150 THE GREEK ASTRONOMY. 



of the earliest discoveries on this subject ; and 

 indeed, we can hardly conceive men noticing the 

 stars for a year or two without coming to this 

 conclusion. 



Jupiter and Mars, sometimes still brighter than 

 Venus, were also very noticeable. Saturn and Mer- 

 cury were less so, but in fine climates they and 

 their motion would soon be detected by persons 

 observant of the heavens. To reduce to any rule 

 the movements of these luminaries must have taken 

 time and thought; probably before this was done, 

 certainly very early, these heavenly bodies were 

 brought more peculiarly under those views which 

 we have noticed as leading to astrology. 



At a time beyond the reach of certain history, 

 the planets, along with the sun and moon, had 

 been arranged in a certain recognized order by the 

 Egyptians or some other ancient nation. Probably 

 this arrangement had been made according to the 

 slowness of their motions among the stars; for 

 though the motion of each is very variable, the 

 gradation of their velocities is, on the whole, very 

 manifest ; and the different rate of travelling of 

 the different planets, and probably other circum* 

 stances of difference, led, in the ready fancy of early 

 times, to the attribution of a peculiar character to 

 each luminary. Thus Saturn was held to be of 

 a cold and gelid nature; Jupiter, who, from his 

 more rapid motion, was supposed to be lower in 



