BOOK XVIII. Lxix. 280-283 



rising marks the beginning of summer and their set- 

 ting that of winter, embracing in the six months' 

 space between them the harvest and vintage and 

 ripening of all vegetation. And the sky also con- 

 tains the constellation called the Milky Way, which 

 is also easily recognized " by observing two others, 

 the Eagle in the northern region and in the southern 

 the Little Dog, which we have mentioned in its 

 proper place. The Milky Way itself passes through§268. 

 the Archer and the Twins, cutting the equinoctial 

 orbit twice at the sun's centre-point, the intersections 

 being marked by the Eagle on one side and the Little 

 Dog on the other. Consequently the influences of 

 each of these constellations reach to all cultivated 

 lands, inasmuch as these are the only points at which 

 the centres of the sun and earth correspond. Con- 

 sequently if on the dates'' of these constellations 

 the atmosphere is clear and mild and transmits this 

 genial milky juice to the lands of the earth, the 

 crops grow luxuriantly ; but if the moon scatters a 

 dewy cold after the manner previously described, §277. 

 the admixture of bitterness, like sourness in milk, 

 kills ofF the infant otFspring. The measure of this 

 injury in various countries is that occasioned in each 

 part of earth's convex surface by the combination of 

 each of these two causes, and so it is not per- 

 ceived simultaneously in the whole of the world, as 

 daybreak is not either. We have said '^ that tiie 

 Eagle rises in Italy on December 20, and Natures 

 system does not permit any of the crops sown to 

 be of certain promise before that day ; but if the 

 moon liappens then to be in conjunction, all the 

 winter and early spring produce is bound to sufFer 

 damage. 



367 



