Chap. 28.] AOCOimT OF THE WOBLD. 61 



more dreaded by mortals) which falls down upon the earthy 

 such as was seen in the third year of the 103rd olympiad, 

 when King Philip was disturbing Greece. But mv opinion 

 is, that these, like everything else, occur at stated, natural 

 periods, and are not produced, as some persons imagine, from a 

 variety of causes, such as their fine genius may suggest. They 

 have indeed been the precursors of great evils, but I conceive 

 that the evils occurred, not because the prodigies took place, 

 but that these took place because the evils were appointed 

 to occur at that period*. Their cause is obscure in con- 

 sequence of their rarity, and therefore we are not as well 

 acquainted with them as we are with the rising of the stars, 

 which I have mentioned, and with eclipses and many other 

 things. 



CHAP. 28. (28.) — or celestial coeonj:. 



Stars are occasionally seen along with the sun, for whole 

 days together, and generally round its orb, like wreaths made 

 of the ears of com, or circles of various colours' ; such as 

 occurred when Augustus, while a very young man, was 

 entering the city, after the death of his father, in order to 

 take upon himself the great name which he assumed^. (29.) 

 The same coronas occur about the moon and also about the 

 principal stars, which are stationary in the heavens. 



* The meteor here referred to is probably a peculiar form of the 

 aurora borealis, which occasionally assumes a rea colour. See the re- 

 marks of Foucli<^, in Ajasson, i. 382. 



3 The doctrine of the author appears to be, that the prodigies are not 

 the cause, but only the indication of the events which succeed them. 

 This doctrine is rewrrod to by Seneca ; " Videbimus an certus omnium 

 rerum ordo ducatur, ot alia aliis ita complexa sint, ut quod anteoedit, 

 aut causa sit sixjuentium aut signum." Nat. Quspst. i. 1. 



' It would apjH^ar tliat, in this passage, two phajnomena are confounded 

 together ; certain brilliant stars, as, for example, Venus, which have been 

 occasionally scon in the day-time, and the formation of different kinds of 

 halos, dependuig on certain 8tat<» of the atmosphere, wliich affect its 

 tran8]iarcncy. 



* This occurrence is mentioned by Seneca, Nat. Qusest. i. 2 ; he enters 

 into a detailed explanation of the cause ; also by V. Patcrculus, ii. 59, 

 and by Jul. Obsequcns, cap. 128. We can scarcely doubt of the reality 

 of the occurrence, as these authors would not have ventured to relate 

 what, if not true, might have been so easily contradicted. 



