Far Eastern and Classical Antiquity 39 



and hot and earthy, among which fire is generated. It then streams 

 down in pursuit of fuel to sustain it, and therefore is hurried rapidly 

 along. The reason for the differences of colour it presents lies in the 

 nature of the material set on fire and in the degree of violence of the 

 conflagration. . . . 



How, some one further inquires, are those bright gleams of light 

 which the Greeks call Sela (luminosities) produced? In many ways, 

 people say. They may arise from the violence of the winds, or from the 

 fervent heat of the upper heavens. Fire is a very widely diffused element 

 there, and sometimes catches the lower regions if they are combustible. 

 The mere motion of the stars in their courses may kindle fire, and 

 convey it to all that lies beneath them. Nay, is it not quite possible that 

 the atmosphere should drive up even to the ether the germs of fire, from 

 which may arise a glow or burning or darting resembling a star? 



Seneca was not certain whether beams (trabes) and barrel-meteors 

 (pithiae) should be placed among the sela but was certain that, 



Among these [luminosities] should certainly be placed a phenomenon 

 of which we often read in the chronicles— the heavens appeared to be on 

 fire. The blaze of it is occasionally so high as to mount to the very 

 stars; occasionally it is so low as to present the appearance of a distant 

 fire. In the reign of Tiberius Caesar the fire brigade hurried off to the 

 relief of the colony at Ostia, supposing it to be in flames; during the 

 greater part of the night there had been a dull glow in the sky, which 

 appeared to proceed from a thick smoky fire. No one has any doubt 

 that these burnings in the heavens contain flame as really as they dis- 

 play it: they have a certain substance in them. 



Seneca then pointed out that the above luminescences were real 

 fires, very different from rainbows, halos, and mock-suns, which 

 involved reflection rather than emission of light. 



Perhaps it is fitting that the poet Lucan (Marcus Annaeus 

 Lucanus, a. d. 38-65) , nephew of Seneca the philosopher, appointed 

 quaestor and augur by Nero, should have included the description 

 of an aurora in his Pharsalia (Book I, lines 582-91) : ^°^ 



The angry gods filled earth and air and sea 



With frequent prodigies; in darkest nights 



Strange constellations sparkled through the gloom; 



The pole was all afire, and torches flew 



Across the depths of heaven; with horrid hair 



A blazing comet stretched from east to west 



And threatened change to kingdoms. From the blue 



Pale lightning flashed, and in the murky air 



The fire took divers shapes; a lance afar 



Would seem to quiver or a misty torch; 



From the translation of Sir Edward Ridley (1896) , 2nd ed., 1905. 



