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will be disturbed by a king. If at the same time the moon appears blood-red, it threatens slaughters. If a violent wind blows throughout the whole month, great men will perish. If a star shoots from the south to the north, it indicates not only that the south wind will blow, but also war for those by the sea. If a mist falls upon the earth, it is harmful to the sown crop. If the moon is eclipsed, there will be a destruction of beasts of burden. If a sound comes from the earth, there will be a flight of men. If the horns of the moon converge, there will be much grain and death of four-footed animals and a wasting away of men. 2122t CONCERNING THUNDER Although the opinions of the natural philosophers concerning thunder are many and beyond number, it is judged that they happen when clouds are broken apart and roll over one another with a violent motion, and by the collision are ignited into lightning and very violent sounds, and that the air between the leeward zone and the earth is altered. The Chaldeans, however, say that thunder is the voice of aerial powers, and lightning their courses. But for Epicurus, from a dry swelling from the earth, which is then enclosed by mountains, like swellings in bodies that have not yet found an exit, they cause whirlings and rotations in what is called by him the void; for he does not grant that the space between heaven and earth is full of powers, according to the Pythagoreans. And he deems it true to say that thunder mostly breaks out at no other time than in the summer season, and that it is given forth more dryly, when the place is enclosed by high mountains, the space in between being deep. And so, both of them happen at the same time, both the thunder and the lightning; but since sight is sharper than hearing because it extends more quickly to everything, it often happens that the lightning is seen first. 22 And every thunder, and especially of these the high and most resounding ones, signifies something, and particularly those from the left part of the world; and this would be the south, for those from the south are more divine according to the poet, since it is also governed by the overseer of the earth, as seems to the Egyptians, I mean Kronos, just as the north is by the cause of generation; whence also it seems to the Hebrews and Egyptians that their sanctuaries are directed towards the south. Therefore, having learned the most useful of the theorems concerning this, and having cleansed the theory of dross, I will set it forth in my account; but since the theory is varied and much-divided, for now it is necessary to articulate the tradition. Indeed, the ancients among those zealous in these matters direct the study of thunder towards the moon and its phases, since it has more influence over the whole race, and all things are governed proximately by it, whence it is also called by some Fortune and Providence; but the Egyptians insist that the prognostication should be harmonized with the sun and the houses of the zodiacal signs in heaven. And some divide it according to each day of the solar month, while others likewise divide the lunar month day by day. And these trace the sun with respect to the zodiacal signs, while those trace the moon. So it is necessary to mention all of them in turn and not under one head, and first the solar signs; for it is necessary that the sun, which has ascended in beauty and power over the whole cosmic order and is as much superior to sensible things as the good is to intelligible things, should here also take first place. 6t TONITRVALE EX AEGYPTIORVM DOCTRINA SECVNDVM MENSES SOLARES DISCRIPTVM

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ὑπὸ βασιλέως ταραχθήσεται. εἰ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν ἡ σελήνη αἱματώδης φανῇ, σφαγὰς ἀπειλεῖ. εἰ πνεῦμα βίαιον παρ' ὅλον πνεύσῃ τὸν μῆνα, ἄνδρες μεγάλοι ἀπολοῦνται. εἰ ἀστὴρ διάττοι ἀπὸ τοῦ νότου ἐπὶ τὸν βορρᾶν, οὐ μόνον αὐτὸν πνεῦσαι τὸν νότον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πόλεμον τοῖς ἐπιθαλασσίοις δηλοῖ. εἰ ὁμίχλη πέσῃ εἰς τὴν γῆν, βλαβερὸν τῷ σπόρῳ. εἰ ἐκλείψῃ ἡ σελήνη, φθορὰ ὑποζυγίων ἔσται. εἰ ἦχος ἐκ τῆς γῆς γένηται, ἀνθρώπων φυγὴ ἔσται. εἰ αἱ κεραῖαι τῆς σελήνης συμπέσωσι, σῖτος ἔσται πολὺς καὶ θάνατος τετραπόδων καὶ φθίσις ἀνθρώπων. 2122t ΠΕΡΙ ΒΡΟΝΤΩΝ Πολλῶν καὶ ὑπὲρ ἀριθμὸν ὄντων ὅσα τοῖς φυσικοῖς περὶ βροντῶν ἐδόκει, κέκριται συμβαίνειν αὐτὰς ἀπορρηγνυμένων τῶν νεφῶν καὶ ἐπικυλιομένων ἑαυτοῖς κινήσει σφοδρᾷ, τῇ τε προσρήξει ἐξαπτομένων εἰς ἀστραπὰς καὶ ἤχους κάρτα βιαίους, ἀλλοιοῦσθαι δὲ τὸν ἀνάμεσον τῆς ὑπηνέμου ζώνης καὶ τῆς γῆς ἀέρα. Χαλδαῖοί γε μὴν δυνάμεων ἀερίων εἶναι φωνὰς μὲν τὰς βροντάς φασι, δρόμους δὲ τὰς ἀστραπάς. τῷ δὲ Ἐπικούρῳ ἀπὸ ξηρᾶς ὀγκώσεως ἐκ τῆς γῆς, εἶτα ἐγκλειομένης τοῖς ὄρεσι, δίκην τῶν ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν ὄγκων, οὔπω διεξόδου τυχόντων, στρόφους καὶ τροχώσεις ἐμποιοῦσι τῷ κατ' αὐτὸν λεγομένῳ κενῷ· οὐδὲ γὰρ δυνάμεων εἶναι πλήρη τὸν ἀνάμεσον οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς δίδωσι χῶρον κατὰ τοὺς Πυθαγορείους. καὶ ἀληθῆ ἀξιοῖ λέγειν τῷ μὴ καθ' ἑτέραν ἢ κατὰ τὴν θερινὸν ὡς ἐκ τοῦ πλείονος ὥραν βροντὰς ἐπιρρήγνυσθαι, καὶ διαφερόντως ἐκδίδοσθαι ξηροτέρας, ἡνίκα βαθείας οὔσης τῆς ἐν τῷ μέσῳ χώρας ὄρεσιν ὑψηλοῖς ὁ τόπος ἐγκλείοιτο. καὶ ἅμα μὲν οὖν αὐτοῖν ἑκάτερον γίνεται, ἥ τε βροντὴ ἥ τε ἀστραπή· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὀξυτέρα τῆς ἀκοῆς ἡ ὄψις τῷ θᾶττον ἐπὶ πᾶν ἐκτείνεσθαι, πρώτην ὁρᾶσθαι πολλάκις συμβαίνει τὴν ἀστραπήν. 22 Πᾶσα δὲ βροντή, καὶ τούτων αἱ μετέωροι καὶ διηχέσταται μάλιστα, σημαίνουσί τι, καὶ διαφερόντως αἱ ἐκ τοῦ ἀριστεροῦ μέρους τοῦ κόσμου· τοῦτο δ' ἂν εἴη τὸ νότιον αἱ γὰρ πρὸς νότου εἰσὶ θειότεραι κατὰ τὸν ποιητήν, ἐπεὶ καὶ πρὸς τοῦ τῆς γῆς ἐφόρου ἐπιτροπεύεται, ὡς Αἰγυπτίοις δοκεῖ, τοῦ Κρόνου λέγω, ὥσπερ τὸ βόρειον ὑπὸ τοῦ τῆς γενέσεως αἰτίου· ὅθεν καὶ πρὸς νότον τὰ ἱερὰ ἀπευθύνεσθαι Ἑβραίοις καὶ Αἰγυπτίοις δοκεῖ. τὰ δὴ οὖν χρησιμώτατα τῶν περὶ τούτου θεωρημάτων καταμαθὼν καὶ τῶν κιβδήλων ἐκκαθάρας τὴν θεωρίαν ὑποθήσω τῷ λόγῳ· ποικίλης γε μὴν οὔσης καὶ πολυσχιδοῦς τῆς θεωρίας, τέως χρειῶδες διαρθρῶσαι τὴν παράδοσιν. Οἱ μὲν δὴ παλαιοὶ τῶν περὶ ταῦτα σπουδαίων πρὸς τὴν σελήνην καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτῇ φάσεις τὸν περὶ βροντῶν σκοπὸν ἀπευθύνουσιν, ἐπεὶ καὶ μᾶλλον ἐπιβέβηκεν αὕτη τῷ γένει τῷ παντὶ καὶ πάντα προσεχῶς διοικεῖται δι' αὐτῆς, ὅθεν καὶ Τύχη πρός τινων καὶ Πρόνοια λέγεται· οἱ δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι πρὸς ἥλιον καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ ζῳδίων οἴκους τὸν στοχασμὸν ἁρμόζειν διισχυρίζονται. καὶ οἱ μὲν καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ μηνός, οἱ δὲ ὡσαύτως ἐφήμερον τὸν σεληνιακὸν μῆνα διαλαμβάνουσι. καὶ οὗτοι μὲν πρὸς τὰ ζῴδια τὸν ἥλιον, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ τὴν σελήνην ἀνιχνεύουσιν. ὥστε χρειῶδες πάντων ἀνὰ μέρος καὶ μὴ ὑφ' ἓν ἐπιμνησθῆναι, καὶ πρῶτον τῶν ἡλιακῶν σημείων· δεῖ γὰρ τὸν ἥλιον κάλλει καὶ δυνάμει τὴν πᾶσαν διακόσμησιν ἀναβεβηκότα καὶ τοσούτῳ κρείττονα τῶν αἰσθητῶν, ὅσῳ τἀγαθὸν τῶν νοητῶν, κἀνταῦθα τὰ πρῶτα λαβεῖν. 6t TONITRVALE EX AEGYPTIORVM DOCTRINA SECVNDVM MENSES SOLARES DISCRIPTVM