THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



or, lastly, to that which was opposite to him, and 

 which rose at night ; or according as the inven- 

 tion of these allegories is placed in a different cli- 

 mate, must the date of the zodiac also be chang- 

 ed. The possible variations in this respect might 

 comprehend so much as the half of the revolution 

 of the fixed stars, that is to say, 13,000 years, and 

 even more. 



In this manner Pluche, generalizing some 

 indications of the ancients, has imagined, that 

 the Ram announces the commencement of the 

 sun's elevation, and the vernal equinox ; that 

 the Cancer indicates his retrogradation to the 

 summer solstice ; that the Balance, the sign of 

 equality, marks the autumnal equinox * ; and 

 that the Capricorn, a climbing animal, indicates 

 the winter solstice, after which the sun returns 

 to us. According to this method, by placing the 

 inventors of the zodiac in a temperate climate, 

 we should have rains under Aquarius, the drop- 

 ping of lambs and kids under the Gemini, violent 

 heats under the Lion, gathering of the harvest un- 

 der the Virgin, the time of hunting under the Sa- 

 gittary, &c. ; and the emblems would be appro- 



* Varro, de Ling. Lat. lib. vi. Signa, quod aliquid sig- 

 nificent, ut libra aequinoctium ; Macrob. Sat. lib. i. cap. xxi. 

 Capricornus ab infernis partibus ad superas solem reducens 

 Caprse naturam videtur imitari. 



