LIBER II · CAPUT 81
SIGNS OF AN APPROACHING EARTHQUAKE
Latine · Mayhoff 1906
Navigantes quoque sentiunt non dubia coniectura, sine flatu intumescente fluctu subito aut quatiente ictu. intremunt vero et in navibus postes aeque quam in aedificiis crepituque praenuntiant. quin et volucres non inpavidae sedent. est et in caelo signum praeceditque motu futuro aut interdiu aut paulo post occasum sereno tenuis ceu lineae nube in longum porrecta spatium.
English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57
There is no doubt that earthquakes are felt by persons on shipboard, as they are struck by a sudden motion of the waves, without these being raised by any gust of wind. And things that are in the vessels shake as they do in houses, and give notice by their creaking; also the birds, when they settle upon the vessels, are not without their alarms. There is also a sign in the heavens; for, when a shock is near at hand, either in the daytime or a little after sunset, a cloud is stretched out in the clear sky, like a long thin line. The water in wells is also more turbid than usual, and it emits a disagreeable odour.