not writing a scientific essay on astronomy, but a popular poetical description of the celestial sphere. Quinctilian's observation is correct, and to the point: "Materia Arati motu caret, ut in qua nulla varietas, nullus affectus, nulla persona, nulla cujusquam sit oratio. Quid potuisset in Virginis fabula expressit, in reliquis id quod voluit. Sufficit tamen operi cui se credidit parem." verse. Aratus was the first to put these subjects, so interesting both to the philosopher and to the vulgar, to the scientific, and to the superficial observer, into Many writers followed in his steps, none of whose productions have reached us: a convincing proof of the superior merits of our poet over his rivals and imitators. The following is the remark of Buhle upon Aratus, and is a just critique upon his works: 66 Insignis est utique in carminibus Arateis ars, qua formæ cœlestes deinceps descriptæ sunt; delectat harum descriptionum ordo simul et varietas; ornatæ sunt illæ mythis non onerata; et quod puritatem, simplicitatem, elegantiam Græci sermonis attinet vix reperias quem Arateo compares." The two works of Aratus, which have come down to us, are "the Phenomena*," and "the Diosemeiat." The Phenomena may be divided into three parts. The first, ending at line 450, contains a description of the constellations: the second, from line 451 to 568, * 66 Φαινόμενα. Peculiariter apud astrologos. Τὰ φαινόμενα dicuntur quæ apparent in cœlo." (Scapula.) 66 † “ Διοσημεία seu Διοσημία. Signum Jove: Prodigiosa tem pestas: vel simpliciter tempestas." (Scapula.) of the position of the most important circles on the celestial sphere. The third, from line 569, ad finem, describes the position of various other constellations on the rising of each of the signs of the Zodiac. The Diosemeia contains prognostics of the wind and weather, derived from various sources, but chiefly from observations on the heavenly bodies. This latter subject does not allow of so much poetical embellishment as the former. Aratus was the author of numerous other works : of a didactic poem in heroic verse, the title of which was Ιατρικά, or Ιατρικαί Δυνάμεις. Macrobius has preserved to us one of his epigrams. I wail Diotomus, who by the rocky sea Strabo quotes from another work of Aratus, called Tа KαTȧ λETTÓv. Speaking of Gyaros, a small island in the Grecian archipelago, he says: Aratus points out their poverty in his Τὰ κατὰ λεπτόν : Ω Λητοῖ σὺ μένεις μὲν σιδηρείῃ Φολεγάνδρῳ Δειλὴ, ἢ Γύαρον παρελεύσεαι αὐτιχ ̓ ὁμοίη; Dost thou remain on Pholegandros' flinty shore, Or seek'st thou Gyaros, as wretched and as poor? His other works, of which no fragments remain, but the titles of which are preserved by the writers of his life, are numerous and upon various subjects: rhetorick, grammar, medicine, and poetry. He certainly merited the title given him by one of his scholiasts, σφόδρα πολυγράμματος ἄνηρ. Aratus is said to have ended his life in Macedonia at the court of Antigonus: if so, his ashes were probably removed to his native country, as Pomponius Mela, who lived in the first century of the Christian æra, states that the tomb of the poet was to be seen in his time near to Pompeiopolis, the name to which Soli had been changed in honour of Pompey the Great*. There was a silver coin of Cilicia bearing the head of Aratus, and on the reverse a lyre, of which a specimen is still in existence†. ΑΡΑΤΟΣ * "Cydnus ultra per Tarsum exit. Deinde urbs est olim a Rhodiis, Argivisque, post Piratis Pompeio assignante possessa, nunc Pompeiopolis, tunc Soloe. Juxta in parvo tumulo ARATI poetæ monumentum, ideo referendum, quia ignotum, quam ob causam jacta in id saxa desiliunt." [Pomp. Mela. Cap. 13.] + Vid. Beger. Thesaur. Brandenburg. p. 265. ON THE CELESTIAL SPHERE. N endeavouring to ascertain the nation to which IN we are indebted for the celestial sphere, and the date of its introduction, we have very little historical information to rely upon. The earliest writer we are acquainted with, who mentions the heavenly constellations, is Homer*. The following passage occurs in the description of Vulcan's shield : Ἐν μὲν γαῖαν ἔταξ ̓, ἐν δ ̓ οὐρανὸν, ἐν δὲ θάλασσαν, "There shone the image of the master mind; There earth, there heaven, there ocean he design'd; * See note at the end. To which around the axle of the sky The Bear revolving points his golden eye; (Pope.) This description evidently shews that the celestial sphere of Homer was the same as that of Eudoxus and Aratus; and that at the time when the Iliad was written the Greeks were in possession of this sphere. Herodotus states that they borrowed the names of their twelve gods, their religious ceremonies, and their geometry from Egypt; and from the same people they are said to have obtained the celestial sphere. At the same time it is not probable that the Egyptians were the inventors of it. There is nothing of an Egyptian character in the figures depicted upon it; nor can this people establish any claim to the invention, being never celebrated for their astronomical discoveries. Their talents and skill were directed to Geometry and Architecture, in which two sciences they greatly excelled. But there are two nations whose claim to the introduction of the celestial sphere rests upon such strong presumptive evidence that it is difficult to refuse to either the credit of the invention. These are the Assyrians and the Phenicians. And there is on the face of the sphere, as we now have it, and as it came to the Greeks, evidence almost amounting to proof that it was composed from two other distinct spheres, one of which the signs or constellations were on |