MANILIUS (Marcus)

, a Latin astronomical poet, who lived in the reign of Augustus Cæsar. He wrote an ingenious poem concerning the stars and the sphere, called Astronomicon; which, not being mentioned by any of the ancient poets, was unknown, till about two centuries since, when it was found buried in some German library, and published by Poggius. There is no account to be found of this author, but what can be drawn from his poem; which contains a system of the ancient astronomy and astrology, together with the philosophy of the Stoics. It consists of five books; though there was a sixth, which has not been recovered. In this work, Manilius hints at some opinions, which later ages have been ready to glory in as their own discoveries. Thus, he defends the fluidity of the heavens, against the hypothesis of Aristotle: he asserts that the fixed stars are not at all in the same concave superficies of the heavens, and equally distant from the centre of the world: he maintains that they are all of the same nature and substance with the sun, and that each of them has a particular vortex of its own: and lastly, he says, that the milky way is only the united lustre of a great many small imperceptible stars; which indeed the Moderns now see to be such through their telescopes.

The best editions of Manilius are, that of Joseph Scaliger, in 4to, 1600; that of Bentley, in 4to, 1738, and that of Edmund Burton, Esq. in 8vo, 1783.