18 
pliny's nattjeal histoet. 
[Book II. 
were, with tlie stars, as Varro 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.) — OP THE ELEMENTS^ AKD THE PLAMTS^. 
1 do not find that any one has doubted that there are 
four elements. The highest of these is supposed to be fire, 
and hence proceed the eyes of so many glittering stars o The 
next is that spirit, which both the Grreeks 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 
^ De Ling. Lat. lib. iv. p. 7, 8. See also the remarks on the derivation of 
the word in Gresner, Thes., in loco. 
2 " Signifer." The Enghsh term is taken from the Grreek word 
ZwSiaKos, derived from Zibov ; see Aristotle, De Mundo, cap. 2. p. 602. 
The word Zodiacus does not occur in PHny, nor is it employed by 
Ptolemy ; he names it Xo^os kvkKos, ohliquus circulus ; Magn. Const, i. 
7, 13, et alibi. It is used by Cicero, but professedly as a Greek term ; 
Divin. ii. 89, and Arati Phsenom. 1. 317. It occurs in Hygmus, p. 57 
et alibi, and in A. GreUius, 13. 9. Neither signifer taken substantively, 
nor zodiacus occur in Lucretius or in Manihus. 
3 The accoimt of the elements, of their natiu*e, 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, lib. iv. cap. 5, and De Grener. et Cor. 
Hb. ii. cap. 2, 3, 4 and 5. Por a judicious summary of the opinions of 
Aristotle on this subject, I may refer to Stanley's History of Philosophy ; 
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 jplaneta, as taken from the Grreek 7r\avr]rr]s, 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 
believe, was it used by any of their contemporaries, except Hyguius, p. 76. 
The planets were generally styled stellcB erraticce, errantes^ or vagce, 
sidera 'palantia, as in Lucretius, ii. 1030, or simply the jim 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. Ai*atus calls 
them irevT darepes, 1. 454. 
^ " Aer." " Circumfasa undique est (terra) hac animabili spirabilique 
natura, cui nomen est aer ; Grrsecum illud quidem, sed perceptum jam 
tamen usu a nobis Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 91. 
