Chapter 35: On the seasons

1. There are four seasons of the year: spring, summer, autumn, winter. And they are called seasons (_tempora_) from tempering,[305] since they are tempered in turn by moisture, dryness, heat, and cold.

[305] _A communionis temperamento._

2. It is known that after the creation of the universe the seasons were divided into three months each, according to the quality of the sun’s course.... And the ancients make the following divisions of these seasons: in the first month spring is called _novum_, in the second, _adultum_, in the third, _praeceps_.[306]

[306] So in the case of summer, autumn, and winter.

7–8. These seasons are assigned also to separate parts of the heavens. The spring is given to the Orient, because then all things arise (_oriuntur_) from the earth; summer to the South, because its division is more intense in its heat; winter to the North, because it is torpid with colds and perpetual frost; autumn to the Occident, because it has serious diseases. Whence, too, the leaves of the trees fall. The bordering of cold and heat and the contending of opposite airs causes the autumn to abound in diseases.