1808} 
would.sink lowest, the water would be 
above that, the air next, and the fire en- 
-compass the whole. But because all the 
earthy parts are not equally rigid, nor 
equally dispersed through the chaos, there 
would be cavities and’ hollows in some 
places, &t to receive the watérs, arrd to 
be channels for rivers. In other places, 
hills and mountains would rise, and the 
whole system appear in that form and 
figure which it now bears. Phey added, 
that this infinite mind has made one ge- 
neral decree concerning the government 
of the lower world, and executes* it ‘by 
g'ving such powers to the celestial bo- 
dies, as are sufficient and proper to pro- 
duce the designed effects. This decree,. 
L 
upon this principle their whole system of 
astrology depended. That things occur 
in the world which to us ‘are una¢ccount- 
able, every day’s experience taught them; 
they also learned, or pretended to have 
learned, from accurate’and repeated ob- 
servation, that there was a constant — 
avreement between these unaccountable 
accidents, and ‘certafm: positions’ of the 
heavenly bodies; and therefore con- 
cluded, that those bedies were concerned 
in the general eifect. Hence they began 
to prescribe rules, and to collect their, 
scaitered observations into a science.” 
And this-was the astrology of the Sto- 
ics; not invented by Zeno, but, received 
by him and his scholars from. the Chal- 
deean and other ancient philosophers of 
the East: till the Greeks, ambitious of 
making it appear their own, enteavoured 
to establish and adorn it with: fables. 
Vhat which before was only precarious 
and uncertain, as all science drawn from 
observation only, and not from any set- 
tled principles in- nature,.must be, be- 
came in their hands a tissne of ridiculous 
fancies and wild imaginations. The ori- 
ginal hypothesis of: Zeno, it was the en- 
deavour of Manilius to explain in Latin 
verse. Among many absurd positions, 
there are not wanting some which are 
justified by modern observation, and’cor- 
roborated, by more recent discoveries. 
He-even hints at some’ opinions which 
are supposed to belong to later ages, 
Thus he defends the fluidity of the hea- 
vens, in opposition to the hypoihesis of 
Aristotle. He asserts that the fixed stars 
-are not all in the same concave super- 
cies of the heavens, and-equally distant 
from the centre of the world.. He main- 
tains that tliey are ail of the same nature 
and substance with the sun, and that 
each of them has a particular vorfer of 
Monrury Mac. Ne. 172. 
Lyceum of Ancient Literature—Maniliuse 
superior to all the rest. 
hus executed, they called Fate, and. 
51S 
its own; and he affirms that, the silky 
way is only the undistinguished lustre of 
a great many small stars, which the mo-_ 
derns have since seen to be such, through 
the glass of Galileo, 
The title of the poem is Astronomiron, 
though, with greater propriety, it might 
be entitled’ Astrologicon; but the dis- 
tinction between astronomy and astrolo- 
gy was unknown in the time of Mani- 
lus. The fifth book 1s, in our opinion, 
It contains an 
enumeration of the extra-zodaical con- 
stellations, and of the degrees of the 
twelve signs with which they rise. He 
then hazards a fanciful hypothesis, that. 
the rising of these constellations gives 
birth to our various inclinations, man- 
ners, and characters, and pfoduces our 
attachment to diferent arts, sciences, 
professions, and trades; the descriptions. 
_of which are extremely poetical, and al- 
most absorb the,whole book, These de- 
Scriptions are mingled with episodes, par= 
ticularly the beautiful episode of Andro- 
meda, which many have deemed not 
unworthy of Virgil, The whole is termi- 
nated by the known distinction of the 
Stars ito six different sizes. _ 
Such' are the objects treated of by 
Manilius, in the five books of his Astro-_ 
nomics, He had proposed to himself to 
_ discuss many other subjects; but, as we 
have already conjectured, he was pre- 
vented by death. As to his style, it is 
poetical, energetic, and not unworthy of 
the age in which we suppose him to have 
hved. He has been censured as tou 
abundant. When he has once conceived 
an image, says Scaliger (Prol. in Manil.) 
he knows not where to leave it. Bent- 
ley has endeavoured to clear him of this 
reproach, which, he asserts, has no other 
foundation than the many verses which 
have: been added ‘to those of Manilius, 
expressing the same thing, though not in 
soelegant a manner. but were we even 
to allow the suppression of ail the Lnes 
which Bentley has condemned as spuri- 
ous, we shall still have hut too many ex- 
amples of thatexcessive redundance,or ra= 
ther tautology, which is justly imputed to 
Tanilius, and from which Ovid, as we 
have seen, isnot altogetherexempt. We 
observe in Manilius a too frequent repe- 
tition of the words sidéra, ustru, celum, 
mundus, orbis, signi, &c. &c. even in 
lines which closely follow each other. 
It was not indeed easy to avoid’ these re- 
currences in such a poem, though it is 
not to be doubted that he would have 
struck out many of these expletives, had 
he 
* 
