9-1 PLINY'S NATURAL IIISTOKY. [Book XVIII. 



posing that the summer solstice is past, until you see the 

 wood-pigeon sitting on her eggs." 



Between the summer solstice and the setting of the Lyre, on 

 the sixth day before the calends of July, 37 according to Caesar's 

 reckoning, Orion rises, and upon the fourth 38 before the nones 

 of July, his Belt rises to the people of Assyria. Upon the 

 morning of the same day, also, the scorching constellation of 

 Procyon rises. This last constellation has no name with the 

 Romans, unless, indeed, we would consider it as identical with 

 Canicula, 39 or Lesser Dog, which we find depicted among 

 the stars ; this last is productive of excessive heat, as we shall 

 shortly have further occasion to state. On the fourth 40 before 

 the nones of July, the Crown sets in the morning to the people 

 of Chaldtea, and in Attica, the whole of Orion has risen by 

 that day. On the day before 41 the ides of July, the rising of 

 Orion ends to the Egyptians also ; on the sixteenth 42 before 

 the calends of August, Procyon rises to the people of Assyria, 

 and, the day but one after, of nearly all other countries as well, 

 indicating a crisis that is universally known among all nations, 

 and which by us is called the rising of the Dog-star ; the sun 

 at this period entering the first degree of Leo. The Dog-star 

 rises on the twenty-third day after the summer solstice ; the 

 influence of it is felt by both ocean, and earth, and even by many 

 of the animals as well, as stated by us elsewhere on the appro- 

 priate occasions. 43 No less veneration, in fact, is paid to this 

 star, than to those that are consecrated to certain gods; it 

 kindles the flames of the sun, and is one great source of the 

 heats of summer. 



On the thirteenth 44 day before the calends of August, the 

 Eagle sets in the morning to the people of Egypt, and the 

 breezes that are the precursors of the Etesian winds, begin to 

 blow ; these, according to Caesar, are first perceived in Italy, 

 on the tenth before 45 the calends of August. The Eagle sets 

 in the morning of that day to the people of Attica, and on the 



37 Twenty-sixth of June. 38 Fourth of July. 



39 There is some confusion, apparently, here. Canicula, Syrius, or the 

 Dog-star, belongs to the Constellation Canis Major ; while Canis Minor, 

 a Constellation which contains the star Procyon, (" the forerunner of the 

 Dog,'') precedes it. 



4a Fourth of July. 41 Fourteenth of July. 



42 Seventeenth of July. 43 B. ii. c. 40, and B! xix. c. 25. 



** Twentieth of July. 45 Twenty-third of July. 



