BOOK II. xxiii. g4-xxv. 96 



there are others, however, who hold that they spring 

 into existence out of chance moistm-e and fiery 

 force, and consequently " are dissolved. 



XXIV. Hipparchus before-mentioned, who can The 

 never be sufficiently praised, no one having done ^ip^a^rc/fu! 

 more to prove that man is related to the stars and 



that our souls are a part of heaven, detected a new 

 star that came into existence during his hfetime ; 

 the movement of this star in its hne of radiance led 

 him to wonder whether this was a frequent occur- 

 rence, whether the stars that we think to be fixed 

 are also in motion ; and consequently he did a bold 

 thing, that would be reprehensible even for God — 

 he dared to schedule the stars for posterity, and 

 tick off the heavenly bodies by name in a hst, 

 devising machinery by means of which to indi- 

 cate their several positions and magnitudes, in order 

 that from that time onward it might be possible 

 easily to discern not only whether stars perish and 

 are born, but whether some are in transit and in 

 motion, and also whether they increase and decrease 

 in magnitude — thus bequeathing the heavens as a 

 legacy to all mankind, supposing anybody had been 

 found to claim that inheritance ! 



XXV. There are also meteoric Ughts that are Metcors, 

 only seen when falHng, for instance one that ran ^^stances^i 

 across the sky at midday in full view of the pubhc 



when Germanicus Caesar was giving a gladiatorial 

 show. Of these there are two kinds : one sort are 

 called lampades, which means ' torches,' the other 

 bolides (missiles), — that is the sort that appeared at 

 the time of the disasters of Modena.'' The difference 



* When Decimus Brutus was besieged there by Antony, 

 44 B.o. 



239 



