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

160 ASTRONOMIA. ASTRONOMI A.
montb of November (xviii. 12). Columella assions VaRro, COLUMIELLA, PLINY.-oi%0)2'inyRisiog.
the sowing of vetches and kidney beans, and Palla- - (I.) Varro, following the calendar of Caesar,
dius of kidney beans, to the month of October; if reckons an interval of twenty-four days fiom the
the end of the month is meant, then the precept summer solstice to the rising of Sirius (ad Casziczlcle
maybe considered as identical with those of Virgil sigcu7n) which, according toethis calculation, would
and Pliny; if the middle of the month is intended, fall on the 17th or 18th of July (R. R. i. 28.)
this will correspond with the heliacal setting of (2.) Columella (xi. 2. ~ 53) fixes upon the 26th
Arcturus for the latitude of Alexandria. of July (VII. Kal. Aug. Canicula apparet), and in
Again, in Georg. i. 67. when treating of plough- another passage (ix. 15. ~ 5) makes the interval
ing, the words between the solstice and the rising of Sirius about
At si non fuerit tellus fecunda, sub ipsunm thirty days (peracto solstitio usque ad Or'tzC CanuArcturun tenri sat at suspendere sulco, culue, qui feoe dies triginta sueit), that is, on the
24th of July.
refer to the morning rising. The true morning (3.) Pliny (xviii. 38. ~ 2), says, that the epoch
rising was on thle 8th of September, the apparent "qLod canis ortunt vocea-mus" corresponded with the
on the 21st. The former agrees best with the di- entrance of the sun into Leo, that is, according to
rections given by Columella (ii. 4. ~ 11) for the the Julian calendar, which ihe professes to follow,
ploughing of very light land, " graciles clivi non the 24th of July.
sunt aestate arandi, sed circa Septembres Kalendas," (4.) In the very next clause he says, that it fell
and a little lower down, when treating of the same twenty-three days after the solstice, that is, on the
kind of soil, " itaque optime inter Kalendas et Idus 17th of July.
Septembres aratur et subinde iteratur." (5.) And a little farther on (~ 4), he refers the
OvID. - In the second book of the Fasti (153) same event specifically to the 17th of July (XVI.
we read, IKal. An.).
Tertia nox veniat: custodenm protinus Ursae (6.) Finally, in a different part of his work (xi.
Adspicies germinos exseruisse pedes, 14), he places the rising of Sirius thirty days after
the solstice: ipso Sirio explendescente post solstitislu
that is, the constellationz Arcturus displays both his diebus tricenis Jire, a passage in which it will be
feet on the 11th of February, where it ought to seen upon referring to the original, that he must
be observed that from the posture in which Bobtes have be-n consulting Greek authorities, and in
rises his two legs appear above the horizon nearly which the words necessarily imply a visible rising
at the same time. The apparent evening rising of the star.
of the star Arcturus took place at Rome, on 27th The whole of the above statements may be reFebruary, the true eveningc rising on the 6th of duced.to two. In (1), (4), (5), the rising of Sirius
Alarch; but the calendar to which Ovid was in- is placed on the 17th or 18th of July, twenty-three
debted probably recorded the appearance of the first days after the solstice, in (2), (3), (6), about thirty
star in the figure which became visible. days after the solstice; that is, 24th-26th of July.
In'three passages, the morning setting is clearly Now the true morning rising of Sirius for Roume
described (Fcast. iii. 403, v. 733, vi. 235). In the at the Julian era fell upon the 19th of July, the
first, it is placed on 4th or 5th of March, according apparent morning or heliacal rising on the 2d of
as we adopt the reading quartet or quintaet; in the August, thirty-eight or thirty-nine days after the
second, on the 26th of Mayy; in the third, on the solstice.
7ith of June. Now there is no doubt that the Hence (1), (4), (5), are close approximations to
setting of Boetes is spread over a considerable pa- the truth, while (2), (3), (6) are inapplicable to
riod; and hence, the epithet piger, applied to him Rome, and borrowed from computations adapted to
here and elsewhere, but in no way could it be made the horizon of Southern Greece.
to occupy three months. The star Arcturus is one Some words in Pliny deserve particular notice:
of the first which sets in this constellation: its trie "XVI. Kal. Alug. Assyriae Procyon exoritur; dein
morning setting took place on 28th May, its ap- postridie fere ubique, confessum inter omnes sidus
parent morning setting on 10th June; thus the indicanrs, qued canis ortum n ocamnus, sole partem
second and third of the above passages will apply primnam Leonis ingresso. Hoc fit post solstitium
to these two. In the first passage Iie has erroneously XXIII. die. Sentiunt id maria, et terrae, multae
substituted the apparent morning settinz for the vero et ferae, ut suis locis diximus. Neque est
treue eveneinqg ising, which really took place, as we minor ei veneratio quam descriptis in deos stellis."
have seen, on the 6th of March. Although the expressions employed here are far
from being distinct, they lead us to infer that
SIRIUS. CANIS~ CANICULA.
certain remarkable periods in the year were from
IlomER. HESIOD. - Homer (11. v. 5, xxii. 25) habit and superstition so indissolubly connected
alludes to Sirius as the star of o.rcipa, that is, of the in the public mind with certain astronomical phehottest portion of summer, as will be explained nomena, that even after the periods in question
more fully below in treating of the ancient divi- had ceased to correspond with the phenomena, no
sion of the year into seasons. The heliacal rising change was introduced into the established phraof Sirius in Southern Greece would take place il seology. Thus the period of most intense heat,
the age of Homer about the middle of July. which at one time coincided with the heliacal risins
The culmination of Sirius spoken of by Hesiod of Sirius, would continue to be distinguished in the
(Erg. 609), as marking along with the morning language of the people, and in almanacs intended
rising of Arcturus the period of the vintage, would for general use, as the Canis Exoertus, long after
take place in that age about the 20th of September. the two epochs were removed to a distance from
The passage (Erg. 417), where seiptos da'rr'p is each other, just as among ourselves the term dog.
supposed to denote the sun, has been already noticed. days having once obtained a firm footing, is used
See above p. 152, b. and probably will continue to be used for centuries