It is said that on astrological grounds such a con- junction could not fail to excite the attention of men like the magi, and that in conse(iuence p.artly of their knowledge of Balaam's prophecy, and partly from the uneasy ])ersuasion then said to be ])rcvalent that some great one was to be born in the East, these magi com- menced their journey to Jerusalem. Supposing them
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to have sot out at the end of May, B.C. 7, upon a jour- ney for which the lircumstances will be seen to re(|iiire at'least seven months, the planets were observed to separate slowly until the end of July, when, their mo- tions becoming retrograde, they again came into con- junction by the end of September. At that time there can Ik- no doubt Jupiter would present to astronomers, especially in so clear an atmosphere, a magnificent spec- tacle. It was then at its most brilliant apparition, for it was at its nearest api>roach both to the sun and to the earth. Not far from it would be seen its duller and much less conspicuous companion, Saturn. This glori- ous spectacle continued almost unaltered for several days, when the planets again slowly separated, then came to a halt, when, by reassuming a direct motion, Jupiter again approached to a conjunction for the third time with Saturn just as the magi may be supposed to have entered the holy city. To complete the fascina- tion of the tale, about an hour and a half after sunset the two planets might be seen from Jerusalem, hanging, as it were, in the meridian, and suspended over Bethle- hem in the distance. These celestial phenomena thus described are, it will be seen, beyond the reach of ques- tion, and at the first impression they assuredly appear to fultil the conditions of the star of the magi.
The first circumstance which created a suspicion to the contrarj- arose from an exaggeration, unaccounta- ble for any man having a claim to be ranked among as- tronomers, on the part of Dr. Ideler himself, who de- scribed the two planets as wearing the appearance of one bright but diffused light to persons havinrj weak eyes (ii, 407). Not only is this imperfect eyesight in- flicted upon the magi, but it is quite certain that had they possessed any remains of eyesight at all they could not have failed to see, not a single star, but two planets at the verj- considerable distance of double the moon's apparent diameter. Had they been even twen- ty times closer, the duplicity of the two stars must have been apparent; Saturn, moreover, rather confusing than adding to the brilliance of his companion. This forced blending of the two lights into one by Dr. Ideler was siiH further improved b_v dean Alford in the first edition of his very valuable and suggestive Greek Tes- tament, who, indeed, restores ordinary sight to the magi, but represents the planets as forming a single star of surpassing brightness, although they were certainly at more than double the distance of the sun's apparent diameter. Exaggerations of this description induced the Ilev. Charles I'ritchard, honorable secretary of the Koyal Astronomical Society (in the Memoirs of the Koy- al Astronomical Society, vol. xxv), to undertake the very formidable labor of calculating afresh an ephemcris of the planets Jupiter and Saturn and of the sun from May to December, B.C. 7. The result was to confirm the fact of there being three conjunctions during the above period, though somewhat to modify the dates as- signed to them by I )r. Ideler. Similar results, also, have Ik-cu obtained by Kncke, and a December conjunction has l>een confirmed by the astronomer royal. No celes- tial phenomena, therefore, of ancient date are so cer- tainly ascertained as the conjunctions in question.
We will now proceed to examine to what extent, or, as it will be seen, to how slight an extent, the De- cember eoijjunclion fulfils the conditions of the narra- tive of Matthew. We can hardly avoid a feeling of regret at the dissipation of so fascinating an illusion; but we are in quest of the truth rather than of a pict- ure, however beautiful.
(it.) We are profoiuully ignorant of any system of astrology as held by the magi in question; but sup- fX)8iug that some system iliil exist, it nevertheless is inconceivalile that solely ou the ground of astrological reasons men would be induceil to undertake a seven months' journey. As to the widely spread and preva- lent expectation of some powerful personage about to •how hims<lf in the East, the fact of its existence de- pends on the testimony of Tacitus, Suetonius, and Jo-
sephus. But it ought to be very carefullj' observed that all these writers speak of this expectation as apply- ing to Vespasian, in A.D. GO, which date was seventj-- five years, or two generations, after the conjunctions in question ! The well-known and often-quoted words of Tacitus are, " eo ipso tempore ;" of Suetonius. " eo tem- pore;" of Josephus, "Kara riiv Kaipbv tKtlvov f all pointing to A.D. 69, and not to B.C. 7. Seeing, then, that these writers refer to no general uneasy expecta- tion as prevailing in B.C. 7, it can have formed no rea- son for the departure of the magi. Furthermore, it is quite certain that in the February of B.C. 66 (Pritchard, in Transactions of the Roj'al Astronomical Society, vol. xxv), a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in the constellation of Pisces, closer than the one on Dec. 4, B.C. 7. If, therefore, astrological reasons alone im- pelled the magi to journey to Jerusalem in the latter instance, similar considerations would have impelled their fathers to take the same journey fifty-nine years before.