ARIES
a Ram, the first sign of the Zodiack. This was the Ram according to the Fable of the Golden Fleece, which car∣ried Phryxus and Helle through the Air, and which Jupiter plac'd among the Signs of the Zodiack. This Sign to this Day makes the Ver∣nal Equinox; although Vitruvius, tells us that when the Sun has reach'd the 1st. part of the Sign Arles, it makes the Vernal Equinox. Colu∣mella gives the reason why the Solstices and Aequinoxes among the Ancients were not at the entrance of the Signs, but at the 8th Part: This came to pass, says he, because then sol∣low'd the Festivals which had been appion∣ted about that time of the Year, at which, Endoxus, Meto, and other ancient Astronomres thought that the Points of the Aequinoxes and Solstices happen'd, though they were at the beginning of the Signs, as Hipparcus shew'd afterwards.
Aries, the Ram with the golden Fleece, so famous in fabulous Stories Strabo relates the Expeditions of Phryxus or Jason, and the Argonautes into Calches, for seizing and carry∣ing off the great Treasure that was there, and chiefly the great Mass of Gold which was gather'd out of the Sand of a River by the straining it through a Ram's Fleece; and from thence he concludes that all which the Poets have said of it, is nothing but a true History, either from the Nature of these Places, or from the successful Voyages which have been made thither at divers time.
Pliny gives a strange account of the Riches of Colches, and he forgets not the golden Fleece, because the best Gold is that which is gather'd out of Rivers by the help of Fleeces which gave occasion to the Fable.
Bochart thinks, that when the Poets ex∣press the Riches of the King of Colchos by-golden Fleece, it may proceed from the Ama biguity of the word Gasa, in its original Lan∣guage which is Syriac, for it signifies a Trea∣sure, and also a Fleece, and in allusion t∣this, the Poets took occasion to Pun. Heo adds as a probable Conjecture that the two Bulls which guard the Treasure are nothing else but the two Walls which encompass the Castle wherein it is kept, because the Syriac word Sour signifies a Bull and a Wall; and that the Dragon which guarded the Trea∣sure, was nothing else but the Iron Gate of the Castle, because Nachas signifies both a Dragon and Iron.