A rather different instrument was the nocturnal: it enabled you to tell the time at night, provided you knew the date, from the position of the stars in the constellation of the Great Bear, which rotate around the Pole Star.

How long wil ye imagine mischiefe against a man? ye shall be slaine all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

I’ll perk some coffee.

Though much of what remains of Marsian is of doubtful status and meaning, the following inscription {plate 3), from Antinum, is relatively unambiguous.