The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny
88. p. 178.
215 words | Chapter 40
[291] “terris.”
[292] Seneca remarks, “... quidam nullos esse cometas existimant, sed
species illorum per repercussionem vicinorum siderum,... Quidam aiunt
esse quidem, sed habere cursus suos et post certa lustra in conspectum
mortalium exire.” He concludes by observing, “Veniet tempus, quo ista
quæ nunc latent, in lucem dies extrahat, et longioris diei diligentia;”
Nat. Quæst. lib. 7. § 19. p. 807.
[293] For some account of Hipparchus, see note [189], p. 37.
[294] Nothing is known respecting the nature of these instruments, nor
have we any means of forming even a conjecture upon the subject.
[295] The terms “faces,” “lampades,” “bolides,” and “trabes,” literally
torches, lamps, darts, and beams, which are employed to express
different kinds of meteors, have no corresponding words in English
which would correctly designate them.
[296] From this account it would appear, that the “fax” was what we
term a falling star. “Meteora ista, super cervices nostras transeuntia,
diversaque a stellis labentibus, modo aërolithis ascribenda sunt, modo
vaporibus incensis aut electrica vi prognata videntur, et quamvis
frequentissime recurrant, explicatione adhuc incerta indigent.”
Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 302.
[297] Seneca refers to this meteor; “Vidimus non semel flammam ingenti
pilæ specie, quæ tamen in ipso cursu suo dissipata est ... nec
Germanici mors sine tali demonstratione fuit;” Nat. Quæst, lib. i. cap.
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