CHAP. 28. (28.)—OF CELESTIAL CORONÆ.
Stars are occasionally seen along with the sun, for whole
days together, and generally round its orb, like wreaths made
of the ears of corn, or circles of various colours[1]; such as
occurred when Augustus, while a very young man, was
entering the city, after the death of his father, in order to
take upon himself the great name which he assumed[2]. (29.)
The same coronæ occur about the moon and also about the
principal stars, which are stationary in the heavens.
1. It would appear that, in this passage, two phenomena are confounded
together; certain brilliant stars, as, for example, Venus, which have been
occasionally seen in the day-time, and the formation of different kinds of
halos, depending on certain states of the atmosphere, which affect its
transparency.
2. This occurrence is mentioned by Seneca, Nat. Quæst. i. 2; he enters
into a detailed explanation of the cause; also by V. Paterculus, ii. 59,
and by Jul. Obsequens, cap. 128. We can scarcely doubt of the reality
of the occurrence, as these authors would not have ventured to relate
what, if not true, might have been so easily contradicted.