50 plint's i^atueal histoet. [Book II. 



renders it redder, a windj planet gives it a lowering aspect, 

 while the sun, at the union of their apsides, or the extremity 

 of their orbits, completely obscures them. Each of the 

 planets has its peculiar colour^; Saturn is white, Jupiter 

 brilliant. Mars fiery, Lucifer is glowing, Yesper refulgent, 

 Mercury sparkling, the Moon mild ; the Sun, when he rises, 

 is blazing, afterwards he becomes radiating. The appearance 

 of the stars, which are fixed in the firmament, is also affected 

 by these causes. At one time we see a dense cluster of stars 

 around the moon, when she is only half-enlightened, and 

 when they are viewed in a serene evening ; while, at another 

 time, when the moon is full, there are so few to be seen, that 

 we wonder whither they are fled; and this is also the case when 

 the rays of the sim, or of any of the above-mentioned bodies^, 

 have dazzled our sight. And, indeed, the moon herself is, 

 without doubt, differently affected at different times by the 

 rays of the sun ; when she is entering them, the convexity 

 of the heavens^ rendering them more feeble than when they 

 fall upon her more directly'*. Hence, when she is at a right 

 angle to the sun, she is half-enlightened ; when in the trine 

 aspect, she presents an imperfect orb^, while, in opposition, 

 she is full. Again, when she is waning, she goes through 

 the same gradations, and in the same order, as the three stars 

 that are superior to the sun^. 



CHAP. 17. (19.) — OP THE MOTION OP THE SUK AT^D THE CAUSE 

 OP THE IBEEGULAEITY OP THE DATS. 



The Sun himself is in four different states ; twice the night 



^ Ptolemy's account of the colours of the planets is nearly similar to 

 that of our author ; " Candidus color Joviahs est, rutilus Martius, flavus 

 Yeneris, varius Mercurii ; " De Jur. Astrol. ii. 9. 



2 This effect cannot be produced by any of the planets, except perhaps, 

 to a certain extent, by Yenus. 3 « mundi." 



■♦ It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the method which Pliny 

 employs to explain the different phases of the moon betrays his ignorance, 

 not only of the cause of these particular phsenomena, but of the general 

 principles which affect f;he appearance of the heavenly bodies. 



^ " seminani ambitur orbe." According to the interpretation of Har- 

 douin, " Orbe non perfecto et absoluto ; " " major dimidia, minor plena ; " 

 Lemaire, ii. 284. 



^ As Alexandre justly remarks, our author refers here to the aspects 

 only of the planets, not to their phases j ii. 284. 



