XXIV.
WHY ARE THE TRACKS OF WILD BEASTS WORSE SCENTED ABOUT THE FULL MOON?
WHETHER for the foresaid cause? For the full moons bring down the dews; and therefore Alcman calls dew the daughter of Jove and Luna in a verse of his,
Fed by the dew, bred by the Moon and Jove.
For dew is a weak and languid rain, and there is but little heat in the moon; which draws water from the earth, as the sun does; but because it cannot raise it on high, it soon lets it fall. Quaestiones Naturales. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.
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