26 
plikt's natiteal histobt. 
[Book II. 
do tliey perisli in connexion witli particular persons, nor 
does a falling star indicate that any one is dead. We are 
not so closely connected with the heavens as that the shining 
of the stars is affected by our deaths When they are sup- 
posed to shoot or falP, they throw out, by the force of their 
fire, as if from an excess of nutriment, the superabundance 
of the humour which they have absorbed, as we observe to 
take place from the oil in our lamps, when they are burning^. 
The nature of the celestial bodies is eternal, being inter- 
woven, as it were, with the Avorld, and, by this union, ren- 
dering it solid ; but they exert their most powerful influence 
on the earth. This, notwithstanding its subtilty, may be 
known by the clearness and the magnitude of the effect, as 
we shall point out in the proper place^. The account of the 
circles of the heavens will be better understood when we 
come to speak of the earth, since they have all a reference to 
it ; except what has been discovered respecting the Zodiac, 
which I shall now detail. 
Anaximander the Milesian, in the 58th olympiad^, is said 
to have been the first who understood its obliquity, and thus 
opened the road to a correct knowledge of the subject^. 
^ There 'are certain metaphorical expressions, which have originated 
fi'om this opinion, adopted by the moderns; " his star is set j" " the 
star of his fortune," &c. 
2 Ovid, when he compares Phaeton to a faUing star, remarks, con- 
cerning this meteor, — 
*^ Etsi non cecidit, potnit ceeidisse videri." Metam. ii. 322. 
3 Manihus supposes that comets are produced and rendered Knninous 
by an operation very similar to the one described in the text ; i. 815 et seq. 
Seneca, in the commencement of his Nat. Qusest., and in other parts of 
the same treatise, refers to this subject. His remarks may be worth 
perusing by those v/ho are curious to learn the hypotheses of the ancients 
on subjects of natural science. We may remark, that Seneca's opinions 
are, on many points, more correct than our author's. 
^ The author probably refers to that part of his work in which he 
treats on agriculture, particularly to the l7th and IStli books. 
^ The sera of the Olympiads commenced in the year 776 before Christ ; 
each olympiad consists of 4 years ; the 58th olympiad will therefore 
include the interval 548 to 544 B.C. The 21st vol. of the " Universal 
History " consists entirely of a " cin-onological table," and we have a 
useful table of the same kind in Brewster's EncycL, article "Chronology." 
6 " rerum fores aperuisse .... traditur." An account of the astro- 
nomy of Anaximander is contained in Brewster's EncycL, article " Astro- 
nomy," p. 587, and in the article *' Anaximander" in the supplement to 
iL 
