60 
PLIlinr'S ]S"ATUEAL HISTOBT. 
[Book IL 
heavens, in the sight of all the people, at noon-day, when 
Germanicus Caesar was exhibiting a show of gladiators ^ 
There are two kinds of them ; those which are called lam])ades 
and those which are called bolides, one of which latter was 
seen during the troubles at Mutina^. They differ from each . 
other in this respect, that the faces produce a long train of 
light, the fore-part only being on fire ; while the holides, being 
entirely in a state of combustion, leave a still longer track 
behind them. 
CHAP. 26. TRABES CELESTES ; CHASMA CCELI, 
The trdbes also, which are named ^o/cot', shine in the same 
manner ; one of these was seen at the time when the Lace- 
daemonians, by being conquered at sea, lost their influence 
in Greece . An opening sometimes takes place in the firma- 
ment, which is named chasma^, 
CHAP. 27. (27.) — OP THE COLOIJRS OP THE SKY AKB OP 
CELESTIAL PLAME. 
There is a flame of a bloody appearance (and nothing is 
^ Seneca refers to tliis meteor ; " Yidimus non semel flammam ingenti ' 
pilae specie, quae tamen in ipso cursu suo dissipata est ... . nec G-ermanici 
mors sine tali demonstratione fait ; " Nat. Qusest. lib. i. cap. 1. p. 683. 
2 Xliis meteor is mentioned by Dion Cassius, lib. xlv. p. 278, but is 
desci'ibed by him as a lampas. 
3 We may presume that the trabes are, for the most part, to be referred 
to the aurora boreaUs. The cliasma and the appearances described in 
the twenty- seventh chapter are probably varieties of this meteor. On 
these phaenomena we have the following remarks by Seneca : " Lucem in 
aere, seu quamdam albedinem, angustam quidem, sed oblongam, de 
noctu quandoque visam, sereno coelo, si parallelo situ sit, Trabem vocant ; 
si perpendiculari, Columnam ; si, cum cuspideBoHda, siveJaculum." Nat, 
Qusest. vii. 4, and again, vii. 5, " Trabes aiitem non transcurrunt nec prse- 
tervolant, ut faces, sed conunorantur, et in eadem parte coeli collucent." 
^ Seneca describes this meteor, uhi swpra^ i. 14. " Sunt chasmata, cum 
aliquando cceh spatium discedit, et flammam dehiscens velut in abdito 
ostentat. Colores quoque horum omnium plurimi sunt. Quidam ruboris 
acerrimi, quidam evanidse et levis flammse, quidam candidse lucis, quidam 
micantes, quidam sequabihter et sine eruptionibus aut radiis fulvi." Ari^ 
stotle's account of chasmata is contained in his Meteor, lib. i. cap. 5, 
p. 534. 
