BOOK XVIII. Lxix. 284-287 



The life ot' men in early times was rude and Danoer 

 illiterate ; but nevertheless it will be found that mere ?"'''""'•' 

 observation was not less ingenious among them than 

 theory is now. There were three seasons which they 

 had to fear for their crops, and on this account they 

 instituted the hoHdays and festivals of RobigaHa, 

 FloraHa and \'inaHa. Numa in the eleventh year of 'ja<'«^" 

 his reign estabHshed the Feast of RobigaHa, w hich is ' 

 now kept on April 25, because that is about the time 

 when the crops are Hable to be attacked bv mildew. 

 Van-o has given this date as fixed by the sun occupying 

 the tenth degree of the Bull, as theory then stated ; 

 but the true explanation is that on one or other 

 (according to the latitude of the various observers) 

 of the four days from the twenty-ninth " day after 

 the spring equinox to April 28 the Dog sets, a con- 

 stellation of violent influence in itself and the setting 

 of which is also of necessitv preceded ^* by the setting 

 of the Little Dog. So the same people in 238 B.c. 

 in obedience to the SibyFs oracles, instituted the 

 Floralia on April 23, in order that aU vegetation might 

 shed its blossom favourably. This day is dated by 

 Varro at the sun's entering the 14th degree of the 

 Bull ; consequently if fuU moon falls within these 

 four days, the crops and all the vegetation then in 

 flower wiH inevitablv sufFer injm*y. The First 

 VinaHa,' estabHshed in formcr days on April 23 for 

 tasting the wines, has no reference to the fruits of the 

 earth, nor yet have the festivals so far mentioned 

 to the vines and oHves, because their sprouting 

 begins at the rise of the Pleiads, on May 10, as we xvi. 104, 

 have explained. This is another four-day period in xviii. 248. 



"■ This corresponds to the Greek Pythoigia, the feast of 

 Viroaching the casks of the new vintage. 



