ASTRONOMICA PART 1, TRANSLATED BY MARY GRANT

II.1. GREAT BEAR

We begin, then as we said above, with the Great Bear. Hesiod says she is named Callisto,
daughter of Lycaon, who ruled in Arcadia. Out of her zeal for hunting she joined Diana, and was
greatly loved by the goddess because of their similar temperaments. Later, when made pregnant by
Jove, she feared to tell the truth to Diana. But she couldn’t conceal it long, for as her womb grew
heavier near the time of her delivery, when she was refreshing her tired body in a stream, Diana
realized she had not preserved her virginity. In keeping with her deep distrust, the goddess inflicted
no light punishment. Taking away her maiden features, she changed her into the form of a bear,
called arktos in Greek . In this form she bore Arcas.

But as Amphis, writer of comedies, says, Jupiter, assuming the form of Diana, followed the girl as if
to aid her in hunting, and embraced her when out of sight of the rest. Questioned by Diana as to the
reason for her swollen form, she replied that it was the goddess’ fault, and because of this reply,
Diana changed her into the shape we mentioned above. When wandering like a wild beast in the
forest, she was caught by certain Aetolians and brought into Arcadia to King Lycaon along with her
son as a gift, and there, in ignorance of the law, she is said to have rushed into the temple of Jove
Lycaeus. Her son at once followed her, and the Arcadians in pursuit were trying to kill them, when
Jupiter, mindful of his indiscretion, rescued her and placed her and her son among the
constellations. He named her Arctos, and her son Arctophylax. About him we shall speak later.

Some, too, have said that when Callisto was embraced by Jove, Juno in anger turned her into a
bear; then, when she met Diana hunting, she was killed by her, and later, on being recognized, was
placed among the stars.

But others say that when Jupiter was pursuing Callisto in the woods, Juno, suspecting what had
happened, hurried there so that she could say she had caught him openly. But Jove, the more
easily to conceal his fault, left her changed to bear form. Juno, then, finding a bear instead of a girl
in that place, pointed her out for Diana, who was hunting, to kill. Jove was distressed to see this,
and put in the sky the likeness of a bear represented with stars.

This constellation, as many have stated, does not set, and those who desire some reason for this
fact say that Tethys, wife of Ocean, refuses to receive her when the other stars come there to their
setting, because Tethys was the nurse of Juno, in whose bed Callisto was a concubine.
Araethus of Tegea, however, writer of histories, says that she wasn’t Callisto, but Megisto, and
wasn’t the daughter of Lycaon, but of Ceteus, and so granddaughter of Lycaon. He says, too, that
Ceteus himself was called the Kneeler. The other details agree with what has been said above. All
this is shown to have taken place on the Arcadian mountain Nonacris.

II.2 LESSER BEAR

Aglaosthenes, who wrote the Naxica, says that she is Cynosura, one of the nurses of Jove from the
number of the Idaean nymphs. He says, too, that in the city called Histoe, founded by Nicostratus
and his friends, both the harbour and the greater part of the land are called Cynosura from her
name. She, too, was among the Curetes who were attendants of Jove. Some say that the nymphs
Helice and Cynosura were nurses of Jove, and so for gratitude were placed in the sky, both being
called Bears. We call them Septentriones.

But many have said that the Great Bear is like a wagon, and the Greeks do call it amaza. This
reason has been handed down: Those who, at the beginning, observed the stars and supposed the
number of stars into the several constellations, called this group no “Bear” but “Wain,” because two
of the seven stars which seemed of equal size and closest together were considered oxen, and the
other five were like the figure of a wagon. And so the sign which is nearest to this they wished to be
called Boötes. We shall speak of him later on. Aratus, indeed, says that neither Boötes nor the
Wain has these names for the reason above, but because the Bear seems, wagon-like, to wheel
around the pole which is called North, and Boötes, is said to drive her. In this he seems to be
considerably in error, for later, in connection with the seven stars, as Parmeniscus says, twenty-five
were grouped by certain astronomers to complete the form of the Bear, not seven. And so the one
that followed the wagon and was formerly called Boötes, was now called Arctophylax [Bear
Watchter], and she, at the same time that Homer lived, was called Bear. About the Septentriones
Homer says that she was called both Bear and Wain; nowhere does he mention that Boötes was
called Arctophylax.

There is a great diversity of opinion, too, as to why the Lesser Bear is called Phoenice, and why
those who observe her are said to navigate more exactly and carefully; why, also, if she is more
reliable than the Great Bear, al do not watch her. These people do not seem to realize the reason
for her being called Phoenice. Thales of Miletus, who searched into these matters carefully, and first
called her Bear, was by birth a Phoenician, as Herodotus says. Therefore all those in the
Peloponnesus use the first Arctos; the Phoenicians, however, observe the one they received from
her discoverer, and by watching her carefully, are thought to navigate more exactly, and suitably
call her Phoenice from the race of her discoverer.

II.3 SERPENT

This huge serpent is pointed out as lying between the two Bears. He is said to have guarded the
golden apples of the Hesperides, and after Hercules killed him, to have been put by Juno among
the stars, because at her instigation Hercules set out for him. He is considered the usual watchman
of the Gardens of Juno. Pherecydes says that when Jupiter wed Juno, Terra came, bearing
branches with golden applies, and Juno, in admiration, asked Terra to plant them in her gardens
near distant Mount Atlas. When Atlas’ daughters kept picking the apples from the trees, Juno is said
to have placed this guardian there. Proof of this will be the form of Hercules above the dragon, as
Eratosthenes shows, so that anyone may know that for this reason in particular it is called the
dragon.

Some also say this dragon was thrown at Minerva by the Giants, when she fought them. Minerva,
however, snatched its twisted form and threw it to the stars, and fixed it at the very pole of heaven.
And so to this day it appears with twisted body, as if recently transported to the stars.

II.4 BEAR-WATCHER

He is said to be Arcas, the son of Jove and Callisto, whom Lycaon served at a banquet, cut up with
other meat, when Jupiter came to him as a guest. For Lycaon wanted to know whether the one who
had asked for his hospitality was a god or not. For this deed he was punished by no slight
punishment, for Jupiter, quickly overturning the table, burned the house with a thunderbolt, and
turned Lycaon himself into a wolf. But the scattered limbs of the boy he put together, and gave him
to a certain Aetolian to care for. When, grown to manhood, he was hunting in the woods, he saw his
mother changed to bear form, and did not recognize her. Intent on killing her, he chased her into the
temple of Jove Lycaeus, where the penalty for entering is death, according to Arcadian law. And so,
since both would have to die, Jupiter, out of pity, snatched them up and put them among the stars,
as I have said before. As a result, Arcas is seen following the Bear, and since he guards Arctos, he
is called Arctophylax.

Some have said that he is Icarus, father of Erigone, to whom, on account of his justice and piety,
Father Liber gave wine, the vine, and the grape, so that he could show men how to plant the vine,
what would grow from it, and how to use what was produced. When he had planted the vine, and by
careful tending with a pruning-knife had made it flourish, a goat is said to have broken into the
vineyard, and nibbled the tenderest leaves he saw there. Icarus, angered by this, took him and
killed him and from his skin made a sack, and blowing it up, bound it tight, and cast it among his
friends, directing them to dance around it. And so Eratosthenes says: Around the goat of Icarus
they first danced.

Others say that Icarus, when he had received the wine from Father Liber, straightway put full
wineskins on a wagon. For this he was called Boötes. When he showed it to the shepherds on
going round through the Attic country, some of them, greedy and attracted by the new kind of drink,
became stupefied, and sprawling here and there, as if half-dead, kept uttering unseemly things. The
others, thinking poison had been given the shepherds by Icarus, so that he could drive their flocks
into his own territory, killed him, and threw him into a well, or, as others say, buried him near a
certain tree. However, when those who had fallen asleep, woke up, saying that hey had never
rested better, and kept asking for Icarus in order to reward him, his murderers, stirred by
conscience, at once took to flight and came to the island of the Ceans. Received there as guests,
they established homes for themselves.
But when Erigone, the daughter of Icarus, moved by longing for her father, saw he did not return
and was on the point of going out to hunt for him, the dog of Icarus, Maera by name, returned to
her, howling as if lamenting the death of its master. It gave her no slight suspicion of murder, for the
timid girl would naturally suspect her father had been killed since he had been gone so many
months and days. But the dog, taking hold of her dress with its teeth, led her to the body. As soon
as the girl saw it, abandoning hope, and overcome with loneliness and poverty, with many tearful
lamentations she brought death on herself by hanging from the very tree beneath which her father
was buried. And the dog made atonement for her death by its own life. Some say that it cast itself
into the well, Anigrus by name. For this reason they repeat the story that no one afterward drank
from that well. Jupiter, pitying their misfortune, represented their forms among the stars. And so
many have called Icarus, Boötes, and Erigone, the Virgin, about whom we shall speak later. The
dog, however, from its own name and likeness, they have called Canicula. It is called Procyon by
the Greeks, because it rises before the greater Dog. Others say these were pictured among the
stars by Father Liber.
In the meantime in the district of the Athenians many girls without cause committed suicide by
hanging, because Erigone, in dying, had prayed that Athenian girls should meet the same kind of
death she was to suffer if the Athenians did not investigate the death of Icarus and avenge it. And
so when these things happened as described, Apollo gave oracular response to them when they
consulted him, saying that they should appease Erigone if they wanted to be free from the affliction.
So since she hanged herself, they instituted a practice of swinging themselves on ropes with bars of
wood attached, so that the one hanging could be moved by the wind. They instituted this as a
solemn ceremony, and they perform it both privately and publicly, and call it alétis, aptly terming her
mendicant who, unknown and lonely, sought for her father with the god. The Greeks call such
people alétides.

In addition to this, Canicula, rising with its heat, scorched the land of the Ceans, and robbed their
fields of produce, and caused the inhabitants, since they had welcomed the bandits, to be plagued
by sickness, and to pay the penalty to Icarus with suffering. Their king, Aristaeus, son of Apollo and
Cyrene, and father of Actaeon, asked his father by what means he could free the state from
affliction. The god bade them expiate the death of Icarus with many victims, and ask from Jove that
when Canicula rises he should send wind for forty days to temper the heat of Canicula. This
command Aristaeus carried out, and obtained from Jove the favour that the Etesian winds should
blow. Some have called them Etesian because they spring up at a certain time each year,
for etos in Greek is annus in Latin. Some, too, have called them Etesian because they were “asked
for” from Jove, and so obtained. But we shall leave this undecided, lest we be though to have
anticipated everything.

To return to the matter at hand, Hermippus, who wrote about the stars, says that Ceres lay with
Iasion, son of Thuscus. Many agree with Homer that for this he was struck with a thunderbolt. From
them, as Petellides, Cretan writer of histories, shows, two sons were born, Philomelus and Plutus,
who were never on good terms, for Plutus, who was richer, gave nothing of his wealth to his
brother. Philomelus, however, compelled by necessity, bought two oxen with what he had, and
became the inventor of the wagon. So, by plowing and cultivating the fields, he supported himself.
His mother, admiring his invention, represented him plowing among the stars, and called him
Boötes. From him they say Parias was born, who called the people Parians and the town Parion
from his own name.

II.5 CROWN

This is thought to be Ariadne’s crown, placed by Father Liber among the constellations. For they
say that when Ariadne wed Liber on the island of Dia, and all the gods gave her wedding gifts, she
first received this crown as a gift from Venus and the Hours. But, as the author of the Cretica says,
at the time when Liber came to Minos with the hope of lying with Ariadne, he gave her this crown as
a present. Delighted with it, she did not refuse the terms. It is said, too, to have been made of gold
and Indian gems, and by its aid Theseus is thought to have come from the gloom of the labyrinth to
the day, for the gold and gems made a glow of light in the darkness.

But those who wrote the Argolica give the following reason. When Liber received permission from
his father to bring back his mother Semele from the Lower World, and in seeking a place of descent
had come to the land of the Argives, a certain Hyplipnus met him, a man worthy of that generation,
who was to show the entrance to Liber in answer to his request. However, when Hypolipnus saw
him, a mere boy in years, excelling all others in remarkable beauty of form, he asked from him the
reward that could be given without loss. Liber, however, eager for his mother, swore that if he
brought her back, he would do as he wished, on terms, though, that a god could swear to a
shameless man. At this, Hypolipnus showed the entrance. So then, when Liber came to that place
and was about to descend, he left the crown, which he had received as a gift from Venus, at that
place which in consequence is called Stephanos, for he was unwilling to take it with him for fear the
immortal gift of the gods would be contaminated by contact with the dead. When he brought his
mother back unharmed, he is said to have placed the crown in the stars as an everlasting memorial.

Others say that this is the crown of Theseus, and for the following reason placed near him, for the
constellation called the Kneeler is thought to be Theseus. We shall speak later about him. It is said
that when Theseus came to Crete to Minos with seven maidens and six youths, Minos, inflamed by
the beauty of one of the maidens, Eriboea by name, wished to lie with her. Theseus, as was fitting
for a son of Neptune, and one able to strive against a tyrant for a girl’s safety, refused to allow this.
So when the dispute became one not about the girl but about the parentage of Theseus, whether
he was the son of Neptune or not, Minos is said to have drawn a gold ring from his finger and cast it
into the sea. He bade Theseus bring it back, if he wanted him to believe he was a son of Neptune;
as for himself, he could easily show he was a son of Jove. So, invoking his father, he asked for
some sign to prove he was his son, and straightway thunder and lightning gave token of assent. For
a similar reason, Theseus, without any invoking of his father or obligation of an oath, cast himself
into the sea. And at once a great swarm of dolphins, tumbling forward over the sea, led him through
gently swelling waves to the Nereids. From them he brought back the ring of Minos and a crown,
bright with many gems, from Thetis, which she had received at her wedding as a gift from Venus.
Others say that the crown came from the wife of Neptune, and Theseus is said to have given it to
Ariadne as a gift, when on account of his valor and courage she was given to him in marriage. After
Ariadne’s death, Liber placed it among the constellations.

II.6 THE KNEELER

Eratosthenes says he is Hercules, placed above the dragon we have already mentioned, and
prepared to fight, with his left hand holding his lion skin, and his right the club. He is trying to kill the
dragon of the Hesperides, which, it is thought, never was overcome by sleep or closed its eyes,
thus offering more proof it was placed there as a guard. Panyassis in the Heraclea says of the sign
that Jupiter, in admiration of their struggle, placed it among the stars; for the dragon has its head
erect, and Hercules, resting on his right knee, tires to crush the right side of its head with his left
foot. His right hand is up and striking, his left extended with the lion skin, and he appears to be
fighting with all his strength. Although Aratus says no one can prove who he is, nevertheless we
shall try to show that we can say something reasonable.

Araethus, as we said before, calls this figure Ceteus, son of Lycaon, and father of Megisto. He
seems to be lamenting the change of his daughter to bear form, kneeling on one knee, and holding
up outstretched hands to heaven, asking for the gods to restore her to him.

Hegesianax, however, says that he is Theseus, who seems to be lifting the stone at Troezene.
Aegeus is thought to have put [corrupt] and a sword under it, and warned Aethra, the mother, not to
send him to Athens until he could lift the stone by his own strength and bring the sword to his father.
And so he seems to try to lift the stone as high as he can. In this connection, too, some have said
that the Lyre, placed nearest this sign, is the lyre of Theseus, for he was skilful in all the arts and
seems to have learned the lyre as well. This, too, Anacreon says: Near Theseus, son of Aegeus, is
the Lyre.

Others call him Thamyris, blinded by the Muses, kneeling as a suppliant; others, Orpheus, killed by
the Thacian women because he looked on the rites of Father Liber.

But Aeschylus, in the play entitled Prometheus lyomenos, says that he is Hercules, fighting not with
the dragon, but with the Ligurians. For he says that at the time Hercules was driving away the cattle
of Geryon, he journeyed through the territory of the Ligurians. They joined forces in trying to take
the herd from him, and pierced many of the beasts [?] with arrows. But after Hercules’ weapons
failed, worn out by the number of the barbarians and lack of arms, he fell to his knees, already
suffering from many wounds. Jove, however, out of pity for his son, provided that there should be a
great supply of stones around him. With these Hercules defended himself and put the enemy to
flight. And so Jove put he image of his fighting form among the constellations.

Again, some have said that he is Ixion with his arms bound, because he tried to attack Juno.

Others say he is Prometheus, bound on Mt. Caucasus.

II.7 LYRE

The Lyre was put among the constellations for the following reason, as Eratosthenes says. Made at
first by Mercury from a tortoise shell, it was given to Orpheus, son of Calliope and Oeagrus, who
was passionately devoted to music. It is thought that by his skill he could charm even wild beasts to
listen. When, grieving for his wife Eurydice, he descended to the Lower World, he praised the
children of the gods in his song, all except Father Liber; him he overlooked and forgot, as Oeneus
did Diana in sacrifice. Afterwards, then, when Orpheus was taking delight in song, seated, as many
say, on Mt. Olympus, which separates Macedonia from Thrace, or on Pangaeum, as Eratosthenes
says, Liber is said to have roused the Bacchanals against him. They slew him and dismembered his
body. But others say that this happened because he had looked on the rites of Liber. The Muses
gathered the scattered limbs and gave them burial, and as the greatest favour they could confer,
they put as a memorial his lyre, pictured with stars, among the constellations. Apollo and Jove
consented, for Orpheus had praised Apollo highly, and Jupiter granted this favour to his daughter.

Others say that when Mercury first made the lyre on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, he made it with
seven strings to correspond to the number of Atlantides, since Maia, his mother, was of their
company. Later, when he had driven away the cattle of Apollo and had been caught in the act, to
win pardon more easily, at Apollo’s request he gave him permission to claim the invention of the
lyre, and received from him a certain staff as reward. When Mercury, holding it in his hand, was
journeying to Arcadia and saw two snakes with bodies intertwined, apparently fighting, he put down
the staff between them. They separated then, and so he said that the staff had been appointed to
bring peace. Some, in making caducei, put two snakes intertwined on the rod, because this seemed
to Mercury a bringer of peace. Following his example, they use the staff in athletic contests and
other contests of this kind.
But to return to the subject at hand. Apollo took the lyre, and is said to have taught Orpheus on it,
and after he himself had invented the cithara, he gave the lyre to Orpheus.

Some also have said that Venus and Proserpina came to Jove for his decision, asking him to which
of them he would grant Adonis. Calliope, the judge appointed by Jove, decided that each should
posses him half of the year. But Venus, angry because she had not been granted what she thought
was her right, stirred the women in Thrace by love, each to seek Orpheus for herself, so that they
tore him limb from limb. His head, carried down from the mountain into the sea, was cast by the
waves upon the island of Lesbos. It was taken up and buried by the people of Lesbos, and in return
for this kindness, they have the reputation of being exceedingly skilled in the art of music. The lyre,
as we have said, was put by the Muses among the stars.

Some say that because Orpheus first favored love for youths, he seemed to insult women, and for
this reason they killed him.

II.8 SWAN

The sign the Greeks call the Swan, but others, out of ignorance of the story, have called it ornis, the
general term for bird. This reason for the name has been handed down: When Jupiter, moved by
desire, had begun to love Nemesis, and couldn’t persuade her to lie with him, he relieved his
passion by the following plan. He bade Venus, in the form of an eagle, pursue him; he, changed to
a swan, as if in flight from the eagle, took refuge with Nemesis and lighted in her lap. Nemesis did
not thrust him away, but holding him in her arms, fell into a deep sleep. While she slept, Jupiter
embraced her, and then flew away. Because he was seen by men flying high in the sky, they said
he was put in the stars. To make this really true, Jupiter put the swan flying and the eagle pursuing
in the sky.
But Nemesis, as if wedded to the tribe of birds, when her months were ended, bore an egg. Mercury
took it away and carried it to Sparta and threw it in Leda’s lap. From it sprang Helen, who excelled
all other girls in beauty. Leda called her her own daughter. Others say that Jove, in the form of a
swan, lay with Leda. We shall leave the matter undecided.

II.9 CEPHEUS

Euripides and the rest have shown that he was the son of Phoenix, king of the Aethiopains, and
father of Andromeda, the girl exposed to the sea-monster, according to the well-known tale.
Perseus freed her from danger and made her his wife. And so, that the whole family be
commemorated, the gods numbered Cepheus, too, among the constellations.

II.10 CASSIEPIA [CASSIOPEIA]

Euripides and Sophocles and many others have said of her that she boasted that she excelled the
Nereids in beauty. For this she was put among the constellations, seated in a chair [?]. On account
of her impiety, as the sky turns, she seems to be carried along lying on her back.

II.11 ANDROMEDA

They say she was put among the constellations by the favour of Minerva, on account of the valor of
Perseus, who freed her from danger when exposed to the sea-monster. Nor did he receive less
kindness from her in return for his good deed. For neither her father Cepheus nor her mother
Cassiepia could dissuade her from following Perseus, leaving parents and country. About her
Euripides has written a most excellent play with her name as title.
II.12 PERSEUS

He is said to have come to the stars because of his nobility and the unusual nature of his
conception. When sent by Polydectes, son of Magnes, to the Gorgons, he received from Mercury,
who is thought to have loved him, talaria and petasus, and, in addition, a helmet which kept its
wearer from being seen by an enemy. So the Greeks have called it the helmet of Haides [the
Unseen One], though Perseus did not, as some ignorant people interpret it, wear the helmet of
Orcus himself, for no educated person could believe that. He is said, too, to have received from
Vulcan a knife made of adamant, with which he killed Medusa the Gorgon. The deed itself no one
has described. But as Aeschylus, the writer of tragedies, says in his Phorcides, the Graeae were
guardians of the Gorgons. We wrote about them in the first book of the Genealogiae. They are
thought to have had but one eye among them, and thus to have kept guard, watch one taking it in
her turn. This eye Perseus snatches, as one was passing it to another, and threw is in Lake Tritonis.
So, when the guards were blinded, he easily killed the Gorgon when she was overcome with sleep.
Minerva is said to have the head on her breastplate. Euhemerus says the Gorgon was killed by
Minerva. We shall speak more of this later on.

II.13 CHARIOTEER

In Latin we call him "auriga” – Erichthonius by name, as Eratosthenes shows. Jupiter seeing that he
first among men yoked horses in four-horse chariots, admired the genius of a man who could rival
the invention of Sol, who first among the gods made use of thequadriga. Erichthonius first invented
the four-horse chariot, as we said before, and also first established sacrifices to Minerva, and a
temple on the citadel of the Athenians. Euripides gives the following account of his birth. Vulcan,
inflamed by Minerva’s beauty, begged her to marry him, but was refused. She hid herself in the
place called Hephaestius, on account of the love of Vulcan. They say that Vulcan, following her
there, tired to force her, and when, full of passion he tried to embrace her, he was repulsed, and
some of his seed fell to the ground. Minerva overcome by shame, with her foot spread dust over it.
From this the snake Erichthonius was born, who derives his name from the earth and their struggle.
Minerva is said to have hidden him, like a cult-object, in a chest. She brought the chest to the
daughters of Erechtheus and gave it to them to guard, forbidding them to open it. But man is by
nature so curious, that the oftener he is forbidden to do something, the more he desired to do it. So
the girls opened the chest and saw the snake. As a result they were driven mad by Minerva, and
threw themselves from the Acropolis. But the snake fled to the shield of Minerva, and was reared by
her.
Others have said that Erichthonius merely had snake-legs, and in his youth established the
Panathenaic Games for Minerva, himself competing in the four-horse chariot race. In return for
these deeds he was placed among the constellations.

Some too, who have written about the stars, have said that the Charioteer was an Argive by birth,
named Orsilochus, who first invented the four-horse chariot, and for his invention gained a place
among the stars.

Others identified him as the son of Mercury and Clytie, Myrtilus by name, the charioteer of
Oenomaus. After his death, the manner of which is common knowledge, his father is said to have
put his form in the sky.

On his left shoulder (the goat) Capra stands, and in his left hand the Kids seem to be placed. They
tell this story about him. A certain Olenus, son of Vulcan, had two daughters, the nymphs Aex and
Helice, who were nurses of Jove. Others have said that certain cities were named from them -
Olenus in Aulis, Helice in the Peloponneus, and Aex in Haemonia - about which Homer writes in the
second book of the Iliad. But Parmeniscus say that a certain Melisseus was king in Crete, and to his
daughters Jove was brought to nurse. Since they did not have milk, they furnished him a she-goat,
Amalthea by name, who is said to have reared him. She often bore twin kids, and at the very time
that Jove was brought to her to nurse, had borne a pair. And so because of the kindness of the
mother, the kids, too were placed among the constellations. Cleostratus of Tenedos is said to have
first pointed out these kids among the stars.

But Musaeus says Jove was nursed by Themis and the nymph Amalthea, to whom he was given by
Ops, his mother. Now Amalthea had as a pet a certain goat which is said to have nursed Jove.

Some have called Aex the daughter of Sol, who surpassed many in beauty of body, but in contrast
to this beauty, had a most horrible face. Terrified by it, the Titans begged Terra to hide her body,
and Terra is said to have hidden her in a cave in the island of Crete. Later she became nurse of
Jove, as we have said before. But when Jupiter, confident in his youth, was preparing for war
against the Titans, oracular reply was given to him that if he wished to win, he should carry on the
war protected with the skin of a goat, aigos, and the head of the Gorgon. The Greeks call this the
aegis. When this was done, as we have shown above, Jupiter, overcoming the Titans, gained
possession of the kingdom. Covering the remaining bones of the goat with a skin, he gave life to
them and memorialised them, picturing them with stars. Afterwards he gave to Minerva the aegis
with which he had been protected when he won.

Euhemerus says that a certain Aex was the wife of Pan. When she was embraced by Jove she bore
a son whom she called son of Pan. So the child was called Aegipan, and Jove, Aegiochus. Since
he was very fond of him, he placed in memory the form of a goat among the stars.

II.14 SERPENT-HOLDER

Ophiuchus, who, by our writers, is called the Serpent-holder, is stationed above Scorpio, and holds
in his hands a serpent which coils about his body.

Many have called him Carnabon, king of the Getae, who lived in Thrace. He came into power at the
time when it is thought grain was first given to mortals. For when Ceres was distributing her
bounties to men, she bade Triptolemus, whose nurse she had been, go around to all the nations
and distribute grain, so that they and their descendants might more easily rise above primitive ways
of living. He went in a drgon car, and is said to have been the first to use one wheel, so as not to be
delayed in his journey. When he came to the king of the Getae, whom we mentioned above, he was
at first hospitably received. Later, not as a beneficent and innocent visitor, but as a most cruel foe,
he was seized by treachery, and he who was ready to prolong the lives of others, almost lost his
own life. For at the order of Carnabon one dragon was killed, so that Tiptolemus might not hope his
dragon car could save him when he realized an ambush was being prepared. But Ceres is said to
have come there, and restored the stolen chariot to the youth, substituting another dragon, and
punishing the king with no slight punishment for his malevolent attempt. For Hegesianax says that
Ceres, for men’s remembrance, pictures Carnabon among the stars, holding a dragon in his hands
as if to kill it. He lived so painfully that he brought on himself a most welcome death.

Others point out that he is Hercules, killing in Lydia near the river Sagaris a snake which kept
destroying many men and stripping the river banks of grain. In return for this deed, Omphale, the
queen of that region, sent him back to Argos loaded with gifts, and because of his bravery he was
placed by Jove among the constellations.

Some, too, have said that he is Triopas, king of the Thessalians, who, in trying to roof his own
house, tore down the temple of Ceres, built by the men of old. When hunger was brought on him by
Ceres for this deed, he could never afterward be satisfied by any amount of food. Last of all, toward
the end of his life, when a snake was sent to plague him, he suffered many ills, and at last winning
death, was put among the stars by the will of Ceres. And so the snake, coiling round him, still
seems to inflict deserved and everlasting punishment.
Polyzelus the Rhodian, however, points out that this is Phorbas, who was of great assistance to the
Rhodians. The citizens called their island, overrun by a great number of snakes, Ophiussa. In this
multitude of beasts was a snake of immense size, which had killed many of them; and when the
deserted land began finally to lack men, Phorbas, son of Triopas by Hiscilla, Myrmidon’s daughter,
when carried there by a storm, killed all the beasts, as well as that huge snake. Since he was
especially favored by Apollo, he was put among the constellations, shown killing the snake for the
sake of praise and commemoration. And so the Rhodians, as often as they go with their fleet rather
far from their shores, make offerings first for the coming of Phorbas, that such a happening of
unexpected valor should befall the citizens as the opportunity for glory which brought Phorbas,
unconscious of future praise, to the stars.

Many astronomers have imagined that he is Aesculapius, whom Jupiter, for the sake of Apollo, put
among the stars. For when Aesculapius was among men, he so fare excelled the rest in the art of
medicine that it wasn’t enough for him to have healed men’s diseases unless he could also bring
back the dead to life. He is said most recently, according to Eratosthenes to have restored to life
Hippolytus who had been killed by the injustice of his stepmother and the ignorance of his father.
Some have said that by his skill Glaucus, son of Minos, lived again. Because of this, as for a sin,
Jove struck and burned his house with a thunderbolt, but because of his skill, and since Apollo was
his father, put him among the constellations holding a snake.
Certain people have said that he holds the snake for the following reason. When he was
commanded to restore Glaucus, and was confined in a secret prison, while meditating what he
should do, staff in hand, a snake is said to have crept on to his staff. Distracted in mind,
Aesculapius killed it, striking it again and again with his staff as it tried to flee. Later, it is said,
another snake came there, bringing an herb in its mouth, and placed it on its head. When it had
done this, both fled from the place. Where upon Aesculapius, using the same herb, brought
Glaucus, too, back to life.
And so the snake is put in the guardianship of Aesculapius and among the stars as well. Following
his example, his descendants passed the knowledge on to others, so that doctors make use of
snakes.

II.15 ARROW

This arrow, they say, is one of the weapons of Hercules, with which he is said to have killed the
eagle which ate the liver of Prometheus. It seems not unprofitable to speak of Prometheus at
greater length. When the men of old with great ceremony used to carry on the sacrificial rites of the
immortal gods, they would burn the victims entire in the flame of the sacrifice. And so, when the
poor were prevented from making sacrifices on account of the great expense, Prometheus, who
with his wonderful wisdom is thought to have made men, by his pleading is said to have obtained
permission from Jove for them to cast only a part of the victim into the fire, and to use the rest for
their own food. This practice custom later established. Since he had obtained this permission, not
as from a covetous man, but easily, as from a god, Prometheus himself sacrifices two bulls. When
he had first placed their entrails on the altar, he put the remaining flesh of the two bulls in one heap,
covering it with an oxhide. Whatever bones there were he covered with the other skin and put it
down between them, offering Jove the choice of either part for himself. Jupiter, although he didn’t
act with divine forethought, nor as a god who ought to foresee everything, was deceived by
Prometheus - sine we have started to believe the tale! - and thinking each part was a bull, shoe the
bones for his half. And so after this, in solemn rites and sacrifices, when the flesh of victims has
been consumed, they burn with fire the remaining parts which are the gods.
But, to come back to the subject, Jupiter, when he realized what had been done, in anger took fire
from mortals, lest the favour of Prometheus should seem to have more weight than the power of the
gods, and that uncooked flesh should not be useful to men. Prometheus, however, who was
accustomed to scheming, planned by his own efforts to bring back the fire that had been taken from
men. So, when the others were away, he approached the fire of Jove, and with a small bit of this
shut in a fennel-stalk he came joyfully, seeming to fly, not to run, tossing the stalk so that the air
shut in with its vapours should not put out the flame in so narrow a space. Up to this time, then, men
who bring good news usually come with speed. In the rivalry of the games they also make it a
practice for the runners to run, shaking torches after the manner of Prometheus.
In return for this deed, Jupiter, to confer a like favour on men, gave a woman to them, fashioned by
Vulcan, and endowed with all kinds of gifts by the will of the gods. For this reason she was called
Pandora. But Prometheus he bound with an iron chain to a mountain in Scythia named Caucasus
for thirty thousand years, as Aeschylus, writer of tragedies, says. Then, too, he sent an eagle to him
to eat out his liver which was constantly renewed at night. Some have said that this eagle was born
from Typhon and Echidna, other from Terra and Tartarus, but many point out it was made by the
hands of Vulcan and given life by Jove.
The following reason for the release of Prometheus has been handed down. When Jupiter, moved
by the beauty of Thetis, sought her in marriage, he couldn’t win the consent of the timid maiden, but
none the less kept planning to bring it about. At that time the Parcae were said to have prophesied
what the natural order of events should be. They said that the son of Thetis’ husband, whoever he
might be, would be more famous than his father. Prometheus heard this as he kept watch, not from
inclination but from necessity, and reported it to Jove. He, fearing that what he had done to his
father Saturn in a similar situation, would happened to him, namely, that he would be robbed of his
power, gave up by necessity his desire to wed Thetis, and out of gratitude to Prometheus thanked
him and freed him from his chains. But he didn’t go so far as to free him from all binding, since he
had sworn to that, but for commemoration bade him bind his finger with the two things, namely, with
stone and with iron. Following this practice men have rings fashioned of stone and iron, that they
may seem to be appeasing Prometheus. Some also have said that he wore a wreath, as if to claim
that he as victor had sinned without punishment. And so men began the practice of wearing
wreaths at times of great rejoicing and victory. You may observe this in sports and banquets.
But to come back to the beginning of the inquiry and the death of the eagle. Hercules, when sent by
Eurystheus for the apples of the Hesperides, out of ignorance of the way came to Prometheus, who
was bound on Mount Caucasus, as we have shown above. When victor, he returned to Prometheus
to tell him that that dragon we have mentioned was slain, and to thank him for his kindness since he
had pointed out the way. Straightway he gave what honour he could to the one that deserved it, for
[he killed the eagle?] and since it was slain, men began, when victims were sacrificed, to offer livers
on the altars of the gods to satisfy them in place of the liver of Prometheus.

Eratosthenes says about the Arrow, that with this Apollo killed the Cyclopes who forged the
thunderbolt by which Aesculapius died. Apollo had buried this arrow in the Hyperborean mountain,
but when Jupiter pardoned his son, it was borne by the wind and brought to Apollo along with the
grain which at that time was growing. Many point out that for this reason it is among the
constellations.

II.16 EAGLE

This is the eagle which is said to have snatched Ganymede up and given him to his lover, Jove.
This bird, too, Jupiter is thought first to have singled out from the tribe of birds, because it alone,
men say, strives to fly straight into the rays of the rising sun. And so it seems to fly above Aquarius,
who, as many imagine, is Ganymede.

Some, too, have said that the bird was a certain Meropes, who ruled the island of Cos, and who
called the island Cos from the name of his daughter, and the inhabitants Meropians from his own
name. He had a wife, Ethemea, of the race of nymphs, who was stuck with the arrows of Diana
when she ceased worshipping her. At last she was snatched away alive by Proserpina to the Land
of the Dead. Meropes, moved by longing for his wife, would have committed suicide, but Juno,
pitying him, changed him into an eagle and put him among the constellations, for, if she had put him
there in human form, since he would have a man’s memory, he would still be moved with longing for
his wife.

Aglaosthenes, who wrote the Naxica, says that Jove was taken secretly from Crete, brought to
Naxos, and there nourished. After he came to man’s estate and wished to attack the Titans in war,
he sighted an eagle as he was sacrificing, and considering this an omen, he placed it among the
stars.

Some, too, have said that Mercury (though others say Anaplades) stirred by Venus’s beauty, fell in
love with her, and when she permitted no favours, became greatly downcast, as if in disgrace. Jove
pitied him, and when Venus was bathing in the river Achelous he sent and eagle to take her sandal
to Amythaonia of the Egyptians and give it to Mercury. Venus, in seeking for it, came to him who
loved her, and so he, on attaining his desire, as a reward put the eagle in the sky.

II.17 DOLPHIN

Eratosthenes and others give the following reason for the dolphin’s being among the stars.
Amphitrite, when Neptune desired to wed her and she preferred to keep her virginity, fled to Atlas.
Neptune sent many to seek her out, among them a certain Delphin, who, in his wandering s among
the islands, came at last to the maiden, persuaded her to marry Neptune, and himself took charge
of the wedding. In return for this service, Neptune put the form of a dolphin among the
constellations. More than this, we se that those who make statues of Neptune place a dolphin either
in his hand or beneath his foot - a thing they think will please the god especially.

Aglaosthenes, who wrote the Naxica, says that there were certain Tyrrhenian shipmasters, who
were to take Father Liber, when a child, to Naxos with his companions and give him over to the
nymphs, his nurses. Both our writers and many Greek ones, in books on the genealogy of the gods,
have said that he was reared by them. But, to return to the subject at hand, the shipmates, tempted
by love of gain, were going to turn the ship off course, when Liber, suspecting their plan, bade his
companions chant a melody. The Tyrrhenians were so charmed by the unaccustomed sounds that
they were seized by desire even in their dancing, and unwittingly cast themselves into the sea, and
were there made dolphins. Since Liber desired to recall thought of them to men’s memory, he put
the image of one of them among the constellations.

Others, however, say that this is the dolphin which bore Arion, the citharist, from the Sicilian Sea to
Taenarum. He excelled all others in skill, and was travelling about he island for the sake of gain,
when his servants, thinking there was more profit in treacherous freedom than in quiet servitude,
planned to cast their master into the sea and divide his goods among them. When he realized their
designs, he asked from them, not as a master from his salves, nor as an innocent man from evil-
doers, but as a father from his sons, to allow him to attired himself in the garb he had often worn
when victor, since there was no other one who, so well as himself, could honor his death with
lamentation. When he had obtained permission, straightway taking up his cithara, he began to
mourn his own death, and attracted by the sweet sounds, dolphins from all over the sea swam
along at the singing of Arion. Then, invoking the power of the immortal gods, he threw himself down
upon them, ad one of them took him and carried him to the shore at Taenarum. In memory of this,
the statue of Arion placed there seems to have on it the likeness of a dolphin, and for this
happening the dolphin’s form is pictured by ancient astronomers among the constellations. But the
slaves who thought they had escaped from servitude, driven by a storm to Taenarum, were seized
their master and visited with no slight punishment.

II.18 HORSE

This sign Aratus and many others have called Pegasus, offspring of Neptune and the Gorgon
Medusa, who on Helicon, a mountain of Boeotia, opened up a spring by striking the rock with his
hoof. From him the spring is called Hippocrene. Others say that at the time Bellerophon came to
visit Proetus, son of Abas and king of the Argives, Antia, the king’s wife, smitten with love for the
guest, begged to visit him, promising him her husband’s kingdom. When she couldn’t obtain this
request, out of fear that he would accuse her to the king, she anticipated him by telling Proetus that
he had offered violence to her. Proetus, who had been fond of Bellerophon, was reluctant to inflict
punishment himself, but knowing that he had the horse Pegasus, sent him to the father of Antia
(some call her Sthenoboea), for him to defend his daughter’s chastity and send the youth against
the Chimera, which at that time was laying waste with flames the country of the Lycians.
Bellerophon was victor, and escaped, but after the creation of the spring, as he was attempting to
fly to heaven, and had almost reached it, he became terrified looking down at the earth, and fell off
and was killed. But the horse is said to have flown up and to have been put among the
constellations by Jove.
Others have said that Bellerophon fled from Argos not because of Antia’s accusations, but so as not
to hear any more proposals which were distasteful to him, or to be distressed by her entreaties.

Euripides in his Melanippe, says that Melanippe, daughter of Chiron the Centaur, was once called
Thetis. Brought up on Mount Helicon, a girl especially fond of hunting, she was wooed by Aeolus,
son of Hellen, and grandson of Jove, and conceived a child be him. When her time drew near, she
fled into the forest, so that her father, who supposed her a virgin, might not see that she had given
birth to a grandchild. And so when her father was looking for her, she is said to have begged the
power of the gods not to let her father see her in childbirth. After the child was born, by the will of
the gods she was changed into a mare which was placed among the stars.
Some say that she was a prophetess, and because she used to reveal the plans of the gods to
men, she was changed into a mare. Callimachus says that because she ceased hunting and
worshipping Diana, Diana changed her into the shape we have mentioned. For the reason above,
too, she is said to be out of sight of the Centaur, who come say is Chiron, and to show only half her
body, since she didn’t want her sex to be known.

II.19 TRIANGLE

This constellation, which has three angles like the Greek letter Delta, is so named for that reason.

Mercury is thought to have placed it above the head of Aries, so that the dimness of Aries might be
marked by its brightness, wherever it should be, and that it should form the first letter in the name of
Jove (in Greek, Dis).

Some have said that it pictures the position of Egypt; others, that of Aethiopa and Egypt where the
Nile marks their boundaries. Still others think that Sicily is pictured there.

Others, say that three angles were put there because the gods divided the universe into three parts.

II.20 RAM

This is thought to be the ram which carried Phrixus and Helle thought the Hellespont. Hesiod and
Pherecydes say that it had a fleece of gold; about his we shall speak at greater length elsewhere.
Many have said that Helle fell into the Hellespont, was embraced by Neptune, and bore Paeon, or,
as some say, Edonus. They say, too, that Phrixus, on coming safely to Aeetes, sacrificed the ram to
Jove, and hung the fleece up in the temple. The image of the ram itself, put among the
constellations by Nubes, marks the time of year when grain is sown, because Ino earlier sowed it
parched - the chief reason for the flight. Eratosthenes says that the ram itself removed its golden
fleece, and gave it Phrixus as a memorial, and then came of its own accord to the stars; for this
reason it seems somewhat dim, as we said before.

Phrixus was born, some say, in the town of Orchomenus, which is in Boeotia; others say, in the
district of the Salones of Thessaly. Still others make Cretheus and Athamas with many others, sons
of Aeolus; some, again, say that Salmoneus, son of Athamas, was a grandson of Aeolus. Cretheus
had Demodice as wife; others name her Biadice. Moved by the beauty of Phrixus, son of Athamas,
she fell in love with him, and could not obtain from him favour in return; so, driven by necessity, she
accused him to Cretheus, saying that he had attacked her, and many similar things that women say.
Stirred by this report, Cretheus, as was fitting for one who deeply loved his wife and was a king,
persuaded Athamas to put Phrixus to death. However, Nubes intervened, and rescuing Phrixus and
Helle his sister, put them on the ram, and bade them flee as far as they could through the
Hellespont Helle fell off and paid the debt to nature, and the Hellespont was named from her name.
Phrixus came to the Colchians, and, as we have said, hung up the fleece of the slain ram in a
temple. He himself was brought back to Athamas by Mercury, who proved to his father that, relying
on innocence, he had fled.

Hermippus says that at the time when Liber was attacking Africa he came with his army to the place
called Ammodes from the great quantities of sand. He was in great danger, since he saw he had to
advance, and an added difficulty was the great scarcity of water. The army were almost at the point
of exhaustion, and the men were wondering what to do, when a certain ram, wandering apart, came
by chance near the soldiers. When it saw them it took safety in flight. The soldiers, however, who
had seen it, though they were advancing with difficulty oppressed by the sand and heat, gave
chase, as if seeking booty from the flames, and followed it to that place which was named from the
temple of Jove Hammon later founded there. When they had come there, the ram which they had
followed was nowhere to be seen, but what was more to be desired, they found an abundant supply
of water, and, refreshed in body, reported it at once to Liber. In joy he led his army to that place,
and founded a temple to Jove Hammon, fashioning a statue there with the horns of a ram. He put
the ram among the constellations in such a way that when the sun should be in that sign, all
growing things would be refreshed; this happens in the spring for the reason that the ram’s flight
refreshed the army of Liber. He wished it, too, to be chief of the twelve signs, because the ram had
been the best leader of his army.

But Leon, who wrote about Egyptian affairs, speaks of the statue of Hammon as follows. When
Liber was ruling over Eygpt and the other lands, and was said to have introduced all arts to
mankind, a certain Hammon came from Africa and brought to him a great flock of sheep, in order
more readily to enjoy his favour and be called the first inventor of something. And so, for his
kindness, Liber is thought to have given him the land opposite Egyptian Thebes. Accordingly, those
who make statues of Hammon, make them with horned heads, so that men may remember that he
first showed the use of flocks. Those, however, who have wished to assign the gift to Liber, as not
asked for from Hammon, but brought to him voluntarily, make those horned images for Liber, and
say that in commemoration the ram was placed among the constellations.

II.21 BULL

The Bull was placed among the stars because it carried Europa safely to Crete, as Euripides says.

Some say that when Io was transformed into a heifer, Jupiter, to seem to make amends, put an
image among the constellations which resembled a bull in its fore parts, but was dim behind.

It faces towards the East, and the stars which outline the face are called Hyades. These,
Pherecydes the Athenian says, are the nurses of Liber, seven in number, who earlier were
nymphae called Dodonidae. Their names are as follows: Ambrosia, Eudora, Pedile, Coronis,
Polyxo, Phyto, and Thyone. They are said to have been put to flight by Lycurgus and all except
Ambrosia took refuge with Theits, as Asclepiades says. But according to Pherecydes, they brought
Liber to Thebes and delivered him to Ino, and for this reason Jove expressed his thanks to them by
putting them among the constellations.

The Pleiades were so named, according to Musaeaus, because fifteen daughters were born to
Atlas and Aethra, daughter of Ocean. Five of them are called Hyades, he shows, because their
brother was Hyas, a youth dearly beloved by his sisters. When he was killed in a lion hunt, the five
we have mentioned, given over to continual lamentation, are said to have perished. Because they
grieved exceedingly at his death, they are called Hyades. The remaining ten brooded over the
death of their sisters, and brought death on themselves; because so may experienced the same
grief, they were called Pleiades. Alexander says they were called Hyades because they were
daughters of Hyas and Boeotia, Pleiades, because born of Pleio, daughter of Ocean, and Atlas.

The Pleiades are called seven in number, but only six can be seen. This reason has been
advanced, that of the seven, six mated with immortals (three with Jove, two with Neptune, and one
with Mars); the seventh was said to have been the wife of Sisyphus. From Electra and Jove,
Dardanus was born; from Maia and Jove, Mercury; from Taygete and Jove, Ladedaemon; from
Alcyone and Neptune, Hyrieus; from Celaeno and Neptune, Lycus and Nycteus. Mars by Sterope
begat Oenomaus, but others call her the wife of Oenomaus. Merope, wed to Sisyphus, bore
Glaucus, who, as many say, was the father of Bellerophon. On account of her other sisters she was
placed among the constellations, but because she married a mortal, her star is dim. Others say
Electra does not appear because the Pleiades are thought to lead the circling dance for the stars,
but after Troy was captured and her descendants through Dardanus overthrown, moved by grief
she left them and took her place in the circle called Arctic. From this she appears, in grief for such a
long time, with her hair unbound, that, because of this, she is called a comet.

But ancient astronomers placed these Pleiades, daughters of Pleione and Atlas, as we have said,
apart from the Bull. When Pleione once was travelling through Boeotia with her daughters, Orion,
who was accompanying her, tried to attack her. She escaped, but Orion sought her for seven years
and couldn’t find her. Jove, pitying the girls, appointed a way to the stars, and later, by some
astronomers, they were called the Bull’s tail. And so up to this time Orion seems to be following
them as they flee towards the west. Our writers call these stars Vergiliae, because they rise after
spring. They have still greater honour than the others, too, because their rising is a sign of summer,
their setting of winter - a thing is not true of the other constellations.

II.22 TWINS

These stars many astronomers have called Castor and Pollux. They say that of all brothers they
were the most affectionate, not striving in rivalry for the leadership, nor acting without previous
consultation. As a reward for their services of friendship, Jupiter is thought to have put them in the
sky as well-known stars. Neptune, with like intention, has rewarded them for he gave them horses
to ride, and power to aid shipwrecked men.

Others have called them Hercules and Apolo; some, even Triptolemus, whom we mentioned before,
and Iasion, beloved of Ceres - both carried to the stars.

Those who speak of Castor and Pollux add this information, that Castor was slain in the town of
Aphidnae, at the time when the Lacedaemonians were fighting the Athenians. Others say that when
Lynceus and Idas were attacking Sparta, he perished there. Homer states that Pollux granted to his
brother one half of his life, so that they shine on alternate days.

II.23 CRAB

The Crab is said to have been put among the stars by the favour of Juno, because, when Hercules
had stood firm against the Lernaean Hydra, it had snapped at his foot from the swamp. Hercules,
enraged at this, had killed it, and Juno put it among the constellations to be one of the twelve signs
which are bound together by the circuit of the sun.

In one part of its figure there are certain stars called Asses, pictured on the shell of the Crab by
Liber with two stars only. For Liber, when madness was sent upon him by Juno, is said to have fled
wildly through Thesprotia intending to reach the oracle of Dodonaean Jove to ask how he might
recover his former sanity. When he came to a certain large swamp which he couldn’t cross, it is said
two asses met him. He caught one of them and in this way was carried across, not touching the
water at all. So when he came to the temple of Dodonaean Jove, freed at once from his madness,
he acknowledged his tanks to the asses and placed them among the constellations.

Some say he gave a human voice to the ass which had carried him. This ass later had a contest
with Priapus on a matter of physique, but was defeated and killed by him. Pitying him because of
this, Liber numbered him among the stars, and so that it should be known that he did this as a god,
not as a timid man fleeing from Juno, he placed him above the Crab which had been added to the
stars by her kindness.

According to Eratosthenes, another story is told about the Asses. After Jupiter had declared war on
the Giants, he summoned all the gods to combat them, and Father Liber, Vulcan, the Satyrs, and
the Sileni came riding on asses. Since they were not far from the enemy, the asses were terrified,
and individually let out a braying such as the Giants had never heard. At the noise the enemy took
hastily to flight, and thus were defeated.

There is a story similar to this about the shell of Triton. He, too, when he had hollowed out the
trumpet he had invented, took it with him against the Giants, and there blew strange sounds
through the shell. The Giants, fearing that some wild beast had been brought by their adversaries,
took to flight, and thus were overcome and came into their enemies’ power.

II.24 LION

He is said to have been put among the stars because he is considered the king of beasts. Some
writers add that Hercules’ first Labor was with him and that he killed him, unarmed. Pisandrus and
many others have written about this.

Above his likeness in the sky nearest the Virgin are seven other stars near his tail, arranged in a
triangle, which Conon, the mathematician, and Callimachus call the Lock of Berenice. When
Ptolemy had married his sister Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy and Arsinoe, and after a few days
had set out to attack Asia, Berenice vowed that if Ptolemy returned as victor she would clip off her
hair. She placed the lock, consecrated by this vow, in the temple of Venus Arsinoe Zephyritis, but
on the following day it couldn’t be seen there. When the king was distressed by this, Conon the
mathematician, whom we mentioned above, desiring to win the favor of the king, said that he had
seen the lock among the constellations, and pointed out seven stars without definite configuration
which he imagined were the lock.
Some authors along with Callimachus have said that this Berenice raised horses, and used to send
them to Olympia. Others add that once Ptolemy, Berenice’s father, in panic at the number of the
enemy, had sought safety in flight, but his daughter, an accomplished horse woman, leaped on a
horse, organized the remaining troops, killed many of the enemy, and put the rest to flight. For this
even Callimachus calls her high-souled. Eratosthenes says that she ordered returned to the girls of
Lesbos the dowry left to them by their parents, which on one had released, and she established
among them right to bring action of recovery.

II.25 VIRGIN

Hesiod calls her the daughter of Jove and Themis. Aratus says that she is thought to be daughter of
Astraeus and Aurora, who lived at the time of the Golden Age of men and was their leader. On
account of her carefulness and fairness she was called Justice, and at that time no foreign nations
were attacked in war, nor did anyone sail over the seas, but they were wont to live their lives caring
for their fields. But those born after their death began to be less observant of duty and more greedy,
so that Justice associated more rarely with men. Finally the disease became so extreme that it was
said the Brazen Race was born; then she could not endure more, and flew away to the stars.
Others call her Fortune - others, Ceres, and they dispute the more about her because her head is
dimly seen.

Some have called her Erigone, daughter of Icarus, whom we have spoken of before.

Others call her a daughter of Apollo by Chrysothemis, an infant, named Parthenos. Because she
died young she was put by Apollo among the constellations.

II.26 SCORPION

This sign is divided into two parts on account of the great spread of the claws. One part of it our
writers have called the Balance.

But the whole of the constellation was put in the sky, it is said, for the following reason: Orion since
he used to hunt, and felt confident that he was most skilled of all in that pursuit, said even to Diana
and Latona that he was able to kill anything the produced. Earth, angered at this, sent the scorpion
which is said to have killed him. Jove, however, admiring the courage of both, put the scorpion
among the stars, as a lesson to men not to be too self-confident. Diana, then, because of her
affection for Orion, asked Jove to show to her request the same favour he had given of his own
accord to Earth. And so the constellation was established in such a way that when Scorpion rises,
Orion sets.

II.27 ARCHER

Many have called this sign the Centaurus; others deny the name, for the reason that no Centaurus
makes use of arrows. The question is raised, too why he is formed with horse flanks but a Satyr’s
tail.

Some say that he is Crotus, son of Eupheme, nurse of the Muses. As Sositheus, writer of tragedies,
says, he had his home on Mount Helicon and took his pleasure in the company of the Muses,
sometimes even following the pursuit of hunting. He attained great fame for his diligence, for he
was very swift in the woods, and clever in the arts. As a reward for his zeal the Muses asked Jove
to represent him in some star group, and Jove did so. Since he wished to display all his skills in one
body, he gave him horse flanks because he rode a great deal. He added arrows, since these would
show both his keenness and his swiftness, and he gave him a Satyr’s tail because the Muses took
no less pleasure in Crotus than Liber did in the Satyrs. Before his feet are a few stars arranged in a
circle, which some said were a wreath, thrown off as by one at play.

II.28 CAPRICORN OR SEA GOAT

This sign resembles Aegipan, whom Jupiter wished to be put among the constellations because he
was nourished with him, just as he put the goat nurse we have mentioned before. He, first, as
Eratosthenes says, when Jupiter attacked the Titans, is said to have cast into the enemy the fear
that is called panikos. The lower part of his body has fish formation, because he hurled shellfish
against the enemy, too, instead of stones.
Egyptian priests and some poets say that once when many gods had assembled in Egypt, suddenly
Typhon, an exceedingly fierce monster and deadly enemy of the gods, came to that place. Terrified
by him, they changed their shapes into other forms: Mercury became an ibis, Apollo, the bird that is
called Thracian, Diana, a cat. For this reason they say the Egyptians do not permit these creatures
to be injured, because they are called representations of gods. At this same time, they say, Pan
cast himself into the river, making the lower part of his body a fish, and the rest a goat, and thus
escaped from Typhon. Jove, admiring his shrewdness, put his likeness among the constellations.

II.29 AQUARIUS OR WATER BEARER

Aquarius or Water Bearer. Many have said he is Ganymede, whom Jupiter is said to have made
cupbearer of the gods, snatching him up from his parents because of his beauty. So he is shown as
if pouring water from an urn.

Hegesianax, however, says he is Deucalion, because during his reign such quantities of water
poured from the sky that the great Flood resulted.

Eubulus, again, points out that he is Cecrops, commemorating the antiquity of the race, and
showing that men used water in the sacrificed of the gods before wine was given to them, and that
Cecrops ruled before wine was discovered.

II.30 FISHES

Diognetus Erythraeus says that once Venus and her son Cupid came in Syria to the river
Euphrates. There Typhon, of whom we have already spoken, suddenly appeared. Venus and her
son threw themselves into the river and there changed their forms to fishes, and by so doing this
escaped danger. So afterwards the Syrians, who are adjacent to these regions, stopped eating fish,
fearing to catch them lest with like reason they seem either to oppose the protection of the gods, or
to entrap the gods themselves.

II.31 SEA-MONSTER OR WHALE

Whale. With regard to the Sea-Monster, they say that it was sent by Neptune to kill Andromeda,
about whom we have already spoken. But because it was killed by Perseus, on account of its huge
size and his valour it was placed amongst the constellations.

II.32 ERIDANUS OR RIVER

Some call this the Nile, though many call it Ocean. Those who advocate the Nile point out that it is
correctly so called on account of the great length and usefulness of that River, and especially
because below the sign is a certain star, shining more brightly than the rest, called Canopus.
Canopus is an island washed by the river Nile.

II.33 HARE

The hare is said to be fleeing the dog of the hunter Orion, for when, as was proper, they
represented Orion as a hunter, they wanted to indicate what he was hunting, and so they put the
fleeing hare at his feet.

Some say that it was put there by Mercury, and that it had been given the faculty, beyond other
kinds of quadrapeds, of being pregnant with new offspring when giving birth to others.

Those who disagree with this reason say that so noble and great a hunter as Orion (we spoke
about him in the discussion of Scorpio) shouldn’t be represented hunting hares. Callimachus, too, is
blamed, because, when he was singing the praises of Diana, he said she delighted in the flesh of
hares and hunted them. So they have represented Orion fighting the Bull.

The following story of the hare has been recorded. There were no hares on the island of Leros, and
a certain young man of the state, led by a liking for the breed, brought in from another country a
pregnant female, and watched over her very carefully as she bore her young. When she had borne
them, many of the citizens developed an interest, and by acquiring some for money, some as gifts,
they all began to raise hares. In no long time such a multitude of hares was produced that the whole
island was swarming with them. When men gave them nothing to eat, they made inroads on the
grain fields and devoured everything. The inhabitants, faced with disaster because of this, since
they were reduced to hunger, by co-operation of the whole state were said at length to have driven
them from the island, through with difficulty. So afterwards they put the image of a hare in the stars,
that men should remember that there was nothing so desirable in life but that later they might
experience more grief than pleasure from it.

II.34 ORION

Hesiod calls him the son of Neptune by Euryale, daughter of Minos. He had the ability of running
over the waves as if on land, just as it is said that Iphiclus could run over standing grain and not
bruise it.
Aristomachus says that there lived a certain Hyrieus at Thebes - Pindar puts him on the island of
Chios - who asked from Jove and Mercury when they visited him that he might have a child. To gain
his request more readily he sacrificed an ox and put it before them for a feast. When he had done
this, Jove and Mercury asked him to remove the hide from the ox; then they urinated in it, and bade
him bury the hide in the ground. From this, later on, a child was born whom Hyrieus called Urion
from the happening, though on account of his charm and affability he came to be called Orion.

He is said to have come from Thebes to Chios, and when his passions were excited by wine, he
attacked Merope, the daughter of Oenopion. For this he was blinded by Oenopion and cast out of
the island. But he came to Lemnos and Vulcan, and received from him a guide named Cedalion.
Carrying him on his shoulders, he came to Sol, and when Sol healed him returned to Chios to take
vengeance on Oenopion. The citizens however, guarded Oenopion underground. Desparing of
finding Oenopion, Orion came to Crete, and there began to hunt with Diana. He made the boast to
her we have mentioned before, and thus came to the stars. Some say that Orion lived with
Oenopion in too close intimacy, and wanting to prove to him his zeal in hunting, boasted to Diana,
too, what we spoke of above, and so was killed. Others, along with Callimachus, say that when he
wished to offer violence to Diana, he was transfixed by her arrows and fashioned for the stars
because of their similar zeal in hunting.

Istrus, however, says that Diana loved Orion and came near marrying him. Apollo took this hard,
and when scolding her brought no results, on seeing the head of Orion who was swimming a long
way off, he wagered her that she couldn’t hit with her arrows the black object in the sea. Since she
wished to be called an expert in that skill, she shot an arrow and pierced the head of Orion. The
waves brought his slain body to the shore, and Diana, grieving greatly that she had struck him, and
mourning his death with many tears, put him among the constellations. But what Diana did after his
death, we shall tell in the stories about her.

II.35 DOG

He is said to have been given by Jove as a guardian for Europa, and later to have come to Minos.
When Minos was ill, Procris, wife of Cephalus, is said to have cured him, and received the dog as a
reward for her services, as she was very fond of hunting and the dog was so swift that no beast
could escape. After her death the dog came to Cephalus her husband, who brought it to Thebes
with him when he came. There was a fox there which was said to be so swift that it could outrun all
dogs. So when the two animals met, Jupiter, in a dilemma, as Istrus says, changed them both to
stone.

Some have said that this is the dog of Orion, and because Orion was devoted to hunting, the dog
was put with him among the stars.

Others have called it the dog of Icarus.

These many suggestions have their own advocates.

The Dog has one star on his tongue which itself is called Dog, and on its head another which Isis is
thought to have put there under her own name, and to have called it Sirius on account of the
brilliance of the flame because it seems to shine more than the rest. So, in order for men to
recognize it more easily, she called it Sirius.

II.36 PROCYON

Procyon seems to rise before the greater Dog; for this reason it is called the Fore-dog. By some it is
thought to be Orion’s dog, and it is put in all the same tales in which the greater Dog is numbered.

II.37 ARGO

Some have said this ship was called Argo in Greek on account of her speed, others because Argus
was her inventor. Many have said she was the first ship on the sea, and for this reason especially
was pictured in the stars. Pindar says she was built in the town of Magnesia called Demetrias –
Callimachus in that district near the temple of Actian Apllo which the Argonauts are thought to have
founded on their departure. The place is called Pagasae, in Greek pagasai, because the Argo was
first fitted together there. Homer says that this same place was in the district of Thessaly. Aeschylus
and some others say that in the same place a speaking beam was added by Minerva. The entire
form of the ship does not appear in the stars; it is divided from stern to mast, signifying that men
should not be in despair when their ships are wrecked.

II.38 CENTAUR

He is said to be Chiron, son of Saturn and Philyra, who surpassed not only the other Centauris but
also men in justice, and is thought to have reared Aesculapius and Achilles. By his
conscientiousness and diligence, therefore, he won inclusion among the stars.
When Hercules was once visiting Chiron, and while sitting with him was examining his arrows, one
of them is said to have fallen on the foot of Chiron, and thus brought about his death. Others say
that when the Centaur wondered at his being able to kill such huge creatures as Centauri with such
slight arrows, he himself tried to draw the bow, and the arrow, slipping from his hand, fell on his
foot. For this reason Jupiter, pitying him, put him among the constellations with a victim which he
seems to hold above the altar for sacrifice.

Others have said that he is Pholus the Centaurus, who was more skilled in augury that the rest.
Consequently, by the will of Jove, he was represented coming to the altar with a victim.

II.39 ALTAR

On this altar the gods are thought to have first made offerings and formed an alliance when they
were about to oppose the Titans. The Cyclopes made it. From this observance men established the
custom that when they plan to do something, they make sacrifices before beginning the
undertaking.

II.40 WATER-SNAKE

This is the sign on which the Crow sits and over which the Bowl is placed. The following reason has
been handed down: When Apollo was sacrificing, the crow, who was under his guardianship, was
sent to a spring to get some pure water. Seeing several trees with their figs not yet ripe, he perched
on one of them waiting for them to ripen. After some days when the figs had ripened and the crow
had eaten some, Apollo, who was waiting, saw him come flying in haste with the bowl full of water.
For this fault of tardiness Apollo, who had had to use other water because of the crow’s delay,
punished him in this way. As long as the figs are ripening, the crow cannot drink, because on those
days he has a sore [?] throat,. So when the god wished to illustrate the thirst of the crow, he put the
bowl among the constellations, and placed the water-snake underneath to delay the thirsty crow.
For the crow seems to peck at the end of its tail to be allowed to go over to the bowl.

Istrus and several others have said that the Crow was Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas. She bore
Aesculapius to Apollo, but after Ischys, son of Elatus, had lain with her, the crow, which had noted
it, reported it to Apollo. For his unpleasant news Apollo changed him to black instead of his former
white color, and transfixed Ischys with his arrows.

About the Bowl Phylarchus writes this tale: In the Cheronnese near Troy where many have said the
tomb of Protesilaus is located, there is a city, Elaeusa by name. When a certain Demophon was
ruling there, a sudden plague fell on the land with a strange death-rate among the citizens.
Demophon, greatly disturbed by this, sent to the oracle of Apollo seeking a remedy, and was told
that every year one girl of noble rank should be sacrificed to their household gods. Demophon,
passing over his own daughters, would choose by lot one of the daughters of the nobles, and kept
doing this until his scheme offended a certain man of highest rank. He said he wouldn’t allow his
daughter to be entered in the drawing unless the daughters of the king were included. The king,
angered by this, killed the noble’s daughter without drawing of lots. This deed Mastusius, father of
the girl, for a time out of patriotism pretended he did not resent, for the girl might have perished if
the lots had been taken. Little by little, time led the king to forget. When the girl’s father had shown
himself to be on most friendly terms with the king, he said he was going to make a solemn sacrifice
and invited the king and his daughters to join the celebration. The king, suspecting nothing, sent his
daughters ahead; since he was busy with a state affair, he would come later. When this happened
as Mastusius wished, he killed the king’s daughters, and mixing their blood with wine in a bowl,
bade it be given as a drink to the king on his arrival. The king asked for his daughters, and when he
learned what had happened, he ordered Mastusius and the bowl to be thrown into the sea. The
where he was thrown, to memorialize him is called Mastusian; the harbour still is called the Bowl.
Astronomers of old pictured it in the stars, so that men might remember that no one can profit from
an evil deed with impunity, nor can hostilities often be forgotten.

Some, with Eratosthenes, say that it is the bowl Icarus used when he showed wine to men; others
the jar into which Mars was thrown by Otus and Ephialtes.

II.41 FISH

This is the Fish that is called Southern. He seems to take water in his mouth from the sign of
Aquarius. Once, when Isis was in labor, he is thought to have saved her, and as a reward for this
kindness she placed the fish and its young, about whom we have spoken before, among the stars.
As a result the Syrians generally do not eat fish, and worship their gilded likenesses as household
gods. Ctesias, too, writes about this.

II.42 PLANETS

It remains for us to speak of the five stars which many have called “wandering,” and which the
Greeks called planets. One of them is the star of Jove, Phaenon by name, a youth whom
Prometheus made excelling all others in beauty, when he was making man, as Heraclides Ponticus
says. When he intended to keep him back, without presenting him to Jove as he did the others,
Cupid reported this to Jove, whereupon Mercury was sent to Phaenon and persuaded him to come
to Jove and become immortal. Therefore he is placed among the stars.

The second star is that of Sol; others say of Saturn. Eratosthenes claims that it is called Phaethon,
from the son of Sol. Many have written about him – how he foolishly drove his father’s chariot and
set fire to the earth. Because of this he was struck with a thunderbolt by Jove, and fell into the river
Eridanus, and was conveyed by Sol to the constellations.
The third star is that of Mars, though others say it belongs to Hercules. The star of Mars follows that
of Venus, as Eratosthenes says, for the following reason: When Vulcan had married Venus, and on
account of his careful watch, Mars had no opportunity to see her, Mars obtained nothing from
Venus except that his star should follow hers. Since she inflamed him violently with love, she called
the star Pyroeis, indicating this fact.

The fourth start is that of Venus, Lucifer by name. Some say it is Juno’s. In many tales it is recorded
that it is Hesperus, too. It seems to be the largest of all stars. Some have said it represents the son
of Aurora and Cephalus, who surpassed many in beauty, so that he even vied with Venus, and, as
Eratosthenes says, for this reason it is called the star of Venus. It is visible both at dawn and
sunset, and so properly has been called both Lucifer and Hesperus.

The fifth star is Mercury’s, named Stilbon. It is small and bright. It is attributed to Mercury because
he first established the months and perceived the courses of the constellations. Euhemerus says
that Venus first established the constellations and taught Mercury.

II.43 MILKY WAY

There is a certain circular figure among the constellations, white in color, which some have called
the Milky Way. Eratosthenes says that Juno, without realizing it, gave milk to the infant Mercury, but
when she learned that he was the son of Maia, she thrust him away, and the whiteness of the
flowing milk appears among the constellations.

Others have said that Hercules was given to Juno to nurse when she slept. When she awoke, it
happened as described above. Others, again, say that Hercules was so greedy that he couldn’t
hold in his mouth all the milk he had sucked, and the Milky Way spilled over from his mouth.

Still others say that at the time Ops brought to Saturn the stone, pretending it was a child, he bade
her offer milk to it; when she pressed her breast, the milk that was caused to flow formed the circle
which we mentioned above.

THE END