i METEORS 9 



It will, perhaps, be more to the purpose not to 2 

 cross-examine one another with questions such as : 

 What does such and such an author say ? Answer 

 me. Better examine the cause of the phenomenon 

 itself than form surmises as to why Aristotle has 

 applied the name She-Goat to a ball of fire. This 

 was the shape of the one as big as the moon that 

 appeared when Paulus was engaged in the war 

 against Perseus. In our own days we have more 

 than once seen a huge ball-shaped flame which 

 broke up in the very middle of its course. We 3 

 saw a similar portent about the time of the death 

 of the late Emperor Augustus. We again saw one 

 when Sejanus was executed. A warning of the 

 same kind preceded the death of Germanicus. 



You may, perhaps, exclaim : Are you then so 

 benighted as to suppose that the gods send out 

 previous intimation of the death of great men ? Do 

 you imagine that anything on earth is so great 

 that the Universe should perceive its loss? That 

 question must be reserved for another season. We 

 shall then see whether a fixed succession is observed 

 in all events, and whether one event is so bound up 

 with another that what precedes is either cause or 

 at least token of what follows. We shall then 4 

 see, too, whether the gods trouble themselves about 

 human concerns, and whether the mere series of 

 events reveals by unmistakable signs what its effects 

 must be. Meantime, I venture the opinion that 

 fires of the class referred to are produced by violent 

 friction of the atmosphere. The pressure inclines 

 toward one or other side, and as there is no yielding 

 there, an internal struggle ensues. From violent 

 action of this kind arise the different varieties of 

 fires beams, balls, torches, and gleams. When the 



