sive igitur ratio praebentis semina terrae in volucris ignes potuit generare cometas; sive illas natura faces obscura creavit sidera per tenuis caelo lucentia flammas, sed trahit ad semet rapido Titanius aestu involvitque suo flammantis igne cometas ac modo dimittit, sicut Cyllenius orbis et Venus, accenso cum ducit vespere noctem, saepe latent falluntque oculos rursusque revisunt;
Possibly it is the principle of earth supplying seed for fleet fire which has given birth to comets; or perhaps in those torches nature has created dim stars that shine in heaven with meagre flames, but the Sun with its consuming heat attracts the blazing comets to itself, absorbs them in its own fire, and then releases them: just so do the orb of Mercury and the planet Venus, when she kindles her evening lamp and brings on night, oft disappear and elude our gaze and oft visit us again.
final_alignments\Manilius_Astronomica_Book1.json