Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/116

 82 plint's natural HISTOET. [Book IT. suffering any injury Among the prognostics which took place at the time of Catiline's conspiracy, M. Herennius, a magistrate of the borough of Pompeii, was struck by light- ning when the sky was without clouds^. CHAP. 53. (52.) THE ETETJEIAlSr' AKD THE EOMAK OBSEEYATION'S ON THESE POINTS. The Tuscan books inform us, that there are nine Grods who discharge thunder-storms, that there are eleven differ- ent kinds of them, and that three of them are darted out by Jupiter. Of these the Romans retained only two, ascribing the diurnal kind to Jupiter, and the nocturnal to Summa- nus"* ; this latter kind being more rare, in consequence of the heavens being colder, as was mentioned above. The Etrurians also suppose, that those which are named Infernal burst out of the ground ; they are produced in the winter and are particularly fierce and direful, as all things are which proceed from the earth, and are not generated by or proceed- ing from the stars, but from a cause which is near at hand, and of a more disorderly nature. As a proof of this it is said, that all those Avhich proceed from the higher regions strike obliquely, while those which are termed terrestrial strike in a direct line. And because these fall from matter which is nearer to us, they are supposed to proceed from the earth, since they leave no traces of a rebound ; this being the effect of a stroke coming not from below, but from an opposite quarter. Those who have searched into the subject ^ This effect may be easily explained by the agitation into which the female might have been thrown. The title of " princeps Eomanarum," which is apphed to Marcia, has given rise to some discussion among the commentators, for which see the remarks of Hardouin and Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 348. 2 Sometimes a partial thunder-cloud is formed, while the atmosphere generally is perfectly clear, or, as Hardouin suggests, the effect might have been produced by a volcanic eruption. See Lemaire, i. 348. 3 Seneca gives us an accoxmt of the opinions of the Tuscans ; Nat. Qusest. ii. 32 ; and Cicero refers to the " hbri fulgurales" of the Etrurians ; De Divm. i. 72. idem Orcus et Pluto dictus," Lemaire, i. 349 ; he is again referred to by our author, xxix. 14 ; Ovid also mentions him, Fast. vi. 731, with the remark, " quisquis is est."
 * According to Hardouin, "Summanus est Deus summus Manium,