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To protect beans from weevils, Columella (R. r. 2. 10. 12) prescribes gathering
them “in the dark of the moon before dawn (silente luna ... ante lucem)” and then, when they have dried on the threshing-floor, immediately beat them out, cool them and store them in the granary “before the moon begins its waxing (priusquam luna incrementum capiat)”. Yet, the moon begins its waxing immediately after the dark of the moon. Since drying of beans in the threshing-floor must take at least four or five days, it does not help to take "incrementum" as ‘a (noticeable) increase’.
I suggest deleting "priusquam luna incrementum capiat" as a gloss on "silente
luna ... ante lucem" (cf. "sidus aestatis" in R. r. 7. 3. 24 deleted by Hine 1984, 10 as a gloss on "Caniculae").
Palladius, who rephrased Columella’s advice in 7. 3. 2, retained the requirement "antequam luna procedat", but changed "silente luna" to "luna minuente". He must have worked with Columella’s text that had already been glossated, but saw the problem and moved the date for cropping back to the waning moon, in order to increase the time allowed for drying of beans and further operations “before the moon increases”.
Original languageEnglish
Article number9
Pages (from-to)157-164
Number of pages8
JournalHyperboreus
Volume26
Issue number1
StatePublished - 2020

ID: 72838498