THE QUALITIES OF WATER AT THE DIFFERENT SEASONS OF THE YEAR

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

maxime autem putei circa arcturum, non ipsa aestate, deficiunt omnesque quatriduo eo subsidunt, iam vero multi hieme tota, ut circa Olynthum, vere primum aquis redeuntibus. in Sicilia quidem circa Messanam et Mylas hieme in totum inarescunt fontes, aestate exundant amnemque faciunt. Apolloniae in Ponto fons iuxta mare aestate tantum superfluit et maxime circa canis ortum, parcius, si frigidior sit aestas. quaedam terrae imbribus sicciores fiunt, velut in Narniensi agro, quod admirandis suis inseruit M. Cicero, siccitate lutum fieri prodens, imbre pulverem.— Omnis aqua hieme dulcior est, aestate minus, autumno minime, minusque per siccitates. neque aequalis amnium plerumque gustus est magna alvei differentia. quippe tales sunt aquae, qualis terra, per quam fluunt, qualesve herbarum, quas lavant, suci. ergo iidem amnes parte aliqua reperiuntur insalubres. mutant saporem et influentes rivi, ut Borysthenen, victique diluuntur. aliqui vero et imbre mutantur. ter accidit in Bosporo, ut salsi deciderent necarentque frumenta, totiens et Nili rigua pluviae amara fecere, magna pestilentia Aegypti.

Nascuntur fontes decisis plerumque silvis, quos arborum alimenta consumebant, sicut in Haemo obsidente Gallos Cassandro, cum valli gratia silvas cecidissent. plerumque vero dannosi torrentes conrivantur detracta collibus silva continere nimbos ac digerere consueta. et coli moverique terrain callumque summae cutis solvi aquarum interest. proditur certe in Creta expugnato oppido, quod vocabatur Arcadia, cessasse fontes amnesque, qui in eo situ multi erant, rursus condito post sex annos emersisse, ut quaeque coepissent partes coli.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

The water-supply of wells never fails in summer, but in all cases it falls low during four days at the rising of the constellation above-mentioned. Throughout the whole winter, on the other hand, many wells entirely fail; as in the neighbourhood of Olynthus, for example, where the water returns in the early days of spring. In Sicily too, in the vicinity of Messana and Mylæ, the springs are entirely dry throughout the winter, while in summer they overflow and form quite a river. At Apollonia in Pontus there is to be seen, near the sea-shore, a fountain which overflows in summer only, and mostly about the rising of the Dog-star; should the summer, however, not be so hot as usual, its water is less abundant. Certain soils become drier in consequence of rain, that in the territory of Narnia for example: a fact which M. Cicero has mentioned in his “Admiranda,” with a statement that drought is there productive of mud, and rain of dust.

Every kind of water is freshest in winter, not so fresh in summer, still less so in autumn, and least of all in times of drought. River-water, too, is by no means always the same in taste, the state of the bed over which it runs making a considerable difference. For the quality of water, in fact, depends upon the nature of the soil through which it flows, and the juices of the vegetation watered by it; hence it is that the water of the same river is found in some spots to be comparatively unwholesome. The confluents, too, of rivers, are apt to change the flavour of the water, impregnating the stream in which they are lost and absorbed; as in the case of the Borysthenes, for example. In some instances, again, the taste of river-water is changed by the fall of heavy rains. It has happened three times in the Bosporus that there has been a fall of salt rain, a phænomenon which proved fatal to the crops. On three occasions, also, the rains have imparted a bitterness to the overflowing streams of the Nilus, which was productive of great pestilence throughout Egypt.

It frequently happens that in spots where forests have been felled, springs of water make their appearance, the supply of which was previously expended in the nutriment of the trees. This was the case upon Mount Hæmus for example, when, during the siege by Cassander, the Gauls cut down a forest for the purpose of making a rampart. Very often too, after removing the wood which has covered an elevated spot and so served to attract and consume the rains, devastating torrents are formed by the concentration of the waters. It is very important also, for the maintenance of a constant supply of water, to till the ground and keep it constantly in motion, taking care to break and loosen the callosities of the surface crust: at all events, we find it stated, that upon a city of Crete, Arcadia by name, being razed to the ground, the springs and water-courses, which before were very numerous in that locality, all at once dried up; but that, six years after, when the city was rebuilt, the water again made its appearance, just as each spot was again brought into cultivation.