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1 In his account and nomenclature of the winds, Pliny has, for the most part, followed Aristotle, Meteor. lib. ii. cap. 4. pp. 558–560, and cap. 6. pp. 563–565. The description of the different winds by Seneca is not very different, but where it does not coincide with Aristotle's, our author has generally preferred the former; see Nat. Quæst. lib. 5. We have an account of the different winds, as prevailing at particular seasons, in Ptolemy, De Judiciis Astrol. 1. 9. For the nomenclature and directions of the winds, we may refer to the remarks of Hardouin, Lemaire, i. 328 et seq.
2 Odyss. v. 295, 296.
3 In giving names to the different winds, the author designates the points of the compass whence they proceed, by the place where the sun rises or sets, at the different periods of the year. The following are the terms which he employs :—"Oriens æquinoctialis," the place where the sun rises at the equinox, i. e. the East. "Oriens brumalis," where he rises on the shortest day, the S.E. "Occasus brumalis," where he sets on the shortest day, the S.W. "Occasus æquinoctialis," where he sets at the equinox, the W. "Occasus solstitialis," where he sets on the longest day, the N.W. "Exortus solstitialis," where he rises on the longest day, the N.E. "Inter septemtrionem et occasum solstitialem," between N. and N.W., N.N.W. "Inter aquilonem et exortum æquinoctialem," between N. and N.E., N.N.E. "Inter ortum brumalem et meridiem," between S. and S.E., S.S.E. Inter meridiem et hybernum occidentem," between S. and S.W., S.S.W.
4 "Quod sub sole nasci videtur."
5 This name was probably derived from the town Vulturnum in Campania.
6 Seneca informs us, that what the Latins name Subsolanus, is named by the Greeks ᾿αφηλιώτης; Quæst. Nat. lib. 5. § 16. p. 764.
7 "quia favet rebus nascentibus."
8 "....semper spirantes frigora Cauri." Virgil, Geor. iii. 356.
9 The eight winds here mentioned will bear the following relation to our nomenclature: Septemtrio, N.; Aquilo, N.E.; Subsolanus, E.; Vulturnus, S.E.; Auster, S.; Africus, N.W.; Favonius, W.; and Corus, N.W.
10 The four winds here mentioned, added to eight others, making, in the whole, twelve, will give us the following card:—
N. Septemtrio. | S. Notos or Auster. |
N.N.E. Boreas or Aquilo. | S.S.W. Libonotos. |
E.N.E. Cæcias. | W.S.W. Libs or Africus. |
E. Apeliotes or Subsolanus. | W. Zephyrus or Favonius. |
E.S.E. Eurus or Vulturnus. | W.N.W. Argestes or Corus. |
S.S.E. Euronotus or Phœnices. | N.N.W. Thrascias. |
᾿απαρκτίας, Septemtrio. | νότος, Auster. |
βορέας, Aquilo. | αιβόνοτος, Austroafricus. |
καικίας, Vulturnus. | αὶψ, Africus. |
᾿αφηλιώτης, Solanus. | ζέφυρος, Zephyrus. |
εῦρος, Eurus. | ᾿ιάπυξ, Corus. |
εὐρόνοτος, Euronotus. | θρασκίας, Circius. |
11 This wind must have been N.N.W.; it is mentioned by Strabo, iv. 182; A. Gellius, ii. 22; Seneca, Nat. Quæst. v. 17; and again by our author, xvii. 2.
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