And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? The sky is red and lowering - The signs of fair and foul weather were observed in a similar manner among the Romans, and indeed among most other people. Many treatises have been written on the subject: thus a poet: -
Caeruleus pluviam denunciant, Igneus euros
Sin Maculae incipient Rutilo immiscerier Igni,
Omnia tunc pariter Vento Nimbisque videbis
Fervere Virg. Geor. i. l. 453
"If fiery red his glowing globe descends,
High winds and furious tempests he portends:
But if his cheeks are swoll'n with livid blue,
He bodes wet weather, by his watery hue
If dusky spots are varied on his brow,
And streak'd with red a troubled color show,
That sullen mixture shall at once declare,
Wind, rain, and storms, and elemental war
Dryden.