BOOK XVIII. xLvi. i66-.\Lvn. 169 



The only portent arising from grain crops that I a. poneniout 

 for my part have come across occurred in the consul- ^°'""*- 

 ship of Publius Aelius and Gnaeus CorneUus, the 

 year in which Hannibal was overconie " : it is stated* 

 that on that occasion corn grew on trees. 



XL\'II. And now that we have spoken fully about CnUivntxon. 

 the kinds of grain and of soil, we will now speak about flmdilg hy 

 the method of ploughing, beginning with an account ""■^'iiffid 

 of the easy conditions prevaiiing in Kgypt. In that 

 country the Nile plays the part of farnier, beginning 

 to overflow its banks at the new moon in midsummer, 

 as we have said, at first gently and then more ^- ^''- 

 violently, as long as the sun is in the constellation 

 of the Lion. Then when the sun has passed over 

 into the Virgin it slows down, and when the sun 

 is in the Scales it subsides. If it has not risen 

 more than 18 feet, there is certain to be a famine, 

 and Ukewise if it has exceeded 24 feet ; for it 

 retires more slowly in proportion as it has risen in 

 greater flood, and prevents the sowing of seed. It 

 used to be commonly believed that the custom was 

 to begin sowing after the subsidence of the Nile and 

 then to drive swine over the ground, pressing down 

 the seed in the damp soil with their footprints, and I 

 beUeve that in former days this was the common 

 practice, and that at the present day also the sowing 

 is done without much heavier labour ; but neverthe- 

 less it is certain that the seed is first scattered in the 

 mud of the river after it has subsided and then 

 ploughed in. This is done at the beginning of 

 November, and afterwards a few men stub up the 

 weeds — their name for this process is botanismus — , 

 V)ut the rest of the labourers only visit the fields a 

 Uttle before the first of April, taking a sickle with 



295 



