BOOK II.] History of Nature. 41 



Course of the Sun. Beneath the Sun there is a large Star 

 called Venus, which wandereth this Way and that, by turns ; 

 and by her Names testifieth her Emulation of the Sun and 

 Moon. For while she anticipateth the Morning, and riseth 

 Orientally, she taketh the Name of Lucifer, as a second Sun 

 hastening the Day. Contrariwise, when she shineth from 

 the West, lengthening the Daylight, and supplying the Place 

 of the Moon, she is named Vesper. This Nature of hers, 

 Pythagoras of Samos first found out, about the 42nd 

 Olympiad ; which was the 142nd Year after the Foundation 

 of Rome. Now this Planet, in Greatness, exceedeth all the 

 other Stars : and so shining also, that the Beams of this Star 

 only cast Shadows upon the Earth. And hereupon cometh 

 such great Diversity of the Names thereof; for some have 

 called it Juno, others Isis, and others the Mother of the 

 Gods. By the natural Efficacy of this Star all Things are 

 generated on Earth. For whether she rise in the East or 

 West, she sprinkleth all the Earth with prolific Dew, and 

 not only filleth the same with Seed, but stirreth up to in- 

 crease the Nature of all living Creatures. This Planet goeth 

 through the Circle of the Zodiac in 348 Days, departing 

 from the Sun never above 46 Degrees, as Timceus was of 

 Opinion. Next unto it, but Nothing of that Bigness and 

 Power, is the Star Mercury, of some called Apollo : carried 

 along in an inferior Circle, after the like Manner, but in 

 a swifter Course by nine Days ; shining sometimes before the 

 Sun rising, at others after his setting, never farther distant 

 from him than 23 Degrees, as both the same Timceus and 

 Sosigenes teach. And therefore these two Planets have a 

 peculiar Consideration from others, and not common with 

 the rest above-named. For those are seen from the Sun 

 a fourth, yea, and third Part of the Sky : oftentimes also in 

 Opposition against the Sun. And all of them have other 

 greater Circuits of full Revolution, which are to be spoken 

 in of the Discourse of the great Year 1 . 



1 The enumeration of the planets here given is on the Ptolemaic sys- 

 tem of astronomy, which supposes the earth to be fixed in the centre of 



