XXVIII
1
According to Aristotle, comets give indications of storm and disturbances that bring wind and rain. Well, then, are you of opinion it is not a star because it foretells what is coming? True the comet is not a sign of storm in the same way as it is a sign of coming rain when
The oil splutters, and rotten fungus covers the wick; or in the same way as it is a forecast of a raging sea—if
the sea
Coots99 sport on land; her haunts in the marshes
Are deserted by the heron, and she soars above the heights of cloud:
2
3
but in the same way as the equinox is a sign of the turn of the year toward cold or heat, or as the predictions of the Chaldaean soothsayers who tell what sorrow or joy is determined at birth by the natal star, are indications of coming events. To convince you of the truth of this, I must warn you that the rising of a comet does not convey a threat of wind and rain in the immediate future, as Aristotle says, but casts suspicion over the whole year. Hence it is plain that the comet has not derived prognostications from its immediate surroundings to reveal for the immediate future, but that it has them stored up and buried deep within by the laws of the universe. The comet which appeared in the consulship of Paterculus and Vopiscus fulfilled the anticipations of this kind entertained by Aristotle, and for that matter by Theophrastus; for there were everywhere severe and prolonged storms, while in Achaia and Macedonia cities were overturned by earthquakes. The slowness of the comets’ motion, Aristotle says, is a proof that they are rather heavy, containing much earthy matter. So are their orbits too, for they are usually confined to the neighbourhood of the poles.