18 plikt's NATTJEAL HISTOET. [Book II. 



were, witloi the stars, as Yarro suggests ^ In confirmation of 

 this idea we may adduce the Zodiac^, in which are twelve 

 figures of animals ; through them it is that the sun has con- 

 tinued its course for so many ages. 



CHAP. 4. (5.) — or THE ELEMENTS^ AlfD THE PLAISTETS^. 



I do not find that any one has doubted that there are 

 four elements. The highest of these is supposed to be fire, 

 and hence proceed the eyes of so many glittering stars. The 

 next is that spirit, which both the Greeks and ourselves call 

 by the same name, air^. It is by the force of this vital prin- 

 cijDle, pervading all things and mingling with all, that the 

 earth, together with the fourth element, water, is balanced in 



^ De Ling. Lat. lib. iv. p. 7, 8. See also the remarks on the derivation of 

 the word in Gresner, Thes., in loco. 



2 "Signifer." The EngHsh term is taken from the Greek word 

 Zw^iaKos, derived from Zwov ; see Aristotle, De Mundo, cap. 2. p. 602. 

 The word Zodiacus does not occur in PHny, nor is it employed by 

 Ptolemy ; he names it Xo^os kvkXos, obliquus circidus ; Magn. Const, i. 

 7, 13, et alibi. It is used by Cicero, but professedly as a Greek term ; 

 Divm. ii. 89, and Arati Phsenom. 1. 317. It occurs in Hyginus, p. 57 

 et alibi, and in A. GeUius, 13. 9. Neither signifer taken substantively, 

 nor zodiacus occur in Lucretius or in Manihus. 



3 The accoxmt of the elements, of their nature, difference, and, more 

 especially, the necessity of their being four, are folly discussed by 

 Aristotle in various parts of his works, more particularly in his treatise 

 De Coelo, hb. iii. cap. 3, 4 and 5, lib. iv. cap. 5, and De Gener. et Cor. 

 hb. ii. cap. 2, 3, 4 and 5. For a judicious summary of the opinions of 

 Aristotle on this subject, I may refer to Stanley's History of Philosophy; 

 Aristotle, doctrines of, p. 2. 1. 7, and to Enfield, i. 764 et seq. For 

 the Epicm'ean doctrine, see Lucretius, i. 764 et seq. 



^ Although the word planeta, as taken from the Greek TrXavfjrrjs, is 

 inserted in the title of this chapter, it does not occur in any part of the 

 text. It is not found either in Lucretius, Manihus, or Seneca, nor, I 

 beheve, was it used by any of their contemporaries, except Hyginus, p. 76. 

 The planets were generally styled stellcs erraticce, errantes, or vagce^ 

 sidera palantia, as in Lucretius, ii. 1030, or simply the five stars, as in 

 Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 51, and in Seneca, Nat. Qusest. vii. 24. PHny, 

 by including the sun and moon, makes the number seven. Ai-atus calls 

 them TrevT dffrepes, 1. 454. 



^ " Aer." " Circumfasa undique est (terra) hac animabili spirabilique 

 natura, cui nomen est aer ; Grsecmn illud quidem, sed perceptum jam 

 tamen usu a nobis ;" Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 91. 



