CHAP. 113.—THE HARMONICAL PROPORTION OF THE UNIVERSE.
That harmonical proportion, which compels nature to be
always consistent with itself, obliges us to add to the above
measure, 12,000 stadia; and this makes the earth one
ninety-sixth part of the whole universe.
Summary.—The facts, statements, and observations contained in this Book amount in number to 417.
Roman Authors Quoted.—M. Varro[1], Sulpicius Gallus[2],
Titus Cæsar[3] the Emperor, Q. Tubero[4], Tullius Tiro[5], L. Piso[6],
T. Livius[7], Cornelius Nepos[8], Sebosus[9], Cælius Antipater[10],
Fabianus[11], Antias[12], Mucianus[13], Cæcina[14], who wrote on the
Etruscan discipline, Tarquitius[15], who did the same, Julius
Aquila[16], who also did the same, and Sergius[17].
Foreign Authors Quoted.—Plato[18], Hipparchus[19], Timæus[20], Sosigenes[21], Petosiris[22], Necepsos[23], the Pythago-
rean[24] Philosophers, Posidonius[25], Anaximander[26], Epigenes[27]
the philosopher who wrote on Gnomonics, Euclid[28], Coeranus[29] the philosopher, Eudoxus[30], Democritus[31], Critodemus[32],
Thrasyllus[33], Serapion[34], Dicæarchus[35], Archimedes[36], Onesi-
critus[37], Eratosthenes[38], Pytheas[39], Herodotus[40], Aristotle[41],
Ctesias[42], Artemidorus[43] of Ephesus, Isidorus[44] of Charax, and
Theopompus[45].
1. Marcus Terentius Varro. He was born B.C. 116, espoused the cause
of Pompey against Cæsar, and served as his lieutenant in Spain. He
afterwards became reconciled to Cæsar, and died in the year B.C. 26. He
is said to have written 500 volumes, but nearly all his works are lost
(destroyed, it is said, by order of Pope Gregory VII.). His only remains are a Treatise on Agriculture, a Treatise on the Latin Tongue,
and the fragments of a work called Analogia.
2. C. Sulpicius Gallus was Consul in the year 166 B.C. He wrote a
Roman History, and a work on the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon.
3. Titus Vespasianus, the Emperor, to whom Pliny dedicates his work.
His poem is mentioned in c. 22 of this Book. See pages 1, 2, and 55 of
the present volume.
4. It is most probable that Quintus Ælius Pætus Tubero is here meant.
He was son-in-law, and, according to Cicero, nephew of Æmilius Paulus,
and Consul in the year B.C. 167. There are two other persons found
mentioned of the name of Q. Ælius Tubero.
5. The freedman and amanuensis of Cicero. He was a man of great
learning, and was supposed to have invented short-hand. He also wrote
a Life of Cicero.
6. Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi. He was Consul in the year B.C. 133,
and was a stout opponent of the Gracchi. He wrote Annals of the History
of Rome from the earliest periods.
7. Livy, the well-known Roman historian.
8. He was the intimate friend of Cicero, and wrote Chronicles or Annals, in
three books, a Life of Cicero, and some other historical works. A work still
exists, called "Lives of Eminent Commanders," which is ascribed sometimes to him and sometimes to one Æmilius Probus, a writer of the reign
of Theodosius. The latter probably abridged the original work of Nepos.
9. Statius Sebosus. He is mentioned by Cicero as the friend of Catulus.
He wrote a work called the "Periplus," and another on the Wonders of
India.
10. A Roman historian and lawyer, who flourished about B.C. 124. He
wrote a Book of Annals, in which was contained a valuable account of
the Second Punic war. This work was epitomized by Brutus and held
in high estimation by the Emperor Adrian.
11. Fabianus Papirius, a Roman rhetorician and naturalist, whose works
are highly commended by Pliny and Seneca. He wrote a History of Animals, and a book on Natural Causes.
12. Quintus Valerius Antias. He flourished about B.C. 80, and wrote
the Annals of Rome, down to the time of Sylla.
13. Marcus Licinius Crassus Mucianus. He was instrumental in raising
the Emperor Vespasian to the throne, and was Consul in the years
A.D. 52, 70, and 74. He published three Books of Epistles, and a History
in eleven Books, which appears to have treated chiefly of Eastern affairs.
14. Aulus Cæcina. He was sent into exile by Cæsar, joined the Pompeians in Africa, and was taken prisoner by Cæsar, but his life was spared.
Cicero wrote several letters to him, and commends his abilities. His
work appears to have been on Divination as practised by the Etrurians.
15. He appears to have been a diviner or soothsayer of Etruria, and to
have written a work on Etruscan prodigies.
16. He also wrote a work on Etruscan divination, but it does not appear
that anything further is known of him.
17. Sergius Paulus. He is also mentioned in the Index to the 18th Book.
Nothing further seems to be known of him.
18. The greatest, with the exception of Aristotle, of the Greek Philosophers, and the disciple of Socrates.
19. A native of Nicæa in Bithynia, who flourished B.C. 160. He is called
the "Father" of Astronomy. He wrote a Commentary on the Phænomena of Aratus and Eudoxus, which is still extant. His works, including
those on the Lunar Month and the Fixed Stars, have not come down to
us. His Catalogue of the Stars is preserved in the Almagest of Ptolemy.
20. Timæus of Locri in Italy, a Pythagorean philosopher, said to have
been the instructor of Plato. He wrote a work on Mathematics. A work
"On the Soul of the World and of Nature," which is still extant, has
been ascribed to him, but on doubtful grounds.
21. An astronomer and peripatetic philosopher of Alexandria. He was
employed by Julius Cæsar to superintend his revision of the Calendar.
It is supposed that he wrote a work on the Celestial Revolutions, and a
Commentary on the works of Aristotle.
22. A priest, mathematician, and astrologer of Egypt. A Letter on
the Astrological Sciences, written by him to King Necepsos, is said to be
extant in the Royal Library at Vienna, as also a work called the "Organum Astrologicum," dedicated to the same king. Juvenal seems to use
his name as a common term for an astrologer.
23. He is mentioned by Julius Firmicus as "a most just emperor of Egypt,
and a very good astronomer." A work by him is quoted by Galen in his
tenth Book on Simples, but it was most probably of spurious origin.
24. "Pythagoricis" here may either mean the works of the followers of
Pythagoras of Samos, or the books which were written by that philosopher. Pliny, in Books 19, 20, and 24, speaks of several writings of Pythagoras, and Diogenes Laertius mentions others; but it is more generally supposed that he wrote nothing, and that everything that passed by
his name in ancient times was spurious.
25. A Stoic philosopher of Apamea in Syria. He was the instructor of
Cicero, and the friend of Pompey. He wrote works on history, divination, the tides, and the nature of the gods. Some fragments only have
survived.
26. Of Miletus, was born B.C. 610, and was the successor of Thales, the
founder of the Ionian school of philosophy. He is said to have first
taught the obliquity of the ecliptic and the use of the gnomon.
27. A philosopher of Rhodes or Byzantium. Seneca says that he boasted
of having studied astronomy among the Chaldeans. He is mentioned by
Varro and Columella as having written on rural matters, and is praised
by Censorinus.
28. Of Alexandria, the great geometrician, and instructor of Ptolemy I.
He was the founder of the mathematical school of Alexandria.
29. He was a Greek by birth, and lived in the time of Nero. He is
extolled by Tacitus, B. 14, for his superlative wisdom, beyond which
nothing is known of him.
30. Of Cnidus, an astronomer and legislator who flourished B.C. 366. He
was a friend and disciple of Plato, and said to have been the first who
taught in Greece the motions of the planets. His works on astronomy
and geometry are lost, but his Phænomena have been preserved by Aratus,
who turned his prose into verse.
31. Born at Abdera in Thrace, about B.C. 460. He was one of the founders
of the atomic theory, and looked upon peace of mind as the summum bonum
of mortals. He wrote works on the nature and organization of the world,
on physics, on contagious maladies, on the chameleon, and on other subjects.
32. A Grecian astronomer. A work of his, called "Apotelesmatica," is
said to be preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna.
33. An astrologer of Rhodes, patronized by Augustus and Tiberius. He
wrote a work on Stones, and a History of Egypt. Tacitus, in his Annals,
B. vi., speaks highly of his skill in astrology.
34. A geographer of Antioch, and an opponent of the views of Eratosthenes. Cicero declares that he himself was unable to understand a
thousandth part of his work.
35. A Peripatetic philosopher and geographer, of Messina in Sicily. He
studied under Aristotle and wrote several works, the principal of which
was an account of the history, geography, and moral and religious condition of Greece. A few fragments only are extant.
36. Of Syracuse, the most famous mathematician of antiquity, born B.C. 287. A few only of his works have come down to us, published at Oxford in 1792, by Torelli.
37. Born either at Astypalæa or Ægina. He was chief pilot of the
fleet of Alexander during the descent of the Indus and the voyage to the
Persian Gulf. He wrote a work called the "Alexandropædia," or Education of Alexander. In his description of what he saw in India, many
fables and falsehoods are said to have been interwoven, so much so that
the work (which is now lost) is said to have resembled a fable more than
a history.
38. Of Cyrene, born B.C. 276. He was invited from Athens by Ptolemy
Euergetes, to become keeper of the library at Alexandria. He was a man
of most extensive erudition, as an astronomer, geographer, philosopher,
historian and grammarian. All of his writings have perished, with the
exception of a few fragments on geographical subjects.
39. Of Massilia, now Marseilles, a celebrated navigator who flourished
about the time of Alexander the Great. In his voyages he visited Britain
and Thule, of which he probably gave some account in his work "on the
Ocean." He has been wrongfully accused of falsehood by Strabo. Another work written by him was his "Periplus," or 'Circumnavigation'
from Gades to the Tanais, probably, in this instance, the Elbe.
40. Of Halicarnassus, the father of Grecian history; born B.C. 484.
Besides his great work which has come down to us, he is supposed to
have written a history of Arabia.
41. Probably the most learned of the Greek philosophers. His works
were exceedingly numerous, and those which have survived to us treat of
natural history, metaphysics, physical science, ethics, logic, and general
literature.
42. A native of Cnidus in Caria, and private physician to Artaxerxes
Mnemon, having been made prisoner by him at the battle of Cunaxa. He
wrote a History of Persia in 23 books, which, with the exception of a small
abridgement by Photius and a few fragments, is now lost. He also wrote
a book on India. He was much censured, probably without sufficient
reason, for the credulity displayed in his works.
43. Of Ephesus, a geographer, who lived about B.C. 100. He wrote a Periplus, and a work on Geography; a few fragments only of abridgements
of these have survived.
44. Of Charax in Parthia, of which country he wrote an account which
still exists. He flourished in the reign of Augustus.
45. Of Chios, a celebrated historian, and disciple of the orator Isocrates.
His principal works were a History of Greece, and a Life of Philip of
Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.