defectio perfecta

Latin · noun
variant perfecta defectio
Edited by: Kierán Meinhardt
Last edited: 2024-10-27
Meanings
Literal translation
perfect failing
Categories
astronomical event
Related Lemmata 1 ›

1. total eclipse

1.a total eclipse astronomical event

Haec dicitur perfecta defectio, quae stellas quoque ostendit et intercipit lucem, tunc scilicet cum uterque orbis sub eodem libramento stetit.

‘A so-called total eclipse also shuts out the daylight and reveals the stars. It occurs, of course, when the centre of both spheres have come to a balance with the earth’s—all on the same straight line.’

— Seneca, Natural Questions 1.12.1

Genre: philosophy Date: 62/63 CE

Seneca. Natural Questions, Volume I: Books 1-3. Translated by Thomas H. Corcoran. Loeb Classical Library 450. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. 70-71

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). defectio perfecta (Lemma #1786). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). defectio perfecta (Lemma #1786). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). defectio perfecta (Lemma #1786). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2024) defectio perfecta (Lemma #1786), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/ (Accessed: July 4, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1786,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-07-04]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2024},
	title = {defectio perfecta ({Lemma} #1786)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/},
}