Tho' the Sun be always in one or other of the Signs of the Zodiack, and never goes by either Motion more Northward, or Southward, than is here describ'd; Yet Phaeton being design'd to drive the Chariot but one Day, ought to have been directed in the Æquator, or a Circle Parallel to it, and not round the other Oblique one of the Ecliptick: a Degree of which, and that by a Motion contrary to the Diurnal, he was obliged to go in that length of Time.
I am inclined to think, that Ovid had so great an Attention to Poetical Embellishments, that he voluntarily declin'd a strict Observance of any Astronomical System. For tho' that Science was far from being neglected in former Ages; yet the Progress which was made in it, by no means equall'd that of our present Time.
Lucretius, tho' in other things most penetrating, describes the Sun scarce bigger, than he appears to the Eye.
Nec nimio solis major rota, nec minor ardor
Esse potest, nostris quam sensibus esse videtur.
And Homer, imagining the Seats of the Gods above the fix'd Stars, represents the falling of Vulcan from thence to the Isle of Lemnos, to continue during a whole Day.
Πᾶν δ᾽ ἦμαρ Φερόμην, ἇμα δ᾽ ἠελίω καταδόντι
Κάππεσον ἐν Λήμνω———
