58 History of Nature. [BooK II. 



Rising, hold Light in a longer Tract, and make the Days 

 longer: whereas they which arise obliquely pass away in 

 shorter Time. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Why Lightnings are attributed to Jupiter. 



MOST Men are ignorant of that Secret which, by great 

 Study of the Heavens, Men of deep Learning have found 

 out : namely, that it is the Fires of the three uppermost 

 Planets, which, falling to the Earth, carry the Name of 

 Lightnings ; but those especially which are seated in the 

 midst, because participating in the excessive Cold and Mois- 

 ture from the upper Circle, and the immoderate Heat from 

 the lower, by this Means he dischargeth the Superfluity : 

 and hereupon it is commonly said, that Jupiter darteth 

 Lightnings 1 . Therefore, as out of burning Wood a Coal of 

 Fire flieth forth with a Crack, so from a Star is spit out this 

 celestial Fire, carrying with it Presages of future Things : so 

 that it sheweth Divine Operations, even in these Portions 

 which are cast away as superfluous. And this most com- 

 monly happeneth when the Air is troubled; either because 

 the collected Moisture stirreth that Abundance to fall ; or 

 because it is disquieted, as it were, with a Birth from a 

 pregnant Star. 



1 Much of the religious system of the ancients was founded on the 

 persuasion that every appearance of lightning and thunder, as well as 

 other aerial phenomena, were direct manifestations of Divine interposition 

 in the affairs of men ; and a college of officers (augurs) was appointed to 

 observe, record, report, and explain such appearances, for the guidance of 

 the state in its most important proceedings. From a slight expression of 

 Pliny in the course of this chapter, it appears that he hesitated to deny 

 this popular idea in a direct manner : in apprehension, perhaps, of laying 

 himself open to the charge of infidelity. But by implication, he expresses 

 his disbelief of what was so generally credited; for the ascribing to the 

 natural effect of Jupiter as a planet, what was believed by the priests and 

 the state to be a voluntary action of Jupiter, the supreme deity, can be 

 regarded as little better than a subterfuge. For a natural explanation of 

 thunder and lightning, such as it is, the reader is referred to chapter 

 xliii. of this book ; and for other curious particulars, to the chapters l.-lv. 

 Wern. Club. 



