Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

150 ASTRONOMIA. ASTRONOMIA.
Ilelle from the wrath of Ino, and hence the de- scopic. Under very favourable circumstances, howsiginations in Ovid of Phlyrxea Ovis, Pecus Atcha- ever, one of these may have occasionally been
mantidos Helles. discerned, as Hipparchus states, or, possibly, as
2. TuIE BULL, Taepos (Arat. 167), Taurzs we know to have been the case with other fixed
(Cic. German. Vitruv. Manil. i. 264), Bos (Ger- stars, one of them may have lost a portion of the
man. 181), was by some mythologers regarded as lustre which it at one period possessed, and have
the bull into which Jupiter transformed himself to become nearly or totally invisible. Be this as it
gain Europa; according to others as the cow into may, the disappearance of the seventh Pleiad gave
which Io was metamorphosed; in either case an rise to a multitude of legends. By HLesiod they
object of jealousy to Juno, as indicated by Ovid are styled'AvXaayeves, C/hildren of Atlas, from
(Fast. iv. 7. 7). In another passage (vi. 712), in whom the Roman poets adopted the expression
reference to the former idea, he speaks of him as Atlantides, the name of the damsels (Arat. 262)
Agenoreus, while Martial (x. 51) applies the epi- being Alcyone, Merope, C'elaeno, Electra, Sterope
thet Tyrius. (or Asterope, German.), Tayggete and illaia. Of
This constellation is chiefly remarkable from these six wedded divinities, the seventh a mortal
including within its limits two small but closely man, and thus her brilliancy became dimmed by
packed'clusters of stars, which attracted attention the influence of the debasing alliance. One or
at a very early period, and are distinguished by other of the above names is frequently employed
Homer (II. xviii. 486) and Hesiod (Erg. 615) as to denote the whole, as Taggete (Virg. Georg. iv.
the HYADES and PLEADEs, nnaes which they 232; Ov. M1et. iii. 594), M1aica (Virg. Georg. i.
still retain unchanged. 22;5), Sterope (Ov. Trist. x. 14), and in like
The HYraDss, TrclOes (Arat. 1 73), lIJFcles manner IlAELds or'leiaS is often used in the
(German. &c.), situated ill the forehead of the singular.
figure (ernl ravtl yjerTi7rw, Arat.; rrl Toa GoV- 3. THE TWINs, AiQuleot (Arat. 147), Gemini,cpdaov, Gemin.), derived their name Sarb ToO vCelw, (Cic. German. Vitruv. Manil. i. 265). The two
because the period of their setting in the morning brightest stars, being supposed to represent Castor
twilight (the end of November) marked the most and Pollux.
wet and stormy period of the year. By the Ita- 4. THE CRAB, KapMclhos (Arat. 147), Cancer
lian peasants they were denominated the sueclcle, (Cic. Vitrur. German. Manil. i. 265), called
i. e. the little swine, and hence it has been ima- Lernsaeusby Columella (x. 313), because, according
gined, but probably erroneously, that'TbEs is ety- to the legend, it crawled out of the Lernaean
mologically connected with "rs (Plin. H. XN xviii. swamp to attack Hercules while he was doing
26; Gell. xiii. 9). They set in the evening battle with the Hydra. The epithet Littoreus in
twilight at Rome, towards the close of the re- Ovid (flet. x. 127) and Manilius (iii. 316) pro.
public, about the 20th of April, and hence were bably refers merely to the ordinary habits of the
known as the sides Pariliciumn (or Paliliciumn), the animal, and not, as Ideler supposes, to the same
Parilia (or Palililia), the festival which marked the contest.
birth-day of the city, being kept upon the 21st. Two small stars in this constellation (%y, a) were
Ancient astronomers were not agreed as to the called vOmoo, Asini s. Aselli, the Donkeys, one being
number of stars included in the Hyades (see distinguished as the northern (,Bdpemo), the other
Schol. ad Arat.). Thales reckoned two only (viz. as the southern (vo'dvos), and a nebular brighta and E), the two eyes of the bull; Euripides ness between them, 4arm'T-, Praesepe, the Stall or
three; Achaeuls four; Hesiod five; Pherecydes Manger. (Arat. 894, &c.; Plin. If. N. xviii. 35
seven. The latter made nymphs of them, and the Ptolem.) These seem to form what Manilius calls
names have been preserved by Hyginus. One of Jagulae (v. 174, and note of Scalig.), although
these, Ti/yene, is put by Ovid (Fast. vi. 711) for Jucgula is a name sometimes applied to Orion.
the whole group, which elsewhere (v. 734) he 5. THE LION*, AE'wv (Arat. 149), Leo (Cic.
terms the Sidus Hyantis, in allusion to a legend German, Vitruv. Manil. i. 266), regarded as the
which he had previously (v. 169) recounted. Nemean lion slain by Hercules, and hence conStill more important were the PLEIADES, stantly termed simply Ne mnaeus (e.g. Manil. iii.
IlAeoaese, fIlJxi'ades (Hom. 1. c. Arat. 255 regards 409), The bright star now known as IRegauls, a
them as a distinct constellation), Pleiades (Ger- name introduced by Copernicus, was anciently, as we
man. &c. &c.), a word for which various etymo- learn from the scholiast on Aratus, called gao-tmAologies have been proposed, the most reasonable itos, and marked the heart of the animal (er}l Tiis
being the verb 7rXs7., their heliacal rising and Kcaphias). In Pliny it is Regin (H. N. xviii. 26, 28),
setting in the first half of May and the beginning in the scholiast on Germanicus, Tyberone, which is
of November having been the signal in the early either a corruption, or arose from his mistaking the
ages of Greece for the mariner to commence and to meaning of the word in Pliny, who says, " Stella
discontinue his voyages. The form freAeLaaes, i. e. Regin appellate Tuberoni in pectore Leonis," i. e.
the flock of pigeons, probably originated in a cor- The star on the Lion's heart called BRegia by
ruption. The Italian name was Vergiliae (Cic.), Tubero.
Sidels Vergiliarum (Vitruv. ix. 2), derived mani- 6. TImE VIRGIN, rlapOe'os (Arat. 96, &c.),
festly from their heliacal rising in spring. Aratus Virgo (Cic. German. Vitruv. Manil. i. 266), Erinotices the circumstance that they are commonly gone (Manil. ii. 552, et pass.), was mythically respoken of as the seven stars, although six only are garded as Aibc7, Justitia, or Astraea, or as Eqiyone,
visible, and thus Ovid also or as Ceres, or as Isis, or as Fortuna, the last
name being given to her, according to the scholiast
on Germanicus, " because she is a headless constelThe fact is that the cluster consists of six stars, lation."
whichl can be distinctly seen by the naked eye, The brightest star in the constellation is called
and of several very- small ones, which are tele- by Aratus:rTdxus, Spica (German. Vitruv.>