“Pleas’d, as I am, to walk along the sphere
Of shining stars, and travel with the year;
To leave the heavy earth, and scale the height
Of Atlas, who supports the heavenly weight.”
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And Horace acquaints us with the objects of curiosity and research, in
the contemplation of which he envied his friend Iccius, who was occupied
in that way, on his farm:—
“Quæ mare compescant causæ, quid temperet annum;
Stellæ sponte suâ, jussæne, vagentur et errant,
Quid premat obscurum Lunæ, quid proferat orbem.”[38]
Lib. i. epist. 12, ad _Iccium_.
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Footnote 38: