18 pliny's nattjeal histoet. [Book II. 



were, with the stars, as Yarro suggests ^ In confirmation of 

 this idea we may adduce the Zodiac^, in which are twelve 

 figures of animals ; through them it is that the sun has con- 

 tinued its course for so many ages. 



CHAP. 4. (5.) or THE ELEMENTS^ AKD THE PLA]!fETS^ 



I do not find that any one has douhted that there are 

 four elements. The highest of these is supposed to be fire, 

 and hence proceed the eyes of so many glittering stars. The 

 next is that spirit, which both the Greeks and ourselves call 

 by the same name, air^. It is by the force of this vital prin- 

 ciple, pervading all things and mingling with all, that the 

 earth, together with the fourth element, water, is balanced in 



1 De Ling. Lat. lib. iv. p. 7, 8. See also the remarks on the derivation of 

 the word in Gbsner, Thes., in loco. 



2 "Signifer." The English term is taken fi-om the Greek word 

 ZioSiuKos, derived from Zwov ; see Aristotle, De Mimdo, cap. 2. p. 602. 

 The word Zodiaeus does not occiir in Pliny, nor is it employed by 

 Ptolemy ; he names it Xo^os kvkXos, obliquus cireiilus ; Magn. Const, i. 

 7, 13, et alibi. It is used by Cicero, but professedly as a Greek term ; 

 Divin. ii. 89, and Arati Pheenom. 1. 317. It occurs in Hyginus, p. 57 

 et alibi, and in A. Gellius, 13. 9. Neither signifer taken substantively, 

 nor zodiaeus occur in Lucretius or in Manihus. 



3 The account of the elements, of their nature, difference, and, more 

 especially, the necessity of their being four, are fully discussed by 

 Aristotle in various parts of his works, more particularly in his treatise 

 De Coelo, hb. iii. cap. 3, 4 and 5, hb. iv. cap. 5, and De Gener. et Cor. 

 Hb. ii. cap. 2, 3, 4 and 5. For a judicious summary of the opinions of 

 Aristotle on this subject, I may refer to Stanley's History of Philosophy j 

 Aristotle, doctrines of, p. 2. 1. 7, and to Enfield, i. 764 et seq. For 

 the Epicurean doctrine, see Lucretius, i. 764 et seq. 



^ Although the word planeta, as taken from the Greek irXavtjrTjs, is 

 inserted in the title of this chapter, it does not occur in any part of the 

 text. It is not found either in Lucretius, Manihus, or Seneca, nor, I 

 beheve, was it used by any of their contemporaries, except Hyginus, p. 76. 

 The planets were generally styled stellcB erraticce, errantes, or vagee, 

 sidera palantia, as in Lucretius, ii. 1030, or simply the Jive stars, as in 

 Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 51, and in Seneca, Nat. Qusest. vii. 24. Pliny, 

 by including the sun and moon, makes the number seven. Aratus calls 

 them irevr' affrepes, 1. 454. 



5 " Aer." " Circumfasa undique est (terra) hac animabili spirabihque 

 natura, cui nomen est aer ; Grsecum iUud quidem, sed perceptum jam 

 tamen usu a nobis j" Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 91. 



