LIBER SECUNDUS.
Sed quoniam quae nobis de terrae positione dicenda fuerunt, et sphaeram totam definiuimus, nunc quae in ea signa sint singillatim nominabimus. e quibus igitur primum duas Arctos et Draconem, deinde Arctophylaca cum Corona dicemus et eum, qui Engonasin uocatur; exinde Lyram cum Olore et Cepheo et cius uxore Cassiepia filiaque eius Andromeda et genero Perseo. dicemus etiam protinus Aurigam, a Graecis Heniochum appellatum, Ophiuchum praeterea cum Aquila et Sagitta paruoque Delphine. inde Equum dicemus cum eo sidere, quod Deltoton uocatur. his corporibus enumeratis, ad duodecim signa perueniemus. ea sunt haec: Aries, Taurus, Gemini; deinde Cancer cum Leone et Uirgine; praeterea Libra, dimidia pars Scorpionis et ipse Scorpius cum Sagittario et Capricorno; Aquarius autem cum Piscibus reliquas habet partes. his enumeratis, suo ordine est Cetus cum Eridano flumine et Lepore; deinde Orion cum Cane et eo signo, quod Procyon uocatur. praeterea est Argo cum Centauro et Ara: deinde Ilydra cum Pisce qui notius uocatur. horum omnium non inutile uidetur historias proponere, quae certe aut utilitatem ad scientiam, aut iucunditatem ad delectationem adferent lectori.
Book 2. Introduction
But since we have said what had to be said about the position of the earth, and have defined the whole sphere, we shall now name one by one the signs that are on it. Of these, then, we shall speak first of the two Bears and the Dragon, then of Arctophylax with the Crown and the one called Engonasin (the Kneeler); next of the Lyre with the Swan, and Cepheus and his wife Cassiepia, and his daughter Andromeda, and his son-in-law Perseus. We shall speak also straightaway of the Charioteer, called Heniochus by the Greeks; then of Ophiuchus (the Serpent-bearer) with the Eagle and the Arrow and the little Dolphin. Then we shall speak of the Horse, with the constellation called Deltoton (the Triangle). When these bodies have been enumerated, we shall come to the twelve signs. They are these: the Ram, the Bull, the Twins; then the Crab with the Lion and the Virgin; next the Balance (Libra), half of the Scorpion, and the Scorpion itself with the Archer and Capricorn; the Water-bearer with the Fishes holds the remaining parts. These enumerated, in its due order comes the Whale with the river Eridanus and the Hare; then Orion with the Dog and the constellation called Procyon. Next there is Argo with the Centaur and the Altar; then the Hydra with the Fish that is called the Southern Fish. It seems not useless to set out the stories of all these, which will certainly bring the reader either usefulness for knowledge or the pleasure of delight.
I.
Igitur, ut supra diximus, initium nobis est Arctos maxima. hanc autem Hesiodus ait esse Callisto nomine, Lycaonis filiam, eius qui in Arcadia regnauit; eamque studio uenationis inductam, ad Dianam se applicuisse, a qua non mediocriter esse dilectam propter utriusque consimilem naturam. postea autem ab Ioue compressam ueritam Dianae suum dicere euentum. quod diutius celare non potuit; nam iam utero ingrauescente, prope diem partus in flumine corpus exercitatione defessum cum recrearet, a Diana cognita est non conseruasse uirginitatem. cui dea pro magnitudine suspitionis non minorem retribuit poenam. erepta enim facie uirginali, in ursae speciem est conuersa, quae graece ἄρκτος appellatur, in ea figura corporis Arcada procreauit.
I. The Great Bear
To begin, as we said above, with the Great Bear. Hesiod says that she was Callisto by name, daughter of Lycaon, who reigned in Arcadia; that, led on by a passion for hunting, she attached herself to Artemis, by whom she was loved more than ordinarily because of the likeness of their natures; and that afterwards, having been ravished by Zeus, she was afraid to tell Artemis what had happened. This she could not conceal for long: for when her womb was already swelling, near the day of delivery, as she was refreshing in a river her body wearied by exercise, she was recognised by Artemis as not having kept her virginity. The goddess, in proportion to the greatness of her suspicion, inflicted on her no lesser penalty: for, her maidenly form snatched away, she was changed into the shape of a she-bear, which in Greek is called ἄρκτος, and in that bodily shape she bore Arcas.
sed ut ait Amphis comoediarum scriptor, Iuppiter simulatus effigiem Dianae, cum uirginem uenantem ut adiuuans persequeretur, amotam a conspectu ceterarum compressit. quae rogata a Diana quid ei accidisset, quod tam grandi utero uideretur, illius peccato id euenisse dixit. itaque propter eius responsum, in quam figuram supra diximus, eam Diana conuertit. quae cum in silua ut fera uagaretur, a quibusdam Aetolorum capta, ad Lycaonem pro munere in Arcadiam cum filio est deducta ibique dicitur inscia legis in Iouis Lycaei templum se coniecisse; quam confestim filius est secutus. itaque cum eos Arcades insecuti interficere conarentur, Iuppiter memor peccati ereptam Callisto cum filio inter sidera collocauit, eamque Arctum, filium autem Arctophylaca nominauit, de quo posterius dicemus.
But as Amphis, the writer of comedies, says, Zeus, taking on the likeness of Artemis, as the maiden was hunting, followed her as though to help her, and when she was removed from the sight of the others, ravished her. Asked by Artemis what had happened to her, that she seemed to have so large a womb, she said it had come about through that one's wrongdoing. And so, because of her answer, Artemis changed her into the shape we described above. When she was wandering in the forest like a wild beast, she was captured by certain Aetolians and taken as a gift to Lycaon in Arcadia, with her son; and there, it is said, ignorant of the law, she betook herself into the temple of Zeus Lycaeus; her son at once followed her. And so, when the Arcadians pursued them and were trying to kill them, Zeus, mindful of his offence, rescued Callisto with her son and placed them among the stars, naming her Arctos (the Bear) and her son Arctophylax, of whom we shall speak later.
nonnulli etiam dixerunt, cum Callisto ab Ioue esset compressa, Iunonem indignatam in ursam eam conuertisse; quam Dianae uenanti obuiam factam, ab ea interfectam, et postea cognitam inter sidera collocatam. sed alii dicunt, cum Callisto Iuppiter esset in silua persequutus, Iunonem suspicatam id quod euenit, contendisse, ut eum manifesto diceret deprehendisse. Iouem autem, quo facilius suum peccatum tegeretur, in ursae speciem conuersam reliquisse. Iunonem autem in eo loco pro uirgine ursam inuenisse; quam Dianae uenanti, ut eam interficeret, demonstrasse. quod factum ut perspiceretur, Iouem aegre tulisse; effigiem ursae stellis figuratam constituisse.
Some have also said that when Callisto had been ravished by Zeus, Hera, in anger, changed her into a bear; and that, meeting Artemis as she hunted, she was killed by her, and afterwards recognised and set among the stars. But others say that when Zeus had pursued Callisto in the forest, Hera, suspecting what had happened, insisted that she would say she had caught him in the act; and that Zeus, so that his offence might the more easily be hidden, left her changed into the shape of a she-bear; that Hera in that place found a bear in place of the maiden, and pointed it out to Artemis as she hunted, so that she might kill it; and that when this deed came to light, Zeus took it ill and set up an image of a bear formed of stars.
Hoc signum, ut complures dixere, non occidit. et qui uolunt aliqua de causa esse institutum, negant Tethyn Oceani uxorem id recipere, cum reliqua sidera eo perueniant in occasum, quod Tethys Iunonis sit nutrix, cui Callisto succubuerit ut paelex. Araethus autem Tegeates historiarum scriptor non Callisto, sed Megisto dicit appellatam, et non Lycaonis, sed Cetei filiam, Lycaonis neptem; praeterea Cetea ipsum Engonasin nominari. reliqua autem superioribus conueniunt. quae res in Nonacri monte Arcadiae gesta demonstratur.
This constellation, as very many have said, does not set; and those who want it to have been established for some reason say that Tethys, wife of Oceanus, does not receive it, although the other stars reach their setting there, because Tethys was Hera's nurse, and Callisto had given way against her as a rival mistress [?]. Araethus of Tegea, the historian, says that she was named not Callisto but Megisto, and was the daughter not of Lycaon but of Ceteus, and Lycaon's granddaughter; and further that Ceteus himself is named Engonasin. The rest agrees with what is said above. This event is shown to have taken place on Mount Nonacris in Arcadia.
II. ARCTUS MINOR.
Hanc Aglaosthenes qui Naxica conscripsit, ait Cynosuram esse, unam de Iouis nutricibus ex Idaeis nymphis; ab eius quoque nomine in urbe quae Histoe uocatur, a Nicostrato et sodalibus eius constituta, et portum qui ibi est, et agri maiorem partem Cynosuram appellatam. hanc autem inter Curetas fuisse, qui Iouis fuerunt amministri. nonnulli etiam Helicen et Cynosuram nymphas fuisse Iouis nutrices dicunt; et hac re etiam pro beneficio in mundo collocatas, et utrasque Arctos appellatas esse, quas nostri Septemtriones dixerunt.
II. The Little Bear
Aglaosthenes, who wrote the Naxica, says that this is Cynosura, one of the nurses of Zeus, from among the Idaean nymphs; and that from her name, in the city called Histoe, founded by Nicostratus and his companions, both the harbour that is there and the greater part of the land were called Cynosura. She was, he says, among the Curetes, who were Zeus's attendants. Some also say that Helice and Cynosura were nymphs, nurses of Zeus; and that for this kindness they were set in the heavens and both called Arctoi (Bears), which our people have called the Septentriones.
Sed maiorem Arctum complures plaustri similem dixerunt, et ἅμαξαν Graeci appellauerunt; cuius haec memoriae prodita est causa. in initio qui sidera peruiderunt et numerum stellarum in unaquaque specie corporis constituerunt, non Arctum, sed Plaustrum nominauerunt, quod ex VII stellis duae quae pares et maxime in uno loco uiderentur, pro bubus haberentur, reliquae autem V figuram plaustri similarent. itaque et quod proximum huic est signum Booten nominari uoluerunt, de quo posterius plura dicemus. Aratus quidem non hac re Booten, nec illud Plaustrum dicit appellari, sed quod Arctus uideatur ut plaustrum circa polum, qui boreus appellatur, uersari, et Bootes agitare eam dicatur. in quo non mediocriter uidetur errare. postea enim, de VII stellis ut Parmeniscus ait, V et XX sunt a quibusdam astrologis constitutae, ut ursae species, non VII stellarum perficeretur. itaque et ille, qui antea plaustrum sequens Bootes appellabatur, Arctophylax est dictus, et isdem temporibus quibus Homerus fuit, haec Arctos est appellata. de VII trionibus ille enim dicit, hanc utroque nomine et Arctum et Plaustrum appellari; Booten autem nusquam meminit Arctophylaca nominari.
But many have said that the Great Bear is like a wagon, and the Greeks called it ἅμαξα (the Wagon); the reason for this has been handed down as follows. In the beginning, those who surveyed the stars and fixed the number of stars in each shape, named it not Bear but Wagon, because, of the seven stars, the two that seemed equal and very close together in one place were taken for oxen, while the remaining five made the figure of a wagon. And so they wished the sign next to it to be named Bootes, of which we shall say more later. Aratus, indeed, says that it is not for this reason that Bootes, or that constellation the Wagon, is so called, but because the Bear seems to revolve like a wagon about the pole called boreus, and Bootes is said to drive it. In this he seems to err considerably. For afterwards, from the seven stars, as Parmeniscus says, twenty-five were established by certain astronomers, so that the shape of a bear, not of seven stars, might be completed. And so the one who was formerly called Bootes, following the Wagon, was called Arctophylax, and in the same times in which Homer lived, this constellation was called Arctos. Of the seven triones [?] he says, in fact, that it is called by both names, both Bear and Wagon; but nowhere does he mention that Bootes is named Arctophylax.
Incidit etiam compluribus erratio, quibus de causis minor Arctos Phoenice appelletur, et illi qui hanc obseruant, uerius et diligentius nauigare dicantur; quare, si haec sit certior quam maior, non omnes hanc obseruent. qui non intellegere uidentur, de qua historia sit profecta ratio, ut Phoenice appelletur. Thales enim Milesius, qui diligenter de his rebus exquisiuit et hanc primus Arctum appellauit, natione fuit Phoenix, ut Herodotus dicit. igitur omnes qui Peloponnesum incolunt, priore utuntur Arcto. Phoenices autem quam a suo inuentore acceperunt, obseruant, et hanc studiosius perspiciendo diligentius nauigare existimantur, et uere eam ab inuentoris genere Phoenicen appellant.
It has also befallen many to err on this point: why the Little Bear is called Phoenice, and why those who watch it are said to navigate more truly and carefully; why, if this one is more reliable than the Great Bear, not everyone watches it. They seem not to understand from what story the reasoning arose that it is called Phoenice. For Thales of Miletus, who inquired diligently into these matters and was the first to call this constellation Arctos, was by race a Phoenician, as Herodotus says. So all who dwell in the Peloponnese use the former Bear. The Phoenicians, however, observe the one they received from their discoverer, and by watching it more eagerly are thought to navigate more carefully, and they rightly call it Phoenice, from the race of its discoverer.
III. SERPENS.
HIC uasto corpore ostenditur inter duas Arctos collocatus. qui dicitur aurea mala Hesperidum custodisse et ab Hercule interfectus, ab Iunone inter sidera collocatus, quod illius opera Hercules ad eum est profectus. qui hortum Iunonis tueri solitus existimatur. ait enim Pherecydes, Iunonem cum duceret Iuppiter uxorem, Terram uenisse ferentem aurea mala cum ramis. quae Iunonem admiratam, petisse a Terra, ut in suis hortis sereret, qui erant usque ad Atlantem montem. cuius filiae cum saepius de arboribus mala decerperent, Iuno dicitur hunc ibi custodem posuisse; hoc etiam signi erit, quod in sideribus supra eum draconem Herculis simulacrum ostenditur, ut Eratosthenes demonstrat; quare quosuis licet intellegere hinc maxime draconem dici.
III. The Dragon
This is shown with a vast body, placed between the two Bears. He is said to have guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides and, killed by Heracles, to have been set among the stars by Hera, because Heracles had gone to him through her doing. He is thought to have been accustomed to guard Hera's garden. For Pherecydes says that when Zeus was marrying Hera, Earth came bringing golden apples with their branches; Hera, admiring them, asked Earth to plant them in her gardens, which extended as far as Mount Atlas. When Atlas's daughters kept plucking apples from the trees, Hera is said to have set him there as guardian. This too will be a sign: that in the heavens above this dragon the image of Heracles is shown, as Eratosthenes demonstrates; so that anyone may understand that it is chiefly from this that he is called the Dragon.
nonnulli etiam dixerunt hunc draconem a gigantibus Mineruae obiectum esse, cum eos oppugnaret; Mineruam autem arreptum draconem contortum ad sidera iecisse, et ad ipsum axem caeli fixisse. itaque adhuc eum implicato corpore uideri, ut nuper ad sidera perlatum.
Some have also said that this dragon was hurled against Athena by the Giants when she was fighting them; and that Athena, seizing the writhing dragon, threw it to the stars and fixed it at the very axis of heaven. And so it is still seen with its body coiled, as if recently carried up to the stars.
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