The Stones of Venice, Volume 2 (of 3), by John Ruskin
3. MARCH. Here, as almost always in Italy, _a warrior_: the Mars of the
Latins being of course, in mediæval work, made representative of the
military power of the place and period; and thus, at Venice, having the
winged Lion painted upon his shield. In Northern work, however, I think
March is commonly employed in pruning trees; or, at least, he is so
when that occupation is left free for him by February's being engaged
with the ceremonies of Candlemas. Sometimes, also, he is reaping a low
and scattered kind of grain; and by Spenser, who exactly marks the
junction of mediæval and classical feeling, his military and
agricultural functions are united, while also, in the Latin manner, he
is made the first of the months.
"First sturdy March, with brows full sternly bent,
And armed strongly, rode upon a Ram,
The same which over Hellespontus swam;
Yet in his hand a spade he also bent,
And in a bag all sorts of seeds ysame,[97]
Which on the earth he strowed as he went."
His sign, the Ram, is very superbly carved above him in the archivolt.