Cliap. 6.] ACCOUNT OF THE WOELD. 27 



Afterwards Cleostratus made the signs in it, first marking 

 tliose of Aries and Sagittarius ; Atlas bad formed the sphere 

 long before this time^ But now, leaving the further con- 

 sideration of this subject, we must treat of the bodies that 

 are situated between the earth and the heavens". 



It is certain that the star called Saturn is the highest, and 

 therefore appears the smallest, that he passes through the 

 largest circuit, and that he is at least thirty years in com- 

 pleting it^. The course of all the planets, and among others 

 of the Sun, and the Moon, is in the contrary direction to 

 that of the heavens"*, that is towards the left, while the hea- 



the same work by Scott of Aberdeen. I may remark, that these two 

 accoruits do not quite agree in their estimate of liis merits ; the latter 

 author considers his opinions moi'e coiTect. We have also an accoimt of 

 Anaxunander in Stanley, pt. 2. p. 1 et seq., and in Enfield, i. 154 et seq. 



^ In the translation of Ajasson, ii. 261-7, we have some valuable ob- 

 servations by Marcus, respecting the origm and progress of astronomy 

 among the Greeks, and the share wliich the mdividuals mentioned in the 

 text respectively had in its advancement ; also some interestmg remarks 

 on the history of Atlas. Diodorus Siculus says, that " he was the fu*st 

 that discovered the knowledge of the sphere ; whence arose the common 

 opinion, that he cari'ied the world upon lus shoulders." Booth's trans, 

 p. 115. 



- " nvmc relicto mundi ipsius corpore, rchqua mter ca?lum teiTasque 

 tract entm'." I have already had occasion to remark upon the various 

 modes in which the author uses the word mundus ; by caelum, in this 

 passage, he means the body or region beyond the planets, wliich is con- 

 ceived to contain the fixed stars. Splicer a, m the preceding sentence, 

 may be supposed to mean the celestial globe. 



3 " ac trigesimo anno ad brevissima sedis suae principia rogi'cdi;" I 

 confess myself luiable to offer any hteral explanation of this passage ; nor 

 do the remarks of the commentators appear to me satisfactory ; see Har- 

 douin and Alexandi'e in Lemaire, ii. 241, 2. It is translated by Ajasson 

 " en trcnte ans il reviens a I'espace minime d'oii il est parti." The pe- 

 riod of the sidereal revolutions of the planets, as stated by IVIrs. Somer- 

 ville, in her "Mechanism of the Heavens," and by Sir J. Ilerschel, in 

 his " Treatise on Astronomy," are respectively as follows : — 



Mercury . . . 



Venus 



Earth 



Mars 



Saturn 10759-4 



Somerville, p. 358. 

 ^ "'mundo;' hoc est, ca?lo inerrantium stcUarum." llardouin, in 

 Lemaire, ii. 242. 



