10.II

The Shepherd can also recognize the weather by much better and more subtle signs than animals, for each day he must, at a suitable time, go out in the fields to lead his ewes to pasture.

When Phoebus, who is by his brilliance lights up the whole world, shows himself in the morning in the east, the shepherd sees him turn and go all day in his round, making his course in raising himself toward the south (which some call Auster) and then dropping down little by little in the west.

In making this course in our vault, he is drawn in a most rich and most noble chariot by four great and powerful steeds of such great value that no mortal man could calculate their worth.

One of these noble steeds that draws the sun is named Eoüs and he comes just at dawn, near the hour of tierce. Because these fine steeds appear in many colors, the shepherd should take note that if Eoüs appears red and fiery in the morning, this means rain and changing weather.

If he appears more white, this is the sign of a fine day.

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Travelers who wend their way are joyful when they see it.

After him comes the second horse, named Ethoüs, who performs his duty for the sun near the hour of noon. When he appears with a pale color, that is the sign of a fine day.

After noon the third horse attached to the noble chariot of the sun does service: this horse is named Pyroüs. With his coming, the huge shining eyes of powerful Pyroüs rekindle and flash so that human creatures cannot look on him for long. It is then that the bats do not fly because they cannot bear or endure such a great and noble light that is thrown out by the coming of the sun’s rays as it makes its course.

When these two horses Ethoüs and Pyroüs, are too hot and fiery, they draw vapors from the earth and from the water by their great power and heat and make them rise in the air.

If these vapors are raised up and not dissipated by any evaporation, they gather and turn into clouds formed by the particles of these vapors.

These clouds, according to their nature, tend to lower and return to the center. Sometimes these clouds are transformed into rain, sometimes to wind, sometimes into snow or hail, depending on the season. Thus the shepherd can see that by the too great warmth and heat of the horses there comes a change in the weather.

-Old Jean of Brie, a Shepherd of the Free Men’s Lands.