setting of the stars is nothing else but the quenching and kindling
of them. Heraclitus and the Pythagoreans, that every star is a world
in an infinite aether, and encompasseth air, earth, and aether; this
opinion is current among the disciples of Orpheus, for they suppose that
each of the stars does make a world. Epicurus condemns none of these
opinions, for he embraces anything that is possible.

CHAPTER XIV. OF WHAT FIGURE THE STARS ARE.

The Stoics say that the stars are of a circular form, like as the sun,
the moon, and the world. Cleanthes, that they are of a conical
figure. Anaximenes, that they are fastened as nails in the crystalline
firmament; some others, that they are fiery plates of gold, resembling
pictures.

CHAPTER XV. OF THE ORDER AND PLACE OF THE STARS.

Xenocrates says that the stars are moved in one and the same
superficies. The other Stoics say that they are moved in various
superficies, some being superior, others inferior. Democritus, that the
fixed stars are in the highest place; after those the planets; after
these the sun, Venus, and the moon, in order. Plato, that the first
after the fixed stars that makes its appearance is Phaenon, the star of
Saturn; the second Phaeton, the star of Jupiter; the third the fiery,
which is the star of Mars; the fourth the morning star, which is the
star of Venus; the fifth the shining star, and that is the star of
Mercury; in the sixth place is the sun, in the seventh the moon. Plato
and some of the mathematicians conspire in the same opinion; others
place the sun as the centre of the planets. Anaximander, Metrodorus of
Chios, and Crates assign to the sun the superior place, after him the
moon, after them the fixed stars and planets.

CHAPTER XVI. OF THE MOTION AND CIRCULATION OF THE STARS.

Anaxagoras, Democritus, and Cleanthes say that all the stars have their
motion from east to west. Alcmaeon and the mathematicians, that the
planets have a contrary motion to the fixed stars, and in opposition to
them are carried from the west to the east. Anaximander, that they
are carried by those circles and spheres on which they are placed.
Anaximenes, that they are turned under and about the earth. Plato and
the mathematicians, that the sun, Venus, and Mercury hold equal measures
in their motions.

CHAPTER XVII. WHENCE DO THE STARS RECEIVE THEIR LIGHT?

Metrodorus says that all the fixed stars derive their light from the
sun. Heraclitus and the