BOOK XMII. Lv. 200-LVI. 203 



sowing when the sun has crossed 12 degrees of the 

 Scorpion and the moon is in the Bull. 



LVI. There follows the question postponed to this 

 place, a question that needs very careful consideration 

 — that of the proper date for sowing the crops ; it is 

 in a large degree connected with astronomy, and 

 consequently we will begin by setting out the views 

 of all authoi*s in regard to it. Hesiod, the leader of iVorksand 

 mankind in imparting agricultural instruction, gave ^"y^-'^*- 

 onlv one date for sowing, to begin at the setting of 

 the Pleiads ; for he wrote in the Greek country of 

 Boeotia where, as we have said, that is the custom § 49. 

 for sowing. It is agreed among the most careful 

 observers that, as in the propagation of birds and 

 animals, so with the earth, there exist certain impulses 

 lcading to conception ; and the Greeks define this as 

 the period when the earth is warm and moist. Virgil 

 prescribes sowing bare and emmer wheats after c/. Georg. i 

 the setting of the Pleiads, barley between the^io'^^?- 

 autumnal equinox and mid-winter, but vetch and cala- 229. 

 vances and lentils at the setting of Bootes ; with the 

 consequence that it is important to ascertain the exact 

 dates of the rising and setting of these and other 

 stars. There are some who advise sowing before the 

 setting of the Pleiads, at all events in dry land and 

 in the provinces wath a warm cUmate, because 

 the seed keeps safely, there being no damp to 

 make them rot, and within a day after the next fall 

 of rain they break out ; while others recommend 

 sowing immediately after the setting of the Pleiads, 

 because about a week later rains follow ; and some 

 advise beginning to sow at the autumnal equinox 

 in cnld places, but later in warm districts, so that 

 the crops may not be too far forward beforc wintcr. 



