XLVII WRONG CLASSIFICATION 93 



tion of some, either constant or limited or deferred. 

 The constant are those whose prognostication 

 extends all over life, not merely intimating a single 

 occurrence, but embracing the series of coming 

 events through the whole subsequent life. This is 

 the kind of bolt that occurs first after entrance on 

 an inheritance, or when an individual or a city has 

 entered on a new phase of existence. Limited ones 

 answer exactly to a definite date. Deferred are 

 those whose threats may be delayed, though they 

 cannot be averted and completely avoided. 



XLVIII 



I WILL now state my reasons for disagreeing with i 

 this division. One is that even the bolt which is 

 called constant lasts for a limited period. Such 

 bolts correspond no less than others to a definite 

 date. Nor do they cease to be limited because the 

 period they signify is a long one. So, too, what is 

 thought to be deferred is limited. For by the 

 admission of the advocates of this division the 

 period for which delay can be procured is a definite 

 one. Bolts that relate to private matters cannot, 

 according to them, be delayed longer than ten 

 years, those relating to public affairs not more than 

 thirty. So this clas"s, as well as the first, is limited, 

 as it includes the date beyond which the prognosti- 

 cation cannot be deferred. There is thus a fixed 2 

 period for bolts and results of every kind. For of 

 what is uncertain there could be no distinct know- 

 ledge. Then, too, these people talk in too vague 

 and general terms about the points to be noted 

 in lightning. They ought rather to divide them 



