1 14 History of Nature. [BooK 1 1 . 



Thronon*: which yet are remarkable Stars. And so evidently 

 bendeth the Convexity of the Earth, that Canopus at Alex- 

 andria seemeth to the Beholders elevated above the Earth 

 almost one-fourth Part of a Sign ; but at Rhodes, the same 

 appeareth almost to touch the very Horizon, and in Pontus, 

 where the Elevation of the North Pole is highest, it is not 

 seen at all : yea, and this same Pole at Rhodes is hidden, 

 but more in Alexandria. In Arabia it is all hid at the first 

 Watch of the Night in November ; but at the second, it is 

 visible. In Meroe, at Midsummer, in the Evening, it ap- 

 peareth for a while ; but some few Days before the Rising 

 of Arcturus it is seen with the very Dawning of the Day. 

 Sailors, by their Voyages, come to the Knowledge of these 

 Stars most of any other, by Reason that some Seas are oppo- 

 site unto some Stars ; but others lie flat and incline forward 

 to others : so that also those Pole Stars appear suddenly, as 

 rising out of the Sea, which lay hidden before under the 

 winding Compass of a Ball. For the Heaven (Mundus) 

 riseth not aloft in this higher Pole, as some Men have said ; 

 for if so, these Stars should be seen in every Place : but those 

 that to the nearest Observers are supposed to be higher, the 

 same seem to them afar off to be immersed in the Sea. And 

 as this North Pole seemeth to be aloft to those that are 

 situated directly under it, so to them that be removed so far 

 as the other Devexity or Fall of the Earth, those abovesaid 

 Stars rise up aloft there, while these decline downward which 

 here were mounted on high. Which Thing could not possibly 

 fall out but in the Figure of a Ball. And hence it is, that 

 the Inhabitants of the East perceive not the Eclipses of the 

 Sun and Moon in the Evening, no more than those that 

 dwell West in the Morning : but those that be at Noon in the 

 South they often see. At the Time that Alexander the Great 

 obtained his famous Victory at Arbela, it is said that the 

 Moon was eclipsed at the second Hour of the Night : but this 

 Eclipse was at the Time of her Rising in Sicily. The Eclipse 



1 Ccesaris Thronon: a new name affixed to an old constellation by 

 some flattering Greek ; but of which no further clue remains. The name 

 is not found in any other writer. Wern. Club. 



