30 PLIKT's TfATUEAL HISTOET. [Book II. 



Juno\ others of Isis, and others of the Mother of the Gods. 

 By its influence everything in the earth is generated. For, 

 as it rises in either direction, it sprinkles everything with 

 its genial dew, and not only matures the productions of the 

 earth, but stimulates all living things^. It completes the 

 circuit of the zodiac in 348 days, never receding from the 

 sun more than 46 degrees, according to Timseus^. 



Similarly circumstanced, but by no means equal in size 

 and in power, next to it, is the star Mercury, by some called 

 Apollo^ ; it is carried in a lower orbit, and moves in a course 

 which is quicker by nine days, shining sometimes before the 

 rising of the sun, and at other times after its setting, but 

 never going farther from it than 23 degrees^, as we learn 

 from Timseus and Sosigenes^. The natiu-e of these two stars 

 is peculiar, and is not the same with those mentioned above, 

 for those are seen to recede from the sun through one-third 

 or one-fourth part of the heavens, and are often seen opposite 

 to it. They have also other larger circuits, in which they 



^ Aristotle informs us, tliat it was called either Phosphorus, Juno, or 

 Venus ; De Mundo, cap. 2. t. i. p. 602. See also Hyginus, Poet. Astr. 

 lib. iii. p. 76, 7 ; and Apuleius, De Mundo, § 710. 



2 It will be scarcely necessary to refer the reader to the weU-known 

 commencement of Lucretius' s poem for the illustration of this passage ; 

 it is remarkable that Pliny does not refer to this writer. 



3 The periodical revolution of Venus is 224*7 days, see note ^, p. 27. Its 

 greatest elongation is 47° 1' ; SomerviUe, § 641. p. 391. 



^ Accorduig to Ai'istotle, tliis planet had the three appellations of 

 Stilbon, Mercury, and Apollo ; De Mundo, cap. 2. p. 602 ; see also Apu- 

 leius, De Mimdo, § 710. Cicero inverts the order of the planets ; he 

 places Mercury next to Mars, and says of Venus, that it is " infima 

 quinque eri'antium, terrseque proxima;" De Nat. Deor. ii. 53. Aristotle 

 places the stars in the same order, ubi supra, and he is followed in this 

 by Apuleius, ubi supra ; this appears to have been the case with the 

 Stoics generally ; see Enfield's Phil. i. 339. 



^ For the periodical revolution of Mercury see note ^, p. 27. Its greatest 

 elongation, according to Playfau*, p. 160, is 28°. Mrs. SomerviUe, 

 p. 386, states it to be 28° 8'. Ptolemy supposed it to be 26*5 degrees ; ; 

 Almagest, ix. 7. We learn from Hardouin, Lemaire, i. 246, that there 

 is considerable variation in the MSS. with respect to the greatest elonga- 

 tion of Mercury. 



^ Sosigenes was an Egyptian mathematician and astronomer, who is 

 said to have assisted Csesar in the formation of his Kalendar, as our 

 author informs us in a subsequent part of his work, xviii. 25 ; see abo 

 Aikin, G-en. Biog., in loco ; Enfield's Plnl. ii. 96 ; WheweU, p. 210 ; and 

 Hardouin's " Index Auctorimi," in Lemaire, i. 213. 



