Between the prevalence of the west winds and the vernal equinox, the fourteenth day before[461] the calends of March, according to Cæsar, announces three days of changeable weather; the same is the case, too, with the eighth[462] before the calends of March, at the first appearance of the swallow, Arcturus rising on the evening of the next day. Cæsar has observed, that the same takes place on the third[463] before the nones of March, at the rising of Cancer; and most authorities say the same with reference to the emersion of the Vintager.[464] On the eighth[465] before the ides of March, the northern limb of Pisces[466] rises, and on the next day Orion, at which period also, in Attica, the Kite is first seen. Cæsar has noted, too, the setting of Scorpio on the ides of March,[467] a day that was so fatal to him; and on the fifteenth[468] before the calends of April, the Kite appears in Italy. On the twelfth[469] before the calends of April, the Horse sets in the morning. This interval of time is a period of extreme activity for the agriculturist, and affords him a great number of occupations, in reference to which, however, he is extremely liable to be deceived. He is summoned to the commencement of these labours, not upon the day on which the west winds ought to begin, but upon the day on which they really do begin, to blow. This moment then must be looked for with the most careful attention, as it is a signal which the Deity has vouchsafed us in this month, attended with no doubts or equivocations, if only looked for with scrupulous care. We have already stated in the Second Book,[470] the quarter in which this wind blows, and the exact point from which it comes, and before long we shall have occasion to speak of it again still more in detail.