The Magnitudes of the Stars
After a gap in the text, the stars sorted by brightness like a city's ranks: nobles, knights, the people, the crowd.
[p. 82] * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * *
The third siz'd Stars the Pleiad's form do graceThey shine with virgin blushes in their face:Four in the Dolphin are observ'd to rise,And in Deltoton Three of equal size:The same the Eagle, and the Bear display,Nor can the Draco boast a greater ray;Of size the Fourth and Fifth securely takeA measure from the others of the Snake.But yet the greatest part we spare to note,Too small to be discern'd, or too remote:These lye obscure, and seldom spread their light,But when the Moon's withdrawn to lower Night,
[p. 83] When great Orion from the Skies retires,Plunges in Waves, and quenches his bright Fires;Or when gay Phaebus doth his sway resignTo shades, then They have a short leave to shine,Then Heaven with little Lights is spangled o're,That not the Sand upon the crooked Shore,That not the Billows in Tempestuous Floods,That not the leaves when Autumn shakes the Woods,Can equal the great Train; they all surmount,E'en Number is too short for the account.
And as in Cities, where in ranks decreedFirst ³³Nobles go, and then the Knights succeed,The next in order may the People claim;The Rabble next, a Croud without a Name:So is the Heaven by different ranks possest;Some like the Nobles with more rays are drest,Some shine with less, the numerous crowd with least:Were these endow'd with a proportion'd heat,Were they in Power, as they're in number great;They long ago must have dissolv'd the Frame,Nor could the world have born so fierce a Flame,
The notes
³³ These were the several Orders in the Roman Common-Wealth: (Creech’s note, 1697)
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The text is Thomas Creech's 1697 verse translation, checked word by word between three scans of the same type (the 1697 printing, the 1700 printing and a third copy). The long s is printed as s; every other spelling is Creech's. Pages are cited as the 1697 printing numbers them. The portrait is William Marshall’s engraving of Lilly from the front of the 1659 printing (Wellcome Library, public domain).