44 
pliny's katfbal histoet, [Book n. 
on tlie latitude of tlie planets and the obliquity of the zodiac* 
It is through this belt that the stars which I have spoken of 
are carried, nor is there any part of the world habitable^ ex- 
cept what lies under it^ ; the remainder, which is at the poles, 
being in a wild desert state. The planet Venus alone exceeds 
it by 2 degrees, which we may suppose to be the cause why 
some animals are produced even in these desert regions of 
the earth. The moon also wanders the whole breadth of the 
zodiac, but never exceeds it. Next to these the planet Mer- 
cury moves through the greatest space ; yet out of the 12 de- 
grees (for there are so many degrees of latitude in the zodiac^), 
it does not pass through more than 8, nor does it go equally 
through these, 2 of them being in the middle of the zodiac, 
4 in the upper part, and 2 in the lower part^. Next to these 
the Sun is carried through the middle of the zodiac, winding 
unequally through the two parts of his tortuous circuit"^. 
The star Mars occupies the four middle degrees ; Jupiter 
the middle degree and the two above it ; Saturn, like the 
refers iii the story of Phaeton, where he is describing the daily path of 
the sun ; Metam. ii. 63-67. 
^ " quam quod ilh subjacet under this designation the author obvi- 
ously meant to include the temperate zones, although it technically ap- 
pHes only to the part between the tropics. It is scarcely necessary to 
remark, that modern discoveries have shown that this opinion respecting 
the Arctic zone is not strictly correct. 
2 The breadth of the zodiac, which was limited by the ancients to 12 
degrees, has been extended by the modern astronomers to 18, and would 
require to be much farther extended to include the newly discovered 
planet. Herschel's Astronomy, § 254. 
3 There is considerable difficulty in ascertauiing the meaning of the 
terms employed by our author in describing the course of the planet 
Mercury through the zodiac; "medio ejus," "supra," and "infra." 
Hardouin's comment is as follows: "Duas zodiaci partes seu gradus 
pererrat, quum ipse per medium incedit signiferum : supra, quum deflectit 
ad Aquilonem, per quatuor ahas ejusdem partes vagatur : infra, quum 
descendit ad Austrum, discedit duabus." Lemaire, ii. 271, 272. But 
Marcus has shown that the opinion of Hardouin is inadmissible and in- 
consistent with the facts ; Ajasson, ii. 338-341. He proposes one, which 
he conceives to be more correct, but we may probably be led to the con- 
clusion, that the imperfect knowledge and incorrect opinions of our au- 
thor on these subjects must render it impossible to afford an adequate 
explanation. 
4 " flexuoso draconum meatu ;" Pouisinet remarks, " Les Grrecs 
appellaient dragons les bracelets, les hausse-cols, les chainettes, et gene- 
ralement tout ce qui avait une figure armiUaire j" i. 79, 80. 
