The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6)

Chapter 24: CHAP. 19. (21.)—OF THE DISTANCES OF THE STARS.

Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

Archaeology & Anthropology Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference History - Ancient

About This Book

The text assembles a systematic survey of the natural world, opening with cosmological and geographical discussions and proceeding through plants, animals, minerals, and human uses of natural substances. It synthesizes reports from earlier authors, travelers, and craftsmen, combining empirical observation, hearsay, and learned commentary to describe physical phenomena, medicinal remedies, technologies, and curiosities. Organized as an encyclopedic sequence of books and chapters, it catalogues facts and theories, cites authorities, and balances practical instruction with natural-philosophical reflection.

CHAP. 19. (21.)—OF THE DISTANCES OF THE STARS.

Many persons have attempted to discover the distance of the stars from the earth, and they have published as the result, that the sun is nineteen times as far from the moon, as the moon herself is from the earth256. Pythagoras, who was a man of a very sagacious mind, computed the distance from the earth to the moon to be 126,000 furlongs, that from her to the sun is double this distance, and that it is three times this distance to the twelve signs257; and this was also the opinion of our countryman, Gallus Sulpicius258.