I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/nnetricalpieces01frot ^ "^^' l^l^ /^^ ./>^?>T^-'^^ /L-^^. , y ^5 METRICAL PIECES, TRANSLATED AND ORIGINAL, BY N. L. FRO THIN GH AM. BOSTON: CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY, 111 TTashington Street. 18 5 5. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by Crosby, Nichols, and Compant, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts CAMBRIDGE: METCALF AXD C05IPANT, PRINTERS TO THE UNITERSITT. mi FRIENDS OF MY LIFE, ITS LIGHTER STUDIES. CONTENTS, TRANSLATIONS. FROM THE GREEK, LATIN, AND ITALIAN. PAGE The Phenomena, or Appearances of the Stars. (From the Greek of Aratus.) 1 The Shade of Cornelia to Paulus. (Propertius, Book IV. Elegy XL) 65 To-morrow. (Martialis, V. 58.) 75 Manzoni's " Cinque Maggio," 76 FROM THE GERMAN. Goethe. Song of the Parca? in " Iphigenia," .... 83 Stability in Change, . . 86 a* VI CONTEXTS. Schiller. The Opening of the New Century, .... 89 Sioux Death- Song, 92 Cassandra, 95 The Festival of Eleusis, 102 The Flowers, 115 A Dithyramb, 117 Sayings of Confucius, 119 Herder. Ode to the Hebrew Prophets, 121 RiJCKERT. The Dying Flower, 125 Strung Pearls, 130 A Gazelle, 143 Quatrains, in the Persian Manner, 145 Al-Sirat, 147 The Value of Years, 150 Solomon and the Sower, 153 From the Youth-Time, 154 The Old Man's Song, 157 The Xourisher, 158 A Gazelle, 161 Mother Sun, 161 Bethlehem and Golgotha, 168 CONTEXTS. VU The Evening Song, . . . . . . . .172 Midnight, 175 Sicilian, 177 From " Love's Spring," 178 Five Little Stories, 181 Uhland. King Charles's Voyage, 209 Baron von Zedlitz. The Night Review, 214 Count von Aueespero. The Last Poet, 219 Men's Tears, 223 ORIGINAL PIECES. Hymns. For the Ordination of Mr. TVilliam P. Lunt, at New York, June 19, 1828, 227 For the Installation of Rev. Y/illiam P. Lunt, at Quincy, Mass., June 3, 1835, 229 For the Ordination of Mr. Henry W. Bellows, at New York, 1839, 231 For the Centennial Celebration of the Alumni of Harvard College, August 23, 1842, 232 VIU CONTENTS. For the Ordination of Mr. Eufus Ellis, at Northampton, June 7, 1843, 234 For the Dedication of the New House of "Worship built by the Proprietors of the Second Church in Boston, Sep- tember 7, 1845, 236 For the Installation of Eev. David Fosdick, as Minister of the HoUis Street Society, Boston, March 3, 1846, . . 237 For the Ordination of Mr. O. B. Frothingham, as Minister of the North Church in Salem, March 10, 1847, . . 239 For the Dedication of the Church of the Saviour, Boston, November 10, 1847, 240 For the Thirty-Second Annual Visitation of the Divinity School at Cambridge, July 14, 1848, . . . .242 For the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Boston Female Asylum, September 20, 1850, 244 For the Installation of Rev. Eufus Ellis as Pastor of the FirstChurchof Christ in Boston, May 4, 1853, . . 246 Communion Hymn, 248 Communion Hymn, 250 For the Dedication of a Unitarian Church, . . . 251 Fragments and Memories from the Early Time. Lines written in the Case of a Watch, the Gift of , . 254 To a Sigh, 255 The Eenunciation, 256 CONTENTS. IX A Summer Evening, 258 To , bereft of Reason, 260 To , 263 To A. G. F. At Sea, 267 A Sunset in Italy, 269 To A Changing Friend, 270 Scattered. The Burying-Ground at New Haven, .... 276 In an Album, 278 Shakespeare's Mulberry-Tree, 280 To a Lady, who complained that her Heart had lost its Youth, 281 The Heart's Dialogue, 282 An Epithalamium, 284 To the Shade of Robert Ilerrick, 286 A National Ode, 287 Daniel "Webster, 290 Ode Sung at the Dorchester Celebration of July 4, 1855, 291 To an Invalid, 293 Strength, 295 In a Funeral Album, 298 A Departure, 299 To the Old Family Clock, 301 To a Dead Tree, with a Vine trained over it, . . . 303 X CONTENTS. The Four Halcyon Points of the Year, .... 306 The McLean Asylum, Somerville, 310 To Elsie, 314 A Meditation, 318 The Autumnal Equinox, 320 Odysseus and Calypso, 323 Triflings. Song, sung at the Opening of the " Tremont House," Oc- tober 16, 1829, 333 Lines on the Restoration of the Federal Street Theatre, . 336 A Winter Soliloquy, 346 Xenia. With a Mosaic Butterfly, 349 With a Mosaic Table, 350 With a Watch, 351 With a Flowered Fan, 353 With a Pair of Spectacles, 354 With a Gold Pen in Ivory, 354 With a Copy of " Vanity Fair," 356 With an Opera-Glass, 357 With a Mosaic " Forget me Not," . . . . . 359 With a Bible, on a Wedding-Day, 361 ToH.E. S., 362 7 TRANSLATIONS THE PHENOMENA, APPEARANCES OF THE STARS TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK OF A E A T U S . PREFACE. This piece is at least a singular relic, if we are not permitted to call it a very poetical one, from the old world. It is singular for its unusual sub- ject, its extreme simplicity of composition, and its extraordinary fortune. It was the first attempt, so far as we know, to represent in verse the groups and motions of the stars ; and the design is carried through with a severe plainness, which may seem dry and insipid to modern taste. The poet appears to have relied for effect more upon the charm of his numbers than any ornaments of fancy. But though the work is thus technical in its matter, and unimaginative in its form, seeming to have little to invite popularity or even to preserve itself alive, — though the most eloquent of Roman scholars speaks of its author as not profoundly 4 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. acquainted with the very phenomena he under- takes to describe,* and the most masterly of Ro- man critics dismisses him with the coldest of all praise, f — it has yet received marks of the highest favor in all ages, and arrived at distinctions such as few of the compositions of antiquity have reached. Ovid prophesied that it should live for ever with the luminaries it described. It was translated by Cicero, who, in questioning the sci- ence of the astronomer, expressed his admiration of the poet. It was translated again by German- icus, the princely and beloved. After the mention of these names, one almost forgets the humbler one of Avienus, whose paraphrase appeared not less than four hundred years later. The magnifi- cent poem of Manilius is under great obligations to it, and Virgil himself has frequently honored it with his use. Above all, the Apostle to the Gen- tiles has invested it with a sort of religious interest by quoting from it, with literal exactness, in his address to the Athenians at ]\Iars' Hill : " For we are even His offspring." Doubtless, it was this high authority of St. Paul that introduced his * Cicero, De Oratore, 1. 16. t Quintilianus, 10. 1. PREFACE. fellow-countryman — for Aratus also was a Ci- lician — to the Fathers of the Church. Their allusions to him, however, are short, and without any pretensions to criticism. In later times he has been by no means neg- lected ; as various editions of both his poems, the former of which only is here presented, abundantly testify. Hugo Grotius, before he was eighteen years old, devoted to it the first effort of his literary strength, as the great Roman orator had done before him. If Vossius could say, that it was wonderful how many Greek commentators had written upon it, whose works were lost, we may add that other annotations and comments have continued to be written, down to the present day, which may not perish so easily. Yet, with all these claims on attention, the poem has never appeared in the English language. The translator offers this as an apology for the attempt he here makes to supply a literary deficiency. In performing his task, he has chosen to present the plain old bard literally, and in his own manner, rather than try to recommend him by modern airs and fancied embellishments. As for his poetical merits, which have been so variously judged of. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. we must at least concede something to the illus- trious names that have reflected their praise upon him. And if we are compelled to say, with De- lambre, that he was rather a versifier than either an accurate astronomer or a true poet, it yet will be but justice to add, with Bailly, that " time pre- serves only the works that defend themselves against it." * The variations of the Greek text, and its discre- pancies with the earliest versions, indicate that it has had its share of corruptions. The edition of Buhle, with its copious critical apparatus, seemed to leave nothing to be desired. But the present translation has availed itself, besides, of the later edition of Matthise ; of that published in 1821 by the Abbe Halma, from manuscripts in the Royal Library at Paris ; and of the readings of the learned Voss, — though with a prudent jealousy of his fondness for conjectural emendations.f Boston, 1840. * Histoire de V Astronomic Moderne, I, 14. t Two editions have been published since, one by Buttmann in 1826, and another by Bekker in 1828, both at Berlin; but these I have not seen. POSTSCRIPT. Since this Preface was written, and this trans- lation completed, both the " Phenomena " and " Diosemeia " of Ai'atus have been rendered into English verse by Dr. John Lamb, Master of Cor- pus Christi College, Cambridge, and Dean of Bristol. This work was published in 1848. It is altogether too paraphrastic for fidelity ; occasion- ally adding what is nowhere in the original, and omitting what it does not care to present. Its measure is sometimes defective and sometimes redundant, and its rhymes are frequently inad- missible. The name of the " Little Bear " it al- ways writes " Cynosyra," in total disregard of the Greek diphthong, and in forgetfulness of many a beautiful line of English poetry ; and, on the other hand, stars that have no names in the Greek text are spoken of under the Arabian titles, which were not bestowed upon them till centuries after the age of Aratus. Boston, 1853. THE APPEAEANCES OF THE STARS. From Jove begin we.* Let us never leave Him uninvoked ; for full of Jove are all The paths of mortals ; their assemblies all ; The sea is full, the harbors ; — everywhere, We all in all things need the aid of Jove. For we are even his offspring.! Kind to men, He shows good omens ; spurs to toil the nations,. Reminding of life's needs ; tells when the glebe Is best for ox and spade ; what hour 's propitious * The Scholiast Theon says well at this place : " Very becom- ingly does Aratus, being about to declare the position of the stars, invoke in the beginning Jove, the Father and Maker of them. For by Jove is to be understood the Creator of the -svorld." t This is the passage quoted by St. Paul, Acts xvii. 28. 10 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. To set the plant and broadcast sow the seed. For He in heaven these signs has firmly set, Ordering the constellations ; and each year Appoints the stars to teach what man should do, That all things may spring forth in their due season. Him they propitiate, then. Him First and Last* Hail, Sire ! all wonder, and all aid to men ! Hail, Thou and thy first offspring ! hail, ye Muses, Most gracious all ! If rightly I invoke you Singing the stars, inspire and fill the song. Some fixed and many, others wandering wide. Roll daily in heaven, continuous, without end ; Yet not a jot is moved the steady axis, * Voss, in his translation, reduces the last words of this line to mere adverbs. And so the Scholiast understood them, who says : " This may refer to the libations ; since the first of these was for the Olympian gods, the second for heroes, and the last for Jupiter the Saviour." But the text will bear perfectly well the present nobler intei-pretation. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 11 Unalterable, but holds on all sides poised The central earth, while round it sweeps the sky. Two poles, one at each end, its limits mark, One out of sight, one at the opposite North High up from Ocean. Close surrounding it Two Bears revolve tog'ether, — thence called Wains* — Which keep their heads for ever toward the haunches Each of the other ; back to back they move, * The play upon words, in this mistaken etymology, cannot be represented in English, and is trifling enough in the Greek. The simple fact is, that the larger of these constellations was known by the different names of the Bear, and the Wain or Ox-Cart, as early as the time of Homer. This diversity in the image of so con- spicuous a group of stars might have arisen from the opposite associ- ations of the hunter's and the herdsman's life. " It is a curious co- incidence, that among the Algonquins of the Atlantic and of the Mississippi, alike among the Narragansetts and the Illinois, the north star was called the Bear." — Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. III. p. 314. Aulus Gellius has one of his pleasantest httle narratives, Lib. II. cap. 21, about the Bear, Wagon, or, as the Romans called it, the Septemtriones. 12 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. By turns supine and upright. If we credit The tale, from Crete by Jove's great favor these Ascended into heaven. He was their nursling. On fragrant Dictos, near the Idaean mount,* They lodged him in a cave a year, and fed him ; While Saturn was deceived by the Dictaean Curetes. One they name the Cynosura,f The other Helice. The Grecian sailor By Helice directs his bark ; Phoenicians, * There is not the least authority for the new reading of Voss in this passage ; and the mythologists and geographers may be left to settle the difficulty of the text as they best can. t The Great Bear, Bootes, and the Hound of Orion, are men- tioned by Homer; Arcturus, and the Hound, by his name Sirius, are mentioned by Hesiod ; and the Pleiades, the Hyades, and Orion, by both those ancient poets. The only constellations that are al- luded to beyond doubt in the Holy Scriptures are the Dragon, the Pleiades, Orion, and the Bear. Amos v. 8 ; Job ix. 9, xxvi. 13, xxxviii. 31, 32. The "Arcturus " of Job, xxxviii. and ix., is now gen- erally understood by the learned to be the Great Bear. — The Little Bear was introduced into Greece by Thales from the East, whence, indeed, came most of the other constellations, especially those of the Zodiac. We must admit this, notwithstanding the assertion of Pliny to the contrary. Hist. Nat. 2. 8. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. lo Confiding in the former, plough the deep.* Clearest, indeed, and readiest to the sight, Shines broadly Helice at earliest eve ; But her small mate best guides the mariner. Revolving in a narrower round than she By her too the Sidonians voyage straightestf The twain disparting, like a river's flood,f Vast wonder, rolls the Dragon, bending round His coil immense; while upon each side stand The Bears, safe lifted from the dark-blue sea.§ * " And thou shalt be our star of Arcady, Or Tyrian Cynosure." — Milton's Comus. + " Esse duas Arctos ; quarum Cynosura petatur Sidoniis, Heliccn Graia carina notet." Ovid. Fasti, 3. 107, 108. X " Maximus hie flexu sinuoso elabitur Anguis Circum, pcrque duas, in morcra fluminis, Arctos." Virg. Georg. 1. 244-24G. § "Arctos, Occani ractuentcs a?quore tingi." — Georg. 1. 247. " liquidiquc immunia ponti." — Ovid. Fasti, 4. 575. " Ol'r; 5' ciiJifxopos eari Xoerpcov '^Kcavolo." 11.18. 489, and Od>/s. 5. 273. 14 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. One with his tail he measures, stretching far, While in his folds he clasps the other ; its tip Rests at the head of the bear Helice, While Cynosura's head lies in that coil, Which thence descending reaches to her foot. And thence again twines backward. Nor from one Point, nor with single star, his huge head shines : Two in his temples beam, two in his eyes. While one yet lower studs the monster's jaw. That head aslant seems nodding towards the tail Of Helice, with whose extremest end The jaw and the right temple range in line.* Itself keeps floating near about the spot, Where furthest West and East embrace each other. Near it there rolls, like to a struggling man, * The objection of Hipparchus, that we should read "the left temple," was hasty. The image of the Dragon, according to Eu- doxus, which is that described by Aratus, shows both temples ; — presenting the front face and not the profile. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 15 An Image none knows certainly to name,* Nor what he labors for. But yet they call him Engonasin ; f because upon his knees Cuouching he seems; while over both his shoul- ders His hands are spread, on this side and on that, A fathom wide ; and full upon the forehead He tramples with his foot the crooked Dragon. There too that Crown, which Bacchus set on high,t A brilliant sign of the lost Ariadne, * " Nixa venit Species genibus, sibi conscia causae." Manil. 1. 322. t Engonasin ; that is, the Kneeling One ; so named, or rather forborne to be named, by Ptolemy. "Ignota facies," adds Ma- nilius, 5. 646. It is remarkable that Aratus always speaks of tliis constellation as if with a superstitious reserve. See line 614. The name it now bears is Hercules. Dr. Lamb thinks "no one can doubt (?) that this figure represents our first parent Adam after the Fall." t "Gnosia stella Corona;." — Virg. Georg. 1. 222. " Coronam Gnosida." — Ovid. Fasti, 3. 457, 458. 16 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Rolls 'neath the shoulder of the wearied Image. His shoulder nears the Crown ; but for his head, Seek it by that of Ophiuchus. Hence You may point out that glittering Serpent-Bearer Himself. Below the head the shining shoulders How manifest ! e'en in the full moon's light They may be seen. The hands indeed match not, Where only here and there a thin ray glimmers. Yet still not unobservable, nor mean, E'en these ; but they are burdened with the Snake, That girdles Ophiuchus. He, firm fixed. With both his feet tramples that mighty beast,* The Scorpion, on the eye and breastplate standing Erect ; while in both hands the Serpent writhes, — Small in the right, but in the left reared high. And ending with his maw close to the Crown. * Our poet is here at fault. Only the left foot of Ophiuchus presses the Scoi-pion. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 17 Under his coil seek for the mighty Claws ; * Though these are scant of beams, in nothing splendid. Just behind Helice, moves like a driver Arctophylax, whom men Bootes call,! Because he seems to urge the wain of the Bear ; — In each part shining, but beneath his zone Outshines the rest Arcturus, radiant star. Below Bootes' feet thou seest the Virgin, An ear of corn held sparkling in her hand. * The ancient name of the seventh sign of the Zodiac was Claws (Chelae), that is, of the Scorpion. The substitution of Libra, the Balance, with its corresponding picture, has been ascribed by some to Julius Caesar. See Virgil's Georg. 1. 32-35. t This constellation is called either Arctophylax, Bear-Keeper, or Bootes, Herdsman, according as Helice is pictured as a Bear or a Cart. The poet confounds the two figures together in the next line. See note, p. 11. " The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous mane, Seems to cast water on the burning Bear, And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole." — Shakespeare. 18 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Whether the daughter of AstrsBus, who First grouped the stars, they say, in days of old, — Or whencesoever, — peaceful may she roll ! Another fable runs, that once on earth She made abode, and deigned to dwell with mortals. In those old times, never of men or dames She shunned the converse ; but sat with the rest. Immortal as she was. They called her Justice. Gathering the elders in the public forum, Or in the open highway, earnestly She chanted forth laws for the general weal. Not yet was known contention mischievous. Nor fierce recrimination, nor uproar. So lived they. Far off rolled the surly sea. No ship yet from a distance brought supplies. But ploughs and oxen brought them. Queen of nations. Justice herself poured all just gifts on man. As long as earth still nursed a golden race, There walked she ; — but consorted with the silver THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 19 Rarely, and with reserves, nor always ready ; Demanding the old customs back again. Nor yet that silver race she quite forsook. At evening twilight, from the echoing mountains She came alone. No gracious words fell from her ; But when the people filled the heights around. She threatened and rebuked their wickedness, Refusing, though besought, to appear again : " How have your golden fathers left a race Degenerate I But you shall breed a worse. And then shall wars, and then shall hateful blood- shed, Be among men ; and grief press hard on crime." This said, she sought the mountains ; and the people. Whose eyes still strained upon her, left for ever. And when these also died, those others sprang, A brazen race, more wicked than the last. These first the sword, that road-side malefactor. Forged ; these first fed upon the ploughing oxen ; 20 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. And Justice then, hating that generation, Flew heavenward, and inhabited that spot Where now at night may still be seen the Virgin, Near the far-seeing Driver. O'er her shoulders [In the left wing, and called Vindemiator] * Revolves a star, in size and light as wondrous As hangs upon the tail of the Great Bear.f Glittering is she, — the Bear, — and bright the stars Near her ; — thou needest none to guide thy gaze. How large and beauteous that before her feet ! One 'neath the shoulder ; one below the loins ; At the hinder knees another ; | — but they all Without or name or figure separate roll. * This line is found in the editions of Halma and Matthiei. It is rejected, however, by Buhle, and translated neither by Germani- cus, Avienus, nor Voss. t Undoubtedly Vindemiator, the Vintager, is here intended, though praised quite highly enough. " At non effugit Vindemitor," Ovid. Fasti, 3. 407, where is related the fable of its origin. t Cor Caroli, the Hunting Dogs, and the Hair of Berenice are supposed to be here denoted. The whole passage, however, is THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 21 Under her head the Twins appear, below Her middle is the Crab. Beneath her feet The Lion flames. There the sun's com'se runs hottest. Empty of grain the arid fields appear, When first the sun into the Lion enters. Then too the loud Etesian winds fall thick On the broad sea. No time is this for oars k In voyaging. The wide ship then for me I And let the helmsman stoutly brave the blast. Wouldst thou discern the starry Charioteer ? And has the fame come to thee of the Goat, And of the Kids, who have so oft beheld Men tost and driven on the darkening deep ? not a little perplexing. The description cannot be reconciled at all with our image of the Bear. Dr. Lamb has interpreted the three last stars "as those on the shoulder, loins, and knee of the Virgin" herself. An old Greek scholiast had understood it so before hun. But what are we to think of " the hinder knees " of a lady ? Delambre has tmly said, that one would be veiy much puz- zled to construct a celestial map, or globe, from the descriptions of Aratus. Ilistoire de VAstronomie Ancienne^ Vol. I. p. 74. 22 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Thou 'It find him, whole and large, left of the Twins Inclining ; while the head of Helice Turns opposite. On his left shoulder rests The sacred Goat, — said to have suckled Jove ; Olenian Goat of Jove the priests have named her.* She indeed large and splendid ; but not so The Kids, that glimmer faintly at his wrist. Close by his feet see couch the horned Bull ! Fit signs attend him. How distinct his head I There needs no other mark upon his front. So do the stars on both sides figure it. And oft their name is mentioned. Who hears not Of the Hyades, sprinkling his forehead o'er ? The tip of his left horn, and the right foot Of the near Charioteer, one star embraces.! * " Nascitur Olcnice signum pluviale Capellcc." Ovid. Fasti, 5. 112. t The present name of this star is El Nath. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 23 Together they 're borne on ; but aye the Bull The earlier sets, though coupled thus he rises. Nor shall the hapless race of Jasian Cepheus * Remain unsung ; for of these, too, the name Has reached to heaven ; since they were kin to Jove. * It would be but waste of time to enter here upon any mytho- logical details, which are very variously rehearsed. They may easily be found in the Classical Dictionaries by those who value such learn- ing, or think the search worth their care. One word of protest, however, against an old whim that it has been lately proposed to revive. This whim desires nothing less than to dispossess all those fabulous personages of the places they have occupied so long, and change into Christian titles the whole nomenclature of the heavens. Julius Schiller, in 1627, urged such a revolution in his " Caelum Stellatum Christianum." He had been preceded by Schickard, Bartsch, and others. According to these worthies, the Great Bear becomes the Skiff of St. Peter ; Cassiopeia, Mary Magdalene ; and Perseus with Medusa's Head, David with the head of Goliath. The Cross in the Swan is the Holy Cross ; the Virgin is Mary ; the Water-Pourer, John the Baptist. The Dog belongs to Tobit, and the Triangle represents the Trinity. Something had been attempted in the same direction, it would seem, even still earlier. According to Athanasius Kircher, the Christian Arabs gave to the stars in the square of the Great Bear the name of the Bier of Lazarus ; the three in the tail being INIartha, INIary, and the Maid. The name 24 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Cepheus himself, just behind Cynosura, Stands like one spreading both his arms abroad. Equal the line, drawn from her tail's extreme To his feet, with that which both feet separates. But from his zone look but aside a little, Benetnasch, which the last of these three still holds, and which means in the Arabic Daughters of the Bier, seems to confirm this account. It was probably given at first to the whole of the row. Another gentleman, named Weigel, was of quite a different taste, and appears to have thought that nothing was so beautiful as the blazonry of heraldic devices. He accordingly turned all the starry figures into the various escutcheons of the princes of Europe. Out of the stars in the Swan he fashions the Electoral Swords ; out of those of the Eagle, Dolphin, and Antinous, the Prussian Eagle ; out of those of the Charioteer, the Trefoil, the ensign of France. In the region where the constellation Orion glitters, he paints the Roman two-headed eagle. Napoleon once found his way into the heavens, though I forget to whom he owed this short-lived apotheosis. We are more likely to dispense altogether with picture shapes, as the Chinese are said to do, than to change those that have been handed down to us. As for names, when they are once fixed, they should not be trifled with. History and science have an interest and prop- erty in them. * This does not correspond with the figure of Cepheus now ; and Hipparchus complained of the inaccuracy in his day. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 25 Just by the first coil of the crooked Drag- on ;* — There rolls unhappy, not conspicuous When the full moon is shining, Cassiepeia.I Not many are the stars, nor thickly set. That, ranged in line, mark her whole figure out. But like a key that forces back the bolts f Which kept the double door secured within, — So shaped, her stars you singly trace along. * It is the second coil, according to the present configuration of the sphere. t Hipparchus justly finds fault with the poet for representing Cas- siope as no brighter. She certainly figures with distinguished splen- dor in the sky. — Lach, in a learned dissertation on the names of the stars, in Eichhorn's "Allgemeinc Bibliothek," B. 7, men- tions the "cathedra mollis" of Juvenal {Sat. (y. 91) among the titles of this " lady in the chair." The supposition is quite un- founded, to say the least of it. But it is not so ludicrous as the mis- take ascribed to Bayer, of making Aben Ezra one of the names of Cassiope, — mistranslating Scaliger's words : " Sic etiam hebraice vocavit Cass. Aben Ezra." } For the key-shape of this group of stars, the curious reader may consult Huetius's note ou Manilius, 1.361. The substance of it, with a diagram, is presented by Dr. Lamb. 26 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. O'er her thin shoulders while she lifts her hands, Thou wouldst believe her grieving for her child.* And there revolves herself, image of woe, Andromeda, beneath her mother shining. I hardly think thou 'It search the night long for her ; So bright her head, — so bright her shoulders both, — Her feet's extremities, and all her vesture. Yet there, e'en there, her arms are stretched and fastened. In heaven itself are chains for her. For ever Those hands must keep their posture and their bonds. The huge Horse o'er her head is driven on,t * " That starred Ethiop queen, that strove To set her beauty's praise above The Sea-Nymphs, and their power offended." — Milton. t " Suspice ; Gorgonei eolla videbis Equi. Nunc fruitur coelo, quod pennis ante petebat." Ovid. Fasti, 3. 448, 455. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 27 Drawn to his middle ; with whose lowest point And her head's crown, one star in common shines.* With that three others, at the sides and shoulders, Beauteous and wide, compose a perfect square.f In no proportion to them is the head. Or neck, though long. But yet the farthest star, Fixed in the burning nostril,^ might e'en vie With those four brilliant ones that best define him. He 's not four-footed ; — with no hinder parts, And shown but half, rises the sacred Horse. They say that he to lofty Helicon Brought the pure spring of copious Hippocrene. For upon Helicon no streams flowed down, Till the Horse smote it ; then the abundant waters Gushed at the stamp of his fore-hoof. The shep- herds First called it Hippocrene, — the Horse-Fountain. * Now called Alplieraz; Arab. The Horse. t " The Square of Pegasus." I The star Enif ; Arab. Nose. 28 THE APPEARAXCE5 OF THE STARS. Still from the rock it pours ; not far from where The Thespians dwell, thou seest it: — but the Horse Circles in heaven. Li.id there thou must behold him. Near are the rapid courses of the Ram : Who, though he runs the vrides: rounds of all. No less keeps iip with the Bear Cv.. .... L : ., ■ J indeed, and poorly starred, as when One looks by r.io onlight ; yet not far below The girdle of Andromeda thou 'It find him. Midway he cleaves the broad expanse ; even where The Claws roll, and Orion's glinering belt And yet another sign thou shalt discover Beneath Andromeda. Three lines compose The Triaxgle : on tvro sides measured equal, The third side less. It is not difficult To be discerned, more luminous than many. Southward of these not far. twinkles the Ram. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 29 On further, in the portals of the South, The Fishes shine ; one higher than the other, And closer heedful of the rushing North. From each of them extends as 't were a band, That fastens tail to tail, as wide it floats ; And one star, large and brilliant, clasps its ends, — The Heavenly Knot 't is called.* The Northern Fish By the left shoulder of Andromeda Is fitly designate, lying so near it. Her lover, Perseus, seek for by her feet. Which ever at his shoulders are revolving. Tallest of all his compeers at the North He towers. His right hand stretches toward the chair Of his bride's mother. Swift, like one pursuing. Dusty he strides through Jove's parental heavens.f * Now El Rischa ; Arab. The Cord. t The expression " dusty," or " raising a dust," is tlie Homeric 30 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Near his left knee, together clustered, all The Pleiades move on.* To hold the whole Needs no great space, and they are faint to sight. As seven, their fame is on the tongues of men,t Though six alone are beaming on the eye. Not that a star has e'er been lost from heaven. As from our youth we 've heard ; absurdly so 'T was fabled. These the seven names they bear : Alcyone, and Merope, Celseno, Taygeta, and Sterope, Electra, And queenly Maia. Small alike and faint. But by the will of Jove illustrious all. At morn and evening, since he makes them mark Summer and winter, harvesting and seed-time.f way of describing great speed. The idea of some, that allusion is here made to the circumstance of one of the hero's feet being in the Milky Way, appears to me very far-fetched. =* The Pleiades, though now accounted a part of the constellation of the Bull, were spoken of and painted as separate from it by the ancient astronomers. t " Quie septem did, sex tamen esse solent." — Ovid. Fasti, 4. 167. i I follow here a conjectural emendation of Voss, as confirmed by the version of Avienus. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 31 The Shell, too, is but small, which Hermes bored,* Yet in his cradle, and bade name the Lyre. He placed it by the inexplicable Image In lifting it to heaven, f The rigid shape With his left knee approaches it ; his head J * Great injustice is here done to the Lyre, wliosc principal star is among the very finest in the sky. t These three lines are obscure ; and, though found in llippar- chus, are passed over by the Latin translators. Buhlc says that they still want help. The present version makes use of a conjectural reading of Voss, which is yet not pcifectly satisfactory. Hermann, on the contrary, finds no difficulty in the case. For "rigid," he would have " winged " ; supposing the figure to be that of the Vul- ture, who was formerly represented as holdmg the Lyre in his claws. Such a figm-e is certainly of great antiquity. The Arabian name for the principal star in the Lyre, Vega, is generally supposed to denote the falling or lighting Vulture. Hermann is offended with Bode for omitting the Vulture in his picture of the Ptolemaic con- stellations. Ovid certainly speaks of the sign, in one instance, under the name of Milvus, the Kite (Fasti, 3. 793) ; but Krebs main- tains, at the place, that no such constellation is mentioned by any writer on astronomy before the time of Ovid. t "His head" is far from being so situated; and this seems to me the chief difficultv. 32 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Just opposite the Bird. The Lyre itself Between that knee and the Bird's head is stationed. In heaven, too, flies the variegated Bird,* Himself but dim, though still his pinions roughen With stars not large, that shed a moderate light. He thus, as one that floats on well-poised wings, Propitious seeks the West ; — at the right hand Of Cepheus his right talons stretching forth. While his left wing brushes the Horse's hoof. Him as he springs the Fishes twain attend ; While by that Horse's head the Water-Pourer Spreads his right hand, just behind Capricorn.j Before him, further westward, lies inclined That Goat himself, where the Sun's might turns back. * This " Bird " was called the " Swan," as far back as Eratosthe- nes. We must acknowledge that our poet gives but a poor account of this beautiful constellation. t "Jam levis obliqua subsedit Aquarius urna." Ovid. Fasti, 2. 456. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 33 Not in this month surround thee with the sea, Crossing its broad expanse. For little progress Thou 'It make by day, since now the days run shortest ; Nor, as thou tremblest at the night, will dawn Hasten to meet thee, call thou ne'er so loud. Then blow the fearful south-winds, when the Goat With the sun rises ; and then Jove's sharp cold. Still worse, besets the stiffening mariner. But ah ! the whole year through, beneath the keels The sea will darken ; — while, like water-fowl. Oft gazing from the ships across the deep, We sit with eyes tow'rd shore. That shore far off Is wave-beat ; — one small plank 'twixt us and Hades.* * Much has been said of the beauty of this passage, in which the poet seems to have had in mind a line of the Iliad, 15. 628. Lon- ginus, however, chooses to criticise it (§ 10), as being too minute to be sublime, — a judgment in which many will dissent from him. 3 34 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Thou, who the former month hast sailed dis- tressed. When the Sun kindles up the Bow and Archer, Seek evening ports, nor longer trust the night. A signal of that season and that month The Scorpion be, rising as night departs. For, closely towards his sting, his mighty bow The Archer draws. A little in advance Comes into sight the Scorpion ; he hard after. Then Cynosura's head in the sinking night Mounts high ; and, ere the morning dawns, down go Crowded Orion, and from hand to loins Cepheus. There 's further shot another Arrow ; But this without a bow. Towards it the Bird More northward flies ; while near it soars a second, Smaller in size, but stormy from the sea Rushing, as night returns. He 's named the Eagle.* * " Tunc oritur magni prcepes adunca Jovis." — Ovid. Fasti, 6. 195. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. dO The Dolphin, small to sight, floats o'er the Goat, Dim ill the midst, but four fair stars surround him ; One pair set close, the other wider parted. Between the North and the sun's winding way Are these diffused. Afar off, many others. Between that solar path and the South, ascend. Aslant, below the section of the Bull, Orion's self! What eye can pass him over, Spreading aloft in the clear night ? Him first* Whoever scans the heavens is sure to trace. Then what a sentinel beneath his feet, As high he rears his back, the Dog appears I Various he shines, not all illuminated ; The body faintly sparkling, but the chin Glows with a brilliant star, that scorches sharply. And hence men call it Smius.f All the gardens * " Armatumque auro circumspicit Oriona." — Virg. JEn. 3. 517. t The word " Sirius" is applied to the Sun as well as to the Dog- 36 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Mistake it not, their green leaves drained of moisture, When with the sun it rises. Piercing deep. It tries their planted rows ; some trees it hardens. While from the rest the guardian bark it strips. When it sets, too, we hear of it ; the stars That trace the limbs twinkling more feebly round. Under Orion's feet mark too the Hare, Perpetually pursued. Behind him Sirius Drives as in chase, — hard pressing when he rises. And when he sinks as hotly pressing still. star by the ancient Greek poets whose works are still extant ; and, if we may trust to Hesyehius, was used of all the stars by the poet Ibycus, whose death is said to have been avenged by the cranes upon his murderers, but his verses have not been spared by time. Claudian, too, speaks of the " Siria sidera," Laud. Hero. 124. No star has been so signalized by poetry as this brightest one in the heavens. Our poet, in his other poem, calls it the Kvva Opacrvv 'Qpicovos (Arat. Diosem. 23). Some represent it as barking Jire : "Latratque Canicula flammas." — il/a;u7. 5. 526. "Nee gravidis allatret Sirius uvis." — Claud. De Laud. Stil 466. Achilles in arms pursuing Hector is compared by Homer to its brilliant but baleful light. (//. 22. 30.) THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 37 Against the tail of the great Dog is dragged Sternward the Argo, with no usual course, But motion contrary ; — as ships themselves, When they who steer them turn their beaks about, Entering the port. Each sailor presses aft The vessel then, that backward meets the shore. So sternward labors the Jasonian Argo ; — Obscure in parts and starless, as from prow To mast ; but other portions blaze with light. Below the hind feet of the Dog, who hastens Still forward constantly, the rudder swings. Though hovering far aloft, Andromeda Is threatened by the onset of the Whale. She by the breath of Thracian Boreas Is swept inclined ; while the south wind drives on That Whale, her foe, beneath the Ram and Fishes, And just above the starry River, placed. 38 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. For O how flows beneath the feet of the gods* The remnant of Eridanus^f — that stream Tear-sprinkled, which Orion's left foot laves ! The Bands, that hold the Fishes twain together. And downwards float from each extremity. Behind the "Whale's back gather into one. And in one star they terminate, that rests On the first prickle of the monster's spine. J Of small dimensions, and of feeble ray. Between the Whale and Rudder circle stars. Hovering below the Hare's resplendent sides. Without a name. For to no shapely figure * " Me nocte premunt vestigia Divfim," sings Catullus, in the person of Berenice's Hair : 66. 69. t "The remnant of Eridanus" seems to refer to the shrunken state of that river, the Po, under the misadventure of Phaeton, whose death and the sorrows of his sisters are implied in the follow- ing line. Hermann thinks that the phrase may also allude to the small part of this constellation that rises into view in the Northern hemisphere. But the poet had not probably two meanings. t See p. 29. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 39 Their scattered host bears likeness ; as do many, That grouped in order follow the same paths Of circling years. Some man of ages past Observed their goings ; and devised their titles, Forming the constellations. For the name Of each star singly none could tell or learn ; — So numerous are they everywhere, and many Of the same size and color, as they roll. Thus he bethought him to combine them so, That, ranged in neighborhood, they might present Images,* — each taking his proper name, * I cannot refrain from translating lierc an animated passage from the distinguished German writer on astronomy, Schubert : — " To the astronomer the fixed stars are immovable boundary-stones, by which he determines the courses of the wandering heavenly bodies. To the geographer they are the signal-stations, according to which he surveys the chart of the earth at the heavens. To the mariner they are the lights that direct him over the dark paths of the seas. To the hunter, the herdsman, the wanderer, they are a clock. To the farmer, they are a calendar. The historian finds in them many a memorable event in the oldest Grecian history ; the poet, the charming Grecian mythology, which has furnished such rich materials to dramatic art j and every person of sensi- bility, an impulse to worship, meditation, and hope." 40 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. And henceforth none rising to doubt or guess at. These, in clear figures gathered, meet the sight ; But those that hang beneath the hunted Hare All indistinct and nameless go their way. Underneath Capricorn and Southern breezes, Turned towards the Whale there swims a Fish aloft, Of the other pair sole progeny,* and named * Duncan in his " Religions of Profane Antiquity," says that the Zodiacal Fishes were supposed to be the progeny of the Piscis Australis ; — rather unnaturally, and I know not on what authority. I have here followed, with some hesitation, the version of Hermann, in his " Handbuch der Mythologie," 3 Theil. Voss and Halma un- derstand the words as alluding only to the solitary position of the Fish. This is the star Fomalhaut. The name is from the Arabic, whence a great part of the present titles of the stars are borrowed, and means Tlie Mouth of the Fish. It is therefore not to be pro- nounced Fomalo, as a very respectable work on Astrognosy has directed. I refer to Burritt's " Geography of the Heavens," a valu- ble elementary book, excelling perhaps every other of its kind in the copious information that it gives, on points where the young student most needs it. But it has several blemishes of this kind, indicating here and there a defective learning. Thus, it speaks of the principal star in the constellation of the Lion as named Regu- THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 41 The Southern one. More scattered stars, below The Water-Pourer, and between the Fish And skyey Whale, mount dull and undistin- guished. But on the splendid Water- Pourer's right, And near those last, — as 't were a little gush Of water, scattered sparkling to and fro, — Others of loveliest aspect modest roll. Among them two, nor close nor widely parted. Shed more conspicuous beams ; one bright and broad At the Water-Pourer's feet, the other set In the azure monster's tail. These all alike The name of Water share. A few — they small — lus, " from the illustrious Roman consul of that name." Whereas the word is the diminutive of Rex, and means Prince. It was first given to it, according to Ideler (" Untersuchung Ober den Ursprung und die Bedeutung der Stemnamen"), by Copernicus. There are great faults of taste also in the performance. But for real use it far exceeds some popular treatises from abroad, that are remarkable chiefly for their vague sentimentality, their visionary speculations, and their false brilliants. 42 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Beneath the Archer's forward feet revolve. Bent round into the semblance of a crown.* Under the burning sting of that huge beast, The Scorpion, near the South the Altar rises. Look quick, for but short time wilt thou be- hold itf Over against Arcturus it is reared. Of which full loftily the circuits run, While this sinks quick beneath the Western sea. Yet in this Altar has primeval Night,| * If the reading that is here followed be the true one, the South- ern Crown is plainly indicated. But objection has been made, that this figure is not to be found in any table of the stars at so early a period. Voss adopts a conjectural reading from Grotius, and gives a different turn to the passage. t The constellation of the Altar does not rise into our latitude. t According to the Grecian mythology, Night was the original Mother ; having produced both the gods and men. " NvKTa decov yevereipav, attcrojuat, rjbe koL az^Spoji/." — Orphic. " To say that Night was senior to Day, implied that the world had a beginning," says Cudworth, after quoting the above passage. "Night, All-Mother of life, I praise thee, glorious goddess, Queen ! there is none like thee, that crowneth her head with stars." Friedrich Rilckert. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 43 Pitying the weary lot of mortals, placed A great sea-sign of storms. For near her heart Lay the imperilled ships ; — and elsewhere other Signals she shows, pitying the tempest-tost. Pray not that, as I voyage all-o'erclouded, This constellation may shine out in heaven. Cloudless itself and lustrous. Rather loaded With billowy darkness be it ; such as presses Frequent and thick when Autumn winds arise. For oft this sign gives in the South old Night, In kindness to hard-faring mariners. Let them give heed, when she 's propitious thus ; — Easy and smooth then all at once becomes. And their whole task is light. But should the tempest Strike from above with its fierce blast the ship. Quite unforeseen, and shatter every sail, Then are they hurried down beneath the surges ; Or else by prayers they stay the passing Jove, And the wind's might now from the North prevails. 44 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Through thousand toils, again they see each other On the firm deck. Dread thou, beneath this sign. The South, till Boreas clears the turbid air. But if from Western wave the Centaur's shoulder Is far as from the Eastern, and a mist Shrouds him a little, — while like token Night Shows o'er the flaming Altar, — fear not then The South so much, but dread the Eastern blast. The Centaur seek beneath two other groups ; The human parts below the Scorpion lying, Those of the horse held subject by the Claws. He looks like one with right arm ever stretched Towards the round Altar, and holds tight in hand Some beast that he had hunted.* So at least The former ages hand it down to us. But lo ! afar another constellation I They call it Hydra. Like a living creature, * This hunted animal is the Wolf. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 45 'T is long drawn out. His head moves on below The midst of the Crab ; his length below the Lion ; His tail hangs o'er the Centaur's self. Midway His volume is the Cup * ; and as he ends, The figure of a Crow seems pecking at him. See Pro c YON, too, glittering beneath the Twins. These mayst thou view, as the years hasten by, Renew their hours in order ; their fixed shapes Are graven on the night-sky, never varied. Five other stars, unsteady, always changing,! Traverse on every hand those figures twelve. From gazing at the rest, thou 'It ne'er conjecture Where these are placed, — such wanderers are they all. * " Crater auratis surgit coelatus ab astris." Manil 5. 235. The story that is meant to account for the union of these three figures is told by Ovid, in his Fasti, 2. 243 - 266. t Nothing seems wanting to the completeness of this description of the planets, as distinguished from the fixed stars, but the circum- stance of their steady, untwinkling light. 46 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Years upon years must mark their courses out, And the slow signs look long ere they come back. More here I dare not ; failing else to show Of those fixed ones the circles and the signs. Four circles,* rounded as by nicest art, There are ; — which they most wish and need to know, That track the measures of the travelling years. About them all are plainly-lying signs Many, in neighboring order well disposed ; — * These four circles are the Equator, the Ecliptic, and the two Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. They are not drawn, as the student will perceive, with the accuracy of our modern globes and maps. How, indeed, could they be ? Or how can we expect of a poet w^hat was not made out by the deepest science of that age "? Even M. Delambre, however, admits that, with a few modifications, and those of no great consequence, the constellations of Aratus are in the places where they truly belong. The Milky AYay is here evidently regarded as one of the great circles of the sphere. It seems to be called " broad " to distinguish it from those lines " without breadth," which are yet not treated as if they were merely ideal. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 47 They without breadth, all fitted to each other, And their lines corresponding, two to two. When haply in clear skies the heavenly Night Reveals to men the concourse of bright stars. Not one enfeebled by the full moon's light. But from the darkness all flash sharply forth. If then a sacred wonder fill thy mind. Observing how the heaven is cleft throughout By a broad circle, or should some one near thee Point out that radiant belt, its name is Milk. For colored so revolves no other circle ; Though in extent two of those four may match it. The other two rolling in smaller rounds. The first of these to the down-rushing North Is neighbor ; in it both Twins' heads are borne, The knees of the well-fitted Charioteer,* * The phrase " well-fitted " is supposed by the old scholiast to allude to the junction with the horn of the Bull. But this is not the most likely interpretation. 48 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. And the left leg of Perseus and the shoulder, Then holds its way direct through the right side Above the elbows of Andromeda ; Whose outstretched palm lies nearest to the North, While to the South that bended elbow leans. The hoofs next of the Horse, and of the Bird The neck with the head's tip, and the fair shoul- ders Of Ophiucbns, in that circle whirl. A little further to the South the Virgin Avoids it ; but the Lion and the Crab, These both it strikes, as they lie ranged together. It cuts the Lion through the breast and body ; The other traversing the whole shell under. Where thou perceiv'st him just in twain disparted. So that each side of the line his eyes are set. Into eight parts the whole distributed, Five roll in day, o'er the Earth's upper parts ; Three in the lower. Here are Summer's turnings, As round the Crab the Northern ring is fastened. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 49 The other, in the opposite South, divides The Goat, the Water-Pourer's feet, and tail Of the Sea- Monster. In it lies the Hare, But of the Dog little the feet except. Argo is here, the Centaur's shoulder-blades. The Scorpion's sting, the Archer's glittering bow ; Whom last, the sun, from the clear North descend- ing) Crosses, then wheels to the South, and wintry grows. Of its eight parts but three revolve aloft, While five pursue their subterranean way. Midway twixt both, large as the Milky Way, A halving circle undergirds the Earth. Here days and nights are equal, each to each. Of fading Summer and advancing Spring. Its sign the Ram and the Bull's knees denote ; — The Ram's full length, the Bull's but bending joints. 50 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Splendid Orion's belt it holds ; the flexure Of burning Hydra ; the thin Cup ; the Crow. Stars, though not many, of the Claws it crosses. And knees of the Serpent-Bearer. The swift Eagle It intercepts not ; but close by it storms Jove's mighty Messenger. Near, too, the Horse Carries his head and neck. All these the axis Drives straight about, keeping the midmost place. 'Twixt the first two, the fourth is wedged ob- liquely. The tropics on each opposite side retain it. The midmost intersects it in the midst. Though by Athene taught, no man would skill To fasten otherwise the rolling wheels. Such and so many spinning them around. Like those well-fitted orbits in the heaven, That every day from dawn to dark hold on.* "^ There is no inconsiderable poetic grace in thus intimating the unhalting motion, day as well as night, of the stars. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 51 And these are rising, those are going down, Keeping their distance all. Of each in order. Each side, the same departure and return. But this by as much of Ocean's flood will vary As lies between the ascending Goat and Crab ; The sinuous line will sink the space it rises. Such length as the eye tracks, gazing to heaven, This, six times told, it runs ; each part drawn even Cuts off two constellations.* And they call it * This dark saying is at once made clear, if we reflect that the ancient astronomy, for the most part, supposed the earth's sphere to be suspended in the middle of space, equally distant at every point from the circle in which the heavenly bodies revolved around it. Of course, any line drawn, as the poet directs, to any point aloft, would be a radius, or semi-diameter, or sixth part, of the whole round ; and this hexagon, if completed, would have two of the twelve constellations on each side. See Cicero's Tusculan Dispu- tations, 5. 24. The same thing is expressed by Manilius, 1. 544 - 552, where, in any good edition, may be found a diagram illustrat- ing it. — I cannot avoid alluding, in this connection, to a very re- markable passage in Manilius,!. 168-170, in which the poet de- scribes the earth as thus held in its place by opposite forces. " Therefore it remains firm," he says, " because the whole heaven flies from it just so far, and has made it to fall every way, that it might not fall." If, instead of " every way," we could read '' al- 52 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. The Belt of Living Creatures, — Zodiac. Here is the Crab, the Lion next, and 'neath him The Virgin ; here the Claws too, and the Scorpion, The Archer, and the Goat, and close by him The Water-Pourer. Here the Fish-Pair sparkle ; And after them the Ram, the Bull, the Twins. Through all these twelve moves on the sun, com- pleting Each several year ; and, as he moves his round, There grow about his path the fruitful hours. ways," there would nowhere exist so terse an account of the New- tonian theory of gravitation : — " fecitque cadendo Ne caderet." For a beautiful description of the balancing of the round earth in space, see the Fasti of Ovid, Lib. 6, 1. 267 -278. In this description he makes mention of the glass sphere, the work of Archimedes, in which the motions of the heavenly bodies were represented. Such an Orrery — if one may venture the anachronism — is spoken of by Cicero in his Tusculan Questions, 1. 25 ; and a fine epigram of Claudian, the 67th, is devoted to it. A high idea of this plane- tarium is suggested by the lines : — " Percurrit propriura mentitus signifer annum, Et simulata novo Cynthia mense redit." THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 53 Far as it dips below the hollow ocean, So far it sweeps o'er earth ; while every night Six parts go down of its twelve-signed circle, As many rise. So long spreads out each night As this half-circle lifts of its degrees Above the earth after the dark sets in. Nor should he scorn, who watches for the day, To mark when each of its portions shall ascend ; For aye with one of them comes up the sun Himself ; and thou mayst note them as thou gazest. But since or black with clouds or hid by moun- tains They sometimes rise, seek others bright to guide thee. These the great sea, from East and Western horn, May grant to thee ; since many such surround him, As from below each starry form he rears. 54 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. When the Crab rises, stars of no mean power Lie on each side ; some falling, some just risen. Down goes the Crown; down to the spine the Fish. Half of that vanishing Crown thou seest aloft, The lowest half already gone ; — but He Of the form reversed his body scarcely shows. Since all the upper parts revolve in night. The laboring Ophiuchus, too, from knees To shoulders, and his Snake e'en to the neck. The Crab draws down. Nor of Arctophylax Is much on either hand ; of the day-part least ; The nightly portion has the advantage now. Bootes sets through four of the signs,* before Ocean receives him. When he 's lighted full, What time the steer 's unyoked, he more than half The night remains, though sinking with the sunset. * Bootes begins to set with the rising of the Bull, sinks lower with that of the Twins and the Crab, and disappears at the coming up of the Lion. I THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 55 Nights thus are marked by his slow-falling stars."" So they go down. But on the opposite side, In nothing mean, glittering in belt and shoulders, And trusting in the might of his good sword,t Bringing the whole Stream :j: with him, mounts Orion. Pressed by the rising Lion, all go down That at the Crab retired ; with them the Eagle ; And of the Kneeling One the knee alone And left foot keep above the billowy sea. Rise with him Hydra's head, the bright-eyed Hare, And Procyon, and the burning Dog's fore feet. * " ^Oyjre hvovra BoonTrjv,^' Horn. Odi/ss. 5. 272. " Piger ille Bootes," Ovid. Fasti, 3. 405. " Erigida; circumagunt pigri sarraca Bootse." Juv. 5. 23. t "Ensiferi niraium fulget latus Orionis ? " Lucan. Phars. 1. 665. "Et tribus obliquis demissus ducitur ensis." Manil. 1. 398. "Ensiger Orion." Ovid. Fasti, 4. 388. t " Stelliger Eridanus sinuatis flexibus errans Clara Noti convexa rigat, gladioque tremendura Gurgite sidereo subterluit Oriona." Claud. Cons. Honor. 176 - 178. 56 THE APPEARxVNCES OF THE STARS. Nor few the stars that 'neath earth's lowest parts The rising Virgin drives. The Lyre Cyllenian, And Dolphin, and the well-shaped Arrow, sink. With them the Bird's wing-tip, close to the tail, And the River's furthest bend are hid in shadow. The Horse's head, the Horse's neck, descend. Now Hydra rises to the very Cup. The Dog, at length, uplifting his hind feet. Draws after him the prow of starry Argo, Who sails half-mast above the earth, what time The Virgin's perfect image quits the deep. Nor let the Claws, though faintly beaming, pass Unnoticed when they rise. For great Bootes, Gemmed with Arcturus, lifts his crowded form. Argo will not be wholly up ; but Hydra Draws through the heaven his sinuous length, save only The ending point. The Claws lead on no more THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 57 Than from the right knee down of Him that kneels Always, and always stretches towards the Lyre ; Whose shape, mysterious 'mong its heavenly mates. Oft the same night is seen to go and come. With the two Claws the leg alone ascends. But He, with head reversed, awaits the Scorpion Now rising, and the Archer ; for these bring him ; The Scorpion to the middle ; all the rest. With the left hand and head, the Bow drives on. Thus he, in three parts, through three signs re- volves. The Claws still rising carry half the Crown, And the last waving of the Centaur's tail. Down plunges then the Horse, whose head before Had disappeared ; and the preceding Bird Drops her last feather from the upper sky. The head, too, of Andromeda descends ; While the thick South impels the huge Sea- Monster 58 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Against her, and opposing from the North Cepheus his great hand brandishes ; the Whale Settles to his back's ridge, but Cepheus only In head and hand and shoulder falls from sight. The windings of the River seek the embrace Of the broad ocean, as the Scorpion comes, Who with his coming frights e'en vast Orion. O, be appeased, chaste Artemis ! Not mine The story, but from former days it comes, That, when in Chios all the wild beasts fell Beneath the strong Orion's massy club, When at CEnopion's hest he played the hunter, He dared profane her robes. From that same island. Bursting the hills apart, another beast, The Scorpion, she aroused ; who bit and slew The mighty one, — mightier than he himself Through Artemis insulted. Hence, they say, Soon as the Scorpion from his depth emerges, Orion flies to hide him underground. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 59 Nor of Andromeda, nor of the Whale, The parts were dim that met his rising. Now In haste they fly. Then with his girdle Cepheus Grazes the earth, the parts about his head Bathing in Ocean ; all the rest prevented, — The Bears refusing any leave to set* And she herself, the wretched Cassiepeia, Still presses towards the image of her child. Notfrom the chair her feet and hands are lifted With quiet grace, but like a diver headlong She plunges to the knees, — so not unpunished. For rivalling fair Panope and Doris. Thus westward borne she floats. But the eastern heaven Rolls others up ; the Crown's remaining round,f * The Bears are here put for the Arctic Circle. t " The Crown's remaining round." Aevrepa Kv/cXa was sup- posed to denote the Southern Crown, by Hyginus and Scaliger. But this constellation, it is said, was not grouped till after the time of Hipparchus. With Voss, I follow Cicero and Avienus, the ancient translators. See page 54, lines 4 and 5, and the note on page 42, line 2. 60 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. The last of Hydra, with the Centaur's head And body, and the creature he holds grasped In his right hand. The Monster-Horseman waits, With his fore feet, the rising of the Bow. With the Bow rises Ophiuchus' form, And the Snake's coil. The dreadful Scorpion brings The heads of both, with the hands of Ophiuchus, And the first glitter of the starry Serpent. Lo, too, the Kneeling One I always reversed He comes ; and now his limbs and belt and bosom, His shoulders and left hand, displays ; the right one, And head, will with the Bow and Archer rise. With these the Hermean lyre, and to the breast Cepheus, are starting from the Eastern wave. Then all the splendors of the mighty Dog Go down ; Orion wholly ; and the whole Of the hunted Hare, whose chase is never done. But not the Kids, nor the Olenian Goat, THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 61 Have sunk as yet ; from the Charioteer's huge hand They flash, from all his other limbs apart, Waking the storms when with the sun they join. But these at length — the head, the other hand, And loins — ascending Capricorn thrusts down. The lower stars all yield before the Archer. E'en Perseus now resists not, nor the beak Of starry Argo. But the hero sinks To the knee and the right foot ; her rounded poop The vessel dips, as Capricorn comes up. Then Procyon vanishes ; but other groups. The Bird, the Eagle, and the flying An'ow, Rise, with the Southern Altar's sacred seat. When half his form the Water- Pourer lifts. The Horse rears head and hoofs ; while, opposite, The Centaur's tail sweeps from the starry night, 62 THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. Which cannot yet his head and massy shoulders And breast draw down, but of the fiery Hydra The crooked neck and forehead full submerges. Much of her still is left ; but all, thick-studded, Sinks with the Centaur, when the Fishes rise. With these comes on the Fish,* that hangs below The dusky Capricorn ; but not yet wholly, Waiting awhile till the next Twelfth appears. So, too, the wretched hands, the knees and shoulders. Of halved Andromeda, throughout disparted, Rise when the Fishes twain emerge from Ocean. The right-hand parts these bring ; the left uplifts. The coming Ram, who, as he comes, reveals From the far West the Altar. In the East His head and shoulders lifts the rising Perseus. Whether his zone shines with the ending Ram, Or with the Bull, o'er whom he closely rolls. Is doubtful. Now the rising Bull forsakes not * " The Fish " is the Southern fish, Fomalhaut. See pp. 40, 41. THE APPEARANCES OF THE STARS. 63 The Charioteer, who 's ever bound to him,* Though not ascending wholly with that sign ; The Twins bring his full figure. But the Kids, The sole of the left foot, the Goat herself. Come with the Bull, when the long back and tail Of the ethereal Whale rise from beneath. Sinks now Arctophylax with that first sign, Four of which draw him down, f save the left hand Still elevate, with the Great Bear revolving.^ * Bound to him by the star El Nath, which is common to them both. See p. 22, note. t See p. 54. t I follow here the reading of Grotius's MS. which is adopted by Voss. The familiar lines of Anacreon can scarcely fail to be here brought to the mind of the classical reader : — 2Tp€