låðôc ìbí ŒÆŁÆæc ôå ðåæd ôæßôïí qìÆæ KïFóÆ
ehäØüò Œ’åYÅ;ºåðôc äb ŒÆd ås ìܺ’KæåıŁcò
píåıìÆôßÅ·ðÆåßøí äb ŒÆd Iìâºåßfi ÅóØ ŒåæÆßÆØò
tÝôæÆôïí KŒ ôæØôÜôïØï çüøò IìåíÅíeí åïıóÆ
h b íüôïı Iìâºýíåô’j oäÆôïò Kªªfò Küíôïò:(If slender and clear around the third day, the moon signals
Fair weather. If slender and quite red
There will be wind. If thick and with blunted horns
Having weak light the fourth night following the third,
Then she is made blurry either by the south wind or by a coming storm.)^51
Aratus,Phaen.783 7Another, playing on forms of the Greek words for ‘‘all’’ (panta,pasa:
ðÜíôÆ;ðAóÆ), is found in the section of thePhainomena, that deals with
the full moon:
ðÜíôÅ ªaæ ŒÆŁÆæfi B Œå ìܺ’åhäØÆ ôåŒìÞæÆØï·.
pÜíôÆ ä’KæåıŁïìÝífi Å äïŒÝåØí IíÝìïØï ŒåºåýŁïıò·
aººïŁØ ä’¼ººï ìåºÆØíïìÝífi Å äïŒÝåØí åôïEï:
SÞìÆôÆ ä’ïPôiæ ðAóØí Kð’XìÆóØ ðÜíôÆ ôÝôıŒôÆØ·
aºº’‹óÆ ìbí ôæØôÜôfi Å ôå ôåôÆæôÆßfi Å ôå ðݺïíôÆØ(When the full moon is clear, forecast fair weather;
If red, expect an onslaught of wind.
When darkened with spots here and there, expect rain.
But not all signs fit all days:
The signs for the third and fourth day foretell ... )
Aratus,Phaen. 802 6Still others, found in the immediately succeeding lines, note the role of
half-phases of the moon by highlighting the termmese(ìÝóÅ), which asks
to be read in two manners (down and up), and in two halves in each of
two appearances.
52
As the text explains, the first half points to the full
moon, and the full to the second half:
meóçÆ äØåÆØïìÝíÅò;äØåÜäïò ªå ìbí ¼åæØò Kð’ÆPôcí
shìÆßíåØ äØåüìÅíïí;Iôaæ ðܺØí KŒ äØåïìÞíïı
e§äØåÜäÆ çŁØìÝíÅíååôÆØ äÝ ïƒ ÆPôßŒÆ ôåôæaò
mhíeò IðïØåïìÝíïı...- This and subsequent translations are heavily adapted from Mair and Mair 1955 and
Kidd 1997. See Lombardo 1983 for a translation built around an acrostic containing the
English word ‘‘slight.’’ - Thelepteacrostic was first spotted by J. M. Jacques (see Jacques 1960); onpasasee
Levitan 1979; onmeseHaslam 1992.
130 Situating Literacies