Chap. 6.] ACCOIJIfT or THE WOELD. 33 



sume\ On this account she appears with an unequal light, 

 because being full only when she is in opposition, on all the 

 remaining days she shows only so much of herself to the 

 earth as she receives light from the sun^. She is not seen 

 in conjunction, because, at that time, she sends back the 

 whole stream of light to the source whence she has derived 

 it. That the stars generally are nourished by the terrestrial 

 moisture is evident, because, when the moon is only half vi- 

 sible she is sometimes seen spotted, her power of absorbing 

 moisture not ha\dng been powerful enough ; for the spots 

 are nothing else than the dregs of the earth drawTi up along 

 with the moisture^. (10.) But her eclipses and those of the 

 sun, the most wonderful of all the phsenomena of nature, and 

 which are like prodigies, serve to indicate the magnitude of 

 these bodies and the shadow"* which they cast. 



1 It was a general opinion among the ancients, and one which was en- 

 tertained until lately by many of the modems, that the moon possessed 

 the power of evaporating the water of the ocean. This opinion appears 

 to have been derived, at least in part, from the effect which the moon 

 produces on the tides. 



2 "quantum ex sole ipsa concipiat ;" from this passage, taken singly, 

 it might be concluded, that the author supposed the quantity of light 

 received by the moon to differ at different times ; but the succeeding 

 sentence seems to prove that this is not the case ; see the remarks of Alex- 

 andre in Lemaire, ii. 249. Marcus, however, takes a different view of the 

 subject ; Ajasson, ii. 291, 292. He had previously pointed out Pliny's 

 opinion respectmg the phases of the moon, as one of the chcumstances 

 which indicate his ignorance of astronomy, ut supra, ii. 245, 246. 



^ This doctrine is maintained by Seneca, Qua?st. Nat. hb. ii. § 5. p. 701, 

 702. From the allusion which is made to it by Anacreon, in liis 19th 

 ode, we may presimae that it was the current opinion among the ancients. 



^ I may remark, that Poinsinet, in tliis passage, substitutes " umbra " 

 for " iunbrseque," contrary to the authority of all the MSS., merely be- 

 cause it accords better with his ideas of correct reasoning. Although it 

 may be of httle consequence in this particular sentence, yet, as such liber- 

 ties are not unfrequently taken, I think it necessary to state my opinion, 

 that this mode of proceeding is never to be admitted, and that it ha« 

 proved a source of serious injury to classical hterature. In this account 

 of the astronomical phsenomena, as well as in all the other scientific dis- 

 sertations that occur in our author, my aun has been to transfer into oiur 

 language the exact sense of the original, without addition or correction. 

 Our object in reading PUny is not to acquire a knowledge of natural phi-' 

 losophy, which might be better learned from the commonest elementary 

 work of the present day, but to ascertain what were the opinions of the 

 learned on such subjects when Pliny wrote. I make tlua remark, becauna 

 YOL. I. S> 



