Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/137

 Chap. VI.] EISING OF CONSTELLATIONS. 103 Northern TVaiu is never seen in Troglodytice^ nor in EgA^)t, which borders on it^ ; nor can we, in Italy, see the star Ca- nopns^, or Berenice's Hair^ ; nor what, under the Emperor Augustus, was named Caesar's Throne, although they are, there^, very brilliant stars. The curved form of the earth is so obvious, rising up like a ridge, that Canopus appears to a spectator at Alexandi'ia to rise above the horizon almost the quarter of a sign ; the same star at Hhodes appears, as it were, to graze along the earth, while in Pontus it is not seen at all ; where the Northern Wain appears considerably elevated. This same constellation cannot be seen at Rhodes, and still less at Alexandi^ia. In Ai-abia, in the month of November, it is concealed during the tirst watch of the night, but may be seen during the second^; in Meroe it is seen, for a short time, in the evening, at the solstice, and it is visible at day-break, for a few days before the rising of Arcturus^. These facts have been principally ascertained by the expeditions of naigators ; the sea appearing more elevated or depressed in certain parts ^ ; the stars suddenly coming into view, and, as it were, emerging from the water, after having been concealed by the bulging out of the globe ^. But the heavens do not, as some suppose, rise higher at one sponding to the modem Abyssinia and Nubia. 2 This remai-k is incorrect, as far as respects nearly the whole of Egypt ; see the remarks of Marcus, in Ajasson, ii. 245. 3 This is a star of the fii'st magnitude in the southern constellation of Argo ; we have a similar statement in Manihus, i. 216, 217. ^ The commentators suppose that the star or constellation here referred to cannot be the same with what bears this name on the modem celestial atlas ; vide Hardouin in loco, also Marc, in Ajasson, ut supra. The constellation of Berenice's hair forms the subject of Catullus's 67th poem. ^ In Troglodytice and in Egypt. ^ The first watch of the night was from 6 p.m. to 9 ; the second from. 9 to midnight. 7 According to Columella, xi. 2. 369, this was 9 Calend. Mart., cor- responding to the 21st of February. " " In aha adverso, in aha prono mari." I have adopted the opinion of Alexandre, who explains the terms "adverso" and "prono," "ascen- denti ad polum," and "ad austrum devoxo ;" a similar sense is given to the passage by Poinsinet and Ajasson, in their translations. ^ " Anfractu pilse." See Manilius, i. 206 et seq. for a similar mode of expression.
 * The Troglodytice of the ancients may be considered as nearly corre-