Cliap. 71.] 
BISING or COIS^STELLATIOIS^S. 
103 
Nortliern Wain is never seen in Troglodytice\ nor in Egypt, 
which borders on it^ ; nor can we, in Italy, see the star Ca- 
nopus^, or Berenice's Hair^ ; nor what, under the Emperor 
Augustus, was named Caesar's Throne, although they are, 
there ^, very brilliant stars. The curved form of the earth is 
so obvious, rising up like a ridge, that Canopus appears to a 
spectator at Alexandria to rise above the horizon almost the 
quarter of a sign ; the same star at Khodes appears, as it 
were, to graze along the earth, while in Pontus it is not seen 
at all ; where the Northern Wain appears considerably 
elevated. This same constellation cannot be seen at Ehodes, 
and still less at Alexandria. In Arabia, in the month of 
JS'ovember, it is concealed during the first watch of the 
night, but may be seen during the second^ ; in Meroe it is 
seen, for a short time, in the evening, at the solstice, and it 
is visible at day -break, for a few days before the rising of 
Arcturus^. These facts have been principally ascertained 
by the expeditions of navigators ; the sea appearing more 
elevated or depressed in certain parts ^ ; the stars suddenly 
coming into view, and, as it were, emerging from the water, 
after having been concealed by the bulging out of the globe ^. 
But the heavens do not, as some suppose, rise higher at one 
^ The Troglodytice of the ancients may be considered as nearly corre- 
sponding to the modern Abyssinia and Nubia. 
2 This remark is incorrect, as far as respects nearly the whole of Egypt ; 
see the remarks of Marcus, in Ajasson, ii. 245. 
3 This is a star of the first magnitude in the southern constellation of 
Argo ; we have a similar statement in Manihus, i. 216, 217. 
The commentators suppose that the star or constellation here referred 
to cannot be the same with what bears this name on the modern celestial 
atlas ; vide Hardouin in loco, also Marc, in Ajasson, ut supra. The 
constellation of Berenice's hair forms the subject of Catullus' s 67th poem. 
^ In Troglodytice and in Egypt. 
^ The first watch of the night was from 6 P.M. to 9 ; the second from 
9 to midnight. 
7 According to Columella, xi. 2. 369, this was 9 Calend. Mart., cor- 
responding to the 21st of Eebruary. 
^ " In aha adverso, in aha prono mari." I have adopted the opinion 
of Alexandre, who explains the terms "adverso" and "prono," "ascen^ 
denti ad polum," and " ad austrum devexo ;" a similar sense is given to 
the passage by Poinsinet and Ajasson, in their translations. 
^ " Anfractu pilae." See Mamhus, i. 206 et seq. for a similar mode of 
expression. 
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