M. MANILIUS

ASTRONOMICON

BOOK ONE

[v. 221] You, moon, give yourself as a witness of your own gathered orb,
which, when submerged in black shadows throughout the night you wane,
you do not confuse all nations equally with your star,
but first the eastern lands seek your lights,
[v. 225] afterward, whatever is inhabited beneath the middle pole,
you roll to the western lands with stained wings,
and the airs are shaken late among the extreme nations.
But if the earth were flat, once risen it would
fail equally for the whole miserable world.
[v. 230] But because the earth is drawn down through a rounded tumor,
it appears to these lands, and afterwards to those,
rising and setting at the same time; because it is carried into a circle
of the belly, and equally joins the slopes to the declivities,
and overcomes other gyres and leaves others behind.
From which it is collected that the shape of the lands is round.
Around this, various nations of men and beasts
and airy birds dwell. Part of it stands out
toward the north; part is habitable on the southern shores
and lies under our feet and is seen above
[v. 240] to itself, the ground deceiving the long slopes
and the road rising equally and falling equally.
When the sun, having risen, looks at this toward our sunsets,
there the risen day excites the sleeping cities
and with the light brings back the pledges of works to the lands;
[v. 245] we are in the night and we call sleep into our limbs.
The sea distinguishes and binds both with its waves.
This work, constructed with the body of the immense world,
and the diverse limbs of nature hidden in the form
of air and fire and of the earth and the lying sea,
[v. 250] a divine force of soul governs, and with a sacred path
god conspires and governs with silent reason,
and dispenses mutual treaties to all parts,