XXXIV. ORION.
Hunc Hesiodus Neptuni filium dicit ex Euryale Minois filia natum; concessum autem ei, ut supra fluctus curreret ut in terra, quemadmodum Iphiclo datum dicitur, ut • supra aristas curreret neque eas infringeret. Aristomachus autem dicit quendam Hyriea fuisse Thebis, Pindarus autem in insula Chio. hunc autem, cum Iouem et Mercurium hospitio recepisset, petisse ab his, ut sibi aliquid liberorum nasceretur. itaque quo facilius petitum impetraret, bouem immolasse et his pro epulis adposuisse. quod cum fecisset, poposcisse Iouem et Mercurium quod corium de boue foret detractum, et quod fecerant urinae in corium infudisse, et id sub terra poni iussisse; ex quo postea natum puerum, quem Hyrieus e facto Uriona appellaret. sed uenustate et consuetudine factum est, ut Orion uocaretur.
XXXIV. Orion
Hesiod says that he is the son of Poseidon, born of Euryale, daughter of Minos; and that it was granted him to run over the waves as on land, in the way that it is said to have been granted Iphiclus to run over ears of corn without breaking them. Aristomachus, however, says that there was a certain Hyrieus at Thebes, Pindar that he lived on the island of Chios. When he had received Zeus and Hermes as guests, he asked them that something of children might be born to him. And so, to obtain more easily what he asked, he sacrificed an ox and set it before them as a meal. When he had done this, Zeus and Hermes demanded the hide that had been stripped from the ox, and poured into the hide what they had urinated, and ordered it to be placed under the earth; from this afterwards a boy was born, whom Hyrieus, from the event, called Urion. But from charm and usage it came about that he was called Orion.
hic dicitur Thebis Chium uenisse et Oenopionis filiam Meropen per uinum cupiditate incensus conpressisse. pro quo facto ab Oenopione excaecatus et de insula eiectus existimatur Lemnum ad Uulcanum peruenisse et ab eo quendam ducem Cedaliona nomine accepisse. quem collo ferens dicitur ad Solem uenisse et ab eo sanatus, ut se ulcisceretur, Chium reuertisse. Oenopiona autem a ciuibus sub terra custoditum esse. quem postquam se inuenire posse desperaret Orion, in insulam Cretam peruenisse, et ibi uenari coepisse cum Diana, et ei polliceri quae supra diximus, et ita ad sidera peruenisse. nonnulli autem aiunt Oriona cum Oenopione prope nimia coniunctum amicitia uixisse, et quod ei uoluerit suum studium in uenando probare, Dianae quoque pollicitum quae supra diximus, et ita interfectum. alii dicunt cum Callimacho, cum Dianae uim uoluerit adferre, ab ea sagittis esse confixum et ad sidera propter uenandi consimile studium deformatum.
He is said to have come from Thebes to Chios and, inflamed by desire through wine, to have ravished Merope, daughter of Oenopion. For this deed he is thought to have been blinded by Oenopion and cast out of the island, and to have come to Lemnos to Hephaestus, and to have received from him a guide, Cedalion by name. Carrying him on his neck he is said to have come to the Sun and been healed by him, and to have returned to Chios to take vengeance. Oenopion, however, was kept hidden under the earth by the citizens. When Orion despaired of finding him, he came to the island of Crete, and there began to hunt with Artemis, and to promise her what we said above, and so reached the stars. Some, however, say that Orion lived with Oenopion in an almost too close friendship, and that, because he wished to prove to her his zeal in hunting, he promised Artemis also what we said above, and was thus killed. Others say, with Callimachus, that when he wished to do violence to Artemis, he was pierced by her arrows and formed among the stars on account of a like zeal in hunting.
Istrus autem dicit Oriona a Diana esse dilectum et paene factum, ut ei nupsisse existimaretur. quod cum Apollo aegre ferret, et saepe eam obiurgans nihil egisset, natantis Orionis longe caput solum uideri conspicatus, contendit cum Diana eam non posse sagittam mittere ad id, quod nigrum in mari uideretur. quae cum se uellet in eo studio maxime artificem dici, sagitta missa caput Orionis traiecit. itaque eum cum fluctus interfectum ad litus eiecisset, et se eum Diana percussisse plurimum doleret, multis eius obitum prosecuta lacrimis, inter sidera statuisse existimatur. sed quae post mortem eius Diana fecerit, in eius historiis dicemus.
Istrus, however, says that Orion was loved by Artemis, and that it nearly came about that she was thought to have married him. Apollo took this ill, and, though he had often rebuked her without effect, having noticed Orion swimming far out with only his head visible, he wagered with Artemis that she could not shoot an arrow at that dark object seen in the sea. She, wishing to be called most skilled in that art, shot the arrow and pierced Orion's head. And so, when the waves had cast him up dead on the shore, and Artemis grieved greatly that she had struck him, following his death with many tears, she is thought to have set him among the stars. But what Artemis did after his death we shall tell in her stories.
XXXV. CANIS.
Hic dicitur ab Ioue custos Europae adpositus esse et ad Minoa peruenisse. quem Procris Cephali uxor laborantem dicitur sanasse et pro eo beneficio canem muneri accepisse, quod illa studiosa fuerit uenationis, et quod cani fuerat datum, ne ulla fera praeterire eum posset. post eius obitum canis ad Cephalum peruenit, quod Procris eius fuerat uxor. quem ille ducens secum Thebas peruenit, ubi erat uulpes, cui datum dicebatur, ut omnes canes effugere posset. itaque cum in unum peruenissent, Iuppiter nescius quid faceret, ut Istrus ait, utrosque in lapidem conuertit. nonnulli hunc canem Orionis esse dixerunt, et quod studiosus fuerit uenandi, cum eo canem quoque inter astra conlocatum; alii autem Icari canem esse dixerunt, de quo ante diximus. quae multa proposita suos habent auctores. Sed Canis habet in lingua stellam unam, quae ipsa Canis appellatur, in capite autem alteram, quam Isis suo nomine statuisse existimatur et Sirion appellasse propter flammae candorem, quod eiusmodi sit, ut prae ceteris lucere uideatur. itaque quo magis eam cognoscerent, Sirion appellasse.
XXXV. The Dog
This is said to have been set by Zeus as guard of Europa, and to have come to Minos. Procris, wife of Cephalus, is said to have healed it when it was ailing, and for that kindness to have received the dog as a gift, because she was devoted to hunting; and it had been granted to the dog that no wild beast could get past it. After her death the dog came to Cephalus, because Procris had been his wife. Leading it with him, he came to Thebes, where there was a fox to which it was said to have been given that it could escape all dogs. So, when they met, Zeus, not knowing what to do, as Istrus says, turned both into stone. Some have said that this is Orion's dog, and that because he was devoted to hunting, the dog too was set among the stars with him; others have said that it is Icarus's dog, of whom we spoke before. These many suggestions have their authors. But the Dog has one star on its tongue, which is itself called Canis, and in its head another, which Isis is thought to have set up under her own name and to have called Sirius because of the whiteness of its flame, which is such that it seems to shine beyond the rest; and so, so that they might the better recognise it, she called it Sirius.
XXXVI. PROCYON.
Hic ante maiorem Canem exoriri uidetur, sed a nonnullis Orionis esse existimatur. hac etiam de causa Procyon est appellatus, sed isdem omnibus historiis quibus superior Canis annumeratur.
XXXVI. Procyon
This is seen to rise before the Greater Dog, but by some it is thought to be Orion's. For this reason also it is called Procyon, but it is counted in all the same stories as the Dog above.
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