Physical science in the time of Nero : $b being a translation of the Quaestiones naturales of SenecaSeneca, Lucius Annaeus
Philosophy
Physical science in the time of Nero : $b being a translation of the Quaestiones naturales of Seneca
Seneca, Lucius Annaeus
Comets; Earthquakes; Meteorology -- Early works to 1800
We Stoics hold that there are twelve winds; not that there are 1
everywhere so many (the slope of the earth [_i.e._ of the earth’s axis]
excludes some), but because there are nowhere more than twelve. We
speak of six cases in the same way, not because every noun possesses
six, but because none has more than six. Those who assert the number
of the winds to be twelve adopt the principle that the number must be
the same as the divisions of the heavens. Now the heavens are divided
into five zones passing through the cardinal points of the world. These
are the northern, the solstitial, the equinoctial, the wintry, 2
the one that faces the northern. A sixth is added in the zone which
separates the upper part of the world from the lower. As you know,
there is always one-half the world above our head, and one-half beneath
our feet. This line which lies between the visible and the concealed
parts of the sky is called by the Greeks the Horizon (ὁρίζων = bounding
line): our school call it the Bounder; others, the Bounding [line].
To this must be added the meridian circle, which cuts the horizon 3
at right angles. Some of these zones run transversely, intersecting
others. Now there must necessarily be as many divisions of the heavens
as there are parts. So, then, the horizon or bounding circle cuts those
five zones, of whose position I have just spoken, making ten parts,
five to east and five to west. The meridian circle which meets the
horizon gives two additional divisions. Thus the air receives its 4
twelve divisions, and yields a like number of winds.
There are some of the winds that are peculiar to certain localities;
they do not carry far, but reach only the immediate vicinity. They do
not derive their impulse from a particular quarter of the world at
large. For example, the wind Atabulus haunts Apulia; the Iapygian,
Calabria; the Scironian, Athens; Cataegis, Pamphylia; Circius, Gaul.
To the last mentioned, though it shakes their houses, the people are
very grateful, believing they are indebted to it for the healthiness
of their climate. At any rate, the late Emperor Augustus, when he was
staying in Gaul, erected to it a temple he had vowed. My task would
never be done if I were to attempt to enumerate the individual winds.
There is hardly any district that has not some particular wind that
arises in it and falls not far from it.
XVIII
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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