xi DIFFERENT KINDS OF COMETS 283 



XI 



LET us now say good-bye to Epigenes, and proceed i 

 to examine the opinions of other writers. But 

 before beginning to set them forth, I must first, by 

 way of preface, remark that comets are not observed 

 only in one part of the sky, nor merely in the 

 zodiac, but in the east as well as in the west, more 

 frequently, however, toward the north. Nor is 2 

 their shape uniform. The Greeks, indeed, dis 

 tinguished three classes of them : those from which 

 the flame hangs down, after the fashion of a beard ; 

 those that shoot out what looks like hair round them 

 on all sides ; and those which have a scattered kind 

 of fire, which, however, stretches toward an apex. 1 

 But all the classes have a common characteristic, 

 and are rightly called comets (i.e. long-haired). As 

 the different shapes present themselves only at long 

 intervals, it is difficult to compare them with one 

 another. Even at the time of their appearance 3 

 spectators are not agreed as to their shape. Ac 

 cording as one s eyesight is keener or duller, one 

 asserts that the comet is brighter or redder, and 

 that its hair is compressed toward the interior of the 

 star, or spread out toward its sides. But whether 

 or not there are any differences in comets, they 

 must all be produced by the same method. The 4 

 one fact about which there ought to be agreement 

 is, that a star of strange unwonted appearance is 

 beheld which drags along with it scattered fire. 

 Some of the ancients are convinced of the truth of 

 this explanation : When one of the planets has 

 come into conjunction with another, the light of the 



1 I.e. are cone-shaped. 



