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42t GENERAL OBSERVATION CONCERNING THE MOON FROM THE SUMMER SOLSTICE FROM THE WORKS OF LABEO ACCORDING TO A LITERAL INTERPRETATION If the moon should be in Aries at the eleventh degree of Cancer, there will be mists and thunders and hail, and disturbances to the trees from more violent winds, and an aerial squall, and the fruits will be costly, and the atmosphere dry from a pestilential heat. But if in Taurus, there will be a lack of necessities, especially of oil, but things sold by weight will be cheap. Moreover, when the moon is in Gemini at the summer solstice, the year will be ambiguous; for moisture will lead, and dryness will follow, and the grain will be less, but the wine better, and not least the oil will last most abundantly. But when the moon is in Cancer at the summer solstice, as has been previously shown on p. 62, 12, the year will be fruitful concerning all fruits, both dry and wet; it is reasonable, therefore, to expect abundance. But if the summer solstice should occur while the moon is in Leo, one might expect the air to be thundery and stormy; for it will be cloudy and misty, so that with the excess moisture from the upper regions the dry fruits diminish, and the wet ones increase. And when at the summer solstice the moon is in Virgo, the year will be sterile and nearly fruitless, but unexpectedly concerning both the dry and wet fruits there will be some relief. If the moon, being in Libra, should reach the summer solstice, it indicates a fruitful and sufficient year concerning dry fruits, but nevertheless wet and rainy; and things given by weight will be costly, and the oil along with the wine will be most costly. When the moon happens to be in Scorpio at the summer solstice, the year will be dry and late concerning the fruits, and not least full of hail and disturbances; moreover, the crop, and anything under the ground, will be beyond hope; there will therefore certainly be a famine and destruction of men. When the moon is in Sagittarius at the solstice of the summer point, there will be a flood of waters and vapors and hail-like rains, and destruction of birds, and no small shipwrecks, and diminutions of the wet fruits, but an abundance of the dry. Moreover, when the moon is in Capricorn at the summer solstice, the air will be so rainy as to become an obstacle to the gathering of the fruits and to cause farmers to regret their diligence in sowing; but unexpectedly, as if by providence, there will be an abundance of wine and oil, and the condition of the air will be not in the least pestilential. And when the moon is dwelling in Aquarius or in Pisces, the results concerning the fruits will be nearly the same, but the fish will be fewer in comparison to them, and especially the river fish and as many as are outside the sea will be diminished. 4346t CONCERNING THUNDERBOLTS To speak of the natures of things, and how antiquity supposes thunderbolts to come into being, is not the occasion for this, since the theory concerning such things has been sufficiently treated by the more ancient writers, nor did this profession set this forth, but how, according to the tradition of the Tuscans, thunderbolts might be recognized, what they signify when they fall. In these matters, one must know that thunderbolts are not discharged throughout the whole year; for it is not its nature to happen at all in summer or in winter, but in spring or autumn, around the rising of the Pleiades and Arcturus. whence neither in Scythia nor, to speak concisely, toward the northern pole are thunderbolts cast, nor in Egypt or

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42t ΚΑΘΟΛΙΚΗ ΕΠΙΤΗΡΗΣΙΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΣΕΛΗΝΗΝ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΣ ΘΕΡΙΝΗΣ ΤΡΟΡΗΣ ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΛΑΒΕΩΝΟΣ ΚΑΘ' ΕΡΜΗΝΕΙΑΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΛΕΞΙΝ Εἰ κατὰ τὴν ἑνδεκάτην τοῦ καρκίνου μοῖραν σελήνη εἴη ἐν κριῷ, ἔσονται ἀχλύες καὶ βρονταὶ καὶ χάλαζαι, ταραχαὶ δὲ τοῖς δένδροις ἐκ βιαιοτέρων πνευμάτων, καὶ ζάλη ἀερία, τίμιοί τε οἱ καρποί, καὶ αὐχμηρὸν τὸ περιέχον ἐκ λοιμικῆς θερμασίας. Εἰ δὲ ἐν ταύρῳ, ἔνδεια μὲν ἔσται τῶν ἐπιτηδείων, ἐλαίου δὲ διαφερόντως, τὰ μέντοι σταθμῷ ἀποδιδόμενα εὐτελῆ ἔσται. Ἐν διδύμοις γε μὴν οὔσης τῆς σελήνης ἐπὶ τῆς θερινῆς τροπῆς ἀμφίβολος ἔσται ὁ ἐνιαυτός· ἡγήσεται μὲν γὰρ ὑγρότης, ἕψεται δὲ ξηρότης, καὶ ὁ μὲν σῖτος ἐλάσσων, κρείττων δὲ ὁ οἶνος, καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα τὸ ἔλαιον ἀφθονώτατα διαρκέσει. Ἐν καρκίνῳ δὲ οὔσης σελήνης ἐπὶ τῆς θερινῆς τροπῆς, ὡς προϋποδέδεικται ̣p. 62, 12 ̣, εὔφορος ὁ ἐνιαυτὸς ἔσται περὶ πάντας τοὺς καρπούς, ξηρούς τε καὶ ὑγρούς· εἰκότως οὖν εὐθηνίαν προσδοκητέον. Εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ λέοντος σελήνης οὔσης ἡ θερινὴ συνέλθοι τροπή, βροντώδη καὶ θυελλώδη ἄν τις ἐκδέξαιτο τὸν ἀέρα· νεφώδης γὰρ ἔσται καὶ ἀχλυώδης, ὡς περιττευούσης τῆς ἐξ ὑπερῴων ὑγρασίας τοὺς μὲν ξηροὺς καρποὺς ἐλαττωθῆναι, τοὺς δὲ ὑγροὺς ἐπιδοῦναι. Ὅταν δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς θερινῆς τροπῆς σελήνη τὴν παρθένον ἔχῃ, στεῖρος μὲν καὶ ἐγγὺς ἄκαρπος ὁ ἐνιαυτός, ἐκ δὲ ἀδοκήτου περί τε τοὺς ξηροὺς καρποὺς καὶ ὑγροὺς ἔσται τις παραψυχή. Ἐν ζυγῷ οὖσα σελήνη εἰ τὴν θερινὴν καταλάβοι τροπήν, εὔφορον μὲν καὶ αὐτάρκη τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἐμφαίνει περὶ τοὺς ξηροὺς καρπούς, ὑγρὸν δὲ ὅμως καὶ ἔπομβρον· καὶ τὰ σταθμῷ διδόμενα τίμια ἔσται, τὸ δὲ ἔλαιον σὺν καὶ τῷ οἴνῳ ἔσται τιμιώτατον. Ἐν σκορπίῳ σελήνης ἐπὶ τῆς μὲν θερινῆς τροπῆς τυγχανούσης ξηρὸς καὶ ὄψιμος ὁ ἐνιαυτὸς ἐπὶ τοῖς καρποῖς ἔσται, χαλαζώδης δὲ οὐχ ἥκιστα καὶ ταρακτικός· ὅ γε μὴν σπόρος, καὶ εἴ τι ὑπὸ γῆν, ἔξω ἐλπίδος· λιμὸς οὖν ἔσται πάντως καὶ φθορὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Τοξότην ἐχούσης σελήνης ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ θερινοῦ κέντρου τροπῆς, πλημμύρα ἔσται ὑδάτων ἀτμοί τε καὶ χαλαζώδεις ὄμβροι, καὶ φθορὰ τῶν πτηνῶν, καὶ ναυάγια οὐ μικρά, καὶ ἐλαττώσεις μὲν τῶν ὑγρῶν καρπῶν, ἀφθονία δὲ τῶν ξηρῶν. Ὅταν γε μὴν τὸν αἰγόκερων ἔχῃ σελήνη ἐπὶ τῆς ἐν θέρει τροπῆς, οὕτως ἐπομβρήσει ὁ ἀὴρ ὡς ἐμποδὼν γενέσθαι τῇ συναγωγῇ τῶν καρπῶν καὶ μεταμελῆσαι τοῖς γεωργοῖς τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ σπόρῳ σπουδῆς· ἐκ παραδόξου δὲ οἱονεὶ τῆς προνοίας οἴνου μὲν καὶ ἐλαίου ἀφθονία, ἥκιστα δὲ λοιμῶδες τὸ τοῦ ἀέρος κατάστημα. Τῷ δ' ὑδροχόῳ ἢ τοῖς ἰχθύσιν ἐνδιατριβούσης σελήνης τὰ αὐτὰ μὲν ἔσται σχεδὸν περὶ τὴν τῶν καρπῶν ἐκδοχήν, ἐλάττους δὲ ἔσονται οἱ ἰχθύες πρὸς αὐτούς, καὶ διαφερόντως οἱ ποτάμιοι καὶ ὅσοι θαλάσσης ἔξω μειωθήσονται. 4346t ΠΕΡΙ ΚΕΡΑΥΝΩΝ Τὰς φύσεις τῶν πραγμάτων λέγειν, καὶ ὅπως γίνεσθαι κεραυνοὺς ἡ παλαιότης ὑπολαμβάνει, τοῖς ἀρχαιοτέροις ἀποχρώντως τῆς περὶ τῶν τοιούτων θεωρίας διαληφθείσης οὐ τούτου καιρός, οὐδὲ τὸ ἐπάγγελμα τουτὶ προύθηκεν, ἀλλ' ὅπως κατὰ τὴν Θούσκων παράδοσιν ἐπιγνωσθεῖεν οἱ κεραυνοί, τί ἄρα παραδηλοῦσιν ἐκπίπτοντες. ἐν τούτοις μὲν εἰδέναι χρὴ ὡς οὐ κατὰ πάντα τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν κεραυνοὶ ἀποθλίβονται· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπὶ θέρους ἢ ἐπὶ χειμῶνος τοῦτο συμβαίνειν πέφυκε καθόλου, ἀλλ' ἐν ἦρι ἢ μετοπώρῳ, περὶ τὴν πλειάδος καὶ ἀρκτούρου ἐπιτολήν. ὅθεν οὔτε ἐν Σκυθίᾳ ἢ συνελόντι εἰπεῖν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀρκτῷον κέντρον κεραυνοὺς βάλλεσθαι, οὔτε ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἤγουν