BOOK II. xxn. 89-90 



shock of what looks like shaggy hair at thcir top. The 

 Greeks also give the name of ' bearded stars ' to those 

 from whose lower part spreads a mane resembhng a 

 long beard. ' Javehn-stars ' quiver hke a dart ; these 

 are a very terrible portent. To this class belongs the 

 comet about which Titus Imperator " Caesar in his 

 5th consulship wrote an account in his famous poem, 

 that being its latest appearance down to the present 

 day. The same stars when shorter and sloping to a 

 point have been called ' Daggers ' ; these are the 

 palest of all in colour, and have a gleam hke the flash 

 of a sword, and no rays, which even the Quoit-star, 

 which resembles its name in appearance but is in 

 colour hke amber, emits in scattered form from its 

 edge. The ' Tub-star ' presents the shape of a cask, 

 with a smoky hght all round it. The ' Horned star ' 

 has the shape of a horn, hke the one that appeared 

 when Greece fought the decisive battle of Salamis. 

 The ' Torch-star ' resembles glowing torches, the 

 ' Horse-star ' horses' manes in very rapid motion and 

 revolving in a circle. There also occurs a shining 

 comet * whose silvery tresses glow so brightly that it is 

 scarcely possible to look at it, and which displays 

 within it a shape in the hkeness of a man's counten- 

 ance. There also occur ' Goat comets,' enringed 

 with a sort of cloud resembhng tufts of hair. Once 

 hitherto it has happened that a ' Mane-shaped ' 

 comet " changed into a spear ; this was in the lOSth '^ 

 Olympiad, a.u.c. 408.^ The shortest period of 



' Apparently the same as hippeus, the Hors3-star, above. 



^ 348-345 B.c. Variant readings give 109th (346-341 

 B.c.) and 105th (360-357 b.c). 



' 346 B.o. — an emendation; the MSS. give a.u.c. 393 

 (356 B.c). 



233 



