212 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



at prcelium incipiant, circumspectant. Pudor deinde commovit 

 aciem, et clamore sublato indigne in unum hostem 9 tela conji- 

 ciunt. Qua quum in objecto cuncta scuto hsesissent, neque ille 

 minus obstinatus ingenti pontem obtineret gradu, jam impetu 

 conabantur 10 detrudere virum, quum simul fragor rupti pontis, 

 simul clamor Eromanorum alacritate perfecti operis sublatus, 

 pavore subito impetum sustinuit. Turn Codes, " Tiberine 

 pater," inquit, " te sancte precor, hsec arma et hunc militem 

 propitio flumine accipias." Ita sic armatus in Tiberim desiluit, 

 multisque super incidentibus telis incolumis ad suos tranavit, 

 rem ausus plus famsa 11 habituram ad posteros quam fidei. Grata 

 erga tantam virtutem civitas fuit; statua in comitio 12 posita, 

 agri quantum uno die circumaravit datum. 



NOTES. 



1. Cedentium pugnoe, retreating ; lit., yielding to the battle. 



2. Et quod, etc., the most tumultuous part of the fray. 



3. Kevocantibusc, etc., while they who were cutting dawn the bridge were 

 calling them, to come bade. 



4. Etruscorum. Clusium, from whence Porsenna came, was a city 

 of Etruria. 



5. Provocare increpare, historical infinitives. 



6. Servitia, put for servos, the abstract for the concrete. So 

 we find militia for milites ; juventus for juvenes. To agree with it Livy 

 puts immemores, a construotio Kara <rt/i/e<7ii/ (according to the sense). 



7. Suse libertatis, etc. The infln. venire depends upon the verb 

 increpare ; taunting them, for coming, slaves of a proud Icing as they 

 were, and careless of their own freedom, to attack the freedom of others. 



8. Oppugnatum ; supine in urn ; after venire, a verb of motion. 



9. In unum hostem, on their solitary foe. 



10. Conabantur, etc., hostes, when the darts had stuck fast the enemy 

 (who had thrown them) endeavoured. 



11. Plus famse, etc., destined to gain among posterity more fame than 

 credit. 



12. Coniitio. The comitium, the place of meeting of the comitia, or 

 public assemblage, was a part of the Forum. 



In the course of a war (B.C. 319) with the Samnites, a people 

 who inhabited the country north of Campania, the Roman army 

 were entrapped in a narrow defile called the Furculse Caudinse, 

 or Caudine Forks, and were obliged to surrender. The following 

 extract is remarkable aa being one of the few descriptions of 

 scenery found in the Latin authors : 



LIVT, IX. 2, 4. 



Duae ad Luceriam ferebant viae altera prseter oram superi 

 maris 1 patens apertaque sed quanto tutior 2 tanto fere longior, 

 altera per Furculas Caudinas brevior. Sed ita natus 3 locus est : 

 saltus duo alti angusti silvosique aunt montibus circa perpetuis 

 inter se juncti : jacet inter eos satis patens 4 clausus in medio 

 campus herbidus aquosusque, per quern medium iter est : sed 

 ante quam venias 5 ad eum, intrandse primse angustiaa sunt, et 

 aut eadem, qua te insin-uaveris, retro via repetenda, aut si ire 

 porro pergas, per alium saltum arctiorem impeditioremque 

 evadendum. In eum campum via alia per cavam rupem 6 Eomani 

 remisso agmine, quoniam ad alias angustias protinus pergerent, 7 

 septas dejectu arborurn 8 saxorumque ingentium objacentem 

 molem invenere. Quum fraus hostilis apparuisset, praasidium 

 etiam in summo saltu conspicitur : 9 citati inde retro, qua vene- 

 rant, pergunt repetere viam : earn quoque clausam sua 10 obice 

 armisque inveniunt. NOTES. 



1. Superi maris, the Adriatic, which lies to the north-east of Italy, 

 and so above it, as opposed to the mare inferum, or Tyrrhenum, which 

 lies to the south-west. 



2. Quanto tutior, etc. In a comparison of two qualities which are 

 found in the same thing in an unequal degree, the one varying with the 

 other, the Latins use two comparatives ; we use the positive. Lit., as 

 long as it was secure, its length being proportionate to its security. 



3. Ita natus, the nature of the spot is as follows. 



4. Satis patens, of tolerably wide extent. 



5. Venias i.e. , you, the reader. 



6. Cavam rupem, through a rocky gorge. 



7. Protiuus pergerent, had got right through to the defile at the other end. 



8. Dejectu arborum, put for dejectis arboribus. 



9. Conspicitur, the change to the present adds vividness and force 

 to the description. 



10. Sua, with its barrier, just like the other. 



Poetical Translation of HORACE, " ODES," I. v., in last Reading. 

 "What slender youth, bedewed with liquid odours, 

 Courts thee on roses in some pleasant cave. 

 Pyrrha ? Tor whom bind'st thou 

 In wreaths thy golden hair, 



Plain in thy neatness ? Oh how oft shall he 

 On faith and changed gods complain, and seat. 

 Bough with black winds and storms 

 Unwonted shall admire. 



Who now enjoys thee credulous, all gold, 

 Who always vacant, always amiable 

 Hopes thee, of flattering gales 

 Unmindful. Hapless they 



To whom thou untried seem'st fair. Me in my vowed 

 Picture the sacred wall declares to have hung 

 My dank and dropping weeds 

 To the stern god of sea. Milton. 



LESSONS IN ASTRONOMY. IV. 



RESULTS OF NEWTON'S LAWS FOUNDATION OF THE ROYAL 

 OBSERVATORY FLAMSTEED HALLEY CALCULATION OP 



ORBIT OF COMET BRADLEY BOOK'S LAW DISCOVERIES 



OF HERSCHEL. 



THE grand discovery of Newton seems to have completed our 

 knowledge of the fundamental laws of motion of the worlds 

 around us, and has afforded to us another most convincing 

 proof of the wisdom and power of Him who created all things. 

 To make and sustain these bodies requires the power of Omni- 

 potence ; but when we find that all their motions depend on the 

 two simple laws of inertia and mutual attraction, and that all 

 their variations and movements can be fully explained by these ; 

 and further, when deeper investigation shows us that though 

 all the stars are in ceaseless motion, yet these motions run 

 through fixed and certain cycles, so that their very fluctuations 

 ensure the stability of the entire system, we are lost in admira- 

 tion at the wisdom of the great and omnipotent Architect of the 

 Universe. 



Great as Newton's work was, he did not live to complete all 

 his task. He discovered the mutual attractions of the heavenly 

 bodies for one another, but left it to succeeding astronomers to 

 calculate the effects this attraction would produce on the move- 

 ments of each. That this was a work involving no slight 

 difficulty will easily be seen if we consider the case of only 

 a single planet. For illustration, we will take Venus. Suppose 

 now for an instant that only this planet and the Sun existed, 

 we could then easily mark out the exact position of the planet 

 for every moment if we knew its mean distance and the eccen- 

 tricity of its orbit. Now add the Earth to the system, and we 

 shall find that a disturbing influence is at once introduced by 

 its attraction. As Venus comes in the part of its course nearest 

 the Earth, it is attracted by it, and thus drawn out of its path ; 

 its motion is likewise accelerated as it approaches the Earth, 

 and retarded as it recedes from it ; and the calculation of the 

 amount of this disturbance is rendered more difficult by the 

 fact that the Earth is itself moving at a rate different from 

 that of Venus. 



When we have made allowance for this disturbance, we 

 have to consider the effects produced by each of the other 

 planets in turn, remembering that they too are all in motion. 

 We thus get some idea of the complication of the problem. 

 It has, however, been completely worked out by modern astrono- 

 mers, the due allowance being made for each of these disturbing 

 forces ; and, as we shall learn by and by, this has been done 

 with such astounding accuracy that when certain minute irregu- 

 larities were discovered in the motions of one of the planets 

 which could not be accounted for by the influence of any of the 

 known ones, it was conjectured that another planet must exist 

 beyond them. Two astronomers, accordingly, quite indepen- 

 dently of each other, set about the calculation, and determined 

 the very spot in which such a planet ought to be, if it existed 

 at all ; and on turning a telescope to that spot, the planet 

 (Neptune) was found, though at no portion of its orbit could it 

 come within 130,000,000 miles of the planet whose course had 

 been disturbed by its attraction. 



One fact we particularly notice as the result of these investi- 

 gations, and that is the absolute stability of the system, it being 

 so beautifully balanced that all these perturbations exactly 

 compensate one for another, and after an infinite cycle all 

 return to their original places. 



Flamsteed was another celebrated astronomer, almost con- 

 temporary with Newton, and waa the first Astronomer Eoyal. 



