2. refer to the destruction of temples at Rome by lightning.

[417] Obviously because faint flashes are more visible in the night. [418] We have an explanation of this peculiar opinion in Tertullian, as referred to by Hardouin, Lemaire. i. 355; “Qui de cœlo tangitur, salvus est, ut nullo igne decinerescat.” [419] Although it has been thought necessary by M. Fée, in the notes to Ajasson’s trans., ii. 384, 385, to enter into a formal examination of this opinion of the author’s, I conceive that few of our readers will agree with him in this respect. [420] Suetonius informs us, that Augustus always wore a seal’s skin for this purpose; Octavius, § 90. [421] The eagle was represented by the ancients with a thunderbolt in its claws. [422] There is strong evidence for the fact, that, at different times, various substances have fallen from the atmosphere, sometimes apparently of mineral, and, at other times, of animal or vegetable origin. Some of these are now referred to those peculiar bodies termed aërolites, the nature and source of which are still doubtful, although their existence is no longer so. These bodies have, in other instances, been evidently discharged from distant volcanoes, but there are many cases where the substance could not be supposed to have proceeded from a volcano, and where, in the present state of our knowledge, it appears impossible to offer an explanation of their nature, or the source whence they are derived. We may, however, conclude, that notwithstanding the actual occurrence of a few cases of this description, a great proportion of those enumerated by the ancients were either entirely without foundation or much exaggerated. We meet with several variations of what we may presume to have been aërolites in Livy; for example, xxiv. 10, xxx. 38, xli. 9, xliii. 13, and xliv. 18, among many others. As naturally may be expected, we have many narratives of this kind in Jul. Obsequens. [423] The same region from which lightning was supposed to proceed. [424] We have several relations of this kind in Livy, xxiv. 10, xxxix. 46 and 56, xl. 19, and xliii. 13. The red snow which exists in certain alpine regions, and is found to depend upon the presence of the Uredo nivalis, was formerly attributed to showers of blood. [425] This occurrence may probably be referred to an aërolite, while the wool mentioned below, i. e. a light flocculent substance, was perhaps volcanic. [426] Armorum sonitum toto Germania cœlo Audiit.—Virgil, Geor. i. 474, 475. “ ... in Jovis Vicilini templo, quod in Compsano agro est, arma concrepuisse.” Livy, xxiv. 44. [427] See Plutarch, by Langhorne; Marius, iii. 133. [428] See Livy, iii. 5 & 10, xxxi. 12, xxxii. 9, _et alibi_. [429] I have already had occasion to remark, concerning this class of phænomena, that there is no doubt of their actual occurrence, although their origin is still unexplained. [430] The life of Anaxagoras has been written by Diogenes Laërtius. We have an ample account of him by Enfield in the General Biography, _in loco_; he was born B.C. 500 and died B.C. 428. [431] There is some variation in the exact date assigned by different authors to this event; in the Chronological table in Brewster’s Encyc. vi. 420, it is said to have occurred 467 B.C. [432] Aristotle gives us a similar account of this stone; that it fell in the daytime, and that a comet was then visible at night; Meteor. i. 7. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the authority for this fact must be referred entirely to Aristotle, without receiving any additional weight from our author. The occurrence of the comet at the same time with the aërolite must have been entirely incidental. [433] “Deductis eo sacri lapidis causa colonis, extructoque oppido, cui nomen a colore adusto lapidis, est inditum, Potidæa. Est enim ποτὶ Dorice πρὸς, ad, apud; δαίομαι, uror.” Hardouin, in Lemaire, i. 361. It was situated in the peninsula of Pallene, in Macedonia. [434] The Vocontii were a people of Gallia Narbonensis, occupying a portion of the modern Dauphiné. [435] “Manifestum est, radium Solis immissum cavæ nubi, repulsa acie in Solem, refringi.” [436] Aristotle treats of the Rainbow much in detail, principally in his Meteor. iii. 2, 3, 4, and 5, where he gives an account of the phænomena, which is, for the most part, correct, and attempts to form a theory for them; see especially cap. 4. p. 577 _et seq._ In the treatise De Mundo he also refers to the same subject, and briefly sums up his doctrine with the following remark: “arcus est species segmenti solaris vel lunaris, edita in nube humida, et cava, et perpetua; quam velut in speculo intuemur, imagine relata in speciem circularis ambitûs.” cap. 4. p. 607. Seneca also treats very fully on the phænomena and theory of the Rainbow, in his Nat. Quæst. i. 3-8. [437] _Vide supra_, also Meteor. iii. 2, and Seneca, Nat. Quæst. i. 3. [438] Aristotle, Meteor. iii. 5. p. 581, observes, that the rainbow is less frequently seen in the summer, because the sun is more elevated, and that, consequently, a less portion of the arch is visible. See also Seneca, Nat. Quæst. i. 8. p. 692. [439] Aristotle treats at some length of dew, snow, and hail, in his Meteor. i. cap. 10, 11 & 12 respectively. [440] When water is frozen, its bulk is increased in consequence of its assuming a crystalline structure. Any diminution which may be found to have taken place in the bulk of the fluid, when thawed, must be ascribed to evaporation or to some accidental circumstance. [441] “Velini lacus ... præcipiti cursu in gurgitem subjectum defertur, et illo aquarum lapsu, dispersis in aëra guttis humidis, ... iridis multiplicis phænomenon efficit....” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 365. [442] We have an example in Martial, v. 34. 9, of the imprecation which has been common in all ages: Mollia nec rigidus cespes tegat ossa, nec illi Terra gravis fueris; and in Seneca’s Hippolytus, _sub finem_: ... istam terra defossam premat, Gravisque tellus impio capiti incubet. [443] The author refers to this opinion, xxix. 23, when describing the effects of venomous animals. [444] inertium; “ultione abstinentium,” as explained by Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 367. [445] “Quod mortis genus a terræ meritis et benignitate valde abhorret.” Hardouin, in Lemaire, i. 367. [446] “Terra, inquit, sola est, e quatuor naturæ partibus sive elementis, adversus quam ingrati simus.” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 368. [447] “Est ironiæ formula. Quid, ait, feras et serpentes et venena terræ exprobramus, quæ ne ad tuendam quidem illam satis valent?” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 369. [448] “ossa vel insepulta cum tempore tellus occultat, deprimentia pondere suo mollitam pluviis humum.” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 370. [449] “figura prima.” I may refer to the second chapter of this book, where the author remarked upon the form of the earth as perfect in all its parts, and especially adapted for its supposed position in the centre of the universe. [450] “... si capita linearum comprehendantur ambitu;” the meaning of this passage would appear to be: if the extremities of the lines drawn from the centre of the earth to the different parts of the surface were connected together, the result of the whole would be a sphere. I must, however, remark, that Hardouin interprets it in a somewhat different manner; “Si per extremitates linearum ductarum a centro ad _summos_ quosque vertices montium circulus exigatur.” Lemaire, i. 370. [451] “... immensum ejus globum in formam orbis assidua circa eam mundi volubilitate cogente.” As Hardouin remarks, the word _mundus_ is here used in the sense of _cœlum_. Lemaire, i. 371. [452] As our author admits of the existence of antipodes, and expressly states that the earth is a perfect sphere, we may conclude that the resemblance to the cone of the pine is to be taken in a very general sense. How far the ancients entertained correct opinions respecting the globular figure of the earth, or rather, at what period this opinion became generally admitted, it is perhaps not easy to ascertain. The lines in the Georgics, i. 242, 243, which may be supposed to express the popular opinion in the time of Virgil, certainly do not convey the idea of a sphere capable of being inhabited in all its parts: Hic vertex nobis semper sublimis; at illum Sub pedibus Styx atra videt, manesque profundi. [453] “spiritus vis mundo inclusi.” [454] “... Alpium vertices, longo tractu, nec breviore quinquaginta millibus passuum assurgere.” To avoid the apparent improbability of the author conceiving of the Alps as 50 miles high, the commentators have, according to their usual custom, exercised their ingenuity in altering the text. See Poinsinet, i. 206, 207, and Lemaire, i. 373. But the expression does not imply that he conceived them as 50 miles in perpendicular height, but that there is a continuous ascent of 50 miles to get to the summit. This explanation of the passage is adopted by Alexandre; Lemaire, _ut supra_. For what is known of Dicæarchus I may refer to Hardouin, Index Auctorum, in Lemaire, i. 181. [455] “coactam in verticem aquarum quoque figuram.” [456] “aquarum nempe convexitas.” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 374. [457] “Quam quæ ad extremum mare a primis aquis.” I profess myself altogether unable to follow the author’s mode of reasoning in this paragraph, or to throw any light upon it. He would appear to be arguing in favour of the actual flatness of the surface of the ocean, whereas his previous remarks prove its convexity. [458] Alexandre remarks on this passage, “Nempe quod remotissimos etiam fontes alat oceanus. Sed omittit Plinius vaporationis intermedia ope hoc fieri.” Lemaire, i. 376. Aristotle has written at considerable length on the origin of springs, in his Meteor. i. 13. p. 543 _et seq._ He argues against the opinion of those who suppose that the water of springs is entirely derived from evaporation. Seneca’s account of the origin of springs is found in his Nat. Quæst. iii. 1. [459] The voyage which is here alluded to was probably that performed by Drusus; it is mentioned by Dio, lib. iv., Suetonius, Claud. § 1, Vel. Paterculus, ii. 106, and by Tacitus, Germ. § 34. [460] What is here spoken of we may presume to have been that part of the German Ocean which lies to the N.W. of Denmark; the term Scythian was applied by the ancients in so very general a way, as not to afford any indication of the exact district so designated. [461] “Sub eodem sidere;” “which lies under the same star.” [462] The ancients conceived the Caspian to be a gulf, connected with the northern ocean. Our author gives an account of it, vi. 15. [463] That is, of the Caspian Sea. [464] The remarks which our author makes upon the Palus Mæotis, in the different parts of his work, ii. 112 and vi. 7, appear so inconsistent with each other, that we must suppose he indiscriminately borrowed them from various writers, without comparing their accounts, or endeavouring to reconcile them to each other. Such inaccuracies may be thought almost to justify the censure of Alexandre, who styles our author, “indiligens plane veri et falsi compilator, et ubi dissentiunt auctores, nunquam aut raro sibi constans.” Lemaire, i. 378. [465] The son of Agrippa, whom Augustus adopted. Hardouin, in Lemaire, i. 378. [466] See Beloe’s Herodotus, ii. 393, 394, for an account of the voyage round Africa that was performed by the Phœnicians, who were sent to explore those parts by Necho king of Egypt. [467] It is generally supposed that C. Nepos lived in the century previous to the Christian æra. Ptolemy Lathyrus commenced his reign U.C. 627 or B.C. 117, and reigned for 36 years. The references made to C. Nepos are not found in any of his works now extant. [468] We have previously referred to Eudoxus, note [382], p. 78. [469] We have a brief account of Antipater in Hardouin’s Index Auctorum; Lemaire, i. 162. [470] We are informed by Alexandre that this was in the year of the City 691, the same year in which Cicero was consul; see note in Lemaire, i. 379. [471] It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the account here given must be incorrect; the reader who may be disposed to learn the opinions of the commentators on this point, may consult the notes in Poinsinet and Lemaire _in loco_. [472] Dividuo globo; “Eoas partes a vespertinis dividente oceano.” Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 380. [473] “Jam primum in dimidio computari videtur.” [474] “Cœlum;” the rigour of the climate. [475] The division of the globe into five zones is referred to by Virgil, Geor. i. 233-239, and by Ovid, Met. i. 45, 46. [476] “... interna maria allatrat, ...” [477] This is considerably more than the distance in the present day. The Isthmus of Suez appears, according to the statement of the most accurate geographers, to be about 70 miles in breadth. [478] Hæ tot portiones terræ, as Alexandre correctly remarks, “ironice dictum. Quam paucæ enim supersunt!” Lemaire, i. 383. [479] “Mundi punctus.” This expression, we may presume, was taken from Seneca; “Hoc est illud punctum, quod inter tot gentes ferro et igni dividitur.” Nat. Quæst. i. præf. p. 681. [480] Nostro solo adfodimus; “addimus, adjungimus, annectimus, ut una fossione aretur.” Hardouin, in Lemaire, i. 383. [481] “Mundi totius.” [482] “Æquinoctii paribus horis.” [483] Dioptra. “Græce διόπτρα, instrumentum est geometricum, _un quart de cercle_, quo apparentes rerum inter se distantiæ anguli apertura dijudicantur.” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 384. [484] This title does not correspond with the contents of the chapter. [485] “Tropici duo, cum æquinoctiali circulo;” Hardouin, in Lemaire, i. 384. [486] The Troglodytice of the ancients may be considered as nearly corresponding to the modern Abyssinia and Nubia. [487] This remark is incorrect, as far as respects nearly the whole of Egypt; see the remarks of Marcus, in Ajasson, ii. 245. [488] This is a star of the first magnitude in the southern constellation of Argo; we have a similar statement in Manilius, i. 216, 217. [489] The commentators suppose that the star or constellation here referred to cannot be the same with what bears this name on the modern celestial atlas; vide Hardouin _in loco_, also Marc. in Ajasson, _ut supra_. The constellation of Berenice’s hair forms the subject of Catullus’s 67th poem. [490] In Troglodytice and in Egypt. [491] The first watch of the night was from 6 P.M. to 9; the second from 9 to midnight. [492] According to Columella, xi. 2. 369, this was 9 Calend. Mart., corresponding to the 21st of February. [493] “In alia adverso, in alia prono mari.” I have adopted the opinion of Alexandre, who explains the terms “adverso” and “prono,” “ascendenti ad polum,” and “ad austrum devexo;” a similar sense is given to the passage by Poinsinet and Ajasson, in their translations. [494] “Anfractu pilæ.” See Manilius, i. 206 _et seq._ for a similar mode of expression. [495] “Aut;” as Poinsinet remarks, “_aut_ est ici pour _alioqui_;” and he quotes another passage from our author, xix. 3, where the word is employed in a similar manner. [496] We may presume that the author meant to convey the idea, that the eclipses which are visible in any one country are not so in those which are situated under a different meridian. The terms “vespertinos,” “matutinos,” and “meridianos,” refer not to the time of the day, but to the situation of the eclipse, whether recurring in the western, eastern, or southern parts of the heavens. [497] Brewster, in the art. “Chronology,” p. 415, mentions this eclipse as having taken place Sept. 21st, U.C. 331, eleven days before the battle of Arbela; while, in the same art. p. 423, the battle is said to have taken place on Oct. 2nd, eleven days after a total eclipse of the moon. [498] It took place on the 30th of April, in the year of the City 811, A.D. 59; see Brewster, _ubi supra_. It is simply mentioned by Tacitus, Ann. xiv. 12, as having occurred among other prodigies which took place at this period. [499] We have an account of Corbulo’s expedition to Armenia in Dion Cassius, lx. 19-24, but there is no mention of the eclipse or of any peculiar celestial phænomenon. [500] The terms employed in the original are “oppositu” and “ambitu.” Alexandre’s explanation of the first is, “quum globi terraquei crassitudo interposita solis arcet radios;” and of the second, “quum nostra hujus globi pars a sole ambitur.” Lemaire, i. 389. [501] One of these towers is mentioned by Livy, xxxiii. 48; it is said to have been situated between Acholla and Thapsus, on the sea-coast. [502] Hardouin, according to his usual custom, employs all his learning and ingenuity to give a plausible explanation of this passage. Alexandre, as it must be confessed, with but too much reason, remarks, “Frustra desudavit Harduinus ut sanum aliquem sensum ex illis Plinii deliramentis excuteret.” He correctly refers the interval of time, which was said to occur between these signals, not to any astronomical cause, but to the necessary delay which took place in the transmission of them. He concludes, “Sed ad cursum solis hoc referre, dementiæ est. Nam ut tanta horarum differentia intersit, si moram omnem in speculandis ac transmittendis signis sustuleris, necesse erit observatores illos ultimos 135 gradibus, id est, sesquidimidio hemisphærio, a primis distare furribus. Recte igitur incredibilem Plinii credulitatem ludibrio vertit Baylius in Dictionario suo.” Lemaire, i. 389. [503] The distance, as here stated, is about 150 miles, which he is said to have performed in nine hours, but that the same distance, in returning, required fifteen hours. We have here, as on the former occasion, a note of Hardouin’s to elucidate the statement of the author. On this Alexandre observes, “Optime; sed in tam parva locorum distantia, Elidis et Sicyonis horologia vix quinque unius horæ sexagesimis differre poterant; quare eunti ac redeunti ne discrimen quidem quadrantis horæ intererat. Ineptos igitur auctores sequitur hoc quoque loco Plinius.” Lemaire, i. 390, 391. [504] “Vincunt spatia nocturnæ navigationis.” This expression would appear to imply, that the author conceived some physical difficulty in sailing during the night, and so it seems to be understood by Alexandre; vide not. _in loco_. [505] “Vasa horoscopica.” “Vasa horoscopica appellat horologia in plano descripta, horizonti ad libellam respondentia. Vasa dicuntur, quod area in qua lineæ ducebantur, labri interdum instar et conchæ erat, cujus in margine describebantur horæ. Horoscopa, ab ὥρα et σκοπέω, hoc est, ab inspiciendis horis.” Hardouin, in Lemaire, i. 391. [506] These distances are respectively about 38 and 62 miles. [507] We are not to expect any great accuracy in these estimates, and we accordingly find, that our author, when referring to the subject in his 6th book, ch. 39, makes the shadow at Ancona 1/35 greater than the gnomon, while, in Venetia, which is more northerly, he says, as in the present chapter, that the shadow and the gnomon are equal in length. See the remarks of M. Alexandre in Lemaire, _ut supra_. [508] This would be about 625 miles. Strabo, ii. 114, and Lucan, ii. 587, give the same distance, which is probably nearly correct. Syene is, however, a little to the north of the tropic. [509] This remark is not correct, as no part of this river is between the tropics. For an account of Onesicritus see Lemaire, i. 203, 204. [510] “In meridiem umbras jaci.” M. Ajasson translates this passage, “les ombres tombent pendant quatre-vingt-dix jours sur le point central du méridien.” ii. 165. But I conceive that Holland’s version is more correct, “for 90 days’ space all the shadows are cast into the south.” i. 36. The remarks of M. Alexandre are to the same effect; “... ut bis solem in zenitho haberet (Ptolemais), Maii mensis et Augusti initio; interea vero, solem e septemtrione haberet.” Lemaire, i. 393. [511] About 625 miles. [512] These days correspond to the 8th of May and the 4th of August respectively. [513] There is considerable uncertainty respecting the identity of this mountain; our author refers to it in a subsequent part of his work, where it is said to be in the country of the Monedes and Suari; vi. 22. See the note of Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 394. [514] Our author, in a subsequent part of his work, vi. 23, describes the island of Patale as situated near the mouth of the Indus; he again refers to it, xii. 25. His account of the position of the sun does not, however, apply to this place. [515] If we may suppose this to have been actually the case, we might calculate the time of the year when Alexander visited this place and the length of his stay. [516] We may presume, that our author means to say no more than that, in those places, they are occasionally invisible; literally the observation would not apply to any part of India. [517] ἄσκια, shadowless. [518] If this really were the case, it could have no relation to the astronomical position of the country. [519] “In contrarium,” contrary to what takes place at other times, _i. e._ towards the south. This observation is not applicable to the whole of this country, as its northern and southern parts differ from each other by seven or eight degrees of latitude. For an account of Eratosthenes see Lemaire, i. 186. [520] “Hora duodecim in partes, ut as in totidem uncias dividebatur. Octonas igitur partes horæ antiquæ, sive bessem, ut Martianus vocat, nobis probe repræsentant horarum nostratium 40 sexagesimæ, quas minutas vocamus.” Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 396. [521] For a notice of Pytheas see Lemaire, i. 210. He was a geographer and historian who lived in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus; but his veracity does not appear to have been highly estimated by his contemporaries. [522] The Thule of Pliny has been generally supposed to be the Shetland Isles. What is here asserted respecting the length of the day, as well as its distance from Britain, would indeed apply much more correctly to Iceland than to Shetland; but we have no evidence that Iceland was known to the ancients. Our author refers to the length of the day in Thule in two subsequent parts of his work, iv. 30 and vi. 36. [523] Supposed to be Colchester in Essex; while the Mona of Pliny appears to have been Anglesea. It is not easy to conceive why the author measured the distance of Mona from Camelodunum. [524] Chap. 6 of this book. [525] a σκιὰ, umbra, and θηράω, sector. It has been a subject for discussion by the commentators, how far this instrument of Anaximenes is entitled to the appellation of a dial, whether it was intended to mark the hours, or to serve for some other astronomical purpose. See Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 398, 399. It has been correctly remarked by Brotier, that we have an account of a much more ancient dial in the 2nd book of Kings, xx. 9, 11. [526] A. Gellius, iii. 3, informs us, that the question concerning the commencement of the day was one of the topics discussed by Varro, in his book “Rerum Humanarum:” this work is lost. We learn from the notes of Hardouin, Lemaire, i. 399, that there are certain countries in which all these various modes of computation are still practised; the last-mentioned is the one commonly employed in Europe. [527] It has been supposed, that in this passage the author intended to say no more than that the nights are shorter at the summer solstice than at the other parts of the year; see Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 399,