Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

ASTRONOMIA. ASTRONOMIA. 15o
that at daybreak on the morning which follows the (3.) Piiny (xviii. 67. ~ 3) ascribes the Adrctzlui
Ist of April: - occasus natutinzis to V. Id. Mlai, i. e. 11th Mvlay.
(4.) Again, in the same section we find that
Quae septemincipint humeros relenvare pateos Arcturus imatutino occidit on the 8th of June.
Quae ptem dici, sex tamen esse solent. Now the true morning setting of Arcturus for
According to the legend, the Plciades were the Rome at this epoch belongs to 28th of May, the
daughters of Atlas, who supported the heavens on apparent morning setting to 10th of June.
his shoulders, and hence, when they disappeared But (1) seems to be copied from the observation
from the sky, they might be said to remove a of Euctemon in the Parapegma of Geminus; (2) is a
portion of their father's burden " humeros relevare close approximation to the apparent morning setting
paternos." The apparent morning setting is there- for Rome; (3) is altogether erroneous, and must
fbre clearly denoted. But this took place at Rome be a true morning setting extracted from some old
on the 9th of November, while, on the other hand, Greek calendar; (4) corresponds with (2), and is
the apparent evening (or heliacal) setting fell upon nearly correct.
the 8th of April, only six days after the date men- Evening Rising. - (1.) IXY. Kal. Mart. (21st
tioned. Hence, the poet blundered between the Feb.) Arctzurss prima nocte oritur. Col. xi. 2. ~ 21.
morning setting and the evening setting, which are (2.) Ortzts dArcturi qui est ab Idibuzs Feb ruariis
many months apart. (13th Feb.). Col. ix. 14.
Again (v. 599), the Pleiades are said to rise (3.) VIII. Ial. Illart. (22d Feb.) 7irundinis
visibly in the morning on May 14th, marking the vist et postero die (23d Feb.) Arcturi exortu vesend of spring and the beginning of summer. Now pertino. Plin. II. N. xviii. 65.
the heliacal rising of the Pleiades did not talre Now the apparent evening rising of Arcturus
place at Rome when Ovid wrote until May 28th; took place for Rome at the Julian epoch on the
but the phenomenon in question took place at 27th of February, the true evening rising on the
Athens on May 16th in the age of Meton. Hence Gth of March. But since it is evident from (2)
this observation was evidently copied front a Greek that Columella here employed Arcturus to denote
calendar computed for the fifth century B. c. not merely the star properly so called, but the
whole figure of Bo~ites, a latitude of several days
must be allowed in the case of this as of all the
larger constellations. See below the remarks on
Considerable difficulty arises in the discussion of Ov. Fast. ii. 153. We may remark, however, that
the passages which refer to Arcturus, from the cir- 21st-23d of February will answer for the appacurmstance that this name is sometimes applied rent evening rising of the star Arcturus at Athens,generally to the whole of the wide-spreading con- in the age of Meton.
stellation of Boites, and sometimes confined to the Evening Setting.- I'. el NArov. (29th Oct.)
bright star in the knee of the figure. Arcturus vespere occidit, ventosus dies. Col. xi. 2.
HOlER. -Homer (Od. v. 29) speaks of Arc- ~ 78.
turus as 14se 6voYa, Lecause the apparent evening This is taken verbatim from an observation of
or heliacal setting took place late in the year when Euctemon quoted in the Parapegma of Geminus.
winter was nigh at hand, and hence the phrase The heliacal setting for Rome was a few days
YtEc'rsE er''AprtrospP for long nights. (See Arat. later, about the 4th of November. But the ob585.) Another explanation of the phrase has been servation of Euctemon is not accurate for the latigiven above when discussing the constellation tude of Athens in his own age, for the phenomenon
BobJtes. ought to have been placed about five days earlier,
HESIOD.-Hesiod (Eig. 564) dates the comn- which proves, as Pfaff remarks, that the Greek
mencement of Spring from the evening rising of astronomers are not always to be depended upon in
Arcturus (Ei7rTEXAsrTal dcpoKYac'pasov) sixty days these matters.
after the solstice. Now the apparent evening rising We find in Pliny (xviii. 68. ~ 2), VIII. Id.
for the age and country of Hesiod fell upon the Aug. (6th August) A1ctsurus snedius occidit. This
24th of February, therefore his statement is correct is so far removed from any setting of the star iln
in round numbers. question that Harduin pronounces the text corrupt,
Again, in the same poem (659) he marks the and substitutes VII. Id. Aug. Aquarius occidit mzeperiod of the vintage by the morning (heliacal) dius, while Pfaff endeavours to refer the expression
rising of Arcturus, which, according to Ideler, fell to the culmination, an explanation which is both
in that age on the 18th of September. in itself forced and completely at variance with the
COLUMELLA, PLINY.-M-4orning Rising. Colu- ordinary usage of Pliny.
mella (ix. 14. ~ 10) places the rising of Arcturus Again, Pliny (xviii. ~ 74), Pridie Kalendas
about fifty days after the rising of Canicula; and (Nov.) Caesari Arcetzuus occidit, i. e. 31st of Ocsince the heliacal rising of the latter fell on the tober, and a few lines farther on IY. NAonas Arc2d of August at Rome in the Julian era, and of the turns occidit vesperi. The latter is not far from
former on the 21st of September, the computation the truth; the former, unless it refers to the conis exact. steilation in general, must have been borrowed
Pliny (xviii. 74), Arctzuruss vero medins pridie from a foreign source.
Idls (se. Septembr. oritur), i. e. 12th of September, VIRGIL.-Virgil (Georg. i. 229) instructs the
where the middle portion of the whole constellation husbandman to sow vetches, kidney beans and lenis indicated, and the observation is very accurate. tiles, when Bobtes sets, by which he probably
lforning Setting. - (1.) XI. et X. Kal. Jun. intends to indicate the heliacal setting of Arcturus
(22d and 23d May) Arcturus nmane occidit. Col. on the 4th of November. In like manner Pliny
xi. 2. ~ 4.3. (xviii. 15. ~ 24) orders the vetch to be sown' about
(2.) Vi7. Id. Jun. (9th June) Arcturus occidit. the setting of Arcturus, the kidney bean at the
Id. ~ 45. setting of Boites (xviii. 24), the lentile in the