Note 627 — BOOK I.—OF THE EPIDEMICS.

It is to be borne in mind that the autumn began with the rising of Arcturus, and ended with the setting of the Pleiades. The setting of the Pleiades then indicated the commencement of winter. The classical reader will find the different seasons, strikingly defined by the rising and setting of the stars, in Virgil’s Georgics. See in particular Georg. i., 221.