Lancaster.
_Passage in Ovid._--In speaking of the rude and unscientific state of the
early Romans, in the third book of his _Fasti_, Ovid has the following
verses:
"Libera currebant, et inobservata per annum
Sidera: constabat sed tamen esse Deos.
Non illi coelo labentia signa tenebant;
Sed sua: quæ magnum perdere crimen erat."
V. 111-114.
The idea expressed in this passage is that the primitive Romans cared more
about war than astronomy. They did not observe the stars, though they
believed them to be deities. The pun upon the word _signa_--constellations
and military standards--is worthy of notice. But what is the meaning of
_libera_, in the first verse? Is it nearly equivalent to _inobservata_, and
does it denote the absence of the prying curiosity of men? It cannot be
intended that the courses of the stars were less regular before they were
the subjects of observation, than after the birth of astronomy.