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let us take care of ourselves, and present ourselves ready for the departure. Therefore, the night succeeding the day becomes a measure of time, and this happening seven times makes the week. And we take the measure of the month from the moon; for from this it also received its name; for they call the moon 'mene'. For this, waxing and waning, and becoming crescent-shaped, and half, and gibbous, and full, and again changing into the gibbous shape, then from there to the half, and to the crescent, again completes the number requiring thirty days and a few hours. And the yearly cycle, we are taught not only from the months, but also from the days. For with spring dawning, the sun, traveling through the middle of the sky, works out equality for the day and the night. From there occupying the more northern parts of the east, and rising from there, it shortens the nights and lengthens the days; and striking the earth more hotly, it ripens its fruits. And having traveled to the customary limits, it returns from the northern parts to the southern, and again in autumn, having administered equality to night and day, it becomes more southern, and gives back to the nights what it had taken from them and given to the days; and it allows the air to thicken, and to be filled with clouds, and to water the whole continent. Returning from there to the equinoctial turning point, it completes the yearly cycle. Since, therefore, you have seen the use of the sun and moon, and the equal successions of night and 83.572 day, and the benefit brought from them to men, behold for me also the most delightful and most useful dance of the seasons of the year. For the Maker did not divide the yearly cycle in two, nor did he give us simply summer and winter, nor do we pass immediately from the extremes to the extremes, but spring and autumn, having obtained a middle temperament, become the means between the frost and the flame. And the extremely wet and cold winter is not succeeded by the extremely dry and hot summer, but by spring, which partaking of the warmth of the one, and the coldness of the other, produces an excellent mixture of the distant things, and as if seized by certain hands of the opposites, on the one hand by the coldness of winter, on the other by the warmth of summer, it brings into agreement and friendship things utterly hostile. For this reason, traveling from winter to summer, we travel without pain. For little by little departing from the coldness of the one, and approaching the warmth of the other, we suffer no harm from the sudden change. Thus we pass from summer to winter, with autumn again being in the middle, and not allowing us to touch immediately the again extreme opposites, but mixing the extreme heat with the extreme cold, and producing another temperament, and little by little guiding us to that extreme. So great towards us is the care of the maker. Thus also in the changes of the seasons, he works out for us not only what is painless, but also what is pleasant. And perhaps one of the ungrateful, finding fault with things that have been made well and beautifully, and wisely and profitably administered, might say: Why indeed do the turnings happen? And what use do the transitions of the seasons have for us? and what good things, O most wise and most clever accuser of Providence, do we not obtain through these? For with winter beginning, we cast down seeds, and he who taught us this art nourishes them, raining from the clouds, and drawing up the sea water by his word, and bringing it on high, and changing that salty quality into a sweet one, and distinguishing the raindrops, and now releasing small ones, and now large ones borne in streams, and dividing the birth-pangs of the clouds as with a sort of sieve. For this reason the winter season, that it might nourish you, the ungrateful one, that it might provide for you, the unmindful one

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ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιμελώμεθα, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀποδημίαν ἑτοίμους παρέχωμεν. ∆ιαδεχομένη τοιγαρ οῦν ἡ νὺξ τὴν ἡμέραν, μέτρον γίνεται τοῦ χρόνου, καὶ τοῦτο ἑπτάκις γιγνόμενον τὴν ἑβδομάδα ποιεῖ. Τοῦ δὲ μηνὸς ἐκ τῆς σελήνης τὸ μέτρον λαμβάνομεν· ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ καὶ τῆς προσηγορίας μετέλαχε· μήνην γὰρ ὀνομάζουσι τὴν σελήνην. Αὕτη γὰρ αὐξουμένη καὶ φθίνουσα, καὶ μηνοειδὴς γιγνομένη, καὶ διχότο μος, ἀμφίκυρτός τε καὶ πλησιφαὴς, καὶ πάλιν εἰς τὸ ἀμφίκυρτον μεταβαίνουσα σχῆμα, εἶτα ἐκεῖθεν εἰς τὸ διχότομον, καὶ εἰς τὸ μηνοειδὲς, αὖθις τὸν τῶν τριάκοντα ἡμερῶν ὀλίγων ὡρῶν δεόμενον ἀριθμὸν πληροῖ. Τὸν ἐνιαύσιον δὲ κύκλον, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν μηνῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἡμερῶν διδασκόμεθα. Ἔαρος γὰρ ὑπολάμποντος, μέσον τὸν οὐρανὸν ὁδεύων ὁ ἥλιος, ἡμέρᾳ καὶ νυκτὶ τὴν ἰσότητα πραγματεύεται. Ἐκεῖθεν τὰ βορειότερα τῶν ἑῴων καταλαμβάνων, κἀκεῖθεν ἀνίσχων, σμικρύνει μὲν τὰς νύκτας, αὔξει δὲ τὰς ἡμέρας· θερμότερος δὲ τῇ γῇ προσβάλλων, τοὺς ταύτης πεπαίνει καρπούς. Μέχρι δὲ τῶν εἰωθό των ὅρων ὁδεύσας, ἐπάνεισιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρκτῴων ἐπὶ τὰ νότια, καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῷ μετοπώρῳ νυκτὶ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ τὴν ἰσότητα πρυτανεύσας, νοτιώτερος γίνεται, καὶ ταῖς μὲν νυξὶν ἀποδίδωσιν, ἅπερ αὐτῶν λαβὼν δέδωκε ταῖς ἡμέραις· παραχωρεῖ δὲ τῷ ἀέρι πυ κνοῦσθαι, καὶ νεφῶν πληροῦσθαι, καὶ πᾶσαν ἄρδειν τὴν ἤπειρον. Ἐκεῖθεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἰσημερινὴν ἐπανιὼν τροπὴν, πληροῖ τὸν ἐνιαύσιον κύκλον. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν εἶδες ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης τὴν χρείαν, καὶ νυκτὸς καὶ 83.572 ἡμέρας τὰς ἰσομέτρους διαδοχὰς, καὶ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις προσφερομένην ὠφέλειαν, βλέπει μοι καὶ τῶν ὡρῶν τοῦ ἔτους τὴν τερπνοτάτην καὶ χρειωδε στάτην χορείαν. Οὔτε γὰρ διχῆ τὸν ἐνιαύσιον κύκλον ἐμέρισεν ὁ Ποιητὴς, οὔτε θέρος ἡμῖν ἁπλῶς δέδωκε καὶ χειμῶνα, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄκρων ἀμέσως ἐπὶ τὰ ἄκρα μεταβαίνομεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἔαρ καὶ τὸ μετόπωρον μέσην λαχόντα τὴν κρᾶσιν, τοῦ κρυμοῦ καὶ τοῦ φλογμοῦ μέσα γίγνεται. Καὶ τὸν ἄκρως ὑγρὸν καὶ ψυχρὸν χειμῶνα, οὐ τὸ ἄκρως ξηρὸν καὶ θερμὸν δια δέχεται θέρος, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἔαρ, ὃ καὶ τῆς τούτου μετέχον θερμότητος, καὶ τῆς ἐκείνου ψυχρότητος, μίξιν ἀρίστην τῶν ἀφεστηκότων ἐργάζεται, καὶ οἷόν τισι χερσὶ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπειλημμένον, τῇ μὲν ψυχρότητι τοῦ χειμῶνος, τῇ δὲ θερμότητι τοῦ θέρους, εἰς σύμβασιν ἄγει καὶ φιλίαν τὰ κομιδῇ πολέμια. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐπὶ τὸ θέρος ὁδεύοντες, ἀλύπως ὁδεύομεν. Κατὰ βραχὺ γὰρ τῆς τούτου ψυ χρότητος ἀφιστάμενοι, καὶ τῇ ἐκείνου θερμότητι πλησιάζοντες, οὐδεμίαν βλάβην ἐκ τῆς ἀθρόας μετα βολῆς ὑφιστάμεθα. Οὕτως ἀπὸ τοῦ θέρους ἐπὶ τὸν χειμῶνα μεταβαίνομεν, μέσου πάλιν τοῦ μετοπώρου γιγνομένου, καὶ οὐκ ἐῶντος ἡμᾶς εὐθὺς τοῖς ἄκρως πάλιν ἐναντίοις προσψαῦσαι, ἀλλὰ κεραννύντος τὴν ἄκραν θερμότητα τῇ ἄκρᾳ ψυχρότητι, καὶ κρᾶσιν ἑτέραν ἐργαζομένου, καὶ κατὰ σμικρὸν ἡμᾶς ἐπ' ἐκεῖνο ξεναγωγοῦντος τὸ ἄκρον. Τοσαύτη περὶ ἡμᾶς ἡ τοῦ πεποιηκότος κηδεμονία. Οὕτω καὶ ἐν ταῖς τῶν ὡρῶν μεταβολαῖς, οὐ μόνον ἡμῖν τὸ ἄλυπον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τερπνὸν πραγματεύεται. Καὶ ἴσως ἄν τις τῶν ἀχαρίστων τοῖς εὖ καὶ καλῶς γεγενημένοις, καὶ σοφῶς καὶ συμφερόντως οἰκονο μουμένοις ἐπιμεμφόμενος εἴποι· Τί δήποτε αἱ τρο παὶ γίγνονται; Ποίαν δὲ χρείαν ἡμῖν αἱ τῶν ὡρῶν μεταβάσεις ποιοῦσι; ποίων δὲ ἀγαθῶν, ὦ σοφώτατε καὶ δεινότατε τῆς Προνοίας κατήγορε, οὐ διὰ τούτων τυγχάνομεν; Ἀρχομένου μὲν γὰρ χειμῶνος, σπέρ ματα καταβάλλομεν, ὁ δὲ ταύτην ἡμᾶς διδάξας τὴν τέχνην, τρέφει ταῦτα, ὕων ἐκ νεφῶν, καὶ τὸ θαλάτ τιον ὕδωρ ἀνέλκων τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ μετέωρον ἄγων, καὶ τὴν ἁλμυρὰν ἐκείνην εἰς γλυκεῖαν μεταβάλλων ποιό τητα, καὶ τὰς ψεκάδας διακρίνων, καὶ νῦν μὲν σμι κρὰς ἀφιεὶς, νῦν δὲ μεγάλας καὶ κρουνηδὸν φερομέ νας, καὶ οἷόν τινι κοσκίνῳ διαιρῶν τῶν νεφῶν τὰς ὠδῖνας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἡ χειμέριος ὥρα, ἵνα σε τὸν ἀχά ριστον διαθρέψῃ, ἵνα σοι τῷ ἀγνώμονι παράσχῃ