66 ' 
pliny's nattjeal history. 
[Book 11. 
pale kind ; they shine like a sword and are without any rays ; 
while we name those Discei\ which, being of an amber colour, 
in conformity with their name, emit a few rays from their 
margin only. A kind named Pitheus^ exhibits the figure of 
a cask, appearing convex and emitting a smoky light. The 
kind named Cerastias^ has the appearance of a horn ; it is 
like the one which was visible when the Greeks fought at 
Salamis. Lampadias^ is like a burning torch ; Hippias^ is 
like a horse's mane ; it has a very rapid motion, like a circle 
revolving on itself. There is also a white comet, with silver 
hair, so brilliant that it can scarcely be looked at, exhibiting, 
as it were, the aspect of the Deity in a human form. There 
are some also that are shaggy, having the appearance of a 
fleece, surrounded by a kind of crown. There was one, 
where the appearance of a mane was changed into that of a 
spear ; it happened in the 109th olympiad, in the 398th year 
of the City^. The shortest time during which any one of 
them has been observed to be visible is 7 days, the longest 
180 d^ys. 
CHAP. 23.— THEIR KATURE, SITrATIOK, AiSTD SPECIES. 
Some of them move about in the manner of planets'^, others 
remain stationary. They are almost all of them seen towards 
the north^, not indeed in any particular portion of it, but 
1 a ^/(T/cos, orbis. 
2 a TTiOos, dolium. Seneca describes this species as "magnitudo vasti 
rotundique ignis dolio simiHs j " Nat. Qusest. Lib. i. § 14. p. 964. 
3 a Kepas, cornu. ^ a Xafiirds, fax. 
^ ab tTTTTos, equus. Seneca mentions the fax, the jaculmn, and the 
lampas among the prodigies that preceded the civil wars j Phars. i. 
528 et seq, 
6 Alexandre remarks, that these dates do not correspond, and adds, 
1 " Desperandum est de Phniana chronologia ; nec satis interdum scio, 
utriun Hbrarios, an scrip torem ipsum incusem, . . . . " Lemaire, i. 295. 
According to the most approved modern chronology, the middle of the 
109th olympiad corresponds to the 211th year of the City. 
7 " errantium modo ; " this may mean, that they move in orbits Hko 
those of the planets and exhibit the same phsenomena, or simply that 
they change their situation with respect to the fixed stars. 
8 Seneca remarks on this point, " Placet igitur nostris (Stoicis) cometas 
.... denso aeri creari. Ideo circa Septemtrionem frequentissime 
apparent, quia iUic plurimi est aeris frigor." Qusest. Nat. i. 7. Aristotle, 
