We find, Not far from them, the Lyre[197] but slightly join'd.
Next is the winged Bird,[198] that seems to fly Beneath the spacious covering of the sky.
Near the head of the Horse[199] lies the right hand of Aquarius, then all Aquarius himself.[200] Then Capricorn, with half the form of beast, Breathes chill and piercing colds from his strong breast, And in a spacious circle takes his round; When him, while in the winter solstice bound, The sun has visited with constant light, He turns his course, and shorter makes the night.[201] Not far from hence is seen The Scorpion[202] rising lofty from below; By him the Archer,[203] with his bended bow; Near him the Bird, with gaudy feathers spread; And the fierce Eagle[204] hovers o'er his head.
Next comes the Dolphin;[205] Then bright Orion,[206] who obliquely moves; he is followed by The fervent Dog,[207] bright with refulgent stars: next the Hare follows[208] Unwearied in his course.

At the Dog's tail Argo[209] moves on, and moving seems to sail; O'er her the Ram and Fishes have their place;[210] The illustrious vessel touches, in her pace, The river's banks;[211] which you may see winding and extending itself to a great length.
The Fetters[212] at the Fishes' tails are hung.
By Nepa's[213] head behold the Altar stand,[214] Which by the breath of southern winds is fann'd; near which the Centaur[215] Hastens his mingled parts to join beneath The Serpent,[216] there extending his right hand, To where you see the monstrous Scorpion stand, Which he at the bright Altar fiercely slays.
Here on her lower parts see Hydra[217] raise Herself; whose bulk is very far extended.
Amid the winding of her body's placed The shining Goblet;[218] and the glossy Crow[219] Plunges his beak into her parts below.
Antecanis beneath the Twins is seen, Call'd Procyon by the Greeks.[220] Can any one in his senses imagine that this disposition of the stars, and this heaven so beautifully adorned, could ever have been formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms?
Or what other nature, being destitute of intellect and reason, could possibly have produced these effects, which not only required reason to bring them about, but the very character of which could not be understood and appreciated without the most strenuous exertions of well-directed reason?
XLV.

But our admiration is not limited to the objects here described.
What is most wonderful is that the world is so durable, and so perfectly made for lasting that it is not to be impaired by time; for all its parts tend equally to the centre, and are bound together by a sort of chain, which surrounds the elements.

This chain is nature, which being diffused through the universe, and performing all things with judgment and reason, attracts the extremities to the centre.
If, then, the world is round, and if on that account all its parts, being of equal dimensions and relative proportions, mutually support and are supported by one another, it must follow that as all the parts incline to the centre (for that is the lowest place of a globe) there is nothing whatever which can put a stop to that propensity in the case of such great weights.

For the same reason, though the sea is higher than the earth, yet because it has the like tendency, it is collected everywhere, equally concentres, and never overflows, and is never wasted.
The air, which is contiguous, ascends by its lightness, but diffuses itself through the whole; therefore it is by nature joined and united to the sea, and at the same time borne by the same power towards the heaven, by the thinness and heat of which it is so tempered as to be made proper to supply life and wholesome air for the support of animated beings.