34 History of Nature. [BoOK II. 



about it : and as it is united by all, so all of them rest upon 

 the same. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Of the seven Planets. 



BETWEEN the Earth and Sky, there hang in the Air above- 

 named, seven Stars, divided one from another at distinct 

 Distances ; and these, on account of their variable Motion, 

 we call Wandering Planets ; whereas, indeed, none wander 

 less than they. In the midst of them the Sun taketh his 

 Course, as being the greatest and most powerful of all : the 

 very Ruler, not of Times and Seasons only, and of the Earth, 

 but also of the Stars and Sky itself. We ought to believe 

 this Sun 1 to be the very Life and (to speak more plainly) the 

 Soul of the whole World, and the principal Governance of 

 Nature; and, considering his Operations, nothing less than a 

 divine Power. He it is that giveth Light to all Things, and 

 scatters their Darkness : he hideth the other Stars ; he or- 

 dereth the Seasons in their alternative Course ; he tempereth 

 the Year, which ariseth ever fresh again for the Good of the 

 World. He disperseth the Sadness of the Sky, and cleareth 

 the Cloudiness of the Mind of Man ; to other Stars, likewise, 

 he lendeth his own Light. Most excellent and glorious he 

 is, as seeing all, and hearing all ; as, I see, is the Opinion of 

 Homer* (the Prince of Learning) regarding him alone. 



1 We find the ascription of Divinity to be the last resource in ex- 

 plaining the operation of a hidden cause in nature. A false divinity was, 

 therefore, the foundation of errors in philosophy ; and the latter again 

 reacted on the former. Wern. Club. 



3 Pliny here refers to a passage in the eleventh hook of the " Odys- 

 sey," where Ulysses descends into Hell, and meets with Tiresias, who, in 

 recounting the future fortunes of the hero, says : " You shall find feeding 

 the oxen and fat sheep of the sun, who sees and hears all things:" or, 

 more diffusively, by Pope ; where 



u Graze numerous herds along the verdant shores ; 

 Though hunger press, yet fly the dangerous prey ; 

 The herds are sacred to the god of day, 

 Who all surveys with his extensive eye, 

 Above, below, on earth and in the sky." Wern. Club. 



