The other wandering stars have their courses round the earth in the same spaces,[167] and rise and set in the same manner; their motions are sometimes quick, sometimes slow, and often they stand still.

There is nothing more wonderful, nothing more beautiful.

There is a vast number of fixed stars, distinguished by the names of certain figures, to which we find they have some resemblance.
XLI.

I will here, says Balbus, looking at me, make use of the verses which, when you were young, you translated from Aratus,[168] and which, because they are in Latin, gave me so much delight that I have many of them still in my memory.

As then, we daily see, without any change or variation, -- the rest[169] Swiftly pursue the course to which they're bound; And with the heavens the days and nights go round; the contemplation of which, to a mind desirous of observing the constancy of nature, is inexhaustible.
The extreme top of either point is call'd The pole.[170] About this the two [Greek: Arktoi] are turned, which never set; Of these, the Greeks one Cynosura call, The other Helice.[171] The brightest stars,[172] indeed, of Helice are discernible all night, Which are by us Septentriones call'd.
Cynosura moves about the same pole, with a like number of stars, and ranged in the same order: This[173] the Phoenicians choose to make their guide When on the ocean in the night they ride.
Adorned with stars of more refulgent light, The other[174] shines, and first appears at night.
Though this is small, sailors its use have found; More inward is its course, and short its round.
XLII.