60 plint's nattjeal histoet. [Book IL 



heavens, in tlie sight of all the people, at noon-daj, when 

 Germanicus Caesar was exhibiting a show of gladiators \ 

 There are two kinds of them ; those which are called Imwpades 

 and those which are called holides, one of which latter was 

 seen during the troubles at Mutina^. They differ from each 

 other in this respect, that the faces produce a long train of 

 light, the fore-part only being on fire ; while the holides, being 

 entirely in a state of combustion, leave a still longer track 

 behind them. 



CHAP. 26. TRABES CELESTES ; CHASMA CCELI. 



The trabes also, which are named ^ofcoi', shine in the same 

 manner ; one of these was seen at the time when the Lace- 

 daemonians, by being conquered at sea, lost their influence 

 in Grreece. An opening sometimes takes place in the firma- 

 ment, which is named chasma^. 



CHAP. 27. (27.) — OF THE COLOTFES OF THE SKY AND OF 

 CELESTIAL FLAME. 



There is a flame of a bloody appearance (and nothing is 



^ Seneca refers to tliis meteor ; " Yidimus non semel flammani ingenti 

 pHse specie, quse tamen in ipso cursu suo dissipata est ... . nee Grermanici 

 mors sine tali demonstratione fuit ; " Nat. Qusest. lib. i. cap. 1. p. 683. 



2 This meteor is mentioned by Dion Cassius, lib. xlv. p. 278, but is 

 desci'ibed by him as a lampas. 



3 We may presume that the trabes are, for the most part, to be referred 

 to the aurora boreahs. The chasma and the appearances described in 

 the twenty- seventh chapter are probably varieties of this meteor. On 

 these phsenomena we have the following remarks by Seneca : " Lucem in 

 aere, seu quamdam albedinem, angustam quidem, sed oblongam, de 

 noctu quandoque visam, sereno coelo, si parallelo situ sit, Trabem vocant ; 

 si perpendiculari, Columnam ; si, cum cuspide Bolida, sive Jaculum." Nat. 

 Qusest. vii. 4, and again, vii. 5, " Trabes autem non transcurrunt nee prse- 

 tervolant, ut faces, sed commorantiu*, et in eadem parte coeli collucent." 



^ Seneca describes this meteor, uhi supra, i. 14. " Sunt chasmata, cum 

 aliquando coeU spatium discedit, et flammam dehiscens velut in abdito 

 ostentat. Colores quoque horum omnium plurimi sunt. Quidam ruboris 

 acerritni, quidam evanidse et levis flammge, quidam candidse lucis, quidam 

 micantes, quidam sequabihter et sine eruptionibus aut radiis fulvi." Ari- 

 stotle's accoimt of chasmata is contained in his Meteor. Hb. i. cap. 5. 

 p. 534. 



