Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/132

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL FEB. 9, 1907.

<10 S. i. 163). The exact reference to Aver- roes is fol. 169 recto, col. 1,1. 11 from foot, vol. vi. (1550) of the Venice (" apud Juntas ") ed. of Aristotle in Latin with a Latin version of Averroes's commentaries ; * De Anima,' lib. iii. summa 1, cap. 2,

"credo enim quod istehomo fuerit regula in natura, .& exemplar, quod natura inuenit ad demonstrandum vltimam i>erfectionem humanam in materijs. - Tom. vi. Part i. fol. 159 verso, 1. 6 of the 1562 ed.

P. 43, 14 ; 20, 29, " Nulla ferant," &c. (10 S. i. 282 ; vi. 144). See Bessarion's

cap. iii., about four-ninths through, 1. 19 of fol. 21 verso in the Roman ed. of 1469 .(Sweynheym & Pannartz) :
 * Aduersus calumniatorem Platonis,' lib. i.

" Quid autem greci senserint : inprimis ab ipso Aristotele licet intelligere. Hie cum in problema- tibus quereret : cur hi qui in philosophia uel poetica uel liberalibus disciplinis : uel etiam reipub. administratione claruerunt : melancholic! fuerint : postquam enumeratis plerisque antiquis ad iuniores descendit : Empedoclis : et Platonis Socratis exemplo usus est. Quin etiam preclaram orationem de laudibus Platonis conscripsit : ut Olympiodorus refert. Et in elegiis ad Eudemum hec de Platone cecinit.

Cecropis ad claras uenerat usque domos

I)ulcis amicicie mox illi condidit aram

Quern laudare nephas ora prophana foret

Qui solus : uita : doctrina moribus : ore

Admonuit cunctos : et monumenta dedit

Vt uirtute queant felicem ducere uitam

Nulla ferent talem secla futura uirum."

Though Olympiodorus's scholia on the

'Gorgias' were not printed until 1848, by

Albert Jahn in Supplement-band xiv. (the

lines are on p. 395) of the ' Neue Jahrbiicher

fur Philologie und Padagogik ' (Leipzig,

founded by J. C. Jahn), yet the seven Greek

verses had been given by Menage in his

i. 12, 27), p. 116 in the ed. at the end of the London Diog. Laert. of 1664. Neither Menage, nor Bergk (' Poet. Lyr. Gr.,' ii., 1882, p. 336), nor Heitz (' Fragmm. Aris- totelis,' p. 334), nor Jahn, nor Rose (' Aris- totelis qui ferebantur librorum Fragmenta,' 1886, p. 421), mentions the occurrence in Bessarion of the Latin rendering. " The four lines " at 10 S. vi. 144, col. 2, 1. 5, should be the last four lines. EDWARD BENSLY.
 * Observationes ' on Diogenes Laertius (lib. v.

University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. (To be continued.)

r * PASTORAL ASTRONOMY. While yet under the charm of ' Les Etoiles,' the narrative of a Provencal shepherd, given by Alphonse Daudet in ' Lettres de mon Moulin,' it occurs to me to ask whether British watchers of the " flocks by night " have stories of the stars resembling those which Daudet

found in some ' Armana Proven^eau ' and put into the mouth of his hero. They were probably contributed to the almanac by Frederic Mistral, who embodies them in a conversation with a shepherd in the eleventh chapter of his ' Memoires et Recits.' It is hardly possible that our own pastors do not gaze upon the stars and speculate as to their nature and on the reason of their distribu- tion in the heavens. There is probably much folk-lore current in the fraternity which, as far as I know, and that is not very far, is still unrecorded. Here are the Pro- ven$al examples :

"Juste au-dessus de nous, voila le Chemiii <lc, saint Jacques (la voie lactee). II va de France droit sur 1'Espagne. C'est saint Jacques de Galiee qui 1'a trace pour montrer sa route au brave Charle- magne lorsqu'il faisait la guerre aux Sarrasins. Plus loin, vous avez le Char des dmes (la grande Ourse) avec ses quatre essieux resplendissants. Les trois Etoiles qui vont devant sont les Trois betes, et cette toute petite contre la troisieme c'est le Charretier. Voyez-vous tout autour cette pluie d'etoiles qui tombent ? ce sont les ames dont le bon

Dieu ne veut pas chez lui Un pen plus bas, voici

le Rateau ou les Trois rois (Orion). C'est ce qui nous sert d'horlpge, a nous autres. Rien qu'en les regardant, je sais maintenant qu'il est minuit passe. Un peu plus bas, toujours vers le midi, brille Jean de Milan, le flambeau des astres (Sirius). Sur cette etoile-la, voici ce que les bergers recontent. II parait qu'une nuit Jean de Milan avec les Trois rois et la Poussiniere (la Ple"iade) furent invites a la noce d'une etoile de leurs amies. La Poussiniere, plus pressee, partit, dit-on, la premiere, et prit le chemin haut. Regardez-la, la-haut, tout au fond du ciel. Les Trois rois couperent plus bas et la rattraperent, mais ce paresseux de Jean de Milan, qui avait dormi trop tard, resta tout a fait derriere, et furieux, pour les arreter leur jeta son baton. C'est pourquoi les Trois rois s'appellent aussi le

Bdton de Jean de Milan Mais la plus belle de

toutes les etoiles, maitresse, c'est la notre, c'est V Etoile du berger, qui nous eclaire a 1'aube, quand nous sortons le troupeau, et aussi le soir quand nous le rentrons. Nous la nommons encore Maguelonne, la belle Maguelonne qui court apres Pierre de Provence (Saturn) et se marie avec lui tous les sept ans." Pp. 60-62.

Valuable notes on the Great and the Little Bear and on the Milky Way are stored in the first three volumes of Melusine. I gather there that while, perhaps, in most lands, " the seven stars " are regarded as a wain or other wheeled vehicle, in Vivarais they are looked upon as being a saucepan watched by the star which is to be seen near the end of the handle. When the saucepan boils this scullion will take it from the fire, and then the end of the world will come. In the United States the constella- tion is called the Dipper, i.e., the Ladle. I believe that our people speak of it as the Plough. ST. SWITHIN.