John the Lydian, On Months

lying above the city of the Catanians in Sicily, and the sea which Panaetius records between Lipara and Italy, and land such as is found near Corycus in Lycia. Not only does it break up mountains and land, but it also causes eruptions from the sea, as happened in the case of Thera and Therasia, and if the openings continuously breathe out fire, they are called springs of fire and craters, such as are found around Lipara itself and Strongyle and Vesuvius; but if it closes up.... such as the plain near Philadelphia in Lydia and the foothills at Mazaca—as it were, the Cappadocians—and the plain at Dicaearchia once called Hephaestus's. 4.116 That there are nine types of comets according to Aristotle; but according to the Roman Apuleius, ten: hippias (horse-mane), xiphias (sword-shaped), pogonias (bearded), docis (beam-shaped), pithos (jar-shaped), lampadias (torch-shaped), cometes (hairy), discus, typhon, cerastes (horned); and the hippias was so named from its course and its speed, and it scatters slanting and faint rays; the xiphias appears stretched out like a sword or a long spear, and is pale and cloud-like; the pogonias scatters its mane not from its head, but from underneath, like a beard; the docis is nearly similar to the xiphias, but it does not have sharp, but blunt beginnings; the pithos from its shape; the lampadias is fiery and is wont to shine like a fiery-eyed stone or a burning tree; the cometes is broad in appearance and, as if cheerful, drags certain silvery locks; the discus, from its very name, appears like a discus, not bright nor red but like amber; the typhon appears fiery and blood-red, scattering certain fine locks; the cerastes is horn-shaped like the moon, which is said to have appeared when Xerxes came against Attica. But Ptolemy, in the works written by him to Syrus, adds another type of comet called salpinx (trumpet-shaped), and it appears in the northern region. The natural philosophers say that comets are formed in the regions under the moon, displaying a certain star-like nature; for they are not stars, but certain condensations formed from the exhalation of the earth, whose origin is from the air which is caught up into the aether by contact; whence also they are carried around with it at the same speed until they fall apart. And when the aether is caught up having its flow directed downwards, pogoniae and pithoi are formed, but when sideways, comets. The pogoniae fall out more quickly, and much more quickly than these, pithoi and docides. 4.117 They say there are two Pans. But some say that Pan was born from Cronus and Rhea, that is, from the mind and the moist substance, that is, from material infinity, this universe. 4.118 Julian, being dissuaded from the war against the Persians by Libanius and many other augurs, is said to have uttered the Homeric phrase: I feel shame before the Trojans and the long-robed Trojan women. But after crossing the Tigris and subduing many cities and fortresses of the Persians, he was thenceforth unbearable to the barbarians; nevertheless, he is destroyed by a trick and by a great multitude. For two Persians, having mutilated themselves of their ears and noses, came and deceived Julian, lamenting that they had suffered such things at the hands of the king of the Persians, but that nevertheless, if Julian would follow them, they could make him victorious over Gorgus himself, the queen of the Persians. But he, as his fate was urging him on, having at the same time forgotten Herodotus's Zopyrus and Vergil's Sinon, burned the ships, by which he was being carried along the Euphrates, so as not, forsooth, to give the Persians the opportunity to use them, while the army carried a moderate amount of provisions, followed the deceivers; and they, having led him into a dry and waterless and difficult country, revealed the trick, and they themselves—for what more was there to do? -

ὑπερκείμενον τῆς Καταναίων πόλεως ἐν Σικελίᾳ, θάλασσαν δὲ ἣν Παναίτιος μεταξὺ Λιπάρας καὶ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἱστορεῖ, γῆν δὲ οἵα τυγχάνει παρὰ τὴν ἐν Λυκίᾳ Κώρυκον. οὐ μόνον δὲ ἀναρρήγνυσιν ὄρη τε καὶ γῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ θαλάσσης ἀναφυσήματα ποιεῖ, ὥσπερ γέ γονε τὰ περὶ τὴν Θήραν καὶ Θηρασίαν, καὶ ἐὰν μὲν ᾖ τὰ ἀναστομωθέντα συνεχῶς ἀναφυσῶντα πῦρ, πηγαί τε πυρὸς καὶ κρατῆρες ὀνομάζονται, οἷά ἐστι τὰ περὶ τὴν αὐτὴν Λιπάραν τε καὶ Στρογγύλην καὶ Βέσβιον· ἢν δ' αὖ μύσῃ .... οἷον τὸ κατὰ Φιλαδέλφειαν τὴν ἐν Λυδίᾳ πεδίον καὶ τοὺς πρόποδας τοὺς ἐπὶ Μαζάκοις -οἱονεὶ Καππάδοκας-, καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ ∆ικαιαρχίᾳ Ἡφαίστου πεδίον ποτὲ προσαγορευθέν. 4.116 Ὅτι τῶν κομητῶν εἴδη κατὰ μὲν τὸν Ἀριστοτέλην ἐννέα· κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ῥωμαῖον Ἀπουλήϊον δέκα· ἱππίας ξιφίας πωγωνίας δοκίας πίθος λαμπαδίας κομήτης δισκεὺς τυφὼν κεράστης· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἱππίας ἐκ τοῦ δρόμου καὶ τῆς ὀξύτητος οὕτως ὠνομάσθη, πλαγίας δὲ καὶ ἀμυδρὰς ἀκτῖνας διαρραίνει· ὁ δὲ ξιφίας δίκην ξίφους ἢ λόγχης μακρᾶς ἐκτεινόμενος φαίνεται, ὠχρὸς δὲ καὶ νεφελοειδής· ὁ δὲ πωγωνίας τὴν λοφιὰν οὐ κατὰ κεφαλῆς, ἀλλ' ὑποκάτω διαρραίνει δίκην πώγωνος· ὁ δὲ δοκίας ὅμοιος ἐγγύς ἐστι τῷ ξιφίᾳ, ἀλλ' οὐκ ὀξείας ἔχει, ἀμβλείας δὲ τὰς ἀρχάς· ὁ δὲ πίθος ἐκ τοῦ σχήματος· ὁ δὲ λαμπαδίας πυρώδης καὶ δίκην πυρώπιδος λίθου ἢ δένδρου καιομένου πέφυκε διαλάμπειν· ὁ δὲ κομήτης πλατύς ἐστι τὸ εἶδος καὶ ὥσπερ ἱλαρὸς ἀργυροειδεῖς τινας πλοκάμους ἕλκων· ὁ δὲ δισκεὺς ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς προσαγορίας δίκην δίσκου φαίνεται οὐ λαμπρὸς οὐδὲ ἐρυθρὸς ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἤλεκτρον· ὁ δὲ τυφὼν πυρώδης καὶ αἱματώδης φαίνεται καὶ λεπτούς τινας διαρραίνων πλοκάμους· ὁ δὲ κεράστης δίκην σελήνης κερατοειδής, ὅς, ἡνίκα Ξέρξης κατὰ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἦλθεν, λέγεται φανῆναι. ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος ἐν τοῖς πρὸς Σύρον αὐτῷ γραφεῖσι προστίθησι καὶ ἕτερον εἶδος κομήτου καλούμενον σάλπιγγα, φαίνεται δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἀρκτῷον κλίμα. οἱ δὲ φυσικοί φασιν, ὡς συνίστανται οἱ κομῆται ἐν τοῖς ὑπὸ σελήνην κόλποις ἀστρώδη τινὰ φύσιν ἐπιδεικνύμενοι· οὐ γάρ εἰσιν ἀστέρες, ἀλλὰ θρομβώσεις τινὲς ἐξ ἀναθυμιάσεως τῆς γῆς ἀποτελούμεναι, ὧν ἡ γένεσις μὲν ἐξ ἀέρος τοῦ κατὰ συναφὴν ἐγκαταλαμβανομένου τῷ αἰθέρι· ὅθεν καὶ ἰσοταχεῖς αὐτῷ μέχρι διαπτώσεως συμπεριφέρονται. καὶ ἡνίκα μὲν τὴν ῥύσιν ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω φερομένην ἔχων ὁ αἰθὴρ περιληφθείη, πωγωνίαι τε καὶ πίθοι ἀποτελοῦνται, ἡνίκα δὲ πλαγίως, κομῆται. τάχιον δὲ οἱ πωγωνίαι, πολὺ δὲ καὶ τούτων τάχιον πίθοι τε καὶ δοκίδες ἐκπίπτουσιν. 4.117 ∆ύο Πᾶνάς φασι. τινὲς δέ φασι τὸν Πᾶνα ἐκ Κρόνου καὶ Ῥέας γενέσθαι, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ καὶ τῆς ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας, οἷον τῆς ὑλικῆς ἀπειρίας, τόδε τὸ πᾶν. 4.118 Ἀποτρεπόμενος τοῦ κατὰ Περσῶν πολέμου Ἰουλιανὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ Λιβανίου καὶ ἄλλων πολλῶν οἰωνοσκόπων λέγεται φθέγξασθαι τὸ Ὁμηρικόν· αἰδέομαι Τρῶας καὶ Τρωάδας ἑλκεσιπέπλους. ὑπερβαλὼν δὲ τὸν Τίγρητα καὶ πολλὰς πόλεις καὶ φρούρια Περσῶν παραστησάμενος τὸ λοιπὸν ἀφόρητος ἦν τοῖς βαρβάροις· δόλῳ δὲ ὅμως ἀπόλλυται καὶ παμπληθεί. δύο γὰρ Πέρσαι, ἀκρωτηριάσαντες ἑαυτοὺς ὤτων τε καὶ μυκτήρων, ἐλθόντες ἀπατῶσι τὸν Ἰουλιανόν, τοιαῦτα πρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως παθεῖν τῶν Περσῶν ὀδυρόμενοι, δύνασθαι δὲ ὅμως, εἴπερ αὐτοῖς ἕψεται ὁ Ἰουλιανός, ἐπ' αὐτῆς αὐτὸν Γοργοῦς, τῆς βασιλίδος τῶν Περσῶν, νικῶντα καταστῆσαι. ὁ δὲ τῆς πεπρωμένης ἐπειγούσης Ζωπύρου τε ἅμα τοῦ Ἡροδοτείου καὶ Σίνωνος τοῦ Βεργιλιανοῦ ἐπιλελησμένος, τὰς ναῦς καταφλέξας, δι' ὧν τὸν Εὐφράτην παρεφέρετο, ὡς μὴ δήπουθεν Πέρσαις δοῦναι ἄδειαν τοῦ χρήσασθαι αὐταῖς, μετρίαν τινὰ δαπάνην κομίζοντος τοῦ στρατοῦ, τοῖς ἀπατῶσιν ἠκολούθησεν· οἱ δὲ εἰς ξηρὰν καὶ ἄνυδρον ἀγαγόντες αὐτὸν δυσχωρίαν τὸν δόλον ἀπεκάλυψαν, καὶ αὐτοὶ μέν-τί γὰρ ἦν πλέον; -