was a philosopher and prolific author, one of the fathers of the Enlightenment, or as it is also called, the “Age of Reason.” As new philosophies developed, everything was attacked. He wrote on many topics, including religious freedom and criminal law reform, and his works are popular even today. Collier’s Encyclopedia says: “His whole life was devoted to speaking out against existing vices.” So it is quite possible that he also criticized astrology, once held in esteem. This is close to what translators say. “The shadows of the Inquisition hover over this verse, since in reality astrologers were never persecuted after the death of Nostradamus as intensively as was done a century before.” I already pointed out in my research that astrologers were not persecuted in the time of Nostradamus as long as they did not overstep their bounds and indulge in magic. Usually they were treated with tolerance and respect. Astrology was absolutely necessary for physicians. Nostradamus wrote that persecution and misunderstanding took place after him. I had not even supposed this. In his time it was difficult to be an astrologer, because if you are a good astrologer, you can predict many events, and your clients will seek you out. But the church is displeased, because it desires power. It desires to rule. Translators were right, this quatrain is indeed connected with astrology. Yes, it is.