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happening, signified danger. And we find certain monstrous portents of rain in history. For in the consulship of Acilius Marcus and Porcius, they say first milk, and then blood, was brought down. And pieces of flesh also fell wondrously instead of rain during the consulship of Volumnius, and remained so; for no beast or bird or any living thing, being hungry, would touch that flesh. And iron also flowed down instead of rain over Lucania, when Crassus was setting out on his expedition against the Persians. And while Marcellus was completing his term as consul, they say wool was brought down around the fortress of Capsa in the time of Milo; which foretold the destruction of the one governing the region. And baked bricks and dust were often brought down, just as in the time of Zeno in our own day. And a sound of arms and trumpets was variously thought to have come from the sky, which is said to have happened during the invasion of the Cimbri, and when the Roman state was disturbed by those civil conflicts. And there was also a time when a conflagration seemed to occur in the very sky, just as in our own times, six years before the death of Anastasius [a. 513], when there was such an eclipse of the sun that in the middle of the day even the dimmest of the stars appeared, and the birds of the air fell down as if in the middle of the night. Then on the following night, so great a fire was kindled that the air became full of sparks. And it was signified, then, that the people were about to rise up against the emperor, and the army near Mysia was to become the work of the hand of Vitalian [a. 514]; and he himself, having marched up to the walls of the city, came very near to seizing power. And indeed, in the end, when a most dishonorable attack of barbarians occurred, Anastasius almost gave up the empire willingly, and all things turned out badly, to speak of which among those who know is idle talk. 7 And it is not at all surprising if men foresee future events, when nature itself points things out beforehand. As, for instance, Anaxagoras in the seventy-eighth Olympiad prophesied that a very large stone would fall from the sun, which also happened later in Thrace; and the stone is there to this day, and seems from its very appearance to have been scorched all over. Apuleius says that this same thing happened both at Abydos and Cyzicus; whence there is still even now a stone among them, fiery in color, and marked all over with iron; for a story has been handed down to the Cyzicenes that the city must perish along with the stone. And Hipparchus predicted a solar eclipse six hundred years before. And in his Natural History, the Roman Pliny says that he saw a stone in Vocontii in Italy that had been brought down from the sky; so that there is a great fellowship between portents and earthly things, even if it does not seem so to those of the Stoa. Just as the rising of the Hyades produces much rain, while that of the Kids and of Arcturus makes it hail-like. And concerning the rising of the Dog Star, may it not be superfluous to say that when the sun's heat is kindled, dogs go mad, and this has become the cause of their destruction, so that they might not kill by biting. And the waters of the sea are accustomed to surge up at certain fixed periods, while men, at least, grow weak in their sinews or their head or even their mind itself. For poplars and elms are accustomed to change their foliage around the solstices, c. 8 H. and what is called pennyroyal flourishes at the very solstice; and the plant called heliotrope turns toward the course of the sun, changing its shape with it as it rises and sets. For concerning these sea-creatures, I mean oysters and clams and scallops and the others, no one will dispute that they wax and wane with the phases of the moon, as do the livers of mice and many other things, about which we have discussed in what we have written On the Months. In addition to these, it happens that conflagrations occur, whenever the moon is observed by Mars during an eclipse. 8 For as they themselves

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τυχῶν παρεδήλωσε κίνδυνον. Καὶ ὄμβρων δέ τινας τεραστίους διοσημείας ἐπὶ τῆς ἱστορίας εὑρίσκομεν. ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ Ἀκελίου Μάρκου καὶ Πορκίου τῶν ὑπάτων γάλα πρῶτον, εἶτα δὲ καὶ αἷμα κατενεχθῆναί φασιν. καὶ κρέα δὲ παραδόξως ἀνθ' ὑετοῦ κατὰ τὴν Βολουμνίου κατέπεσεν ὑπατείαν, καὶ ἔμεινεν οὕτως· οὐ γὰρ ἂν θηρίον ἢ πτηνὸν ἤ τι τῶν ἐμψύχων λιμῶξαν καθάψαιτο ἐκείνου τοῦ σώματος. κατερρύη δὲ καὶ σίδηρος ἐπὶ Λευκανίας ἀνθ' ὑετοῦ, Κράσσου τὴν ἐπὶ Πέρσας ὁρμῶντος ἐπιστρατείαν. Μαρκέλλου δὲ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διανύοντος ἔριον κατενεχθῆναί φασι περὶ Κάψαν τὸ φρούριον ἐπὶ Μίλωνος· ὃ τοῦ τὴν χώραν ἐπιτροπεύοντος ἀναίρεσιν ἐμαντεύετο. κατηνέχθησαν δὲ πλίνθοι πολλάκις ὀπταὶ καὶ κόνις, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ Ζήνωνος τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς. Ὅπλων δὲ καὶ σαλπίγγων ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ γενέσθαι διαφόρως ἔδοξεν ἦχος, ὅπερ λέγεται συμβῆναι κατὰ τὴν Κίμβρων ἐπιδρομήν, καὶ ἡνίκα τοῖς ἐμφυλίοις ἐκείνοις πάθεσι τὸ Ῥωμαϊκὸν διεταράττετο. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ὅτε κατ' αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐκπύρωσις ἔδοξε γίνεσθαι, καθάπερ καθ' ἡμᾶς, Ἀναστασίου ἓξ πρόσθεν ἐνιαυτοῖς τῆς τελευτῆς ̣a. 513̣, ἡνίκα τοιαύτη μὲν ἡλίου γέγονεν ἔκλειψις ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μέσῃ καὶ τοὺς ἀλαμπεστάτους τῶν ἀστέρων διαφανῆναι, τὰ δὲ ἀεροπόρα καθάπερ ἐν νυκτὶ μέσῃ καταπεσεῖν. εἶτα τῆς ἐπιούσης νυκτὸς πῦρ ἀνεφλέχθη τοσοῦτον ὥστε σπινθήρων τὸν ἀέρα γενέσθαι μεστόν. ἐδηλοῦτο δὲ ἄρα ὁ μὲν δῆμος ἐπαναστησόμενος τῷ βασιλεύοντι, ἡ δὲ πρὸς τῇ Μυσίᾳ στρατιὰ ἔργον τῆς Βιταλιανοῦ γενησομένη χειρός ̣a. 514̣· αὐτὸς δὲ μέχρι τῶν τῆς πόλεως τειχῶν ἐλάσας παρὰ μικρὸν ἦλθε τῶν πραγμάτων κρατῆσαι. καὶ τὸ δὴ πέρας, οὕτως ἀτιμοτάτης βαρβάρων γενομένης ἐφόδου, μικροῦ προήκατο καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἑκὼν Ἀναστάσιος, καὶ φαῦλα δὲ συνέβη πάντα, ὅσα ἐν εἰδόσι λέγειν ἀδολεσχίας ἐστίν. 7 Καὶ θαυμαστὸν οὐδὲν εἰ προθεωροῦσιν ἄνθρωποι τὰ ἐσόμενα, τῆς φύσεως αὐτῆς προδεικνυούσης τὰ πράγματα. ὥς που καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας ἐπὶ τῆς ἑβδομηκοστῆς καὶ ὀγδόης ὀλυμπιάδος λίθον μέγιστον ἐκ τοῦ ἡλίου ἐκπεσεῖν ἐμαντεύσατο, ὅπερ καὶ συμβέβηκεν ὕστερον ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης· καὶ μέχρι νῦν ἔστιν ὁ λίθος, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς εὐθὺς τῆς θέας περιπεφλέχθαι δοκῶν. ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο κατά τε Ἄβυδον καὶ Κύζικον συμβῆναί φησιν Ἀπουλήιος· ὅθεν ἔτι καὶ νῦν λίθος ἐστὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς πυρώδης μὲν τὸ χρῶμα, σιδήρῳ δὲ ἅπας κατασεσημασμένος· παραδεδόσθαι γὰρ λόγος Κυ ζικηνοῖς ὡς συναπολέσθαι τῷ λίθῳ τὴν πόλιν ἀνάγκη. Ἵππαρχος δὲ ἑξακοσίοις ἔμπροσθεν ἐνιαυτοῖς ἡλιακὴν προκατέλαβεν ἔκλειψιν. ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς φυσικῆς ἱστορίας ὁ Ῥωμαῖος Πλίνιος λίθον ἑωρακέναι φησὶν ἐν Βοκοντίῳ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατενηνεγμένον· ὥστε πολλὴ κοινωνία ταῖς διοσημείαις πρὸς τὰ γήινα, κἂν τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς στοᾶς μὴ δοκῇ. ὥσπερ ἡ μὲν ἐπιτολὴ τῶν ὑάδων ὄμβρον πολύν, ἡ δὲ τῶν ἐρίφων καὶ τοῦ ἀρκτούρου χαλαζώδη τοῦτον ἀποτελεῖ. περὶ δὲ τῆς τοῦ κυνὸς ἐπιτολῆς μὴ καὶ περιττὸν ᾖ λέγειν ὡς τῆς ἡλιακῆς ἀναπτομένης θερμότητος λυττῶσιν οἱ κύνες, καὶ τοῦτο τῆς ἀναιρέσεως αὐτῶν γέγονεν αἴτιον, ὡς ἂν μὴ δάκνοντες ἀναιρῶσιν. ἀναβλύζειν δὲ πέφυκε καὶ τὰ θαλάττια ὕδατα ἐν ὡρισμέναις τισὶ περιόδοις, ἄνθρωποί γε μὴν νεύροις ἢ κεφαλῇ ἢ καὶ αὐτῇ τῇ διανοίᾳ ἀσθενεῖν. αἴγειροι μὲν γὰρ καὶ πτελέαι περὶ τὰς ἡλίου τροπὰς μεταβάλλειν τὴν κόμην πεφύκασιν, ̣c. 8 H. ̣ ὁ δὲ λεγόμενος γλήχων ὑπ' αὐτὴν τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου θάλλει τροπήν· ἡ δὲ ἡλιότροπος καλουμένη βοτάνη πρὸς τὴν ἡλιακὴν μεταστρέφεται φοράν, ἀνίσχοντι αὐτῷ καὶ δυομένῳ συμμετατιθεῖσα τὸ σχῆμα. περὶ γὰρ τῶν ἐναλίων τούτων, ὀστρέων λέγω καὶ χημῶν καὶ κτενῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, οὐδεὶς ἀμφισβητήσει ὅτι αὔξεται καὶ συμφθίνει ταῖς σεληνιακαῖς φάσεσιν, ὡς καὶ τὰ τῶν μυῶν ἥπατα καὶ πλεῖστα ἕτερα, περὶ ὧν ἐν τοῖς περὶ Μηνῶν γραφεῖσιν ἡμῖν διελάβομεν. πρὸς τούτοις ἐμπρησμοὺς γίνεσθαι συμβαίνει, ὅταν ἡ σελήνη κατ' ἔλλειψιν ὑπὸ Ἄρεος θεωρηθῇ. 8 Ὡς γὰρ αὐτὰ