Physical Science in the Time of Nero
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page 5
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
IN
THE TIME OF NERO
BEING A TRANSLATION OF THE
QUAESTIONES NATURALES OF SENECA
BY
JOHN CLARKE, M.A.
LECTURER ON EDUCATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
WITH NOTES ON THE TREATISE BY
SIR
ARCHIBALD GEIKIE
K.C.B., D.C.L., Sc.D., LL.D.
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
ST.
1910
page 7
College
library
Ql5
PREFACE
THIS book is intended primarily for English readers,
to
most of whom
it
will
probably be at least new.
Thomas Lodge, the well-known dramatist, published in 1614 a translation of the whole of Seneca's
prose works (except the Apocolocyntosis), but no
English editor or commentator seems to have
turned his attention to the Quaestiones Naturales,
Lodge's translation, a folio
either before or since.
volume of nearly a thousand pages, was probably
very good for its day, but is now out of date.
to
The
Introduction
the
translation,
is
and
designed to give a setting
to answer a few of the
questions that would naturally occur to the mind of
an intelligent reader who was not a classical scholar.
In the Index also
some details are included
that
may be helpful to those who have neither time nor
up historical and other
books of reference. The object has
opportunity for hunting
allusions in
been to make the volume
self-interpreting,
though
the course has not always been
judiciously steered between too little and too much.
it
may be
that
The Quaestiones Naturales must be regarded as
It
occupying historically an important position.
world
was the latest deliverance of the classical
672785
page 8
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
the
Its
subject of physical speculation.
it
for
currency during the Middle Ages rendered
many centuries the chief authority in science in
upon
Western Europe.
Its
cosmology represented not
only popular but also educated opinion, and became
the source of many of the accepted ideas concerning
the universe that passed into early modern literature in our own and other countries.
Indebtedness to editors of Seneca and to others,
which has been very great,
is
acknowledged as
fully as possible in the Introduction and elsewhere
where help has been availed of.
The interest
taken in the book by various friends is also gratefully acknowledged.
and
Professor
J.
Professor Sir Joseph Larmor
Arthur Thomson have made
useful suggestions.
Professor Herbert
C. Grierson has very kindly read the proofs and
But
given valuable assistance in other respects.
several
J.
my chief acknowledgments are due to Sir Archibald
Geikie. To him the translation owed its inception
:
his constant aid
and encouragement have enabled
me to complete a task from which I should probably
have otherwise shrunk. I am indebted to him also
for the
Commentary appended to the translation,
in which the questions treated
by Seneca are con-
sidered from the point of view of modern Science.
It
has been
to
him a labour of love
:
may our
readers enjoy something of the same satisfaction
J.C.
OLD ABERDEEN,
September 27, 1909.
!
page 13, segment 1/2
CONTENTS
PREFACE
.
.
INTRODUCTION
.
.
BOOK
.
v
xxi
I
[METEORS, HALO, RAINBOW, MOCK SUN, ETC.]
PREFACE
PAGE
CONTRAST between human (moral) philosophy and divine (natural,
The sublime character of the latter which lifts us above
physical).
the contemplation of the littlenesses of the earth and earthly life
to the knowledge of God and His nature.
Compared with
astronomical conceptions and dimensions the world of man is but
as a threshing-floor, the haunt of ants.
The mind of man attains
its true height in contemplation and investigation of these sublime
facts.
Some of the problems thus raised
.....
CHAP.
I.
3
Meteoric fires she-goat, kid, etc. Occasions of their appearance ;
connection of portent with event. Explanation of the phenomena.
They may be due to pressure of the atmosphere. Aristotle attridifference of
butes them to the effect of terrestrial evaporation
:
.......
density causes various outbursts of this kind.
to lightning, but less violent
II.
They are analogous
8
Produced by the light of a heavenly body striking the
surrounding air and forming a circle as a stone does when thrown
into a pond.
Formed far away from the heavenly body and
Halos,
comparatively near the earth in the region of the wind. Require
a particular state of the atmosphere neither too dense nor too
thin.
More frequent at night than day for this reason by day
the sun rarefies the air too much by its heat.
Method of disCalmness a condition
sipation gives indication of wind or rain.
of formation, as in the analogous case of water
:
.
III.
.
.
.
Rainbows. Generally by day, produced by inequalities of surface
and density in clouds. Another species seen in a burst pipe or a
fuller at work.
Various explanations.
Light and shade will not
Some explain the rainbow as a
page 13, segment 2/2
conexplain the varied colours.
fused reflection of the sun from individual drops of rain
:
every bounded surface, large or small, thus reflects
fish-pond
and dew-drop equally. Aristotle attributes the confusion of colours
to weakness of hum
in
persons
sight ; parallels may be found
whose sight is abnormally weak. As the innumerable drops,
m
vii
b
12
page 14, segment 1/2
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
PAGE
CHAP.
apparently without intervals, fall, human vision fails to distinguish severally the reflections of the sun, which thus become
blended and confused. Vision is similarly deceived in the case of
an oar in water, apples in a glass globe, etc., even in the size and
movements of the sun himself. At any rate the rainbow requires
These
both sun and cloud, and these opposite to each other.
.
.
two in operation produce the varieties of colour
1
.
IV. That the rainbow is an image is shown by the relation of sun to
cloud in position, by the rapidity of formation and dispersion.
Artemidorus' explanation of the shape of the cloud (concave),
and the consequent position of the red in the rainbow
.
6
22
.
V. Arguments to show that the cloud is coloured by the sun, like a
dove's neck or a peacock's tail, and that the rainbow is not a
The position (opposite) would be equally
reflection of the sun.
Answer to this contention by Posidonius.
Author agrees with Posidonius' position but
necessary in this case.
The colour effects.
The only proof is the geometrical one.
not his arguments.
VI. Arguments from the size never more than a semicircle and
As the colour, whether real or reflected, is
of
the
bow.
shape
The size is
derived from the sun, so must also the shape be.
accounted for by the magnifying power of water, glass, etc.
The sun as he appears in the rainbow is seen through moisture
23
.
28
.
The arguments from the dispersion of the sun's rays through glass
VII.
(prism).
VIII.
Contention that they confirm author's view
The form once more
;
.
30
.
why it is never larger than a semicircle.
A wrong explanation refuted.
Explanation of Aristotle's remark
as to the seasons of rainbows, in summer only in the morning or
.
.
.
.
.
.
page 14, segment 2/2
evening, in autumn at any time
31
Merely abortive or imperfect rainbows
.
33
.
34
IX. Streaks or weather-galls.
X. Relations and differences of halos, bows, and weather-galls
.
Their appearance and position in relation to the sun.
XI. Mock suns.
They are a reflection of the sun in a suitable medium
.
.
34
XII. The formation of a mock sun may be compared to the image of
the sun in eclipse as seen reflected in a dish of oil or pitch
the
medium must be adapted to give the impression. The mock sun
requires a certain consistency of cloud, failing which, a different
:
effect is produced
obscuration, dissipation, etc.
XIII. There may be two mock suns simultaneously.
Some think the
one is a reflection of the other, the clouds acting as mirrors set
.
.
.
.........
opposite to one another.
a sign of rain
35
Mock suns, especially in the South, are
36
"Cave meteors^" "Barrel meteors"
XIV. Other celestial fires.
" Chasms" with a brief
of each.
The
of
description
rapidity
their flight, just as of lightning, deceives the sight.
Their origin
and cause. They indicate wind
XV. Gleams (flashes, <rt\a). Their production and motions, varieties
of them.
Some do damage. Some are analogous to comets.
"
"
"Beams "
"Bearded," torches" "cypress are different kinds.
and " barrels " may be of the same class. A curious case where
such an appearance raised an alarm of fire.
They are real fires.
On the contrary, rainbows and halos are mere reflections.
.
.
.
.
Mirrors have this wonderful power of false presentation
.
.
37
.
.
39
page 15, segment 2/2
Its tension is seen in raising water, as in the jet in the amphitheatre.
Proofs from a ship upborne of water, a quoit flung from
a height, sound heard through a wall
59
.
.
.
.
.
.
central layer is coldest
.
.
........
X. Varieties of density and temperature in the atmosphere
XI. The lower parts are most subject to change.
:
the
60
The cause of this
in part the earth, in part the sun, moon, and other stars.
So much by way of preface to explain the nature of that atmo-
is
sphere in which thunder and lightning occur
.
.
.
.
XII. Lightning, thunder-bolt, thunder.
All agree that they occur in
the clouds, but different explanations are given of their cause and
relations.
Anaxagoras connects them with the ether ; Aristotle
says they are due to exhalations of various kinds, from the earth,
coming in contact with the clouds
.
.
When it so comes it is forced
.
.
.
.
.......
XIII. The fire cannot be inherent in the clouds and
fall
61
62
from them.
64
page 16, segment 1/2
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
CHAP.
PAGE
XIV. There is nothing inconsistent with this in the explanation given
There may be an analogy with what is
(I. xv.) of meteors.
observed in cases of fire when isolated groups of houses take fire
.
.
.
.
.
through gradual accumulation of heat
65
XV. Some (Stoics) think that spontaneous combustion takes place in
the air
XVI.
Difference between a flash of lightning and a bolt
66
...
66
....
67
XVIII. Anaximander attributes the effects to air and explains all the
phenomena by reference to it
67
XVII. Some explain the noise of thunder as due to hot meeting cold,
as in the case of hot iron plunged into water
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
XIX. Anaxagoras says it is the ether that acts on the lower atmo.
.
.
sphere to produce them : it sends out fire
XX. Diogenes of Apollonia thinks that fire and air interact, producing one another, as may be observed in the various phenomena
.
XXL Authorities discarded
68
68
A
flash and
independent explanation.
a bolt are fire in some form
they differ only in degree
XXII. Analogy of fire on earth it must apply above. Lightning due
either to impact or friction.
Hurricanes are a sufficient cause of
the former
:
:
.
.
69
:
..........
XXIII. Clouds and air may through friction also be a cause.
so produced are insubstantial and evanescent
.
.
70
The fires
.
.
71
XXIV.
Fire by reason of its lightness levitates, just as water graviBut in the case of a bolt it is forced down, contrary to its
"
"
.
.
.
.
nature, like a
weeping tree
tates.
.
XXV. But it is said that wet clouds produce fire.
How ?
.
.
71
.
72
XXVI. There is no inconsistency in the combination in the same
A
cloud of potential fire and water.
log burns at one end,
An island on each of two occaexudes moisture at the other.
page 16, segment 2/2
sions was thrown up
ning
XXVII.
:
by fire in the Aegean Sea, fire overcoming
And clouds are, as a matter of fact, required for light-
water.
exceptions to this are only apparent
with their causes
.
.
.
72
.
.........
Different kinds of thunder.
The growling and the crashing,
75
XXVIII. In
order to the sound of thunder, clouds of a particular
bladder does not burst
shape must meet in a particular way.
broad simultaneous blow over the whole
with a report if cut.
.
.
.
.
cloud is necessary to an explosion .
A
A
.
76
XXIX. The proper shape and the rupture of the cloud are necessary.
Compare drums, etc.
XXX. According
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
some, clouds are not necessary to thunder
witness eruptions of Etna and the overthrow of Cambyses' army,
where particles of sand were the medium of the thunder and
But in this case, too, a cloud was formed, it may be,
lightning.
a denser, and more solid than one composed of mere air, before
emitted
.
.
was
.
.
sound
the
to
.
.
.
.
XXXI. Strange effects of lightning
..........
Portents and events, their undoubted and widespread connection
XXXII.
XXXIII. Thunderbolts.
with them
.
77
:
.
77
78
79
Threefold division of the art of dealing
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
81
page 17, segment 1/2
CONTENTS
XXXIV.
Mistaken views as to the relation of lightning to other
presages.
The former are of equal, not superior, value
XXXV. Fate cannot be changed by expiation and entreaty
XXXVI. " God is not a man" that he should change fate.
the use, then, of rites
XXXVII. Answer
alternative
Fate
.
82
.
.
83
?........
.......
are
issues
.
fixes
What is
84
some things only conditionally: the
determined
by the conduct, active or
passive, of the worshipper
XXXVIII. This action of his is likewise a part of fate.
sayer, like the physician, is the minister of fate.
free will deferred
84
The soothDiscussion of
......
85
XXXIX. Three classes or kinds of thunderbolts, as judged by their
indications, according to Caecina
different species of the latter are distinguished by their effects
Fine distinctions of Latin terms
boring, splitting, burning.
XLI.
A kind that stains or discolours.
.
....
87
The Etruscan view of the
three kinds of bolt according to their division
XLI I. The Etruscans knew what
86
The
XL. These are kinds of prognostications rather than of bolts.
88
they were
about in attributing
Their theory was for the
.....
89
An example is set to
XLIII. "Which things are an allegory."
earthly rulers to be merciful and consider well their judgments
90
certain motives and actions to Jupiter.
benefit of the ignorant mass of humanity
.
XLIV. Jove does not change his missiles
the offence to be punished.
;
but there are gradations in
That is the lesson
.
.
.
91
XLV. By Jove the Etruscans meant, as we do, all that is greatest and
Fate, Providence, Nature, the Universe
best
.
.
.
.
91
XLVI. He is the source of the thunder's power, though he does not
superintend each stroke.
Why he spares the guilty is another
which will be
page 17, segment 2/2
discussed in another place
....
92
XLVII. An erroneous classification of thunderbolts according to time
92
affair,
XLVIII.
It
must be wrong, because the time is always
XLIX.
must all be looked into
A
.......
...
better basis of treatment is that of Attalus.
etc.,
limited.
Place, time, person,
Caecina's division, his names and their meanings
...........
..........
93
94
L. That of Attalus is much better, being based on the true signification
LI.
The
signification
of some does not
affect,
of some
reach, us
LII.
The force of lightning as seen
in different materials,
and
on philosophy
9^
may be followed up afterwards.
.
.
.
.
95
at
different times in the same material (cf. xxxi.)
LIII. Poisonous effects :
95
does not
.
Panegyric
.
.
.
97
LIV. Returns to Posidonius' (Aristotle's) opinion as to the cause of
thunder, an explosion of air
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
98
LV. The collision of clouds may produce it.
Air is the cause in this
instance also.
Shooting stars are associated with thunder, but
this is the exception, not the rule
98