BOOK XVIII. Lxxiii. 308-Lxxiv. 311 



pests from breeding in tliern, or clsc they put them 

 in casks that have hcld salted fish and coat them over 

 with plaster ; and therc are others who sprinkle 

 lentils with vinegar mixed with silphium, and whcn 

 they are dry give them a dressing of oil. But the 

 specdiest prccaution is to gather anything you want 

 to save from pests at the moon's conjunction. So 

 it makes a very great ditfercnce who wants to store 

 thc crop or who to put it on the market, bccause 

 grain increases in bulk when the moon is waxinc. 



LXXIV. Ncxt in accordance with the division of AstmTwynicni 

 tlie seasons comes autunm, from thc sctting of thc ^'«/umf. 

 Lyre to the cquinox and then the setting of the 

 Pleiads and the beginning of winter. In these 

 pcriods important stages are markcd by the Horse 

 rising in the rcgion of Attica and the Dolphin 

 setting for Egypt and by Caesar's reckoning on the 

 evening of August 12. On Augast 22 the constella- 

 tion called the \'intager bcgins to rise at dawn for 

 Caesar and for Assyria, announcing the proper time 

 for the vintage ; an indication of this will be the 

 change of colour in the grapes. On August 28 the 

 Arrow sets for Assyria and also the seasonal winds 

 cease to blow. On September 5 the Vintager rises 

 for Egypt, and in the morning Arcturus for Attica, 

 and the Arrow sets at dawn. On Septcmber 9, 

 according to Caesar, the She-goat rises in the cvening, 

 while half of Arcturus becomcs visible on September 

 12, indicating vcry unsettled weather on land and at 

 sea for fivc days. The account givcn of this is that 

 if there has bccn rain whilc the Dolphin was setting 

 it will not rain " while Arcturus is visible. The de- 

 parture of the swallows may be noted as the sign of 

 the rise of that constellation, since if they are over- 



383 



