[ i83 ] 
that the pofition of the. fine joining the Moon’s cufps, 
with refpec^ to the horizon, depends merely upon the 
mutual approach, or recefs, of the pole of a great circle 
drawn through the centers of the Sun and Moon, and the 
pole of the horizon, in the courfe of the diurnal revo- 
lution. And fo great a man as varro, as he is quoted 
by PLINY, was not afhamed to give this childifh rule, for 
predidling the weather, for a. whole month to come, from 
appearances at the new Moon. If the upper horn 
“ be obfcure, the decline of the Moon will bring rain. 
If the lower horn, the rain will happen before the full. 
At the time of the full Moon, if the blacknefs be in 
‘‘ the middle After this one cannot be fiirprized, 
that the poet virgil fliould make the prognoflics of the 
fourth day decifive for the whole lunation : 
Sin ortu quarto^ namque is certijjimus auBor-^ 
Pur a neque obtujis per coeium cornibus ibit^ 
1'otus et ille dies^ et qui nafcentur ab illa^ 
ExaBum ad menfem pluvid ventifque car^bunt. 
Georgic. lib. 1 . lin. 143. 
But in this he contradicSts aratus, whofe authority in 
general he follows implicitly. With aratus, the ligns 
of the new Moon extend only to the firft quarter. 
The ancients afcribed an influence to the conftella- 
tions and fixed flars as W'ell as to the Sun and Moon ; and 
(e) Apud Varronein ita eft. Nafcens Luna ft cornu fuperlore 
obatro furget, pluvias decrefcens dabit : ft inferiore, ante plenilunlum : ft in 
media nigritia ilia fuerit, -iinbrem in pleno, pun, Nat. Hlft. lib. XVIil. 
rap. 35. 
VoL. LXV. D <1 
there 
