BOOK II. Li. 136-U11. 138 



Italy that slope down from the north towards the 

 warmth, such as the district of Rome and the 

 Campagna, hghtning occurs in winter just as in 

 summer, which does not happen in any other 

 locaHty. 



LII. Of thunderbolts themselves several varieties their 

 are reported. Those that come with a dry flash "'^''ieties. 

 do not cause a fire but an explosion. The smoky 

 ones do not burn but blacken. There is a third sort, 

 called ' bright thunderbolts,' of an extremely remark- 

 able nature ; this kind drains casks dry without 

 damaging their h*ds and without leaving any other 

 trace, and melts gold and copper and silver in their 

 bags without singeing the bags themselves at all, 

 and even without melting the wax seal. Marcia, 

 a lady of high station at Rome, was struck by 

 lightning when enceinfe, and though the child was 

 killed, she herself sur\ived without being otherwise 

 injured. Among the portents in connexion with 

 Catihne, a town-councillor of Pompei named Marcus 

 Herennius was struck by lightning on a fine day. 



LIII. The Tuscan writers hold the view that viewsast 

 there are nine gods who send thunderbolts, and that '''^^<'<"^e 

 these are of eleven kinds, because Jupiter hurls three 

 varieties. Only two of these deities have been 

 retained by the Romans, who attribute thunderbolts 

 in the daytime to Jupiter and those in the night to 

 Summanus, the latter being naturally rare because 

 the sky at night is colder. Tuscany beUeves that 

 some also burst out of the ground, which it calls 

 * low bolts,' and that these are rendered exception- 

 ally direful and accursed by the season of winter, 

 though all the bolts that they beheve of earthly 

 origin are not the ordinary ones and do not come 



275 



