Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

I believe also that the variations of the moon do not take place without exerting great
influence upon the organization of animals and of all living things. This is because bodies
are differently disposed at its waxing and waning. When she wanes they lose their density
and become void. When she waxes and is approaching her fulness they appear to fill
themselves at the same time with her, thanks to an imperceptible moisture that she emits
mixed with heat, which penetrates everywhere. 1598 For proof, see how those who sleep
under the moon feel abundant moisture filling their heads; 1599 see how fresh meat is quickly
turned under the action of the moon; 1600 see the brain of animals, the moistest part of
marine animals, the pith of trees. Evidently the moon must be, as Scripture says, of
enormous size and power to make all nature thus participate in her changes.
11. On its variations depends also the condition of the air, as is proved by sudden dis
turbances which often come after the new moon, in the midst of a calm and of a stillness in
the winds, to agitate the clouds and to hurl them against each other; as the flux and reflux
in straits, and the ebb and flow of the ocean prove, so that those who live on its shores see
it regularly following the revolutions of the moon. The waters of straits approach and retreat
from one shore to the other during the different phases of the moon; but, when she is new,
they have not an instant of rest, and move in perpetual swaying to and fro, until the moon,
reappearing, regulates their reflux. As to the Western sea, 1601 we see it in its ebb and flow
1598 cf. Alcman (ap. Plut., Sympos. iii. 10) who calls the dew Διὸς θυγάτηρ καὶ Σελάνας; and Plutarch himself
in loc. Virg., Georg. iii. 337, “Roscida Luna,” and Statius, Theb. i. 336: “Iamque per emeriti surgens confinia Phœbi
Titanis, late mundo subvecta silenti Rorifera gelidum tenuaverat aera biga.”
1599 The baleful influence of “iracunda Diana” (Hor., De Art. Poet. 454) is an early belief, not yet extinct. cf.
the term σελήνιασμός for epilepsy, and “lunaticus” for the “moonstruck” madman. Vide Cass., Quæst. Med.
xxv. 1. Perowne on Ps. cxxi. 6 notes, “De Wette refers to Andersen’s Eastern Travels in proof that this opinion
is commonly entertained. Delitzsch mentions having heard from Texas that the consequence of sleeping in the
open air, when the moon was shining, was mental aberration, dizziness, and even death.” “Dass auch der Mond
in heller Nacht dem ohne gehörigen Schutz Schlafenden schaden könne ist allgemeine Meinung des Orients und
der köhlen Nächte wegen leicht möglich. Vgl. Carne ‘Leben und Sitten im Morgenl.’” Ewald, Dichter des A.B. ii.
266.
1600 A fact, however explained. Plutarch (Sympos. Prob. iii. 10) discusses the question Διὰ τί τὰ κρέα σήπεται
μᾶλλον ὑπὸ τὴν σελήνην ἢ τὸν ἥλιον, and refers the decomposition to the moistening influence of the moon.
“Air, moisture, and a certain degree of warmth, are necessary to the decay of animal bodies…where moisture
continues present—even though warmth and air be in a great measure excluded—decay still slowly takes place.”
J. F. W. Johnston, Chemistry of Common Life, ii. 273.
1601 i.e.the Atlantic. cf. Ovid., Met. xi. 258, “Hesperium fretum.”
The creation of luminous bodies.
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