Chap. 69.] CAUSES OF STERILITY. 9 



llobigalia, 63 the Floralia, and the Vinalia. The Bobigalia were 

 established by Numa in the fortieth year of his reign, and are 

 still celebrated on the seventh day before the calends of May, 

 as it is at this period that mildew 63 mostly makes its first at- 

 tacks upon the growing corn. Varro fixes this crisis at the 

 moment at which the sun enters the tenth degree of Taurus, 

 in accordance with the notions that prevailed in his day : but 

 the real cause is the fact, that thirt}-oue 64 days after the vernal 

 equinox, according to the observations of various nations, the 

 Bog-star sets between the seventh and fourth before the cu- 

 lends of May, a constellation baneful in itself, and to appease 

 which a young dog should first be sacrificed. 65 The same people 

 also, in the year of the City 513, instituted the Floralia, a 

 festival held upon the fourth before 66 the calends of May, in 

 accordance with the oracular injunctions of the Sibyl, to secure 

 a favourable season for the blossoms and flowers. Varro fixes 

 this day as the time at which the sun enters the fourteenth 

 degree of Taurus. If there should happen to be a full moon 

 during the four days at this period, injury to the corn and all 

 the plants that are in blossom, will be the necessary result. 

 The First Vinalia, which in ancient times were established on 

 the ninth before ** the calends of May, for the purpose of tast- 

 ing 68 the wines, have no signification whatever in reference to 

 the fruits of the earth, any more than the festivals already 

 mentioned have in reference to the vine and the olive ; the 

 germination of these last not commencing, in fact, till the 

 rising of the Vergiliae, on the Sixth day before 69 the ides of 



e - Or festival in honour of Robigo, the Goddess of mildew, on the 

 twenty-fifth of April. See Ovid's Fasti, B. iv. 1. 907, et seq. 

 6i Robigo. 

 63 " Nineteen" is the proper number. 



65 " Et cui prteoccidere cauiculam necesse est." The real meaning of 

 this passage would seem to be, " Before which, as a matter of course, 

 Canicula must set." But if so, Pliny is in error, for Canicula, or Procyon, 

 sets heliacally after the Dog-star, though it rises before it. Hardouiri ob- 

 serves, that it is abundantly proved from the ancient writers that it was 

 the custom to sacrifice a puppy to Sirius, or the Dog-star, at the Robigalia. 

 As Littre justly remarks, it would almost appear that Pliny intended, by 

 his ambiguous language, to lead his readers into error. 



66 Twenty-eighth of April. The festival of Flora. 



67 Twenty- third of April. This was the first, or Urban Vinalia : the 

 second, or Rustic Vinalia, were held on the nineteenth of August. 



68 The same as the Greek rit^otyta, or "opening of the Casks." 



69 Tenth of May. 



II 2 



