140 PLINY'S NATUEAL HISTOBY. [Bookvil. 



pen to have been conceived the day before or the day after the 

 full moon, or at the change of the moon. In Egypt it is not 

 an uncommon thing for children to be born at the eighth 

 month; and in Italy, too, children that are born at this 

 period live just as long as others, notwithstanding the opinions 

 of the ancients to the contrary. There are great variations in 

 this respect, which occur in numerous ways. Yestilia, for 

 instance, who was the wife of C. Herdicius, and was afterwards 

 married, first, to Pomponius, 34 and then to Orfitus, very emi- 

 nent citizens, after having brought forth four children, always 

 at the seventh month, had Suillius Rufus at the eleventh month, 

 and then Corbulo at the seventh, both of whom became con- 

 suls; after which, at the eighth month, she had Cassonia, 

 who became the wife of the Emperor Caius. 38 As for children 

 who are bora at the eighth month, the greatest difficulty with 

 them is to get them over the first forty days. 36 Pregnant wo- 

 men, on the other hand, are in the greatest danger during the 

 fourth and the eighth month, and abortions during these periods 

 are fatal. Masurius informs us, that L. Papirius, the praetor, 

 on one occasion, when the next but one in succession was urging 

 his suit at law, decided against him, in favour of the heir, 37 

 although his mother declared that her period of gestation had 

 lasted thirteen months upon the ground that it did not appear 

 that there was any fixed and definite period of gestation. 38 



survive, when born even at an earlier period ; but this, although not ab- 

 solutely impossible, is improbable in the highest degree. B. 



34 Ajasson expresses himself at a loss to identify this Pomponius ; but 

 thinks that it may have been either Julius Pomponius GraBcinus, consul 

 A.U.C. 759, or L. Pomponius, consul A.U.C. 794, A.D. 41. 



35 Caius Caligula. The name of this woman, who was first his mistress 

 and then his wife, was Milonia Csesonia. She was neither handsome nor 

 young when Caligula first admired her : but was noted for her extreme licen- 

 tiousness, and at the time when she first became intimate with Caligula, 

 had already had three children. She and her daughter, by him, were put 

 to death on the day on which he was murdered. Corbulo has been men- 

 tioned in B. vi. c. 8. 



36 Celsus, B. ii. c. 1, speaks of the fortieth day, as one of the critical 

 periods of childhood ; the others are the seventh month, the seventh year, 

 and the period of puberty. B. 



3 ? "Who appears to have urged the great lapse of time that had inter- 

 vened between the death of the alleged father and the birth of his oppo- 

 nent. 



38 Questions of this nature, of great importance, involving property and 

 title, have been the subject of judicial consideration in our times; the 



