28. What the power of the Moon can do
THE RECKONING OF TIME
Passion, says: Those who write against the Gospels suspect that the disciples, being ignorant men, were making sense of a solar eclipse, such as usually takes place in spring and autumn, by [ascribing it to] the Lord's
Resurrection. But no one doubts that at the time of the Passover the Moon is at its fullest, though a solar eclipse never happens except at the new Moon.247 /364/
28. WHAT THE POWER OF THE MOON CAN DO
In the fourth book of the Hexaemeron, the blessed Bishop Ambrose describes in this wise what the power of the Moon can do: Similar things concerning the nature of the Moon are in accord with what we have observed about her consort and brother [i.e. the Sun], since she assumes the same o⁄ce as does her brother, so that she illuminates the darkness, makes seed to sprout and fruit to swell. Nonetheless, there are many things about her which are di¡erent from her brother. All day his heat dries out the moisture which the dew restores in the space of a brief night, for the Moon herself is said to abound in dew. Consequently, they say that when the night is clear and the Moon full, a greater quantity of dew bathesthe lilies. Many who sleep in the open air claim that the more moonlight there is, the more dampness collects upon their head. Hence in the Canticle, Christ says to the Church, 'For my head is full of dew, and my hair with the drops of the night.'248 Then again, [the Moon] waxes and wanes, so that it is small when it appears as a new Moon, but though it is reduced in size, it grows. There is a great mystery in this, for the elements respond in sympathy to her diminution, and as she grows, those things which were depleted increase in size, for example the humid brains of sea animals. For they say that as the Moon grows to fullness, oysters and many other such things are found to be larger. Those who have learned about this from their own experience claim that the same is true of the inner parts of trees.249 The art of the architects and their daily experience con¢rms these words of St Ambrose. They teach that one should take particular note that the trees from which sailing ships are to be fashioned,
/365/ or any public works to be constructed, be felled between the 247 Jerome, In Evangelium Matthei 4.27.45 (273.1751^1756); cf. Augustine, DCD
3.15 (78.10^18), and his Ep. 199.10, ed. A. Goldbacher, CSEL 67 (1911):273.18^274.2.
248 Song of Solomon 5.2.
249 Ambrose, Hexaemeron 4.7.29 (134.13^135.6).
TRANSLATION
¢fteenth day of the Moon and the twenty-second. For timber felled during these eight days will remain immune from rot, but wood felled on the other days will turn to dust within a year, consumed from within by the destructive action of worms. They also take care to fell timber after the summer solstice, that is, from the month of July and August up to the kalends of January, for in these months, with the moisture dried up, the wood is dryer and therefore stronger.250 The Persian selenite stone demonstrates the e¡ect of the Moon's power in a marvellous fashion.
Containing the image of the Moon, it shines with a snowy white glow, and it is claimed that it increases or diminishes day by day, following the course of that star.251 In the sixth book of the Hexaemeron Basil, the very reverend bishop of Caesarea, writes to corroborate these claims, saying: For I think that in the generation of animals, and in everything else which the Earth produces, formation is conferred in no small degree by the changes of the Moon. When she grows old, their bodies seem weaker and empty, and when she waxes, they are whole and full; for in a hidden fashion she pours a certain humour, mixed with warmth, into their inward parts. Those who sleep under the open sky when the Moon is shining, prove that this is true when they wake up afterwards and ¢nd their head drenched with very heavy dew. Fresh meat, if it lies out under the Moon, is quickly corrupted by a damp rot. The same thing is shown by the brains of cattle, and even by the viscera of sea creatures, which are quite moist, and by the pith of trees also. And a little later: But the movement of the atmosphere is controlled by these very same variations, as is proved by the new Moon, which when it follows a long period of very ¢ne weather stirs up heaps of cloud, and disturbances /366/ [of the air]. This
250 ''The art of the architects . . . therefore stronger.'' Almost verbatim from Vegetius 4.35.6 (152.10^18). For other classical and patristic expressions of the same notion, see references in Jones, BOT 362.
251 Pliny, HN 37.67.181 (310); cf. Isidore, Etym. 16.4.6 and 10.7 and Augustine,
DCD 21.5.1 (765.30^32). See below, ch. 43, where Bede, quoting the author of the Epistola
Cyrilli, again invokes the selenite, this time as an experimental test for establishing the true
Paschal computation. Bede's use of the phrase ''it is claimed'' here may hint at a slight scepticism on his part; likewise, the passage in ch. 43 is more a rhetorical posture than a claim to factuality (i.e. even if the rule established by the Nicene Council did not exist to justify the orthodox computus, the selenite stone would prove it right ^ but of course, the Nicene rule does exist . . .). It should be noted that Pliny also expresses some reservations about the selenite, though Isidore and Augustine do not. Moreover, neither Isidore nor Augustine mention the image of the Moon within the selenite stone, but Pliny does. This may indicate that Bede had access to all or part of Book 37 of HN.