Astronomica

...published their own [findings]. Such an anticipation could not have occurred except over a span of at least nine hundred years: an interval that exceeds all memory of Greek antiquity. Therefore, Hesiod would have to be older than the Trojan times by about one hundred and fifty years, which is ridiculous.

But surely he understands the winter solstice, or the turning of the sunoriginal: "tropas helioio", as do all other Greeks, to be the seventh day of January—namely the mid-winteroriginal: "meson cheimerinon"—concerning which we have written more than once in our books on the Emendation of Time.

And furthermore, one must not demand precise moments for the rising and setting of stars from poets. For just as he spoke of the solstice, so too he spoke of the rising of Arcturus in general termsoriginal: "olocheros" according to popular usage; just like that other saying, that the Pleiadesoriginal: "Vergiliae" are hidden for forty days after the time of spring plowing.

Otherwise, it is clear from these passages that even then, those ancient people were familiar with the formations of the celestial figures, and they noted the seasons from their risings and settings. To this is added what the same ancient poet sings: that in Boeotia, when Orion and Sirius reach the summit of the sky, then Arcturus is lifted above the horizon from the eastern regions. Indeed, nothing is truer than this.

As for the fact that poets later than Hesiod attribute similar observations to the heroes of the Trojan War, we say this should not be seen so much as a fiction of poetic anticipation, but as something that could have actually happened in reality. Since the "picture of the heavens" lies open to the eyes of all, a practical astrologyThe author uses "astrologia" in the classical sense, meaning the study of stars or astronomy. derived from them offers itself to everyone.

For behold, the very ancient author of the tragedy Rhesus...