174 THE GREEK ASTRONOMY. 



magnitude of these spindles are minutely detailed. 

 Also, in the "Epilogue to the Laws" (Epinomis), 

 he again describes the various movements of the 

 sky, so as to show a distinct acquaintance with 

 the general character of the planetary motions : 

 and, after speaking of the Egyptians and Syrians 

 as the original cultivators of such knowledge, he 

 adds some very remarkable exhortations to his 

 countrymen to prosecute the subject. " Whatever 

 we Greeks," he says, " receive from the barbarians, 

 we improve and perfect; there is good hope and 

 promise, therefore, that Greeks will carry this know- 

 ledge far beyond that which was introduced from 

 abroad." To this task, however, he looks with a 

 due appreciation of the qualities and preparation 

 which it requires. "An astronomer must be," he 

 says, " the wisest of men ; his mind must be duly 

 disciplined in youth ; especially is mathematical 

 study necessary; both an acquaintance with the 

 doctrine of number, and also with that other branch 

 of mathematics, which, closely connected as it is 

 with the science of the heavens, we very absurdly 

 call geometry, the measurement of the earth 4 1 ." 



These anticipations were very remarkably veri- 

 fied in the subsequent career of the Greek astro- 

 nomy. 



The theory, once suggested, probably made 

 rapid progress. Simplicius 5 relates, that Eudoxus 



4 Epinomis, pp. 988, 990. 



5 Lib. ii. de Ccelo. Bullialdus, p. 18. 



