[103] “universi cardine.” “Revolutionis, ut aiunt, centro. Idem Plinius, hoc ipso libro, cap. 64, terram cœli cardinem esse dicit;” Alexandre, in Lem. i. 228. On this subject I may refer to Ptolemy, Magn. Const, lib. i. cap. 3, 4, 6. See also Apuleius, near the commencement of his treatise De Mundo. [104] “Sidera.” The word _sidus_ is used, in most cases, for one of the heavenly bodies generally, sometimes for what we term a constellation, a particular assemblage of them, and sometimes specially for an individual star. Manilius employs the word in all these senses, as will appear by the three following passages respectively; the first taken from the opening of his poem, “Carmine divinas artes, et conscia fati Sidera....” The second, “Hæc igitur texunt æquali sidera tractu Ignibus in varias cœlum laqueantia formas.” i. 275, 276. The third “... pectus, fulgenti sidere clarius;” i. 356. In the Fasti of Ovid, we have examples of the two latter of these significations:— “Ex Ariadnæo sidere nosse potes;” v. 316. “Et canis (Icarium dicunt) quo sidere noto Tosta sitit tellus;” iv. 939, 940. Lucretius appears always to employ the term in the general sense. J. Obsequens applies the word _sidus_ to a meteor; “sidus ingens cœlo demissum,” cap. 16. In a subsequent part of this book, chap. 18 _et seq._, our author more particularly restricts the term _sidus_ to the planets. [105] Cicero remarks concerning them; “quæ (stellæ) falso vocantur errantes;” De Nat. Deor. ii. 51. [106] “... vices dierum alternat et noctium, quum sidera præsens occultat, illustrat absens;” Hard. in Lem. i. 230. [107] “ceteris sideribus.” According to Hardouin, _ubi supra_, “nimium stellis errantibus.” There is, however, nothing in the expression of our author which sanctions this limitation. [108] See Iliad, iii. 277, and Od. xii. 323. [109] It is remarked by Enfield, Hist. of Phil. ii. 131, that “with respect to philosophical opinions, Pliny did not rigidly adhere to any sect.... He reprobates the Epicurean tenet of an infinity of worlds; favours the Pythagorean notion of the harmony of the spheres; speaks of the universe as God, after the manner of the Stoics, and sometimes seems to pass over into the field of the Sceptics. For the most part, however, he leans to the doctrine of Epicurus.” [110] “Si alius est Deus quam sol,” Alexandre in Lem. i. 230. Or rather, if there be any God distinct from the world; for the latter part of the sentence can scarcely apply to the sun. Poinsinet and Ajasson, however, adopt the same opinion with M. Alexandre; they translate the passage, “s’il en est autre que le soleil,” i. 17 and ii. 11. [111] “totus animæ, totus animi;” “Anima est qua vivimus, animus quo sapimus.” Hard. in Lem. i. 230, 231. The distinction between these two words is accurately pointed out by Lucretius, iii. 137 _et seq._