8i PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XVIII. 



CHAP. 65. WORK TO BE DONE BETWEEN THE PREVALENCE OF 



THE WEST WINDS AND THE VERNAL EQUINOX. 



Between the prevalence of the west winds and the vernal 

 equinox, the fourteenth day before 62 the calends of March, ac- 

 cording to Caesar, announces three days of changeable weather ; 

 the same is the case, too, with the eighth 63 before the calends 

 of March, at the first appearance of the swallow, Arcturus 

 rising on the evening of the next day. CaBsar has observed, 

 that the same takes place on the third 64 before the nones of 

 March, at the rising of Cancer; and most authorities say the same 

 with reference to the emersion of the Vintager. 65 On the eighth 66 

 before the ides of March, the northern lirnb of Pisces 67 rises, 

 and on the next day Orion, at which period also, in Attica, the 

 Ivite is first seen. Caesar has noted, too, the setting of Scorpio 

 on the ides of March, 68 a day that was so fatal to him ; and on 

 the fifteenth 69 before the calends of April, the Kite appears in 

 Italy. On the twelfth 70 before the calends of April, the Horse 

 sets in the morning. 



This interval of time is a period of extreme activity for the 

 agriculturist, and affords him a great number of occupations, 

 in reference to which, however, he is extremely liable to be de- 

 ceived. He is summoned to the commencement of these 

 labours, not upon the day on which the west winds ought to 

 begin, but upon the day on which they really do begin, to blow. 

 This moment then must be looked for with the most careful 

 attention, as it is a signal which the Deity has vouchsafed us 

 in this month, attended with no doubts or equivocations, if 

 only looked for with scrupulous care. We have. already stated 

 in the Second Book, 71 the quarter in which this wind blown, 

 and the exact point from which it comes, and before long we 

 shall have occasion to speak of it again still more in detail. 



In the mean time, however, setting out from the day, what- 



" 2 Sixteenth of February. 63 Twenty-second of February. 

 4 Fifth of March. 



65 On the fifth of March, Ovid says, Fasti, iii. 1. 407. Columclla makes 

 it rise on the sixth of the nones, or the second of March. 

 * Eighth of March. 



67 Or, more literally, the "Northern Fish." 



68 Fifteenth of March, the day on which he was assassinated , in accord- 

 ance, it is said, with the prophecy of a diviner, who had warned him to 

 bo ware of the ides of March. 



69 Eighteenth of March. 7 Twenty-first of March. 

 71 In c. 46 and c. 47. 



