110 
In the Pythagorean system the element fire was the most 
dignified and important, in this again agreeing with the Druids. 
The central fire Philolaus terms the hearth of the universe, 
the house or watch-tower of Zeus (as the Bards thought the 
sun the abode of Hu, Huan),* the mother of the gods, the 
altar and bond and measure of nature. It was the enlivening 
principle of the universe. By this fire they probably under- 
stood something purer and more ethereal than the common 
element. Round this central fire the heavenly bodies per- 
formed their circling dance . f Farthest off the sphere of the 
fixed stars ; then in order the five planets, the sun, the moon, 
the earth, and the counter-earth. J The revolution of the 
earth round its axis was taught by the Pythagorean Ecphantus 
and Heracleides ; a combined motion round the central fire 
and round its own axis, by Aristarchus of Samos. The cir- 
cling dance§ of the Druids was intended to commemorate tho 
above astronomical discoveries ; and that these were by no 
means contemptible we may infer from the certainty that 
these old “ astronomers” could calculate eclipses. || 
I refer to Laplace for the history of the early origin of 
astronomy, and for the connection of Pythagoras with that of 
the Egyptians, which he supposes to have been founded two 
Sothic periods before b.c. 139, when this period was renewed, 
or 1461 + 1461 + 139 = b.c. 2783. From other considerations, 
he places the probable beginning of the Zodiac at b.c. 2500, 
and I suppose little doubt can be felt as to the astronomical 
references of the Great Pyramid. It would follow from these, 
conjoined with those recently observed as to the Chaldean 
astronomy, that this science had already been cultivated by 
* See Welsh Did., sub voce “ Huan,” also, 
t x°pivt iv is the expression of Philolaus. 
f avrixOiov , the antipodes. 
§ “ Drud awyrdwth, amnwyth, amniver 
Druidion a Beirddion 
A vawl neb dragon.” (The bard Cynddelw.) 
Translated thus by Davies 1 : — “ "Rapidly moving, in the course of the sky, 
in circles, in uneven numbers, Druids and bards unite in celebrating their 
leader,” i.e. the Sun. 
| Caius Sulpicius, a Gaul by nation, foretold an eclipse of the moon to 
the Roman army, upon -which Livy adds that thenceforth “ Gallos Romanis 
militibus sapientia prope divina visos.” — Liv., lib. xliv. ch. 37 ; Borlase, 90. 
1 Mythology and Bites of the British Druids, pp. 16, 173. 
