v ITS SUPPOSED ORIGIN 181 



and half melted. Well, then, if the Stoics do not 

 lie, all the currents of air wafted from those northern 

 parts, when the snow has now been dislodged and 

 the ice is breaking up, condense and bind the 

 atmosphere of the southern region which is already 

 becoming warm and moist. So what was going to 

 be rain becomes, through the violence done by the 

 cold, hail instead. 



VI 



I CANNOT refrain from trotting out all the silly i 

 fancies of our Stoic friends. The assertion in 

 question is that there are some people skilled in 

 observing the clouds who foretell when a hail 

 shower is coming on. They gather this just from 

 experience by marking the colour of the clouds 

 and noting which was on previous occasions followed 

 by hail. It seems incredible that at Cleonae there 

 were hail-guards (xa\ao<f>v\a/ce<;) appointed by the 

 state to look out for the approach of hail. When 

 they had given the signal that the hail was close at 

 hand, what do you think ? that people ran off to get 

 their overcoats or cloaks ? Nay, they each offered 2 

 sacrifice as fast as they could, one a lamb, another 

 a chicken. Forthwith, those clouds after getting 

 a little taste of blood drew off in another direction. 

 You smile ! There is something to make you smile 

 more broadly. If one had not a lamb or kid by, 

 one laid hands upon oneself to an extent that could 

 be done without serious damage. You must not think 

 the clouds greedy or cruel ; one merely pricked one's 

 finger with a well-sharpened style and made atone- 

 ment with this blood. The hail as invariably turned 

 away from his little plot as from the estate of the 



