[441] “Velini lacus ... præcipiti cursu in gurgitem subjectum defertur, et illo aquarum lapsu, dispersis in aëra guttis humidis, ... iridis multiplicis phænomenon efficit....” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 365. [442] We have an example in Martial, v. 34. 9, of the imprecation which has been common in all ages: Mollia nec rigidus cespes tegat ossa, nec illi Terra gravis fueris; and in Seneca’s Hippolytus, _sub finem_: ... istam terra defossam premat, Gravisque tellus impio capiti incubet. [443] The author refers to this opinion, xxix. 23, when describing the effects of venomous animals. [444] inertium; “ultione abstinentium,” as explained by Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 367. [445] “Quod mortis genus a terræ meritis et benignitate valde abhorret.” Hardouin, in Lemaire, i. 367. [446] “Terra, inquit, sola est, e quatuor naturæ partibus sive elementis, adversus quam ingrati simus.” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 368. [447] “Est ironiæ formula. Quid, ait, feras et serpentes et venena terræ exprobramus, quæ ne ad tuendam quidem illam satis valent?” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 369. [448] “ossa vel insepulta cum tempore tellus occultat, deprimentia pondere suo mollitam pluviis humum.” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 370. [449] “figura prima.” I may refer to the second chapter of this book, where the author remarked upon the form of the earth as perfect in all its parts, and especially adapted for its supposed position in the centre of the universe. [450] “... si capita linearum comprehendantur ambitu;” the meaning of this passage would appear to be: if the extremities of the lines drawn from the centre of the earth to the different parts of the surface were connected together, the result of the whole would be a sphere. I must, however, remark, that Hardouin interprets it in a somewhat different manner; “Si per extremitates linearum ductarum a centro ad _summos_ quosque vertices montium circulus exigatur.” Lemaire, i. 370. [451] “... immensum ejus globum in formam orbis assidua circa eam mundi volubilitate cogente.” As Hardouin remarks, the word _mundus_ is here used in the sense of _cœlum_. Lemaire, i. 371. [452] As our author admits of the existence of antipodes, and expressly states that the earth is a perfect sphere, we may conclude that the resemblance to the cone of the pine is to be taken in a very general sense. How far the ancients entertained correct opinions respecting the globular figure of the earth, or rather, at what period this opinion became generally admitted, it is perhaps not easy to ascertain. The lines in the Georgics, i. 242, 243, which may be supposed to express the popular opinion in the time of Virgil, certainly do not convey the idea of a sphere capable of being inhabited in all its parts: Hic vertex nobis semper sublimis; at illum Sub pedibus Styx atra videt, manesque profundi. [453] “spiritus vis mundo inclusi.”