Between the summer solstice and the setting of the Lyre, on the sixth day before the calends of July,[536] according to Cæsar’s reckoning, Orion rises, and upon the fourth[537] before the nones of July, his Belt rises to the people of Assyria. Upon the morning of the same day, also, the scorching constellation of Procyon rises. This last constellation has no name with the Romans, unless, indeed, we would consider it as identical with Canicula,[538] or Lesser Dog, which we find depicted among the stars; this last is productive of excessive heat, as we shall shortly have further occasion to state. On the fourth[539] before the nones of July, the Crown sets in the morning to the people of Chaldæa, and in Attica, the whole of Orion has risen by that day. On the day before[540] the ides of July, the rising of Orion ends to the Egyptians also; on the sixteenth[541] before the calends of August, Procyon rises to the people of Assyria, and, the day but one after, of nearly all other countries as well, indicating a crisis that is universally known among all nations, and which by us is called the rising of the Dog-star; the sun at this period entering the first degree of Leo. The Dog-star rises on the twenty-third day after the summer solstice; the influence of it is felt by both ocean, and earth, and even by many of the animals as well, as stated by us elsewhere on the appropriate occasions.[542] No less veneration, in fact, is paid to this star, than to those that are consecrated to certain gods; it kindles the flames of the sun, and is one great source of the heats of summer. On the thirteenth[543] day before the calends of August, the Eagle sets in the morning to the people of Egypt, and the breezes that are the precursors of the Etesian winds, begin to blow; these, according to Cæsar, are first perceived in Italy, on the tenth before[544] the calends of August. The Eagle sets in the morning of that day to the people of Attica, and on the third before[545] the calends of August, the Royal Star in the breast of Leo rises in the morning, according to Cæsar. On the eighth before[546] the ides of August, one half of Arcturus has ceased to be visible, and on the third before[547] the ides the Lyre, by its setting, opens the autumn,—according to Cæsar at least; though a more exact calculation has since shown, that this takes place on the sixth day before[548] the ides of that month.