BOOK XVIII. Lxvi. 247-250 



it the Greek name for the con^^tellation is Hyades ", 

 which our countrymen. owinjj to the similarity of 

 the Greek name supposed in their ignorance to have 

 been given it with reference to the word for ' pigs ', 

 and so have called the stars the Little Pigs. Tn 

 Caesar's calendar April 24 is also a marked day. 

 On April 25 the Kids rise for Egypt, and on April 26 

 the Dog sets in the evening and the Lyre rises in 

 the morning for Boeotia and Attica. On April 27 

 Orion entirely disappears for Assyria, and on the 

 28th the Dog. On May 2 the Little Pigs rise in the 

 morning for Caesar, and on May 8 the She-goat, 

 portending rain, while the Dog sets for Lgypt in the 

 evening of the same day. That is a fairly precise ac- 

 count of the movements of the constellations down to 

 May 10, which is the date of the rising of the Pleiads. 



In this space of time the farmer must hurry on Farm wmk 

 during the first fortnight with work which he has '" *P'''"«'- 

 not had time to finish before the equinox, while 

 reahsing that this is the origin of the rude habit of 

 jeering at people pruning their vines by imitating 

 the note of the visiting bird called the cuckoo, as 

 it is considered disgraceful and deserving of re- 

 proach for that bird to find the pruning-hook being 

 used on the Nine ; and consequently wanton jokes, 

 though men are merelv being made sport of in 

 earlv spring, are thought to be objectionable as 

 bringing bad luck. To such an extent on the land 

 is every trifle set down as a hint given by Xature. 



In the latter part of this period Italian and common Endofcoia 

 millets are sown, the proper timc for sowing them ^n^j^edby 

 beinjr when the barlev has rinened. And the sign alike "ppearmice 



/.1111. ■ \ c ■ j1_ ofghw- 



of the barley bemg ripe and ror sowing these crops worms. 

 consists in the fields in the evening shining with glow- 



347 



