XIV. OPHIUCHUS,
qui apud nostros scriptores Anguitenens est dictus, supra Scorpionem constituitur, tenens manibus anguem medium corpus eius implicantem. hunc complures Carnabonta nomine dixerunt Getarum, qui sunt in Thracia, regem fuisse; qui eodem tempore rerum est potitus, quo primum semina frugum mortalibus tradita esse existimantur. Ceres enim cum sua beneficia largiretur hominibus, Triptolemum, cuius ipsa fuerat nutrix, in curru draconum collocatum (qui primus omnium una rota dicitur usus, ne cursu moraretur) iussit omnium nationum agros circumeuntem semina partiri, quo facilius ipsi posterique eorum a fero uictu segregarentur. qui cum peruenisset ad eum, quem supra diximus Getarum regem, ab eo primum hospitaliter acceptus; deinde non ut beneficus aduena et innocens, sed ut crudelissimus hostis insidiis captus, aliorum paratus producere, suam paene perdidit uitam. Carnabontis enim iussu cum draco unus eorum esset interfectus, ne cum Triptolemus sensisset insidias sibi parari, curru praesidium sibi constituere speraret, Ceres eo uenisse et ereptum adolescenti currum, dracone altero subiecto, reddidisse, regem pro coepto maleficio poena non mediocri adfecisse narratur. Hegesianax enim dicit, Cererem memoriae hominum causa ita Carnabonta sideribus figurasse, manibus tenentem draconem ut interficere existimetur. qui ita uixerat acerbe, ut incundissimam sibi conscisceret mortem.
XIV. Ophiuchus (the Serpent-bearer)
Ophiuchus, who among our writers is called Anguitenens (Serpent-holder), is placed above the Scorpion, holding in his hands a serpent that twines about the middle of his body. Very many have said that he was Carnabon by name, king of the Getae, who live in Thrace; who came to power at the time when seeds of grain are thought first to have been handed to mortals. For Demeter, when she was bestowing her benefits on men, placed Triptolemus, whose nurse she herself had been, on a chariot of dragons (he is said to have been the first of all to use a one-wheeled chariot, so as not to be slowed in his course), and ordered him to go round the fields of all nations and distribute seed, so that they and their descendants might the more easily be separated from a wild way of life. When he had come to the one whom we said above was king of the Getae, he was at first received by him hospitably; then, not as a kindly and innocent stranger but as a most cruel enemy, caught by treachery, ready to bring forth [his gifts] for others [?], he almost lost his own life. For when, on Carnabon's order, one of the dragons had been killed, so that Triptolemus, when he sensed that plots were being prepared against him, should not hope to establish protection for himself by means of the chariot, Demeter, it is told, came there and restored to the youth the chariot that had been snatched away, another dragon being put in its place, and visited the king with no slight penalty for the crime he had begun. For Hegesianax says that Demeter, for the sake of men's memory, thus set Carnabon among the stars, holding a dragon in his hands as if to kill it. He had lived so harshly that he brought upon himself a most pleasant death [?].
Alii autem Herculem esse demonstrant, in Lydia apud flumen Sagarim anguem interficientem, qui et homines conplures interficiebat et ripam frugibus orbabat. pro quo facto ab Omphala, quae ibi regnabat, multis ornatum muneribus Argos remissum, ab Ioue autem propter fortitudinem inter sidera collocatum. Nonnulli etiam Triopan Thessalorum regem dixerunt esse; qui cum suum domicilium tegere conaretur, Cereris ab antiquis collocatum diruit templum. pro quo facto a Cerere fame obiecta, numquam postea frugibus ullis saturari potuisse existimatur. nouissime prope ad terminum uitae dracone obiecto, mala plurima perpessus, aliquando mortem adeptus, inter astra Cereris uoluntate est constitutus. itaque adhuc uidetur eum draco circumplexus aeterna merentem adficere poena.
Others, however, show that he is Heracles, killing a serpent in Lydia by the river Sagaris, which both killed very many men and robbed the bank of its crops; for this deed, adorned with many gifts by Omphale, who reigned there, he was sent back to Argos, and by Zeus, on account of his courage, was placed among the stars. Some have also said that he is Triopas, king of the Thessalians; who, when he was trying to roof his own dwelling, pulled down a temple of Demeter set up long ago. For this deed, famine having been sent on him by Demeter, he is thought never afterwards to have been able to be satisfied with any food. At last, near the end of his life, a dragon being set on him, having suffered very many evils and at length having obtained death, he was set among the stars by Demeter's will. And so even now the dragon is seen coiled around him, inflicting on him, as he deserves, an eternal penalty.
Polyzelus autem Rhodius hunc Phorbanta nomine demonstrat, qui Rhodiis auxilio maximo fuisse demonstratur. nam cum eorum insulam, serpentium multitudine occupatam, ciues Ophiussam appellassent, et in ea multitudine ferarum draco fuisset ingenti magnitudine, qui plurimos eorum interfecisset, et patria denique deserta carere coepisset, dicitur Phorbas Triopae filius ex Hiscilla Myrmidonis filia natus, eo tempestate delatus, omnes feras et eum draconem interfecisse. qui cum maxime Apollini dilectus esset, locatus inter sidera dicitur, ut interficiens draconem laudis et memoriae causa uideretur. itaque Rhodii quotienscumque longius a litore prodeunt classe, prius sacrificant Phorbantis aduentu, ut talis euentus inopinatae uirtutis accidat ciuibus, qualis inscium Phorbanta futurae laudis ad sidera gloriae pertulit casus.
Polyzelus of Rhodes, however, shows that he is Phorbas by name, who is shown to have been of the greatest help to the Rhodians. For when the citizens had called their island Ophiussa, since it was overrun by a multitude of serpents, and among that multitude of beasts there was a dragon of huge size, which had killed very many of them, and, their country at last deserted, they had begun to be without it, Phorbas son of Triopas, born of Hiscilla daughter of Myrmidon, is said to have been carried there by a storm and to have killed all the beasts and that dragon. Since he was greatly beloved by Apollo, he is said to have been placed among the stars so that he might be seen killing the dragon, for the sake of praise and memory. And so the Rhodians, whenever they go out farther from the shore with a fleet, first sacrifice for the arrival of Phorbas, so that such a result of unexpected courage may befall the citizens as the chance that carried Phorbas, unaware of the praise to come, to the stars of glory.
Complures etiam astrologi • hunc Aesculapium finxerunt, quem Iuppiter Apollinis causa inter astra collocauit. Aesculapius enim cum esset inter homines, et tantum medicina ceteris praestaret, ut non satis ei uideretur hominum dolores leuare, nisi etiam mortuos reuocaret ad uitam, nouissime fertur Hippolytum, quod iniquitate nouercae et inscientia parentis erat interfectus, sanasse, ita uti Eratosthenes dicit. Nonnulli Glaucum Minoos filium eius opera reuixisse dixerunt; pro quo, ut peccato, Iouem domum eius fulmine incendisse, ipsum autem propter artificium et Apollinem eius patrem inter sidera anguem tenentem constituisse. ut quidam dixerunt, hac de causa anguem dicitur tenere. quod cum Glaucum cogeretur sanare, conclusus quodam loco secreto, bacillum tenens manu, cum quid ageret cogitaret, dicitur anguis ad bacillum eius adrepsisse: quem Aesculapius mente commotus interfecit, bacillo fugientem feriens saepius. Postea fertur alter anguis eodem uenisse, ore ferens herbam, et in caput eius inposuisse; quo facto, utrosque loco fugisse. quare Aesculapium usum eadem herba et Glaucum reuixisse. itaque anguis et in Aesculapii tutela et in astris dicitur collocatus. qua consuetudine ducti posteri eius tradiderunt reliquis, ut medici anguibus uterentur.
Very many astrologers have also imagined this to be Asclepius, whom Zeus placed among the stars for Apollo's sake. For Asclepius, when he was among men, and so surpassed the rest in medicine that it did not seem enough to him to relieve men's pains unless he also called the dead back to life, is said last of all to have healed Hippolytus, who had been killed through his stepmother's injustice and his father's ignorance, as Eratosthenes says. Some have said that Glaucus, son of Minos, came back to life by his work; for this, as for an offence, Zeus burned his house with a thunderbolt, and set Asclepius himself, on account of his skill and for his father Apollo's sake, among the stars, holding a serpent. As some have said, he is said to hold a serpent for this reason: when he was compelled to heal Glaucus, shut up in a certain secluded place, holding a staff in his hand, while he was thinking over what to do, a serpent is said to have crept up to his staff; Asclepius, disturbed in mind, killed it, striking it repeatedly with the staff as it fled. Afterwards another serpent is said to have come to the same place, bearing a herb in its mouth, and to have laid it on the first one's head; whereupon both left the place. Hence, Asclepius having used the same herb, Glaucus came back to life. And so the serpent is said to have been placed both in Asclepius's tutelage and among the stars. Led by this custom his descendants handed down to the rest that physicians should use serpents.
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