114 PLINY's NATCKA.L HISTOKT. [J^ook XVJir. 



this wind is either humid or else of a burning heat, and in 

 Africa it is accompanied with intense heat'^ and fine clear 

 weather. In Italj- the bearing branches should be trained to 

 face this quarter, but the incisions made in the trees or vines 

 when pruned must never face it. Let those be on their guard 

 against this wind upon the four'^ days at the rising of the 

 Yergiliffi, who are engaged in planting the olive, as well as 

 those who are employed in the operations of grafting or ino- 

 culating. 



It will be as well, too, here to give some advice, in reference 

 to the climate of Italj^, as to certain precautions to be observed 

 at certain hours of the daj'. You, woodman, must never lop 

 the branches in the middle of the day ; and you, shepherd, 

 when you see midday approaching in summer, and the shadow 

 gradually decreasing, drive your flocks from out of the sun 

 into some well- shaded spot. When you lead the flocks to pas- 

 ture in summer, let them face the west before midday,'^ and 

 after that time, the east : if this precaution is not adopted, 

 calamitous results will ensue ; the same, too, if the flocks are 

 led in winter or spring to pastures covered with dew. Nor 

 must you let them feed with their faces to the north, as already 

 mentioned;''^ for the wind will either close their eyes or else 

 make them bleared, and they will die of looseness. If you wish 

 to have females,^^ you should let the dams have their faces to- 

 wards the north while being covered. 



CHAP. 77. (34.) — THE LAYING OUT OF LANDS ACCORDING TO THE 

 POINTS OF THE WIND. 



We have already stated''^ that the umbilicus should be de- 

 scribed in the middle of the line. Let another line be drawn 

 transversely through the middle of it, and it will be found to 

 run from due east to due west ; a trench cut through the land 

 in accordance with this line is known by the name of " decu- 

 manus." Two other lines must then be traced obliquely 

 across them in the form of the letter X, in such a way as to 



■'^ Incendia. 



'- See B. xvii. c. 2. 73 gee B. viii. c. 75. 



'^ He seems to be in error here, as he has nowhere made mention of tliis. 



75 Aristotle, on the other hand, and Colunu-lla, B. vii. c. 3, say " males." 

 See also B. viii. c. 72, where males are mentioned in connection AvitU the 

 nortli-wind. Also the next Chapter in this Book. 



"s In the last Chapter 



