210 PHYSICAL SCIENCE BK. v 



us Favonius, which even people who cannot speak 

 Greek will tell you is called the Zephyr. Corns, 

 which is by some called Argestes [from its clear 

 ness], comes from the sunset at the summer solstice. 

 I do not approve of the identification ; Corus is a 

 vehement wind, rushing in one uniform direc 

 tion, while Argestes is, as a rule, a gentle wind, 

 and blows impartially on travellers coming and 

 going along the same road (i.e. is constantly 

 6 shifting). From sunset in midwinter comes the 

 rushing furious Africus (African wind), named by 

 the Greeks the Libyan (Xn/r). In the northern 

 quarter the highest (i.e. most easterly) is Aquilo, 

 the central one is Septemtrio, the lowest Thracias, 1 

 for which there is no corresponding word in Latin. 

 In the southern region there is Euronotus, then 

 Notus, or in Latin Auster, then Libonotus, which 

 has no Latin name. 



XVII 



1 WE Stoics hold that there are twelve winds ; not 

 that there are everywhere so many (the slope of the 

 earth [i.e. of the earth s axis] excludes some), but 

 because there are nowhere more than twelve. We 

 speak of six cases in the same way, not because 

 every noun possesses six, but because none has 

 more than six. Those who assert the number 

 of the winds to be twelve adopt the principle 

 that the number must be the same as the divisions 

 of the heavens. Now the heavens are divided 

 into five zones passing through the cardinal points 



2 of the world. These are the northern, the solstitial, 



1 I.e. the Thracian ; Thrace must have been N.W. of the region in which 

 the name had its origin. 



