----Carried toward the opposed _Bears_, Its Course close by the _Artick_ Circle steers, And by inverted _Cassiopea_ tends; Thence by the _Swan_ obliquely it descends The Summer Tropick, and _Jove's_ Bird divides; Then cross the Equator, and the Zodiack glides 'Twixt _Scorpio's_ burning Tail, and the left Part Of _Sagitarius_, near the fiery Dart; Then by the other _Centaur's_ Legs and Feet, Winding remounts the Skies (again to meet) By _Argos'_ Topsail, and Heav'ns middle Sphere, Passing the _Twins_, t' o'ertake the Charioteer; Thence _Cassiopea_ seeking thee does run, O're _Perseus_ Head, and Ends where it begun. Sher. Manilius. ] PLATE XII, and XIII. Represents the two Hemispheres, where its true Tract is distinguished amongst the principal Stars, and may easily be conceived by them to circumscribe and bisect the whole Heavens. This is that Phænomena I am about to explain and account for; but before I proceed farther, I judge it will be no _improper Precognita_, to give you the Thoughts of the Antients upon it; the Relation perhaps may require some Patience; but I guess, that after reading such wild and extravagant Notions concerning it, you will naturally judge more favourably of the Conjectures of the Moderns upon it, and particularly of what is concluded in the succeeding Pages. [Illustration: Plate XII.] [Illustration: Plate XIII.] _Theophrastus_[V] was of Opinion, that the Hemispheres, which, by many of the Antients were imagined to be solid, was joined together here; and that this was the soldering of the two Parts into one. [W]Diodorus thought it celestial Fire, of a dense and compact Nature, seen through the Clifts or Cracks of the parting Hemisphere: But as _Manilius_ says, Astonishment must sure their Senses reach, To see the World's wide Wound, and Heav'n's eternal Breach. [Footnote V: _Macrobius_, lib. i. cap. 15. Or meets Heaven here! and this while Cloud appears The Cement of the close-wedg'd Hemispheres! ] [Footnote W: The sacred Causes human Breasts enquire, Whether the heavenly Segments there retire, The whole Mass shrinking, and the parting Fame Thro' cleaving Chinks admits the stranger Flame. ] Oenopides[X] believed it the ancient Way of the Sun, till frighted at the bloody Banquet of _Thyestis_. [Y]Eratosthenes supposed it _Juno's_ Milk, spilt whilst giving Suck to _Hercules_. [Z]Plutarch makes it the Effect of _Phaeton's_ confused Erratication; but I think it is plain [AA]Ovid judged them to be Stars, and the ancient _Ethnicks_ believed them to be the blissful Seats of valiant and heroic Souls. ----Valiant Souls, freed from corporeal Gives, Thither repair, and lead æthereal Lives. Manilius. [Footnote X: