Indoles

Definition

Indoles is the standard Latin word for inborn character or natural disposition, and it names the concept running all through Manilius's catalog of the signs in Book 4 of the Astronomica. Each sign there bestows on those born under it a fixed bundle of dispositions and aptitudes — a character and a likely walk of life. Manilius's verse reaches for the idea through many turns of phrase rather than this one term; indoles is the plain Latin name for what he is describing.

In Tradition

Across the per-sign character-and-profession catalog of Astronomica Book 4, each sign imparts its own cast of nature to those born under it. The verse reaches for the act with words like gives, grants, and engenders. The doctrine rests on the Stoic determinism Manilius states at the head of the book. This inborn character is fixed at birth and lies outside the reach of choice. By his own statement, what fate bestows at birth — skills, character, merits and defects, losses and gains — none can refuse or acquire against the grain. The rising sign sets the disposition; the catalog spells out, sign by sign, what that disposition contains.

In Practice

Use this as the lens for Manilius's sign-readings: ask what bent of character and what kind of life a sign hands down, not merely what mood it lends. Look to the rising sign as the seat of that inborn nature, then read its entry in the Book 4 catalog for the temperament, talents, and trades it engenders. Keep indoles apart from the four-humours sense of temperament. That scheme sorts people by hot, cold, wet, and dry. Indoles is the inborn character a sign confers, framed by Manilius as fated and given rather than mixed from elemental qualities.

Historical Origin

The concept runs through Manilius, Astronomica Book 4 (the character-and-profession catalog at 4.122-293; trans. G. P. Goold, Loeb, pp. 110-121), grounded in the deterministic statement of 4.1-22 that birth fixes a person's gifts and character beyond their power to change.

Etymology

Origin: Latin. Meaning: innate disposition; inborn character.

Further Reading

• Manilius, Astronomica
• Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology