the periodical appearance of a star, they were able to correct the lunar year, and change it for the solar, and to mark the seasons for ploughing, sowing, and reaping, pruning vines, and gathering grapes, with some degree of precision.

Although we are not to presume, that nothing more was known by the contemporaries of these writers than appears in their works; yet when we consider, that they were among the best informed people of their age, and reflect upon the intercourse that Greece, Asia Minor, and Judea, had with Egypt, we may well be surprised, that no more astronomi.. cal knowledge appears in their long and variegated poems, in which war and peace, navigation, agriculture, and all the arts of life, are treated of at such length.

On the whole it appears, that the people of those times knew, that the sun rose from the ocean, and set in it; but not, that they could account for his return to the east; and had observed his change of place in summer and winter; but not, that they had any idea of his annual course. They could not fail to observe the phases of the moon; but we have no intimation of any attempt to account for them. They had given names to a few of the most conspicuous constellations and stars, and we have no reason to think, that they were acquainted with more. The singular beauty of Venus in the morning and evening, had attracted their notice: but they do not seem to have remarked, that while all the fixed stars keep

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their relative situations, there were five of distinguished size and splendour, that were incessantly changing place, and performing a regular tour through the crowd: and that, while the rising and setting of the former determined the seasons of the year, no such conclusion could be drawn from the planets. They carefully observed, when a star emerged from the rays of the sun in the morning, and was immersed in them in the evening; when it rose at sunset, or set at sunrise: but these risings and settings were only apparent, and these observations made without instruments or calculations. In applying their observations to our days, we must bear in mind, that these risings took place about two months earlier than at present.

We cannot say, that all these particulars were unknown; but only, that they are not alluded to in Hesiod, who treats professedly of agriculture and navigation; or Homer, who in his Iliad treats of peace and war, and in his Odyssey embraces the whole circle of geography and navigation, civil and domestic life; or in the Sacred Writings, in which, indeed, few occasions of mentioning astronomical subjects occur. It is observable, that the author of Job is the only writer, who seems to have conceived, that the earth is suspended on its own centre, or who appears to allude to the signs of the Zodiac.

51.

CHRONOLOGY.

FROM the historical accuracy, which Homer observes in detailing the genealogies of the great families of his time, and some observations of the same kind in Hesiod, Sir I. Newton and others have been able to correct the Chronology of ancient times; but this is only an accidental consequence; for the different portions of time seem to have occupied little of their attention.

The number of generations, that Nestor survived, is mentioned; but no estimate of the length of a generation. We frequently meet with the year, sometimes with the solstices, and several times with months; but there is no mention of hours, that I recollect. The portions of the day are distinguished by the business, with which they were respectively occupied. The dawn indeed occurs frequently: but mid-day* is described as the time, when the woodcutter prepares his meal, or when the sun attains the middle of heaven; and the evening is denoted,+

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* Il. xi. 86. + II. xvi. 779.-Od. ix. 56.

by the unyoking of the oxen, or the rising of a judge, to take his supper, after deciding many causes. One line in the Iliad may imply, that the night was divided into three parts or watches; and another, that the day was divided into morning, evening, and mid-day. As to the months, the same distinction seems to have obtained in Homer's day, that was received among the Athenians: viz-the division into decades. Homer, however, does not mention the middle decade:* Hesiod does. Neither is it expressly said, that these portions consisted of ten days each. He also divides the months into three spaces of nine days; though he speaks of a month as having thirty, without accounting for the remaining three.

To reconcile these inconsistent partitions of the month, we may suppose, that it was divided into three decades, and that the three periods of nine days may have answered some other purpose, like the nundina among the Romans, which may have been derived from them. In Hesiod we meet with the first sixth day, the middle sixth, and the middle seventh; signifying, the sixth and seventh of the first and middle divisions respectively: but these may apply either to decades or nundina. No day in the concluding period is particularly mentioned. The name of the middle portion does not exactly

.* Od. xiv. 162. xix. 307.

correspond with the term used by the Athenians, though it has the same meaning: those of the first and second do. We meet with the thirteenth day of the first period, which seems to be inconsistent with both suppositions. This would seem to imply, that the month was sometimes divided into halves; which supposition is countenanced by a passage in Hesiod, and two in Homer, where only the commencing and terminating portions are mentioned. We also meet with the great twentieth, or space of twenty days, and the best twentieth; neither of which phrases has been well explained.

On the thirtieth, there was a judicial assembly of the people; and that was reckoned the most auspicious for inspecting and distributing the work and food of servants; but there is some difference about the interpretation of this passage. The other days of the month he very fancifully and superstitiously assigns to different occupations; in which he has been imitated by Virgil.*

* See Works and Days, from line 765 to 828.