Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 79

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The cause of the other things which are worthy of our admiration depends on the figure of the earth itself, which, together with all its waters, is proved, by the same arguments, to be a globe. This certainly is the cause why the stars of the northern portion of the heavens never set to us, and why, on the other hand, those in the south never rise, and again, why the latter can never be seen by the former, the globe of the earth rising up and concealing them. The Northern Wain is never seen in Troglodytice486, nor in Egypt, which borders on it487; nor can we, in Italy, see the star Canopus488, or Berenice’s Hair489; nor what, under the Emperor Augustus, was named Cæsar’s Throne, although they are, there490, very brilliant stars. The curved form of the earth is so obvious, rising up like a ridge, that Canopus appears to a spectator at Alexandria to rise above the horizon almost the quarter of a sign; the same star at Rhodes appears, as it were, to graze along the earth, while in Pontus it is not seen at all; where the Northern Wain appears considerably elevated. This same constellation cannot be seen at Rhodes, and still less at Alexandria. In Arabia, in the month of November, it is concealed during the first watch of the night, but may be seen during the second491; in Meroë it is seen, for a short time, in the evening, at the solstice, and it is visible at day-break, for a few days before the rising of Arcturus492. These facts have been principally ascertained by the expeditions of navigators; the sea appearing more elevated or depressed in certain parts493; the stars suddenly coming into view, and, as it were, emerging from the water, after having been concealed by the bulging out of the globe494. But the heavens do not, as some suppose, rise higher at one pole, otherwise495 its stars would be seen from all parts of the world; they indeed are supposed to be higher by those who are nearest to them, but the stars are sunk below the horizon to those who are more remote. As this pole appears to be elevated to those who are beneath it; so, when we have passed along the convexity of the earth, those stars rise up, which appear elevated to the inhabitants of those other districts; all this, however, could not happen unless the earth had the shape of a globe.