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

ASTRONOMIA. ASTRONOMIA. 163
" tristes Hyadas," in reference to their morning kids (plurialibzs aedis). Horace (CnGrs. iii..
setting at the most rainy and stormy season of the 27) dwells on the terrors of setting Arcturus and
year. The true morning setting for Rome at the, the rising Kid, while Ovid (Trist. i. 1. 13) and
Julian era happened on the 3d of November, the Theocritus (C'. 53. See Schol.) speak in the same
apparent on the 14th of November. The ap- strain. In Columella's Calendar (xi. 2. ~ 66) we
parent evening rising, which fell upon the 25th of find IT Kal. Octob. (27th Sept.) Haedi exorisuntur,
October, would likewise suit these epithets. and a little farther on (~ 73) Pridie Non. Octob.
Ovid, in his Fasti (iv. 677), places the evening (4th Nov.) -Haedi oriuniur vespee. The former
setting of the Hyades on the 17th of April, the date marks the precise day of the true evening rising
day fixed in the Calendar of Caesar (Plin. xviii. 66. of the foremost kid at Rome for the Julian era;
~ 1), while Columella names the 18th (R. R. xi. 2. and hence the aoparent evening rising, which would
~ 36). These statements are nearly accurate, since fall some days earlier, would indicate the approach
the apparent evening, or heliacal setting, took place of those storms which commonly attend upon the
for Rome at that epoch on the 20th of April. autumnal equinox.
In the same poem, the morning rising is alluded
to five times. III. DIVISION OF THE YEAR INTO SEASONS.
to five times.
(1.) It is said (v. 163) to take place on the 2nd As early as the age of Hesiod the commenceof May, which was the day fixed in the Calendar ment of different seasons was marked by the risings
of Caesar (Plin. xviii. 66. ~ 1), and adopted by and settings of certain stars; but before proceeding
Columnella (xi. 2. ~ 39), whose words, Sucula cumI to determine these limits it will be necessary to
sole oritur, indicate the true morning rising. ascertain into how many compartments the year
(2.) On the 14th of May (v. 603), while Co- was portioned out by the earlier Greeks.
lumella (Ibid. ~ 43) has, XII. Kal. Jun. (21st Homer clearly defines three: —1. Spring (eap),
May) Suculae exoeriuntur. at whose return the nightingale trills her notes
(3.) On the 27th of May (v. &c.). among the greenwood brakes (Od. xix. 519). 2.
(4.) On the second of June (vi. 197). Winter (XELtOVi,, XeALta), at whose approach, ac(5.) On the 15th of June (vi. 71 1). companied by deluges of rain (dOeiorepaorv 0i`lpov),
Now the true morning rising of the Hyades for the cranes fly screaming away to the streams of
Rome at that epoch was on the 16th of May, the ocean (11. iii. 4, comp. Hesiod. Er-g. 448). 3..
apparent or heliacal rising on the 9th of June, Summer (e'pos), to which Xe-7a is directly opposed
the true evening setting on the 3d of May. (Od. vii. 118). 4. Three lines occur in the Odyssey
Hence it is clear that Ovid, Columella, and (xi. 191. avapE rprXOji ae dpos'eTOaAvsa"'or pv,
Pliny, copying in (1) a blunder which had found and also xii. 76, xiv. 384) where the word 6orcipa
its way into the Calendar of Caesar, assigned the seems to be distinguished from bipos, and is in
morning rising to the 2nd of May instead of the consequence generally translated auztuamn. Ideler,
trie evening setting. The true evening rising lay however, has proved in a satisfactory manner
between the days named in (2). The heliacal (Handbaucl der Citron. i. p. 243) that the term
rising was thirteen days after (3), seven days after originally indicated not a season separate from and
(4), six days before (5). following after summer, but the hottest part of
summer itself; and hence Sirias, whose heliacal
THE CRETAN CROWN. rising took place in the age of Homer about the'We have seen above that Virgil (Georg. i. 222), middle of July, is designated as adTi-,o &OrXepLbs
instructs the farmer iot to commence sowing wheat (II. v. 5; see Schol. and Eustath. ad loc.; compare
until after the Plelades have set in the morning: also II. xxii. 26), while Aristotle in one passage
Gnosiaque ardentis decedat stella Coronae, (Meteorolog. ii. 5) makes the heliacal rising of
Sirius, which he notes as coinciding with the enwords which must signify the setting af the Cretan trance of the sun into Leo, i. e. 24th July of the'0row2. The apparent evening (or heliacal) setting Julian calendar, the sign of the commencement of
of this constellation fell at Rome for this epoch 07rc6pa; and in another passage (Problemn. xxv. 26,
upon the 9th of November, the very day after the xxvi. 14) places the rising of Orion at the beginapparent morning setting of the Pleiades. ning of ourcipa, and the setting of the same conOvid (Fast. iii. 459), after having spoken of the stellation at the beginning of winter-v'Ve sTadoX7
rising of Pegasus on the night of March 7th, adds, TOO g'peovS Kaal XeLWcvoy - an expression which
clearly indicates that srcipa was included within
Protenms adspicies venienti nocte Coronam = the more general — pos.
Gnosida, Hesiod notices lEap (Erg. 462), aEpos (1. c.),
words which denote the evening rising; and, in Xes'/a (450), and in his poem we find the trace of
reality, the apparent evening rising took place on a fourfold division, for he employs the adjective
the tenth of March, only two days later than the ET'To7rooptvds (Erg. 415) in reference to the period
date here fixed. of the first rains, when the excessive heat had in
some degree abated. These rains he elsewhere
calls the onrcwpmvmpb 5Epos, and notices them in conVirgil (Georg. i. 205) when inculcating the nection with the vintage, when he enjoins the
utility of observing the stars, declares that it is no mariner to hasten home to port before the serene
less necessary for the husbandman than for the weather has passed away- uu7aE uvLet'Ev ooar m're
mariner to watch Arcturus and the glistening Snake, sov Ical 07rwpmvo0' iLepoev. Moreover, by making
and the days of the IKids (haedorumque dies ser- aEpbs proper end fifty days after the solstice (Erg.
vandi). Elsewhere (Aen. ix. 658) he compares a 663) he leaves a vacant space from the middle of
dense flight of arrows and javelins rattling against August to the end of October, which he must have
shields and helmets to the torrents of rain proceed- intended to fill by a fourth season, which he noing from the west under the influence of the wzatery where specifically names. As late, however, as
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