Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/145

 Chap. 81.] EAETHQITAKES. Ill legs, that in the one, the fluids, like yapoiir, are forced into the upper parts of the body, while in the other, being a gross humour, it is drawn downwards into the lower parts In the cold regions savage beasts are produced, and in the others, various forms of animals, and many kinds of birds^. In both situations the body grows tall, in the one case by the force of fire, and in the other by the nutritive moisture. In the middle of the earth there is a salutary mixture of the two, a tract fruitful in all things, the habits of the body holding a mean between the two, with a proper tempering of colours ; the manners of the people are gentle, the intellect clear^, the genius fertile and capable of comprehending every part of nature. They have formed empires, which has never been done by the remote nations ; yet these latter have never been subjected by the former, being severed from them and remaining solitary, hom the effect produced on them by their savage nature. CHAP. 81. (79.) OF EARTHQUAKES. According to the doctrine of the Babylonians, earthquakes and clefts of the earth, and occurrences of this kind, are supposed to be produced by the influence of the stars, especially of the three to which they ascribe thunder'* ; and to be caused by the stars moving with the sun, or being in conjunction with it, and, more particularly, when they are in the quartile aspect^. If we are to credit the report, a ^ There is a passage in Galen, De Temperamentis, iii. 6, which may appear to sanction the opinion of onr author ; " Siccos esse, quibus maera eiint crura ; humidos, quibus crassa." 2 The latter part of the remark is correct, but the number of ferocious animals is also greater in the warmer regions ; there is, in fact, a greater variety in all the productions of nature in the warmer districts of the globe, except in those particular spots where animal or vegetable life is counteracted by some local circumstances, as in many parts of Asia and Africa by the want of water. 3 " Sensus hquidus ; " Alexandre explains this expression, "judicium eanum, mens inteUigendo apta." Lemaire, i. 401. 5 " Yel quando meant cum Sole in conjunctione cum eo, vol quando cum eo conveniunt in aspectu, maxime vcro in quadrato, qui fit, quiun distant a Sole quarta mundi sive codU parte." Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 401.
 * Saturn, Jupuer and Mars : see the 8th chapter of this book.