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Book II
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| XVIII. Most men are not acquainted with a truth known to the founders a of the science from their arduous study of the heavens, that what when they fall to earth are termed thunderbolts are the fires of the three upper planets, particularly those of Jupiter, which is in the middle position - possibly because it voids in this way the charge of excessive moisture from the upper circle (of Saturn) and of excessive heat from the circle below (of Mars); and that this is the origin of the myth that thunderbolts are the javelins hurled by Jupiter. Consequently heavenly fire is spit forth by the planet as crackling charcoal flies from a burning log, bringing prophecies with it, as even the part of himself that he discards does not cease to function in its divine tasks. And this is accompanied by a very great disturbance of the air, because moisture collected causes an overflow, or because it is disturbed by the birth-pangs so to speak of the planet in travail. | Thunderbolds, why attributed to Jove | ||||
| XIX. Many people have also tried to discover the distances of the planets from the earth, and have given out that the distance of the sun from the moon is 19 times that of the moon itself from the earth. The penetrating genius of Pythagoras, however, inferred that the distance of the moon from the earth was 15,750 miles, and that of the sun from the moon twice that figure, and of the sun from the twelve signs of the Zodiac three times. Our fellow-countryman Sulpicius Gallus also held this view. | The stars - their distances apart | ||||
| XX. But occasionally Pythagoras draws on the theory of music, and designates the distance between the earth and the moon as a whole tone, that between the moon and Mercury a semitone, between Mercury and Venus the same, between her and the sun a tone and a half, between the sun and Mars a tone (the same as the distance between the earth and the moon), between Mars and Jupiter half a tone, between Jupiter and Saturn half a tone, between Saturn and the zodiac a tone and a half: the seven tones thus producing the so-called diapason, i.e. a universal harmony; in this Saturn moves in the Dorian mode, Jupiter in the Phrygian, and similarly with the other planets - a refinement more entertaining than convincing. | Music from the stars | ||||
| XXI. A stade is equivalent to 125 Roman paces, that is 625 feet.
Posidonius holds that mists and winds and clouds reach to a height of not
less than 5 miles from the earth, but that from that point the air is clear
and liquid and perfectly luminous, but that the distance between the cloudy
air and the moon is 250,000 miles and between the moon and the sun 625,000
miles, it being due to this distance that the sun's vast magnitude does
not burn up the earth. The majority of writers, however, have stated that
the clouds rise to a height of 111 miles. These figures are really unascertained
and impossible to disentangle, but it is proper to put them forward because
they have been put forward already, although they are matters in which
the method of geometrical inference, which never misleads, is the only
method that it is possible not to reject, were anybody desirous of pursuing
such questions more deeply, and with the intention of establishing not
precise measurement (for to aspire to that would mark an almost insane
absorption in study) but merely a conjectural calculation. For since it
appears from the sun's revolution that the circle through which its orb
travels extends nearly 366 degrees, and since the diameter of a circle
always measures a little less than 1/3 + 1/21 of the circumference, it
appears that, as half the circle is subtracted by the interposition of
the earth at the centre, the measure of the sun's altitude comprises about
1/6th of this conjecturally estimated immense space of the solar circle
round the earth, and the moon's altitude 1/12th, since the moon runs in
a circuit that is much shorter than the sun's; so that it comes between
the sun and the earth. It is marvellous to what length the depravity of
man's intellect will go when lured on by some trifling success, in the
way in which reason furnishes impudence with its opportunity in the case
of the calculations above stated. And when they have dared to guess the
distances of the sun from the earth they apply the same figures to the
sky, on the ground that the sun is at its centre, with the consequence
that they have at their finger's ends the dimensions of the world also.
For they argue that the circumference of a circle is 22/7 times its diameter,
as though the measure
of the heavens were merely regulated from a plumb line! The Egyptian calculation published by Petosiris and Nechepsos infers that one degree of the lunar circle measures (as has been said) just over 4 1/8 miles at the least, one degree of the widest circle, Saturn's, twice that size, and one of the sun's circle, which we stated to be in the middle, the mean between the other two. This computation is a most shameful business, since the addition of the distance of the zodiac itself to the circle of Saturn produces a multiple that is even beyond reckoning. |
Dimensions of the world | ||||
| XXII. A few facts about the world remain. There are also stars
that suddenly come to birth in the heaven itself; of these there are several
kinds. The Greeks call them 'comets,' in our language 'long-haired stars,'
because they have a blood-red shock of what looks like shaggy hair at their
top. The Greeks also give the name of 'bearded stars' to those from whose
lower part spreads a mane resembling a long beard. 'Javelin-stars' quiver
like a dart; these are a very terrible portent. To this class belongs the
comet about which Titus Imperator Caesar in his 5th consulship wrote an
account in his famous poem, that being its latest appearance down to the
present day. The same stars when shorter and sloping to a point have been
called 'Daggers'; these are the palest of all in colour, and have a gleam
like the flash of a sword, and no rays, which even the Quoit-star, which
resembles its name in appearance but is in colour like amber, emits in
scattered form from its edge. The 'Tub-star' presents the shape of a cask,
with a smoky light all round it. The 'Horned star' has the shape of a horn,
like the one that appeared when Greece fought the decisive battle of Salamis.
The 'Torch-star' resembles glowing torches, the 'Horse-star' horses' manes
in very rapid motion and revolving in a circle. There also occurs a shining
comet whose silvery tresses glow so brightly that it is scarcely possible
to look at it, and which displays within it a shape in the likeness of
a man's countenance. There also occur 'Goat comets,' enringed with a sort
of cloud resembling tufts of hair. Once hitherto it has happened that a
'Mane-shaped' comet changed into a spear; this was in the 108th Olympiad,
A.U.C. 408. The shortest period of visibility on record for a comet is
7 days, the longest 80.
XXIII. Some comets move, like the planets, but others are fixed
and stationary, almost all of them towards the due North, not in any particular
part of it, though chiefly in the luminous region called the Milky Way.
Aristotle also records that several may be seen at the same time - a fact
not observed by anyone else, as far as I am aware - and that this signifies
severe winds or heat. Comets also occur in the winter months and at the
south pole, but comets in the south have no rays. A terrible comet was
seen by the people of Ethiopia and Egypt, to which Typhon the king of that
period gave his name; it had a fiery appearance and was twisted like a
coil, and it was very grim to behold: it was not really a star so much
as what might be called a ball of fire. Planets and all other stars also
occasionally have spreading hair. But sometimes there is a comet in the
western sky, usually a terrifying star and not easily expiated: for instance,
during the civil disorder in the consulship of Octavius, and again during
the war between Pompey and Caesar, or in our day about the time of the
poisoning which secured the bequest of the empire by Claudius Caesar to
Domitius Nero, and thereafter during Nero's principate shining almost continuously
and with a terrible glare. People think that it matters in what direction
a comet darts, what star's strength it borrows, what shapes it resembles,
and in what places it shines; that if it resembles a pair of flutes it
is a portent for the art of music, in the private parts of the constellations
it portends immorality, if it forms an equilateral triangle or a rectangular
quadrilateral in relation to certain positions of the fixed stars, it portends
men of genius and a revival of learning, in the head of the Northern or
the Southern Serpent it brings poisonings.
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Shooting stars
Comets, their nature, position and kinds |
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| XXIV. Hipparchus before-mentioned, who can never be sufficiently praised, no one having done more to prove that man is related to the stars and that our souls are a part of heaven, detected a new star that came into existence during his lifetime; the movement of this star in its line of radiance led him to wonder whether this was a frequent occurrence, whether the stars that we think to be fixed are also in motion; and consequently he did a bold thing, that would be reprehensible even for God - he dared to schedule the stars for posterity, and tick off the heavenly bodies by name in a list, devising machinery by means of which to indicate their several positions and magnitudes, in order that from that time onward it might be possible easily to discern not only whether stars perish and are born, but whether some are in transit and in motion, and also whether they increase and decrease in magnitude - thus bequeathing the heavens as a legacy to all mankind, supposing anybody had been found to claim that inheritance! | Identification of stars
- method of Hipparchus |
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| XXV. There are also meteoric lights that are only seen when
falling, for instance one that ran across the sky at midday in full view
of the public when Germanicus Caesar was giving a gladiatorial show. Of
these there are two kinds: one sort are called lampades, which means 'torches',
the other bolides (missiles), - that is the sort that appeared at the time
of the disasters of Modena. The difference between them is that 'torches'
make long tracks, with their front part glowing, whereas a 'bolis' glows
throughout its length, and traces a longer path.
XXVI. Other similar meteoric lights are 'beams.' in Greek dokoi, for example one that appeared when the Spartans were defeated at sea and lost the empire of Greece. There also occurs a yawning of the actual sky, called chasma, (XXVII) and also something that looks like blood, and a fire that falls from it to the earth - the most alarming possible cause of terror to mankind; as happened in the third year of the 107th Olympiad, when King Philip was throwing Greece into disturbance. My own view is that these occurrences take place at fixed dates owing to natural forces, like all other events, and not, as most people think, from the variety of causes invented by the cleverness of human intellects; it is true that they were the harbingers of enormous misfortunes, but I hold that those did not happen because the marvellous occurrences took place but that these took place because the misfortunes were going to occur, only the reason for their occurrence is concealed by their rarity, and consequently is not understood as are the risings and setting of the planets described above and many other phenomena. XXVIII. Stars are also seen throughout the daytime in company with the sun, usually actually surrounding the sun's orb like wreaths made of ears of corn and rings of changing colour - for instance, when Augustus Caesar in early manhood entered the city after the death of his father to assume his mighty surname. Similar haloes occur round the moon and round the principal fixed stars. XXIX. A bow appeared round the sun in the consulship of Lucius Opimius and Quintus Fabius, a hoop in that of Gaius Porcius and Manius Acilius, and a red ring in that of Lucius Julius and Publius Rutilius. XXX. Portentous and protracted eclipses of the sun occur, such as the one after the murder of Caesar the dictator and during the Antonine war which caused almost a whole year's continuous gloom. XXXI. Again, several suns are seen at once, neither above nor below the real sun but at an angle with it, never alongside of nor opposite to the earth, and not at night but either at sunrise or at sunset. It is also reported that once several suns were seen at midday at the Bosphorus, and that these lasted from dawn till sunset. In former times three suns have often been seen at once, for example in the consulships of Spurius Postumius and Quintus Mucius of Quintus Marcius and Marcus Porcius, of Marcus Antonius and Publius Dolabellal and of Marcus Lepidus and Lucius Plancus; and our generation saw this during the principate of his late Majesty Claudius, in his consulship, when Cornelius Orfitus was his colleague. It is not stated that more than three suns at a time have ever been seen hitherto. |
Sky portents - recorded instances: torches, shafts, sky-beams, sky-yawning, colours of the sky, sky-flame, sky-wreaths, sudden rings, prolonged solar eclipses, several suns, several moons, daylight at night, burning shield; an unique sky-portent | ||||
| XXXII. Also three moons have appeared at once, for instance
in the consulship of Gnaeus Domitius and Gaius Fannius.
XXXIII. A light from the sky by night, the phenomenon usually called 'night-suns,' was seen in the consulship of Gaius Caecilius and Gnaeus Papirius and often on other occasions causing apparent daylight in the night. XXXIV. In the consulship of Lucius Valerius and Gaius Marius a burning shield scattering sparks ran across the sky at sunset from west to east. XXXV. In the consulshipa of Gnaeus Octavius and Gaius Scribonius a spark was seen to fall from a star and increase in size as it approached the earth, and after becoming as large as the moon it diffused a sort of cloudy daylight, and then returning to the sky changed into a torch; this is the only record of this occurring. It was seen by the proconsul Silanus and his suite. |
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| XXXVI. Also stars appear to shoot to and fro; this invariably
portends the rise of a fierce hurricane from the same quarter.
XXXVII. Stars also come into existence at sea and on land. I have seen a radiance of star-like appearance clinging to the javelins of soldiers on sentry duty at night in front of the rampart; and on a voyage stars alight on the yards and other parts of the ship, with a sound resembling a voice, hopping from perch to perch in the manner of birds. These when they come singly are disastrously heavy and wreck ships, and if they fall into the hold burn them up. If there are two of them, they denote safety and portend a successful voyage; and their approach is said to put to flight the terrible star called Helena: for this reason they are called Castor and Pollux, and people pray to them as gods for aid at sea. They also shine round men's heads at evening time; this is a great portent. All these things admit of no certain explanation; they are hidden away in the grandeur of nature. |
Disruption of stars
The 'Castores' |
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| XXXVIII. So much as to the world itself and the stars. Now the remaining noteworthy facts as to the heavens: for the name 'heaven' was also given by our ancestors to this which is otherwise designated 'air' - the whole of that apparently empty space which pours forth this breath of life. This region below the moon, and a long way below it (as I notice is almost universally agreed), blends together an unlimited quantity from the upper element of air and an unlimited quantity of terrestrial vapour, being a combination of both orders. From it come clouds, thunder-claps and also thunder-bolts, hail, frost, rain, storms and whirlwinds; from it come most of mortals' misfortunes, and the warfare between the elements of nature. The force of the stars presses down terrestrial objects that strive to move towards the sky, and also draws to itself things that lack spontaneous levitation. Rain falls, clouds rise, rivers dry up, hailstorms sweep down; rays scorch, and impinging from every side on the earth in the middle of the world, then are broken and recoil and carry with them the moisture they have drunk up. Steam falls from on high and again returns on high. Empty winds sweep down, and then go back again with their plunder. So many living creatures draw their breath from the upper air; but the air strives in the opposite direction, and the earth pours back breath to the sky as if to a vacuum. Thus as nature swings to and fro like a kind of sling, discord is kindled by the velocity of the world's motion. Nor is the battle allowed to stand still, but is continually carried up and whirled round, displaying in an immense globe that encircles the world the causes of things, continually overspreading another and another heaven interwoven with the clouds. This is the realm of the winds. Consequently their nature is here pre-eminent, and almost includes all the rest of the phenomena caused by the air, as most men attribute the hurling of thunderbolts and lightning to the winds' violence, and indeed hold that the cause of the rain of stones that sometimes occurs is that the stones are caught up by the wind; and likewise many other things. On this account more facts have to be set out at the same time. | The air | ||||
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| Previous chapters: VIII - XVII | |||||
| Following chapters: XXXIX - LIV |