25. When and why the Moon appears to be facing upwards, facing downwards, or standing upright
THE RECKONING OF TIME
10, with 2 left over. The third Moon shines for two hours and as many puncti. Again, when you come to the tenth Moon, multiply by 4, which makes 40. Divide by a ¢fth part: 5 times 8 is 40. The tenth Moon shines for eight hours.
Should you perhaps think this is faulty logic, take 15 (they say), and ¢nd out where the Moon shines all night long.228 Multiply by 4, which makes 60. Divide by 5: 5 times 12 /356/ is 60. The ¢fteenth Moon traverses twelve hours, that is, the whole night. Again, if you wish to know how many hours the sixteenth Moon, the seventeenth, and the rest from then onwards shine, determine how much less than thirty each one is, and devise from this a basis for calculation. For example, if you want to know how long the twenty-¢fth Moon will shine, tell how much less this is than thirty; obviously, it will be ¢ve. Multiply by 4: 4 times 5 is 20. Divide by 5: 5 times 4 is 20. Therefore the twenty-¢fth Moon sheds its radiance for four hours, just like the ¢fth Moon.
To be sure, this formula functions smoothly at the time of the equinox, being established according to this prescribed position; however, in the very long nights of winter, or again in the very short ones of summer, it is plain that the space of twelve [equal] hours far surpasses the one, and cannot ¢ll up the other. By this calculation, we should believe that the Moon shines for twelve hours, lest perchance we think that we ought not to understand these to be equinoctial hours, and divide each and every night into twelve equal parts, according to its length or brevity, and call these ''hours''. /357/
25. WHEN AND WHY THE MOON APPEARS TO BE
FACING UPWARDS, FACING DOWNWARDS OR
STANDING UPRIGHT
Those who have attempted to investigate the upper air say that whenever a new Moon is seen with the crescent lying £at out, it portends a stormy month, and when it is upright, a fair one.229 Natural reason [naturalis ratio] shows that this is far from the case. How is this so? Is it really cred228 A Moon 15 days old will be full. Being in opposition to the Sun, it will rise at sunset and set at dawn, thereby illuminating the entire night. Cf. ch. 6.
229 Bede's immediate source is not known, but Jones has assembled a number of likely classical and post-classical references, BOT 360. Isidore, DNR 38, relates a number of weather superstitions about the Moon, but not this particular one. The same is true of Vegetius, Epitoma rei militaris 4.40^41, ed. K. Lang (Leipzig: Teubner, 1869):158.13^160.17.
TRANSLATION
ible that the position of the Moon, which remains ¢xed in the ether, could be altered under the in£uence of a change in the winds or clouds which lie beneath it, and that it should lift up its horns any higher than nature
[naturae ordo] dictates, as if it dreaded bad weather to come, particularly when such a blast of wayward wind would not occur everywhere on earth? The rotation of the Moon's position ought to be constant with respect to its varying degree of separation from the Sun. As St Augustine says in his exegesis of Psalm 10, they say that [the Moon] does not have its own light, but is lit up by the Sun. But when it is [in conjunction] with [the Sun], it turns towards us the part which is not lit up, and so no light can be seen. But when it begins to draw away from [the Sun], it is lit up in the part which faces the earth, beginning (as it must) with a crescent, until the ¢fteenth Moon is in opposition to the Sun. At that point, [the Moon] rises when the Sun sets, so that anyone /358/ who is observing the setting Sun, if he turns to the east when he can no longer see [the Sun], may see the Moon rise. Then, when it begins to approach the Sun in the opposite direction, [the Moon] turns towards us that part which is not lit up, until it is reduced to a crescent. Eventually, it does not appear at all, because the part which is lit up is the upper part, the one facing towards the heavens, and the part which the Sun cannot shine upon is facing towards the Earth.230
So when the Sun gradually ascends from the southern clime to the northern regions, and daylight increases, it is necessary that the Moon which appears at that time231 should precede the Sun towards the northern signs at a more leisurely gait. Therefore the new Moon which is seen about to set after sunset is situated, without a doubt, not beside the Sun, but above the Sun, by which it is lit up from below. [The Moon's] horns extend virtually parallel, and it seems to move along £at on its back, like a ship.232 But after the summer solstice, when the Sun's
230 Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos 10.3 (76.30^42), where this is one of a number of possible explanations advanced; cf. Augustine, Ep. 55.6^7, CSEL 34 (175.15^
177.16), where he is rather more committed to the explanation proposed here.
231 I.e. the crescent Moon on the ¢rst day of the lunation.
232 This is a rather convoluted way of saying that in the northern hemisphere, the crescent Moon at sunset at the spring equinox will be to the north of the celestial equator.
Since the equator slants to the south, this means that the Moon will seem to be directly above the setting Sun. The Moon's underside, that is, the side directly opposite the horizon, will be illuminated from below by the setting Sun. The crescent will look like a boat, with the two horns pointing up. For illustration, see Commentary.
THE RECKONING OF TIME
course turns back downwards towards the south, the Moon born in these months must likewise make haste towards the lower regions [of the sky].
Hence it happens that when [the Moon] is about to set in the southern regions, where the Sun has just set, without doubt it will not still appear above [the Sun], but beside it, positioned towards the south, when it ¢rst appears after sunset. Thus [the Moon's] northern £anks, facing the Sun, will seem to advance in an erect position, for with its horns turned away from the Sun, /359/ the Moon always presents its round part to [the Sun].233
By this logic it follows that the longer the day is, the higher the new Moon will be; and the shorter and more inclined towards the south the day is, the lower down the new Moon will be seen. Hence the opinion of the untutored came to the conclusion that when the new Moon appeared higher up and supine, it betokened whirlwinds of storm, and when erect and lower down towards the south, fair weather. For such, indeed, is the condition of the revolving year: the motion of the atmosphere is much more gentle in the six months during which the day decreases than during the other six. The same logic explains why the waning Moon in its morning rising appears now upright, and now supine. It also explains why she will often emerge during the day bent downwards [prona],234 since the rays of the sun, of course, are striking her upper part. Therefore the alteration of the Moon, which is natural and ¢xed, cannot portend the condition of the month to come. But those who are inquisitive about this sort of thing will often pronounce on atmospheric conditions by the colour of [the Moon] or sun, or from the heavens themselves, the stars or the shifting shapes of clouds, or other omens.235 Hence they claim that if the fourth moon is unblemished and its horns unblunted, it is a sign of fair weather for the rest of the month, and things of this sort.236
233 ''for with its horns . . . round part to him'': cf. Augustine, Ep. 55.7 (176.20^
177.7). Again, what Bede is saying is that at the autumn equinox, the crescent Moon at sunset is to the south of the celestial equator. Since in the northern hemisphere the equator slants to the south, this means that the crescent Moon will seem to be to the south and left of the setting Sun. Its northern side will be illuminated, forming a crescent standing upright on one of its horns. See Commentary.
234 I.e. with the horns pointing downwards, like an eyebrow.
235 Bede is alluding to Isidore, DNR 38 (299^303) and Vegetius (see n. 229 above).
236 Isidore, DNR 38.3 (301.27^28); Pliny, HN 2.48.128 (1.268).