30 
pliny's katueal history. 
[Book 11. 
Juno\ others of Isis, and others of the Mother of the G-ods. 
By its influence everything in the earth is generated. For, 
as it rises in either direction, it sprinkles everything with 
its genial dew, and not only matures the productions of the 
earth, but stimulates all living things^. It completes the 
circuit of the zodiac in 348 days, never receding from the 
sun more than 46 degrees, according to Timseus'"^. 
Similarly circumstanced, but by no means equal in size 
and in power, next to it, is the star Mercury, by some called 
Apollo^ ; it is carried in a lower orbit, and moves in a course 
which is quicker by nine days, shining sometimes before the 
rising of the sun, and at other times after its setting, but 
never going farther from it than 23 degrees^, as we learn 
from Tmi8eus and Sosigenes^. The nature of these two stars 
is peculiar, a.nd is not the same with those mentioned above, 
for those are seen to recede from the sun through one-third 
or one-fourth part of the heavens, and are often seen opposite 
to it. They have also other larger circuits, in which they 
^ Aristotle informs us, that it was called either Phosphorus, Juno, or 
Yenus ; De Mundo, cap. 2. t. i. p. 602. See also Hyginus, Poet. Astr. 
lib. iii. p. 76, 7 ; and Apuleius, De Mundo, § 710. 
2 It will be scarcely necessary to refer the reader to the well-known 
commencement of Lucretius' s poem for the illustration of this passage j 
it is remarkable that Pliny does not refer to this writer. 
3 The periodical revolution of Yenus is 224*7 days, see note ^, p. 27. Its 
greatest elongation is 47° 1' ; SomerviUe, § 641. p. 391. 
^ According to Aristotle, this planet had the three appellations of 
Stilbon, Mercury, and Apollo ; De Mundo, cap. 2. p. 602 ; see also Apu- 
leius, De Mundo, § 710. Cicero inverts the order of the planets ; he 
places Mercury next to Mars, and says of Yenus, that it is " infima 
quinque errantium, terrseque proxima;" De Nat. Deor. ii. 53. Aristotle 
places the stars in the same order, uhi supra, and he is followed in this 
by Apuleius, uhi swpra ; this appears to have been the case with the 
Stoics generally ; see Enfield's Pliil. i. 339. 
5 For the periodical revolution of Mercury see note 3, p. 27. Its greatest 
elongation, according to Playfair, p. 160, is 28°. Mrs. Somerville, 
p. 386, states it to be 28° 8'. Ptolemy supposed it to be 26*5 degrees ; 
Almagest, ix. 7. We learn from Hardouin, Lemaire, i. 246, that there 
is considerable variation in the MSS. with respect to the greatest elonga- 
tion of Mercury. 
^ Sosigenes was an Egyptian mathematician and astronomer, who is 
said to have assisted Csesar in the formation of his Kalendar, as our 
author informs us in a subsequent part of his work, xviii. 25 ; see also 
Aikin, Gren. Biog., in loco ; Enfield's Phil. ii. 96 ; WheweU, p. 210 ; and 
Hardoutn's Index Auctorum," in Lemaire, i. 213. 
