BOOK II. Liii. 138-LIV. 140 



from the st.ars but from the nearer and more dis- 

 ordered element " : a clear proof of this being that 

 all those comin^ from the upper heaven dehver 

 slanting blows, whereas these which they call earthly 

 strike straight. And those that fall from the nearer 

 elements are supposed to come out of the earth 

 because they leave no traces as a result of their 

 rebound, although that is the principle not of a 

 downward blow but of a slanting one. Those who 

 pursue these enquiries with more subtlety think 

 that these bolts come from the planet Saturn, just 

 as the inflammatory ones come from Mars, as, for 

 instance, when Bolsena, the richest town in Tuscany, 

 was entirely burnt up by a thunderbolt. Also the 

 first ones that occur after a man sets up house for 

 himself are called ' family meteors,' as foreteUing his 

 fortune for the whole of his hfe. However, people 

 think that private meteors, except those that occur 

 either at a man's first marriage or on his birthday, 

 do not prophecy beyond ten years, nor pubHc ones 

 beyond the 30th year, except those occurring at 

 the colonization of a to\vn. 



LIV. Historical record also exists of thunderbolts Titumier' 

 being either caused by or vouchsafed in answer to praycr. 

 certain rites and prayers. There is an old story of 

 the latter in Tuscany, when the portent which they 

 called Olta came to the city of Bolsena, when its 

 territory had been devastated; it was sent in 

 answer to the prayer of its king Porsina. Also 

 before his time, as is recorded on the rehable 

 authority of Lucius Piso in his Annals I, this 

 was frequently practised by Numa, though when 

 Tullus Hostihus copied him with incorrect ritual he 

 was struck by hghtning. We also have groves and 



277 



