XXVII. And as the beginnings and endings of all things are of the greatest importance, therefore they would have their sacrifices to begin with Janus.* His name is derived a6 eundo, from passing; from whence thorough passages are called yanz; and the outward doors of common houses are called yanuew. The name of Vesta is, from the Greeks, the same with their ‘Eoria. Her province is over altars and hearths; and in the name of this goddess, who is the keeper of all things within, prayers and sacrifices are concluded. The Dw Penates, “household gods,” have some affinity with this power, and are so called either from penus, “all kind of human provisions,” or because penitus insident, “they reside within,” from which, by the poets, they are called penetrales also. Apollo, a Greek name, is called Sol, the sun; and Diana, Luna, the moon. The sun (so/) is so named either because he is solus, alone, so eminent above all the stars; or: because he obscures all the stars, and appears alone as soon.
1 From the verb gero, to bear.? That is, “mother earth.”
% Janus is said to be the first who erected temples in Italy, and ‘in-. stituted religious rites, and from whom the first month in the Roman calendar is derived.
b 70 OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS.
as he rises. Lwna, the moon, is so called a lucendo, from shining; she bears the name also of Lucina; and as in Greece the women in labour invoke Diana Lucifera, so here they invoke Juno Lucina. She is likewise called Diana omnwaga, not a venando, from hunting, but because she is reckoned one of the seven stars that seem to wander.! She is called Diana, because she makes.a kind of day of the night;? and presides over births, because the delivery is effected sometimes in seven, or at most in nine courses of the moon; which, because they make mensa spatia, “measured spaces,” are called menses, months. This occasioned a pleasant observa- tion of Timsus (as he has many). Having said in his history, that “the same night in which Alexander was born, the temple of Diana at Ephesus was burned down,” he adds, “it is not ‘in the least to be wondered at, because Diana, being willing to assist at the labour of Olympias,3 was absent from home.” But to this Goddess, because ad ves omnes veniret, “she has an influence upon all things,” we have given the appellation of Venus,* from whom the word venustas, beauty, is rather derived, than Venus from venustas.
XXVIII. Do you not see, therefore, how from the produc- tions of nature, and the useful inventions of men, have arisen fictitious and imaginary Deities; which have been the founda- tion of false opinions, pernicious errors, and wretched super- stitions? For we know how the different forms of the Gods, their ages, apparel, ornaments, their pedigrees, marriages, relations, and everything belonging to them, are adapted to human ‘weakness, and represented with our passions; with lust, sorrow, and anger, according to fabulous history, they have had wars and combats, not only, as Homer relates, when they have interested themselves in two different armies, but when they have fought battles in their own defence against the Titans and giants. These stories, of the greatest weakness 1 Stelle vagantes. ’ - 2 Noctu quasi diem eficeret. Ben Jonson says the same thing,— Thou that mak’st a day of night, Goddess excellently bright.—Ode to the Moon. Be Olympias was the mother of Alexander. - & Venus is here said to be one of the names of Diana, because wits res omnes veniret; but she is not supposed to be the same as the 2 m8 298 of Cupid.
OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS. 71 and levity, are related and believed with tke most implicit foll But, rejecting these fables with iadsbonlas a Deity is dif- fused in every part of nature; in earth under the name of Ceres, in the sea under the name of N eptune, in other parts under other names. Yet whatever they are, and whatever characters and dispositions they have, and whatever name custom has given them, we are. bound. to worship and adore them. ‘The best, the ‘chastest, the most sacred and pious worship of the Gods, is to reverence them always with a pure, perfect, and unpolluted mind and voice; for our ancestors, as well as the philosophers, have separated superstition from religion. They, who prayed whole days and sacrificed, that their children might survive them, (ut superstites essent,) were called superstitious, which word became afterwards more general; but they who diligently perused, and, as we may say, read or practised over again, all the duties relating to the worship of the Gods, were called religiost, religious, from relegendo, “reading over again, or practising;” as elegantes, elegant, ex eligendo, “from choosing, making a good choice;” diligentes, diligent, ex diligendo, “from attending on what we love;” intelligentes, intelligent, from understanding, for the signification is derived in the same manner. ‘Thus are the words superstitious and religious understood; the one being a term of reproach, the other of commendation. I think I have now sufficiently. demonstrated that there are Gods, and what they are.
XXTX. Iam now to show that the world is governed. by. the providence of the Gods. ‘This is an important point, which you Academics endeavour to confound; and, indeed, the whole contest is with you, Cotta; for your sect, Velleius, know very little of what is said on. different subjects by other schools. You read and have a taste only for your own books, and condemn all others without examination. For instance, ‘when you mentioned yesterday’ that prophetic old dame Tpévova, Providence, invented by the Stoics, you were led into that error by imagining that Providence was made by them to be a particular Deity that governs the whole universe, 1 Here is a mistake, as Fulvius Ursinus observes; for the discourse seems to be continued in one day, as appears from the eter of this book, This may be an rr of: ne y by OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS.
whereas it is only spoken in a short manner; as when it is said, “the commonwealth of Athens is governed by the council,” it is meant “of the Areopagus;”! so when we say “the world is governed by providence,” we mean “by the pro- vidence of the Gods.” ‘To express ourselves, therefore, more fully and clearly, we say, “the world is governed by the providence of the Gods.” Be not, therefore, lavish of your railleries, of which your sect has little to spare: if I may advise you, do not attempt it. It does not become you, it is not your talent, nor isit in your power. This is not applied to you in particular, who have the education and politeness of a Roman, but to all your sect in general, and especially to your leader,’—a man unpolished, illiterate, insulting, without wit, without reputation, without elegance.
XXX. I assert, then, that the universe, with all its parts, was originally constituted, and has, without any cessation, been ever governed by the providence of the Gods. This argument we Stoics commonly divide into three parts; the first of which is, that the existence of the Gods being once known, it must follow, that the world is governed by their wisdom; the second, that as everything is under the direction of an intelligent nature, which has produced that beautiful order in the world, it is evident that it is formed from ani- mating principles; the third is deduced from those glorious - works, which we behold in the heavens and the earth.
First, then, we must either deny the existence of the Gods (as Democritus and Epicurus by their doctrine of images in some sort do), or, if we acknowledge that there are Gods, we must believe they are employed, and that, too, in something excellent. Now nothing is so excellent as the administration of the universe. The universe, therefore, is governed by the wisdom of the Gods. Otherwise, we must imagine that there is some cause superior to the Deity, whether it be a nature inanimate, or a necessity agitated by a mighty force, that produces those beautiful works which we behold. The nature of the Gods would then be neither supreme nor excellent, if you subject it to that necessity or to that nature, by which you would make the heaven, the earth, and the seas to be governed. But there is nothing superior to the Deity; the 1 The senate of Athens was so called from the words ”Apeios Mdéyos, the Village, some say the Hill of Mars, 2 Epicurus, | OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS, rg world, therefore, must be governed by him; consequently, the Deity is under no obedience or subjection to nature, but does himself rule over all nature. In effect, if we allow the Gods have understanding, we allow also their providence, which regards the most important things; for, can they be ignorant of those important things, and how they are to be conducted and preserved, or do they want power to sustain and direct them? Ignorance is inconsistent with the nature of the Gods, and imbecility is repugnant to their majesty. From whence it follows, as we assert, that the world is governed by the providence of the Gods.
XXXI. But supposing, which is incontestable, that there are Gods, they must be animated, and not only animated, but endowed with reason, united, as we may say, in a civil agree- ment and society, and governing together one universe, as a republic or city. Thus the same reason, the same verity, the same law, which ordains good and prohibits evil, exists in the Gods as it does in men. From them, consequently, we have prudence and understanding, for which reason our ancestors erected temples to the Miud, Faith, Virtue, and Concord. Shall we not, then, allow the Gods to have these perfections, since we worship the sacred and august images of them? But if. understanding, faith, virtue, and concord reside in human kind, how could they come on earth, unless from heaven? And if we are possessed of wisdom, reason, and prudence, the Gods must have the same qualities in a greater degree; and not only have them, but employ them in the best and greatest works. The universe is the best and greatest work, therefore it must be governed by the wisdom and providence of the Gods, Lastly, as we have sufficiently shown that those glorious and luminous bodies which we behold are Deities, I mean the sun, the moon, the fixed and wandering stars, the firmament, and the world itself, and those other things also which have any singular virtue, and are of any great utility to human kind, it follows that all things are governed by providence and a divine mind. But enough has been said on the first art. | : XXXII. It is now incumbent on me to prove that all things are subjected to.nature, and most beautifully directed by her. But, first of all, it is proper to explain precisely 74 OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS.
what that nature is, in order to come to the more easy under- standing of what I would demonstrate. Some think that nature is a certain irrational power exciting in bodies the necessary motions. Others, that it is an intelligent power, acting by order and method, designing some end in every cause, and always aiming at that end; whose works express such skill, as no art, no hand can imitate; for, they say, such is the virtue of its seed, that, however small it is, if it falls into a place proper for its reception, and meets with matter conducive to its nourishment and increase, it forms and pro- duces everything in its respective kind; either vegetables, ‘which receive their nourishment from their roots; or animals, endowed with motion, sense, appetite, and abilities to beget their likeness.
Some apply the word nature to everything; as Epicurus does, who acknowledges no cause, but atoms, a vacuum, and their accidents. But when we! say that nature forms and governs the world, we do not apply it to a clod of earth, or piece of stone, or anything of that sort, whose parts have not the necessary cohesion,” but to a tree, in which there is not the appearance of chance, but of order, and a resem- blance of art.
XXXII. But if the art of nature gives life and increase to vegetables, without doubt it supports the earth itself; for, being impregnated with seeds, she produces every kind of vegetable, and embracing their roots, she nourishes and in- creases them; while, in her turn, she receives her nourish- ment from the other elements, and by her exhalations gives proper sustenance to the air, the sky, and all the superior bodies. If nature gives vigour and support to the earth, by the same reason she has an influence over the rest of the world; for, as the earth gives nourishment to vegetables, so the air is the preservation of animals. The air sees with us, hears with us, and utters sounds with us; without it, there _ 1 The Stoics.
- 2 By nulla coherendi natura, if it is the right, as + is the common reading, Cicero must mean the same as by nulla crescendi natura, or coalescendi, either of which Lambinus proposes; for, as the same learned critic well. observes, is there not a cohesion of parts in a clod, or ina piece of stone? Our learned Walker proposes sola coherendi “natura, which mends the sense very much; and 4 wish he nual the Be" of | any copy for it.
OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS. 1 would be no seeing, hearing,or sounding. It even moves with us; for wherever we go, whatever motion we make, it seéms to retire and give place to us.
That which inclines to the centre, that which rises from it to the surface, and that which rolls about the centre, con- stitute the universal world, and make one entire nature; and as there are four sorts of bodies, the continuance of nature is caused by their reciprocal changes; for the water arises from the earth, the air from the water, and the fire from the air; and reversing this order, the air arises from fire, the water from the air, and from the water the earth, the lowest of the four elements, of which all beings are formed. Thus by their con- tinual motions backwards and forwards, upwards and down- wards, the conjunction of the several parts of the universe is preserved; an union which, in the beauty we now behold it, must be eternal, or at least of a very long duration, and almost for an infinite space of time; and, whichever it is, the universe must of consequence be governed by nature. For what art of navigating fleets, or of marshalling an army, and, - to instance the produce of nature, what vine, what tree, what animated form and conformation of their members, give us so great an indication of skill as appears in the universe? There- fore we must either deny that there is the least trace of an intelligent nature, or acknowledge that the world is governed by it. But since the universe contains all particular beings, as well as their seeds, can we say that it is not itself governed by nature? That would be the same as saying that the teeth and the beard of man are. the work of nature, but that the man himself is not. Thus the effect would be understood to be greater than the cause. | XXXIV. Now the universe sows, as I may say, plants, produces, raises, nourishes, and preserves, what nature admi- nisters, as members and parts of itself. If nature therefore governs them, she must also govern the universe, And lastly, in nature’s administration there is nothing faulty. She pro- duced the best possible effect out of those elements which existed. Let any one show how it could have been better. But that can never be; and whoever attempts to mend it, will either make it worse, or aim at impossibilities.
, But if all the parts of the universe are so constituted that nothing could be better for use or beauty, let us consider 76 OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS, whether this is the effect of chance, or whether, in such a state, they could possibly cohere, but by the direction of wisdom and divine providence. Nature therefore cannot be void of reason, if art can bring nothing to perfection without it, and if the works of nature exceed those of art. How is it con- sistent with common sense, that when you view an image or a picture, you imagine it is wrought by art; when you behold afar off a ship under sail, you judge it is steered by reason and art; when you see a dial or water-clock,' you believe the hours are shown by art, and not by chance; and yet that you should imagine that the universe, which contains all arts and the artificers, can be void of reason and understanding? But if that sphere, which was lately made by our friend Posidonius, the regular revolutions of which show the course of the sun, moon, and five wandering stars, as it 1s every day and night performed, were carried into Scythia or Britain, who, in those barbarous countries, would doubt that that sphere had been made so perfect by the exertion of reason? XXXYV. Yet these people? doubt whether the universe, from whence all things arise and are made, is not the effect of chance, or some necessity, rather than the work of reason and a divine mind. According to them, Archimedes shows more knowledge in representing the motions of the celestial globe than nature does in causing them, though the copy is so infinitely beneath the original. The shepherd i in Attius,? who had never seen a ship, when he perceived from a moun- tain afar off the divine vessel of the Argonauts, surprised and frighted at this new object, expressed himself in this manner:— What horrid bulk is that before my eyes, Which o’er the deep with noise and vigour flies: It turns the whirlpoels up, its force so strong, And drives the billows as it rolls along.
The ocean's violence it fiercely braves; Runs furious on, and throws about the waves, Swiftly impetuous in its course, and Joud, Like the dire bursting of a show’ry cloud; 1 Nasica Scipio, the censor, is said to have been the first who made a water-clock in Rome.
2 The Epicureans, .* An old Latin poet, commended by Quintilian for the gravity of his sense, and his loftiness of styles = ~T OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS.
¢ Or, like a rock, forced by the winds and rain, Now whirl'd aloft, then plunged into thé main.
But hold, perhaps the Earth and Neptune jar, And fiercely wage an elemental war; Or Triton with his trident has o’erthrown His den, and loosen’d from the roots the stone; The rocky fragment, from the bottom torn, ‘Ts lifted up, and on the surface borne. At first, he is in suspense at the sight of this unknown object; but on seeing the young mariners, and hearing their singing, he says, | Like sportive dolphins, with their snouts they roar; and afterwards goes on— Loud in my ears methinks their voices ring, As if I heard the god Sylvanus sing.
As at first view the shepherd thinks he sees something in- animate and insensible, but afterwards, judging by more trustworthy indications, he begins to figure to himself what it is; so philosophers, if they are surprised at first at the sight of the universe, ought, when they have considered the regular, uniform, and immutable motions of it, to conceive that there is some Being, that is not only an inhabitant of this celestial and divine mansion, but a ruler and a governor, as architect of this mighty fabric.
XXXVI. Now, in my opinion, they? do not seem to have even the least suspicion that the heavens and earth afford any- thing marvellous. For in the first place, the earth is situated in the middle part of the universe, and is surrounded on all sides by the air, which we breathe, and which is called “aer,”® which indeed is a Greek word, but by constant use it is well understood by our countrymen, for indeed it is employed as a Latin word. The air is encompassed by the boundless gether (sky), which consists of the fires above. This word we borrow also, for we use cether in Latin as well as aer; though Pacuvius thus expresses it,— This, of which I speak, In Latin ’s celum, ether call’d in Greek.
1 The shepherd is here supposed to take the stem or beak of the ship for the mouth, from which the roaring voices of the sailors came. Rostrum is here a lucky word to put in the mouth of one who never saw a ship before, as it is used for the beak of a bird, the snout of a beast or fish, and for the stem of a ship.
_* The Epicureans. * Greek, ahp, Latin, aer.
78 OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS.
As though he were not a Greek into whose mouth he puts this sentence; but he is speaking in Latin, though we listen as if he were speaking Greek; for, as he says elsewhere,—- His speech discovers him a Grecian born.
But to return to more important matters. In the sky innumerable fiery stars exist, of which the sun is the chief, en- lightening all with his refulgent splendour, and being by many degrees larger than the whole earth; and this multitude of vast fires are so far from hurting the earth, and things terres- trial, that they are of benefit to them; whereas, if they were moved from their stations, we should inevitably be burnt, through the want of a proper moderation and temperature of heat.
XXXVITI. Is it possible for any man to behold these things, and yet imagine that certain solid and individual bodies move by their natural force and gravitation, and that a world so beautifully adorned was made by their fortuitous concourse? He who believes this, may as well believe, that if a great quantity of the one-and-twenty letters, composed either of gold, or any other matter, were thrown upon the ground, they would fall into such order as legibly to form the Annals of Ennius. I doubt whether fortune could make a single verse of them. How therefore can these people assert that the world was made by the fortuitous concourse of atoms, which have no colour, no quality, which the Greeks call mourns, no sense? or that there are innumerable worlds, some rising and some perishing, in every moment of time? But if a concourse of atoms can make a world, why not a porch, a temple, a house, a city, which are works of less labour and difficulty?
Certainly those men talk so idly and inconsiderately con- cerning this lower world, that they appear to me never to have contemplated the wonderful magnificence of the heavens; which is the next topic for our consideration.
Well, then, did Aristotle’ observe: “ If there were men whose habitations had been always under ground, in great and commodious houses, adorned with statues and pictures, furnished with everything which they who are reputed happy abound with; and if, without stirring from thence, 1 The treatise of Arietoite, from whence this is taken, is lost, ~ ~ Cm 2a OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS. 79 they should be informed of a certain divine power and majesty, and, after some time, the earth should open, and they should quit their dark abode to come to us; where they should immediately behold the earth, the seas, the heavens; should consider the vast extent of the clouds and force of the winds; should see the sun, and observe his grandeur and beauty, and also his generative power, inasmuch as day is occasioned by the diffusion of his light through the sky; and when night has obscured the earth, they should contemplate ° the heavens bespangled and adorned with stars; the surpris- ing variety of the moon, in her increase and wane; the rising and setting of all the stars, and the inviolable regularity of their courses; when,” says he, “they should see these things, they would undoubtedly conclude that there are Gods, and that these are their mighty works.”
XXXVIII. Thus far Aristotle. Let us imagine also as great darkness as was formerly occasioned by the irruption of the fires of Mount Aitna, which are said to have obscured the adjacent countries for two days to such a degree that no man could recognise his fellow; but on the third, when the sun appeared, they seemed to be risen from the dead. Now, if we should be suddenly brought from a state of eternal darkness to see the light, how beautiful would the heavens seem! Buti our minds have become used to it from the daily practice and habituation of our eyes, nor do we take the trouble to search: into the principles of what is always in view; as if the novelty, rather than the importance of things, ought to excite us to investigate their causes.: Is he worthy to be called a man, who attributes to chance, not to an intelligent cause, the constant motion of the heavens, the regular courses of the stars, the agreeable pro-: portion and connexion of all things, conducted with so much reason, that our intellect itself is unable to estimate it rightly? When we see machines move artificially, as a sphere, a clock, or the like, do we doubt whether they are the productions of reason? And when we behold the heavens moving with a prodigious celerity, and causing an annual succession of the different seasons of the year, which vivify and preserve all things, can we doubt that this world is directed, I will not say only by reason, but by reason most excellent and divine? For without troubling ourselves with too refined a subtlety 80 _ OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS.
of discussion, we may use our eyes to contemplate the beauty of those things, which we assert have been arranged by divine providence.
XXXIX. First, let us examine the earth, whose situation is in the middle of the universe,’ solid, round, and conglobular by its natural tendency; clothed with flowers, herbs, trees, and fruits; the whole in multitudes incredible, and with a yariety suitable to every taste: Let us consider the ever cool - and running springs, the clear waters of the rivers, the ver- dure of their banks, the hollow depths of caves, the cragginess of rocks, the heights of impending mountains, and the bound- less extent of plains, the hidden veins of gold and silver, and the infinite quarries of marble.
What and how various are the kinds of animals, tame or wild? The flights and notes of birds? How do the beasts live in the fields, and in the forests? What shall I say of men, who being appointed, as we may say, to cultivate the earth, do not suffer its fertility to be choked with weeds, nor the ferocity of beasts to make it desolate; who, by the houses and cities which they build, adorn the fields, the isles, and the shores? If we could view these objects with the naked eye, as — we can by the contemplation of the mind, nobody, at such a sight, would doubt there was a divine intelligence.
But how beautiful is the sea! How pleasant to see the extent of it! What a multitude and variety of islands! How delightful are the coasts! What numbers and what diversity ef inhabitants does it contain; some within the bosom of it, some floating on the surface, and others by their shells cleav- ing to the rocks! While the sea itself, approaching to the land, sports so closely to its shores, that those two elements appear to be but one.
Next above the sea is the air, diversified by diny and night; when rarified, it possesses the higher region; when condensed, it turns into clouds, and with the waters which it eathers enriches the earth by the rain. Its agitation produces the | winds. It causes heat and cold according to the different seasons. It sustains birds in their flight; and, being inhaled, nourishes and preserves all animated beings.
1 To the universe the Stoics certainly annexed the idea of a limited space, otherwise they could not have talked of a middle; for there can be no middle but of a limited space; infinite space can have no middle, there being infinite extension from every part.
OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS. 81 XL. Add to these, which alone remaineth to be mentioned, the firmament of heaven; a region the farthest from our abodes, which surrounds and contains all’things. It is like- wise called zether or sky, the extreme bounds and limits of the universe, in which the stars perform their appointed courses in a most wonderful manner. Amongst which, the sun, whose magnitude far surpasses the earth, makes his revolution round it; and by his rising and setting, causes day and night; some- times coming near towards the earth, and sometimes going from it, he every year makes two contrary reversions’ from the extreme point of its course. In his retreat the earth seems locked up in sadness; in his return it appears exhila- rated with the heavens. The moon, which, as mathematicians demonstrate is bigger than half the earth, makes her revolu- tions through the same spaces’ as the sun, but at one time approaching and at another receding from the sun, she dif- fuses the light which she has borrowed from him over the whole earth, and has herself also many various changes in her appearance. When she is found under the sun, and opposite to it, the brightness of her rays is lost; but when the earth directly interposes between the moon and sun, the moon is totally eclipsed. The other wandering stars have their courses round the earth in the same spaces,’ and rise and set in the same manner; their motions are sometimes quick, sometimes slow, and often they stand still. There is nothing more wonderful, nothing more beautiful. There is a vast number of fixed stars, distinguished by the names of certain figures, to which we find they have some resemblance.
XLI. I will here, says Balbus, looking at me, make use of: the verses, which, when you were young, you translated from Aratus,‘ and which, because they are in Latin, gave me so * These two contrary reversions are from the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, They are the extreme bounds of the sun’s course. The reader must observe, that the astronomical parts of this book are intro- duced by the Stoie as proofs of design and reason in the universe; and notwithstanding the errors in his planetary system, his intent is well answered, because all he means is, that the regular motions of the heavenly bodies, and their dependencies, are demonstrations of a divine mind. ‘The inference proposed to be drawn from his astronomical obser- vations is as just as if his system was in every part unexceptionably right; the same may be said of his anatomical observations. 2 In the zodiae. 3 [bid,.
_* These verses of Cicero are a translation from a Greek poem of Aratus, called the Phenomena.
DE NAT. ETC, G ae OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS, much delight that I have many of them still in my memory. As then we daily see, without any change or variation— = the rest! _ Swiftly pursue the course’to which they’re bound; And with the heavens the days and nights go round; the contemplation of which, to a mind desirous of observing the constancy of nature, is inexhaustible.
The extreme top of either point is call’d The pole.?
About this the two “Apxvou are turned, which never set;— Of these, the Greeks one Cynosura call, The other Helice.® The brightest stars* indeed of Helice are discernible all night— | Which are by us Septentriones call’d. Cynosura moves about the same pole, with a like number of stars, and ranged in the same order:— This’ the Phoenicians choose to make their guide, When on the ocean in the night they ride. Adorned with stars of more refulgent light, The other® shines, and first appears at night. Though this is small, sailors its use have found; More inward is its course, and short its round.
cial. ie aspect of those stars is the more admirable: ‘because— | The Dragon grim betwixt them bends his way, As through the winding banks the currents stray, - And up and down in sinuous bending rolls.”
His whole form is excellent; but the shape of his. head and the ardour of his eyes are most. remarkable.
1. The fixed stars. 2 The arctic and antarctic poles.
3 The two Arctoi are northern constellations. Cynosura is what we call the Lesser Bear; Helice the Greater Bear; in Latin Ursa Minor and Ursa Major. ae: * These stars in the Greater Bear are vulgarly called the “seven stars,” or the “northern wain;’ by the Latins “ Septentriones.” | 5 The Lesser Bear. -§ The Greater Bear.
7 Exactly agreeable to this, and the following description of the Dragon, is the same northern constellation described in the map, by Flamsteed in his “ Atlas Coelestis 7’ and all the figures here described by Aratus nearly agree with the maps of the same constellations in the “Atlas Coelestis,” though they are not all placed precisely alike.
” ; OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS. 83 Various the stars which deck his glittering head; . His temples are with double glory spread; From his fierce eyes two fervid lights afar Flash, and his chin shines with one radiant star; Bow’d is his head; and his round neck he bends, And to the tail of Helice'’ extends.
The rest of the Dragon’s body we see” at every hour in the night.
Here? suddenly the head a little hides | Itself, where all its parts, which are in sight,, And those unseen in the same place unite.
Near to this head— — Is placed the figure of a man that moves Weary and sad, which the Greeks— Engonasis do call, because he ’s borne* About with bended knee. Near him is placed The crown with a refulgent lustre graced.
This indeed is at his back; but Anguitenens, the Snake- holder, is near his head;°— The Odeaks him Ophiuchus call, renown’d