Pliny the Elder: NATVRALIS HISTORIA

[1] Mundum et hoc quodcumque nomine alio caelum appellare libuit, cuius circumflexu degunt cuncta, numen esse credi par est, aeternum, inmensum, neque genitum neque interiturum umquam. huius extera indagare nec interest hominum nec capit humane coniectura mentis.

[1] The world—and this which by another name it has pleased to call heaven—within whose circumference all things live, is rightly believed to be a numen: eternal, immense, neither begotten nor ever to perish. To investigate what lies outside of this is neither the concern of men, nor is it comprehended by the conjecture of the human mind.

[2] sacer est, aeternus, immensus, totus in toto, immo vero ipse totum, infinitus ac finito similis, omnium rerum certus et similis incerto, extra intra cuncta conplexus in se, idemque rerum naturae opus et rerum ipsa natura.

[2] it is sacred, eternal, immense, whole in the whole, nay indeed the whole itself, infinite and like the finite, certain of all things and like the uncertain, outside and inside encompassing all things in itself, and the same both the work of the nature of things and the nature of things itself.

[3] furor est mensuram eius animo quosdam agitasse atque prodere ausos, alios rursus occasione hinc consumpta aut hic data innumerabiles tradidisse mundos, ut totidem rerum naturas credi oporteret aut, si una omnes incubaret, totidem tamen soles totidemque lunas et cetera etiam in uno et inmensa et innumerabilia sidera, quasi non eaedem quaestiones semper in termino cogitationi sint occursurae desiderio finis alicuius aut, si haec infinitas naturae omnium artifici possit adsignari, non idem illud in uno facilius sit intellegi, tanto praesertim opere. furor est profecto, furor egredi ex eo et, tamquam interna eius cuncta plane iam nota sint, ita scrutari extera, quasi vero mensuram ullius rei possit agere qui sui nesciat, aut mens hominis videre quae mundus ipse non capiat

[3] it is madness that certain men have agitated in mind the measure of it and have dared to publish it, others again, the occasion hence seized or here afforded, have handed down innumerable worlds, so that just as many natures of things ought to be believed, or, if a single one were to brood over all, nevertheless just as many suns and just as many moons and, even in one, other stars as well, both immense and innumerable—just as though the same questions were not always going to meet thought at the boundary with a craving for some end; or, if this infinity can be assigned to the nature of the artificer of all things, that the same fact would not be more easily understood in one, especially in so great a work. it is madness indeed, madness to go forth beyond it and, as though all its internal things were already plainly known, thus to scrutinize the external, as though in truth he could take the measure of any thing who is ignorant of himself, or the mind of man could see the things which the world itself does not encompass.

[4] furor est profecto, furor egredi ex eo et, tamquam interna eius cuncta plane iam nota sint, ita scrutari extera, quasi vero mensuram ullius rei possit agere qui sui nesciat, aut mens hominis videre quae mundus ipse non capiat.

[4] it is madness indeed, madness to go forth out of it and, as though all its inner things were already plainly known, thus to scrutinize external things, as though indeed he could take the measure of any thing who does not know himself, or the mind of man could see what the world itself does not contain.

[5] Formam eius in speciem orbis absoluti globatam esse nomen in primis et consensus in eo mortalium orbem appellantium, sed et argumenta rerum docent, non solum quia talis figura omnibus sui partibus vergit in sese ac sibi ipsa toleranda est seque includit et continet nullarum egens compagium nec finem aut initium ullis sui partibus sentiens, nec quia ad motum, quo subinde verti mox adparebit, talis aptissima est, sed oculorum quoque probatione, quod convexu mediusque quacumque cernatur, cum id accidere in alia non possit figura.

[5] That its form is rounded into the appearance of an absolute orb, its name in the first place and the consensus of mortals calling it an orb declare; but the arguments of things also teach this, not only because such a figure in all its parts inclines into itself and is to be supported by itself and includes and contains itself, needing no fastenings, and perceiving neither end nor beginning in any of its parts, nor because for motion—in which it will soon appear that it is continually turned—such a form is most apt, but also by the proof of the eyes, because, by its convexity, it is seen as central from whatever side it is viewed, since that cannot occur in any other figure.

[6] Hanc ergo formam eius aeterno et inrequieto ambitu, inenarrabili celeritate, viginti quattuor horarum spatio circumagi solis exortus et occasus haut dubium reliquere. an sit inmensus et ideo sensum aurium excedens tantae molis rotatae vertigine adsidua sonitus, non equidem facile dixerim, non, Hercule, magis quam circumactorum simul tinnitus siderum suosque volventium orbes an dulcis quidam et incredibili suavitate concentus. nobis qui intus agimus iuxta diebus noctibusque tacitus labitur mundus.

[6] This form of it, therefore, by an eternal and restless circuit, with ineffable speed, is carried around in the span of twenty-four hours—the risings and settings of the sun have left no doubt of this. Whether there is an immense sound, and therefore exceeding the sense of the ears, from the unceasing vertigo of so great a mass in rotation, I would not, indeed, easily say—no, by Hercules, no more than whether there is the simultaneous ringing of the stars as they are driven around and roll their own orbits, or some sweet concord, a harmony of incredible suavity. For us who carry on within, alike by days and nights, the world glides silently.

[7] esse innumeras ei effigies animalium rerumque cunctarum inpressas nec, ut in volucrum notamus ovis, levitate continua lubricum corpus, quod clarissimi auctores dixere, terrenorum argumentis indicatur, quoniam inde deciduis rerum omnium seminibus innumerae, in mari praecipue ac plerumque confusis monstrificae, gignantur effigies, praeterea visus probatione, alibi ursi, tauri alibi, alibi litterae figura, candidiore medio per verticem circulo.

[7] that countless effigies of animals and of all things are imprinted upon it, and that it is not, as we note in the eggs of birds, a slippery body with continuous lightness/smoothness; which, as the most illustrious authors have said, is indicated by the evidences of terrestrial things, since from there, as the seeds of all things fall down, innumerable effigies are generated—especially in the sea, and for the most part confused, monstrous; furthermore, by the proof of sight: in one place bears, elsewhere bulls, elsewhere the figure of letters, with the middle brighter by a circle through the vertex.

[8] equidem et consensu gentium moveor; namque et Graeci nomine ornamenti appellavere eum et nos a perfecta absolutaque elegantia mundum. caelum quidem haut dubie caelati argumento diximus, ut interpretatur M. Varro.

[8] indeed I am moved also by the consensus of nations; for the Greeks too have called it by the name of ornament, and we, from perfect and absolute elegance, have called it the world. Heaven, indeed, without doubt we have said to be so named from the argument of “caelatum” (engraved), as M. Varro interprets.

[9] adiuvat rerum ordo discripto circulo qui signifer vocatur in duodecim animalium effigies et per illas solis cursus congruens tot saeculis ratio.

[9] The order of things lends support: the circle—marked off, which is called the sign-bearer—into twelve effigies of animals, and through them the course of the sun, a reckoning congruent over so many centuries.

[10] Nec de elementis video dubitari quattuor esse ea: ignium summum, inde tot stellarum illos conlucentium oculos; proximum spiritus, quem Graeci nostrique eodem vocabulo aera appellant, vitalem hunc et per cuncta rerum meabilem totoque consertum; huius vi suspensam rum quarto aquarum elemento librari medio spatii tellurem.

[10] Nor do I see it doubted concerning the elements that they are four: the highest, of fires—whence those eyes of so many stars shining; next, of spirit, which the Greeks and our own by the same term call air, this being vital and meable through all things and knit together with the whole; by the force of this the earth, suspended, and by the fourth element, waters, is balanced in the middle of space.

[11] ita mutuo conplexu diversitatis effici nexum et levia ponderibus inhiberi quo minus evolent, contraque gravia ne ruant suspendi, levibus in sublime tendentibus. sic pari in diversa nisu in suo quaeque consistere, inrequieto mundi ipsius constricta circuitu, quo semper in se recurrente imam atque mediam in toto esse terram, eandemque universo cardine stare pendentem, librantem per quae pendeat, ita solam inmobilem circa eam volubili universitate; eandem ex omnibus necti eidemque omnia inniti.

[11] thus, by the mutual embrace of diversity, a nexus is effected, and light things are inhibited by weights from flying off, and, conversely, heavy things are suspended lest they rush down, the light tending aloft. thus, by an equal effort in opposite directions, each thing stands in its own place, constrained by the unresting circuit of the world itself; as this always returns into itself, the earth is the lowest and the middle in the whole, and the same stands at the hinge of the universe, hanging, balancing by the things on which it is suspended—thus it alone is immobile, with the revolving universality around it; the same is bound together with all things, and upon the same all things lean.

[12] inter hanc caleumque eodem spiritu pendent certis discreta spatiis septem sidera, quae ab incessu vocamus errantia, cum errent nulla minus illis. eorum medius sol fertur, amplissima magnitudine ac potestate nec temporum modo terrarumque, sed siderum etiam ipsorum caelique rector.

[12] between this and the sky, by the same spirit, hang seven stars, separated by fixed intervals, which from their course we call “wandering,” although none wander less than they; the sun is borne in the midst of them, of most ample magnitude and power, and the ruler not only of times and of lands, but also of the stars themselves and of the sky.

[13] hunc esse mundi totius animum ac planius mentem, hunc principale naturae regimen ac numen credere decet opera eius aestimantes. hic lucem rebus ministrat aufertque tenebras, hic reliqua sidera occultat, inlustrat; hic vices temporum annumque semper renascentem ex usu naturae temperat; hic caeli tristitiam discutit atque etiam humani nubila animi serenat; hic suum lumen ceteris quoque sideribus fenerat, praeclarus, eximius, omnia intuens, omnia etiam exaudiens, ut principi litterarum Homero placuisse in uno eo video.

[13] it is fitting to believe that this is the soul of the whole world, and, more plainly, its mind; that this is the principal governance and numen of nature—judging from its works. This ministers light to things and removes darkness; this occludes the remaining stars and illuminates them; this tempers the vicissitudes of seasons and the ever-reborn year according to the usage of nature; this disperses the sky’s gloom and even clears the clouds of the human mind; this even lends its own light to the other stars as well—most illustrious, exceptional, beholding all things, even hearing all things, as I see it pleased Homer, prince of letters, to ascribe to him alone.

[14] Quapropter effigiem dei formamque quaerer inbecillitatis humanae reor. quisquis est deus, si modo est alius, et quacumque in parte, totus est sensus, totus visus, totus auditus, totus animae, totus animi, totus sui. innumeros quidem credere atque etiam ex vitiis hominum, ut Pudicitiam, Concordiam, Mentem, Spem, Honorem, Clementiam, Fidem, aut, ut Democrito placuit, duos omnino, Poenam et Beneficium, maiorem ad socordiam accedit.

[14] Wherefore I consider it a mark of human feebleness to seek the effigy and form of a god. Whatever god is—if indeed there is any other—and in whatever place, he is all sense, all sight, all hearing, all soul, all mind, all of himself. To believe in numberless gods, and even ones derived from the vices of men—such as Modesty, Concord, Mind, Hope, Honor, Clemency, Faith—or, as it pleased Democritus, only two altogether, Punishment and Benefaction, comes closer to slothful dullness.

[15] fragilis et laboriosa mortalitas in partes ita digessit infirmitatis suae memor, ut portionibus coleret quisque quo maxime indigeret. itaque nomina alia aliis gentibus et numina in iisdem innumerabilia invenimus, inferis quoque in genera discriptis morbisque et multis etiam pestibus, dum esse placatas trepido metu cupimus.

[15] fragile and laborious mortality, mindful of its own infirmity, thus distributed it into parts, so that by portions each might worship that of which he was most in need. And so we find among different peoples different names, and within the same peoples innumerable divinities, the infernal ones too apportioned into kinds, and for diseases and even many pestilences—while in trembling fear we desire that they be appeased.

[16] ideoque etiam publice Febris fanum in Palatio dicatum est, Orbonae ad aedem Larum, ara et Malae Fortunae Esquiliis. quam ob rem maior caelitum populus etiam quam hominum intellegi potest, cum singuli quoque ex semet ipsis totidem deos faciant Iunones Geniosque adoptando sibi, gentes vero quaedam animalia et aliqua etiam obscena pro dis habeant ac multa dictu magis pudenda, per fetidos cibos, alia et similia, iurantes.

[16] and so even publicly a shrine of Fever was dedicated on the Palatine, to Orbona at the temple of the Lares, and an altar of Ill Fortune on the Esquiline. For which reason it can be understood that the populace of the celestials is even greater than that of humans, since individuals also out of their very selves make just as many gods—Junos and Genii—by adopting them to themselves; but certain nations hold animals, and some even obscene ones, as gods, and, swearing by fetid foods and other similar things, many matters more shameful to speak of.

[17] matrimonia quidem inter deos credi tantoque aevo ex iis neminem nasci et alios esse grandaevos semper canosque, alios iuvenes atque pueros, atri coloris, aligeros, claudos, ovo editos et alternis diebus viventes morientesque, puerilium prope deliramentorum est, sed super omnem inpudentiam, adulteria inter ipsos fingi, mox iurgia et odia, atque etiam furtorum esse et scelerum numina.

[17] that marriages among the gods are believed, and that in so great an age no one is born from them, and that some are very aged and always hoary-white, others youths and boys, of black color, winged, lame, hatched from an egg, and living and dying on alternate days, is almost the ravings of childishness; but, beyond all impudence, that adulteries are imagined among them, then wranglings and hatreds, and that there are even divinities of thefts and crimes.

[18] deus est mortali iuvare mortalem, et haec ad aeternam gloriam via. hac proceres iere Romani, hac nunc caelesti passu cum liberis suis vadit maximus omnis aevi rector Vespasianus Augustus fessi rebus subveniens.

[18] to help a mortal, for a mortal, is to be a god, and this is the road to eternal glory. By this road the Roman leaders went; by this now, with a celestial step, with his children, goes the greatest ruler of every age, Vespasian Augustus, succoring affairs grown weary.

[19] hic est vetustissimus referendi bene merentibus gratiam mos, ut tales numinibus adscribant. quippe et aliorum nomina deorum et quae supra retuli siderum ex hominum nata sunt meritis. Iovem quidem aut Mercurium aliterve alios inter se vocari et esse caelestem nomenclaturam,

[19] this is the most ancient custom of returning gratitude to those who have deserved well: that they enroll such men among the numina. indeed both the names of other gods and those of the stars which I have related above have been born from the merits of men. that Jupiter indeed or Mercury, and others by other names, are called among themselves, and that there is a celestial nomenclature,

[20] quis non interpretatione naturae fateatur inridendum? agere curam rerum humanarum illud, quicquid est, summum ac vel tam tristi atque multiplici ministerio non pollui credamus dubitemusne? vix prodest iudicare, utrum magis conducat generi humano, quando aliis nullus est deorum respectus, aliis pudendus.

[20] who would not by the interpretation of nature acknowledge it ridiculous? that the supreme thing—whatever it is—conducts the care of human affairs, and by so sad and manifold a ministry is not polluted—are we to believe this, or are we to doubt? it scarcely profits to judge which is more conducive to the human race, since for some there is no regard of the gods, for others a shameful one.

[21] externis famulantur sacris ac digitis deos gestant, monstra quoque colunt, damnant et excogitant cibos, imperia dira in ipsos, ne somno quidem quieto, inrogant. non matrimonia, non liberos, non denique quicquam aliud nisi iuvantibus sacris deligunt. alii in Capitolio fallunt ac fulminantem periurant Iovem.

[21] they serve foreign rites and carry gods on their fingers; they also worship monsters; they condemn and even devise foods; they impose dire commands upon themselves, not allowing even quiet sleep. They choose neither marriages, nor children, nor, finally, anything else, except with rites assisting. Others on the Capitol deceive and swear falsely by thundering Jove.

et hos iuvant sacra, illos sacra sua poenis agunt.

and sacred rites help these, their own rites prosecute those with penalties.

[22] Invenit tamen inter has utrasque sententias medium sibi ipsa mortalitas numen, quo minus etiam plana de deo coniectatio esset. toto quippe mundo et omnibus locis omnibusque horis omnium vocibus Fortuna sola invocatur ac nominatur, una accusatur, res una agitur, una cogitatur, sola laudatur, sola arguitur et cum conviciis colitur, volubilis ....que, a plerisque vero et caeca existimata, vaga, inconstans, incerta, varia indignorumque fautrix. huic omnia expensa, huic feruntur accepta, et in toto ratione mortalium sola utramque paginam facit, adeoque obnoxiae sumus sortis, ut prorsus ipsa pro deo sit qua deus probatur incertus.

[22] Yet between these two opinions mortality itself found for itself a middle numen, whereby conjecture about god would be even less plain. For in the whole world and in all places and at all hours, by the voices of all, Fortune alone is invoked and named; she alone is accused, she alone is the matter dealt with, she alone is thought of, she alone is praised, she alone is arraigned, and with revilings she is worshiped, voluble ....-and, and by most even judged blind—wandering, inconstant, uncertain, various, and a patroness of the unworthy. To her all debits, to her are carried all credits, and in the whole reckoning of mortals she alone makes both pages; and so subject are we to lot, that outright she herself stands in place of a god, whereby god is proved uncertain.

[23] pars alia et hanc pellit astroque suo eventus adsignat et nascendi legibus, semelque in omnes futuros umquam deo decretum, in reliquum vero otium datum. sedere coepit sententia haec, pariterque et eruditum vulgus et rude in eam cursus vadit.

[23] another party drives away this as well and assigns the outcomes to its own star and to the laws of birth, and says that once, for all who would ever be, a decree was made by God, but thereafter leisure was granted. This opinion has begun to take its seat, and alike both the erudite multitude and the rude set their course toward it.

[24] ecce fulgurum monitus, oraculorum praescita, haruspicum praedicta atque etiam parva dictu in auguriis sternumenta et offensiones pedum. Divus Augustus prodidit laevum sibi calceum praepostere inductum quo die seditione militari prope adflictus est.

[24] behold the admonitions of lightnings, the presciences of oracles, the predictions of the haruspices, and—even trifling to say—in auguries, sneezings and stumblings of the feet. The Deified Augustus reported that his left shoe had been put on preposterously on the day when he was nearly overthrown by a military sedition.

[25] quae singula inprovidam mortalitatem involvunt, solum ut inter ista vel certu sit nihil esse certi nec quicquam miserius homine aut superbius. ceteris quippe animantium sola victus cura est, in quo sponte naturae benignitas sufficit, uno quidem vel praeferendo cunctis bonis, quod de gloria, de pecunia, ambitione superque de morte non cogitant.

[25] each of these entangles improvident mortality, so that among such things at least it is certain that nothing is certain, nor anything more wretched than man or more over-proud. For for the other living creatures the only care is for sustenance, in which the benignity of nature of its own accord suffices—one thing indeed to be preferred to all goods: that they do not think about glory, about money, about ambition, and, beyond that, about death.

[26] Verum in his deos agere curam rerum humanarum credi ex usu vitae est poenasque maleficiis aliquando seras, occupato deo in toto mole, numquam autem inritas esse nec ideo proximum illi genitum nominem, ut vilitate iuxta beluas esset.

[26] But in these matters, according to the usage of life, it is believed that the gods exercise care for human affairs, and that penalties for misdeeds, though sometimes late—the god being occupied with the whole mass—are never, however, ineffectual; nor therefore would I name the one begotten nearest to him, so that by vileness he should be alongside the beasts.

[27] inperfectae vero in homine naturae praecipua solatia, ne deum quidem posse omnia—namque nec sibi potest motem consciscere, si velit, quod homini dedit optimum in tantis vitae poenis, nec mortalies aeternitate donare aut revocare defunctos nec facere ut qui vixit non vixerit, qui honores gessit non gesserit—nullumque habere in praeterita ius praeterquem oblivionis atque (ut facetis quoque argumentis societas haec cum deo copuletur) ut bis dena viginti non sunt aut multa similiter efficere non posse. per quae declaratur haut dubie naturae potentia idque esse quod deum vocemus. in haec divertisse non fuerit alienum, vulgata iam propter adsiduam quaestionem de deo.

[27] the chief solaces for the imperfect nature in man: that not even god can do all things—for he cannot even inflict death upon himself, if he should wish, which he gave to man as the best boon amid such penalties of life, nor endow mortals with eternity or recall the deceased, nor make it that he who has lived has not lived, he who has borne honors has not borne them—and that he has no right over things past other than oblivion; and (so that by witty arguments too this fellowship with god may be coupled) that he cannot make twice ten not be twenty, or effect many similar things. through which the potency of nature is declared beyond doubt, and that to be what we call god. to have digressed into these matters will not have been out of place, now made common by the incessant question about god.

[28] Hinc redeamus ad reliqua naturae. sidera, quae adfixa diximus mundo, non illa, ut existimat volgus, singulis attributa nobis et clara divitibus, minora pauperibus, obscura defectis ac pro sorte cuiusque lucentia adnumerata mortalibus, cum suo quaeque homine orta moriuntur nec aliquem exstingui decidua significant.

[28] From here let us return to the remaining things of nature. The stars, which we said are affixed to the world, are not, as the common crowd supposes, assigned to us individually—bright for the rich, lesser for the poor, obscure for the unsuccessful, and, shining according to each one’s lot, tallied to mortals—nor does each one rise and perish with its own man, nor do falling ones signify that someone has been extinguished.

[29] non tanta caelo societas nobiscum est, ut nostro fato mortalis sit ibi quoque siderum fulgor. illa nimio alimento tracti umoris ignea vi abundantiam reddunt, cum deicdere creduntur, ut apud nos quoque luminibus accensis liquore olei notamus accidere.

[29] The association of heaven with us is not so great that, by our fate, the brilliance of the stars there too should be mortal. Those, drawn by the excessive nourishment of moisture, by a fiery force give back an overabundance when they are believed to fall, as we also note to happen among us with lights kindled, in the liquid of oil.

[30] ceterum aeterna caelestibus est natura intexentibus mundum intextuque concretis, potentia autem ad terram magnopere eorum pertinens, quae propter effectus claritatemque et magnitudinem in tanta subtilitate nosci potuerunt, sicut suo demonstrabimus loco. circulorum quoque caeli ratio in terrae mentione aptus dicetur, quando ad eam tota pertinet, signiferi modo inventoribus non dilatis. obliquiatem eius intellexisse, hoc est rerum fores aperuisse,

[30] but an eternal nature belongs to the celestials, as they are weaving the world and are concreted in its interweaving, while their power pertains very greatly to the earth—things which, on account of their effects and their brightness and magnitude, could be known in so great a subtlety—as we shall demonstrate in its proper place. The rationale of the circles of the sky also will be said in the mention of the earth, since it wholly pertains to it, with only the sign-bearer (the Zodiac) having its discoverers not deferred: to have understood its obliquity—that is, to have opened the doors of things,

[31] Anaximander Miletus traditur primus Olympiade quinquagesima octava, signa deinde in eo Cleostratus, et prima arietis ac sagittarii, sphaeram ipsam ante multo Atlas. Nunc relicto mundi ipsius corpore reliqua inter caelum terrasque tractentur.

[31] Anaximander of Miletus is reported to have been the first, in the 58th Olympiad, thereafter in that same period Cleostratus set out the signs, and the first were Aries and Sagittarius; the sphere itself had been devised much earlier by Atlas. Now, leaving aside the body of the world itself, let the remaining matters between heaven and earth be treated.

[32] summum esse quod vocant Saturni sidus ideoque minimum videri et maximo ambire circulo ac tricesimo anno ad brevissima sedis suae principia regredi crtum est, omnium autem errantium siderum meatus, interque ea solis et lunae, contrarium mundo agere cursum, id est laevum, ilo semper in dextra praecipiti.

[32] It is certain that the star which they call Saturn is the highest and therefore seems the smallest, and that it goes around the greatest circle and in the 30th year returns to the very beginnings of its seat; moreover, the movements of all the wandering stars, and among them the sun and moon, pursue a course contrary to the world—that is, leftward—while that one is always rushing headlong to the right.

[33] et quamvis adsidua conversione immensae celeritatis attollantur ab eo rapianturque in occasum, adverso tamen ire motu per suos quaeque passus. ita fieri, ne convolutus aer eandem in partem aeterna mundi vertigine ignavo globo torpeat, sed fundatur adverso siderum verbere discretus et digestus.

[33] and although by the continual conversion of immense celerity they are lifted up by it and are swept into setting, nevertheless they go with an adverse motion, each through its own paces. thus it comes about, lest the air, rolled together, grow torpid in the same direction by the eternal vertigo of the world as an ignoble globe, but rather that, by the counter-lash of the stars, it is poured out, discrete and digested (ordered).

[34] Saturni autem sidus gelidae ac rigentis esse naturae, multumque ex eo inferiorem Iovis circulum et ideo motu celeriore duodenis circumagi annis. tertium Martis, quod quidam Herculis vocant, igne ardens solis vicinitate, binis fere annis converti, ideoque huius ardore nimio et rigore Saturni, interiectum ambobus, ex utroque temperari Iovem salutaremque fieri.

[34] But the star of Saturn is of a gelid and rigid nature, and the circle of Jupiter is much lower than it, and therefore is driven round with a swifter motion in twelve years. The third is that of Mars, which some call that of Hercules, blazing with fire by the vicinity of the sun, and is revolved in almost two years; and thus, by the excessive ardor of this one and the rigor of Saturn, Jupiter, interposed between both, is tempered from each and becomes salutary.

[35] deinde solis meatum esse partem quidem trecentarum sexaginta, sed ut observatio umbrarum eius redeat ad notas, quinos annis dies adici superque quartam partem diei. quam ob causam quinto anno unus intercalarius dies additur, ut temporum ratio solis itineri congruat.

[35] then the course of the sun is in a portion of 360, but, so that the observation of its shadows may return to the marks, five days are added to the years and, besides, a fourth part of a day. For which cause in the fifth year one intercalary day is added, so that the reckoning of the seasons may be congruent with the sun’s journey.

[36] Infra solem ambit ingens sidus appellatum Veneris, alterno meatu vagum ipsisque congominibus aemulum solis ac lunae. praeveniens quippe et ante matutinum exoriens luciferi nomen accepit ut sol atler diemque maturans, contra ab occasu refulgens nuncupatur vesper ut prorogans lucem vicemve lunae reddens.

[36] Below the sun circles a vast star called that of Venus, wandering with an alternate course and, in its very cognomina, a rival of the sun and the moon. For, anticipating and rising before the morning it received the name Lucifer, as another sun and maturing the day; conversely, refulgent from the west it is named Vesper, as prolonging the light and giving back the turn of the moon.

[37] quam naturam eius Pythagoras Samius primus deprehendit Olympiade circiter XLII, qui fuit urbis Romae annus XCLII. iam magnitudine extra cuncta alia sidera est, claritatis quidem tantae, ut unius huius stellae radiis umbrae reddantur. itaque et in magno nominum ambitu est.

[37] whose nature Pythagoras the Samian first discovered around Olympiad 42, which was year 142 of the city of Rome. Already in magnitude it is beyond all the other stars, indeed of such brightness that by the rays of this single star shadows are rendered. And so it is also in a great ambit of names.

alii enim Iunonis, alii Isidis, alii Matris Deum appellavere.

for some have called it Juno’s, others Isis’s, others the Mother of the Gods’.

[38] huius natura cuncta generantur in terris. namque in alterutro exortu genitali rore conspergens non terrae modo conceptus inplet, verum animantium quoque omnium stimulat. signiferi autem ambitum peragit trecenis et duodequinquagenis diebus, a sole numquam abstinens partibus sex atque quadraginta longius, ut Timaeo placet.

[38] From this one’s nature all things on earth are generated. For in either rising, sprinkling with generative dew, it not only fills the conceptions of the earth, but also stimulates those of all living creatures. Moreover, it completes the circuit of the zodiac in three hundred and forty-eight days, never standing away from the sun more than forty-six parts, as Timaeus holds.

[39] Simili ratione, sed nequaquam magnitudine aut vi, proximum illi Mercurii sidus, a quibusdam appellatum Apollinis, inferiore circulo fertur VIIII diebus ociore ambitu, modo ante solis exortum, modo post occasum splendens, numquam ab eo XII partibus remotior, ut Cidenas et Sosigenes docent. ideo et peculiaris horum siderum ratio est neque communis cum supra dictis.

[39] By a similar rationale, but by no means in magnitude or force, the star of Mercury next to it—by some called that of Apollo—is borne in a lower circle, with a swifter circuit by 9 days, now shining before the sun’s rising, now after its setting, never more remote from it by 12 parts, as Cidenas and Sosigenes teach. Therefore the rationale of these stars too is peculiar and not common with those mentioned above.

[40] nam ea et quarta parte caeli a sole abesse et tertia, et adversa soli saepe cernuntur, maioresque alios habent cuncta plenae conversionis ambitus in magni anni ratione dicendos.

[40] for these are also seen to be a fourth part of the sky away from the sun, and a third, and often opposite to the sun; and all have other greater circuits of full conversion, to be spoken of in the reckoning of the Great Year.

[41] Sed omnium admirationem vincit novissimum sidus, terris familiarissimum et in tenebrarum remdium ab natura apertum, lunae. multiformis haec ambigua torsit ingenia contemplantium

[41] But the last star surpasses the admiration of all—the Moon—most familiar to the earth and opened by nature as a remedy for darkness; this multiform, ambiguous one has tormented the wits of those contemplating.

[42] et proximum ignorare sidus maxime indignantium, crescens semper aut senescens et modo curvata in cornua facie, modo aequa portione divisa, modo sinuata in orbem, maculosa eademque subito praenitens, inmensa orbe pleno ac repente nulla, alias pernox, alias sera et parte diei solis lucem adiuvans, deficiens et in defectu tamen conspicua—

[42] and of those most indignant that we are ignorant of the star nearest at hand, ever waxing or waning, and now with her face curved into horns, now divided by an equal portion, now curved into a circle, maculate and yet suddenly shining forth, immense with her orb full and suddenly nothing, at times all-night, at times late and, for part of the day, assisting the light of the sun, failing and yet in failure still conspicuous—

[43] quae mensis exitu latet, tum laborare non creditur—iam vero humilis et excelsa, et ne id quidem uno modo, sed alias admota caelo, alias contigua montibus, nunc in aquilonem elata, nunc in austros deiecta. quae singula in ea deprehendit hominum primus Endymion; ob id amor eius fama traditur. non sumus profecto grati erga eos qui labore curaque lucem nobis aperuere in hac luce, miraque humani ingeni peste sanguinem et caedes condere annalibus iuvat, ut scelera hominum noscantur mundi ipsius ignaris.

[43] which at the end of the month lies hidden, then is not believed to labor—now indeed low and lofty, and not even that in one way, but at one time brought near to the sky, at another contiguous to mountains, now lifted toward the north, now cast down toward the south. Each of these particulars in it the first of men to detect was Endymion; for this, his love is handed down by tradition. We are assuredly not grateful toward those who by labor and care have opened light for us in this light, and, by a strange pest of human ingenuity, it delights to consign blood and slaughters to the annals, so that the crimes of men may be known, we ourselves being ignorant of the world itself.

[44] proxima ergo cardini, ideoque minimo ambitu, vicenis diebus septenisque et tertia diei parte peragit spatia eadem, quae Saturni sidus altissimum XXX, ut dictum et, annis. dein morata in coitu solis biduo, cum tardissime, a tricesima luce rursum ad easdem vices exit, haut scio an omnium, quae in caelo pernosci potuerunt, magistra: in XII mensium spatia oportere dividi annum,

[44] therefore, being next to the pole, and hence with the least circuit, in twenty-seven days and a third part of a day it traverses the same spaces which the highest star of Saturn accomplishes in 30 years, as has also been said. then, having lingered for two days in conjunction with the sun, when at its very slowest, from the thirtieth light it again goes out to the same phases; I scarcely know whether it is the teacher of all things which could be learned in the sky: that the year ought to be divided into the spans of 12 months,

[45] quando ipsa totiens solem redeuntem ad principia consequitur; solis fulgore, ut reliqua siderum, regi, siquidem in totum mutuata ab eo luce fulgere, qualem in repercussu aquae volitare conspicimus; ideo molliore et inperfecta vi solvere tantum umorem atque etiam augere, quem solis radii absumant. ideo inaequali lumine adspici, quia, ex adverso demum plena, reliquis diebus tantum ex se terris ostendat, quantum a sole ipsa concipiat;

[45] since she so often pursues the sun returning to his starting-points; to be ruled by the sun’s effulgence, as the rest of the stars, since altogether she shines with light borrowed from him, such as we perceive to flit in the repercussion of water; therefore with a softer and imperfect force to dissolve only the humor and even to augment it, which the sun’s rays consume. Therefore to be seen with unequal light, because, only when opposite, full, on the remaining days she shows to the lands only as much from herself as she herself conceives from the sun;

[46] in coitu quidem non cerni, quoniam haustum omnem lucis aversa illo regerat, unde acceperit. sidera vero haut dubie umore terreno pasci, quia dimidio orbe numquam maculoso cernatur, scilicet nondum suppetente ad hauriendum ultra iusta vi; masculas enim non aliud esse quam terrae raptas cum umore sordes. defectus autem suos et solis, rem in tota contemplatione naturae maxime miram et ostento similem, magnitudinem umbraeque indices exsistere.

[46] at conjunction indeed it is not seen, because, turned away, it directs back all the draught of light to that from which it had received it. the stars, moreover, are without doubt nourished by terrestrial moisture, because in its half-orb it is never perceived as maculate, namely since as yet there is not a force sufficient for drawing beyond what is due; for the spots are nothing other than filth snatched from the earth along with moisture. its own eclipses, however, and those of the sun—a thing in the whole contemplation of nature most marvelous and akin to a portent—become indices of magnitude and of shadow.

[47] quippe manifestum est solem interventu lunae occultari lunamque terrae obiectu ac vices reddi, eosdem solis radios luna interpositu suo auferente terrae terraque lunae. hac subeunte repentinas obduci tenebras rursumque illius umbra sidus hebetari. neque aliud esse noctem quam terrae umbram, figuram autem umbrae similem metae ac turbini inverso, quando mucrone tantum ingruat neque lunae excedat altitudinem, quoniam nullum aliud sidus eodem modo obscuretur et talis figura semper mucrone deficiat.

[47] for indeed it is manifest that the sun is occulted by the interposition of the moon, and that the moon, by the earth’s interposition, is treated in turn, the same rays of the sun being taken away from the earth by the moon’s own interposition, and from the moon by the earth. with the former coming beneath, sudden darknesses are drawn over; and in turn by the latter’s shadow the luminary is dulled. nor is night anything other than the earth’s shadow, and the figure of the shadow is like a cone and an inverted spinning-top, since it impinges only with its point and does not exceed the altitude of the moon, because no other star is obscured in the same manner, and such a figure always terminates in a point.

[48] spatio quidem consumi umbras indicio sunt volucrum praealti volatus. ergo confinium illis est aeris terminus initiumque aetheris. supra lunam pura omnia ac diurnae lucis plena.

[48] Indeed, that shadows are consumed by distance, the very-high flights of birds are an indication. Therefore their boundary is the terminus of the air and the beginning of the aether. Above the moon all things are pure and full of diurnal light.

a nobis autem per noctem cernuntur sidera, ut reliqua lumina est tenebris, et propter has causas nocturno tempore deficit luna. stati autem atque menstrui non sunt utrique defectus propter obliquitatem signiferi lunaeque multivagos, ut dictum est, flexus, non semper in scripulis partium congruente siderum motu.

a. the stars, however, are discerned by us during the night, as other lights are in darkness; and for these causes the moon is eclipsed at night-time. moreover, the eclipses of both are not fixed and monthly, because of the obliquity of the zodiac and the moon’s, as has been said, many-wandering flexures, the motion of the stars not always congruent to the very scruple of parts.

[49] Haec ratio mortales animos subducti in caelum ac velut inde contemplantibus trium maximarum rerum naturae partium magnitudinem detegit. non posset quippe totus sol adimi terris intercedente luna, si terra maior esset quam luna. tertia ex utroque vastitas solis aperietur, ut non sit necesse amplitudinem eius oculorum argumentis atque coniectura animi scrutari:

[49] This reasoning discovers to mortal souls, lifted up into heaven and, as it were, contemplating from there, the magnitude of the three greatest parts of the nature of things. For indeed the whole sun could not be removed from the earth with the moon interposing, if the earth were greater than the moon. Thirdly, from both, the vastness of the sun will be laid open, so that it is not necessary to scrutinize its amplitude by the arguments of the eyes and by the conjecture of the mind:

[50] inmensum esse, quia arborum in limitibus porrectarum in quotlibet passuum milia umbras paribus iaciat intervallis, tamquam toto spatio medius, et quia per aequinoctium omnibus in meridiana plaga habitantibus simul fiat a vertice, item quia circa solstitialem circulum habitantium meridie ad septentrionem umbrae cadant, ortu vero ad occasum, quae fieri nullo modo possent, nisi multo quam terra maior esset, nec non quod montem Idam exoriens latitudine exsuperet, dextra laevaque large amplectens, praesertim tanto discretus intervallo.

[50] that it is immense, because along the boundary-lines trees stretched out cast their shadows at equal intervals over however many miles you please, as though it were in the middle of the whole span, and because at the equinox for all dwelling in the meridional region it is at the zenith at the same time, likewise because for those living around the solstitial circle at midday the shadows fall toward the septentrion (north), and at rising toward the setting (west)—things which could in no way occur unless it were much greater than the earth—no less also because, as it rises, it surpasses Mount Ida in breadth, amply embracing it to right and left, especially being separated by so great an interval.

[51] Defectus lunae magnitudinem eius haut dubia ratione declarat, sicut terrae parvitatem ipse deficiens. namque cum sint tres umbrarum figurae constetque, si par lumini sit materia quae iaciat, umbram columnae effigie iaci nec habere finem, si vero maior materia quam lumen, turbinis recti, ut sit imum eius angustissimum et simili modo infinita longitudo, si minor materia quam lux, metae existere effigiem in cacuminis finem desinentem talemque cerni umbram deficiente luna:

[51] The eclipse of the moon declares its magnitude by hardly doubtful reasoning, just as the very failing shows the smallness of the earth. For since there are three figures of shadows, and it is agreed that, if the matter that casts it be equal to the light, a shadow is cast in the effigy of a column and has no end; but if the matter be greater than the light, [it is] of a right cone, so that its bottom is the most narrow and in like manner the length infinite; if the matter be smaller than the light, the effigy of a cone comes into existence, ending at the limit of the summit—and such a shadow is seen when the moon is eclipsed:

[52] palam fit, ut nula amplius relinquatur dubitatio, superari magnitudinem terrae. id quidem et tacitis naturae ipsius indiciis: cur enim partitis vicibus anni brumalis abscedit aut noctium opacitate terras reficit? exusturus haut dubie, et sic quoque exurens quadam in parte.

[52] it becomes manifest, so that no further doubt is left, that the magnitude of the earth is surpassed. This indeed also by the silent indications of nature herself: for why, in the apportioned turns of the year, does it withdraw in the brumal season, or refresh the lands by the opacity of nights? about to scorch, without doubt, and even thus burning in some part.

tanta magnitudo est.

so great is its magnitude.

[53] Et rationem quidem defectus utriusque primus Romani generis in vulgum extulit Sulpicius Gallus, qui consul cum M. Marcello fuit, sed tum tribunus militum, sollicitudine exercitu liberato pridie quam Perses rex superatus a Paulo est in concionem ab imperatore productus ad praedicendam eclipsim, mos et composito volumine. apud Graecos autem investigavit primus omnium Thales Milesius Olympiadis XLVIII anno quarto praedicto solis defectu, qui Alyatte rege factus est urbis dconditae anno CLXX. post eos utriusque sideris cursum in sexcentos annos praececinit Hipparchus, menses gentium diesque et horas ac situs locorum et visus populorum complexus, aevo teste haut alio modo quam consiliorum naturae particeps.

[53] And indeed the rationale of each eclipse was first brought out to the common folk by Sulpicius Gallus, a man of the Roman race, who was consul with M. Marcellus, but at that time a military tribune; having freed the army from anxiety, on the day before King Perseus was overcome by Paulus he was brought forward by the commander into an assembly to proclaim the eclipse—both as a matter of practice and with a treatise he had composed. Among the Greeks, however, Thales of Miletus was the first of all to investigate it, having predicted the eclipse of the sun in the 4th year of the 48th Olympiad, which occurred under King Alyattes, in the year 170 from the founding of the City. After them Hipparchus foretold the course of each luminary for 600 years, embracing the months of the nations and the days and hours and the positions of places and the aspects as seen by peoples, time itself as witness, in no other way than as a sharer in the counsels of nature.

[54] viri ingentes supraque mortalia, tantorum numinum lege deprehensa et misera hominum mente iam soluta, in defectibus scelera aut mortem aliquam siderum pavente—quo in metu fuisse Stesichori et Pindari vatum sublimia ora palam est deliquio solis—aut in luna veneficia arguente mortalitate et ob id crepitu dissono auxiliante—quo pavore ignarus causae Nicias Atheniensium imperator veritus classem portu educere opes eorum adflixit—: macte ingenio este, caeli interpretes rerumque naturae capaces, argumenti repertores,

[54] men vast and beyond mortal things, with the law of such great divinities detected and the wretched mind of men now unbound, which in eclipses was fearing crimes or some death of the stars—wherein fear it is plain that the sublime mouths of the bards Stesichorus and Pindar were, at an eclipse of the sun—or, when the moon, by its mortality, was indicting sorceries, and on that account a dissonant clatter was brought in to aid—by which terror, ignorant of the cause, Nicias, commander of the Athenians, fearing to lead the fleet out of the harbor, crushed their resources—: be honored for your genius, interpreters of the sky and adepts of the nature of things, discoverers of the rationale.

[55] quo deos hominesque vicistis! quis enim haec cernens et statos siderum (quoniam ita appellare placuit) labores non suae necessitati mortales genitos ignoscat? Nunc confessa de iisdem breviter atque capitulatim attingam ratione admodum necessariis locis strictimque reddita, nam neque instituti operis talis argumentatio est neque omnium rerum afferri posse causas minus mirum est quam constare in aliquis.

[55] whereby you have vanquished gods and men! For who, seeing these things and the fixed labors of the stars (since it has pleased so to call them), would not pardon mortals as born to necessity? Now the points acknowledged about these same matters I will touch upon briefly and by headings, with the reasoning rendered very succinctly where it is most necessary; for neither does such argumentation belong to the work undertaken, nor is it less a marvel that the causes of all things cannot be adduced than that they stand established in some.

[56] Defectus CCXXIII mensibus redire in suos orbes certum est, solis defectus non nisi novissima primare fieri luna, quod vocant coitum, lunae autem non nisi plena, semperque citra quam proxime fuerint; omnibus autem annis fieri utriusque sideris defectus statis diebus horisque sub terra nec tamen, cum superne fiant, ubique cerni, aliquando propter nubila, saepius globo terrae obstante convexitatibus mundi.

[56] It is certain that eclipses return to their own orbits every 223 months; a solar eclipse happens only when the moon is newest, at what they call conjunction, but that of the moon only when it is full; and they are always short of exactness in proportion to how nearly they have approached it. Moreover, in every year eclipses of each luminary occur on set days and hours beneath the earth, and yet, when they happen above, they are not seen everywhere, sometimes because of clouds, more often with the globe of the earth obstructing the convexities of the world.

[57] intra ducentos annos Hipparchi sagacitate compertum est et lunae defectum aliquando quinto mesne a priore fieri, solis vero septimo, eundem bis in XXX diebus super terras occultari, sed ab aliis hoc cerni, quaeque sunt in hoc miraculo maxime mira, cum conveniat umbra terrae lunam heetari, nunc ab occasus parte hoc ei accidere, nunc ab exortus, quanam ratione, cum solis exortu umbrae illa hebetatrix sub terra esse debeat, semel iam acciderit ut in occasu lunae deficeret utroque super terram conspicuo sidere. nam ut XV diebus utrumque sidus quaereretur, et nostro aevo accidit imperatoribus Vespasianis patre III. filio consulibus.

[57] within 200 years it was discovered by the sagacity of Hipparchus that a lunar defect sometimes occurs in the fifth month from the prior one, but a solar in the seventh; that the same [luminary] is occulted above the lands twice within 30 days, yet this is seen by different peoples; and—things which in this miracle are most marvellous—though it is agreed that the Moon is dimmed by the Earth’s shadow, now this happens to her on the side of setting, now on that of rising: by what rationale, since at the Sun’s rising that benumbing shadow ought to be beneath the earth, did it once already come to pass that at sunset the Moon was eclipsed while both luminaries were conspicuous above the earth. For that for 15 days both stars were being sought occurred even in our age, when the Emperors the Vespasians were consuls—the father in his 3rd, the son [as] consul.

[58] Lunam semper aversis a sole cornibus, si crescat, ortus spectare, si minuatur, occasus, haut dubium est; lucere dodrantes semunicas horarum ab secunda adicientem usque ad plenum orbem detrahentemque in deminutionem; intra XIIII autem partes solis semper occultam esse. qui argumento amplior errantium stellarum qui lunae magnitudo colligitur, quando illae et a septenis interdum partibus emergant. sed altitudo cogit minores videri, sicut adfixas caelo solis fulgor interdiu non cerni, cum aeque ac noctu luceant idque manifestum fiat defectu solis et praealtis puteis.

[58] It is no doubt that the moon, with its horns always turned away from the sun, looks toward the risings if it is waxing, toward the settings if it is waning; that it shines by three-quarters of an hour, adding from the second day up to the full orb and subtracting in the diminution; and that within 14 parts of the sun it is always hidden. By which argument the greater magnitude (i.e., height) of the wandering stars than that of the moon is inferred, since they too sometimes emerge even from seven parts. But altitude compels them to appear smaller, just as those fixed to the sky cannot be seen by day because the sun’s brilliance prevents it, although they shine equally as by night—and this becomes clear at an eclipse of the sun and in very deep wells.

[59] Errantium autem tres, quas supra solem diximus sitas, occultantur meantes cum eo, exoriuntur vero matutino discedentes partibus numquam amplius undenis. postea radiorum eius contactu reguntur et in triquetro a partibus CXX stationes matutinas faciunt, quae est primae vocantur, mox in adverso a partibus CLXXX exortus vespertinos, iterumque in CXX ab alio latere appropinquantes stationes vespertinas, quas est secundas vocant, donec assecutus in partibus duodenis occultet illas, qui vespertini occasus appellantur.

[59] Moreover, the three of the wandering stars which we said are situated above the sun are hidden as they move with him; but they rise in the morning when, departing, they are at no more than eleven degrees. Afterward they are governed by the contact of his rays, and at the triquetrous aspect at 120 degrees they make morning stations, which are called the first; soon, in opposition at 180 degrees, evening risings; and again at 120 degrees on the other side, as they approach, evening stations, which are called the second, until, having been overtaken at 12 degrees, he hides them—these are called evening settings.

[60] Martis stella, ut propior, etiam ex quadrato sentit radios, a XC partibus, unde et nomen accepit motus primus et secundus nonagenarius dictus ab utroque exortu. eadem stationalis senis mensibus commoratur in signis, alioqui bimestris, cum cetera utraque statione quaternos menses non inpleant.

[60] The star of Mars, as being nearer, even at the quadrate, senses the rays, at 90 parts, whence also it has received the name: the first and second motion called the Ninetieth from either rising. The same, when stational, lingers in the signs for 6 months, otherwise it is bimestral, whereas the others, with both stations, do not complete 4 months.

[61] inferiores autem duae occultantur in coitu vespertino simili modo, relictaeque a sole totidem in partibus faciunt exortus matutinos, ad quos longissimis distantiae suae metis solem inequuntur adeptaeque occasu matutino conduntur ac praetereunt. mox eodem intervallo vespere exoriuntur usque ad quos diximus terminos. ab his retrogradiuntur ad solem et occasu vespertino delitescunt.

[61] but the two lower ones are occulted in vespertine conjunction in a similar way, and, left behind from the sun by the same number of degrees, they make matutine risings, at which, at the farthest bounds of their distance, they follow the sun; and when they have reached the matutine setting, they are hidden and pass beyond. Soon, at the same interval, they rise in the evening up to the limits which we have said; from these they retrograde toward the sun and at the vespertine setting they lie concealed.

Veneris stella et stationes duas, matutinam verspertinamque, ab utroque exortu facit a longissimis distantiae suae finibus, Mercurii stationum breviore momento quam ut deprehendi possint.

The star of Venus also makes two stations, morning and evening, from either rising, from the farthest limits of its distance; the moment of Mercury’s stations is briefer than that they can be apprehended.

[62] Haec est luminum occultationum ratio, perplexior motu multisque involuta miraculis, siquidem magnitudines suas et colores mutant, et eaedem ad septentrionem accedunt abeuntque ad austrum terrisque propiores aut caelo repente cernuntur. in quibus aliter multa quam priores tradituri fatemur ea quoque illorum esse muneris qui primi vias quaerendi demonstraverint, modo ne quis desperet saecula proficere semper.

[62] This is the rationale of the occultations of the lights, more perplexing in its motion and involved with many marvels, since they change their magnitudes and their colors, and the same ones draw near to the north and go away to the south, and are perceived suddenly nearer to the earth or to the sky. In these matters we confess that we are going to hand down many things otherwise than our predecessors, and that those things too are the office and merit of those who first have shown the ways of inquiry—provided only that no one despair that the ages ever advance.

[63] pluribus de causis haec omnia accidunt: prima circulorum, quos Graeci ayidaV in stellis vocant; etenim Graecis utendum erit vocabulis. sunt autem hi sui cuique earum aliique quam mundo, quoniam terra a verticibus duobus, quos appellaverunt polos, centrum caeli nec non et signiferi est oblique inter eos siti. omnia autem haec constant ratione circini semper indubitata.

[63] All these things occur for multiple causes: first, the circles which the Greeks call apsides among the stars; for we shall have to use Greek vocabulary. These are proper to each of them and are other than that of the world, since the earth, from the two pinnacles which they have called poles, is the center of the sky and also of the sign-bearer (the zodiac), set obliquely between them. Moreover, all these are established by the rule of the compass, ever undoubted.

ergo ab alio cuique centro apsides suae exsurgunt ideoque diversos habent orbes motusque dissimiles, quoniam interiores apsidas necesse est breviores esse.

therefore for each one their apsides arise from a different center, and for that reason they have diverse orbits and dissimilar motions, since the inner apsides must be shorter.

[64] igitur a terrae centro apsides altissimae sunt Saturno in scorpione, Iovi in virgine, Marti in leone, soli in geminis, Veneri in sagittario, Mercurio in capricorno, lunae in tauro, mediis omnium partibus, et e contrario ad terrae centrum humillimae atque proximae. sic fit ut tardius moveri videantur, cum altissimo ambitu feruntur, non quia adcelerent tardentve naturales motus, qui certi ac singuli sunt illis, sed quia deductas ab summa apside lineas coartari ad centrum necesse est, sicut in toris radios, idemque motus alias maior, alias minor centri propinquitate sentitur.

[64] therefore, from the earth’s center the highest apsides are: for Saturn in Scorpio, for Jupiter in Virgo, for Mars in Leo, for the sun in Gemini, for Venus in Sagittarius, for Mercury in Capricorn, for the moon in Taurus, in the mid-parts of them all; and conversely, the lowest and nearest to the earth’s center. thus it comes about that they seem to move more slowly when they are carried in their highest circuit, not because their natural motions accelerate or are delayed—motions which for them are fixed and singular—but because lines drawn down from the topmost apsis must be narrowed toward the center, as radii on rings; and the same motion is perceived now greater, now lesser, by the nearness of the center.

[65] altera sublimitatium causa, quoniam a suo centro apsidas altissimas habent in aliis signis, Saturnus in librae parte vicesima, Iuppiter cancri quinta decima, Mars capricorni XXVIII, sol arietis XVIIII, Venus piscium XXVII, Mercurius virginis XV, luna tauri III. tertia altitudinum ratio caeli mensura, non circuli, intelligitur, subire eas aut descendere per profundum aeris oculis aestimantibus.

[65] the second cause of elevations is that, from their own center, they have their highest apsides in other signs: Saturn in the twentieth part of Libra, Jupiter in the fifteenth of Cancer, Mars in the 28th of Capricorn, the sun in the 19th of Aries, Venus in the 27th of Pisces, Mercury in the 15th of Virgo, the moon in the 3rd of Taurus. The third rationale of altitudes is understood to be a measure of the sky, not of the circle, namely that, to eyes estimating by sight, they ascend or descend through the depth of the air.

[66] Huic conexa latitudinum signiferi obliquitatisque causa est. per hunc stellae quas diximus feruntur, nec aliud habitatur in terris quam quod illi subiacet, reliqua a polis squalent. Veneris tantum stella excedit eum binis partibus, quae causa intellegitur efficere ut quaedam animalia et in desertis mundi nascantur.

[66] Connected with this is the cause of the latitudes of the sign-bearer (zodiac) and of its obliquity. Along this the stars we have named are carried, and no other part of the lands is inhabited than that which lies beneath it; the rest, from the poles, lie squalid and desolate. Only the star of Venus exceeds it by two parts, a cause understood to bring it about that certain animals are even born in the deserts of the world.

luna quoque per totam latitudinem eius vagatur, sed omnino non excedens eum. ab his Mercurii stella laxissime, ut tamen e duodenis partibus—tot enim sunt latitudinis—non amplius octonas pererret, neque has aequaliter, sed duas in medio eius et supra quattuor, infra duas.

the moon also wanders through its whole latitude, but by no means exceeding it. among these, the star of Mercury most loosely, yet so that, out of twelve parts — for so many are of the latitude — it would traverse no more than eight, nor these equally, but two in its middle, and four above, two below.

[67] sol deinde medio fertur inter duas partes flexuoso draconum meatu inaequalis, Martis stella quattuor mediis, Iovis media et super eam duabus, Saturni duabus ut sol. haec erit latitudinum ratio ad austrum descendentium aut ad aquilonem subeuntium. hac constare et tertiam illam a terra subeuntium in caelum, et pariter scandi eam quoque existimavere inmensa et omnes eas conplexa causas.

[67] the sun, then, is carried in the middle, between two parts, by the sinuous and unequal “dragons’” course; the star of Mars in the four middle [parts]; Jupiter’s in the middle and two above it; Saturn’s in two, as the sun. This will be the ratio of the latitudes of those descending toward the south or ascending toward the north. By this there also consists that third [latitude] of things rising from the earth into the sky; and they have judged that it likewise is climbed, immense and embracing all those causes.

[68] Convenit stellas in occasu vespertino proximas esse terrae et altitudine et latitudine, exortusque matutinos ne initio cuiusque fieri, stationes in mediis latitudinum articulis, quae vocant ecliptica. perinde confessum est motum augeri, quamdiu in vicino sint terrae; cum abscedant in altitudinem, minui. quae ratio lunae maxime sublimitatibus adprobatur.

[68] It is agreed that at their evening setting the stars are nearest to the earth both in altitude and in latitude, and that their morning risings do not occur at the beginning of each; the stations are at the middle joints of the latitudes, which they call the ecliptic. Likewise it is acknowledged that motion increases so long as they are in the neighborhood of the earth; when they withdraw into altitude, it is diminished. This reasoning is most of all corroborated in the case of the Moon by her extreme elevations.

aeque non est dubium in exortibus matutinis etiamnum augeri atque a stationibus primis tris superiores deminuere se usque ad stationes secundas.

equally it is not in doubt that at the morning risings there is still an increase, and that from the first stations the three superiors diminish themselves down to the second stations.

[69] quae cum ita sint, manifestum erit ab exortu matutino latitudines scandi, quoniam in eo primum habitu incipiat parcius adici motus, in stationibus vero primis et altitudinem subiri, quoniam tum primum incipiant detrahi numeri stellaeque retroire. cuius rei ratio privatim reddenda est. percussae in qua diximus parte et triangulo solis radio inhibentur rectum agere cursum et ignea vi levantur in sublime.

[69] since these things are so, it will be manifest that from the morning rising the latitudes are climbed, since in that first position the motion begins to be added more sparingly; but at the first stations the altitude too is ascended, since then for the first time the numbers begin to be subtracted and the stars to go backward. The rationale of this matter must be rendered in particular. Struck in the part we have mentioned and by the triangular ray of the sun, they are hindered from driving a straight course and are lifted aloft by igneous force.

[70] hoc non protinus intellegi potest visu nostro, ideoque existimantur stare, unde et nomen accepit statio. progreditur deinde eiusdem radii violentia et retroire cogit vapore percussas. multo id magis in vespertino earum exortu, toto sole adverso cum in summas apsidas expelluntur minimaeque cernuntur, quoniam altissime absunt, et minimo feruntur motu, tanto minore, cum hoc in altissimis apsidum evenit signis.

[70] this cannot be understood at once by our sight, and therefore they are thought to stand still, whence the name “station” has been taken. then the violence of that same ray advances further and compels those struck by the heat to go retrograde. this is much more the case at their vespertine rising, with the whole sun opposite, when they are driven out into the highest apsides and are perceived as very small, since they are farthest distant, and are borne with the least motion—so much the less, when this happens in the highest signs of the apsides.

[71] ab exortu vespertino latitudo descenditur, superveniente ab alio latere radio eademque vi rursus ad terras deprimente, qua sustulerat in caelum e priore triquetro. tantum interest, subeant radii an superveniant, multoque eadem magis in vespertino occasu accidunt, haec est superiorum stellarum ratio; difficlior reliquar et a nullo ante nos reddita.

[71] from the evening rising the latitude is descended, as a ray supervenes from the other side and with the same force again presses down toward the earth, with which it had lifted into the sky at the former trine. So much does it matter whether the rays come up from beneath or come over, and much more do these same things occur at the evening setting; this is the rationale of the superior stars; the remainder is more difficult and has been rendered by no one before us.

[72] Primum igitur dicatur, cur Veneris stella numquam longius XLVI partibus, Mercurii XX ab sole abscedant, saepe citra eas ad solem reciprocent. conversas habent utraeque apsidas ut infra solem sitae, tantumque circulis earum subter est quantum superne praedictarum, et ideo non possunt abesse amplius, quoniam curvatura apsidum ibi non habet longitudinem maiorem. ergo utrique simili ratione modum statuunt apsidum suarum margines, ac spatia longitudinis latitudinum evagatione pensant. at enim

[72] first, then, let it be said why the star of Venus never departs farther than 46 degrees, and that of Mercury 20, from the sun, and often, short of these, turns back toward the sun. both have their apsides turned so as to be situated beneath the sun, and their circles are as much underneath as those of the aforesaid are above; and therefore they cannot be farther away, since the curvature of the apsides there has no greater length in longitude. therefore, for both alike, the margins of their apsides set the limit, and they compensate the spaces of longitude by an evagation in latitude. but indeed

[73] cur non semper ad quadraginta sex et ad partes viginti perveniunt? immo vero, sed ratio canonicos fallit. namque apparet apsidas quoque earum moveri, quod numquam transeant solem.

[73] why do they not always reach forty-six and twenty parts? Nay indeed; but the rationale misleads the canons. For it appears that their apsides also move, because they never pass beyond the sun.

itaque cum in partem ipsam eius incidere margines alterutro latere, tum et stellae ad longissima sua intervalla pervenire intelleguntur. cum citra fuere margines, totidem partibus et ipsae ocius redire coguntur, cum sit illa semper utrique extremitas summa.

and so, whenever the margins fall into that very part of it on either side, then the stars too are understood to reach their longest intervals. when the margins have been on this side, the stars themselves are compelled to return more swiftly by the same number of degrees, since that is always for both the utmost extremity.

[74] Hinc et ratio motuum conversa intellegitur. superiores enim celerrime feruntur in occasu vespertino, hae tardissime; illae a terra altissime absunt, cum tardissime moventur, hae, cum ocisime, quia, sicut in illis propinquitas centri adcelerat, ita in his extremitas circuli. illae ab exortu matutino minuere celeritatem incipiunt, hae vero augere; illae retro cursum agunt a statione matutina usque vespertinam, Veneris a vespertina usque ad matutinam.

[74] Hence even the rationale of the motions is understood as inverted. For the superior [planets] are borne very swiftly at the evening setting, these very slowly; those are farthest from the earth when they move most slowly, these when most swiftly, because, just as in those the proximity of the center accelerates, so in these the extremity of the circle. Those begin to diminish their speed from the morning rising, but these to increase it; those carry on a retrograde course from the morning station to the evening, Venus from the evening to the morning.

[75] incipit autem ab exortu matutino latitudinem scandere, altitudinem vero ac solem insequi a statione matutina, ocissima in occasu matutino et altissima, degredi autem latitudine motumque minuere ab exortu vespertino, retro quidem ire simulque altitudine degredi ab statione vespertina, Mercurii rursus stella utroque modo scandere ab exortu matutino, degredi vero latitudine a vespertino, consecutoque sole ad quindecim partium intervallum consistit quadriduo prope inmobilis.

[75] moreover it begins from the morning rising to climb in latitude, but from the morning station to climb in altitude and to pursue the sun, being swiftest at the morning setting and highest; but from the evening rising to descend in latitude and to diminish its motion; indeed from the evening station to go retrograde and at the same time to descend in altitude. The star of Mercury, on the other hand, begins from the morning rising to climb in both ways, but from the evening rising to descend in latitude; and, the sun having been overtaken, at an interval of fifteen parts it stands for four days almost motionless.

[76] mox ab altitudine descendit retroque graditur ab occasu vespertino usque exortum matutinum, tantumque haec et luna totidem diebus, quot subiere, descendunt. Veneris quindecies pluribus subit, rursus Saturni et Iovis duplicato degrediuntur, Martis etiam quadruplicato. tanta est naturae varietas, sed ratio evidens.

[76] soon it descends from altitude and goes retrograde from the vespertine setting up to the matutine rising, and both this star and the moon descend in just as many days as they ascended. Venus ascends in fifteen more; again, the descents of Saturn and Jupiter are doubled, and that of Mars even quadrupled. So great is nature’s variety, but the rationale is evident.

nam quae in vaporem solis nituntur, etiam descendunt aegre.

for those that are supported by the sun’s vapor also descend with difficulty.

[77] Multa promi amplius circa haec possunt secreta naturae legesque, quibus ipsa servat, exempli gratia in Martis sidre, cuius est maxime inobservabilis cursus, numquam id stationem facere Iovis sidere triquetro, raro admodum LX partibus discreto, qui numerus sexangulas mundi efficit formas, nec exortus nisi in duobus signis tantum, cancri et leonis, simul edere, Mercurii vero sidus exortus vespertinos in piscibus raros facere, creberrimos in virgine, in libra matutinos, item matutinos in aquario, rarissimos in leone, retrogradum in tauro et geminis non fieri, in cancro vero non citra vicesimam quintam partem,

[77] Many more things can be promulged concerning these matters—secrets of nature and the laws by which she herself observes them—for example in the star of Mars, whose course is most unobservable: it never makes a station with the star of Jupiter in a triquetrous (trine) aspect, and only very rarely when separated by 60 parts, which number effects the hexangular forms of the cosmos; nor does it produce risings together except in two signs only, Cancer and Leo. But the star of Mercury makes evening risings rare in Pisces, very frequent in Virgo; in Libra, morning ones; likewise morning ones in Aquarius; very rare in Leo; retrograde in Taurus and Gemini does not occur; in Cancer, indeed, not short of the 25th part.

[78] lunam bis coitum cum sole in nullo alio aigno facere quam geminis, non coire aliquando in sagittario tantum, novissimam vero primamque eadem die vel nocte nullo alio in signo quam ariete conspici—id quoque paucis mortalium contigit, et inde fama cernendi Lynceo—, non conparere in caelo Saturni sidus et Martis, cum plurimum, diebus CLXX, Iovis XXXVI aut, cum minimum, LII, Mercuri XIII aut, cum plurimum, XVII.

[78] that the moon make a conjunction twice with the sun in no other sign than Gemini; that at times they do not conjoin, and then only in Sagittarius; that the very last and the very first [appearance of the moon] be seen on the same day or night in no other sign than Aries—this too has befallen few mortals, and hence the fame of seeing like Lynceus—; that the planet of Saturn and that of Mars do not appear in the sky, at the most, for 170 days; that of Jupiter for 36 or, at the minimum, 52; that of Mercury for 13 or, at the most, 17.

[79] Colores ratio altitudinum temperat, siquidem earum similitudinem trahunt, in quarum aera venere subeundo, inguitque adpropinquantes utralibet alieni meatus circulus, frigidior in pallorem, ardentior in ruborem, ventosus in horrem, sol atque commissurae apsidum extremaeque orbitae atram in obscuritatem. suus quidem cuique color est: Saturno candidus, Iovi clarus, Marti igneus, Lucifero candens, Vesperi refulgens, Mercurio radians, lunae blandus, soli, cum oritur, ardens, postea radians, his causis conexo visu et earum quae caelo continentur.

[79] The colors the proportion of altitudes tempers, since they draw a similitude of those regions into whose airs they have come by ascending, and the circle of an alien course, as it approaches on either side, induces them—colder into pallor, more ardent into redness, windy into a hoary hue, the sun and the junctures of the apsides and the outermost track into black obscurity. Each indeed has its own proper color: for Saturn, snow-white; for Jupiter, bright; for Mars, igneous; for Lucifer, dazzling white; for Vesper, refulgent; for Mercury, radiant; for the Moon, gentle; for the Sun, when it rises, burning, afterwards radiant—our sight being conjoined to these causes and to those things which are contained in the sky.

[80] namque modo multitudo conferta inest circa dimidos orbes lunae, placida nocte leniter inlustrante eas, modo raritas, ut fugisse miremur, plenilunio abscondente aut cum solis suprave dictarum radii visus praestrinzere nostros. et ipsa autem luna ingruentium solis radiorum haut dubie differentias sentit, hebetante cetero inflexus mundi convexitate eos praeterquam ubi recti angulorum conpetant ictus. itaque in quadrato solis dividua est, in triquetro seminani ambitur orbe, inpletur autem in adverso, rursusque minuens easdem effigies paribus edit intervallis, simili ratione qua super solem tria sidera.

[80] for at one time a crowded multitude is present around the half-orbs of the moon, a placid night gently illuminating them; at another, a rarity, so that we marvel they have fled, the full moon hiding them, or when the rays of the sun or of the aforesaid ones have dazzled our sight. and the moon itself, moreover, without doubt perceives the differences of the onrushing rays of the sun, the rest of their inflections being dulled by the convexity of the world, except where the strokes of right angles coincide. therefore at the square of the sun it is divided; at the triquetrum it is surrounded by a semi-annular orb; it is filled, however, in opposition; and, diminishing again, it produces the same effigies at equal intervals, by a similar rationale as the three stars above the sun.

[81] Sol autem ipse quattuor differentias habet, bis aequata nocte diei, vere et autumno, in centrum incidens terrae octavis in partibus arietis ac librae, bis permutatis spatiis, in auctum diei bruma, octava in parte capricorni, noctis vero solstitio, totidem in partibus cancri. inaequalitatis causa obliquitas est signiferi, cum pars aequa mundi super subterque terras omnibus fiat momentis. sed quae recta in exortu suo consurgunt signa longiore tractu tenent lucem; quae vero obliqua, ociore transeunt spatio.

[81] But the Sun himself has four differences: twice, with night made equal to day, in spring and in autumn, striking the center of the earth in the eighth parts of Aries and Libra; twice, with the spaces exchanged—at midwinter, for an increase of day, in the eighth part of Capricorn; and, at the solstice, for night, in just as many parts of Cancer. The cause of inequality is the obliquity of the zodiac, whereas an equal part of the world above and below the earth is made at every moment. But the signs that rise straight in their own rising hold the light for a longer tract; those that are oblique pass through the space more swiftly.

[82] Latet plerosque magna caeli adsectatione conpertum principibus doctrinae viris, superiorem trium siderum ignes esse qui decidui ad terras fulminum nomen habeant, sed maxime Iovis medio loco siti, fortassis quoniam contagium nimii umoris ex superiore circulo atque ardoris ex subiecto per hunc modum egerat, ideoque dictum Iovem fulmina iaculari. ergo ut e flagrante ligno carbo cum crepitu, sic a sidere caelestis igni exspuitur praescita secum adferens, ne abdicata quidem sui parte in divinis cessante operibus. idque maxime turbato fit aere, quia collectus umor abundantium stimulat aut quia turbatur quodam ceu gravidi sideris partu.

[82] It lies hidden from most, though by the leading men of learning it has been ascertained through great pursuit of the sky, that the fires of the uppermost of the three stars are those which, when falling down to the lands, have the name of thunderbolts, but especially those of Jupiter, seated in the middle place—perhaps because the contagion of excessive moisture from the upper circle and of ardor from the one beneath has in this way acted through him—and therefore Jupiter is said to hurl the thunderbolts. Accordingly, as from flaming wood a coal with a crackle, so from a star a celestial fire is spat out, bringing presages with it, with not even any part of itself renounced nor the divine operations ceasing. And this happens especially when the air is troubled, because gathered moisture of things abounding stimulates it, or because it is disturbed, as it were, by the childbirth of a pregnant star.

[83] Intervalla quoque siderum a terra multi indagare temptarunt, et solem abesse a luna undeviginti partes quantam lunam ipsam a terra prodiderunt. Pythagoras vero, vir sagacis animi, a terra ad lunam | CXXVI | stadiorum esse collegit, ad solem ab ea duplum, inde ad duodecim signa triplicatum, in qua sententia et Gallus Sulpicius fuit noster.

[83] Many have tried to investigate the intervals of the stars from the earth, and that the sun is distant from the moon by nineteen parts, as much as they have reported the moon itself to be from the earth. But Pythagoras, a man of sagacious mind, concluded that from the earth to the moon is | 126 | stadia, from it to the sun double, and thence to the twelve signs tripled—an opinion in which our Sulpicius Gallus also concurred.

[84] Sed Pythagoras interdum et musica ratione appellat quantum absit a terra luna, ab ea ad Mercurium dimidium spatii et ab eo ad Veneris, a quo ad solem sescuplum, a sole ad Martem tonum [id est quantum ad lunam a terra], ab eo ad Iovem dimidium et ab eo ad Saturni, et inde sescuplum ad signiferum; ita septem tonis effici quam dia paswn armonian hoc est universitatem concentus; in ea Saturnum Dorio moveri phthongo, Iovem Phrygio et in reliquis similia, iucunda magis quam necessaria subtilitate.

[84] But Pythagoras sometimes also expresses, by a musical rationale, how far the moon is from the earth: from it to Mercury half that space, and from him to Venus; from which to the sun a sesquialter (one-and-a-half); from the sun to Mars a tone [that is, as much as from the earth to the moon]; from him to Jupiter a half, and from him to Saturn; and thence a sesquialter to the Zodiac; thus by seven tones there is produced what is the dia pason harmony, that is, the universality of concord; in it Saturn moves in the Dorian phthong, Jupiter in the Phrygian, and similarly in the rest—a subtlety more pleasing than necessary.

[85] Stadium XXV nostros efficit passus, hoc est pedes DCXXV. Posidonius non minus XL stadiorum a terra altitudinem esse, in quam nubila ac venti nubesque perveniant, inde purum liquidumque et inperturbatae ucis aera, sed a turbido ad lunam viciens C milia stadiorum, inde ad solem quinquiens miliens, et spatio fieri, ut tam inmensa eius magnitudo non exurat terras. plures autem DCCCC in altitudinem nubes subire prodiderunt.

[85] A stadium makes 25 of our paces, that is, 625 feet. Posidonius [says] that the height from the earth is not less than 40 stadia, into which mists and winds and clouds reach; thence the air is pure and limpid and of unperturbed light; but from the turbid region to the moon 2,000,000 stadia, and from there to the sun 5,000,000, and that by the interval it comes about that so immense a magnitude does not scorch the lands. Several, moreover, have reported that clouds rise to a height of 900 stadia.

inconperta haec et inextricabilia, sed prodenda, quia sunt prodita, in quis tamen una ratio geometricae collectionis numquam fallacis possit non repudiari, si cui libeat altius ita persequi, nec ut mensura—id enim velle paene dementis otii est—, sed ut tantum aestimatio coniectanti donstet animo.

These things are unascertained and inextricable, yet they must be published, because they have been handed down; in which, however, a single method of geometrical collection (never fallacious) may perhaps not be rejected, if anyone should like to pursue the matter more deeply—not as a measure (for to wish that is almost the whim of demented leisure), but so that at least an estimation may stand firm to the conjecturing mind.

[86] nam cum CCCLX et fere sex partibus orbis solis ex circuitu eius patere appareat circulum, per quem meat, semperque dimetiens tertiam partem ambitus et tertiae paulo minus septimam colligat, apparet dempta eius dimidia, quoniam terra centralis interveniat, sextam fere partem huius inmensi spatii, quod circa terram circuli solaris animo conprehenditur, inesse altitudinis spatio, lunae vero duodecimam, quoniam tanto breviore quam sol ambitu currit. ita fieri eam in medio solis ac terrae.

[86] for since 360 and almost six parts of the orb of the sun, from its circuit, are seen to be laid open—the circle through which it goes—and since the diameter always measures off a third part of the circumference and collects of that third a little less than a seventh, it appears, with its half subtracted, because the central earth intervenes, that nearly a sixth part of this immense space, which is comprehended in mind as the space of the solar circle around the earth, belongs to the dimension of altitude; but the moon’s is a twelfth, since it runs a circuit so much shorter than the sun. thus it comes to be in the middle between the sun and the earth.

[87] miror quo procedat inprobitas cordis humani parvolo aliquo invitata successu, sicut in supra dictis occasionem inpudentiae ratio largitur. ausisque divinare solis ad terram spatia eadem ad caelum agunt, quoniam sit medius sol, ut protinus mundi quoque ipsius mensura veniat in digitos. quantas enim dimetiens habeat septimas, tantas habere circulum duoetvicesimas, tamquam plane a perpendiculo mensura caeli constet.

[87] I marvel how far the improbity of the human heart proceeds, invited by some very small success, just as in the above-said things reason lavishes an occasion for impudence. And having dared to divine the spaces from the sun to the earth, they apply the same to the heaven, since the sun is in the middle, so that straightway the measure of the world itself too comes into the digits. For as many sevenths as the diameter has, so many twenty-seconds the circumference has, as though plainly the measure of the heaven were established from a plumb-line.

[88] Aegyptia ratio, quam Petosiris et Nechepsos ostendere, singulas partes in lunari circulo, ut citum est, minimo XXXIII stadiis paulo amplius patere colligit, in Saturni amplissimo duplum, in solis, quem medium esse diximus, utriusque mensurae dimidium. quae computatio plurimum habet pudoris, quoniam ad Saturni circulum addito signiferi ipsius intervallo nec numerabilis multiplicatio efficitur.

[88] The Egyptian method, which Petosiris and Nechepsos set forth, concludes that the single parts in the lunar circle, as has been cited, at the least extend a little more than 33 stadia; in Saturn’s, the very largest, double; in the sun’s, which we have said is the middle, half of each of those measures. This computation has much modesty, since, with the interval of the Sign-bearer (the zodiac) itself added to Saturn’s circle, not even a countable multiplication results.

[89] Restant pauca de mundo, namque et in ipso caelo stellae repente nascuntur. plura eodem genera. cometas Graeci vocant, nostri crinitas, horrentes crine sanguineo et comarum modo in vertice hsipidas.

[89] A few things remain about the world; for even in the sky itself stars are suddenly born. There are several kinds in this same category. The Greeks call them comets, our people “hairy” ones, bristling with blood-red hair and, in the manner of tresses, rough on the crown.

iidem pogonias quibus inferiore ex parte in speciem barbae longae promittitur iuba. acontiae iaculi modo vibrantur, ocissimo significatu. haec fuit, de qua quinto consulatu suo Titus Imperator Caesar praeclaro carmine perscripsit, ad hunc diem novissima visa.

the same are “pogonias,” in which on the lower side the mane is extended in the likeness of a long beard. “acontiae” are brandished in the manner of a javelin, with a most swift signification. this was the one about which, in his 5th consulship, Titus Imperator Caesar wrote at length in a splendid poem, the latest seen to this day.

easdem breviores et in mucronem fastigata xiphias vocavere, quae sunt omnium pallidissimae et quodam gladii nitore ac sine ullis radiis, quos et disceus, nomini similis, colore autem electro, raros e margine emittit.

the same, when shorter and tapered into a point, they have called xiphias, which are the palest of all and with a certain sword-like sheen and without any rays—rays which even the disceus, similar to its name, but in color amber, sends forth sparsely from the margin.

[90] pitheus doliorum cernitur figura, in concavo fumidae lucis. ceratias cornus speciem habet, qualis fuit cum Graecia apud Salamina depugnavit. lampadias ardentes imitatur faces, hippeus equinas iubas, celerrimi motus atque in orbem circa se euntes.

[90] the Pitheus is discerned in the figure of casks, in the concavity of a smoky light. The Ceratias has the appearance of a horn, such as it was when Greece fought at Salamis. The Lampadias imitates burning torches; the Hippeus, equine manes, being of very swift motion and going in a circle around itself.

fit et candidus DioV cometes, argenteo crine ita refulgens, ut vix contueri liceat, specieque humana dei effigiem in se ostendens. fiunt et hirci, villorum specie et nube aliqua circumdati. semel adhuc iubae effigies mutata in hastam est, Olympiade CVIII, urbis anno CCCCVIII.

There is also formed a bright “Dios” comet, refulgent with silvery hair so that it is scarcely permitted to gaze upon it, and showing within itself the effigy of a god with human aspect. He-goats also come to be, clothed in the appearance of shaggy hairs and surrounded by a certain cloud. Once thus far the likeness of a mane was changed into a spear, in Olympiad 108, in the year 408 of the City.

brevissimum quo cernerentur spatium VII dierum adnotatum est, longissimum CLXXX.

the shortest span during which they were observed has been noted as 7 days, the longest as 180 days.

[91] Moventur autem aliae errantium modo, aliae inmobiles haerent, omnes ferme sub ipso septentrione aliqua eius parte non certa, sed maxime in candida, quae lactei circuli nomem accepit. Aristoteles tradit et simul plures cerni, nemini compertum alteri, quod equidem sciam, ventos autem ab iis graves aestusve significari. fiunt et hibernis mensibus et in austrino polo, sed ibi citra ullum iubar.

[91] Some are moved in the manner of the wanderers, others are fixed, sticking motionless; almost all beneath the very North, in some part of it not definite, but especially in the bright band which has received the name of the Milky Circle. Aristotle reports that several are seen at the same time—ascertained by no one else, so far as I know—and that by them winds or oppressive heats are signified. They occur also in the winter months and at the southern pole, but there without any tail.

diraque conperta Aethiopum et Aegypti populis spirae modo intorta, visu quoque torvo, nec stella verius quam quidam igneus modus.

and dire things ascertained among the peoples of the Ethiopians and of Egypt, twisted in the manner of a spiral, with a grim aspect as well, and not more truly a star than a certain igneous mode.

[92] sparguntur aliquando et errantibus stellis ceterisque crines. sed cometes numquam in occasura parte caeli est, terrificum magna ex parte sidus atque non leviter piatum, ut civili motu Octavio consule iterumque Pompei et Caesaris bello, in nostro vero aevo circa veneficium, quo Claudius Caesar imperium reliquit Domitio Neroni, ac deinde principatu eius adsiduum prope ac saevum. referre arbitrantur, in quas partes sese iaculetur aut cuius stellae vires accipiat quasque similitudines reddat et quibus in locis emicet:

[92] at times even the wandering stars and the others are strewn with hair (tails). But a comet is never in the setting quarter of the sky, a terrifying star for the most part and not lightly to be propitiated, as in the civil commotion with Octavius as consul, and again in the war of Pompey and Caesar; in our own age too, around the poisoning by which Claudius Caesar left the imperium to Domitius Nero, and then in his principate it was almost constant and savage. They think it makes a difference into what parts it hurls itself, or from which star it receives forces, and what likenesses it renders, and in what places it flashes forth:

[93] tibiarum specie musicae arte portendere, obscenis autem moribus in verendis partibus signorum, ingeniis et eruditioni, si triquetram stellarum situs edat; venena fundere in capite septentrionalis austrinave serpentis. Cometes in uno totius orbis loco colitur in templo Romae, admodum Faustus Divo Augusto iudicatus ab ipso, qui incipiente eo apparuit ludis, quos faciebat Veneri Genetrici non multo post obitum patris Caesaris in collegio ab eo instituto. namque his verbis in ....

[93] in the likeness of pipes to portend the art of music; but obscene morals when in the privy parts of the signs; talents and erudition, if the position of the stars yields a triquetrous figure; to pour out poisons at the head of the northern or the southern serpent. A comet is worshiped in one place of the whole world, in a temple at Rome, judged very auspicious to the Divine Augustus by himself, which, at their opening, appeared at the games that he was giving to Venus Genetrix not long after the death of his father Caesar, in the college established by him. For with these words in ....

[94] gaudium prodit is: Ipsis ludorum meorum diebus sidus crinitum per septem dies in regione caeli sub septemtrionibus est conspectum. id oriebatur circa undecimam horam diei clarumque et omnibus e terris conspicuum fuit. eo sidere significari vulgus credidit Caesaris animam inter deorum inmortalium numina receptam, quo nomine id insigne simulacro capitis eius, quod mox in foro consecravimus, adiectum est.

[94] he sets forth this joy: On the very days of my games a crinite star, a comet, for seven days was seen in the region of the sky beneath the Septentriones. It rose about the eleventh hour of the day and was bright and conspicuous to all from all lands. The common people believed that by that star was signified the soul of Caesar received among the numina of the immortal gods; under which designation that emblem was added to the effigy of his head, which we soon consecrated in the forum.

haec ille in publicum; interiore gaudio sibi illum natum seque in eo nasci interpretatus est. et, si verum fatemur, salutare id terris fuit. Sunt qui et haec sidera perpetua esse credant suoque ambitu ire, sed non nisi relicta ab sole cerni; alii vero qui nasci umore fortuito et ignea vi ideoque solvi.

These things he said in public; with inner joy he interpreted that it had been born for himself and that he himself was being born in it. And, if we confess the truth, that was salutary for the lands. There are those who even believe that these stars are perpetual and go by their own circuit, but are not seen except when left by the sun; others, however, that they are born from chance moisture and from igneous force and therefore dissolve.

[95] Idem Hipparchus numquam satis laudatus, ut quo nemo magis adprobaverit cognationem cum homine siderum animasque nostras partem esse caeli, novam stellam et aliam in aevo suo genitam deprehendit eiusque motu, qua fulsit, ad dubitationem est adductus, anne hoc saepius fieret moverenturque et eae, quas putamus adfixas, ideoque ausus rem etiam deo inprobam, adnumerare posteris stellas ac sidera ad nomen expungere organis excogitatis, per quae singularum loca atque magnitudines signaret, ut facile discerni posset ex eo non modo an obirent ac nascerentur, sed an omnino aliquae transirent moverenturque, item an crescerent minuerenturque, caelo in hereditate cunctis relicto, si quisquam, qui cretionem eam caperete, inventus esset.

[95] That same Hipparchus, never enough praised—than whom no one more approved the kinship of the stars with man and that our souls are a part of the heaven—detected a new star, another generated in his own age; and by its motion, while it shone, he was brought to the doubt whether this happened more often and whether even those which we think fixed were moved; and so, daring a thing objectionable even for a god, he undertook to reckon for posterity the stars and the constellations and to enter them by name on the roll, with instruments devised by which he might mark the places and magnitudes of each, so that it could easily be discerned therefrom not only whether they perish and are born, but whether indeed some pass across and are moved, likewise whether they grow and are diminished—the heaven having been left as an inheritance to all, if anyone should be found to take the formal acceptance of it.

[96] Emicant et faces, non nisi cum decidunt visae, qualis Germanico Caesare gladiatorum spectaculum edente praeter ora populi meridiano transcucurrit. duo genera earum. lampadas vocant plane faces, alterum bolidas, quale Mutinensibus malis visum est.

[96] Firebrands also flash out, seen only when they fall, such as one that, at midday, ran across before the faces of the people while Germanicus Caesar was giving a gladiatorial spectacle. There are two kinds of them. They clearly call lampades “torches”; the other, bolides—such as was seen by the people of Mutina, to their harm.

distant quod faces vestigia longa faciunt priore ardente parte, bolis vero perpetua ardens longiorem trahit limitem. Emicant et trabes simili modo, quas dokouV vocant, qualis cum Lacedaemonii classe victi imperium Graeci amisere. fit et caeli ipsius hiatus, quod vocant chasma,

differ in that torches make long tracks with the front part burning, whereas the bolis, burning continuously, draws a longer limit. Beams also flash forth in a similar way, which they call dokoi, such as when, the Lacedaemonians being defeated with their fleet, the Greeks lost their dominion. There is also a yawning of the sky itself, which they call a chasm,

[97] fit et sanguinea species et, quo nihil terribilius mortalium timori est, incendium ad terras cadens inde, sicut Olympiadis CVII anno tertio, cum rex Philippus Graeciam quateret. atque ego haec statis temporibus naturae vi, ut cetera, arbitror existere, non, ut plerique, variis de causis, quas ingeniorum acumen excogitat, quippe ingentium malorum fuere praenuntia; sed ea accidisse non quia haec facta sunt arbitror, verum haec ideo facta quia incasura erant illa, raritate autem occultam eorum esse rationem ideoque non, sicut exortus supra dictos defectusque et multa alia, nosci.

[97] and a sanguine appearance occurs as well, and—than which nothing is more terrible to the fear of mortals—a conflagration falling to the earth from there, as in the third year of Olympiad 107, when King Philip was shaking Greece. And I judge that these things come into being at fixed times by the force of nature, as the rest, not, as most do, from various causes which the acumen of wits devises, seeing that they have been presages of immense evils; but I think that those events did not happen because these were done; rather, these were done because those were going to befall; and by their rarity the rationale of them is hidden and therefore not known, as are the risings and eclipses mentioned above and many other things.

[98] Cernuntur et stellae cum sole totis diebus, plerumque et circa solis orbem ceu speiceae coronae et versicolores circuli, qualiter Augusto Caesare in prima iuventa urbem intrante post obitum patris ad nomen ingens capessendum. existunt eaedem coronae circa lunam et circa nobilia astra caeloque inhaerentia. circa solem arcus adparuit L. Opimio Q. Fabio cos., orbis C. Porcio M'. Acilio, circulus rubri coloris L. Iulio P. Rutilio cos.

[98] Stars too are seen with the sun throughout whole days, and often also around the sun’s orb as if spicate crowns and varicolored circles, as when Augustus Caesar, in his earliest youth, entered the city after his father’s death to assume the mighty name. The same crowns come forth around the moon and around notable stars that are fixed in the sky. Around the sun a bow appeared in the consulship of L. Opimius and Q. Fabius, a disk in that of C. Porcius and M'. Acilius, a circle of red color in that of L. Iulius and P. Rutilius, consuls.

Fiunt prodigiosi et longiores solis defectus, qualis occiso dictatore Caesare et Antoniano bello totius paene anni pallore continuo

Portentous and longer eclipses of the sun occur, such as when the dictator Caesar was slain, and in the Antonian war, with almost the whole year in continuous pallor

[99] et rursus soles plures simul cernuntur, nec supra ipsum nec infra, sed ex obliquo, numquam iuxta nec contra terram nec noctu, sed aut oriente aut occidente. semel et meridie conspecti in Bosporo produntur, qui ab matutino tempore duraverunt in occasum. trinos soles et antiqui saepius videre, sicut Sp. Postumio Q. Mucio et Q. Marcio M. Porcio et M. Antonio P. Dolabella et M. Lepido L. Planco cos., et nostra aetas vidit Divo Caludio principe, consulatu eius Cornelio Orfito collega.

[99] and again several suns at once are discerned, not above the sun itself nor below, but from an oblique angle; never near at hand nor opposite the earth nor at night, but either at the rising or at the setting. once too at midday they are reported to have been seen in the Bosporus, which lasted from morning time until sunset. three suns the ancients also saw rather often, as under the consuls Sp. Postumius and Q. Mucius, and Q. Marcius and M. Porcius, and M. Antonius and P. Dolabella, and M. Lepidus and L. Plancus; and our age too saw them under the deified Claudius as princeps, in his consulship, with Cornelius Orfitus as colleague.

plures quam tres simul visi ad hoc aevi numquam produntur. Lunae quoque trinae, ut Cn. Domitio C. Fannio consulibus, apparuere.

more than three seen at once are never reported down to this age. Three moons likewise appeared, when Gnaeus Domitius and Gaius Fannius were consuls.

[100] Quod plerisque appellaverunt soles nocturnos, lumen de caelo noctu visum est C. Caecilio Cn. Papirio consulibus et saepe alias, ut diei species nocte luceret. Clipeus ardens ab occasu ad ortum scintillans transcucurrit solis occasu L. Valerio C. Mario consulibus. Scintillam visam e stella cadere et augeri terrae adpropinquantem ac, postquam lunae magnitudine facta sit, inluxisse ceu nubilo die, dein, cum in caelum se reciperet, lampadem factam semel umquam proditur Cn. Octavio C. Scribonio consulibus.

[100] What many have called “nocturnal suns,” a light from the sky was seen at night in the consulship of C. Caecilius and Cn. Papirius, and often at other times besides, so that the appearance of day shone by night. A burning shield, scintillating, ran across from west to east at the sun’s setting, in the consulship of L. Valerius and C. Marius. It is reported that a spark was seen to fall from a star and to increase as it approached the earth, and, after it had become of the moon’s magnitude, it shone as on a cloudy day; then, when it returned to the sky, once only it became a torch, in the consulship of Cn. Octavius and C. Scribonius.

vidit id Silanus proconsul cum comitatu suo. Fieri videntur et discursus stellarum numquam temere, ut non ex ea parte truces venti cooriantur.

Silanus, the proconsul, saw it with his retinue. And the courses of stars too seem never to occur at random, without fierce winds arising from that quarter.

[101] Existunt stellae et in mari terrisque. vidi nocturnis militum vigiliis inhaerere pilis pro vallo fulgorem effigie ea; et antennis navigantium aliisque navium partibus ceu vocali quodam sono insistunt, ut volucres sedem ex sede mutantes, graves, cum solitariae venere, mergentesque navigia et, si in carinae ima deciderint, exurentes, geminae autem salutares et prosperi cursus nuntiae, quarum adventu fugari diram illam ac minacem appellatamque Helenam ferunt et ob id Polluci ac Castori id numen adsignant eosque in mari invocant. hominum quoque capita vespertinis magno praesagio circumfulgent.

[101] There are stars that appear on sea and on land as well. I have seen, during the soldiers’ nocturnal watches, a glow of that appearance cling to the spears before the rampart; and on the yardarms of sailors and on other parts of ships they settle, as if with a certain vocal sound, like birds shifting perch from perch, heavy when they come solitary, and sinking ships and, if they should fall to the lowest parts of the keel, burning them up; but in pairs they are healthful and heralds of a prosperous course, at whose arrival they say that dread and menacing thing called “Helen” is put to flight, and for that reason they assign that divinity to Pollux and Castor and invoke them at sea. Men’s heads also, in the evenings, shine all around with great presage.

omnia incerta ratione et in naturae maiestate abdita.

all things are uncertain in rationale and hidden within the majesty of Nature.

[102] Hactenus de mundo ipso sideribusque: nunc reliqua caeli memorabilia. namque et hoc caelum appellavere maiores quod alio nomine a‘ra, omne quod inani simile vitalem hunc spiritum fundit. infra lunam haec sedes multoque inferior, ut animadverto propemodum constare, infinitum ex superiore natura a‘ris, infinitum terreni halitus miscens utraque sorte confunditur.

[102] Thus far about the world itself and the stars: now the remaining memorabilia of the sky. For our elders also called this “heaven,” what by another name, the “airs,” everything which, like the void, pours out this vital spirit. Beneath the Moon is this seat, and much lower; as I observe it to be almost agreed, mixing an infinity from the higher nature of air and an infinity of earthy exhalation, it is confounded in both kinds.

hinc nubila, tonitrua et alia fulmina, hinc grandines, pruinae, imbres, procellae, turbines, hinc plurima mortalium mala et rerum naturae pugna secum.

hence clouds, thunders and other lightnings, hence hail, hoarfrosts, rains, squalls, whirlwinds, hence the very many ills of mortals and the nature of things in combat with itself.

[103] terrena in caelum tendentia deprimit siderum vis eademque quae sponte non subeant ad se trahit. decidunt imbres, nebulae subeunt, siccantur amnes, ruunt grandines. torrent radii et terram in medium undique inpellunt, iidem infracti resiliunt et quae potuere auferunt secum.

[103] the power of the stars presses down terrene things tending toward the sky, and the same draws to itself those which do not spontaneously go up. rains fall, mists go up, rivers are dried, hailstones rush headlong. the rays scorch and impel the earth toward the center from every side; the same, broken, resile and carry off with them what they have been able.

vapor ex alto cadit rursusque in altum redit. venti ingruunt inanes iidemque cum rapina remeant. tot animalium haustus spiritum e sublimi trahit, at ille contra nititur, tellusque ut inani caelo spiritum fundit.

vapor falls from on high and again returns aloft. the winds rush in empty, and the same return with rapine. the draught of so many animals draws spirit from above, but it in turn resists, and the earth pours forth spirit to the empty sky.

[104] sic ultro citro commeante natura ut tormento aliquo mundi celeritate discordia accenditur. nec stare pugnae licet, sed adsidue rapta convolvitur et circa terram inmenso rerum causas globo ostendit, subinde per nubes caelum aliud obtexens. ventorum hoc regnum.

[104] thus, with nature going to and fro, as by some engine, by the celerity of the world discord is kindled. nor may the battle stand; but continually what is snatched is convolved, and around the earth it displays the causes of things in an immense globe, from time to time overlaying another heaven through the clouds. this is the kingdom of the winds.

itaque praecipua eorum natura ibi et ferme reliquas complexa eas causas, quoniam tonitruum et fulminum iactus horum violentiae plerique adsignant, quin et ideo lapidibus pluere interim, quia vento sint rapti, et multa similiter. quam ob rem simul plura dicenda sunt.

therefore their principal nature is there, and it almost embraces the remaining causes as well, since most assign the thunder and the discharges of lightning to the violence of these, indeed even that it sometimes rains stones, because they have been snatched up by the wind, and many things similarly. For which reason several matters must be stated at once.

[105] Tempestatum imbriumque quasdam statas esse causas, quasdam vero fortuitas aut adhuc rationis inconpertae, manifestum est. quis enim aestates et hiemes quaeque in temporibus annua vice intelleguntur siderum motu fieri dubitet? ergo ut solis natura temperando intellegitur anno, sic reliquorum quoque siderum propria est cuiusque vis et ad suam cuique naturam fertilis.

[105] It is manifest that of tempests and of rains some causes are fixed, while others are fortuitous or as yet unascertained by reason. For who would doubt that summers and winters, and whatever things in their seasons are understood in annual turn, are brought about by the motion of the stars? Therefore, just as the nature of the sun is understood in tempering the year, so too there is a proper force of each of the other stars, and each is fertile according to its own nature.

alia sunt in liquorem soluti umoris fecunda, alia concreti in pruinas aut coacti in nives aut glaciati in grandines, alia flatus, teporis alia aut vaporis, alia roris, alia rigoris. nec vero haec tanta debent existimari, quanta cernuntur, cum esse eorum nullum minus luna tam inmensae altitudinis ratio declaret.

some are fruitful in the liquid of dissolved moisture; others are congealed into hoar-frosts, or compacted into snows, or ice-glaciated into hailstones; others are breaths, others of warmth or of vapor, others of dew, others of rigor. nor indeed ought these to be esteemed as great as they are seen, since the reckoning of the Moon, of so immense an altitude, declares that not one of them exists any the less.

[106] igitur in suo quaeque motu naturam suam exercent, quod manifestum Saturni maxime transitus imbribus faciunt. nec meantium modo siderum haec vis est, sed multorum etiam adhaerentium caelo, quotiens errantium accessu inpulsa aut coneiectu radiorum exstimulata sunt, qualiter in suculus sentimus accidere, quas Graeci ob id pluvio nomine appellant. quin et sua sponte quaedam statisque temporibus, ut haedorum exortus.

[106] therefore each in its own motion exercises its own nature, which the transits of Saturn make most manifest by rains. Nor is this power only of stars that are passing, but also of many adhering to the sky, whenever, by the approach of the wanderers, they are impelled or, by the confluence of rays, are stimulated—just as we feel it to happen in the Suculae, which the Greeks on that account call by a rainy name. Nay, certain ones act of their own accord and at fixed times, as in the rising of the Kids.

arcturi vero sidus non ferme sine procellosa grandine emergit.

but the star of Arcturus scarcely ever emerges without tempestuous hail.

[107] Nam caniculae exortu acendi solis vapores quis ignorat? cuius sideris effectus amplissimi in terra sentiuntur: fervent maria exoriente eo, fluctuant in cellis vina, moventur stagna. orygem appellat Aegyptus feram, quam in exortu eius contra stare et contueri tradit ac velut adorare, cum sternuerit.

[107] For at the rising of the Dog Star, who does not know that the vapors of the sun are kindled? the effects of which star are felt most ample on earth: the seas grow hot as it rises, the wines in their cellars fluctuate, the pools are moved. Egypt calls a wild beast the oryx, which, at its rising, it hands down to stand facing it and to gaze fixedly and, as it were, to adore it, after it has sneezed.

canes quidem toto eo spatio maxime in rabiem agi non est dubium.

As for dogs, indeed, there is no doubt that throughout that whole span they are driven especially into rabies.

[108] Quin partibus quoque signorum quorundam sua vis inest, ut autumnali aequinoctio brumaeque, cum tempestatibus confici sidus intellegimus, nec imbribus tantum tempestatibusque, sed multis et corporum et ruris experimentis. adflantur alii sidere, alii commoventur statis temporibus alvo, nervis, capite, mente. olea et populus alba et salices solstitio folia circumagunt.

[108] Indeed, even in the parts of certain signs their own force is present, as at the autumnal equinox and at the winter solstice, when we understand that the constellation is brought to completion with storms, and not by rains and storms only, but by many experiments both of bodies and of the countryside. Some are affected by a star, others are disturbed at fixed times in the belly, the nerves, the head, the mind. The olive, the white poplar, and the willows at the solstice turn their leaves around.

floret ipso brumali die suspensi in tectis arentis herba pulei.

the dried herb of pennyroyal, when suspended in the roofs, flowers on the very brumal day.

[109] rumpuntur intentae spiritu membranae. miretur hoc qui non observet cotidiano experimento, herbam unam, quae vocatur heliotropium, abeuntem solem intueri semper omnibusque horis cum eo verti, vel nubilo obumbrante. iam quidem lunari potestate ostrearum conchyliorumque et concharum omnium corpora augeri ac rursus minui, quin et soricum fibras respondere numero lunae exquisivere diligentiores, minimumque animal, formicam, sentire vires sideris interlunio semper cessantem.

[109] stretched membranes are burst by breath. let him marvel at this who does not observe by daily experiment that a certain herb, which is called heliotrope, ever gazes upon the departing sun and at all hours turns with it, even with a cloud overshadowing. indeed, by lunar power the bodies of oysters, shellfish, and all shells are increased and then again diminished; nay, the more diligent have ascertained that the fibres of shrews correspond to the number of the moon, and that the smallest animal, the ant, feels the forces of that star, always ceasing at the interlunium.

[110] quo turpior homini inscitia est fatenti praecipue iumentorum quorundam in oculis morbos cum luna increscere ac minui. patrocinatur vastitas rei, inmensa discreta altitudine in duo atque septuaginta signa, hoc est rerum aut animantium effigies, in quas digessere caelum periti. in iis quidem MDC adnotavere stellas, insignes scilicet effectu visuve, exempli gratia in cauda tauri septem quas appellavere vergilias, in fronte suculas, booten, quae sequitur septem triones.

[110] hence the ignorance of man is the more disgraceful, as he admits that especially in the eyes of certain beasts of burden diseases wax and wane with the moon. the vastness of the matter pleads its cause: the heaven, set apart at an immense altitude, has been divided into 72 constellations, that is, effigies of things or living beings, into which the skilled have distributed the sky. among these they have annotated 1,600 stars, remarkable, to wit, for their effect or for their visual aspect—by way of example, in the tail of the Bull, seven which they called the Vergiliae; in the forehead, the Suculae; Boötes, which follows the Seven Plough-oxen.

[111] Extra has causas non negaverim exsistere imbres ventosque, quoniam umidam a terra, alias vero propter vaporem fumidam exhalari caliginem certum est nubesque liquore egresso in sublime aut a‘re coacto in liquorem gigni. densitas earum corpusque haut dubio coniectatur argumento, cum solem obumbrent, perspicuum alias etiam urinantibus in quamlibet profundam aquarum altitudinem.

[111] Beyond these causes I would not deny that rains and winds come into being, since it is certain that from the earth a moisture is exhaled, and at other times, owing to vapor, a smoky dimness; and that clouds are generated either when the liquid has gone forth aloft, or when air, compressed, is made into liquid. their density and body are inferred by no doubtful proof, since they overshadow the sun—otherwise a thing visible even to divers at whatever profound depth of waters.

[112] Igitur non eam infitias posse in has et ignes superne stellarum decidere, quales sereno saepe cernimus, quorum ictu concuti a‘ra verum est, quando et tela vibrata stridunt, cum vero in nubem perveniunt, vaporem dissonum gigni, ut candente ferro in aquam demerso, et fumidum verticem volvi. hinc nasci procellas et, si in nube luctetur flatus aut vapor, tonitrua edi; si erumpat ardens, fulmina; si longiore tractu nitatur, fulgetras. his findi nubem, illis perrumpi, et esse tonitrua inpactorum ignium plagas, ideoque protinus coruscare igneas nubium rimas.

[112] Therefore it is not to be denied that into these as well fires from above of the stars can fall, such as on a clear sky we often discern, by whose impact the air is indeed shaken—since even hurled missiles hiss; but when they come into a cloud, a discordant vapor is generated, as when glowing iron is plunged into water, and a smoky vortex rolls. Hence squalls arise, and, if within the cloud a blast or a vapor struggles, thunder is emitted; if it bursts forth burning, lightning-bolts; if it presses on with a longer course, sheet-lightnings. By these the cloud is split, by those it is broken through; and thunder is the blows of the impacting fires, and therefore straightway the fiery rifts of the clouds flash.

[113] posse et repulsu siderum depressum qui a terra meaverit spiritum nube cohibitum tonare, natura strangulante sonitum, dux rixetur, edito fragore, cum erumpat, ut in membrana spiritu intenta. posse et attritu, dum praeceps feratur, illum, quisquis est, spiritum accendi. posse et conflictu nubium elidi, ut duorum lapidum, hinc bruta fulmina et vana, ut quae nullam habeant rationem naturae.

[113] it is also possible that the breath which has traveled from the earth, driven back by the repulse of the stars and pressed downward, when confined in a cloud, thunders, nature strangling the sound, while it struggles, and a crash is emitted when it bursts out, as on a membrane stretched by breath. It is also possible that by attrition, while it is borne headlong, that breath, whatever it is, is kindled. It is also possible that by the conflict of clouds it is struck out, as from two stones; hence dull thunderbolts and vain ones, such as have no rationale in nature.

his percuti montes, his maria, omnesque alios inritos iactus. illa vero fatidica ex alto statisque de causis et ex suis venire sideribus.

by these mountains are struck, by these the seas, and all the other casts are ineffectual. but the fateful ones come from on high and from fixed causes and from their own stars.

[114] Simili modo ventos vel potius flatus posse et arido siccoque anhelitu terrae gigni non negaverim, posse et aquis a‘ra exspirantibus, qui neque in nebulam densetur nec crassescat in nubes, posse et solis inpulsu agi, quoniam ventus haut aliud intellegatur quam fluctus a‘ris, pluribusque etiam modis. namque et e fluminibus ac nivibus et e mari videmus, et quidem tranquillo, et alios, quos vocant altanos, e terra consurgere. qui, cum e mari redeunt, tropaei vocantur, si pergunt, apogei.

[114] In a similar manner I would not deny that winds, or rather blasts, can be generated by the earth’s arid and dry panting breath, and also by waters exhaling air, which is neither condensed into mist nor thickened into clouds; they can also be driven by the impulse of the sun, since wind is understood to be nothing other than a wave of the air, and indeed in several other modes as well. For we see them from rivers and snows and from the sea—even when it is calm—and others, which they call Altani, rise from the land. These, when they return from the sea, are called Tropaei; if they go forward, Apogei.

[115] Montium vero flexus crebrique vertices et conflexa cubito aut confracta in umeros iuga, concavi vallium sinus, scindentes inaequalitate ideo resultantem a‘ra—quae causa etiam voces multis in locis reciprocas facit—, sine fine ventos generant. iam quidem et specus, qualis in Dalmatia ore vasto, praeceps hiatu, in quem deiecto levi pondere quamvis tranquillo die turbini similis emicat procella; nomen loco est Senta. quin et in Cyrenaica provincia rupes quaedam austro traditur sacra, quam profanum sit attrectari hominis manu, confestim austro volvente harenas.

[115] The flexures of mountains, and their frequent summits, and ridges bent at the elbow or broken upon shoulders, the concave bays of valleys, cleaving by their unevenness the consequently resounding air—which cause also makes voices reciprocal in many places—, generate winds without end. Moreover, even a cavern, such as in Dalmatia with a vast mouth and a precipitous chasm, into which, when a light weight is cast down, although on a tranquil day, a squall similar to a whirlwind darts forth; the place’s name is Senta. Nay more, in the province of Cyrenaica a certain rock is reported as sacred to the south wind (Auster), which it is profane to touch with a human hand—immediately the south wind sets the sands rolling.

in domibus etiam multis madefacta inclusa opacitate conceptacula auras suas habent. adeo causa non deest.

even in many houses, moistened receptacles enclosed in darkness have their own airs. thus the cause is not lacking.

[116] Sed plurimum interest, flatus sit an ventus. illos statos atque perspirantes, quos non tractus aliquis, verum terrae sentiunt, qui non aura, non procella, sed, mares appellatione quoque ipsa, venti sunt, sive adsiduo mundi motu et contrario siderum occursu nascuntur, sive hic est ille generabilis rerum naturae spiritus huc illuc tamquam in utero aliquo vagus, sive disparili errantium siderum ictu radiorumque multiformi iactu flagellatus aër, sive a suis sideribus exeunt his propioribus sive ab illis caelo adfixis cadunt, palam est illos quoque legem habere naturae non ignotam, etiamsi nondum percognitam.

[116] But it makes a very great difference whether it is an exhalation or a wind. The former are stationary and perfluent, which the lands feel not by any sweep, whereas the latter are not a mere breeze, nor a squall, but, masculine even in the very appellation, winds: whether they are born from the continual motion of the world and the counter-encounter of the stars, or whether this is that generative spirit of Nature, wandering here and there as if in some womb, or the air scourged by the unequal stroke of the wandering stars and by the multiform casting of rays, or whether they go forth from their own stars—those nearer to us—or fall from those fastened to the sky, it is plain that they too have a law of Nature not unknown, even if not yet thoroughly known.

[117] viginti amplius auctores Graeci veteres prodidere de his observationes. quo magis miror orbe discordi et in regna, hoc est in membra, diviso tot viris curae fuisse tam ardua inventu, inter bella praesertim et infida hospitia, piratis etiam, omnium mortalium hostibus, transituros fama terrentibus, ut hodie quaedam in suo quisque tractu ex eorum commentariis, qui numquam eo accessere, verius noscat quam indifgenarum scientia, nunc vero pace tam festa, tam gaudente proventu rerum artiumque principe, omnino nihil addisci nova inquisitione, immo ne veterum quidem inventa perdisci.

[117] more than twenty ancient Greek authors have transmitted observations about these matters. Wherefore I marvel the more that, with the world in discord and divided into kingdoms, that is, into members, so many men should have bestowed care upon things so arduous to find out, especially amid wars and treacherous hospitality, with pirates too—the enemies of all mortals—by their fame terrifying those about to make the transit, so that today each man in his own tract knows certain things more truly from their commentaries—of men who never even came there—than from the knowledge of the indigenous people; whereas now, with peace so festive, with so rejoicing a yield of things, and with a princeps rejoicing in the arts, absolutely nothing is being learned by new inquiry—nay, not even the discoveries of the ancients are being thoroughly learned.

[118] non erant maiora praemia, in multos dispersa fortunae magnitudine, et ista plures sine praemio alio quam posteros iuvandi eruerunt. namque mores hominum senuere, non fructus, et inmensa multitudo aperto, quodcumque est, mari hospitalique litorum omnium adpulsu navigat, sed lucri, non scientiae, gratia. nec reputat caeca mens et tantum avaritiae intenta id ipsum scientia posse tutius fieri.

[118] the rewards were not greater, fortune’s magnitude being dispersed among many, and more people unearthed those things without any reward other than helping posterity. for the morals of men have grown old, not the fruits, and an immense multitude sails on the open—whatever it is—sea, and with the hospitable approach of all shores, but for the sake of profit, not of knowledge. nor does the blind mind, intent only on avarice, consider that this very thing can be done more safely by knowledge.

quapropter scrupulosius, quam instituto fortassis conveniat operi, tractabo ventos, tot milia navigantium cernens.

Wherefore I will treat the winds more scrupulously than perhaps suits the work undertaken, as I behold so many thousands of sailors.

[119] Veters quattuor omnino servavere per totidem mundi partes—ideo nec Homerus plures nominat—hebeti, ut mox iudicatum est, ratione; secuta aetas octo addidit nimis subtili atque concisa. proximis inter utramque media placuit, ad brevem ex numerosa additis quattuor. sunt ergo bini in quattuor caeli partibus, ab oriente aequinoctiali subsolanus, ab oriente brumali vulturnus.

[119] The ancients observed only four, over as many parts of the world—therefore not even Homer names more—by a reasoning dull, as was soon judged; the age that followed added eight, with a too subtle and over-concise method. The period next, midway between the two, approved a middle course, adopting brevity from the numerous by adding four. Therefore there are two apiece in the four quarters of the sky: from the equinoctial east, the Subsolanus; from the brumal east, the Vulturnus.

illum apelioten, hunc Graeci eurum appellant. a meridie auster et ab occasu brumali Africus; notum et Liba nominant. ab occasu aequinoctiali favonius, ab occasu solstitiali corus; zephyrum et argesten vocant.

that one they call Apeliotes, this one the Greeks call Eurus. From the south, Auster, and from the brumal setting, Africus; they also name them Notus and Liba. From the equinoctial setting, Favonius, from the solstitial setting, Corus; they call them Zephyrus and Argestes.

a septentrionibus septentrio, interque eum et exortum solstitialem quilo, aparctias et boreas dicti.

from the north, Septentrio; and between it and the solstitial rising, Aquilo, called Aparctias and Boreas.

[120] numerosior ratio quattuor his interiecerat, thrascian media regione inter septentrionem et occasum solstitialem, itemque caecian media inter aquilonem et exortum aequinoctialem ab ortu solstitiali, Phoenica media regione inter ortum brumalem et meridiem, item inter Liba et notum conpositum ex utroque medium inter meridiem et hibernum occidentem Libonotum. nec finis. alii quippe mesen nomie etiamnum addidere inter borean et caecian, et inter eurum notumque euronotum.

[120] A more numerous reckoning had inserted four among these: the Thracian, in the middle region between the North and the solstitial setting; likewise the Caecias, midway between Aquilo and the equinoctial rising, on the side of the solstitial rising; the Phoenician (Phoenicias), in the middle region between the winter rising and the South; likewise, between Liba and Notus, a composite from both, Libonotus, midway between the South and the winter setting. Nor is there an end: indeed, others have even added the Mesen by name between Boreas and Caecias, and between Eurus and Notus the Euronotus.

sunt etiam quidam peculiares quibusque gentibus venti, non ultra certum procedentes tractum, ut Atheniensibus sciron, paulo ab argeste deflexus, reliquae Graeciae ignotus. aliubi flatus idem Olympias vocatur.

there are also certain winds peculiar to each nation, not proceeding beyond a fixed tract, as for the athenians the sciron, a little deflected from the argestes, unknown to the rest of greece. elsewhere the same blast is called Olympias.

[121] consuetudo omnibus his nominibus argesten intellegit. caecian aliqui vocant Hellespontian, et eosdem alii aliter. item in Narbonensi provincia clarissimus ventorum est circius nec ullo omnium violentia inferior, Ostiam plerumque secto Ligustico mari perferens.

[121] usage, by all these names, understands the Argestes. some call the Caecias the Hellespontian, and others name the same winds otherwise. likewise, in the Narbonensian province the most renowned of the winds is the Circius, and inferior in violence to none of them, for the most part bearing to Ostia, having cut through the Ligurian Sea.

idem idem non modo in reliquis partibus caeli ignotus est, sed ne Viennam quidem eiusdem provinciae urbem attingens: paucis ante milibus iugi modici occursu tantus ille ventorum coercitus! et austros in Aegyptum penetrare negat Fabianus. quo fit manifesta lex naturae, ventis etiam et tempore et fine dicto.

that same, that same is not only unknown in the remaining parts of the sky, but does not even reach Vienne, a city of the same province: a few miles earlier, by the encounter of a modest ridge, that so great one of the winds is restrained! and Fabianus asserts that the south winds do not penetrate into Egypt. whereby the law of nature is made manifest, the winds also having their time and their limit dictated.

[122] Ver ergo aperit navigantibus maria, cuius in principio favonii hibernum molliunt caelum sole aquarii XXV obtinente partem. is dies sextus Februarias ante idus. competit ferme et hoc omnibus, quos deinde ponam, per singulas intercalationes uno die anticipantibus rursusque lustro sequenti ordinem servantibus.

[122] Spring therefore opens the seas for those sailing; at its beginning the Favonius winds soften the wintry sky, with the sun occupying the 25th part of Aquarius. That day is the sixth before the Ides of February (i.e., February 8). This likewise suits almost all the dates which I shall set down next, each intercalation anticipating by one day, and then in the following lustrum preserving the order.

favonium quidam a. d. VIII kalendas Martias chelidonian vocant ab hirundinis visu, nonnulli vero ornithian, uno et LXX die post brumam ab adventu avium flantem per dies VIIII. favonio contrarius est quem subsolanum appellavimus.

some call the Favonius on the 8th day before the Kalends of March “Chelidonian” from the sighting of the swallow, but some “Ornithian,” blowing from the arrival of the birds on the 71st day after the winter solstice for 9 days. opposite to the Favonius is the one which we have called Subsolanus.

[123] dat aestatem exortus vergiliarum in totidem partibus tauri VI diebus ante Maias idus, quod tempus austrinum est, huic vento septentrione contrario. ardentissimo autem aestatis tempore exoritur caniculae sidus sole primam partem leonis ingrediente, qui dies XV ante Augustas kalendas est. huius exortum diebus VIII ferme aquilones antecedunt, quos prodromos appellant.

[123] summer is given by the rising of the Pleiades, in just as many degrees of Taurus, 6 days before the Ides of May; this is a southerly season, its wind being opposed by the Septentrion (north wind). But at the most ardent time of summer the Dog-star rises, when the sun enters the first part of Leo, which is the day 15 before the Kalends of August. The north winds precede its rising by about 8 days; these they call “prodromi” (forerunners).

[124] post biduum autem exortus iidem aquilones constantius perflant diebus XL. quos etesias appellant. mollire eos creditur solis vapor geminatus ardore sideris, nec ulli ventorum magis stati sunt. post eos rursus austri frequentes usque ad sidus arcturi, quod exoritur XI diebus ante aequinoctium autumni.

[124] but after a two-day interval from the rising, the same north winds blow through more steadily for 40 days, which they call the Etesians. It is believed that the sun’s vapor, doubled by the ardor of the star, softens them, nor are any of the winds more constant. After them, again, the south winds are frequent up to the star of Arcturus, which rises 11 days before the equinox of autumn.

cum hoc corus incipit. corus autumnat; huic est contrarius vulturnus.

With this, the corus begins. the corus brings autumn; to this the vulturnus is contrary.

[125] post id aequinoctium diebus fere IIII et XL vergiliarum occasus hiemem inchoat, quod tempus in III idus Novembres incidere consuevit; hoc est aquilonis hiberni multumque aestivo illi dissimilis, cuius ex adverso est Africus. ante brumam autem VII diebus totidemque post eam sternitur mare alcyonum feturae, unde nomen II dies traxere. reliquum tempus hiemat.

[125] after that equinox, in about 44 days the setting of the Vergiliae (Pleiades) initiates winter, a time which is accustomed to fall on the 3rd day before the Ides of November; this is the winter Aquilo and very unlike that summer one, over against which is the Africus. Moreover, 7 days before the bruma (winter solstice) and just as many after it, the sea is laid smooth for the halcyons’ breeding, whence those days drew their name. The remaining time is wintry.

nec tamen saevitia tempestatum concludit mare. piratae primum coegere mortis periculo in mortem ruere et hiberna experiri maria; nunc idem avaritia cogit.

and yet the savagery of the tempests does not shut in the sea. Pirates were the first to compel, by the peril of death, men to rush into death and to experience the winter seas; now avarice compels the same.

[126] Ventorum frigidissimi sunt quos a septentrione diximus spirare et vicinus iis corus. hi et reliquos conpescunt et nubes abigunt. umidi Africus et praecipue auster Italiae.

[126] The coldest of the winds are those which we have said blow from the North, and Corus adjacent to them. These both restrain the others and drive away clouds. Moist are Africus and, especially for Italy, Auster.

narrant et in Ponto caecian in se trahere nubes. sicci corus et vulturnus, praeterqueam desinentes. nivales aquilo et septentrio.

They also relate that in Pontus the Caecias draws the clouds to itself. Dry are Corus and Vulturnus, except when they are dying away. Nival (snow-bringing) are Aquilo and Septentrio.

grandines septentrio inportat et corus. aestuosus auster, tepidi vulturnus et favonius. iidem subsolano sicciores, et in totum omnes a septentrione et occidente sicciores quam a meridie et oriente.

hail is brought in by the septentrio and the corus. the auster is sultry, the vulturnus and the favonius tepid. these same are drier than the subsolanus, and in general all are drier from the north and west than from the south and east.

[127] saluberrimus autem omnium aquilo, noxius auster et magis siccus, fortassis quia umidus frigidior est. minus esurire eo spirante creduntur animantes. etesiae noctu desinunt fere et a tertia diei oriuntur.

[127] and among all, Aquilo is the most salubrious; Auster is noxious and rather drier—perhaps because the moist is colder. Living creatures are believed to be less hungry when that wind is blowing. The Etesian winds for the most part cease at night and arise from about the third hour of the day.

in Hispania et Asia ab oriente flatus est eorum, in Ponto ab aquilone, reliquis in partibus a meridie. spirant autem et a bruma, cum vocantur ornithiae, sed leniores et paucis diebus. permutant et duo naturam cum situ: auster Africae serenus, aquilo nubilus.

In Spain and Asia their blowing is from the east, in Pontus from the north, in the remaining regions from the south. They also blow at midwinter, when they are called the Ornithiae, but gentler and for a few days. Two even exchange their nature with location: the Auster of Africa is clear, Aquilo cloudy.

[128] omnes venti vicibus suis spirant, maiore ext parte autem ut contrarius desinenti incipiat. cum proximi cadentibus surgunt, a laevo latere in dextrum ut sol ambiunt. de ratione eorum menstrua quarta maxime luna decernit.

[128] all winds blow in their own turns, and for the most part in such a way that the contrary one begins when the other ceases. As the adjacent ones rise when others are falling, they circumambulate from the left side to the right, like the sun. As to their ordering, the monthly fourth moon decrees it most of all.

isdem autem ventis in contrarium navigatur prolatis pedibus, ut noctu plerumque adversa vela concurrant. austro maiores fluctus eduntur quam aquilone, quoniam ille inferus ex imo mari spirat, hic summo.

with the same winds, however, one sails in the contrary direction with the feet (of the sails) let out, so that by night for the most part opposing sails run together. with the south wind greater waves are produced than with the north, since that one, lower, breathes from the deepest sea, this one from the top.

[129] ideoque post austros noxii praecipue terrae motus. noctu auster, interdiu aquilo vehementior, et ab ortu flantes diuturniores sunt ab occasu flantibus. septentriones inpari fere desinunt numero, quae observatio et in aliis multis rerum naturae partibus valet; mares itaque existimantur inpares numeri.

[129] And therefore after south winds earthquakes are especially noxious. By night the south wind, by day the north wind, is more vehement; and those blowing from the east are longer-lasting than those blowing from the west. The north winds generally cease at an odd number, an observation that holds also in many other parts of the nature of things; therefore odd numbers are considered male.

sol et auget et conprimit flatus: auget exoriens, occidens, conprimit meridianus aestivis temporibus. itaque medio diei aut noctis plerumque sopiuntur, quia aut nimio frigore aut aestu solvuntur. et imbribus venti sopiuntur.

the sun both augments and compresses the blasts: rising it augments them, setting likewise; the meridian sun compresses them in estival times. and so in the middle of the day or of the night they are for the most part lulled, because they are loosened either by excessive cold or by heat. and by rains the winds are lulled.

exspectantur autem maxime unde nubes discussae adperuvere caelum.

but they are most of all expected from the quarter whence the clouds, once dispersed, have opened the sky.

[130] omnium quidem—si libeat observare minimos ambitus—redire easdem vices quadriennio exacto Eudoxus putat, non ventorum modo, verum et reliquarum tempestatum magna ex parte. et est principium lustri eius semper intercalario anno caniculae ortu. de generalibus ventis haec.

[130] Eudoxus thinks that, of all things—if one be willing to observe the very smallest circuits—the same vicissitudes return when a four-year period has been completed, not of the winds only, but in great part also of the remaining tempests; and the beginning of that lustrum is always, in the intercalary year, at the rising of Canicula. On the general winds, thus much.

[131] Nunc de repentinis flatibus, qui exhalante terra, ut dictum est, coorti rursusque deiecti, interim obducta nubium cute, multiformes exsistunt. vagi quippe et ruentes torrentium modo, ut aliquis placere ostendimus, tonitrua et fulgura edunt. maiore vero inlati pondere incursusque, si late siccam rupere nubem, procellam gignunt, quae vocatur a Graecis ecnephias; sin vero depresso sinu artius rotati effregerunt, sine igni, hoc est sine fulmine, verticem faciunt, qui typon vocatur, id est vibratus ecnephias.

[131] Now about the sudden blasts, which, as has been said, having sprung up with the earth exhaling and then again thrown down, meanwhile, with the skin of clouds drawn over, come into being multiform. For, wandering and rushing in the manner of torrents, as we have shown may please some, they produce thunder and lightning. But when borne in with greater weight and onrush, if they have widely broken a dry cloud, they beget a squall, which is called by the Greeks ecnephias; but if, with the hollow depressed, more tightly whirled they have broken through, without fire, that is without lightning, they make a vortex, which is called typon, that is a vibrated ecnephias.

[132] defert hic secum aliquid abruptum e nube gelidia, convolvens versansque et ruinam suam illo pondere adgravans ac locum ex loco mutans rapida vertiigne, praecipua navigantium pestis, non antemnas modo, verum ipsa navigia contorta franges, tenui remedio aceti in advenientem effusi, cui frigidissima est natura. idem inlisu ipso repercussus correpta secum in caelum refert sorbetque in excelsum.

[132] this bears down with itself something torn off from the gelid cloud, convolving and turning and aggravating its own ruin with that weight, and changing place from place with a rapid whirl, the principal pest of sailors, breaking not the yards only (the antennae), but the ships themselves, twisted—there is a slight remedy of vinegar, poured against it as it approaches, whose nature is most frigid. the same, beaten back by the very collision, carries back into the sky the things seized with it and sucks them up on high.

[133] quod si maiore depressae nubis eruperit specu, sed minus lato quam procella, nec sine fragore, turbinem vocant, proxima quaeque prosternentem. idem ardentior accensusque, dum furit, prester vocatur, amburens contacta pariter et proterens. non fit autem aquilonius typhon, nec nivalis aut nive iacente ecnephias.

[133] but if it bursts out from a larger cavern of a sunken cloud, yet less broad than a squall, and not without a crash, they call it a whirlwind, throwing down whatever is nearest. The same, more ardent and inflamed while it rages, is called a prester, scorching what it touches and at the same time trampling it down. However, a typhon of the north wind (Aquilo) does not occur, nor an ecnephias that is snowy, or when snow lies.

quod si simul rupit nubem exarsitque et ignem habuit, non postea concepit, fulmen est.

but if at once it bursts the cloud, blazes up, and has fire, not thereafter drawing it in, it is a thunderbolt.

[134] distat a prestere quo flamma ab igni. hic late funditur flatu, illud conglobatur impetu. vertex autem remeando distat a turbine et quo stridor a fragore, procella latitudine ab utroque, disiecta nube verius quam rupta.

[134] it differs from a prester as flame from fire: this is spread broadly by a blast, that is conglobated by an onrush. the vortex, however, by returning differs from the whirlwind, and likewise as a hissing from a crash; the squall in breadth from both, the cloud being scattered rather than burst.

fit et caligo beluae similis in nube, dira navigantibus. vocatur et columna, cum spissatus umor rigensque ipse se sustinet, ex eodem genere et aulon, cum veluti fistula nubes aquam trahit.

There is also formed in a cloud a darkness like a beast, dire to mariners. It is also called a column, when the condensed moisture, stiffening, supports itself; and of the same kind is the aulon, when, like a pipe, the cloud draws water.

[135] Hieme et aestate rara fulmina contrariis de causis, quoniam hieme densatus a‘r nubium crassiore corio spissatur, omnisque terrarum exhalatio rigens ac gelida quicquid accipit ignei vaporis exstinguit. quae ratio inmunem Scythiam et circa rigentia a fulminum casu praestat, e diverso nimius ardor Aegyptium, siquidem calidi siccique halitus terrae raro admodum tenuesque et infirmas densantur in nubes.

[135] In winter and in summer lightning-bolts are rare for contrary causes, since in winter the air, compacted by the thicker hide of the clouds, grows dense, and every exhalation of the lands, rigid and icy, extinguishes whatever fiery vapor it receives. This rationale renders Scythia and the regions around it, frozen, immune from the fall of lightning; conversely, excessive ardor does so for Egypt, since the warm and dry exhalations of the earth are condensed into clouds only very rarely, and then into thin and feeble ones.

[136] vere autem et autumno crebriora fulmina, corruptis in utroque tempore aestatis hiemisque causis, qua ratione crebra in Italia, quia mobilior aer mitiore hieme et aestate nimbosa semper quodammodo vernat vel autumnat. Italiaeque partibus iis, quae a septentrione descendunt ad teporem, qualis est urbis et Campaniae tractus, iuxta hieme et aestate fulgurat, quod non in alio situ.

[136] but in spring and in autumn thunderbolts are more frequent, the causes of summer and of winter being in both seasons corrupted; for which reason they are frequent in Italy, because the air, being more mobile with a milder winter and a cloud-laden summer, is always in some manner vernal or autumnal. And in those parts of Italy which descend from the north toward warmth, such as the tract of the city and of Campania, it flashes with lightning equally in winter and in summer, which is not the case in any other situation.

[137] Fulminum ipsorum plura genera traduntur. quae sicca veniunt, non adurunt, sed dissipant; quae umida, non urunt, sed infuscant. tertium est quod clarum vocant, mirificae maximae naturae, quo dolia exhauriuntur intactis operimentis nulloque alio vestigio relicto, aurum et aes et argentum liquatur intus, sacculis ipsis nullo modo ambustis ac ne confuso quidem signo cerae.

[137] lightning-bolts themselves are recorded as of several kinds. those which come dry do not scorch, but dissipate; those which are humid do not burn, but blacken. a third is what they call “clear,” of a most wondrous nature: by it casks are emptied with their coverings untouched and no other trace left; gold and bronze and silver are liquefied within, the little bags themselves in no way scorched, and not even the seal-mark of the wax blurred.

Marcia, ... princeps Romanorum, icta gravida partu exanimatio ipsa citra ullum aliud incommodum vixit. in Catilinanis prodigiis Pompeiano ex municipio M. Herennius decurio sereno die fulmine ictus est.

Marcia, ... princeps of the Romans, struck while pregnant, with the very offspring killed, herself lived without any other inconvenience. Among the Catilinarian prodigies, at Pompeii, from the municipium, M. Herennius, a decurion, was struck by lightning on a clear day.

[138] Tuscorum litterae novem deos emittere existimant, eaque esse undecim generum; Iovem enim trina iaculari. Romani duo tantum ex iis servavere, diurna attribuentes Iovi, nocturna Summano, rariora sane eadem de causa frigidioris caeli. Etruria erumpere terra quoque arbitratur, quae infera appellat, brumali tempore facta saeva maxime et exsecrabilia, cum sint omnia, quae terrena existimant, non illa generalia nec a sideribus venientia, sed ex proxima atque turbidiore natura.

[138] The writings of the Tuscans reckon that nine gods emit them, and that these are of eleven kinds; for Jupiter hurls a triple bolt. The Romans preserved only two of these, assigning the diurnal to Jupiter, the nocturnal to Summanus—indeed rarer, for the same reason, because of the colder sky. Etruria also thinks that they erupt from the earth, which it calls infernal, occurring in the brumal season, most savage and execrable, since all the things which they deem terrestrial are not those universal ones nor coming from the sidereal bodies, but from a nearer and more turbid nature.

argumentum evidens, quod omnia superiora e caelo decidentis obliquos habent ictus, haec autem, quae vocant terrena, rectos.

an evident argument: that all the superior ones, falling down from heaven, have oblique strokes, whereas these, which they call terrestrial, have straight ones.

[139] et quae ex propiore materia cadunt, ideo creduntur e terra exire, quoniam ex repulsu nulla vestigia edunt, cum sit illa ratio non inferi ictus, sed adversi. a Saturni ea sidere proficisci subtilius ista consectati putant, sicut cremantia a Martis, qualiter cum Vlsinii, oppidum Tuscorum opulentissimum, totum concrematum est fulmine. vocant et familiaria in totam vitam fatidica, quae prima fiunt familiam suam cuique indepto.

[139] and those which fall from a nearer matter are therefore believed to go out of the earth, because from rebound they produce no traces, whereas that rationale is not of a blow from below, but of an opposed one. Those who have pursued these matters more subtly think that they proceed from the star of Saturn, just as the burning ones from that of Mars—just as when Volsinii, the most opulent town of the Tuscans, was entirely burned up by lightning. They also call “familiar” and fatidic for one’s whole life those which first happen to each person upon his having obtained his own household.

ceterum existimant non ultra decem annos portendere privata, praeterquam aut primo patrimonio facta aut natali die, publica non ultra tricesimum annum, praeterquam in deductione oppidi.

However, they think that private portents do not portend beyond ten years, except those done either at the first patrimony or on the natal day; public ones not beyond the thirtieth year, except at the deduction (settlement) of a town.

[140] Exstat annalium memoria sacris quibusdam et precationibus vel cogi fulmina vel impetrari. vetus fama Etruriae est, impetratum Volsinios urbem depopulatis agris subeunte monstro, quod vocavere Oltam, evocatum a Porsina suo rege. et ante eum a Numa saepius hoc factitatum in primo annalium suorum tradit L. Piso, gravis auctor, quod imitatum parum rite Tullum Hostilium ictum fulmine.

[140] There exists in the memory of the annals that by certain sacred rites and prayers lightning-bolts can either be compelled or procured. The old report of Etruria is that, at Volsinii the city, when, the fields having been laid waste, a monster—which they called Olta—was approaching, it was impetrated that lightning be evoked by Porsina, their own king. And L. Piso, a weighty authority, relates in the first book of his Annals that before him this was more often done by Numa, and that Tullus Hostilius, having imitated it too little rightly, was struck by lightning.

lucosque et aras et sdacra habemus interque Statores ac Tonantes et Feretrios Elicium quoque accepimus Iovem.

and we have groves and altars and sacred rites, and among the titles Stator, Tonans, and Feretrius, we have also received Jupiter as Elicius.

[141] varia in hoc vitae sententia et pro cuiusque animo. imperare naturae sacra audacis est credere, nec minus hebetis beneficiis abrogare vires, quando in fulgurum quoque interpretatione eo profecit scientia, ut ventura alia finito die praecinat et an peremptura sint factum aut prius alia facta quae lateant, innumerabilibus in utroque publicis privatisque experimentis. quam ob rem sint ista ut rerum naturae libuit, alias certa alias dubia, aliis probata aliis damnanda: nos de cetero quae sunt in his memorabilia non omittemus.

[141] Opinion in this matter is various in life and according to each person’s mind. To believe that sacred rites command nature is the part of an audacious man, and no less of a dull one to abrogate powers on the plea of benefits, since in the interpretation of lightnings too science has advanced to such a point that it foretells other things to come before the day is finished, and whether they are going to destroy what has been done, or that earlier other deeds have been done which lie hidden, with innumerable experiments in both kinds, public and private. Wherefore let these things be as it has pleased the nature of things—some certain, others doubtful, to some approved, to others to be condemned: for our part, hereafter we shall not omit the things that are memorable in these.

[142] Fulgetrum prius cerni quam tonitrua audiri, cum simul fiant, certum est, nec mirum, quoniam lux sonitu velocior, ictum autem et sonitum congruere ita modulante natura, sed sonitum profecti esse fulminis, non iinlati, etiamnum spiritum ociorem fulmine, ideo quati prius omne et adflari quam percuti, nec quemquam tangi qui prior viderit fulmen aut tonitrua audierit. laeva prospera existimantur, quoniam laeva parte mundi ortus est. nec tamen adventus spectatur quam reditus, sive ab ictu resilit ignis sive opere confecto aut igne consumpto spiritus remeat.

[142] It is certain that a lightning-flash is seen before thunders are heard, although they occur at the same time; nor is it a marvel, since light is swifter than sound, and the stroke and the sound concur, nature so modulating; but the sound is of lightning that has set forth, not of one that has been brought in; moreover the breath (air) is swifter than lightning, therefore everything is shaken first and afflated before it is struck, nor is anyone touched who has first seen the lightning or heard the thunders. Left-hand ones are reckoned prosperous, because the rising is on the left part of the world. Yet it is not so much the advent that is watched as the return, whether the fire rebounds from the stroke or, the work finished or the fire consumed, the breath returns.

[143] in sedecim partes caelum in eo spectu divisere Tusci. prima est a septemtrionibus ad aequinocatialem exortum, secunda ad meridiem, tertia ad aequinoctialem occasum, quarta obtinet quod est reliquum ab occasu ad septemtriones. has iterum in quaternas divisere partes, ex quibus octo ab exortu sinistras, totidem e contrario appellavere dextras.

[143] The Tuscans divided the sky, in that view, into sixteen parts. The first is from the North to the equinoctial rising; the second to the meridian; the third to the equinoctial setting; the fourth holds what remains from the setting to the North. These they again divided into sets of four parts; of these, the eight from the rising they called left, and as many on the opposite side they called right.

ex iis maxime dirae quae septemtriones ab occasu attingunt. itaque plurimum refert unde venerint fulmina et quo concesserint. optimum est in exortivas redire partes.

Among these, the most dire are those which reach the Septentrion from the Occident. And so it matters very much whence the lightnings have come and whither they have withdrawn. The best is for them to return into the Oriental parts.

[144] ideo cum a prima caeli parte venerint et in eandem concesserint, summa felicitas portendetur, quale Sullae dictori ostentum datum accepimus. cetera ad ipsius mundi portionem minus prospera aut dira. quaedam fulgura enuntiare non putant fas nec audire, praeterquam si hospiti indicentur aut parenti.

[144] therefore, when they have come from the first part of the sky and have withdrawn into the same, the highest felicity will be portended, such as we have received that a portent was given to Sulla the Dictator. The rest, with respect to the portion of the world itself, are less prosperous or dire. Certain lightnings they do not deem it right to announce nor even to hear, except if they are indicated to a guest or to a parent.

magna huius observationis vanitas tacta Iunonis aede Romae deprehensa est Scauro consule, qui mox princeps fuit. noctu magis quam interdiu sine tonitribus fulgurat.

The great vanity of this observation was exposed when the temple of Juno at Rome was struck, with Scaurus as consul, who soon was princeps. By night it lightens more than by day, without thunder.

[145] Unum animal, hominem, non semper exstinguit, cetera ilico, hunc videlicet natura tribuente honorem, cum tot beluae viribus praestent. omnia contrarias incubant partes. homo, nisi convertatur in percussas, non respirat.

[145] One animal—man—it does not always extinguish; the rest, on the spot—nature, namely, bestowing this honor upon him, though so many beasts excel in strength. All press upon the opposite parts. A man, unless he be turned onto the parts that were struck, does not breathe.

superne icti considunt. vigilans ictus convenientibus oculis, dormiens patentibus reperitur. hominem ita exanimatum cremari fas non est, condi terra religio tradidit.

those struck from above collapse. one struck while awake is found with the eyes closed; while asleep, with them open. it is not permitted by divine law that a man thus exanimate be cremated; religious tradition has handed down that he be laid in the earth.

nullum animal nisi exanimatum fulmine accenditur. vulnera fulminatorum frigidiora sunt reliquo corpore.

No animal is ignited by lightning unless exanimate. The wounds of those struck by lightning are colder than the rest of the body.

[146] ex iis, quae terra gignuntur, lauri fruticem non icit nec umquam quinque altius pedibus descendit in terram. ideo pavidi altiores specus tutissimos putant aut tabernacula pellibus beluarum, quas vitulos appellant, quoniam hoc solum animal ex marinis non percutiat, sicut nec e volucribus aquilam, quae ob hoc armigera huius teli fingitur. in Italia inter Tarracinam et aedem Feroniae turres belli civilis temporibus desiere fieri, nulla non earum fulmine diruta.

[146] of those things which the earth brings forth, it does not strike the laurel shrub, nor does it ever descend into the ground deeper than five feet. therefore the timorous consider deeper caves the safest, or tents with the skins of those beasts which they call “sea-calves,” since this alone of the sea-animals it does not strike—just as neither, among birds, does it strike the eagle, which on this account is fashioned as the armiger of this missile. in Italy, between Tarracina and the shrine of Feronia, towers ceased to be made in the times of the civil war, not one of them not demolished by lightning.

[147] Praeter haec inferiore caelo relatum in monumenta est lacte et sanguine pluisse M'. Acilio C. Porcio cos. et saepe alias, sicut carne P. Volumnio Servio Sulpicio cos., exque ea non perputruisse quod non diripuissent aves, item ferro in Lucanis anno ante quam M. Crassus a Parthis interemptus est omnesque cum eo Lucani milites, quorum magnus numerus in exercitu erat.effigies quo pluit ferri spongiarum similis fuit. haruspices praemonuerunt superna volnera.

[147] Besides these, it has been recorded in the records that, from the lower sky, it rained milk and blood in the consulship of M'. Acilius and C. Porcius, and often at other times, likewise flesh in the consulship of P. Volumnius and Servius Sulpicius; and of that, what the birds did not tear did not wholly putrefy; likewise that iron rained in Lucania the year before M. Crassus was slain by the Parthians, and all the Lucanian soldiers with him, of whom a great number was in the army. The appearance of the iron that rained was like sponges. The haruspices forewarned wounds from above.

L. autem Paulo C. Marcello cos. lana pluit circa castellum Carissanum, iuxta quod post annum T. Annius Milo occisus est. eodem causam dicente lateribus coctis pluisse in acta eius anni relatum est.

Under L. Paulus and C. Marcellus, consuls, it rained wool around the castellum Carissanum, near which, a year later, T. Annius Milo was slain. With the same man pleading a case, it was recorded in the records of that year that it rained baked bricks.

[148] Armorum crepitus et tubae sonitus auditos e caelo Cimbricis bellis accepimus, crebroque et prius et postea. tertio vero consulatu Mari ab Amerinis et Tudertibus spectata arma caelestia ab ortu occasuque inter se concurrentia, pulsis quae ab occasu erant. ipsum ardere caelum minime mirum est et saepius visum maiore igni nubibus correptis.

[148] We have received that the clatter of arms and the sound of the trumpet were heard from the sky in the Cimbrian wars, and frequently both before and after. Indeed, in the third consulship of Marius, celestial arms were seen by the Amerini and the Tudertes rushing together against one another from the east and the west, with those from the west put to flight. That the sky itself burns is not at all marvelous and has been seen rather often, when the clouds have been seized by a greater fire.

[149] Celebrant Graeci Anaxagoran Clazomenium Olympiadis LXXVIII secundo anno praedixisse caelestium litterarum scientia, quibus diebus saxum casurum esset e sole, idque factum interdiu in Thraciae parte ad Aegos flumen, qui lapis etiam nunc ostenditur magnitudine vehis, colore adusto, comete quoque illis noctibus flagrante. quod si quis praedictum credat, simul fateatur necesse est, maioris miraculi divinitatem Anaxagorae fuisse solvique rerum naturae intellectum et confundi omnia, si aut ipse sol lapis esse aut umquam lapidem in eo fuisse credatur. decidere tamen crebro non erit dubium.

[149] The Greeks celebrate that Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, in Olympiad 78, in the second year, predicted by the science of celestial letters on what days a stone would fall from the sun; and that this happened in broad daylight in a part of Thrace at the river Aegos, which stone even now is shown, of the size of a wagon, of a scorched color, and with a comet likewise blazing on those nights. But if anyone believes it was predicted, at the same time he must admit that the divinity of Anaxagoras was of a greater miracle, and that the understanding of the nature of things is dissolved and all things are confounded, if either the sun itself is believed to be a stone or that a stone was ever in it. Nevertheless, that they fall down frequently will not be doubtful.

[150] in Abydi gymnasio ex ea causa colitur hodieque modicus quidem, sed quem in media terrarum casurum idem Anaxagoras praedixisse narretur. colitur et Cassandriae, quae Potidaea quondam vocitata est, ob id deducta. ego ipse vidi in Vocontiorum agro paulo ante delatum.

[150] in the gymnasium at Abydos it is for that reason venerated even today, indeed of modest size, but one which is related that the same Anaxagoras predicted would fall in the middle of the earth. it is venerated also at Cassandria, which was formerly called Potidaea, a colony led out on that account. I myself saw one in the territory of the Vocontii, brought down a little while ago.

Arcus vocamus extra miraculum frequentes et extra ostentum. nam ne pluvios quidem aut serenos dies cum fide portendunt. manifestum est radium solis inmissum cavae nubi repulsa acie in solem refringi, colorumque varietatem mixtura nubium, ignium, a‘ris fieri.

We call rainbows frequent, outside miracle and outside portent; for they do not even portend rainy or clear days with credibility. It is manifest that a solar ray, sent into a hollow cloud, is refracted, the edge being driven back toward the sun, and that the variety of colors is produced by the mixture of clouds, fires, and air.

certe nisi sole adverso non fiunt nec umquam nisi dimidia circuli forma nec noctu, quamvis Aristoteles prodat aliquando visum, quod tamen fatetur idem non nisi XXX luna posse fieri.

certainly they do not come to be unless with the sun opposite, nor ever except in the half figure of a circle, nor at night—although Aristotle records that it has sometimes been seen, which, however, the same man admits can occur only on the 30th day of the moon.

[151 fiunt autem hieme maxime ab aequinoctio autumnali die decrescente. quo rursus crescente ab aequinoctio verno non exsistunt, nec circa solstitium longissimis diebus, bruma vero [id est brevissimis] frequenter, iidem sublimes humili sole humilesque sublimi, et minores oriente aut occidente, sed in latitudinem dimissi, meridie exiles, verum ambitus maioris. aestate autem per meridiem non cernuntur, post autumni aequinoctium quacumque hora, nec umquam plures simul quam duo.

[151 they occur, moreover, in winter especially from the autumnal equinox as the day is decreasing. When, conversely, it is increasing from the vernal equinox, they do not appear, nor around the solstice on the longest days; but at midwinter [that is, the shortest] frequently. The same arcs are lofty with the sun low and low with it high, and smaller at sunrise or sunset, but stretched out in breadth; at midday slender, yet of a greater circuit. In summer, moreover, they are not discerned at midday; after the autumnal equinox, at whatever hour; nor ever more than two at the same time.

[152] Cetera eiusdem naturae non multis dubia esse video: grandinem conglaciato imbre gigni et nivem eodem umore mollius coacto, pruinam autem ex rore gelido; per hiemem nives cadere, non grandines, ipsaque grandines interdiu saepius quam noctu, et multo celerius resolvi quam nives; nebulas nec aestate nec maximo frigore exsistere, rores neque gelu neque ardoribus neque ventis nec nisi serena nocte; gelando liquorem minui, resolutaque glacie non eundem inveniri modum; varietates colorum figurarumque in nubibus cerni, prout admixtus ignis superet aut vincatur.

[152] The rest of the same nature I see are not doubtful to many: hail is generated from congealed rain and snow from the same moisture compacted more softly, and hoar-frost from frozen dew; in winter snows fall, not hails, and hailstones themselves more often by day than by night, and they are resolved much more quickly than snows; mists arise neither in summer nor in the greatest cold, dews neither in frost nor in ardors nor in winds, nor except on a clear night; by freezing, liquid is diminished, and when the ice is loosened (melted) the same measure is not found; varieties of colors and of figures are seen in clouds, according as the admixed fire prevails or is vanquished.

[153] Praeterea quasdam proprietates quibusdam locis esse, roscidas aestate Africae noctes, in Italia Locris et in lacu Velino nullo non die apparere arcus, Rhodi et Syracusis numquam tanta nubila obduci, ut non aliqua hora sol cernatur, qualia aptius suis referentur locis. haec sint dicta de a‘re.

[153] Moreover, that certain properties belong to certain places: dewy nights in summer in Africa; in Italy at Locri and on Lake Velinus a rainbow appears on every single day; at Rhodes and at Syracuse clouds are never drawn on so thickly that at some hour the sun is not seen—such matters are more aptly reported in their own places. Let these things be said about the air.

[154] Sequitur terra, cui uni rerum naturae partium eximia propter merita cognomen indidimus maternae nascentes excipit, natos alit semelque editos et sustinet semper, novissime conplexa gremio iam a reliqua natura abdicatos, tum maxime ut mater operiens, nullo magis sacra merito quam quo nos quoque sacros facit, etiam monimenta ac titulos gerens nomenque prorogans nostrum et memoriam extendens contra brevitatem aevi, cuius numen ultimum iam nullis precamur irati grave, tamquam nesciamus hanc esse solam quae numquam irascatur homini.

[154] Next comes the earth, to which alone among the parts of the nature of things, on account of distinguished merits, we have bestowed the extraordinary cognomen of Mother: she receives those being born, nourishes the born, and, once delivered, sustains them forever; finally, clasping in her lap those now disowned by the rest of nature, then most of all as a mother covering them—by no title more sacred than that whereby she also makes us sacred—bearing even monuments and inscriptions, prolonging our name and extending our memory against the brevity of our span; whose ultimate numen, though weighty, we, being angry, now entreat with no prayers, as if we did not know that this is the only one that never grows angry with a human being.

[155] aquae subeunt in imbres, rigescunt in grandines, tumescunt in fluctus, praecipitantur in torrentes, aer densatur nubibus, furit procellis: at haec benigna, mitis, indulgens ususque mortalium semper ancilla, quae coacta generat, quae sponte fundit, quos odores saporesque, quos sucos, quos tactos, quos colores! quam bona fide creditum faenus reddit! quae nostra causa alit!

[155] the waters pass into rains, stiffen into hailstones, swell into billows, are precipitated into torrents; the air is thickened with clouds, raves with tempests: but this one is kind, gentle, indulgent, and ever the handmaid of the uses of mortals—she who, when forced, begets, who of her own accord pours forth—what odors and savors, what juices, what touches, what colors! how faithfully she returns the entrusted loan with interest! how for our sake she nourishes!

pestifera enim animantia, vitali spiritu havente culpam: illi necesse est semina excipere et genita sustinere; sed in malis generantium noxa est. illa serpentem homine percusso amplius non recipit poenasque etiam incertum nomine exigit. illa medicas fundit herbas et semper homini parturit.

for the pestiferous creatures, with the vital spirit bearing the blame: for her it is necessary to receive the seeds and to sustain the things generated; but in the evils the guilt is that of the begetters. she does not take back the serpent once a man has been struck, and she even exacts penalties from what is of uncertain name. she pours forth medicinal herbs and is always in travail for man.

[156] quin et venena nostri miseritam instituisse credi potest, ne in taedio vitae fames, more terrae meritis alienissima, lenta nos consumeret tabe, ne lacerum corpus abrupta dispergerent, ne laquei torqueret poena praepostera incluso spiritu, cui quaereretur exitus, ne in profundo quaesita morte sepultura pabulo fieret, ne ferri cruciatus scinderet corpus. ita est, miserita genuit id, cuius facillimo haustu inlibato corpore et cum toto sanguine exstinguerentur, nullo labore, sitientibus similes, qualiter defunctos non volucres, non ferae attingerent terraeque servaretur qui sibi ipsi periisset.

[156] indeed, it can even be believed that she, taking pity on us, instituted poisons, lest in the weariness of life hunger—by the wont of the earth most alien to its deserts—should slowly consume us with wasting; lest cliffs should scatter a mangled body; lest the preposterous penalty of the noose should torture, with the breath shut in and seeking an exit; lest, with death sought in the deep, sepulture should become a feeding; lest the torment of iron should rend the body. thus it is: in pity she produced that by whose most easy draught they are extinguished, with the body inviolate and with all the blood, with no labor, like the thirsty, in such a way that neither birds nor wild beasts touch the deceased, and for the earth is preserved the one who has perished by his own hand.

[157] verum fateamur: terra nobis malorum remedium genuit, nos illud vitae facimus venenum. non enim et ferro, quo carere non possumus, simili modo utimur? nec tamen quereremur merito, etiamsi maleficii causa tulisset.

[157] but let us confess the truth: the earth has engendered for us a remedy for evils; we make it a poison for life. For do we not also use iron, which we cannot be without, in a similar fashion? nor yet would we with justice complain, even if she had brought it forth for the sake of malefaction.

adversus unam quippe naturae partem ingrati sumus. quas non ad delicias quasque non ad contumelias servit homini? in maria iacitur aut, ut freta admittamus, eroditur.

indeed, we are ungrateful toward one part of nature. For what delights does it not serve man, and for what contumelies does it not likewise serve? It is cast into the seas, or, that we may admit straits, it is eroded.

aquis, ferro, igni, ligno, lapide, fruge omnibus cruciatur horis multoque plus, ut deliciis quam ut alimentis famuletur nostris.

By waters, iron, fire, wood, stone, and grain it is tormented at every hour, and much more, so that it may serve our delicacies rather than our aliments.

[158] et tamen quae summa patitur atque extrema cute tolerabilia videantur: penetramus in viscera, auri argentique venas et aeris ac plumbi metalla fodientes, gemmas etiam et quosdam parvulos quaerimus lapides scrobibus in profundum actis. viscera eius extrahimus, ut digito gestetur gemma, quo petitur. quot manus atteruntur, ut unus niteat articulus!

[158] and yet the things it suffers on the surface and at the outermost skin might seem tolerable: we penetrate into its viscera, digging out the veins of gold and silver and the metals of bronze (copper) and lead; we even seek gems and certain very small stones with shafts driven into the deep. we extract its viscera, so that a gem may be borne on a finger, for which it is sought. how many hands are worn down, that a single finger-joint may shine!

si ulli essent inferi, iam profecto illos avaritiae atque luxuriae cuniculi refodissent. et miramur, si eadem ad noxam genuit aliqua!

if there were any shades below, by now surely the tunnels of avarice and luxury would have dug them up again. And we marvel that this same earth has generated anything for harm!

[159] ferae enim, credo, custodiunt illam arcentque sacrilegas manus. non inter serpentes fodimus et venas auri tractamus cum veneni radicibus? placatiore tamen dea ob haec, quod omnes hi opulentiae exitus ad scelera caedesque et bella tendunt, quodque sanguine nostro rigamus insepultisque ossibus tegimus, quibus tamen velut exprobato furore tandem ipsa se obducit et scelera quoque mortalium occultat.

[159] for wild beasts, I suppose, guard her and ward off sacrilegious hands. do we not dig among serpents and handle veins of gold along with the roots of venom? yet the goddess is more placated by these things, because all these outlets of opulence tend toward crimes, slaughters, and wars, and because we irrigate with our own blood and cover with unburied bones—over which, however, as if our frenzy had been reproved, at last she draws herself over and even conceals the crimes of mortals.

Inter crimina ingrati animi et hoc duxerim quod naturam eius ignoramus.

Among the crimes of an ungrateful mind I would also reckon this: that we are ignorant of its nature.

[160] est autem figura prima, de qua consensus iudicat. orbem certe dicimus terrae globumque verticibus includi fatemur. neque enim absoluti orbis est forma in tanta montium excelsitate, tanta camporum planitie, sed cuius amplexus, si cuncta liniarum comprehendantur ambitu, figuram absoluti orbis efficiat, id quod ipsa rerum natura cogit, non isdem causis, quas attulimus in caelo.

[160] Moreover, there is a primary figure, about which consensus judges. We certainly speak of the orb of the earth and confess that the globe is enclosed by its poles. For the form of a perfect sphere is not present amid such loftiness of mountains and such flatness of plains; but whose embrace, if all things are comprehended within the circuit of lines, would produce the figure of a perfect sphere—a result which the nature of things itself compels, though not for the same causes that we adduced in the sky.

namque in illo cava in se convexitas vergit et cardini suo, hoc est terrae, undique incumbit. haec ut solida ac conferta adsurgit intumescenti similis extraque protenditur. mundus in centrum vergit, at terra exit a centro, inmensum eius globum in formam orbis adsidua circa eam mundi volubilitate cogente.

for in the former, its hollow convexity inclines inward and leans upon its own hinge, that is, upon the earth, pressing upon it from every side. this, as solid and compact, rises up, like something swelling, and is protended outward. the world inclines toward the center, but the earth goes forth from the center, the ceaseless volubility of the world around it compelling its immense globe into the form of an orb.

[161] Ingens hic pugna litterarum contraque vulgi, circumfundi terrae undique homines conversisque inter se pedibus stare, et cunctis similem esse verticem, simili modo et quacumque parte media calcari, illo quaerente, cur non decidant contra siti, tamquam non ratio praesto sit, ut nos non decidere mirentur illi. intervenit sententia quamvis indocili probabilis turbae, inaequali globo, ut si sit figura pineae nucis, nihilo minus terram undique incoli.

[161] Here there is an immense battle of letters, and, contrariwise, of the vulgar crowd: that men are circumfused about the earth on every side and, with their feet turned toward one another, stand; and that for all the vertex is alike, and that likewise the middle part is trodden from whatever side; with that man asking why they do not fall, being situated opposite, as though a rationale were not at hand—so that they would marvel that we do not fall. There intervenes an opinion, plausible even to an unteachable crowd: that, though the globe be unequal, as if it were in the figure of a pine-cone, nonetheless the earth is inhabited on every side.

[162] sed quid hoc refert, alio miraculo exoriente, pendere ipsam ac non cadere nobiscum, ceu spiritus vis, mundo praesertim inclusi, dubia sit, aut possit cadere, natura repugnante et quo cadat negante. nam sicut ignium sedes non est nisi in ignibus, aquarum nisi in aquis, spiritus nisi in spiritu, sic terrae, arcentibus cunctis, nisi in se locus non est. globum tamen effici mirum est in tanta planitie maris camporumque.

[162] but what does this matter, when another miracle arises: that it itself hangs suspended and does not fall along with us, as though the force of spirit—especially when enclosed within the world—were dubious, or as though it could fall, with nature resisting and denying any place where it might fall. For just as the seat of fires is not except in fires, of waters not except in waters, of spirit not except in spirit, so for earth, with all things warding it off, there is no place except in itself. Yet that a globe should be formed is wondrous amid so great a level expanse of sea and plains.

cui sententiae adest Dicaearchus, vir in primis eruditus, regum cura permensus montes, ex quibus altissimum proditi Pelium MCCL passuum ratione perpendiculi, nullam esse eam proportionem universae rotunditatis colligens. mihi incerta haec videtur coniectatio, haud ignaro quosdam Alpium vertices longo tractu nec breviore quinquaginta milium passuum adsurgere.

To which opinion Dicaearchus, a man most erudite, gives support, having measured mountains by the commission of kings; of these the highest, Pelion, is reported at 1,250 paces by a reckoning of the perpendicular, inferring that this has no proportion to the universal rotundity. To me this conjecture seems uncertain, I being by no means ignorant that certain Alpine vertices rise in a long tract not shorter than fifty miles.

[163] sed vulgo maxime haec pugna est, si coactam in verticem aquarum quoque figuram credere cogatur. atqui non aliud in rerum natura adspectu manifestius. namque et dependentes ubique guttae parvis globantur orbibus et pulveri inlatae frondiumque lanugini inpositae absoluta rotunditate cernuntur, et in poculis repletis media maxime tument, quae propter subtilitatem umoris mollitiamque in se residentem ratione facilius quam visu deprehenduntur.

[163] but most of all this is the common quarrel, if one is forced to believe that the figure of waters too is compelled into a vertex. And yet nothing else in the nature of things is more manifest to sight. For hanging drops everywhere are globed into small orbs, and, when let fall upon dust or laid upon the down of leaves, are seen with perfect rotundity; and in brimming cups the middle swells most—facts which, on account of the subtlety of the moisture and the softness residing in it, are apprehended by reason more easily than by sight.

idque etiam magis mirum, in poculis repletis addito umore minimo circumfluere quod supersit, contra evenire ponderibus aditis ad vicenos saepe denarios, scilicet quia intus recepta liquorem in verticem attollant, at cumulo eminenti infusa delabantur.

and this is even more marvelous: in cups filled up, when a very small amount of moisture is added, whatever is in excess flows around; the contrary happens when weights are added, often up to 20 denarii—evidently because, once received within, they lift the liquid into a vertex; but, when poured upon the prominent heap, they glide down.

[164] eadem est causa, propter quam e navibus terra non cernatur, e navium malis conspicua, ac procul recedente navigio, si quid quod fulgeat religetur in mali cacumine, paulatim descendere videatur et postremo occultetur. denique oceanus, quem fatemur ultimum, quanam alia figura cohaereret atque non decideret nullo ultra margine includente? id ipsum ad miraculum redit, quonam modo, etiamsi globatur, extremum non decidat mare.

[164] The same cause, on account of which from ships the land is not discerned, yet from the ships’ masts it is conspicuous; and as the vessel recedes far away, if something that shines be fastened to the mast’s summit, it seems to descend little by little and at last is concealed. Finally, the Ocean, which we confess to be the outermost, by what other figure would it cohere and not fall away, with no margin beyond enclosing it? This very point returns to a marvel: in what way, even if it is globed, does the outermost sea not fall down?

contra quod, ut sint plana maria et qua videntur figura, non posse id accidere, magno suo gaudio magnaque gloria inventores Graeci subtilitate geometrica docent.

On the contrary, the Greek inventors, by geometric subtlety, demonstrate—to their great joy and great glory—that the seas are level and of the figure in which they appear, and that this cannot occur.

[165] namque cum e sublimi in inferiora aquae ferantur et sit haec natura earum confessa nec quisquam dubitet in litore ullo accessisse eas quo longissime devexitas passa sit, procul dubio apparere, quo quid humilius sit, propius a centro esse terrae, omnesque linias, quae emittantur ex eo ad proximas aquas, breviores fieri quam quae ad extremum mare a primis aquis; ergo totas omnique ex parte aquas vergere in centrum ideoque non decidere, quoniam in interiora nitantur.

[165] for since waters are borne from the sublime to the lower, and this is confessed to be their nature, nor does anyone doubt that on any shore they have approached to the point to which the declivity has extended farthest, it is beyond doubt apparent that the more low-lying anything is, the nearer it is to the earth’s center, and that all the lines which are emitted from it to the nearest waters become shorter than those to the farthest sea from the first waters; therefore all the waters, on every side, incline toward the center and for that reason do not fall off, since they strive toward the interior.

[166] Quod ita formasse artifex natura credi debet, ut, cum terra arida et sicca constare per se ac sine umore non posset, nec rursus stare aqua nisi sustinente terra, mutuo inplexu iungerentur, hac sinus pandente, illa vero permeante totam, intra extra, supra infra, venis ut vinculis discurrentibus, atque etiam in summis iugis erumpente, quo spiritu acta et terrae pondere expressa siphonum modo emicat tantumque a periculo decidendi abest, ut in summa quaeque et altissima exsiliat. qua ratione manifestum est, quare tot fluminum cotidiano accessu maria non crescant. est igitur in toto suo globo tellus medio ambitu praecincta circumfluo mari, nec argumentis hoc investigandum, sed iam experimentis cognitum.

[166] It ought to be believed that Nature the artificer formed it thus, since dry and parched earth could not subsist by itself and without moisture, nor in turn could water stand unless the earth sustained it, that they were joined by mutual inplexion: this spreading hollows, but that permeating the whole, within without, above below, with veins running like bonds, and even bursting out on the highest ridges—where, driven by a breath and pressed out by the weight of the earth, it jets forth in the manner of siphons—and so far is it from the peril of falling that it springs out at the very highest and loftiest points. By this reasoning it is manifest why the seas do not grow by the daily access of so many rivers. Therefore the earth, in its whole globe, is girt at its middle circuit by the circumflowing sea; and this is not to be investigated by arguments, but is already known by experience.

[167] A Gadibus columnisque Herculis Hispaniae et Galliarum circuitu totus hodie navigatur occidens. septentrionalis vero oceanus maiore ex parte navigatus est, auspiciis Divi Augusti Germaniam classe circumvecta ad Cimbrorum promunturium et inde inmenso mari prospecto aut fama cognito Scythicam ad plagam et umore nimio rigentia. propter quod minime verisimile est illic maria deficere, ubi umoris vis superet.

[167] From Gades and the Pillars of Hercules, by a circuit of Spain and Gaul, today the whole West is sailed. But the northern Ocean has for the greater part been navigated, under the auspices of the Divine Augustus, a fleet having coasted around Germany to the Cimbrian promontory, and from there, the immense sea having been surveyed—or known by report—toward the Scythian quarter, lands rigid with excessive moisture. Because of which it is least likely that the seas fail there, where the force of moisture prevails.

iuxta vero ab ortu ex Indico mari sub eodem sidere pars tota vergens in Caspium mare pernavigata est Macedonum armis Seleuco atque Antiocho regnantibus, qui et Seleucida et Antiochida ab ipsis appellari voluere.

similarly indeed, from the east, from the Indian Ocean, under the same constellation, the whole region inclining toward the Caspian Sea was completely navigated by the arms of the Macedonians, with Seleucus and Antiochus reigning, who also wished that both Seleucia and Antiochia be called after themselves.

[168] et circa Caspium multa oceani litora explorata parvoque brevius quam totus hinc aut illinc septentrio ermeigatus, ut iam coniecturae locum sic quoque non relinquat ingens argumentum paludis Maeoticae, sive ea illius oceani sinus est, ut multos adverto credidisse, sive angusto discreti situ restagnatio. alio latere Gadium ab eodem occidente magna pars meridiani sinus ambitu Mauretaniae navigatur hodie. maiorem quidem eius partem et orientis victoriae Magni Alexandri lustravere usque in Arabicum sinum, in quo res gerente C. Caesare Augusti filio signa navium ex Hispaniensibus naufragiis feruntur agnita.

[168] and around the Caspian many littorals of the Ocean have been explored, and, by only a little short of the whole, the North has been traversed from this side or that, so that even thus it leaves no place for conjecture—the vast argument of the Maeotic Marsh—whether it is a gulf of that Ocean, as I notice many have believed, or a backwater separated by a narrow position. On the other side, from Gades on that same western quarter, a great part of the southern gulf is sailed today along the circuit of Mauretania. A greater part indeed of it was surveyed by the victories of Alexander the Great in the East, as far as the Arabian Gulf, in which, with Gaius Caesar, the son of Augustus, conducting affairs, the insignia of ships are reported to have been recognized from Spanish shipwrecks.

[169] et Hanno Carthaginis potentia florente circumvectus a Gadibus ad finem Arabiae navigationem eam prodidit scripto, sicut ad exterea Europae noscenda missus eodem tempore Himilco. praeterea Nepos Cornelius auctor est Eudoxum quendam sua aetate, cum Lathyrum regum fugeret, Arabico sinu egressum Gades usque pervectum multoque ante eum Caelius Antipater vidisse se qui navigasset ex Hispania in Aethiopiam commercii gratia.

[169] and Hanno, when the power of Carthage was flowering, having sailed around from Gades to the end of Arabia, handed that navigation down in writing, just as Himilco was sent at the same time for the learning of the outer regions of Europe. Moreover, Cornelius Nepos is authority that a certain Eudoxus in his own age, when he was fleeing King Lathyrus, having gone out from the Arabian Gulf, was conveyed as far as Gades; and much before him Caelius Antipater says that he himself had seen a man who had sailed from Spain into Aethiopia for the sake of commerce.

[170] idem Nepos de septentrionali circuitu tradit Quinto Metello Celeri, Afrani in consulatu collegae, sed tum Galliae proconsuli, Indos a rege Sueborum dono datos, qui ex India commercii causa navigantes tempestatibus essent in Germaniam abrepti. sic maria circumfusa undique dividuo globo partem orbis auferunt nobis, nec inde huc ne hinc illo pervio tractu. quae contemplatio apta detegendae mortalium vanitati poscere videtur, ut totum hoc, quicquid est, in quo singulis nihil satis est, ceu subiectum oculis quantum sit ostendam.

[170] The same Nepos relates concerning the northern circuit that to Quintus Metellus Celer, colleague of Afranius in the consulship, but then proconsul of Gaul, Indians were given as a gift by the king of the Suebi, who, sailing from India for the sake of commerce, had been carried off by storms into Germany. Thus the seas, circumfused on every side, with the globe in two halves, take away from us a part of the orb, and there is no passable tract either from there to here or from here to that place. This contemplation, apt for unveiling the vanity of mortals, seems to demand that I show, as if set under the eyes, how great this whole—whatever it is—in which for individuals nothing is enough—really is.

[171] Iam primum in dimidio conputari videtur, tamquam nulla portio ipsi decedat oceano, qui toto circumdatus medio et omnes ceteras fundens recipiensque aquas et quicquid exit in nubes ac sidera ipsa tot ac tantae magnitudinis pascens, quo tandem aplitudinis spatio credetur habitare? inproba et infinita debet esse tam bastae molis possessio.

[171] To begin with, it seems to be computed only at a half, as though no portion were deducted for the Ocean itself, which, encompassing the whole in the middle and pouring forth and receiving all the other waters and whatever goes out into clouds, and feeding the stars themselves, so many and of such magnitude—within what breadth of amplitude will it be believed to dwell? The possession of so vast a mass must be immoderate and infinite.

[172] adde quod ex relicto plus abstulit caelum, nam cum sint eius quinque partes, quas vocant zonas, infesto rigore et aeterno gelu premitur omne, quicquid est subiectum duabus extremis utrimque circa vertices, hunc, qui trionum septem vocatur, eumque, qui adversus illi austrinus appellatur. perpetua caligo utrobique et alieno molliorum siderum adspectu maligna ac pruina tantum albicans lux. verum media terrarum, qua solis orbita est, exusta flammis et cremata comminus vapore torretur. circa duae tantum inter exustam et rigentes temperantur eaeque ipsae inter se non perviae propter incendium siderum,

[172] add that, from what is left, the heaven has taken away more; for since it has five parts, which they call zones, everything whatsoever that lies under the two extremes on either side around the vertices is pressed by hostile rigor and eternal gelu—the one which is called the Seven Triones, and the one opposite to it which is called the Southern. Perpetual gloom in both places, and, estranged from the aspect of the milder stars, malign—and a light only whitening with hoarfrost. But the middle of the lands, where the orbit of the sun is, scorched by flames and burned close at hand by the vapor, is parched. Around, only two (zones) between the burnt and the rigid are tempered, and these themselves are not passable among themselves because of the conflagration of the stars,

[173] ita terrae tres partes abstulit caelum; oceani rapina in incerto est. sed et relicta nobis una portio haud scio an etiam in maiore damno sit, idem siquidem oceanus infusus in multos, ut dicemus, sinus adeo viciono accessu interna maria adlatrat, ut centum quindecim milibus passuum Arabicus sinus distet ab Aegyptio mari, Caspius vero | CCCLXXV | a Pontico, idem interfusus intrat per tot maria, quibus Africam, Europam, Asiam dispescit, ut quantum terrarum occupet?

[173] thus the sky has taken away three parts of the land; the ocean’s rapine is uncertain. but even the one portion left to us I do not know whether it is in even greater loss, since that same ocean, poured into many, as we shall say, gulfs, with so near an approach barks at the inland seas, that the Arabian Gulf is distant by 115 miles from the Egyptian sea, but the Caspian | 375 | from the Pontic; the same, interposed, enters through so many seas by which it cleaves Africa, Europe, Asia—so then, how much of the lands does it occupy?

[174] conputetur etiamnum mensura tot fluminum, tantarum paludium, addantur et lacus, stagna, iam elata in caelum et ardua aspectu quoque iuga, iam silvae vallesque praeruptae et solitudines ac mille causis deserta; detrahantur hae tot portiones terrae, immo vero, ut plures tradidere, mundi puncto (neque enim aliud est terra in universo): haec est materia gloria nostrae, haec sedes. hic honores gerimus, hic exercimus imperia, hic opes cupimus, hic tumultuamur humanum genus, hic instauramus bella etiam civilia mutuisque caedibus laxiorem facimus terram!

[174] let the measure be computed too of so many rivers, of such great marshes; let lakes and pools be added as well; now the ridges lifted into the sky and steep even to the sight, now forests and precipitous valleys and solitudes and tracts deserted for a thousand causes; let so many portions of the earth be subtracted—nay indeed, as many have handed down, to a mere point of the world (for the earth is nothing else in the universe): this is the material of our glory, this the seat. hic we bear honors, hic we exercise dominions, hic we desire wealth, hic we are in tumult—we, the human race—hic we renew wars, even civil ones, and by mutual slaughters we make the earth roomier!

[175] et, ut publicos gentium furores transeam, haec, in qua conterminos pellimus furtoque vicini caespitem nostro solo adfodimus, ut, qui latissime rura metatus fuerit ultraque famam exegerit adcolas, quota terrarum parte gaudeat vel, cum ad mensuram avaritiae suae propagaverit, quam tandem portionem eius defunctus obtineat?

[175] and, to pass over the public frenzies of the nations, here we are—driving out our coterminous neighbors and, by theft, burying the neighbor’s turf into our own soil—so that he who has measured his fields most widely and has driven the dwellers beyond even fame, with what fraction of the lands does he rejoice? or, when he has propagated them to the measure of his avarice, what portion of it at last does he, deceased, possess?

[176] Mediam esse mundi totius haut dubiis constat argumentis, sed clarissimo aequinocti paribus horis. nam nisi in medio esset, aequales dies noctesque habere non posse deprehendere est dioptraeque vel maxime confirmant, cum aequinoctiali tempore ex eadem linia ortus occasusque cernatur, solstitiali exortus per suam liniam, brumali occasus. quae accidere nullo modo possent hisi in centro sita.

[176] That the earth is in the middle of the whole world is established by arguments not doubtful, but most clearly by the equal hours of the equinox. For unless it were in the middle, it is ascertained that it could not have equal days and nights; and the dioptrae confirm this most of all, since at equinoctial time the rising and the setting are discerned from the same line, at the solstitial the rising along its own line, at the brumal the setting. These things could in no way happen unless situated at the center.

[177] Tres autem circuli supra dictis zonis inplexi inaequalitates temporum distingunt: solstitialis a parte signiferi excelsissima nobis ad septentrionalem plagam versus, contraque ad alium polum brumalis, item medio ambitu signiferi orbis incedens aequinoctialis. Reliquorum quae miramur causa in ipsius terrae figura est, quam globo similem et cum ea aquas isdem intellegitur argumentis. sic enim fit haut dubie, ut nobis septentrionalis plagae sidera numquam occidant, contra meridianae numquam oriantur, rursusque haec illis non cernantur, attollente se contra medios visus terrarum globo.

[177] Moreover, three circles, interwoven with the aforesaid zones, distinguish the inequalities of times: the solstitial, from the loftiest part of the sign-bearing circle, turned toward the northern region for us, and, over against it toward the other pole, the brumal; likewise the equinoctial, advancing along the middle circuit of the zodiacal orb. The cause of the remaining things we marvel at lies in the very figure of the earth, which is understood by the same arguments to be like a globe, and together with it the waters. For thus it happens, without doubt, that for us the stars of the septentrional region never set, while, conversely, those of the meridional never rise; and in turn these are not seen by those, the globe of the lands, by lifting itself, standing up against the direct lines of sight.

[178] septentriones non cernit Trogodytice et confinis Aegyptus, nec canopum Italia et quem vocant Berneics crinem, item quem sub Divo Augusto cognominavere Caesaris thronon, insignes ibi stellas. adeoque manifesto adsurgens fastigium curvatur, ut canopus quartam fere partem signi unius supra terram eminere Alexandriae intuentibus videatur, eadem a Rhodo terram quodammodo ipsam stringere, in Ponto omnino non cernatur, ubi maxime sublimis septentrio. idem a Rhodo absconditur vigilia occultus, secunda se ostendit, in Mero‘ solstitio vesperi paulisper apparet paucisque ante exortum arcturi diebus pariter cum die cernitur.

[178] Troglodytice and adjoining Egypt do not discern the Septentriones, nor does Italy see Canopus and what they call Berenice’s Lock, likewise that which under the Deified Augustus they surnamed the Throne of Caesar—distinguished stars there. And so manifestly does the rising pitch curve that Canopus seems to observers at Alexandria to project above the earth by nearly a fourth part of a single sign; from Rhodes the same seems, as it were, to graze the very earth; in Pontus it is not seen at all, where the Septentrio is highest. The same star from Rhodes is hidden, concealed in the first watch, and shows itself in the second; at Mero‘ at the solstice in the evening it appears for a little while, and in the few days before the rising of Arcturus it is seen together with the day.

[179] navigantium haec maxime cursus deprehendunt, in alia adverso, in alia prono mari, subitoque conspicuis atque ut e freto emergentibus, quae in anfractu pilae latuere, sideribus. neque enim, ut dixere aliqui, mundus hoc polo excelsiore se attollit—aut undique cernerentur haec sidera—, verum haec eadem quibusque proximis sublimiora creduntur eademque demersa longinquis, utque nunc sublimis in deiectu positis videtur hic vertex, sic in illam terrae devexitatem transgressis illa se attollunt, residentibus quae hic excelsa fuerant, quod nisi in figura pilae accidere non posset.

[179] The voyages of sailors most especially apprehend these things—here with the sea adverse, there with it sloping—and suddenly the stars become conspicuous, as if emerging from a strait, which had lain hidden in the curvature of the sphere. For neither, as some have said, does the cosmos lift itself with this pole higher—otherwise these stars would be seen from everywhere—but these same stars are thought loftier for those nearest, and the same are submerged for those far away; and just as now this vertex seems lofty to those set on a declivity, so, for those who have crossed over into that declivity of the earth, those stars lift themselves, while the things which had been lofty here subside—something which could not happen unless in the figure of a ball.

[180] Ideo defectus solis ac lunae vespertinos orientis incolae non sentiunt nec matutinos ad occasum habitantes, meridianos vero serius nobis illi. apud Arbilam Magni Alexandri victoria luna defecisse noctis secunda hora est prodita eademque in Sicilia exoriens. solis defectum Vipsano et Fonteio cos., qui fuere ante paucos annos, factum pridie kalendas Maias Campania hora diei inter septimam et octavam sensit, Corbulo dux in Armenia inter horam diei decimam et undecimam prodidit visum, circuiti globi alia aliis detegente et occultante.

[180] Therefore the inhabitants of the Orient do not perceive evening eclipses of the sun and moon, nor do those dwelling toward the Occident perceive morning ones; but they perceive meridian ones later than we do. At Arbela, at the victory of Alexander the Great, the moon is reported to have been eclipsed at the second hour of the night, and the same [moon was] rising in Sicily. A solar eclipse, under Vipsanius and Fonteius, consuls, who were a few years ago, occurred on the day before the Kalends of May (April 30): Campania sensed it at the hour of the day between the seventh and the eighth, and Corbulo the general in Armenia reported it seen between the tenth and the eleventh hour of the day—the circuit of the globe revealing it to some and concealing it from others.

quod si plana esset terra, simul omnia apparerent cunctis noctesque non fierent inaequales; nam aeque aliis quam in medio sitis paria duodeciim horarum intervalla cernerentur, quae nunc non in omni parte simili modo congruunt.

but if the earth were flat, all things would appear at the same time to everyone, and the nights would not become unequal; for equal intervals of twelve hours would be discerned for others as well as for those situated in the middle, which now do not agree in the same manner in every part.

[181] Ideo nec nox diesque, quamvis eadem, toto orbe simul est, oppositu globi noctem aut ambitu diem adferente. multis hoc cognitum experimentis, in Africa Hisaniaque turrium Hannibalis, in Asia vero propter piraticos terrores simili specularum praesidio excitato, in quis praenuntios ignes sexta hora diei accensos saepe conpertum est tertia noctis a tergo ultimis visos. eiusdem Alexandri cursor Philonides ex Sicyone Elin mille et ducenta stadia novem diei confecit horis indeque, quamvis declivi itinere, tertia noctis hora remensus est saepius.

[181] Therefore neither night nor day, although the same, is simultaneous over the whole orb, the opposition of the globe bringing night or its ambit bringing day. This has been known by many experiments: in Africa and Hispania the towers of Hannibal, and in Asia, indeed, on account of piratical terrors, a similar guard of watchtowers having been set up—among which it has often been ascertained that preannouncing fires, lit at the 6th hour of the day, were seen by those farthest in the rear at the 3rd hour of the night. Philonides, the courier of that same Alexander, from Sicyon to Elis, 1,200 stadia, finished in 9 hours of the day, and then, although by a downhill route, he often remeasured it back at the 3rd hour of the night.

causa, quod eunti cum sole iter erat, eundem remeans obvium contrario praetervertebat occursu. qua de causa ad occasum navigantes, quamvis brevissimo die, vincunt spatia nocturnae navigationis, ut solem ipsum comitantes.

the cause, because for him going, the journey was with the sun, but returning he passed by that same one, meeting him with a contrary encounter. for which cause those sailing toward sunset, although on the very shortest day, outstrip the spaces of nocturnal navigation, as if accompanying the sun itself.

[182] Vasaque horoscopa non ubique eadem sunt usui, in trecenis stadiis aut, ut longissime, in quingenis utantibus semet umbris solis. itaque umbilici, quem gnomonem appellant, umbra in Aegypto meridiano tempore aequinoctii die paulo plus quam dimidiam gnomonis mensuram efficit, in urbe Roma nona pars gnomonis deest umbrae, in oppido Ancona superest quinta tricesima, in parte Italiae, quae Venetia appellatur, isdem horis umbra gnomoni par fit. Simili modo tradunt in Syene oppido, quod est supra Alexandriam quinque milibus stadium, solstiti die medio nullam umbram iaci puteumque eius experimenti gratia factum totum inluminari.

[182] And horoscopic instruments are not everywhere of the same use, since within each 300 stadia, or, at the farthest, 500, the sun’s shadows vary among themselves. And so the shadow of the umbilicus, which they call the gnomon, at Egypt at the meridian time on the equinoctial day makes a little more than half the measure of the gnomon; in the city of Rome the shadow falls short by the ninth part of the gnomon; in the town of Ancona it falls short by the thirty-fifth; in the part of Italy which is called Venetia, at the same hours the shadow becomes equal to the gnomon. In like manner they hand down that in the town of Syene, which is above Alexandria by 5,000 stadia, at midday on the solstice day no shadow is cast, and a well made for the sake of this experiment is wholly illuminated.

ex quo apparere tum solem illi loco supra verticem esse, quod et in India super flumen Hypasim fieri tempore eodem Onesicritus scribit. constatque in Berenice urbe Trogodytarum, et inde stadiis | IIII | ^.DCCCXX in eadem gente Ptolemaide oppido, quod in margine Rubri maris ad primos elephantorum venatus conditum est, hoc idem ante solstitum quadragenis quinis diebus totidemque postea fieri, et per eos XC dies in meridiem umbras iaci.

whence it appears that then the sun in that place is above the vertex (zenith), which Onesicritus also writes to occur in India over the river Hypasis at the same time. And it is agreed that in Berenice, a city of the Trogodytae, and from there at a distance of stades | 4 | ^.820, in the same nation, at the town Ptolemais, which was founded on the margin of the Red Sea at the first elephant-hunts, this same thing happens 45 days before the solstice and just so many afterward, and through those 90 days the shadows are cast toward the south.

[184] rursus in Meroë—insula haec caputque gentis Aethipum V milibus stadium a Syene in amne Nilo habitatur—bis anno absumi umbras, sole duodevicesimam tauri partem et quartam decimam leonis tunc obtinente. in Indiae gente Oretum mons est Maleus nomine, iuxta quem umbrae aestate in austrum, hieme in septentrionem iaciuntur. quindecim tantum noctibus ibi apparet septentrio.

[184] again at Meroë—this island, the capital of the nation of the Ethiopians, inhabited in the river Nile 5 thousand stadia from Syene—the shadows are extinguished twice in the year, when the sun is then holding the eighteenth part of Taurus and the fourteenth of Leo. In the Indian nation of the Oretae there is a mountain named Maleus, near which the shadows in summer are cast to the south, in winter to the north. There the Bear appears for only fifteen nights.

in eadem India Patalis, celeberrimo portu, sol dexter oritur, umbrae in meridiem cadunt.

in the same India, at Patalis, a most celebrated port, the sun rises on the right, the shadows fall to the south.

[185] septentrionem ibi Alexandro morante adnotantum prima tantum parte noctis aspici. Onesiciritus, dux eius, scripsit, quibus in locis Indiae umbrae non sint, septentrionem non conspici, et ea loca appellari ascia, nec horas dinumerari ibi. et tota Trogodytice umbras bis quadragenis quinis diebus in anno Eratosthenes in contrarium cadere prodidit.

[185] there, while Alexander was tarrying, it was noted that the Septentrion could be seen only in the first part of the night. Onesiciritus, his commander, wrote that, in those places of India where there are no shadows, the Septentrion is not seen, and those places are called ascia, and the hours are not counted there. And Eratosthenes reported that in the whole Troglodytica the shadows fall in the contrary direction for twice forty-five days in the year.

[186] sic fit, ut vario lucis incremento in Mero‘ longissimus dies XII horas aequinoctiales et octo partes unius horae colligat, Alexandriae vero XIIII horas, in Italia XV, in Britannia XVII, ubi aestate lucidae noctes haut dubie se promittunt, id quod cogit ratio credi, solstiti diebus accedente sole propius verticem mundi angusto lucis ambitu subiecta terrae continuos dies habere senis mensibus noctesque e diverso ad brumam remoto.

[186] thus it comes about that, with the increase of light varying, at Meroë the longest day gathers 12 equinoctial hours and eight parts of one hour, at Alexandria 14 hours, in Italy 15, in Britain 17, where in summer bright nights without doubt present themselves—a thing which reason compels one to believe—that on the days of the solstice, as the sun approaches nearer to the world’s pole, with a narrow ambit of light the lands lying beneath have continuous days for six months, and conversely continuous nights when it is withdrawn toward midwinter.

[187] quod fieri in insula Thyle Pytheas Massiliensis scribit, sex dierum navigatione in septentrionem a Britannia distante, quidam vero et in Mona, quae distat a Camaloduno Britannia oppido circiter | CC |, adfirmant. Umbrarum hanc rationem et quam vocant gnomonicen invenit Anaximenes Milesius, Anaximandri, de quo diximius, discipulus, primusque horologium, quod appellant sciothericon, Lacedaemone ostendit.

[187] Pytheas of Massalia writes that this happens on the island Thyle, at a distance of a six-days’ navigation to the north from Britain; some indeed affirm it also on Mona, which is distant from the British town Camalodunum about | 200 |. This theory of shadows, and what they call gnomonics, was discovered by Anaximenes the Milesian, a disciple of Anaximander, of whom we have spoken, and he first displayed at Lacedaemon a horologe, which they call a sciothericon.

[188] Ipsum diem alii aliter observavere: Babylonii inter duos solis exortus, Athenienses inter duos occasus, Umbri a meridie ad meridiem, vulgus omne a luce ad tenebras, sacerdotes Romani et qui diem finiere civilem, item Aegyptii et Hipparchus a media nocte in mediam. minora autem intervalla esse lucis inter ortus solis iuxta solstitia quam aequinoctia apparet, quia positio signiferi circa media sui obliquior est, iuxta solstitium autem rectior.

[188] The day itself has been observed differently by different peoples: the Babylonians from one sunrise to the next, the Athenians from one sunset to the next, the Umbrians from midday to midday, the whole common crowd from light to darkness; the Roman priests and those who have defined the civil day, likewise the Egyptians and Hipparchus, from midnight to midnight. Moreover, it appears that the intervals of light between the sun’s risings are smaller near the solstices than near the equinoxes, because the position of the Zodiac around its middle is more oblique, but near the solstice more straight.

[189] Contexenda sunt his caelestibus nexa causis. namque et Aethiopas vicini sideris vapore torreri adustisque similes gigni, barba et capillo vibrato, non est dubium, et adversa plaga mundi candida atque glaciali cute esse gentes, flavis promissas crinibus, truces vero ex caeli rigore has, illas mobilitate sapientes, ipsoque crurum argumento illis in supera sucum revocari natura vaporis, his in inferas partes depelli umore deciduo; hic graves feras, illic varias effigies animalium provenire et maxime alitum multas figuras igni volucres; corporum autem proceritatem utrobique, illic ignium nisu, hic umoris alimento;

[189] Causes linked to these celestial things are to be interwoven. For it is not in doubt that the Ethiopians are scorched by the vapor of the neighboring star and are born like the adust, with beard and hair crisped, and that in the opposite zone of the world there are peoples with shining and glacial skin, with yellow tresses let down; the former, indeed, fierce from the sky’s rigor, the latter wise through mobility; and by the very evidence of the legs, that in the former the sap is called back upward by the nature of vapor, in the latter it is driven down into the lower parts by trickling moisture; here massive wild beasts, there various forms of animals come forth, and most of all among the winged, many kinds, fire-winged; but tallness of bodies in both places—there by the impulse of fires, here by the nourishment of moisture;

[190] medio vero terrae salubri utrimque mixtura fertiles ad omnia tractus, modicos corporum habitus magna et in colore temperie, ritus molles, sensus liquidos, ingenia fecunda totiusque naturae capacia, isdem imperia, quae numquam extimis gentibus fuerint, sicut ne illae quidem his paruerint, avolsae ac pro numine naturae urguentis illas solitariae.

[190] but in the middle of the earth, with a healthful mixture from both sides, lie tracts fertile for all things, with moderate bodily forms and great temperance even in color, customs soft, senses limpid, wits fecund and capacious of the whole of nature; and to these belong the empires, which have never been to the outermost peoples, just as neither have those obeyed these, being torn apart and solitary by reason of the numen of nature pressing them.

[191] Babyloniorum placita et motus terrae hiatusque, qua cetera omnia, siderum vi existimant fieri, sed illorum trium, quibus fulmina adsignant, fieri autem meantium cum sole aut congruentium et maxime circa quadrata mundi. praeclara quaedam et inmortalis in eo, si credimus, divinitas perhibetur Anaximandro Milesio physico, quem ferunt Lacedaemoniis praedixisse ut urbem ac tecta custodirent, instare enim motum terrae, cum et urbs tota eorum corruit et Taygeti montis magna pars, ad formam puppis eminens, abrupta cladem eam insuper ruina pressit. perhibetur et Pherecydi, Pythagorae doctori, alia coniectatio, sed et illa divina, haustu aquae e puteo praesensisse ac praedixisse civibus terrae motum.

[191] The tenets of the Babylonians are that earthquakes and gaping-chasms of the earth, like all other things, are made by the force of the stars, but by those three to which they assign thunderbolts; and that they occur when these are moving with the sun or are congruent, and especially around the quadratures of the world. A certain illustrious and, if we believe it, immortal divinity is attributed in this matter to Anaximander of Miletus, a natural philosopher, whom they say foretold to the Lacedaemonians that they should guard the city and their roofs, for an earthquake was imminent—when both their whole city collapsed and a great part of Mount Taygetus, projecting in the form of a ship’s stern, torn away, by its ruin pressed that disaster down upon them besides. There is ascribed also to Pherecydes, the teacher of Pythagoras, another conjecture—yet that too divine—that by a draught of water from a well he sensed beforehand and predicted to the citizens an earthquake.

[192] quae si vera sunt, quantum a deo tandem videri possunt tales distare, dum vivant? et haec quidem arbitrio cuiusque existimanda relinquantur: ventos in causa esse non dubium reor. neque enim umquam intremiscunt terrae nisi sopito mari caeloque adeo tranquillo, ut volatus avium non pendeant, subtracto omni spiritu qui vehit, nec umquam nisi post ventos, condito scilicet in venas et cava eius occulta flatu.

[192] if these things are true, how far from a god, pray, can such persons be seen to differ, while they live? and indeed let these be left to be judged at each one’s arbiter: I deem it no doubt that winds are the cause. for the earth never trembles unless the sea is lulled to sleep and the sky is so tranquil that the flights of birds do not hang poised, with all the breath that bears them withdrawn; nor ever except after winds, the blast having, namely, been stored in its veins and hidden cavities.

neque aliud est in terra tremor quam in nube tonitruum, nec hiatus aliud quam cum fulmen erumpit incluso spiritu luctante et ad libertatem exire nitente.

nor is the tremor in the earth anything other than the thunder in a cloud, nor is a chasm anything other than when the lightning bursts forth, the imprisoned breath struggling and striving to go out to freedom.

[193] Varie itaque quatitur, et mira eduntur opera, alibi prostratis moenibus, alibi hiatu profundo haustis, alibi egestus molibus, alibi emissis amnibus, nonnumquam etiam ignibus calidisve fontibus, alibi averso fluminum curu. praecedit vero comitaturqe terribilis sonus, alias murmuri similis, alias mugitibus aut clamori humano armorumve pulsantium fragori, pro qualitate materiae excipientis formaque vel cavernarum vel cuniculi, per quem meet, exilius grassante in angusto, eodem rauco in recurvis, resultante in duris, ferevente in umidis, fluctuante in stagnantibus, furente contra solida.

[193] Thus it is shaken in varied ways, and marvelous works are produced: in some places with the walls overthrown, in others with things swallowed by a deep hiatus (chasm), in others with masses ejected, in others with rivers sent forth, sometimes even with fires or hot springs, elsewhere with the course of rivers turned aside. Moreover a dreadful sound both precedes and accompanies, sometimes like a murmur, sometimes like bellowings or like human shouting or the crash of clashing arms, according to the quality of the receiving material and the shape either of the caverns or of the gallery through which it passes—shriller as it advances in a narrow, the same hoarse in the bendings, rebounding in hard things, seething in moist places, undulating in stagnant waters, raging against solid bodies.

[194] itaque et sine motu saepe editur sonus. nec simplici modo quatitur umq, sed tremit vibratque. hiatus vero alias remanet ostendens quae sorbuit, alias occultat ore conpresso rursusque ita inducto solo, ut nulla vestigia exstent, urbibus plerumque devoratis agrorumque tractu hausto, maritima autem maxime quatiuntur, nec montuosa tali malo carent.

[194] and so even without motion sound is often produced. nor is it ever shaken in a simple mode, but it trembles and vibrates. the hiatus, however, at times remains, showing what it has swallowed; at other times it conceals, with its mouth compressed, and with the soil drawn over again in such a way that no vestiges exist—cities for the most part having been devoured and a tract of fields drunk up. the maritime regions, however, are shaken most of all, nor do mountainous places lack such an evil.

exploratum mihi est Alpes Apenninumque saepius tremuisse.

it has been ascertained by me that the Alps and the Apennines have trembled rather often.

[195] et autumno ac vere terrae crebrius moventur, sicut fulmina. ideo Galliae et Aegyptus minime quatiuntur, quoniam hic aestatis causa obstat, illic hiemis. item noctu saepius quam interdiu.

[195] and in autumn and in spring the lands are moved more frequently, just like lightning-bolts. therefore Gaul and Egypt are least shaken, since here the cause of summer obstructs, there that of winter. likewise at night more often than by day.

maximi autem motus existunt matutini vespertinique, sed propinqua luce crebri, interdiu autem circa meridiem. fiunt et solis lunaeque defectu, quoniam tempestates tunc sopiuntur, praecipue vero cum sequitur imbres aestus imbresve aestum.

but the greatest motions arise in the morning and in the evening; yet, with light approaching, they are frequent, and in the daytime about midday. they also occur at an eclipse of the sun and of the moon, since tempests are then lulled, but especially when heat follows rains or rains follow heat.

[196] Navigantes quoque sentiunt non dubia coniectura, sine flatu intumescente fluctu subito aut quatiente ictu. intremunt vero et in navibus postes aeque quam in aedificiis crepituque praenuntiant. quin et volucres non inpavidae sedent.

[196] Sailors too perceive, by no dubious conjecture, when, without a breeze, the swell swells suddenly or jars them with a shaking blow. Moreover, the posts on ships tremble as much as in buildings, and by their creaking they give forewarning. Indeed even the birds sit not fearless.

est et in caelo signum praeceditque motu futuro aut interdiu aut paulo post occasum sereno tenuis ceu lineae nube in longum porrecta spatium.

There is also in the sky a sign, and it precedes a future motion either by day or a little after sunset: in clear weather a slender cloud, as if a line, stretched out into a long expanse.

[197] Est et in puteis turbidior aqua nec sine odoris taedio, sicut in isdem et remedium, quale et crebri specus praebent; conceptum enim spiritum exhalant. quod in totis notatur oppidis: minus quatiuntur crebris ad eluviem cuniculis cavata, multoque sunt tutiora in isdem illis quae pendent, sicuti Neapoli in Italia intellegitur, parte eius, quae solida est, ad tales casus obnoxia. tutissimi sunt aedificiorum fornices, anguli quoque parietum postesque, alterno pulsu renitente.

[197] The water in wells too is more turbid and not without the nuisance of an odor, just as in these same places there is also a remedy, such as frequent subterranean galleries provide; for they exhale the spirit (air) that has been taken in. This is observed in whole towns: they are shaken less when hollowed with numerous tunnels for drainage, and in those same places the parts that overhang are much safer, as is understood at Naples in Italy, the part of it which is solid being liable to such occurrences. Safest are the vaults of buildings, as also the corners of walls and the doorposts, the alternating pulse resisting.

et latere terreno facti parietes minore noxa quatiuntur.

and walls made of earthen brick are shaken with less damage.

[198] magna differentia est et in ipso genere motus, pluribus siquidem modis quatitur. tutissimum est cum vibrat crispante aedificiorum crepitu et cum intumescit adsurgens alternoque motu residit; innoxium et cum concurrentia tecta contrario ictu arietant, quoniam alter motus alteri renititur. undantis inclinatio et fluctus more quaedam volutatio infesta est aut cum in unam partem totus se motus inpellit.

[198] there is great difference also in the very kind of motion, for indeed it is shaken in several modes. It is safest when it vibrates with the crackling crepitation of the edifices, and when, swelling, it rises and by an alternate motion subsides; harmless too when the structures, running together, butt with a contrary blow, since one motion is resisted by the other. Wave-like inclination and a certain rolling after the manner of a billow is pernicious, or when the whole motion impels itself into one direction.

desinunt autem tremores, cum ventus emersit; sin vero duravere, non ante XL dies sistuntur, plerumque et tardius, utpote cum quidam annuo et bienni spatio duraverint.

the tremors cease, however, when the wind has emerged; but if indeed they have lasted, they are not stopped before 40 days, and for the most part even more slowly, inasmuch as some have lasted for the space of a year and of two years.

[199] Factum est semel, quod equidem in Etruscae disciplinae voluminibus invenio, ingens terrarum portentum L. Marcio Sexto Iulio cos. in agro Mutinensi. namque montes duo inter se concurrerunt crepito maxo adsultantes recedentesque, inter eos flamma fumoque in caelum exeunte interdiu, spectante e via Aemilia magna equitum Romanorum familiarumque et viatorum multitudine.

[199] It happened once—which indeed I find in the volumes of the Etruscan discipline—an immense portent of the lands, when L. Marcius and Sextus Julius were consuls, in the territory of Mutina: for two mountains collided with one another, leaping together and drawing back with a very great crash, and between them flame and smoke went up to the sky in broad daylight, while from the Via Aemilia a great multitude of Roman knights, families, and travelers looked on.

eo concursu villae omnes elisae, animalia permulta, quae intra fuerant, exanimata sunt, anno ante sociale bellum, quod haud scio an funestius terrae ipsi Italiae fuerit quam civilia. non minus mirum ostentum et nostra cognovit aetas anno Neronis principis supremo, sicut in rebus eius exposuimus, pratis oleis intercedente publica via in contrarias sedes transgressis in agro Marrucino praediis Vetti Marcelli equitis Romani res Neronis procurantis.

by that collision all the villas were crushed, and very many animals that had been inside were rendered lifeless, in the year before the Social War, which I scarcely know whether it was more fatal to the land of Italy itself than the civil wars. No less a marvelous portent did our age also come to know in the last year of the princeps Nero, as we have set forth in his affairs, the olive-trees in the meadows, with the public road intervening, having crossed over into opposite places, in the Marrucinian countryside, on the estates of Vettius Marcellus, a Roman knight, acting as procurator of Nero’s property.

[200] Fiunt simul cum terrae motu et inundationes mareis, eodem videlicet spiritu infusi aut terrae sidentis sinu recepti. maximus terrae memoria mortalium exstitit motus Tiberii Caesaris principatu, XII urbibus Asiae una nocte prostratis; creberrimus Punico bello intra eundem annum septies ac quainquagies nuntiatus Romam, quo quidem anno ad Trasimenum lacum dimicantes maximum motum neque Poeni sensere nec Romani. nec vero simplex malum aut in ipso tantum motu periculum est, sed par aut maius ostento.

[200] Floodings of the seas also occur together with an earth-quake, manifestly infused by the same spirit, or received into the bosom of a settling earth. The greatest earth-quake in the memory of mortals occurred under the principate of Tiberius Caesar, with 12 cities of Asia laid low in one night; it was most frequent in the Punic War, within the same year reported to Rome fifty-seven times, and in that very year, while fighting at Lake Trasimene, neither the Carthaginians nor the Romans perceived a very great tremor. Nor indeed is the evil simple or the peril only in the motion itself, but equal or greater in the portent.

numquam urbs Romas tremuit, ut non futuri eventus alicuius id praenuntium esset.

never did the city of Rome tremble without that being a presage of some future event.

[201] Eadem nascentium causa terrarum est, cum idem ille spiritus adtollendo potens solo non valuit erumpere. nascuntur enim, nec fluminum tantum invectu, sicut Echinades insulae ab Acheloo amne congestae maiorque pars Aegypti a Nilo, in quam a Pharo insula noctis et diei cursum fuisse Homero credimus, nec recessu maris, sicuti olim Cerceis. quod accidisse et in Ambraciae portu decem milium passuum intervallo et Atheniensium quinque milium ad Piraeeum memoratur.

[201] The same is the cause of lands being born, when that same spirit, powerful for uplifting, has not been able to burst through the soil. For they come into being, not only by the inbringing of rivers, as the Echinades islands heaped up by the river Achelous, and the greater part of Egypt by the Nile—into which from the island of Pharos we believe with Homer that the course of a night and a day once was—nor by the recession of the sea, as formerly at Cerceis. This too is recorded to have happened in the harbor of Ambracia at an interval of 10 miles, and for the Athenians for 5 miles toward the Piraeus.

et Ephesius quondam aedem Dianae adluebat. Herodoto quidem si credimus, mare fuit supra Memphim usque ad Aethiopum montes itemque a planis Arabiae, mare circa Ilium et tota Teuthraniae quaque campos intulerit Maeander.

and at Ephesus it once washed the temple of Diana. If indeed we believe Herodotus, the sea extended above Memphis as far as the mountains of the Ethiopians, and likewise over the plains of Arabia; the sea [was] around Ilium and all Teuthrania, and wherever the Maeander has carried in plains.

[202] Nascuntur et alio modo terrae ac repente in aliquo mari emergunt, velut paria secum faciente natura quaeque hauserit hiatus alio loco reddente. Clarae iam pridem insulae Delos et Rhodos memoriae produntur; et natae postea minores, ultra Melon Anaphe, inter Lemnum et Hellespontum Neae, inter Lebedum et Teon Halone, inter Cycladas Thera et Therasia, inter easdem Olympiadis CXLV anno quarto [post annos CXXX] Hiera eademque Automate, et ab ea duobus stadiis post annox CCXLII nostro aevo Iunio Silano Valerio [Balbo] cos. a. d. VIII idus Iulias Thia.

[202] Lands are also born in another way and suddenly emerge in some sea, as though nature, making things even with itself, were rendering in another place the gulfs that it has drained. The famous islands Delos and Rhodes are long since handed down to memory; and later smaller ones were born—beyond Melos, Anaphe; between Lemnos and the Hellespont, Neae; between Lebedus and Teos, Halone; among the Cyclades, Thera and Therasia; among these same, in the 145th Olympiad, in the fourth year [after 130 years] Hiera, and the same called Automate; and at a distance of two stadia from it, after 242 years, in our age, with Junius Silanus and Valerius [Balbus] consuls, on the 8th day before the Ides of July, Thia.

[203] ante nos et iuxta Italiam inter Aeolias insulas, item iuxta Cretam emersit MM^.D passuum una cum calidis fontibus, altera Olympiadis CLXIII anno tertio in Tusco sinu, flagrans haec violento cum flatu, proditurque memoriae, magna circa eam multitudine piscium fluitante confestim expirasse quibus ex his cibus fuisset. sic et Pithecussas in Campano sinu ferunt ortas, mox in his montem Epopon, cum repente flamma ex eo emicuisset, campestri aequatum planitiei. in eadem et oppidum haustum profundo, alioque motu terrae stagnum emersisse, et alio provolutis montibus insulam extitisse Prochytam.

[203] before our time and near Italy among the Aeolian islands, likewise near Crete there emerged 2,500 paces together with hot springs; another, in Olympiad 163, in the third year, in the Tuscan gulf, this one blazing with a violent blast; and it is recorded in memory that, with a great multitude of fish floating around it, those who had taken food from these immediately expired. thus too they report that the Pithecussae arose in the Campanian gulf, and soon in these the mountain Epopon, when suddenly flame had leapt forth from it, was leveled to a flat plain. in the same place also a town was swallowed by the deep, and by another movement of the earth a pool emerged, and by another, after mountains had been rolled down, the island Prochyta came into being.

[204] Namque et hoc modo insulas rerum natura fecit: avellit Siciliam Italiae, Cyrpum Syriae, Euboeam Boeotiae, Euboeae Atalanten et Macrian, Besbicum Bithyniae, Leucosian Sirenum promunturio. rursus abstulit insulas mari iunxitque terris, Antissam Lesbo, Zephyrium Halicarnaso, Aehtusan Myndo, Dromiscon et Pernen Mileto, Narthecusam Parthenio promunturio. Hybanda, quondam insula Ioniae, ducentis nunc a mari abest stadiis, Syrien Ephesus in mediterraneo habet, Derasidas et Sapphoniam vicina either Magnesia.

[204] For in this way too nature has made islands: it tears Sicily from Italy, Cyprus from Syria, Euboea from Boeotia, from Euboea Atalanta and Macris, Besbicus from Bithynia, Leucosia from the promontory of the Sirens. again it removed islands from the sea and joined them to the lands, Antissa to Lesbos, Zephyrium to Halicarnassus, Aethusa to Myndus, Dromiscus and Pterna to Miletus, Narthecusa to the Parthenium promontory. Hybanda, once an island of Ionia, now is 200 stadia distant from the sea; Syria Ephesus holds in the interior, Derasidas and Sapphonia neighboring to Magnesia.

[206] Epidaurus et Oridum insulae esse desierunt. in totum abstulit terras primum omnium ubi Atlanticum mare est, si Platoni credimus, inmenso spatio, mox interno quoque: videmus hodie mersam Acarnaniam Ambracio sinu, Achaiam Corinthio, Europam Asiamque Propontide et Ponto. ad hoc perrupit mare Leucada, Antirrhium, Hellespontum, Bosporos duos.

[206] Epidaurus and Oridum ceased to be islands. Altogether it removed lands first of all where the Atlantic Sea is, if we believe Plato, by an immense expanse, then in the inner sea as well: we see today Acarnania submerged at the Ambracian gulf, Achaea at the Corinthian, and Europe and Asia at the Propontis and the Pontus. In addition the sea broke through Leucas, Antirrhium, the Hellespont, and the two Bospori.

Atque ut sinus et stagna praeteream, ipsa se comest terra. devoravit Cibotum altissimum montem cum oppido Cariae, Sipylum in Magnesia et prius in eodem loco clarissimam urbem, quae Tantalis vocabatur, Galenes et Gamales urbium in Phoenice agros cum ipsis, Phegium, Aethiopiae iugum excelsissimum, tamquam non infida grassarentur et litora.

And, to pass over bays and standing waters, the earth itself eats itself. It has devoured Cibotus, a most lofty mountain with the town in Caria; Sipylus in Magnesia; and earlier in the same place the most renowned city which was called Tantalis; the fields of the cities Galene and Gamale in Phoenicia, together with the cities themselves; Phegium, the most towering ridge of Ethiopia—as though even the shores did not advance treacherously.

[206] Pyrram et Antissam circa Maeotim pontus abstulit, Helicen et Buram sinus Corinthius, quarum in alto vestigia apparent. ex insula Ceca amplius triginta milia passuum abrupta subito cum plurimis mortalium rapuit et in Sicilia dimidiam Tyndarida urbem ac quicquid ab Italia deest, similiter in Boeotia Eleusina. Motus enim terrae sileantur et quicquid est, ubi saltem busta urbium exstant, simul ut terrae miracula potius dicamus quam scelera naturae.

[206] Pyrrha and Antissa around the Maeotis the sea carried off; Helice and Bura, the Corinthian Gulf did so, of which in the deep the vestiges appear. From the island Cea it tore away over thirty miles, suddenly, and snatched it off with very many mortals; and in Sicily half the city Tyndaris and whatever is lacking from Italy; likewise in Boeotia, Eleusina. For let earthquakes be hushed, and whatever they are, since at least the tombs of cities stand, so that we may call them rather the miracles of earth than the crimes of nature.

et, Hercules, non caelestia enarratu difficiliora fuerint.

and, by Hercules, the celestial things would not be more difficult to narrate.

[207] metallorum opulentia tam varia, tam dives, tam fecunda, tot saeculis suboriens, cum tantum cotidie orbe toto populentur ignes, ruinae, naufragia, bella, fraudes, tantum vero luxuria et tot mortales conterant; gemmarum pictura tam multiplex, lapidum tam discolores maculae interque eos candor alicuius praeter lucem omnia excludens; medicatorum fontium vis; ignium tot locis emicantium perpetua tot saeculis incendia; spiritus letales aliubi aut scrobibus emissi aut ipso loci situ mortiferi, aliubi volucribus tantum, ut Soracte vicino urbe tractu, aliubi praeter hominem ceteris animantibus,

[207] the opulence of metals so various, so rich, so fecund, arising through so many ages, while so much every day over the whole world fires, ruins, shipwrecks, wars, frauds plunder, and so much indeed luxury and so many mortals consume; the variegation of gems so manifold, the spots of stones so many-colored, and among them the brightness of one or another shutting out everything except light; the power of medicinal springs; the perpetual conflagrations, through so many ages, of fires flashing forth in so many places; lethal exhalations in some places either emitted from pits or mortiferous by the very situation of the place, in other places to birds only, as at Soracte in a tract near the city, elsewhere to all living creatures except man,

[208] nonnumquam et homini, ut in Sinuessano agro et Puteolano! spiracula vocant, alii Chaeronea, scrobes mortiferum spiritum exhalantes, item in Hirpinis Ampsancti ad Mephitis aedem locum, quem qui intravere moriuntur; simili modo Hierapoli in Asia, Matris tantum Magnae sacerdoti innoxium. aliubi fatidici specus, quorum exhalatione temulenti futura praecinant, ut Delphis nobilissimo oraculo.

[208] sometimes even for humans, as in the Sinuessan and the Puteolan countryside! they call them spiracles; at Chaeronea, too, there are pits exhaling mortiferous spirit; likewise among the Hirpini, at Ampsanctus, by the shrine of Mephitis, a place which those who have entered die; in similar fashion at Hierapolis in Asia, harmless only to the priest of the Great Mother. elsewhere there are fatidical caves, in whose exhalation, being temulent, they chant beforehand the things to come, as at Delphi, with its most noble oracle.

quibus in rebus quid possit aliud causae adferre mortalium quispiam quam diffusae per omne naturae subinde aliter atque aliter numen erumpens?

in these matters, what other cause can anyone of mortals adduce than a numen diffused through all of nature, erupting from time to time now in one way, now in another?

[209] Quaedam vero terrae ad ingressus tremunt, sicut in Gabiensi agro non procul urbe Roma iugera ferme ducenta equitantium cursu; similiter in Reatino. quaedam insulae semper fluctuantur, sicut in agro Caecubo et eodem Reatino, Mutinensi, Statoniensi, in Vadimonis lacu, ad Cutilias aquas opaca silva, quae numquam die ac nocte eodem loco visitur, in Lydia quae vocantur Calaminae, non ventis solum, sed etiam contis quo libeat inpulsae, multorum civium Mithridatico bello salus. sunt et in Nymphaeo parvae, Saliares dictae, quoniam in symphoniae cantu ad ictus modulantium pedum moventur.

[209] Certain lands indeed tremble upon entry, as in the Gabine district not far from the city Rome, about two hundred iugera at the gallop of horsemen; similarly in the Reatine. Certain islands always float, as in the Caecuban territory and likewise the same Reatine, the Mutinense, the Statoniense, in Lake Vadimo; at the Cutilian waters a shady forest, which is never seen in the same place by day and by night; in Lydia those which are called the Calaminae, driven not by winds only, but even by poles impelled whithersoever one pleases—the salvation of many citizens in the Mithridatic War. There are also in the Nymphaeum small ones, called Salian, since in the symphony’s chant they move to the beats of the feet of those who modulate.

in Tarquiniensi lacu magno Italiae duae nomora circumferunt, nunc triquetram figuram edentes, nunc rotundam conplexu ventis inpellentibus, quadratam numquam.

in the Tarquinian lake, a great one of Italy, two groves are borne around, now producing a triquetrous figure, now a round one by their clasping as the winds drive them, never a square one.

[210] Celebre fanum habet Veneris Paphos, in cuius quandam aream non inpluit, item in Nea, oppido Troadis, circa simulacrum Minervae; in eodem et relicta sacrificia non putrescunt.

[210] Paphos of Venus has a celebrated shrine, into a certain area of which it does not rain, likewise at Nea, a town of the Troad, around the simulacrum of Minerva; in the same place even sacrifices left behind do not putrefy.

[211] iuxta Harpasa oppidum Asiae cautes stat horrenda, uno digito mobilis, eadem, si toto corpore inpellatur, resistens. in Taurorum paeninsula in civitate Parasino terra est, qua sanantur omnia vulnera. at circa Asson Troadis lapis nascitur, quo consumuntur omnia corpora; sarcophagus vocatur.

[211] near the town of Harpasa in Asia a horrendous crag stands, movable with one finger, the same, if it is pushed with the whole body, resisting. on the Tauric peninsula, in the city Parasino, there is an earth by which all wounds are healed. but around Assos of the Troad a stone is produced, by which all bodies are consumed; it is called sarcophagus.

duo sunt montes iuxta flumen Indum: alteri natura ut ferrum omne teneat, alteri ut respuat, itaque, si sint clavi incalciamento,vestigia evelli in altero non possint, in altero sisti. Locris et Crotone pestilentiam numquam fuisse nec in Ilio terrae motum adnotatum est, in Lycia vero semper a terrae motu quadraginta dies serenos esse. in agro Arpano frumentum satum non nascitur; ad aras Mucias in Veiente et apud Tusculanum et in silva Ciminia loca sunt, in quibus in terram depacta non extrahuntur.

there are two mountains near the river Indus: the one has by nature that it holds all iron, the other that it spits it out; and so, if there are nails in the shoeing, the footprints cannot be pulled up on the one, on the other to be set. At Locri and at Croton it has been recorded that there was never pestilence, nor at Ilium an earthquake; but in Lycia there are always forty serene days after an earthquake. In the field of Arpi grain, when sown, does not spring up; at the Mucian altars at Veii, and near Tusculum, and in the Ciminian forest there are places in which things driven into the earth are not drawn out.

in Crustumino natum faenum ibi noxium, extra salubre est.

In the Crustuminian district, hay grown there is noxious; outside, it is salubrious.

[212] Et de aquarum natura complura dicta sunt, sed aestus mari accedere ac reciprocare maxime mirum, pluribus quidem modis, verum causa in sole lunaque. bis inter duos exortus lunae adfluunt bisque remeant vicenis quaternisque semper horis, et primum attollente se cum ea mundo intumescentes, mox a meridiano caeli fastigio vergente in occasum residentes, rursusque ab occasu subter ad caeli ima et meridiano contraria accedente inundantes, hinc, donec iterum exoriatur, se resorbentes

[212] And much has been said about the nature of waters, but the tide’s approaching the sea and receding back is most marvelous—indeed in several modes, yet the cause lies in the sun and the moon. Twice between two risings of the moon they flow in and twice they flow back, always every 24 hours; and first, as she lifts herself, they, swelling with her, rise; soon, as she inclines from the meridian height of the sky toward setting, they settle; and again, as she goes from setting beneath to the lowest reaches of the sky, opposite the meridian, they inundate; from there, until she rises again, they draw themselves back.

[213] nec umquam eodem tempore quo pridie reflui, velut anhelantes sidere avido trahente secum haustu maria et adsidue aliunde quam pridie exoriente, paribus tamen intervallis reciproci senisque semper horis, non cuiusque diei aut noctis aut loci, sed aequinoctialibus ideoque inaequales vulgarium horarum spatio, utcumque plures in eos aut diei aut noctis illarum mensurae cadant,

[213] nor ever at the same time as on the previous day do they flow back, as if panting, the seas with the avid star drawing them along with its draught and it continually rising from somewhere other than the day before; yet at equal intervals of the reciprocal motion, and always by six hours, not by the hours of any given day or night or place, but by equinoctial ones and therefore unequal in the span of vulgar hours, however many more measures of day or of night may fall into them,

[214] et aequinoctio tantum pares ubique. ingens argumentum plenumque lucis ac vocis etiam diurnae. hebetes esse qui negent subtermeare sidera ac rursus eadem exsurgere, similemque terris, immo vero naturae universae, et inde faciem in isdem ortus occasusque operibus, non aliter sub terra manifesto sideris cursu aliove effectu quam cum praeter oculos nostros feratur.

[214] and only at the equinox are they equal everywhere. A huge argument, full of light and even of diurnal voice. Dull are those who deny that the stars pass beneath and then again the same rise up, and that they are similar to the lands—nay rather to universal nature—and hence exhibit the same aspect in the works of risings and settings, no otherwise beneath the earth, whether by the manifest course of the star or by some other effect, than when it is borne past our eyes.

[215] Multiplex etiamnum lunaris differentia, primumque septenis diebus. quippe modici a nova ad dividuam aestus, pleniores ab ea exundant plenaque maxime fervent. inde mitescunt, pares ad septimam primis, iterumque alio latere dividua augentur.

[215] Still multiple is the lunar differentiation, and first in seven‑day intervals: for the tides are modest from new moon to the divided (half) moon; from that point they overflow fuller, and at full they are most fervent. Thence they soften, equal at the seventh to the first, and again on the other side of the half‑moon they are augmented.

in coitu solis pares plenae. eadem in aquilonia et a terris oongius recedente mitiores quam cum in austros digressa propiore nisu vim suam exercet. per octonos quosque annos ad principia motus et paria incrementa centesimo lunae revocantur ambitu.

at conjunction with the sun, the full tides are equal. the same are gentler when in the north and, receding farther from the lands, than when, having gone into the south, with a nearer impulse she exercises her force. every 8 years they are recalled to the beginnings of motion and equal increments, in the 100th circuit of the moon.

augent ea cuncta solis annuis causis, duobus aequinoctiis maxime tumentes et autumnali amplius quam verno, inanes vero bruma et magis solstitio.

all those things are augmented by the sun’s annual causes, swelling most at the two equinoxes, and more at the autumnal than the vernal, but empty at midwinter and more so at the solstice.

[216] nec tamen in ipsis quos dixi temporum articulis, sed paucis post diebus, sicuti neque in plena aut novissima, sed postea, nec statim ut lunam mdus ostendat occultetve aut media plaga declinet, verum fere duabus horis aequinoctialibus serius, tardiore semper ad terras omnium, quae geruntur in caelo, effectu cadente quam visu, sicuti fulguris et tonitrus et fulminum.

[216] nor, however, at the very articulations of time which I mentioned, but a few days afterward—just as neither at the full nor at the newest moon, but later; nor immediately when the world shows or hides the moon, or when it declines from the mid-zone, but nearly two equinoctial hours later—the effect of all things that are done in heaven always descending to the earth more slowly than the sight, as in the case of lightning and of thunder and of thunderbolts.

[217] Omnes autem aestus in oceano maiora integunt spatia nudantque quam in reliquo mari, sive quia in totum universitate animosius quam parte est, sive quia magnitudo aperta sideris vim laxe grassantis efficacius sentit, eandem angustiis arcentibus. qua de causa nec lacus nec amnes similiter moventur.—(octogenis cubitis supra Britanniam intumescere aestus Pytheas Massiliensis auctor est.)—et interiora autem maria terris cluaduntur ut portu;

[217] But all the tides in the Ocean cover and lay bare greater spaces than in the rest of the sea, either because, taken as a whole, in its universality it is more vehement than in a part, or because the open magnitude of the star more efficaciously feels the force of one ranging at large, that same force being kept off by narrowings. For which cause neither lakes nor rivers are moved in like manner.—(Pytheas of Massilia is authority that the tides swell by eighty cubits above Britain.)—And the inner seas moreover are shut in by lands as in a harbor;

[218] quibusdam tamen in locis spatiosior laxitas dicioni paret, utpote cum plura exempla sint in tranquillo mari nulloque velorum pulsu tertio die ex Italia pervectorum Uticam aestu fervente. circa litora autem magis quam in alto deprehenduntur hi motus, quoniam et in corpore extrema pulsum venarum, id est spiritus, magis sentiunt. in plerisque tractu exortus aestuariis propter dispares siderum in quoque tractu exortus diversi existunt aestus, tempore, non ratione discordes, sicut in Syrtibus.

[218] yet in certain places a more spacious laxity yields to dominion, inasmuch as there are several examples, on a tranquil sea and with no pulse of the sails, of voyagers having been carried from Italy to Utica on the third day, the tide fervent. Around the shores, moreover, rather than on the deep, these motions are apprehended, since in a body too the extremities feel more the pulse of the veins—that is, the spirit. And in most tracts, with estuarine inlets arising, because of the disparate risings of the stars in each tract, different tides exist, discordant in time, not in rationale, as in the Syrtes.

[219] Et quorundam tamen privata natura est, velut Tauromenitani euripi saepius et in euboea septies die ac nocte reciprocantis. idem aestus triduo in mense consistit, septima, octava nonaque luna. Gadibus qui est delubro Herculis proximus fons, inclusus as putei modum, alias simul cum oceano augetur minuiturque, alias utrumque contrariis temporibus; eodem in loco alter oceani motibus consentit.

[219] And yet some have a peculiar nature of their own, as the Euripus at Tauromenium more frequently, and that in Euboea reversing seven times by day and by night. The same tide stands still for three days in the month, on the seventh, eighth, and ninth day of the moon. At Gades, the spring nearest to the shrine of Hercules, enclosed after the fashion of a well, at times is increased and diminished together with the ocean, at other times each of the two at contrary times; in the same place another agrees with the motions of the ocean.

in ripa Baetis oppidum est, cuius putei crescente aestu minuuntur, augescunt decedente, mediis temporum inmobiles. eadem natura Hispali oppido uni puteo, ceteris vulgaris. et Pontus semper extra meat in Propontidem, introrsus in Pontum numquam refluo mari.

on the bank of the Baetis there is a town, whose wells diminish as the tide is increasing, are augmented as it is receding, and are immobile in the middle intervals of time. the same nature at the town of Hispalis in one well; the others are ordinary. and the Pontus always goes out into the Propontis, inward into the Pontus it never flows back with the sea in reflux.

[220] Omnia plenilunio maria purgantur, quaedam et stato tempore. circa Messanam et Mylas fimo similia expuuntur in litus purgamenta, unde fabula est Solis boves ibi stabulari. his addit—ut nihil, quod equidem noverim, praeteream—Aristoteles nullum animal nisi aestu recedente expirare.

[220] All seas are purged at full moon, and certain ones also at a set time. Around Messana and Mylae, purgaments similar to dung are spat out onto the shore, whence the fable that the Sun’s oxen are stabled there. To these Aristotle adds—so that I omit nothing, so far as I for my part know—that no animal expires except when the tide is receding.

observatum id multis in Gallico oceano et dumtaxat in homine compertum.

this has been observed by many in the Gallic Ocean and verified only in man.

[221] quo vera coniectatio existit, haut frustra spiritus sidus lunam existimari; hoc esse quod terras saturet accedensque corpora impleat, abscedens inaniat. ideo cum incremento eius augeri conchylia et maxime spiritum sentire quibus sanguis non sit, sed et sanguinem, hominum etiam, cum lumine eius augeri ac minui, frondes quoque et pabula—ut solo loco dicetur—sentire, in omnia eadem penetrante vi.

[221] whereby a true conjecture exists, that not in vain the moon is thought the star of the spirit; that this is what saturates the lands and, approaching, fills bodies, departing, makes them empty. therefore, with its increase, shellfish are augmented, and most especially those feel the spirit in whom there is no blood; but even blood, even that of men, is increased and diminished with its light; fronds also and fodder—as will be said in its own place—feel it, the same force penetrating into all things.

[222] itaque solis ardore siccatur liquor, et hoc esse masculum sidus accepimus, torrens cuncta sorbensque. sic mari late patenti saporem incoqui salis, aut quia exhausto inde dulci tenuique, quod facillime trahat vis ignea, omne asperius crassiusque linquatur—ideo summam aequorum aquam dulciorem profunda; hanc esse veriorem causam asperi saporis quam quod mare terrae sudor sit aeternus—aut quia plurimus ex arido misceatur illi vapor aut qui terrae natura sicut medicatas aquas inficiat. est in exemplis Dionysio Siciliae tyranno, cum pulsus est ea potentia, accidisse prodigium, ut uno die in portu dulcesceret mare.

[222] thus by the sun’s ardor the liquor is dried, and we have received that this is the masculine star, scorching all things and swallowing them. thus in the sea, spread wide, the flavor of salt is infused, either because, when the sweet and fine part has been exhausted from it—which the igneous force most easily draws—whatever is rougher and thicker is left behind (hence the surface water of the level seas is sweeter than the deeps); this is the truer cause of the harsh flavor than that the sea is the earth’s eternal sweat; or because a very great vapor from what is arid is mixed with it, or one which, by the earth’s nature, stains it as medicated waters do. there is among examples that, for Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily, when he was driven from that power, a prodigy occurred: in one day, in the harbor, the sea became sweet.

[223] e contrario ferunt lunae femineum ac molle sidus, atque nocturnum solvere umorem et trahere, non auferre. id manifestum esse, quod ferarum occisa corpora in tabem visu suo resolvat somnoque sopitis torporem contractum in caput revocet, glaciem refundat cunctaque umifico spiritu laxet. ita pensari naturae vices semperque sufficere, aliis siderum elementa cogentibus, aliis vero fundentibus, sed in dulcibus aqquis lunae alimentum esse, sicut in marinis solis.

[223] On the contrary, they report the Moon to be a feminine and soft luminary, and that, as a nocturnal one, it loosens moisture and draws it, not carries it off. This is manifest, because by its gaze it resolves the slain bodies of wild beasts into putrescence, and, with those lulled in sleep, it calls back into the head the torpor that has been contracted; it melts ice, and relaxes all things with its humidifying spirit. Thus the vicissitudes of nature are counterpoised and ever sufficient, some of the stars condensing the elements, others indeed pouring them forth; but in fresh waters the nourishment is the Moon’s, as in the sea’s the Sun’s.

[224] Altissimum mare XV stadiorum Fabianus tradit. alii in Ponto ex adverso Coraxorum gentis—vocant Bathea Ponti—trecentis fere a continente stadiis inmensam altitudinem maris tradunt, vadis numquam repertis. mirabilius id faciunt aquae dulces iuxta mare ut fistulis emicantes.

[224] Fabianus relates the deepest sea as 15 stadia. Others in the Pontus, opposite the nation of the Coraxi—they call it the Bathea Ponti—at nearly 300 stadia from the continent, report an immense depth of the sea, the bottom never found. More wondrously, fresh waters near the sea, spouting as through pipes, make this so.

nam nec aquarum natura miraculis cessat. culces mari invehuntur, leviores haut dubie; ideo et marinae, quarum natura gravior, magis invecta sustinent. quaedam vero et dulces inter se supermeant alias, ut in Fucino lacu invectus Pitonius amnis, in Lario Addua, in Verbanno Ticinus, in Benaco Mincius, in Sebinno Ollius, in Lemanno Rhodanus: his trans Alpis, superiores in Italia, multorum milium transitu hospitali suas tantum nec largiores quam intulere aquas evehentes.

for neither does the nature of waters cease from marvels. Fresh waters are carried upon the sea, lighter, without a doubt; therefore even the sea-waters, whose nature is heavier, more sustain what is borne upon them. Some indeed, even fresh waters among themselves, flow above others, as in Lake Fucinus the river Pitonius is carried, in Larius the Adda, in Verbannus the Ticinus, in Benacus the Mincius, in Sebinnus the Ollius, in Lemannus the Rhodanus: of these, the latter beyond the Alps, the former in Italy, conveying only their own waters through a hospitable transit of many miles, and not more copious than they brought in.

proditum hoc et in Oronte amne Syriae multisque aliis.

This has been reported also in the Orontes river of Syria and in many others.

[225] quidam vero odio maris ipsa subeunt vada, sicut Arethusa, fons Syracusanus, in quo redduntur iacta in Alpheum, qui per Olympiam fluens Peloponnesiaco litori infunditur. subeunt terras rursusque redduntur Lycus in Asia, Erasinus in Argolica, Tigris in Mesopotamia et, quae in Aesculapi fonte Athenis mersa sunt, in Phlaerico redduntur. et in Atinate Aquileiensi Timavus.

[225] some indeed, in aversion to the sea, themselves go beneath the shallows, as Arethusa, the Syracusan spring, in which things thrown into the Alpheus are returned—the Alpheus which, flowing through Olympia, pours into the Peloponnesian littoral. they go under the lands and are restored again: the Lycus in Asia, the Erasinus in Argolis, the Tigris in Mesopotamia; and the things that have been sunk in the Aesculapius spring at Athens are returned in the Phaleric. and the Timavus in the Atinate district of Aquileia.

[226] nihil in Asphaltite Iudeae lacu, qui bitumen gignit, mergi potest nec in Armeniae maioris Aretissa; is quidem nitrosus pisces alit. in Sallentino iuxta oppidum Manduriam lacus, ad margines plenus, neque exhaustis aquis minuitur neque infusis augetur. in Ciconum flumine et in Piceno lacu Velino lignum deiectum lapideo cortice obducitur et in Surio Colchidis flumine adeo, ut lapidem plerumque durans adhuc integat cortex.

[226] nothing in the Asphaltite Lake of Judea, which generates bitumen, can be submerged, nor in Aretissa of Greater Armenia; that one indeed, being nitrous, nourishes fish. in the Salentine, near the town of Manduria, there is a lake, full to its margins, which is neither diminished when its waters are drawn off nor increased when they are poured in. in the river of the Cicones and in the Picene Lake Velinus, wood thrown in is covered with a stony bark, and in the Surius, a river of Colchis, to such a degree that the bark, for the most part hardening into stone, still covers it.

similiter in flumine Silero ultra Surrentum non virgulta modo inmersa, verum et folia lapidescunt, alias salubri potu eius aquae. in exitu paludis Reatinae saxum crescit [et in Rtubro mari oleae virentesque frutices enascuntur].

similarly, in the river Siler beyond Surrentum, not only shrubs, when submerged, but even leaves, petrify, while otherwise its water is healthful to drink. at the outlet of the Reatine marsh a stone grows [and in the Rtubro sea olive trees and green shrubs spring up].

[227] Sed fontium plurimorum natura mira est fervore, idque etiam in iugis Alpium ipsoque in mari inter Italiam et Aenariam in Baiano sinu et in Liri fluvio multisque aliis. nam dulcis haustus in mari plurimis locis, ut ad Chelidonias insulas et Aradum et in Gaditano oceano. Patavinorum aquis calidis herbae virentes innascuntur, Pisanorum ranae, ad Vetulonios in Etruria non procul a mari pisces.

[227] But the nature of very many springs is wondrous for their fervor, and this even on the ridges of the Alps and even in the sea between Italy and Aenaria in the Bay of Baiae and in the river Liris and in many others. For there is a sweet draught in the sea in very many places, as at the Chelidonian islands and at Aradus and in the Gaditanian Ocean. In the hot waters of the Patavini green herbs are born, in those of the Pisani frogs, at Vetulonia in Etruria, not far from the sea, fishes.

in Casinate fluvius appellatur Scatebra, frigidus, abundantior aestate; in eo, ut in Arcadia Stymphali, nascuntur aquatiles musculi.

In the Casinate, a river is called Scatebra, frigid, more copious in summer; in it, as in Arcadia at Stymphalus, aquatic mussels are born.

[228] in Dodone Iovis fons, cum sit gelidus et inmersas faces extinguat, si extinctae admoveantur, accendit. idem meridie semper deficit, qua de causa anapauomenon vocant, mox increscens ad medium noctis exuberat, ab eo rursus sensim deficit. in Illyricis supra fontem frigidum expansae vestes accenduntur.

[228] in Dodona, the spring of Jove, although it is icy-cold and extinguishes torches when they are immersed, if they, once extinguished, are brought near, it kindles them. The same spring always ebbs at midday, for which cause they call it the anapauomenon; soon, increasing, it overflows up to the middle of the night, and from that point again it gradually ebbs. In Illyricum, garments spread above a cold spring are ignited.

Iovis Hammonis stagnum, interdiu frigidum, noctibus fervet. in Trogodytis fons Solis appellatur dulcis et circa meridiem maxime frigidus; mox paulatim tepescens ad noctis media fervore et amaritudine infestatur.

the pool of Jupiter Ammon, cold by day, seethes at night. among the Trogodytes there is a spring called the Spring of the Sun, sweet and around midday very cold; soon, gradually growing tepid, toward the middle of the night it is assailed by heat and bitterness.

[229] Padi fons mediis diebus aestivis velut interquiescens semper aret. in Tenedo insula fons semper a tertia noctis hora in sextam ab aestivo solstitio exundat, et in Delo insula Inopus fons eodem quo Nilus modo ac pariter cum eo decrescit augeturve. contra Timavum amnem insula parva in mari est cum fontibus calidis, qui pariter cum aestu maris crescunt minuunturque.

[229] The spring of the Po, in the midsummer days, as if taking an intermission, always dries up. On the island of Tenedos a spring always overflows from the third hour of the night to the sixth, from the summer solstice onward, and on the island of Delos the spring Inopus, in the same manner as the Nile and in step with it, decreases and increases. Opposite the river Timavus there is a small island in the sea with hot springs, which rise and fall together with the sea’s tide.

in agro Pitinate trans Appenninum fluvius Novanus, omnibus solstitiis torrens, bruma siccatur.

in the Pitinate district across the Apennine, the river Novanus, a torrent at every solstice, is dried up in midwinter.

[230] In Falisco omnis aqua pota candidos boves facit, in Boeotia amnis Melas oves nigras, Cephisus ex eodem lacu profluens albas, rursus nigras Penius rufasque iuxta Ilium Xanthus, unde et nomen amni. in Ponto fluvius Axiaces rigat campos, in quibus pastae nigro lacte equae gentem alunt. in Reatino fons Neminie appellatus alio atque alio loco exoritur, annonae mutationem significans.

[230] In the Faliscan land every water, when drunk, makes cattle white; in Boeotia the river Melas makes sheep black; the Cephisus, flowing from the same lake, (makes them) white; again the Peneus makes (them) black, and near Ilium the Xanthus (makes them) red, whence also the river has its name. In Pontus the river Axiaces waters fields, in which the mares that have grazed there sustain the nation with black milk. In the Reatine district a spring called Neminie arises now in one place, now in another, signifying a change in the grain-supply.

Brundisi in portu fons incorruptas praestat aquas navigantibus. Lyncestis aqua quae vocatur acidula vini modo temulentos facit; item in Paphlagonia et in agro Caleno.

In the harbor at Brundisium a spring furnishes uncorrupted waters to those sailing. In Lyncestis the water which is called “acidulous” makes people inebriated in the manner of wine; likewise in Paphlagonia and in the Calenian countryside.

[231] Andro in insula templo Liberi patris fontem nonis Ianuariis semper vini saporem fundere Mucianus ter consul credit. dies Qeodosia vocatur. iuxta Nonacrim in Arcadia Styx, nec odore differens nec colore, pota ilico necat; item in Liberoso Taurorum colle tres fontes sine remedio, sine dolore mortiferi.

[231] On the island of Andros, in the temple of Liber Pater, a spring on the Nones of January always pours forth the savor of wine, as Mucianus, thrice consul, believes. The day is called Theodosia. Near Nonacris in Arcadia, the Styx, differing neither in odor nor in color, when drunk kills on the spot; likewise at Liberosus, on the Hill of the Bulls, three springs, deadly without remedy, without pain.

in Carrinensi Hispaniae agro duo fontes iuxta fluunt, alter omnia respuens, alter obsorbens. in eadem gente alius aurei coloris omnes ostendit pisces, nihil extra illam aquam differentes.

In the Carrinensian territory of Spain two springs flow side by side, one rejecting everything, the other absorbing. In the same nation another, of golden color, shows all the fish, differing in nothing outside that water.

[232] in Comensi iuxta Larium lacum fons largus horis singulis semper intumescit ac residit. in Cydonea insula ante Lesbum fons calidus vere tantum fluit. lacus Sannaus in Asia circa nascente absinthio inficitur.

[232] In the Comensian district near Lake Larius, a copious spring at every single hour continually swells and subsides. On the island Cydonea off Lesbos, a hot spring flows only in spring. The lake Sannaus in Asia is tainted when the wormwood sprouting around it arises.

Colophone in Apollinis Clarii specu lacuna est, cuius potu mira redduntur oracula, bibentium breviore vita. amnes retro fluere et nostra vidit aetas Neronis principis supremis, sicut in rebus eius rettulimus.

At Colophon, in the cavern of Apollo Clarius, there is a pool, by the drinking of which marvelous oracles are rendered, with the lives of the drinkers shorter. Rivers flowing backward our own age too saw, in the final days of the princeps Nero, as we have related in his affairs.

[233] Iam omnes fontes aestate quam hieme gelidiores esse quem fallit? sicut illa permira naturae opera, aes ac plumbum in massa mergi, dilatatum fluitare, eiusdemque ponderis alia sidere, alia invehi, onera in aqua facilius moveri, Syrium lapidem quamvis grandem innatare eundemque comminutum mergi, recentia cadavera ad vadum labi, intumescentia attolli, inania vasa haud facilius quam plena extrahi; pluvias salinis aquas dulciores esse quam reliquas, nec fieri salem nisi admixtis dulcibus;

[233] Now who is unaware that all springs are colder in summer than in winter? just as those most wondrous works of nature: bronze and lead in a mass sink, when spread out they float; and of the same weight, some things sink, others are borne along; loads are moved more easily in water; the Syrian stone, however large, floats, and the same, when broken up, sinks; fresh corpses glide toward the shallows, swollen ones are lifted up; empty vessels are not drawn out more easily than full; rainy waters are sweeter for saltworks than the rest, and salt is not produced unless fresh waters are admixed;

[234] marinas tardius gelari, celerius accendi; hieme mare calidius esse, autumnale salsius; omne oleo tranquillari, et ob id urinantes ore spargere, quoniam mitiget naturam asperam lucemque deportet; nives in alto mari non cadere; cum omnis aqua deorsum feratur, exilire fontes atque etiam in Aetnae radicibus, flagrantis in tantum, ut quinquagena, centena milia passuum harenas flammarum globo eructet.

[234] that marine waters are more slowly frozen, more quickly heated; that in winter the sea is warmer, in autumn more briny; that everything is tranquillized by oil, and for that reason divers scatter it from the mouth, since it mitigates the harsh nature and carries off the glare; that snows do not fall on the deep sea; that although all water is borne downward, springs leap up—and even at the roots of Aetna, blazing to such a degree that for fifty, for a hundred miles it belches sands in a globe of flames.

[235] namque et ignium, quod est naturae quartum elementum, reddamus aliqua miracula, sed primum ex aquis. In urbe Commagenes Samosata stagnum est emittens limum—maltham vocant—flagrantem. cum quid attigit solidi, adhaeret; praeterea tactu et sequitur fugientes.

[235] for indeed let us also render some miracles of fires, which is nature’s fourth element, but first from waters. In the city of Commagene, Samosata, there is a pool emitting mud—they call it maltha—burning. When it has touched anything solid, it adheres; moreover, at a touch it even follows those fleeing.

sic defendere muros oppugnante Lucullo; flagrabat miles armis suis. aquis et accenditur; terra tantum restingui docuere experimenta. similis est natura naphthae.

thus they defended the walls with Lucullus assaulting; the soldier blazed from his own arms. it is even kindled by waters; experiments have taught that it is extinguished only by earth. the nature of naphtha is similar.

ita appellatur circa Babylonem et in Austacenis Parthiae profluens bituminis liquidi modo. huic magna cognatio ignium, transiliuntque in eam protinus undecumque visam. ita ferunt a Medea paelicem crematam, postquam sacrificatura ad aras accesserat, corona igne rapto

thus it is called around Babylon and among the Austaceni in Parthia, flowing in the manner of liquid bitumen. To this there is a great affinity with fires, and they leap into it at once from wherever it has been seen. thus they report that the paramour was burned by Medea, after she had approached the altars to sacrifice, the crown, once the fire had been seized.

[236] verum in montium miraculis ardet Aetna noctibus semper tantoque aevo materia ignium sufficit, nivalis hibernis temporibus egestumque cinerem pruinis operiens. nec in illo tantum natura saevit exustionem terris denuntians: flagrat in Phaselitis mons Chimaera, et quidem inmortali diebus ac noctibus flamma; ignem eius accendi aqua, extingui vero terra aut fimo Cnidius Ctesias tradit. eadem in Lycia Hephaesti montes taeda flammante tacti flagrant, et adeo ut lapides quoque rivorum et harenae in ipsis aquis ardeant, aliturque ignis ille pluviis; baculo si quis ex iis accenso traxerit sulcum, rivos ignium sequi narrant.

[236] but among the marvels of mountains Etna burns by night always, and for so great an age the material of its fires suffices, being snow-clad in winter seasons and covering with frosts the ash discharged. nor does nature rage in that one only, denouncing combustion to the lands: at Phaselis the mountain Chimaera is aflame, and indeed with an immortal flame by days and nights; Ctesias of Cnidus relates that its fire is kindled by water, but is extinguished by earth or by dung. likewise in Lycia the mountains of Hephaestus, when touched with a flaming pine-torch, blaze—and so much so that even the stones of the streams and the sands burn in the very waters, and that fire is nourished by rains; if someone with a staff kindled from them should draw a furrow, they report that streams of fire follow.

flagrat in Bactris Cophanti noctibus vertex.

in Bactria the summit of Cophantus blazes by night.

[237] flagrat in Medis et in Sittacene confinio Persidis, Susis quidem ad Turrim Albam XV caminis, maxo eorum et interdiu, campus. Babylone flagrat e quadam veluti piscina iugeri magnitudine, Aethiopum iuxta Hesperu montem stellarum modo campi noctu; similiter in Megalopolitanorum agro. nam si intermisit ille iucundus frondemque densi supra se nemoris non adurens et iuxta gelidum fontem semper ardens Nymphaei crater, dira Apolloniatis suis portendit, ut Theopompus tradidit; augetur imbribus egeritque bitumen temperandum fonte illo ingustabili, et alias omne bitumine dilutius.

[237] it blazes among the Medes and in Sittacene on the border of Persia, at Susa indeed by the White Tower with 15 chimneys, the greatest of them even by day, a plain. At Babylon it blazes from a certain, as it were, pool of a iugerum in magnitude; near the Ethiopians’ Mount Hesperus the fields by night in the manner of stars; similarly in the territory of the Megalopolitans. For if that pleasant Crater of the Nymphaeum—always burning beside an icy spring and not scorching the foliage of the dense grove above it—has ceased, it portends dire things for the Apolloniates, as Theopompus related; it is increased by rains and it ejects bitumen to be tempered by that undrinkable spring, and at other times all is more diluted than bitumen.

sed quis haec miretur?

but who would marvel at these?

[238] in medio mari Hiera et Lipara insulae Aeoliae iuxta Italiam cum ipso mari arsere per aliquot dies sociali bello, donec legatio senatus piavit. maxo tamen ardet incendito Theon ochema dictum Aethiopum iugum torrentesque solis ardoribus flammas egerit. tot locis, tot incendiis rerum natura terras cremat!

[238] in the middle of the sea, Hiera and Lipara, islands of the Aeolians near Italy, burned together with the sea itself for several days during the Social War, until a legation of the senate appeased it. Yet with the greatest blaze burns the Ethiopians’ ridge, called Theon’s Car, and, parched by the sun’s ardors, it has driven forth flames. In so many places, with so many conflagrations, Nature burns the lands!

[239] Praeterea cum sit huius unius elementi ratio fecunda seque ipsa pariat et minimis crescat a scintillis, quid fore putandum est in tot rogis terrae? quae est illa natura, quae voracitatem in toto mundo avidissimam sine damno sui pascit? addantur his sidera innumera ingensque sol, addantur humani ignes et lapidum quoque insiti naturae attritique inter se ligni, iam nubium et origines fulminum: excedet profecto miracula omnia ullum diem fuisse, quo non cuncta conflagrarent, cum specula quoque concava adversa solis radiis facilius etiam accendant quam ullus alius ignis.

[239] Moreover, since the principle of this one element is fecund and begets itself and grows from the tiniest sparks, what do we think will be in so many pyres of the earth? what is that nature which feeds a most avid voracity throughout the whole world without loss to itself? let there be added to these the innumerable stars and the vast sun, let there be added human fires and those too implanted in the nature of stones and of wood rubbed together among themselves, and now the clouds and the origins of lightning: it will, assuredly, surpass all miracles that there has been any day on which all things did not conflagrate, since concave mirrors too, set opposite to the sun’s rays, ignite things even more easily than any other fire.

[240] quid quod innumerabiles parvi, sed naturales, scatent? in Nymphaeo exit e petra flamma, quae pluviis accenditur; exit et ad aquas Scantias, haec quidem invalida, cum transit, nec longe in alia durans materia—viret aeterno hunc fontem igneum contegens fraxinus—; exit in Mutinensi agro statis Volcano diebus. repertiur apud auctores subiectis Ariciae arvis, si carbo deciderit, ardere terram, in agro Sabino et Sidicino unctum flagrare lapidem, in Sallentino oppido Gnatia inposito ligno in saxum quoddam ibi sacrum protinus flammam existere, in Laciniae Iunonis ara sub diu sita cinerem inmobilem esse perflantibus undique procellis;

[240] What of the fact that innumerable small, yet natural, ones abound? In the Nymphaeum a flame issues from the rock, which is kindled by rains; it issues also at the Scantian waters—this one indeed weak, as it passes, nor lasting long in other material—an ash tree, covering this fiery spring, is green everlasting; it issues in the Modenese country on the fixed days of Vulcan. It is found in the authorities that in the fields lying below Aricia, if a coal should fall, the ground burns; in the Sabine and Sidicine territory a greased stone blazes; in the Salentine town Gnatia, when wood is placed upon a certain stone sacred there, a flame forthwith arises; on the altar of Lacinian Juno, set under the open sky, the ash is motionless though storms blow over it from every side;

[241] quin et repentinos existere ignes et in aquis et in corporibus, etiam humanis: Trasimenum lacum arsisse totum; Servio Tullio dormienti in pueritia ex capite flammam emicuisse, L. Marcio in Hispania interemptis Scipionibus contionanti et milites ad ultionem exhortanti arsisse simili modo alerius Antias narrat. plura mox et distinctius; nunc enim quadam mixtura rerum omnium exhibentur miracula. verum egressa mens interpretationem naturae festinat legentium animus per totum orbem veluti manu ducere.

[241] moreover that sudden fires arise both in waters and in bodies, even human: Lake Trasimene burned entirely; while Servius Tullius was sleeping in boyhood, a flame flashed forth from his head; Valerius Antias relates that L. Marcius in Spain, after the Scipios had been slain, while addressing an assembly and exhorting the soldiers to vengeance, burned in like manner. more things soon and more distinctly; for now marvels are exhibited by a certain commixture of all things. but the mind, having gone beyond the interpretation of nature, hastens to lead the readers’ spirit through the whole world, as if by the hand.

[242] Pars nostra terrarum, de qua memoro, ambienti, ut citum est, oceano velut innatans longissime ab ortu ad occasum patet, hoc est ab India ad Herculis columnas Gadibus sacratas ||LXXXV||^. LXXX |VIII| p., ut Artemidoro auctori placet, ut vero Isidoro, ||XCVIII|| ^. |XVIII|. Artemidorus adicit amplius a Gadibus circuitu Sacri promunturii ad promunturium Artabrum, quo longissime frons procurrat Hispaniae,|DCCCCXCI| ^. D.

[242] Our part of the lands, of which I make mention, surrounded, as has been cited, by the ocean, as if floating, extends farthest from east to west, that is, from India to the Pillars of Hercules consecrated at Gades ||85||^. 80 |8| p., as it pleases the author Artemidorus; but, in truth, according to Isidore, ||98|| ^. |18|. Artemidorus adds further: from Gades, by the circuit of the Sacred Promontory to the Promontory Artabrum, where the front of Spain projects farthest, |991| ^.500.

[243] mensura currit duplici via: a Gange amne ostioque eius, quo se in Eoum oceanum effundit, per Indiam Parthyenenque ad Myrianrum urbem Syriae in Issico sinu positam |XLIICVIII|^. |XV|, inde proxima navigatione Cyprum insulam, Patara Lyciae, Rhodum, Astyopalaeam in Carpathio mari insulam, Taenarum Laconicae, Lilybaeum Siciliae, Caralim Sardiniae ||XXI|| ^. |XIII|, deinde Gades ||XII|| ^. |L|, quae mensura universa ab Eoo mari efficit ||LXXXV|| ^. |LXXXVIII|.

[243] the measurement runs along a double route: from the river Ganges and its mouth, where it pours itself into the Eastern Ocean, through India and Parthyene to the city Myrianrum of Syria, situated in the Issic gulf |XLIICVIII|^. |15|, then by the nearest voyage to the island Cyprus, Patara of Lycia, Rhodes, Astypalaea, an island in the Carpathian Sea, Taenarum of Laconia, Lilybaeum of Sicily, Caralis of Sardinia ||21|| ^. |13|, then Gades ||12|| ^. |50|, which total measure from the Eastern sea makes ||85|| ^. |88|.

[244] alia via, quae certior et iniri terreno maxime potest, a Gange ad Euphraten amnem ||LI||^. |LXIX|, inde Cappadociae Mazaca |CCXLIIII|, inde per Phrygiam, Cariam, Ephesum |CCCCXCVIIII|, ab Epheso per Aegaeum pelagus Delum |CC|, Isthmum |CCXII| ^. D, inde terra [et Laconico mari] et Corinthiaco sinu Patras Peloponnesi |XC|, Leucadem |LXXXVII| ^. D, Romam |CCCLX|, Alpes usque ad Scingomagum vicum |DXVIIII|, per Galliam ad Pyrenaeos montes Illiberim |CCCCLXVIII|, ad oceanum et Hispaniae oram |DCCCXXXI|, traiectu Gadis |VII| ^. D, quae mensura Artemidori ratione ||LXXXIX|| ^. |XLV| efficit.

[244] another route, which is more certain and can be undertaken for the most part by land, from the Ganges to the river Euphrates ||51||^. |69|, thence to Mazaca of Cappadocia |244|, thence through Phrygia, Caria, Ephesus |499|, from Ephesus across the Aegean sea to Delos |200|, the Isthmus |212| ^. D, thence by land [and the Laconian sea] and the Corinthian gulf to Patras of the Peloponnese |90|, Leucas |87| ^. D, Rome |360|, to the Alps as far as the village Scingomagus |519|, through Gaul to the Pyrenaean mountains, Illiberis |468|, to the Ocean and the shore of Spain |831|, by the crossing at Gades |7| ^. D, which measure, by the reckoning of Artemidorus, makes ||89|| ^. |45|.

[245] Latitudo autem terrae a meridiano situ ad septentriones, dimidio fere minor, Isidoro colligit ||LIIII||^. |LXII|, quo palam fit quantum et hinc vapor abstulerit et illinc rigor. neque enim deesse terris arbitror aut non esse globi formam, sed inhabitabilia utrimque inconperta esse. haec mensura currit a litore Aethiopici oceani, qua modo habitatur, ad Meroen |DCXXV|, inde Alexandriam ||XII|| ^. |L|, Rhodum |DLXXXIIII|, Cnidum |LXXXVII| ^. D, Coum |XXV|, Samum |C|, Chium |XCIIII|, Mytilenen |LXV|, Tenedum |CXIX|, Sigeum promunturium |XII| ^. D, os Ponti |CCCXII| ^. D, Carambin promunturium |CCCL|, os Maeotis |CCCXII ^. D, ostium Tanais |CCLXXV|, qui cursus conpendiis maris brevior fieri potest |LXXIX|.

[245] But the breadth of the earth from the meridional position to the north, almost by half smaller, Isidore totals ||54||^. |62|, whereby it is made plain how much both on this side vapor has taken away and on that side rigor. For I do not think lands are lacking, nor that there is not the form of a globe, but that on both sides the uninhabitable regions are unascertained. This measure runs from the shore of the Ethiopic Ocean, in so far as it is now inhabited, to Meroe |625|, thence to Alexandria ||12|| ^. |50|, Rhodes |584|, Cnidus |87| ^. D, Cos |25|, Samos |100|, Chios |94|, Mytilene |65|, Tenedos |119|, the Sigeum promontory |12| ^. D, the mouth of the Pontus |312| ^. D, the Carambis promontory |350|, the mouth of Maeotis |312 ^. D, the mouth of the Tanais |275|—which course can be made shorter by the sea’s compendia by |79|.

[246] ab ostio Tanais nihil inmodicum diligentissimi auctores fecere. Artemidorus ulteriora inconperta existimavit, cum circa Tanain Sarmatarum gentes degere fateretur ad septentriones versus; Isidorus adiecit ||XII||^. |L| usque ad Thylen, quae coniectura divinationis est. ego non minore quam proxime dicto spatio Sarmatarum fines nosci intellego.

[246] from the mouth of the Tanais the most diligent authors have done nothing excessive. Artemidorus judged the farther regions unknown, since he admitted that around the Tanais Sarmatian peoples dwell, toward the north; Isidore added ||12||^. |50| up to Thule, which is a conjecture of divination. I understand that the borders of the Sarmatians are known by a distance no smaller than that just mentioned.

et alioqui quantum esse debet quod innumerabiles gentes subinde sedem mutantes capiat? unde ulteriorem mensuram inhabitabilis plagae multo esse maiorem arbitror. nam et a Germania inmensas insulas non pridem conpertas cognitum habeo.

and otherwise, how great must that be which can receive innumerable nations repeatedly changing their seat? whence I judge that the further measure of the uninhabitable tract is much greater. for I also know that off Germany immense islands, not long ago ascertained, have been discovered.

[247] De longitudine ac latitudine haec sunt, quae digna memoratu putem. universum autem circuitum Eratosthenes, in omnium quidem litterarum subtitlitate, set in hac utique praeter ceteros solers, quem cunctis probari video, CCLII milium stadiorum prodidit, quae mensura Romana conputatione efficit trentiens quindeciens centena milia passuum: inprobum ausum, verum ita subtili argumentatione conprehensum, ut pudeat non credere. Hipparchus, et in coarguendo eo et in reliqua omni diligentia mirus, adicit stadiorum paulo minus |XXVI|.

[247] About length and breadth, these are the things which I think worthy of mention. As for the entire circuit, Eratosthenes—indeed in the subtlety of all learning, but in this matter especially more skillful than others, whom I see approved by all—reported 252,000 stadia; which measure, in Roman computation, makes 31,500 miles: a prodigious venture, but so encompassed by subtle argumentation that one is ashamed not to believe. Hipparchus—marvelous both in refuting him and in every other diligence—adds a little less than |26| thousand stadia.

[248] alia Dionysidoro fides. neque enim subtraham exemplum scientia nobilis; senecta diem obiit in patria. funus duxere either propinquae, ad quas pertinebat hereditas.

[248] Another authority is Dionysidorus. For I will not withhold an example of noble science; in old age he met his day in his fatherland. His kinswomen, to whom the inheritance pertained, led the funeral.

hae cum secutis diebus iusta peragerent, invenisse dicuntur scriptam: pervenisse eum a sepulchro ad infimam terram; esse eo stadiorum |XLII|. nec defuere geometrae qui interpretarentur, significare epistulam a medio terrarum orbe missam, quod deorsum ab summo longissimum esset spatium et idem pilae medium. ex quo consecuta conputatio est, ut circuitum esse |CCLII| stadiorum pronuntiarent. Harmonica ratio, quae cogit rerum naturam sibi ipsam congruere, addit huic mensurae stadiorum |XII| terramque XCVI partem totius mundi facit.

when, in the days that followed, they were performing the due rites, they are said to have found a writing: that he had reached from the tomb to the inmost earth; that the distance there was |42| stadia. nor were geometers lacking who interpreted that the letter signified it had been sent from the middle of the orb of lands, since the longest space is downward from the top and the same is the ball’s center. from this a computation followed, so that they pronounced the circuit to be |252| stadia. the Harmonic ratio, which compels the nature of things to be congruent with itself, adds to this measure |12| stadia and makes the earth the 96th part of the whole world.