[555] In B. ii. c. 6, for instance.
[556] An onomatic prejudice, as Fée says, solely founded on the peculiarity of the name.
[557] In the preceding Chapter.
[558] In the preceding Chapter.
[559] In B. xvi. c. 42.
[560] Twentieth of December.
[561] Or festival in honour of Robigo, the Goddess of mildew, on the twenty-fifth of April. See Ovid’s Fasti, B. iv. l. 907, et seq.
[562] Robigo.
[563] “Nineteen” is the proper number.
[564] “Et cui præoccidere caniculam necesse est.” The real meaning of this passage would seem to be,—“Before which, as a matter of course, Canicula must set.” But if so, Pliny is in error, for Canicula, or Procyon, sets heliacally after the Dog-star, though it rises before it. Hardouin observes, that it is abundantly proved from the ancient writers that it was the custom to sacrifice a puppy to Sirius, or the Dog-star, at the Robigalia. As Littré justly remarks, it would almost appear that Pliny intended, by his ambiguous language, to lead his readers into error.