PLATE XII, and XIII.
Represents the two Hemispheres, where its true Tract is distinguished amongst the principal Stars, and may easily be conceived by them to circumscribe and bisect the whole Heavens.
This is that Phænomena I am about to explain and account for; but before I proceed farther, I judge it will be no improper Precognita, to give you the Thoughts of the Antients upon it; the Relation perhaps may require some Patience; but I guess, that after reading such wild and extravagant Notions concerning it, you will naturally judge more favourably of the Conjectures of the Moderns upon it, and particularly of what is concluded in the succeeding Pages.
Plate XII.
Plate XIII.
Theophrastus[V] was of Opinion, that the Hemispheres, which, by many of the Antients were imagined to be solid, was joined together here; and that this was the soldering of the two Parts into one. [W]Diodorus thought it celestial Fire, of a dense and compact Nature, seen through the Clifts or Cracks of the parting Hemisphere: But as Manilius says,
Astonishment must sure their Senses reach,
To see the World's wide Wound, and Heav'n's eternal Breach.
[V] Macrobius, lib. i. cap. 15.
Or meets Heaven here! and this while Cloud appears
The Cement of the close-wedg'd Hemispheres!
The sacred Causes human Breasts enquire,
Whether the heavenly Segments there retire,
The whole Mass shrinking, and the parting Fame
Thro' cleaving Chinks admits the stranger Flame.
Oenopides[X] believed it the ancient Way of the Sun, till frighted at the bloody Banquet of Thyestis. [Y]Eratosthenes supposed it Juno's Milk, spilt whilst giving Suck to Hercules. [Z]Plutarch makes it the Effect of Phaeton's confused Erratication; but I think it is plain [AA]Ovid judged them to be Stars, and the ancient Ethnicks believed them to be the blissful Seats of valiant and heroic Souls.
——Valiant Souls, freed from corporeal Gives,
Thither repair, and lead æthereal Lives.
Or seems that old Opinion of more Sway,
That the Sun's Horses here once run astray,
And a new Path mark'd in their straggling Flight,
Of scorching Skies, and Stars adusted Light.
Nor must that gentle Rumour be supprest,
How Milk once flowing from fair Juno's Breast
Stain'd the celestial Pavement, from whence came
This milky Path, its Cause shewn in its Name.
When from the hurried Chariot Light'ning fled,
And scatter'd blazes all the Skies o'erspread;
By whose Approach new Stars enkindled were,
Which still as Marks of that sad Chance appear.
A Way there is in Heaven's expanded Plain
Which when the Skies are clear, is seen below,
And Mortals by the Name of Milky, know,
The Ground-work is of Stars——
But [AB]Democritus long ago believed them to be an infinite Number of small Stars; and such of late Years they have been discovered to be, first by Gallaleo, next by Keplar, and now confirmed by all modern Astronomers, who have ever had an Opportunity of seeing them through a good Telescope.
[AB] Plutarch (in Placitis Philosoph.)