BOOK II.] History of Nature. 45 



the Earth of the Sun's Rays, and the Earth again doth the 

 like by the Moon. Neither is the Night any Thing else but 

 the Shade of the Earth. The Figure of this Shadow resem- 

 bleth a Pyramid pointed forward, or a Top turned upside 

 down : namely, when it falleth upon it with its sharp End, 

 and goeth not beyond the Heights of the Moon ; for no other 

 Star is in that Manner darkened : and such a Figure as this 

 always endeth in a Point. And that Shadows grow to No- 

 thing in a great Distance, appeareth by the exceeding high 

 Flight of some Birds. So the Confines of these Shadows is 

 the utmost Bound of the Air, and the Beginning of Mther. 

 Above the Moon all is pure and lightsome continually. And 

 we in the Night see the Stars as other Lights from out of 

 Darkness. For these Causes also the Moon is eclipsed only 

 in the Night. But the Reason why the Sun and Moon are 

 not both in the Eclipse at set Times and Monthly, is the 

 Obliquity of the Zodiac, and the wandering Turnings of the 

 Moon (as hath been said): and because these Planets do not 

 always in their Motion meet just in the Points of the ecliptic 

 Line, that is, in the Head or Tail of the Dragon. 



CHAPTER XI. 

 Of the Magnitude of Stars. 



IT is this Reason that lifteth up Men's Minds into Hea- 

 ven : and as if they looked down from thence, discovereth 

 unto them the Magnitude of the three greatest Parts of 

 Nature. For the Sun's Light could not wholly be taken 

 away from the Earth, by the Moon coming between, if the 

 Earth were bigger than the Moon. But the Immensity of 

 the Sun is more certainly known, both by the Shadow of the 

 Earth and the Body of the Moon : so that it is needless to 

 inquire into the Magnitude thereof, either by the Proof of 

 Eyesight, or by Conjecture of the Mind. How immea- 

 surable it is, appeareth by this, that Trees which are planted 

 in Limits from East to West, cast Shadows equal in Propor- 

 tion ; although they are many Miles asunder in Length : as 

 if the Sun were in the Midst of them all. This appeareth 



