Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

  The chick-pea is the only grain in which no insect will breed while in the granary. Some persons place upon the heaps of the leguminous grains pitchers full of vinegar and coated with pitch, a stratum of ashes being laid beneath; and they fancy that if this is done, no injury will happen. Some, again, store them in vessels which have held salted provisions, with a coating of plaster on the top, while other persons are in the habit of sprinkling lentils with vinegar scented with laser, and, when dry, giving them a covering of oil. But the most effectual method of all is to get in everything that you would preserve from injury at the time of the moon’s conjunction; and hence it is of the greatest importance to know, when getting in the harvest, whether it is for garnering or whether for immediate sale. If cut during the increase of the moon, grain will increase in size.

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  CHAP. 74. (31.)

  THE VINTAGE, AND THE WORKS OF AUTUMN.

  In accordance with the ordinary divisions of the year, we now come to autumn, a period which extends from the setting of the Lyre to the autumnal equinox, and from that to the setting of the Vergiliæ and the beginning of winter. In these intervals, the more important periods are marked by the rising of the Horse to the people of Attica, in the evening of the day before the ides of August; upon which day also the Dolphin sets in Egypt, and, according to Cæsar, in Italy. On the eleventh before the calends of September, the star called the Vintager begins to rise in the morning, according to Cæsar’s reckoning, and to the people of Assyria; it announces the ripening of the vintage, a sure sign of which is the change of colour in the grape. On the fifth before the calends of September, the Arrow sets in Assyria, and the Etesian winds cease to blow: on the nones of September, the Vintager rises in Egypt, and in the morning of that day, Arcturus rises to the people of Attica: on the same morning, too, the Arrow sets. On the fifth before the ides of September, according to Cæsar, the She-Goat rises in the evening; and one half of Arcturus becomes visible on the day before the ides of September, being portentous of boisterous weather for five days, both by land and sea.

  The theory relative to the effects produced by Arcturus, is stated in the following terms: if showers prevail, it is said, at the setting of the Dolphin, they will not cease so long as Arcturus is visible. The departure of the swallows may be looked upon as the sign of the rising of Arcturus; for if overtaken by it, they are sure to perish.

  On the sixteenth day before the calends of October, the Ear of Corn, which Virgo holds, rises to the people of Egypt in the morning, and by this day the Etesian winds have quite ceased to blow. According to Cæsar, this constellation rises on the fourteenth before the calends, and it affords its prognostics to the Assyrians on the thirteenth. On the eleventh before the calends of October, the point of junction in Pisces disappears, and upon the eighth is the autumnal equinox. It is a remarkable fact, and rarely the case, that Philippus, Callip- pus, Dositheus, Parmeniscus, Conon, Criton, Democritus, and Eudoxus, all agree that the She-Goat rises in the morning of the fourth before the calends of October, and on the third the Kids. On the sixth day before the nones of October, the Crown rises in the morning to the people of Attica, and upon the morning of the fifth, the Charioteer sets. On the fourth before the nones of October, the Crown, according to Cæsar’s reckoning, begins to rise, and on the evening of the day after is the setting of the constellation of the Kids. On the eighth before the ides of October, according to Cæsar, the bright star rises that shines in the Crown, and on the evening of the sixth before the ides the Vergiliæ, rise. Upon the ides of October, the Crown has wholly risen. On the seventeenth before the calends of November, the Suculæ rise in the evening, and on the day before the calends, according to Cæsar’s reckoning, Arcturus sets, and the Suculæ rise with the sun. In the evening of the fourth day before the nones of November, Arcturus sets. On the fifth before the ides of November, Orion’s Sword begins to set; and on the third before the ides the Vergiliæ set.

  In this interval of time, the rural operations consist in sowing rape and turnips, upon the days which have been mentioned on a previous occasion. The people in the country are of opinion, that it is not a good plan to sow rape after the departure of the stork; but for my own part, I am of opinion that it should be sown after the Vulcanalia, and the early kind at the same time as panic. After the setting of the Lyre, vetches should be sown, kidney-beans and hay-grass: it is generally recommended that this should be done while the moon is in conjunction. This, too, is the proper time for gathering in the leaves: it is fair work for one woodman, to fill four baskets in the day. If the leaves are gathered while the moon is on the wane, they will not decay; they ought not to be dry, however, when gathered.

  The ancients were of opinion, that the vintage is never ripe before the equinox; but at the present day I find that it is gathered in before that period; it will be as well, therefore, to give the signs and indications by which the proper moment may be exactly ascertained. The rules for getting in the vintage are to the following effect: Never gather the grape in a heated state, or in other words, when the weather is dry, and before the rains have fallen; nor ought it to be gathered when covered with dew, — or in other words, when dews have fallen during the night, — nor yet before the dews have been dispelled by the sun. Commence the vintage when the bearing-shoots begin to recline upon the stem, or when, after a grape is removed from the bunch, the space left empty is not filled up; this being a sure proof that the berry has ceased to increase in size. It is of the greatest consequence to the grape, that it should be gathered while the moon is on the increase. Each pressing should fill twenty culei, that being the fair proportion. To fill twenty culei and vats from twenty jugera of vineyard, a single press will be enough. In pressing the grape, some persons use a single press-board, but it is a better plan to employ two, however large the single ones may be. It is the length of them that is of the greatest consequence, and not the thickness: if wide, however, they press the fruit all the better. The ancients used to screw down the press-boards with ropes and leather thongs, worked by levers. Within the last hundred years the Greek press has been invented, with thick spiral grooves running down the stem. To this stem there are spokes attached, which project like the rays of a star, and by means of which the stem is made to lift a box filled with stones — a method that is very highly approved of. It is only within the last two-and-twenty years, that a plan has been discovered of employing smaller press-boards, and a less unwieldy press: to effect this, the height has been reduced, and the stem of the screw placed in the middle, the whole pressure being concentrated upon broad planks placed over the grapes, which are covered also with heavy weights above.

  This is the proper time for gathering fruit; the best moment for doing so is when it has begun to fall through ripeness, and not from the effects of the weather. This is the season, too, for extracting the lees of wine, and for boiling defrutum: this last must be done on a night when there is no moon, or if it is a full moon, in the day-time. At other times of the year, it must be done either before the moon has risen, or after it has set. The grapes employed for this purpose should never be gathered from a young vine, nor yet from a tree that is grown in a marshy spot, nor should any grapes be used but those that are perfectly ripe: the liquor, too, should never be skimmed with anything but a leaf; for if the vessel should happen to be touched with wood, the liquor, it is generally thought, will have a burnt and smoky flavour.

  The proper time for the vintage is between the equinox and the setting of the Vergiliæ, a period of forty-four days. It is a saying among the growers, that to pitch wine-vessels after that day, in consequence of the coldness of the weather, is only so much time lost. Still, however, I have seen, before now, persons getting in the vintage on the calends of January even, in consequence of the want of wine-vessels, and putting the must into receivers, or else pouring the old wine out of its vessels, to make room for new liquor of a very doubtful quality. This, however, happens not so often in consequence of
an over-abundant crop, as through carelessness, or else the avarice which leads people to wait for a rise in prices. The method that is adopted by the most economical managers, is to use the produce supplied by each year, and this, too, is found in the end the most lucrative mode of proceeding. As for the other details relative to wines, they have been discussed at sufficient length already; and it has been stated on a previous occasion, that as soon as the vintage is got in, the olives should at once be gathered, with other particulars relative to the olive after the setting of the Vergiliæ.

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  CHAP. 75. (32.)

  THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE MOON.

  I shall now proceed to add some necessary information re- lative to the moon, the winds, and certain signs and prognostics, in order that I may complete the observations I have to make with reference to the sidereal system. Virgil has even gone so far, in imitation of Democritus, as to assign certain operations to certain days of the moon; but my sole object shall be, as, indeed, it has been throughout this work, to consult that utility which is based upon a knowledge and appreciation of general principles.

  All vegetable productions are cut, gathered, and housed to more advantage while the moon is on the wane than while it is on the increase. Manure must never be touched except when the moon is on the wane; and land must be manured more particularly while the moon is in conjunction, or else at the first quarter. Take care to geld your boars, bulls, rams, and kids, while the moon is on the wane. Put eggs under the hen at a new moon. Make your ditches in the night-time, when the moon is at full. Cover up the roots of trees, while the moon is at full. Where the soil is humid, put in seed at the moon’s conjunction, and during the four days about that period. It is generally recommended, too, to give an airing to corn and the leguminous grains, and to garner them, towards the end of the moon; to make seed-plots when the moon is above the horizon; and to tread out the grape, to fell timber, and to do many other things that have been mentioned in their respective places, when the moon is below it.

  The observation of the moon, in general, as already observed in the Second Book, is not so very easy, but what I am about here to state even rustics will be able to comprehend: so long as the moon is seen in the west, and during the earlier hours of the night, she will be on the increase, and one half of her disk will be perceived; but when the moon is seen to rise at sun-set and opposite to the sun, so that they are both perceptible at the same moment, she will be at fall. Again, as often as the moon rises in the east, and does not give her light in the earlier hours of the night, but shows herself during a portion of the day, she will be on the wane, and one half of her only will again be perceptible: when the moon has ceased to be visible, she is in conjunction, a period known to us as “interlunium.” During the conjunction, the moon will he above the horizon the same time as the sun, for the whole of the first day: on the second, she will advance upon the night ten-twelfths of an hour and one-fourth of a twelfth; on the third day, the same as on the second, and * * * so on in succession up to the fifteenth day, the same proportional parts of an hour being added each day. On the fifteenth day she will be above the horizon all night, and below it all day. On the sixteenth, she will remain below the horizon ten-twelfths of an hour, and one-fourth of a twelfth, at the first hour of the night, and so on in the same proportion day after day, up to the period of her conjunction; and thus, the same time which by remaining under the horizon, she withdraws from the first part of the night, she will add to the end of the night by remaining above the horizon. Her revolutions, too, will occupy thirty days one month, and twenty-nine the next, and so on alternately. Such is the theory of the revolutions of the moon.

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  CHAP. 76. (33.)

  THE THEORY OF THE WINDS.

  The theory of the winds is of a somewhat more intricate nature. After observing the quarter in which the sun rises on any given day, at the sixth hour of the day take your position in such a manner as to have the point of the sun’s rising on your left; you will then have the south directly facing you, and the north at your back: a line drawn through a field in this direction is called the “cardinal” line. The observer must then turn round, so as to look upon his shadow, for it will be behind him. Having thus changed his position, so as to bring the point of the sun’s rising on that day to the right, and that of his setting to the left, it will be the sixth hour of the day, at the moment when the shadow straight before him is the shortest. Through the middle of this shadow, taken lengthwise, a furrow must be traced in the ground with a hoe, or else a line drawn with ashes, some twenty feet in length, say; in the middle of this line, or, in other words, at the tenth foot in it, a small circle must then be described: to this circle we may give the name of the “umbilicus,” or “navel.” That point in the line which lies on the side of the head of the shadow will be the point from which the north wind blows. You who are engaged in pruning trees, be it your care that the incisions made in the wood do not face this point; nor should the vine-trees or the vines have this aspect, except in the climates of Africa, Cyrenæ, or Egypt. When the wind blows, too, from this point, you must never plough, nor, in fact, attempt any other of the operations of which we shall have to make mention.

  That part of the line which lies between the umbilicus and the feet of the shadow will look towards the south, and indicate the point from which the south wind blows, to which, as already mentioned, the Greeks have given the name of Notus. When the wind comes from this quarter, you, hasbandman, must never fell wood or touch the vine. In Italy this wind is either humid or else of a burning heat, and in Africa it is accompanied with intense heat and fine clear weather. In Italy the bearing branches should be trained to face this quarter, but the incisions made in the trees or vines when pruned must never face it. Let those be on their guard against this wind upon the four days at the rising of the Vergiliæ, who are engaged in planting the olive, as well as those who are employed in the operations of grafting or inoculating.

  It will be as well, too, here to give some advice, in reference to the climate of Italy, as to certain precautions to be observed at certain hours of the day. You, woodman, must never lop the branches in the middle of the day; and you, shepherd, when you see midday approaching in summer, and the shadow gradually decreasing, drive your flocks from out of the sun into some well-shaded spot. When you lead the flocks to pasture in summer, let them face the west before midday, and after that time, the east: if this precaution is not adopted, calamitous results will ensue; the same, too, if the flocks are led in winter or spring to pastures covered with dew. Nor must you let them feed with their faces to the north, as already mentioned; for the wind will either close their eyes or else make them bleared, and they will (lie of looseness. If you wish to have females, you should let the dams have their faces towards the north while being covered.

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  CHAP. 77. (34.)

  THE LAYING OUT OF LANDS ACCORDING TO THE POINTS OF THE WIND.

  We have already stated that the umbilicus should be described in the middle of the line. Let another line be drawn transversely through the middle of it, and it will be found to run from due east to due west; a trench cut through the land in accordance with this line is known by the name of “decumanus.” Two other lines must then be traced obliquely across them in the form of the letter X, in such a way as to run exactly from right and left of the northern point to left and right of the southern one. All these lines must pass through the centre of the umbilicus, and all must be of corresponding length, and at equal distances. This method should always be adopted in laying out land; or if it should be found necessary to employ it frequently, a plan of it may be made in wood, sticks of equal length being fixed upon the surface of a small tambour, but perfectly round. In the method which I am here explaining, it is necessary to point out one precaution that must always be observed by those who are unacquainted with the subject. The point that must he verified first of all
is the south, as that is always the same; but the sun, it must be remembered, rises every day at a point in the heavens different to that of his rising on the day before, so that the east must never be taken as the basis for tracing the lines.

  Having now ascertained the various points of the heavens, the extremity of the line that is nearest to the north, but lying to the east of it, will indicate the solstitial rising, or, in other words, the rising of the sun on the longest day, as also the point from which the wind Aquilo blows, known to the Greeks by the name of Boreas. You should plant all trees and vines facing this point, but take care never to plough, or sow corn, or plant in seed plots, while this wind is blowing, for it has the effect of drying up and blasting the roots of the trees while being transplanted. Be taught in time — one thing is good for grown trees, another for them while they are but young. Nor have I forgotten the fact, that it is at this point of the heavens that the Greeks place the wind, to which they give the name of Cæcias; Aristotle, a man of most extensive learning, who has assigned to Cæcias this position, explains that it is in consequence of the convexity of the earth, that Aquilo blows in an opposite direction to the wind called Africus.