Note 2199 — Chapter XXII · AUGUSTINE ON MAGIC AND ASTROLOGY
Reading edition
In Quaestiones ex Novo Testamento, Quaest. 63, PL 35, 2258, which is probably a spurious work but was cited as Augustine’s by Thomas Aquinas (Summa, III, 36, v), Balaam is said to have warned the Magi to watch for the star. It is also asserted, however, that “these Chaldean Magi watched the course of the stars, not from malevolence, but curiosity concerning nature” (Hi Magi chaldaei non malevolentia astrorum cursum sed rerum curiositate speculabantur).