CHAP. 27. (27.)—OF THE COLOURS OF THE SKY AND OF
CELESTIAL FLAME.
There is a flame of a bloody appearance (and nothing is
more dreaded by mortals) which falls down upon the earth[1],
such as was seen in the third year of the 103rd olympiad,
when King Philip was disturbing Greece. But my opinion
is, that these, like everything else, occur at stated, natural
periods, and are not produced, as some persons imagine, from a
variety of causes, such as their fine genius may suggest. They
have indeed been the precursors of great evils, but I conceive
that the evils occurred, not because the prodigies took place,
but that these took place because the evils were appointed
to occur at that period[2]. Their cause is obscure in consequence of
their rarity, and therefore we are not as well
acquainted with them as we are with the rising of the stars,
which I have mentioned, and with eclipses and many other
things.
1. The meteor here referred to is probably a peculiar form of the
aurora borealis, which occasionally assumes a red colour. See the
remarks of Fouché, in Ajasson, i. 382.
2. The doctrine of the author appears to be, that the prodigies are not
the cause, but only the indication of the events which succeed them.
This doctrine is referred to by Seneca; "Videbimus an certus omnium
rerum ordo ducatur, et alia aliis ita complexa sint, ut quod antecedit,
aut causa sit sequentium aut signum." Nat. Quæst. i. 1.