IX. CEPHEUS.
Hunc Euripides cum ceteris Phoenicis filium, Aethiopum regem, esse demonstrauit, Andromedae patrem, quam ceto propositam notissimae historiae dixerunt, hanc autem Perseum a periculo liberatam uxorem duxisse. itaque ut totum genus eorum perpetuo maneret, ipsum quoque Cephea inter sidera superiores numerasse.
IX. Cepheus
Euripides, with the others, showed this to be the son of Phoenix, king of the Ethiopians, and father of Andromeda, whom, exposed to the sea monster, they have told in a very well-known story; and Perseus, having freed her from danger, married her. And so, that their whole family might remain for ever, the powers above also numbered Cepheus himself among the stars [?].
X. CASSIEPIA.
De hac Euripides et Sophocles et alii complures dixerunt, ut gloriata sit se forma Nereidas praestare. pro quo facto inter sidera sedens in siliquastro constituta est. quae propter impietatem, uertente se mundo, resupinato capite ferri uidetur.
X. Cassiepia
Of her Euripides and Sophocles and very many others have said that she boasted that she surpassed the Nereids in beauty. For this act she was set among the stars, seated on a siliquastrum (a kind of chair). Because of her impiety, as the heavens turn, she is seen to be carried with her head thrown back.
XI. ANDROMEDA.
Haec dicitur Mineruae beneficio inter sidera collocata, propter Persei uirtutem, quod eam ceto propositam periculo liberarat. nec enim ab ea minorem animi beneuolentiam pro beneficio accepit. nam neque pater Cepheus, neque Cassiepia mater ab ea potuerunt impetrare, quin parentes ac patriam relinquens Persea sequeretur. sed de hac Euripides hoc eodem nomine fabulam commodissime scribit.
XI. Andromeda
She is said to have been placed among the stars by Athena's favour, on account of Perseus's valour, because he had freed her from danger when she was exposed to the sea monster; for he did not receive from her a smaller kindness of heart in return for his benefit. For neither her father Cepheus nor her mother Cassiepia could obtain from her that she should not leave her parents and her country and follow Perseus. But about her Euripides wrote, most fittingly, a play of this same name.
XII. PERSEUS.
Hic nobilitatis causa et quod inusitato genere concubitionis esset natus, ad sidera dicitur peruenisse. qui missus a Polydecte Magnetis filio ad Gorgonas, a Mercurio, qui eum dilexisse existimatur, talaria et petasum accepit; praeterea galeam, qua indutus ex aduerso non poterat uideri. itaque Graeci Ἄϊδος galeam dixerunt esse, non ut quidam inscientissime interpretantur, eum Orci galea usum; quae res nemini docto potest probari. fertur etiam a Uulcano falcem accepisse ex adamante factam, qua Medusam Gorgona interfecit; quod factum nemo conscripsit. sed ut ait Aeschylus tragoediarum scriptor in Phorcisi, Graeae fuerunt Gorgonum custodes; de quibus in primo libro Genealogiarum scripsimus. quae utraeque uno oculo usae existimantur, et ita suo quaeque tempore accepto oculo uigilias egisse. hunc Perseus, una earum tradente, exceptum in paludem Tritonidam proiecit. itaque custodibus excaecatis, facile Gorgonam somno consopitam interfecit. cuius caput Minerua in pectore dicitur habere collocatum. Euhemerus quidem Gorgonam a Minerua dicit interfectam; de quo alio tempore plura dicemus.
XII. Perseus
This one is said to have reached the stars on account of his renown, and because he was born by an unusual kind of union. Sent by Polydectes, son of Magnes, to the Gorgons, he received from Hermes, who is thought to have been fond of him, winged sandals and a petasus (traveller's cap); also a helmet, wearing which he could not be seen face to face. And so the Greeks said that the helmet is 'Ἄϊδος', not, as some very ignorantly interpret it, that he used the helmet of Orcus; which cannot be approved by anyone learned. It is also reported that he received from Hephaestus a sickle made of adamant, with which he killed Medusa the Gorgon; which fact no one has recorded. But as Aeschylus, the writer of tragedies, says in the Phorcides, the Graeae were the guards of the Gorgons; about whom we wrote in the first book of the Genealogiae. Both are thought to have used a single eye, and so each, taking the eye in her own turn, kept watch. Perseus, one of them handing it over, took it and threw it into Lake Tritonis. And so, the guards blinded, he easily killed the Gorgon, put to sleep. Her head Athena is said to keep placed on her breast. Euhemerus, however, says that the Gorgon was killed by Athena; about which we shall say more on another occasion.
XIII. HENIOCHUS.
Hunc nos aurigam latine dicimus, nomine Erichthonium, ut Eratosthenes monstrat. quem Iuppiter cum uidisset primum inter homines equos quadrigis iunxisse, admiratus est ingenium hominis ad Solis inuenta accessisse, quod is princeps quadrigis inter deos est usus. sed Erichthonius et quadrigas, ut ante diximus, et sacrificia Mineruae et templum in arce Atheniensium primus instituit.
XIII. Heniochus (the Charioteer)
We call this one in Latin the Charioteer (auriga), by name Erichthonius, as Eratosthenes shows. When Zeus saw him first among men to have yoked horses to a four-horse chariot, he admired the ingenuity of the man in having arrived at the inventions of the Sun, because the Sun was the first among the gods to use a quadriga. But Erichthonius, as we said before, also first instituted chariots, and the sacrifices of Athena, and the temple on the acropolis of the Athenians.
de cuius progenie Euripides ita dicit: Uulcanum Mineruae pulchritudine corporis inductum, petisse ab ea, ut sibi nuberet, neque impetrasse; et coepisse Mineruam sese occultare in eo loco, qui propter Uulcani amorem Hephaestius est appellatus. quo persecutum Uulcanum, ferunt coepisse ei uim afferre, et cum plenus cupiditatis ad eam ut complexui se applicaret, repulsus effudit in terram uoluptatem. quo Minerua, pudore permota, pede puluerem iniecit. ex hoc autem nascitur Erichthonius anguis, qui ex terra et eorum dissensione nomen possedit.
On his birth Euripides speaks thus: Hephaestus, drawn by the beauty of Athena's body, asked her to marry him and did not obtain it; and Athena began to hide herself in that place which, because of Hephaestus's love, was called Hephaestius. Hephaestus, pursuing her there, is said to have begun to use force on her, and when, full of desire, he pressed himself against her to embrace her, repulsed, he spilled his pleasure on the ground. At this Athena, moved by shame, threw dust over it with her foot. From this is born Erichthonius, a serpent, who took his name from earth and from their strife.
eum dicitur Minerua in cistula quadam ut mysteria contectum, ad Erechthei filias detulisse et his dedisse seruandum; quibus interdixit, ne cistulam aperirent. sed ut hominum est natura cupida, ut eo magis appetant, quo interdicatur saepius, uirgines cistam aperuerunt et anguem uiderunt. quo facto, insania a Minerua iniecta, de arce Atheniensium se praecipitauerunt. anguis autem ad Mineruae clipeum confugit et ab ea est educatus.
Athena is said to have taken him, hidden in a little chest like a sacred mystery, to the daughters of Erechtheus and given him to them to keep; she forbade them to open the chest. But, as human nature is greedy, so that people desire the more the more often it is forbidden, the maidens opened the chest and saw the serpent. At this, madness having been cast on them by Athena, they threw themselves from the acropolis of the Athenians. The serpent fled to Athena's shield and was raised by her.
alii autem anguina tantum crura habuisse Erichthonium dixerunt, eumque primo tempore adolescentiae ludos Mineruae Panathenaea fecisse et ipsum quadrigis cucurrisse; pro quibus factis inter sidera dicitur collocatus. nonnulli etiam, qui de sideribus scripserunt, hunc natione Argeum, Orsilochum nomine, primum quadrigarum inuentorem esse dixerunt et pro inuentione siderum locum possedisse. alii autem hunc Mercurii filium ex Clytia natum, nomine Myrtilum, Oenomai aurigam definierunt, cuius post notam omnibus mortem parens corpus in mundo constituisse existimatur.
Others, however, said that Erichthonius had only serpents' legs, and that in the first period of his youth he held the Panathenaic games for Athena and himself raced in a chariot; for these deeds he is said to have been placed among the stars. Some also, who have written about the stars, have said that he was an Argive by birth, Orsilochus by name, the first inventor of four-horse chariots, and that in return for his invention he took a place among the stars. Others have defined him as Myrtilus, son of Hermes by Clytia, the charioteer of Oenomaus, whose death, known to all, his father is thought to have commemorated by setting his body in the heavens.
Huius in humero sinistro Capra instare, et in manu sinistra Haedi uidentur formati; de quibus nonnulli ita dicunt: Olenum quendam fuisse Uulcani filium; ex hoc duas nymphas Aega et Helicen natas, quae Iouis fuerunt nutrices. alii autem etiam ab his urbes quasdam appellari dixerunt, et Olenon in Aulide, Helicen autem in Peloponneso, et [Aegam in] Haemonia ibi nominari, de quibus Homerus in Iliadis secundo dicit. Parmeniscus autem ait Melissea quendam fuisse Cretae regem; ad eius filias Iouem nutriendum esse delatum. quae quod lac non habuerint, capram ei admisisse, Amaltheam nomine, quae eum dicitur educasse. hanc autem geminos haedos solitam esse procreare et fere eo tempore peperisse, quo Iuppiter nutriendus est adlatus. itaque propter beneficium matris et haedos quoque dicitur inter sidera collocasse. hos autem haedos Cleostratus Tenedius dicitur primus inter sidera ostendisse. Musaeus autem dicit Iouem nutritum a Themide et Amalthea nympha; quibus eum mater Ops tradidisse existimatur. Amaltheam autem habuisse capram quandam ut in deliciis, quae Iouem dicitur aluisse.
On his left shoulder the She-goat (Capra) is seen to stand, and in his left hand the Kids (Haedi) are seen formed; about these some say as follows: that Olenus was a son of Hephaestus; from him were born two nymphs, Aega and Helice, who were the nurses of Zeus. Others, moreover, said that certain cities also were named from them: Olenus in Aulis [?], Helice in the Peloponnese, and [Aega in] Haemonia; Homer speaks of these in the second book of the Iliad. Parmeniscus, however, says that there was a certain Melisseus, king of Crete; that Zeus was brought to his daughters to be nursed. Since they had no milk, they let a she-goat be brought to him, Amalthea by name, which is said to have reared him. This goat was accustomed to bear twin kids, and usually gave birth at the very time when Zeus was brought to be nursed. And so, for the sake of his mother's kindness, he is said also to have placed the kids among the stars. Cleostratus of Tenedos is said to have been the first to show these kids among the stars. Musaeus, however, says that Zeus was nursed by Themis and the nymph Amalthea, to whom his mother Ops is thought to have handed him. Amalthea, he says, had a certain she-goat as a pet, which is said to have fed Zeus.
nonnulli etiam Aega Solis filiam dixerunt, multis candore corporis praestantem, cui contrarius pulchritudinis horribilis aspectus exsistebat. quo Titanes perterriti petierunt a Terra, ut eius corpus obscuraret; quam Terra specu quodam celasse dicitur in insula Creta quae postea Iouis fuisse nutrix, ut ante ostendimus, demonstratur. sed cum Iuppiter fidens adolescentia, bellum contra Titanas appararet, responsum est ei, si uincere uellet, ut αἰγὸς pelle tectus et capite Gorgonis, bellum administraret, quam aegida Graeci appellauerunt. itaque facto eo, quo supra declarauimus, Iuppiter Titanas superans regnum est adeptus, et reliqua ossa αἰγὸς caprina pelle contecta, anima donauit et stellis figuratam memoriae commendauit; et postea, quibus ipse uicerat tectus, Mineruae concessit.
Some have also called Aega a daughter of the Sun, excelling many in whiteness of body, whose horrible look of terror stood opposed to her beauty. The Titans, terrified at this, asked Earth to hide her body; Earth is said to have concealed her in a certain cave on the island of Crete, which afterwards, as we showed before, is declared to have been Zeus's nurse. But when Zeus, trusting in his youth, was preparing war against the Titans, an answer was given to him that, if he wished to win, he should conduct the war covered with the skin of the αἰγός (goat) and with the head of the Gorgon, which the Greeks have called the aegis. And so, when this had been done, as we declared above, Zeus, overcoming the Titans, obtained the kingdom, and, giving breath to the remaining bones, covered with goat-skin, he consigned it, formed of stars, to memory; and afterwards, covered in what he had himself conquered with, he gave it to Athena.
Euhemerus ait Aega quandam fuisse Panos uxorem; eam ab Ioue compressam peperisse, quem uiri sui Panos diceret filium; itaque puerum Aegipana, Iouem autem Aegiochum appellatum. qui, quod eum diligebat plurimum, inter astra caprae figuram memoriae causa collocauit.
Euhemerus says that Aega was a certain wife of Pan; that, ravished by Zeus, she bore a child whom she said was her husband Pan's son; and so the boy was called Aegipan, and Zeus Aegiochus. He, because he loved him very much, set among the stars the shape of a goat, for the sake of memory.
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