Chap. 8.] 
ACCOIJKT or THE WORLD. 
35 
CHAP. 8. (11.) OF THE MAGI?^ITIJDE OE THE STAES. 
This kind of reasoning carries the human mind to the 
heavens, and by contemplating the world as it were from 
thence, it discloses to us the magnitude of the three greatest 
bodies in nature ^ For the sun could not be entirely con- 
cealed from the earth, by the intervention of the moon, if the 
earth were greater than the moon^. And the vast size of 
the third body, the sun, is manifest from that of the other 
two, so that it is not necessary to scrutinize its size, by argu- 
ing from its visible appearance, or from any conjectures of 
the mind ; it must be immense, because the shadows of rows 
of trees, extending for any number of miles, are disposed in 
right lines ^, as if the sun were in the middle of space. Also, 
because, at the equinox, he is vertical to all the inhabitants 
of the southern districts at the same time^ ; also, because 
the shadows of all the people who live on this side of the 
tropic fall, at noon, towards the north, and, at sunrise, point 
to the west. But this could not be the case unless the sun 
were much greater than the earth ; nor, unless it much ex- 
ceeded Mount Ida in breadth, could he be seen when he 
rises, passing considerably beyond it to the right and to the 
left, especially, considering that it is separated by so great 
an intervaP. 
^ Marcus conceives that our author must here mean, not the actual, 
but the apparent size of these bodies ; Ajasson, ii. 295 ; but I do not per- 
ceive that the text authorizes this interpretation. 
2 I have given the simple translation of the original as it now stands 
in the MSS. ; vrhether these may have been corrupted, or the author 
reasoned incorrectly, I do not venture t^ decide. The commentators 
have, according to their usual custom, proposed various emendations and 
explanations, for which I may refer to the note of Hardouin in Lemaire, 
ii. 252, vdth the judicious remarks of Alexandre, and to those of Marcus 
in Ajasson, ii. 295-298, who appear to me to take a correct view of the 
subject. 
3 Alexandre remarks, " Hinc tamen potius distantia quam magnitude 
SoHs coUigi potest." Lemaire, ii. 252. And the same remark applies 
to the two next positions of our author* 
Alexandre remarks on the argument of our author, perhaps a little 
too severely, "Absurde dictum; nam ahis oritur, ahis occidit, dum aliis 
est a vertice ; quod vel pueri sentiunt." Lemaire, ii. 253. But we may 
suppose, that Phny, in this passage, only meant to say, that as the sun 
became vertical to each successive part of the equinoctial district, no 
shadows were formed in it. 
* The com m entators have thought it ne-cessary to discuss the question, 
1)2 
