Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/90

56 plint's k'atueal histoet. [Eook IL pale kind ; they sTiine 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 kmd 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 days. CHAP. 23. — THEIE NATUEE, SITIJATIOK, AND 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 di(TKOS, orbis. 2 a TTiOos, dolium. Seneca describes this species as "magnitudo vasti rotundique ignis dolio similis ; " Nat. Qusest. lib. i. § 14. p. 964. 3 a Kepas, cornu. ^ a afjnrds, fax. 5 ab 'iTTTTOs, equus. Seneca mentions the fax, the jaculum, and the lampas among the prodigies that preceded the civil wars ; Phars. i. 528 et seq. 6 Alexandre remarks, that these dates do not correspond, and adds, "Desperandmn est de PUniana chronologia; nee satis interdum scio, utrimi hbrarios, an scriptorem ipsum incusem, . . . . " Lemaire, i. 295. According to the most approved modem 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 like 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 .... dcoso aeri creari. Ideo circa Septemtrionem frequentissime apparent, qiiia illic plurimi est aeris frigor." Qusest. Nat. i. 7. Aristotle^