58 plint's NATIJEAL HISTOET. [Book IT. 



thing unfavourable respecting music ; if it appears in the 

 parts of the signs referred to the secret members, something 

 respecting lewdness of manners ; something respecting wit 

 and learning, if they form a triangular or quadrangular 

 figure with the position of some of the fixed stars ; and that 

 some one will be poisoned, if they appear in the head of either 

 the northern or the southern serpent. 



Rome is the only place in the whole world where there is 

 a temple dedicated to a comet ; it was thought by the late 

 Emperor Augustus to be auspicious to him, from its appear- 

 ing during the games which he was celebrating in honour of 

 Venus Grenetrix, not long after the death of his father Caesar, 

 in the College which was founded by him\ He expressed 

 .his joy in these terms : " Diu-ing the very time of these games 

 of miQe, a hairy star was seen diu-ing seven days, in the part 

 of the heavens which is under the Great Bear. It rose about 

 the eleventh hour of the day^, was very bright, and was con- 

 spicuous in all parts of the earth. The common people sup- 

 posed the star to indicate, that the soul of Csesar was admitted 

 among the immortal Gods ; under which designation it was 

 that the star was placed on the bust which was lately conse- 

 crated in the forum^." This is what he proclaimed in public, 

 but, in secret, he rejoiced at this auspicious omen, interpreting 

 it as produced for himself; and, to confess the truth, it really 

 proved a salutary omen for the world at large'*. 



Some persons suppose that these stars are permanent, and 

 that they move through their proper orbits, but that they are 

 only visible when they recede from the sun. Others suppose 

 that they are produced by an accidental vapour together 

 with the force of fire, and that, from this circumstance, they 

 are liable to be dissipated^. 



^ " A Julio Csesare. Is enim paulo ante obitton collegium his ludis 

 faciendis instituerat, confecto Veneris templo ; " Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 

 299. Jul. Obsequens refers to a " stella crinita," which appeared during 

 the celebration of these games, cap. 128. 



2 " Hoc est, hora fere integra ante soHs oecasum ; " Hardouin in Le- 

 maire, i. 299. 



2 All these circumstances are detailed by Suetonius, in Juho, § 88. p. 178. 



4 "terris." 



* Seneca remarks, " . . . . quidam nullos esse cometas existimant, sed 

 species illorum per repercussionem vicinorum siderum, .... Quidam aiimt 

 esse quidem, sed habere cursus suos et post certa lustra in conspectum 



