100 plii^t's natural history. [Book XVIII. 



May, as already mentioned on previous occasions.'^ This, again, 

 is another period of four daj^s, Avhich should never be blemished 

 hy dews, as the chilling constellation of Arcturus, which sets 

 on the following day, will be sure to nip the vegetation ; still 

 less ought there to be a full moon at this period. 



On the fourth before "^^ the nones of June, the Eagle rises 

 again in the evening, a critical day for the olives and vines in 

 blossom, if there should liappen to be a full moon. For my 

 ])art, I am of opinion that the eighth '^ before the calends of 

 July, the day of the summer solstice, must be a critical day, for 

 a similar reason ; and that the rising of the Dog-star, twenty- 

 three days after the summer solstice, must be so too, in case 

 the moon is then in conjunction ; for the excessive heat is pro- 

 ductive of injurious effects, and the grape becomes prematurely 

 ripened, shrivelled, and tough. Again, if there is a full moon 

 on the fourth before "'^ the nones of July, when Canicula rises 

 to the people of Egypt, or at least on the sixteenth be- 

 fore '''* the calends of August, when it rises in Itah', it is pro- 

 ductive of injurious results. The same is the case, too, from 

 the thirteenth day before " the calends of August, when the 

 Eagle sets, to tlie tenth before'^ the calends of that month. 

 The Second Yinalia, which are celebrated on the fourteenth "^ 

 before the calends of September, bear no reference to these in- 

 fluences. Yarro fixes them at the period at which the Lyre 

 begins its morning setting, and says that this indicates the be- 

 ginning of autumn, the day having been set apart for the pur- 

 jjose of propitiating the weather : at the present daj', however, 

 it is observed that the Lyre sets on the sixth before ^^ the ides 

 of August. 



Within these periods there are exerted the sterilizing in- 

 fluences of the heavens, though I am far from denying tliat 

 the)'- may be considerably modified by the nature of the locality, 

 according as it is cold or hot. Still, however, it is sufficient for 

 me to have demonstrated the theory ; the modifications of its re- 

 i^ults depending, in a great degree, upon attentive observation. 

 It is beyond all question too, that either one of these two causes 



7*^ In B. xvi. c. 42, and in c. 66 of this Book. 



■'I Second of June. '2 Twenty- fourth of June. 



73 Fourth of July. '* Seventeenth of July. 



" Twentieth of July. -e Twenty-third of July. 



" Nineteenth of August. '8 Eighth of August. 



I 



