Astronomicon

Hither and thither, they roll their swift and wild markers in the upper air,
together with the moon and stars, through the voids of the world;
And the Earth, unchanged, hangs suspended according to celestial laws.
Therefore, the Earth has been allotted a central station The transcription reads "cauinam," likely a variation of "stationem" or "cathenam" (chain/position), referring to the Earth's fixed place in the center of the cosmos.,
balanced by the axis and lifted equally from the whole depth.
It is not stretched out into wide flat lands, but is shaped into a sphere,
rising and falling equally on every side.
This is the face of nature; thus the universe itself,
as it wheels into its curves, makes its shapes smooth and rounded.
We see the orb of the stars and the sun, and the roundness of the moon,
as they seek their light with their swelling bodies.
Because a globe is whole, it does not receive the slanting rays all at once.
This shape remains eternal and most similar to the form of the gods;
it has no beginning anywhere, nor an end within itself,
but remains the same in its whole and is equal through all its parts.
Thus the stars remain gathered together and give shape to the universe.
For this reason, we do not see all the constellations from all lands;
nowhere will you find Canopus A very bright star in the southern constellation of Carina; invisible to observers in northern Europe but visible from Egypt. shining
until you reach the shores of the Nile original: "Niliacas," referring to the river Nile in Egypt. across the sea.
But those over whom that star rises will look in vain for Helice A Greek name for Ursa Major, the "Great Bear" constellation, which is always visible in the north but can disappear below the horizon for southern travelers..
Because the expanses of the sides gape away, and by the swelling in the middle,
the lands snatch away the sky and hem in our sight.
The moon gives you proof of her own spherical spherical: translated from "glomerabilis," meaning capable of being formed into a ball orb;
when she fails This refers to a lunar eclipse. during the night, plunged into dark shadows,
she does not trouble all nations with her darkened star at the same time.
But the eastern original: "eoa," referring to Eos, the goddess of the dawn; hence, the East. peoples miss your light first...