ns. While the sun
through its daily course regulated the divisions of the day, the moon by
its phases fixed the division of weeks and months. The moon never
appeared quite the same on two successive nights nor in the same part of
the heavens. The more variety, the more significance--was a principle of
general application in the interpretation of omens. Whether the
Babylonians also recognized an influence of the moon on the tides, we
have no certain means of determining, but it is eminently likely that
trained as their astronomers were in careful observation, this was the
case. But apart from this, there were many events in public and private
affairs that appeared to them to stand in close connection with the
movements of the orb of night. Nothing that occurred being regarded as
accidental, the conclusion was forced upon the Babylonians that the time
when something was undertaken was of significance. The fact that certain
undertakings succeeded, while others failed, was most easily explained
upon the theory that there were periods favorable for the action
involved and periods unfavorable. The gathering of past experience thus
becomes a guiding principle in the interpretation of the movements of
the moon; and what applies to the moon applies, of course, to the other
planets and to the stars. No doubt other factors are involved, such as
association of ideas; but it is evident from a careful study of the omen
literature that conclusions drawn from what appears to us as the
accidental relation of past occurrences to the phenomena presented by
the planets and stars constituted fully three-fourths of the wisdom of
the Euphratean augurs. The same report, of which a portion has already
been quoted,[560] continues after interpreting the meaning of the
equinox with a diagnosis of other concurrent conditions:[561]

Sun and moon are seen apart,[562]
The king of the country will manifest wisdom.[563]
On the fourteenth day sun and moon are seen together,
There will be loyalty in the land,
The gods of Babylonia are favorably inclined,
The soldiery will be in accord with the king's desire,
The cattle of Babylonia will pasture in safety.[564]
From Ishtar-shumeresh.

The same conditions appearing on another day may portend precisely the
reverse. So another report informs the king:[565]

On the fifteenth day the sun and moon are seen together,
A powerful enemy raises his weapons against the land,
The enemy will s