MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 93-81476-10 (' MICROFILMED 1 993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or other reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.'* If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "f£ use,'* that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. I AUTHOR: ARATUS, SOLENSIS TITLE: THE SKIES AND WEATHER-FORECASTS PLACE: LONDON DA TE : 1880 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT MICROFOR M TARHFT Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record Master Negative # Restrictions on Use: 88Arl PP Phaenomena. 1880. Aratus Solensis. The skies and Weather-forecasts of Aratus; tr.. with notes, by E. Poste ... London, Macmillan and co., 1880. viii, 71, ill p. 19»"". 1. Astronomy, Greek. J^Wealher^ore. j^Poste, Edward. 182»- | Jtr. Library of Congress OB2I.A6r> 1-10099 TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: _-ilQ.2<±2a^i_,_ REDUCTION RATIO- IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA/lS^IB IIB ^'-^^^^ KATIO.__ DATE FILMED: K^^Zhol^-^ INITIALS B/fP ^'^^EDBY: RESEARCH PUBLirATTOMc; jfyj c yNcynv^k^l^.xr T^ — lly »•-,# 4-^ ' m 'w • f '.M - • I-.K ■>" %1 I THE ^^ SKIES AND WEATHER-FORECASTS OF ARATUS 4 I -I. ^> . THE SKIES AND WEATHER-FORECASTS OF ARATUS TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES* BY E. POSTE, M.A. ORIEL COLLBOE, OXFORD ii 3Ponbott MACMILLAN AND CO 1880 All rights rtierved 1 •- vj^ * ■'■'. ^r.K^j'i2\jT\rr'^- ^ •^ m ^.r ] V o PEEFACE. LOS DOS z PRIA'TBD BT aPOTTISWOOnK A»f» CO., SEW-HTKRKT SQrAB* ASO PABUAJiBST 8TUEKT fP CO I— A LITTLE OBSERVATION of the nightly skies inspired a curiosity to see what an ancient poet, now seldom read, had to say on the subject ; and a moderate amount of pleasure having been derived from the perasal, the thought occurred that other students of Astronomy or Meteorology, to whom Aratus in his Greek garb was inaccessible, might feel the same curiosity. Hence the following translation. The monosyllabic character of our language, at least of that portion of it which poetry has appro- priated, causes even a prose translation of foreign verse to assume more or less of iambic rhythm. A little malice prepense on the part of the translator has aided this tendency, though, bating a few slight sacrifices to euphony, he has never departed intentionally from the most simple and direct rendering of the original. Once i83Vh5 VI PREFACE, PREFACE. vu courted, however, the iambus intruded rather more than had been designed, and has prevented the following nondescript, which only aspires to the praise of fidelity, from being styled in the title-page, what at starting it was meant to be, a prose translation. Of the life of Aratus little is known. He was by profession a physician, and lived about 270 B.C., and was therefore a contemporary of Euclid and Theocritus. He was a native of Soli, afterwards called Pompeiopolis, in Cilicia ; but being invited to the court of Antigonus Gonatas, King of Macedonia, he spent there the re- mainder of his life. The ' Skies,' or *• Phenomena,' owe such astronomic doctrine as they contain to the works of Eudoxus, who was a contemporary of Plato, and, as an ethical specu- lator, placed Pleasure on the throne of attainable goods ; as an astronomer, invented the theory of the crystalline spheres. The ' Weather-forecasts,' or * Diosemia,' bor- rowed their materials from a treatise on the same sub- ject by Theophrastus, disciple and successor of Aristotle. This treatise, at least in the form of copious extracts, is still extant. The ' Skies ' of Aratus, about a cent ury after it was written, was the subject of a commentary by Hip- \v i parchus, the illustrious astronomer who discovered the Precession of the equinoxes, and who respectfully but unrelentingly points out many inaccuracies of Aratus and Eudoxus. This commentary still exists. The ^Skies' and * Weather-forecasts ' were translated by Cicero, who has unadvisedly incorporated many frag- ments of his indifferent verse in his immortal prose. The * Skies ' was translated by Germanicus, adoptive grandson of Augustus ; and, three hundred years after, both the ' Skies ' and ' Forecasts ' were translated, or rather paraphrased, by Festus Avienus. These versions, which are of considerable poetic merit, are still extant. To Englishmen Aratus probably is most extensively known from the fact that half a line in the beginning of his poem was quoted by his countryman, the apostle Paul, in his address to the Athenians on the hill of Mars. Ovid says of Aratus : « Cum sole et luna semper Aratus erit.' Quintilian more soberly : ' Arati materia motu caret, ut in qua nulla varietas, nullus affectus, nulla persona, nulla cujusquam sit oratio; sufficit tamen oneri cui se parem credidit.' The reader of Aratus should have before him a map or globe containing the imaginary figures of the VUl PREFACE, constellations. In the absence of maps containing these figures, he may with advantage check the statements of Aratus by means of the maps to Dunkin's ' Midnight Sky,' or Proctor's ' Half-hours with the Stars,' For instance, a comparison of the maps for March and October in ^ Half-hours with the Stars ' explains at once why Bootes takes so much shorter time to rise than to set : when he rises he is stretched at full length on the horizon ; when he sets he is standing upright. THE SKIES. Let us begin with Zeus, the power we mortals never leave Unsaluted. Zeus fills all the city streets. All the nations' crowded marts ; fills the watery deeps And havens ; every labour needs the aid of Zeus. His children are we. He benignant 5 Raises high signals, summoning man to toil. And warning him of life's demands : tells when the sod is fittest For oxen and harrows ; tells the auspicious hours For planting the sapling and casting every seed. Twas he who set the beacons in the sky, 10 And grouped the stars, and formed the annual round Of constellations, to mark unerringly The days when labour is crowned with increase. Him therefore men propitiate first and last. B THE SKIES, Hail, father, mighty marvel 1 hail I mighty bene- factor ! 16 Thyself and those who begot thee I And ye too, Muses, Gracious influences, hail ! and while I essay to tell of skies What mortal may tell, guide right my wandering lay. . With even pace, each in his several path, unnum- bered stars Mo\ e in high march continuous, eternal ; 20 While the axis of the world is stedfast and ever utterly Motionless, and, traversing the sphery globe Of central earth, whirls round the mighty heaven. Two poles his limits are at either end. One hidden, the other in the north wind's seat 25 High raised above the horizon, and circled by The heavenly Bears, that mortals call the Wains. One She-bear's front is to the other's rear. Her path directed down the other's spine : They stand inverted, back to back. If tales are true, 30 Crete was their home ere by great Zeus' will They climbed the sky, because the baby Zeus On Ida's mount, by aromatic Dictus, In secret cavern they nurtured for a year, What time Dictaean Curetes baflfled the quest of Cronos. 36 THE SKIES. The name of one is Cynosura, Of the other, Helice. By Helice Greek Seafarers learn what way to steer their ships :^ The other guides Phoenicians o'er the main.^ Large and bright is Helice, 4o Easily noted through the livelong night : The other less in size, but valued more by sailors, Circles with all her stars in smaller orbit, And guides Sidonian ships in straightest course. Between the She-bears, like a river flood, 46 Coils the monster Dragon, winding through and bending round With myriad stars ; sundered by his spires They circle, ever shunning the blue waves of Ocean. Along the side of one extends his tail. His spires enfold the other : his tail 50 Ends by the head of She-bear, Helice ; His spire winds round the head of Cynosure : winds round Her head, reaching her hindmost paws, Then backward bent rolls upward. The spires Blaze naany-starred, and many-starred the head : 55 With two stars flame the temples, and the eyes. With one the baleful monster's ravening jaw. Sideways bends the head, and points B 2 THE SKIES, The tip of Helice's tail ; his folded tail Waves near to her right temple and her jaw. «0 That Dragon-head, I ween, whirls in the declination where the tips Of setting with the tips of rising blend.- Xear to the Dragon's head, in toil-spent posture, Revolves a phantom,^ whose name none can tell, Xor what he labours at ; they call liim simply 65 The Man upon his knees ; his knees seem bent In desperate struggle ; while from both his shoulders His hands are high uplifted and outspread As far as he can stretch ; his right foot's sole Is planted on the crest of the coiled Dragon. 70 And there that Crown by sheeny Dionysus fixed, Monument of dead Ariadne, Revolves behind tlie back of the kneeling phantom ; Behind his back the Crown ; near to his head Descry the head of Ophiuchus, and beyond ih See all the lucid form of Ophiuchus. So bright below his head the shoulder stars, They face the full-orbed Moon Undimmed ; his hands may not compare. For pale the rays that dart from both ; 80 Yet they may be distinguished ; strong their grasp. Both grip the Serpent, who coils THE SKIES. 5 Round Ophiuchus. He in resolute attitude Plants both his feet on a huge monster, The Scorpion, standing on his eye and on his breast 8.) Erect, and holds the Serpent with both hands, With right the tail, with left the towering breast. Near to the head sparkles the Northern Crown ; Below the coils observe the mighty Claws, Thin-scattered stars of constellation dim. to Near Helice, like one who drives a car. Circles Arctophylax, called the Waggoner, Because he seems to guide the ursine Wain. Bright all liis stars, and underneath liis belt Arcturus with his brightness dims the rest. %h Below the Waggoner's feet Lo the Virgin, in her hand a glittering ear of com. Whether bom of Astraeus, whom they call The old sire of heaven, or from whomsoever sprung. Her favour be upon us. The story runs, 100 That earth was once her home. And that she mixed in human throngs, nor ever shunned Society of man or woman of the olden times ; But sate among them, immortal though she were. And bore the name of Justice : and summoning the elders loo In solemn senate or wide market-place, / THE SKIES. THE SKIES. »She sang in thrilling strains the notes of equal law. As yet they knew not baleful strife Nor parted interests' bitter feud nor battle ; But lived a life all unalloyed, far from the dangerous sea, no And no ships brought their food from foreign lands ; But oxen and the plough and throned Justice Yielded ten thousandfold to all their needs, with dis- tribution due. These things were when earth nurtured the golden race. Tlie silver race she visited more rarely with somewhat altered mood, iis No longer finding the spirits of former days : Yet she consorted with the silver race. At eve she would come from the echoing mountains * Uncompanioned, nor had she gentle words for any : But when she hill- ward drew the thronging crowds, 120 Her voice was stern, upbraiding their crimes. No more, said she, at their invocations would she meet them face to face. ' How base a progeny sprang from golden sires I And viler shall they be whom ye beget. And wars shall break forth, and unholy blood 125 Stain the earth, and sin bring penal woe.' ii' After such speech she would hie mountain-ward, and leave the human tribes Straining eager gaze on her retiring form. But when that generation died, and there was born A brazen generation, more pernicious than their sires, 130 Who forged the felon sword For hostile foray, and tasted the blood of the ox that drew the plough.^ Justice, loathing that race of men, Winged her flight to heaven ; and fixed her station in that region Where still by night is seen 135 The Virgin goddess, near to bright Bootes.^-- Over her shoulders rolls a starry group ^ In brightness and dimension ' Like that beneath the tail of the huge Bear. For three groups glisten near bright Helice ; 140 Easily noted by the seeker's eye. Near her bright paws two goodly caravans, One by her fore, and one by her hind paws, A third by her hind knees : but lacking forms Constellate, all three whirl without a name. 145 Beneath her head are the Twins, the Crab below her belly, THE SKIES. THE SKIES. I Below her hind-paws the majestic Lion. JMost scorcliing is the chariot of tlie Sun, And waving spikes no longer hide the furrows, \Mien he begins to travel with tlie Lion. loO I^oisterous north-winds periodic tlien fall on broad ocean With all their weight : no time is that for oar-sped barques : Broad-l)eamed ships be thou my choice, And, helmsman ! keep the stern before the wind. If thou would'st gaze on starry Charioteer, 155 And hast heard legends of the wondrous Goat, The Goat and Kids, that on the purpling deep Oft look to rescue foundering mariners. Vast-looming shalt thou find on the Twins' left 160 Points at him from afar*"' ; on his left shoulder Lies the sacred She-goat, storied to have suckled Zeus. Arm-borne She-goat is the title given her by priests of Zeus. And near to their bright mother with faint rays Glisten the two Kids o'er the giant's wrist. 165 Below the Charioteer may be descried The Bull bright-horned: conspicuous are his stars, His form bowed forward : H dice's high head And well-defined his head : no other marks Thou needest to disc^over where he stands Beside the stars that shine upon his head. I70 Wide-spoken is their name, and not imfamed Revolve the Hyades," whitening all the BulFs Broad forehead. Sliining in his left horn's tip And the riglit foot of neighbouring Charioteer, A single luminary links their race. 175 But the Bull ever is the first to dip Beneath the west, together though they start.® Nor shall blank silence whelm the harassed house Of Cepheus ; the high heavens know their name, For Zeus is in their line at few removes. 180 Cepheus himself by She-bear Cynosure, lasid king, stands with uplifted arms. Equidistant from the tip of her tail And from each other are his feet. From his belt thou cast est not a distant glance 185 To see the first spire of the mighty Dragon. Eastward from him, heaven-troubled queen, with scanty stars But lustrous in the full-mooned night, sits Cassiopea. Not numerous nor double-rowed The gems that deck her form. 190 w^mm.^ lO THE SKIES, THE SKIES. II 195 200 But like a key which through an inward-fastened Folding-door men thrust to knock aside the bolts, They shine in single zigzag row. She, too, o'er narrow shoulders stretching Uplifted hands, seems wailing for her child. For there, a woeful statue-form, is seen Andromeda, parted from her mother's side. Long, I trow. Thou wilt not seek her in the nightly sky, So bright her head, so bright Her shoulders, feet, and girdle. Yet even there she has her arms extended, And shackled even in heaven : uplifted. Outspread eternally are those fair hands. Beneath her head the huge body of the Horse Rolls, touching her with his belly : a single star Flames on his navel and the maiden's head. Three others on his flanks and on his shoulder Shine equidistant Of goodly size. His head is not so bright, Nor his long neck ; and yet the furthest star Blazing in his distended nostril vies With the four-cornered splendour of his flank. Nor four legs has he, for, parted at the navel. With only half his body rolls the sacred steed. 205 210 He, as they say, from lofty Helicon 215 Brought the flashing water of wholesome Hippocrene. No streams gushed from the top of Helicon Till tlie steed pawed ; then gurgling they out-welled Where his fore-foot stamped ; and shepherd swains First named that drink the fountain of the Horse. 220 Rock-bom it gushes, nor ever may be seen Outside of Thespian land, while Pegasus In Jove's high palace sets the world a -gaze. Near him is the race-course of the Ram, fleetest of stars. Who, chasing round the amplest circle, 226 Is ne'er outstripped by She-bear Cynosure. Dim himself, and starless in the presence of the Moon, He may be discovered by the girdle Worn by Andromeda, waving o'er his lair. Midway he paths the mighty heaven on that equatorial line where whirl 230 The Claws of Scorpio and Orion's belt. Another group is formed below Andromeda, a ruled figure of three sides, Deltoton ; ^ two nearly equal ; the subtending base Narrower, but not difl&cult to find, 235 Delineated by no pallid stars. And southward of Deltoton is the Ram. 12 THE SKIES. Westward and further in the south-wind's path The Fishes float ; one ever uppermost First hears the boisterous coming of the north. 24(» jjoth are tied by a band Kound their tails, which point to an angle Filled by a single goodly star, Called the Conjoiner of the Fishes' tails. Below Andromeda's left shoulder thou may'st spy the upper 24ei Of the two Fishes sporting in the wave. Her feet point to her bridegroom Perseus, on whose shoulder they rest. He in the north-wind stands gigantic, His right hand stretched towards the throne 25(» Where sits the mother of his bride : as one bent on some high deed, Dust-stained ^° he strides over the floor of heaven. Near his left knee cluster The Pleiads : small the region They fill, and pale the light they dart. 265 Seven journeyers men call them, Tliough only six are visible to ken. No star, I wis, has vanished from heaven's floor Within mortal tradition, and idly is that number Fabled : natheless seven the names they bear : 260 THE SKIES. 13 Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and stately Maia." Though small their size and pale their light, wide is their fame. Both when they rise at dawn and when at eve ; such Zeus' will. Who bade them mark the entrances of summer and winter, 265 And the season when the fallows ask the plough.*'^ And small the compass of yon tortoise-shell, that in his cradle Hermes pierced and bade be called the Lyre, And fixed in front of the mysterious phantom '^ High in heaven. Lowly stooping 270 He nearly grazes it with his left knee : His face turns eastward towards the Bird : ^^ the Lyre Hangs just betwixt the Bird's beak and his knee. For heaven's floor has a fleet^winged Bird, Airy his body, his wings roughened 275 With stars not largest-sized and yet not dim. Exulting in the blue deeps of the sky, Down the gale westward floating, his right pennons graze The right hand of Cepheus, His left the feet of prancing Pegasus. 280 14 THE SKIES. THE SKIES. n Westward and southward of the prancing steed Glide the two Fishes. Under the Horse's head The Waterbearer next to Capricorn Stretches his right hand : on his left and south Stands Capricorn, the goal that turns the Sun. 286 Be it ne'er thy lot in that month to be tossed On the mid ocean ; neither by the day Far sailest thou, for few the hours of light, Nor early on thy perils breaks the dawn For all thy invocations : pitiless 250 Siroccos '^ lash the main when Capricorn Lodges the Sun, and Zeus sends bitter cold To numb the frozen sailors. Not the less Throughout the year the sea beneath the keels Purples : and, like the diving sea-gull,*^ living on the waves. 295 Oft from the deck we peer around the ocean To spy a friendly shore, but that is washed By distant breakers; thin planks part us from the nether world. Ay ! earlier still after much ocean tossing, When the Bow feels the Sun and the Bow's drawer, 300 Shalt thou seek the evening haven ^^ nor defy the night. A warning of that season and that month 306 Be Scorpio rising just before the Sun, For near the Scorpion's sting the Archer bends His mighty bow, and short the interval That parts the Archer's rise from Scorpio's. Then, too, the head of Cynosure in the top of the nightly sky Culminates just before the dawn; and all Orion sets. And Cepheus from his hand down to his waist. Another Arrow flies on high 310 Launched by no bow. Near it to the north Flies the Bird, and on the south another Of smaller size, but dangerous when he rises Before the dawn ; ** the Eagle of the winds men call him. The tiny Dolphin floats o'er Capricorn : 315 His middle dusky ; but he has four eyes Two parallel to two. Betwixt the north wind and the wandering sun All these are scattered ; another host revolves Betwixt the solar walk and the south wind. 32a Eastward beyond the region of the Bull Stands great Orion ; whoso kens not him in cloudless night Gleaming aloft, shall cast his eyes in vain To find a brighter sign in all the heaven. J-' \ i6 THE SKIES. THE SKIES, 17 And, guardian grim, behind bim as be towers 326 Stands the Dog, on his hind legs uplifted, Many-starred ; yet not bright all bis form ; His belly shadowy ; but in his fell jaw Flames a star above all others with searing beams *» Fiercely burning, called by mortals 33o Sirius. Him rising with the eastern sun No plants deceive with false luxuriance. With sure discrimination fierce he rushes through their ranks. And strengthening these blasts those with all their foliage. His puissance, too, we feel when he declines. 335 Less withering fires flame in his other limbs.^o Below Orion's feet the Hare Is chased eternally : behind him Sirius ever speeds as in pursuit, And rises after, and eyes him as he sets. 34o And there towards the tail of the monstrous hound is Argo, hauled Stern-foremost ; no path of onward speeding ship her path. Stemwards she glides, like to a ship whose helm Her crew have turned to landward. Coming to anchor ; all the oars back-water, 346 And lapping surges splash upon the strand. Thus stemward Jason's Argo makes her way. Spectral her frame and starless from the prow To the central mast ; but radiant all her after-hull. Her rudder ^* is detached and hangs 35o Beneath the hind feet of the westward Dog. And yonder, distant from her cowering form, The on-coming Monster scares Andromeda. She in the blasts of Thracian Boreas Is stationed, while the south wind brings her foe, 355 The Whale, beyond the Fishes and the Earn, Just northward of the starry River-stream. For yonder, trod by heavenly feet. Wind the scorched waters of Eridanus, tear- swollen flood, Welling beneath the left foot of Orion. seo There too the chains that shackle the Fishes' tails Meet south of the ecliptic On the mane of the sea-monster, Jointly ending in a single star that forms The topmost vertebra of the Whale's spine. 365 Of small dimensions and in pale beams clad Betwixt the rudder and the Whale revolve Below the glaucous body of the Hare Some nameless stars, not imitating limbs G v^i }8 THE SKIES. 370 Of any shapely creature, like those hosts In marshalled ranks that travel constant paths Through waning ages : whose similitudes some mortal noting in days long agone Assigned judiciously a common name To aggregated multitudes. It had passed his skill, Nor aided recognition to have given particular names to every luminary, 375 Thronged as they are, and each to other like In size and hue and in their circling orbs. So he devised to group them in such wise That standing in succession side by side They simulate living forms. Easily thus he named 3S0 Heaven's host ; and now no star rises unrecognised Of those that are arranged in definite forms Conspicuous. Those beneath the himted Hare Wander unformed and nameless in the gloom.*^ Under Capricorn, in the quarter whence breathes the South, 385 His head towards the Whale, floats another Fish, Far from the coupled two ; the Southern Fish men call him. Sprinkled below the Water-ljearer's feet. Between the Whale ethereal and the Fish, hangs a cluster THE SKIES, 19 Wan and nameless ; and near to them 390 From the right hand of sheeny Water-bearer, Like a thin spirt of water, in wavy line Stream others fair to see of tiny size. Among them travel a more lustrous pair At no great distance, yet not close : 395 One of goodly bulk under the feet Of Water-bearer, the other under blue Sea-monster':5 tail. All this stream is named the Water. Others afar Beneath the fore-feet of the quadruped Archer Whirl ever nameless in their circling paths. 400 Below the fiery sting of the huge portent Scorpio, in the Southwind's bosom, the Altar hangs. Few are the hours that thou beholdest it Above the horizon. As far south of the equator it rises as Arcturus to the North. And therefore high in heaven long careers 4t>,5 Arcturus ; the Altar soon dips in the western wave. About that Altar ancient Night, Pitying human woes, of ocean storms Has raised a mighty beacon : foundering ships Grieve her soul : in many quarters she displays 4io Signals in pity to tossed mariners. Surrounded by an ocean of wild clouds c 2 20 THE SKIES, THE SAVES. 21 Pray that thou never see those stars in heaven Unclouded and resplendent, and above them High surges of black clouds, their canopy 415 Before the rising of autiunnal gales. For oft that signal of the coming South Sovereign Night displays, warning toil-worn sailors. And they, if they obey her timely signal, And straight haul down the yards and reef the sails, 420 Have lighter toils : but if upon the ship Da>h from on high the furious rusliing gale All unexpected, and strike her outspread canvas. Perchance beneath the waves they end their com'se : But if Zeus near at hand they haply win 425 To hear their invocations, and the might of lusty Boreas drive back the South, Fierce troubles are their portion e'er again They see each other's faces on the deck. It is the south wind that this signal Bids thee fear, till thou descry the lightnings of Boreas. But if, when Centaur's shoulder is midway between 430 The west and east horizon, only thin mist veil his form; When afterwards her storm-signal Night uplifts Above the radiant Altar, 'tis not from the south. But from the east she bids thee dread the gale. Thou findest that constellation south of two : 435 The liuman limbs are south of Scorpio, The horse's trunk and tail south of the Claws. His right hand ever seems to stretch Towards the round Altar ; and his clenched fingers With strong compression grip another form, 440 That men of other days have called the Beast. ^^ Another constellation from the east Comes trailing westward, called the Hydra ; like A thing of life roll her long coils : her head Reaches the Crab, her middle folds the Lion, uh And over the huge Centaur hangs her tail. The Cup stands on her middle ; on her tail A phantom Crow that seems to peck her spires. And southward of the Twins shines Procyon. These thou may'st see renew year after year 450 Their constant evolutions, for in fixed Order they grace the onward march of Night. In difft^rent guise five other orbs licentious Whirl in all quarters of the Zodiac. From no near constellations canst thou learn 455 Their whereabout, for they are homeless wanderers. Long are the periods of their revolutions. And distant the goal of their reassembling. II '*'> THE SKIES, THE SKIES. 23 460 465 Not advenluring to define their devious courses, turn we to the Fixed stars and trace Their Circles and companions in the sky. True as the products of the turning-lathe, Four Circles have most value and esteem If thou seek measures of the waning year. Defined they are throughout by famous stars That never change their close proximity. Lengths are thev without breadth ; connected all ; But two circumferences match not two. On a clear night when all the stars In the skyey vault are lustrous, When none are dimmed by the full-orbed moon But all dart keen rays through the gloom ; If thou hast ever marvelled at A broad zone that cleaves the sky, Or wiser liand has pointed out to thee The many-gemmed belt of the Galaxy : Know that in brightness none of the four Circles Compare with this ; but in dimension two of the four Are equal to it, the other two inferior. Of the lesser Circles one is in the north.^* ( )n it revolve the two heads of the Twins ; On it the knees of the joined Charioteer, And the loft shoulder and left knee of Perseus. 470 47'3 480 Above the elbow Andromeda's right arm It crosses ; raised above it is her hand Nearer the pole : her elbow southward lies. 485 The hoofs of Pegasus, and the Bird's neck And head, and Serpent-bearer's shoulders bright All whirl upon this circle. A little to the south beneath its track The Virgin : on its line the Lion and Crab, 490 Neighbouring signs. The Circle cuts The Lion through breast and belly to the loins ; The Crab right through his shell, Carving him in two halves Lengthways, passing just between his eyes. 495 Divide this circle into eight equal parts, And five are ever high above the horizon. Three under ^^ : 'tis the limit of the summer Sun. This is the northern Tropic of the Crab. The southern Tropic crosses Capricorn, 500 The feet of Water-bearer, and the tail of the Sea- monster. It traverses the Hare ; of Sirius It touches but the feet ; it crosses Argo, The huge spine of the Centaur, and the sting Of Scorpio, and the Archer's radiant bow. 505 This Circle is the barrier that the Sun 24 THE SKIES, Descending southward from bright Boreas reaches : 'tis the goal Tliat bends his course in winter. Three portions out of eight of his career Then whirl above the horizon, five below. Between the Tropics of the Crab and Goat, vast as the orbit of the Milky Way, 510 A circle girding Earth bisects the skyey sphere. When this the solar path, night equals day, At ending summer or beginning spring. It passes by the Ram and the Bull's knees ; Tlie Ram reclines upon it at full length, 5i5 The Bull just touches it with his bent knees. On it Orion's belt of goodly gems. The spires of gleaming Hydra, and the Cup, Liffht burden, and the Crow, and scanty-starred The Scorpion Claws, and the Ophiuchian knees. 520 No portion has it in the Eagle, though not far Flies Zeus' mighty messenger ; on it revolve The head and neck of winged Pegasus. These parallel Circles the axis of the sphere Transfixes at right angles : the fourth slopes 525 Aslant, bisected by the Equator, and Touching the Tropics with opposing arcs. Just so artistic hands trained by Athena THE SKIES. 25 Would fashion rolling wheels. So regularly curved about a sphere, 530 As those ethereal orbs, bound with slant-scarfing band, WTiirl round from dawn to night throughout all time. All the three circles rise and sink beneath the wave In parallel courses : single are the points of the horizon From which they mount and down to which they slope. 535 But the fourth covers all ^^ horizontal arc That parts the rise of southern Capricorn From rising Cancer ; and equal to its eastern span Is the horizon's arc it measures in the west. The visual ray that shoots from earth to the utmost sky 540 Multiplied six times measures its circumference ^^ ; each equal sixth Is the range o'er which extend two constellations. The Circle of the Zodiac is its name. It crosses first the Crab, and next the Lion, then The Virgin, then the Claws and Scorpio's body, 545 The Archer and Capricorn, and, after Capricorn, The Water-bearer, after him the starrv Fish : The Ram, and the bright Bull, and last the Twins. Through these twelve constellations drives the Sun, Bringing the year, and, as he hastens through 550 26 THE SKIES. THE SKIES. 27 t' This circle, generates all the fruitful seasons. Large as its arc that girds the nether sky, The arc that towers high above the earth. Each night sees six-twelfths of the Ecliptic set, And six-twelftha rise ; and numbers the more hours 555 The fui-ther north at sunset the eastern point Of the half Zodiac ascends the sky.^^ Useful it were to him who longs for day To know what sign is climbing the steep east. For ever simultaneous with a sign 560 Rises the Sun.^* Well mayest thou recognize them Bv their own forms ; but if black clouds obscure them Or mountain bai-rier conceal, Their places thou may'st know by noting stars Linked to them by fast bands indissoluble 666 And wreathing witli large chaplets either horn Of ocean,-^ as he upheaves each sign from his deeps. They are no pallid stars that touch the horizon When Cancer rises. These sinking, those ascending from the deep. 670 The Crown sinks and the Southern Fish's tail. Half of the Crown is visible in heaven, Half has descended to the lower world. The Kneeler, moving backwards, sunk not yet Beyond his navel, hides his head in gloom. 576 From knees to shoulder labouring Ophiuchus The rise of Cancer sends beneath the horizon, and the Serpent's tail and throat. No more in twain Arctophylax is parted. One fourth above the horizon, three below. For four signs sink below the ocean in the time 580 Bootes takes to set : when he is sated with the sky He consumes more than half the night in loosening his oxen from the yoke. As southward from the equator slopes the sun. Those nights to which Arcturus lends his name are the long nights that see him set at eve.^o So sink these constellations: but, opposite, a goodly With lucid belt and lucid shoulders. Exulting in tlie puissance of his sword. The last reach of the River at his feet, Orion mounts the eastern sky. The Lion's coming sends quite below the west The stars that half set when the Crab arose, and with them sends the Eagle. The Kneeler 590 Dips his whole body but his knee And left foot in the waves of ocean. And uprise Hydra's crest, the Hare's bright eyes, And Procyon, and the forefeet of blazing Sirius. 28 THE SKIES. THE SKIES, 29 J Nor few the stars that sink beneath the earth 596 When Virgo rises. The shell made musical by the power that haunts Cyllene's top, Tlie Dolphin, and the slender Arrow, set. With them the out-stretched pinions of the Bird And the Stream's foremost reaches join the shades. Set Pegasus' head and neck, 600 While uprise Hydra's middle coils as far as the Cup ; And Sirius extricates his hinder paws ; And in his rear is dragged the stem of starry Argo. Up to her midmast heaved above the earth, As soon as Virgo has quite cleared the horizon. 605 Nor do the following Claws, few though their rays, Unmarked enter the scene : for all Bootes, giant sign. At one bound rises, with Arctunis gemmed. And Argo's whole hull now is high in heaven. But Hydra — huge o'er heaven trail her spires — 610 Still shows not all her tail. The Claws bring Only the right knee and thigh Of that form still kneeling, still stooping low before the Lyre, Whoseever be that unknown skyey shape, Whom setting and ascending from the deep 616 We often in a single night behold.^* Of his limbs only the knee Emerges at the rising of the Claws : The rest of him, head downward, below the horizon Waits for the rise of Scorpio and the drawer of the Bow. These two bring him aloft : Scorpio all his trunk, 620 The Archer brings his left hand and his head ; So by three signs he is hoisted, limb by limb. Half too the Northern Crown and just the tail Of Centaur rise aloft with the rising Claws. All Pegasus then follows his vanished head, 525 And the sunk Bird withdraws the feathers of his tail. Sinks Andromeda's head, and towards her form her grim foe. The Sea-monster, is floated by the gloomy south ; while opposite stands her sire, Cepheus, in the northwind, lifting high hand of com- mand. Up to his mane the Sea-monster near the maiden 63 Dips averted ; Cepheus sinks with head, and hand, and shoulder. All the windings of the Eiver at the approach Of Scorpio fall into the fair ocean-flood. His approach daunts even mighty Orion, Dread Artemis list unoflfended ! Tis the tale of hoary ®^^' 635 7 K, ^ - '^ 30 THE SKIES. That bold Orion laid hands upon her robe, when in Scio With mighty club he chased the monsters of the forest, By huntsman toils winning guerdon from famed Oeno- pion. She, dashing in twain the island's central mountain range, From the yawning gulf sent against him far other monster, 640 The Scorpion, who him struck and slew, gigantic though he stood, Foe more gigantic ; because he outraged Artemis divine. And therefore, say they, still when the horizon shows The Scorpion, Orion o'er the western rim retreats. Nor are Andromeda's unvanished limbs nor the ocean monster's •^d Not conscious of his rising : both Flee helter-skelter. The belt of Cepheus then Touches the earth : his royal head Is dipt in ocean : the rest fate forbids to sink, and the weird Bears Detain on high his feet and knees and waist. fM The queen too hastens after her phantom child, Sad Cassiopea : in no majestic guise THE SKIES. 31 Above her throne are raised her feet and ancles, As topsyturvy diverlike she dips Up to her knees : she was not like, I wot, 655 With Doris and Panope unpunished to contend.32 Below the horizon she is borne. Others from the deep Heaven upheaves on the opposite side ; the Crown's remaining semi-circle, And the lagging spires of Hydra : uplieaves Centaur's Body and head, and the Beast that in his right 66O Centaur grips : the forefeet Of the Man-steed wait the arrival of the Bow. The Bow raises all the Serpent's coils, all the frame of Ophiuchus, When it arrives : Scorpio himself Eeared their heads : reared the hands of Ophiuchus 665 And the starred Serpent's highest-lifted coil. The Man-upon-his-knees, head-downwards Ever rising, when first Scorpio climbs the east. Upheaves his feet and girdle, breast and shoulders. And right hand : his left hand and head 670 Wait the rising of the Bow and the Bow's lord. With him the Lyre of Hermes, and head and breast Of Cepheus emerge from the eastern ocean. What time the lightnings of Sirius [Orion 675 Descend below the marge ; descends the huge bulk of r 32 THE S/CIES, THE SKIES. ZZ And all the stars of vainly hunted Hare. But the Chariot-driver's Kids and shouldered Goat Descend not yet ; still in his mighty hand They glitter ; and no fires in his body are so potent To rouse the fury of the storm, when they drop level with the rising sun.'^ ^^ His head, left hand, and waist, Capricorn sends below : the lower limbs Sank at the Archer's rise. Nor Perseus stayed Nor remained all of starry Argo's hull. Perseus sank except his right knee 685 And foot ; Argo to the cuiling of her stem. These too vanish at the rise of Capricorn With vanishing Procyon ; while soar above the east The Bird and Eagle and the winged Arrow's Stars and the southern Altar's awful sanctuary. 600 Soon as the Waterbearer climbs the sky Keappear the winged Steed's feet and head ; and, oppo- site the Steed, The western gloom drags Centaur by the tail. His head, and shoulders broad, and manly breast Are not yet swallowed by the abyss; but gleaming Hydra's 695 Coiled throat has sunk below and all her crest. Her hinder coils still trail in heaven ; natheless they And all the Centaur enter the western gulf When the Fishes rise. With them rises that Southern Fish, Stretched westward far as azure Capricorn ; 700 Nor clears the horizon till the next twelfth of the zodiac has emerged. So too Andromeda's tortured hands and knees And shoulders are divided ; part are seen, Part lag below the horizon, when the Fishes Mount the heaven. Her westward limbs 705 The Fishes rear from out the nether gloom : her east- ward form The ascending Ram. As the Ram upward whirls. Sinking below the western verge is seen the Altar, and in the east Perseus upraises just his head and shoulders. Whether his belt appears with the last limbs of the Ram Or with the Bull whose rise unrolls it all. Were matter of grave controversy.^^ Nor far behind the Bull Loiters his companion fast, The Charioteer ; yet of his form a part Kises not with this sign but with the Twins. 715 The Kids, the sole of his left foot, and the Goat D 34 THE SKIES, if, Rise with the rise of Taurus, what time the mane and tail Of the Sea-monster show above the marge. And now Arctophylax begins to set with Libra, first Of the four signs that setting drag him down,'* all but his left hand 720 That ever grasps the circumpolar Bear. Ophiuchus sinking below the verge from feet To knees be taken for a sign Of the Twins rising. Then nought of the Sea-monster Remains in gloom, but all his body ascends, 726 And now the River-flood's first winding reach The becalmed mariner may see in heaven, As he watches for Orion to espy if he hath aught to say (Jf the night's measure or the slumbering winds : For from all quarters heaven speaks to man. 73o WEATHEE FOEECASTS. A slender-horned Moon in the western sky, Thou oft hast seen her, marks the beginning Of a new month : when she casts sufficient light To make a shadow, the month is four days old : Eight, when half her orb is bright : half-spent, when it is full. js/) Each varying phase and changed position Tells thee how many dawns the month has brought. The night's duration the twelve members of the Zodiac Determine ; and the seasons through the orbed year To plough the fallows and to plant the tree 740 Zeus has declared by bright notorious signs. Full many a mariner the sea-heaving storm Anticipates, remembering grim Arcturus,^^ Or other stars, that rise from ocean Before the morning or at night's first fall. 745 D 2 /< tl^ 36 WEATHER FORECASTS, •J Round them journeys every year The Sun in mighty orbit, on fixed days Visiting each : we see them ere he rise and when he sets : And each sign gazes on a different dawn. Known are their laws ; in harmony unroll 760 The nineteen-orbed cycles of the Moon.'^ And all the signs through which Night whirls her car From belted Orion back to Orion and liis dauntless Hound, And all Poseidon s, all high Zeus' stars,^* Bear on their beams true messages to man. 756 Study them, friend ! Dear it concerns thee, if to ships Thou trust thy life, to know oracular signs Of stormy winds and ocean hurricanes. Small is the trouble and thousandfold the gain To the mortal by prevision always armed. 7«o He safeguards his own fortunes and his fellows' By warnings of the imminent typhoon. Full often when the evening is calm The sailor shortens canvas if the morn gave ugly signs. Sometimes the third day brings the danger or the fifth, 7«6 And sometimes the mischief rushes unforeseen. Not yet all WEATHER FORECASTS. 37 Has Zeus revealed to mortals, but much still Continues hidden. This too Zeus, if he so will, Shall manifest hereafter. He his human offspring clearly aids, In all quarters disclosing himself, by all elements sig- nalling. 770 Some messages the Moon gives with half orb Growing or waning ; some with all her disk : Some by his rise, some by his dropping orb The Sun : and other elements shall give Thee other signals both by night and day. 775 Scan well the two horns of the infant Moon For vesper paints with differing hues And variously shapes her horns. When she is young and three or four days old. These teach the character of the coming month. 78O If she be sharp-defined and clear on the third night. She tells of calm ; sharp-defined and ruddy-tinted She announces a gale : ill-defined with blunted horns On the third and fourth nights, and shining with wan beams, The south wind blunts her or the coming rain. 785 If neither of her horns on the third night Project forward, nor lean back shortened, But vertical her yard-arms bend their points, I *i ill' 38 IVEATHER FORECASTS. 7^5 800 A western breeze will blow by the morrow's dawn. If vertical her cusps on the fourth night 790 < outinue, long the mustering storm shall rage. Her higher horn pointing forward Ushers Boreas ; backward drawn, the coming South. It on three nights she show sharp-pointed tips And a red crescent,^^ look out for great squalls, The greater, the more fiery red her blush. Scan too her full orb and her quadratures, Both waxing from and waning to a horn ; And from her hue infer the following day. Shining quite clear she indicates fair weather ; Kuddy throughout she means careering gales ; And stained with dark spots she announces rain. Not the same range of prediction have all her phases. Three or four days old she fortells what shall be Till she has half her size ; half-orbed, her promise holds 80"^ To full moon ; her full orb has equal range : Half-orbed again she prophesies four days. And four her crescent: the new moon foretells the weather till her crescent reappear.*^* Sometimes she is girdled round by halos. Now three, n6w two, and now by only one. 81 A single halo portends wind or calm : \\\ WEATHER FORECASTS. 39 Wind, rudely-broken ; slowly-fading, calm. Two whorls of halo prophesy a storm ; Three whorls a greater ; the most furious blasts A shattered halo of three dusky whorls.'** 815 Such every month the warnings of the Moon. Note too the Sun at the ends of his career ; His signs are even surer than the Moon's, Both when he sets and when he climbs the east. 'Tis ominous if his orb be variegated 820 When his first arrows hit the earth, if thou fair weather ' wish. Sharp then his limb and spotless be his orb. If again clear when the oxen are unyoked He sink unclouded with mild, tempered, ray. Fair weather will continue on the morrow. 825 But not so, when his disk seems cavernous. Nor when the rays he shoots to north and south Are discontinuous, and only his mid zone bright ; For then he walks through rain or gales of wind. Scan closely, if his beams permit thy gaze, 830 The disk of the Sun ; the scrutiny is instructive. If he blush red, as often Heaven's other orbs are tinged by trailing clouds ; Or bear dark stains, the dark stains portend showers Impending, crimson blushes tell of wind ; 835 )\ 40 WEATHER FORECASTS. WEATHER FORECASTS, 41 11 f • *. m Hi 849 Uh Blushes and simultaneous dusky stains Of showers accompanied by gusty squalls. If rising or setting he shoot across the sky A cone of rays converging towards a point/* Or dense clouds pen him closely when he mounts To dawn from night or sinks to night from dawn, Showers will pour down throughout the livelong day. So if thin mist precede his rise And he lift an orb shorn of beams, Look for showers. A broad marge of cloud That seems to melt, and ever grows in breadth When first he mounts, but afterward narrows, Heralds fair weather. Fair, too, the omen if His wintry orb wax yellow as it sinks. The morrow's rain to forecast, note the clouds Turning thy face towards the setting sun. If a thick cloud with growing murkiness Shadow the Sun, and round its edges The outer beams are darted in two curves, Great need hast thou of shelter on the dawn. If unclouded he dip in the western stream, And as he sinks, or after he has sunk. Red clouds stand near him, neither on the morrow Nor in the night needest thou augur rain. But when his beams in long lines through the sky 860 8M Grow wan all of a sudden. As they sicken when shaded by the moon Standing just level between th€ earth and sun ; Or when before the dawn and the sun's rise Reddening clouds are scattered here and there ; 865 Well drenched will be the furrows on that day. So, while the Sun is still below the east, if his precursor beams Are flecked with shadows ere the break of day. They portend showers or down rushing wind. The darker the shadows are that mar his beams, 870 The surer they predict the coming showers ; But fainter shadows flickering o'er his rays. Such as thin misty vapours often cast, Are thrown by the body of on-striding wind. Nor are dark-centred halos near the Sun 876 Auspicious signs ; and, the closer and more persistent. The stormier are they^^: two whorls of halo usher wildest storms. Note too if near the rising or setting Sun The mock suns that men call parhelia ** Blush on his south or north or on both sides. 880 Nor heedless be thy observation : For when on both sides of the Sun at once Such clouds blush near the horizon, h . '. u 42 WEATHER FORECASTS. 890 There is no lingering of the Zeus-sent storm. One only, gleaming purple on the north, 885 Sends northern blasts; southward stationed, it sends the south wind. Or big drops of the swiftly rushing shower. Most crucial signs and constant in their sequence Are mock-suns shining in the west of heaven. And watch the Manger : like a little mist Far north in Cancer's territory it floats. Its confines are two faintly glimmering stars. Not distant are their orbs nor yet quite close. Sundered to fancy by a cubit's length, One on the north, the other on the south. These are two Asses that a ]Manger parts. Which suddenly when all the sky is clear Sometimes quite vanishes, and the two stars Seem to have closer moved their sundered orbs. No feeble tempest then will soak the leas. A murky Manger with both stars Shining unaltered is a sign of rain. If while the northern Ass is dimmed By vaporous shroud, he of the south gleam radiant. Expect a south wind : the vaporous shroud and radiance ^^^ Exchanging stars harbinger Boreas. 895 900 WEATHER FORECASTS. 43 Premonitory of wind are the heaving sea, And louder, longer, murmurs of the shore. And jutting promontories vocal in still air. And moanings of the distant mountain tops. 910 And when the heron in disordered flight Comes landward from the sea with piercing cries, It is that gales begin to sweep the main. And stormy petrels oft through a calm sky Fly in dense bands to meet the coming breeze ; 915 And ducks and sea-gulls of the circling swoop Alighting on the main-land wave their vans ; And clouds lie level mid the mountain peaks. And pappus, the white thistle's winged seed. Foretokens wind, when on scarce heaving waves 920 It sails in long continuous lines. The quarters whence come summer thunder-peals And lightning-flashes are the winds' sally-ports. And through the livelong night when shooting stars Fast fleeting leave behind them whitening trails, 925 They show by their direction whence will stream The coming gale. If others front them, And others cross their paths, thou must anticipate Grales from all quarters, veering winds Unstable, baffling the predictor's skill.** 930 When lightning flashes both from east and south, / i 1 ^•H iii 44 WEATHER FORECASTS, 935 940 And sometimes from the west and from the north, The mariner fears a double buffeting By the billows and a deluge sent from Zeus ; For water chariots all those lightnings/^ Frequent precursors of coming showers Are clouds that image woollen fleeces. Or a double rainbow spanning the mighty sky, Or a sombre halo girdling round a star. Often the birds that haunt the lakes or seas Bathe, plunging insatiably : Or incessant round a pool the swallows dart. Smiting with their belly the just dimpled wave. Or, timid tribe, food of the water-snake. Louder from the deep croak the sires of the tadpole ; 945 Or drones a matin note the lonely treefrog,*^ Or chattering on a jutting ridge of sand Before a storm the crow dips in the brine ; Or in a river plunges head and neck And shoulders or all her feathers ; 950 Or loiters hoarsely cawing on the brink. And oxen oftentimes the midday shower With upturned gaze scent in the sky. And from their caverned homes the ants Bring up in hurry all their eggs ; and swarms of scolo- pendra 956 •f^ WEATHER FORECASTS. 45 Crawl up the walls, and wander forth the worms That mortals call dark Earth's intestines. And the tame progeny of Chanticleer Plume their wings, and cluck with voice Like noise of wat^r dropping upon water. 950 Oft too the raven tribes and jackdaw clans Predict the showers that are to come from Zeus, Wheeling in bands, and screaming with high notes Shrill as the falcon's : and oft the raven's voice Mimics the big drops of the gathering flood : 955 Or after two croaks from her deep-toned throat She makes loud whirring with her fast-clapped wings. And ducks in sheds, and daws beneath the eaves Perched on rafters, beat noisy pinions. And wave-ward speeds the heron with shrill cries. 970 Slight not their instinct when thou seekest signs of rain Impending ; nor if flies beyond their wont Sharpen their stings and raven more for blood : Nor if snuffs clot the lamp's wick In the dark night : nor if in winter's hour 975 It now bum equably with steady flame, Now splutter, as it were, light-floating Bubbles ; nor if it fringe itself With fitful rays : nor if mid-summer's sky be streaked \ J /' 46 WEATHER FORECASTS. I) w ill i ii With winged emigrants from all the isles. Nor if the pot or cauldron astride the fire Be girt with spark-spray, be this unnoted. Nor if the ashes of the blazing coals Gleam with minute spots like to millet seeds, Is this not worthy heed as sign of rain. If white mists wreathing a huge mountain's base Form a straight cloud-bank while the high peaks Shine clear, right fair shall be thy sky.** Fair shall it be when on the ocean's marge Lies a low cloud that never rears its head, But, flattened, seems long level shelf of rock. Look in fair weather for signs of foul. For signs of calm, in storm ; and ever closely Inspect the Manger encompassed by the Crab, When it first purges off its misty gloom ; For as the Manger clears, so wanes the tempest. And steady-burning lamps and nightly owl Gently hooting, of declining tempest Are a presage : and at eventide the crow Croaking varied notes pitched high : And solitary ravens singly uttering First two notes and then loud continued cries ; Or rooks gregarious, ere they court repose, Noisily vocal, as with excess of glee ; 98a 985 990 996 lUOO WEATHER FORECASTS. 47 So shrill their wanton outcries, and so restless 1005 Now on the branches where they wont to roost They settle, now wheel round with eddying wings. And cranes when they foresee a balmy sky Fly steadily right onward in vast bands, Nor vacillate except before a storm. loio But when the stars' clear light grows dim. Though neither clouds thick-heaped obscure, Nor misty veil nor rising moon. But sudden wanness takes them unexplained, The calm, still sky erelong shall be defaced ioi5 By violent storm : or if the higher clouds Are motionless, while, underneath, the scud Drifts by in opposite paths. And geese loud cackling as they haste to pasture Foretoken coming storm; and the nine-generations- living crow ,^20 Nightly singing, and the twilight-cawing daws. And the siskin early piping, and all birds From ocean fleeing, and the golden-crested wren and redstart Retreating into crannied clefts, and jackdaw tribes Deserting rich repast for evening perch. 1025 Nor when a mighty storm is on its way Far go the tawny wax-collecting bees, i* ^> le 11' ).! 48 WEATHER FORECASTS, 1030 But near their hives whirl in their honey-quest. Nor keep the cranes' long ranks a constant path On high, but wheel in vacillating flight. And windless air wafting thin spider-webs And flickering flame of wanly-gleaming lamp, And fires and torches under rainless sky refusing to be lighted Portend a tempest. Why try to enumerate The warnings given to mortals ? Squalid ashes 1085 Clotting where they fall tell of coming snow ; The lamps tell of snow when a circlet of spots, Minute as millet seeds, surrounds the blazing wick ; Live embers tell of hail, when bright Their outer surface, but in their centre seems 1040 Fine lurid mist of inward smouldering fire. Nor are the holm-oak ^^ acorn-laden and the schinus sable-hued Not questioned : everywhere with many a glance the owner of the threshing-floor Peers obsei-vant, fearing lest the summer through his fingers slip. The holm-oak bearing moderate wealth of acorns 1046 Presages showers to last for many a day. May no excessive burden bend to earth its branches, But watered well may wheat-stalks fill the furrows. WEATHER FORECASTS, 49 Thrice blue schinus blossoms, thrice produces Fruit, and each crop is index of the harvest 1050 From the corresponding ploughing; for the times of ploughing Are triple, middle, earliest, and latest. The first capsules of the schinus indicate the first wheat harvest, its second the second. The latest the result of latest sowing. A wealthy fruitage of the teeming schinus lOoo Points to a wealthy garnering of sheaves, Scanty to scanty, average pods to average ears. So the spike of the squill thrice blossoming Is index of the correspondent harvest. For all the ploughman learns from azure-clustered schinus jo^^ Is taught him by the squill with blossoms white. But autumn wasps in large societies Swarming obnoxious bode tempestuous days To come before the Pleiads rise at eve. Such whirling cyclones quickly follow wasps. And sows and ewes and she-goats Inflamed with passion and beyond the males Insatiate of hymeneal rites. Like swarming wasps foreshadow winter's strength. swarminj; 1060 nil « I I :m 50 WEATHER FORECASTS, But goats and sheep and swine adjourning marriage rites ' i«70 Rejoice the poverty-stricken wretch, ill-housed and thinly clad, Promising by their coldness winters genial warmth. And early flights of cranes gladden the early plougher, Later migrations the tardy husbandman. For winter's advent corresponds to the advent of the cranes. ^^^5 Early coming in large bands they announce Early winter : late and singly when they come And at intervals and in small caravans. Late-coming winter favours the late plough. If, after opulent autumn, oxen and sheep 1080 Butt the ground, and towards the blasts of Boreas Turn their heads, rude winter comes Just when the Pleiades begin to set.-^^ Incessant if they butt the earth, inordinately keen Will be the winter, disastrous to trees and com. 1085 But let thick snow cover the mighty leas Ere the blade has all appeared and shot on high, That prosperous harvest may cheer the toiler's hope. And shine the stars with ordinary rays. Nor be there many comets, no, nor one ; iot« For many comets mean a rainless spring. WEATHER FORECASTS, 51 Nor loves the mainland husbandman to see large flocks of J)irds From all the islands lighting on the furrows At the approach of summer : fear torments him Lest he harvest empty ears of grainless chaff 1095 From straw drought-pined : joyous visions till the herds- man's soul At sight of the same birds in moderate flocks. And hopes of foaming milk in brimming pails. For thus we struggliog and benighted men Live by various crafts, and in his own sphere every worker strives ly^^ To note successions, and by such lore forecast the cominir days. Sheep warn the shepherd of down-pouring rain. To pasture when in hurry huge they race : Or leaving the main body by the way Old and young dally, pushing with their horns : nu5 Or when they gambol, the younger from the earth Flinging four heels, the large-horned patriarclis two. Or when from pasture they are hard to move. Though twilight fall before the shepherd thinks of folding, at every step Nibbling the grass, in spite of chiding showers of stones. }jiy M 2 WEATHER FORECASTS. WEATHER FORECASTS. 53 ad- 1115 Oxen warn the ploughman and the cowherd Of tempest on its way. When with their tongue The hoof of their forefeet all round they lick, Or on right side recumbent take their rest, The old ploughman knows his labours are joumed. And when with lowings loud at twilight hour The mustering oxen wend their way to the fold . . . And heifers grieve to quit meadow and ox-lea Tbey foresee tedious storms must spend their rage ere they again shall browse. And goats attacking prickly ilex with greedy hast€ 1120 Presage foul days, and swine in miry litter madly wallowing. And when the huge solitary wolf loud howls, Or, lightly recking arms of rustic swains. Comes down to cultivated fields in search of covert Near haunts of men, for closer ambuscade, 1125 By the third morn expect tempestuous weather. And so the other forecasts all portend Or wind or wintiy cold or rain. The same day, on the morrow, or the third dawn,** And mice with louder squeaking than their wont 1^3^ And midday gambols imitating dance, Were not unnoticed by our grandfathers ; Nor dogs : they dig the earth with active paws WTien they are prescient of coming cold. [And from the ocean comes the crab ashore ii35 When storms are starting on impetuous paths. And mice by day manipulating straws To make their couches and sleep through the rain Show they prognosticate inclement times.] Set light by none of these : confirm one warning 11 40 By a second : two pointing to one end Strengthen belief; a third breeds confidence. And count the passing season of the year Among thy signs: comparing the forecast with the normal promise of the stars About the weather when they rise or set, 1 1 45 To see if they accord.^* It deeply imports To mark the last four days of the dying And first four of the nascent month. Of meeting months They join the edges, when most changeable is the atmo- sphere Wanting eight nights the mild rays of the moon.^^ iiod Such notes, collated vdth the calendar. Shall furnish solid forecasts of the skv. NOTES. THE SKIES. 39 NOTI. 1 Compare Milton's : * And thou shalt be our star of Arcadj, Or Tyrian Cynosure.' — Comvs, ♦ Star of Arcady ' is an allusion to a different legend, in which Callisto, an Arcadian maid, takes the place of Helice. As a means of orientation both the greater and the lesser Bear have been superseded in modern times by the magnetic needle. 62 2 The elevation of the pole above the horizon of any spectator is equal in number of degrees to the latitude of the spectator; for instance, Athens being in latitude 38°. the elevation of the pole above the horizon of Athens is 38°. The Dragon's head, therefore, being only 38° from the pole, to a spectator at Athens is circumpolar, i.e. never sets. The centre of the Dragon is in the Arctic circle, 23^° from the pole : that is, just as far from the pole as the tropic of Cancer is from the equator. It is therefore in the zenith of a spectator to whom, at the summer solstice, the sun never sets. If Aratus had not named the Head of the Dragon, we might have supposed he alluded to this phenomenon and have translated : • That Dragon form is vertical o'er climes That join the tips of evening and dawn.' 56 NOTES, NOTES. 57 fr' a>'«. XoTB. 64 3 Now called Hercules. 118 4 Why echoing 1 A line of Cowper may suggest the answer: * The fall of waters, and the song of birds, And hills that echo with the distant herds'. — Retirement, 337 5 Called by la* er astronomers Conaa Berenices. The group beneath the tail, or, line 144, by the hind knees, of Ursa Major, seems to be Canes Venatid ; that by her fore-paws, Lynx ; that by her hind-paws, Leo Minor. 161 6 Beginners still find Capella by produdng a line through Delta and Alpha of Ursa Major. 172 7 Hesiod gives their names : ' Nymphs like the Graces, Phaesyle, and Coronis, and crowned Cleeia, And charming Pliaeo, and long-robed Eudora ; Called Hyads by the mortal tribes of earth.' 77 8 As seen from the equator, the paths of all the stars are vertical to the horizon and bisected by it ; so that those which rise together will set together. As observed by a spectator at any other latitude, except at the poles, the parallels of the stars are oblique to the horizon, and cut by it into unequal portions, according to their distance from the pole. Of two signs, then, that rise together, like Taurus and Auriga, the one that is further from the pole will remain a shorter time above the h(M*izon. 234 9 Triangulum Boreale. 252 10 In the dust of the Milky Way. 262 11 The enumeration by Hesiod, with whom Arat us chal- lenges a comparison, seems to me more rhythmical : TfixryfTii T* 4p6*ff5 Si) wfXas hills yiyy€rai, Kcd ris 'Kpolip6fiov 88c 7' itrrly hffr4\p. ♦ Whose turn is it to watch ? Who relieves me ? The first signs are setting, the seven Pleiads are above the east horizon, and the Eagle is soaring in mid heaven. . . . See ye not yon moon-like orb ? Morn, Morn is about to break, and that is one of her precursor stars.* The * first signs ' are explained to mean those that were visible at some earlier hour ; but every one must feel that a more individual designation was wanted : and in place of the trochee irpwra, the metre of the antistrophe requires a spondee. For irpSna read Bwro, Doric for BoiSrou. [• Bootes has begun to set.'] The moon-like orb would be the morning star, more moon-like than Euripides suspected. WEATHER FORECASTS. UN'E. NOTE. 743 36 Grim Arcturus was remembered in marine contracts. Demosthenes against Lacritus speaks of a contract of bot- tomry, which stipulated that, subject to the safe return of a ship from the Borysthenes, the interest paid on a sum of money, lent on security of the ship, should be at the rate of 22^ per cent. : provided that the ship was within the Bosporus on its way home * before Arcturus.' [At Athens in the time of Demosthenes the apparent morning rise of Arcturus was about mid September ; his apparent evening setting was on October 24. The former date was probably meant.] If she delayed her return till * after Arcturus,' interest was to be paid at the rate of thirty per cent. If the ship were lost, neither interest nor principal would be paid. 751 37 B.C. 433 Meton announced his cycle of nineteen years, a cycle after which the new and full moons, important in Paganism as in the Christian church for fixing the date of various festivals, would recur on the same days of the solar year. By the discovery of this cycle a single table cover- ing nineteen solar years sufficed as a religious calendar for all time, for the festivals fell on the same days in the cor- responding years of successive cycles. The number which showed the current year in this cycle (1, 2, 3 19) was called the golden number, because every year it was inscribed in letters of gold on the Parthenon. The same cycle also showed the recurrence of lunar and solar eclipses, which depend on the conjunction and opposition of the sun and moon. 754 38 The gods of navigation and agriculture. It is curious that Aratus says nothing about the religious and political uses of the calendar. As indicating the progress of discovery to which Aratus presently refers, I may be allowed to quote a curious echo, though in a different form and in a different tongue, after 64 NOTES. NOTES. 65 LIKE. NOTE. 71)5 39 808 40 a lapse of two thousand years, of the sentiment expressed so emphatically by our poet : « It is, I hope, becoming daily more and more evident that the owners of all vessels should be obliged to furnisli them with good barometers ; and, indeed, if they knew their own interests, they would always do so. The cost of a very small portion of the delay and mischief arising from damage occasioned by the want of one— and these are fre- quently not losses falling upon underwriters— would far more than repay the cost.' The writer liad remarked a few lines before that a baro- meter on board a floating light vessel had marked the passage of a hurricane over its meridian at a distance of at least 120 miles with the regularity of a clock.— Pidding- ton, Ten, Memoirs on tJie Lorn of Storm*, The meaning of this line is not clear. I have avoided a mere repetition of lines 782-3. But perhaps Aral us is speaking of a halo, or of the ashy light, the phenomenon popularly called * the old moon in the new moon's arms,' caused by the reflection of the earth's light on the portion of the moon unilluminated by the sun. The word vertical, if the right word to use, lines 788, 790, must mean vertical not to the horizon but to the line joining the centres of the moon and sun. The new and full [moons divide the lunar month into halves ; the half -moons divide it into quarters or quadra- tures ; the bisection of the quarters divides it into octants. At each of these divisions the moon has a distinctive phase, and at each phase the appearance of the disk was supposed to indicate the impending weather. K any weather- change occurred, it was assumed it would occur at one of these divisions. y^iXiopd (^De Hgnis ven- torum). * WTien winds are not arrested by other winds (this is a confession of some undefined perturbations), but cease of themselves, they are transformed into the adjacent winds, rotating from left to right, like the sun in his (diur- nal) course.' Theophrastus derives the doctrine from Aris- totle. Ai Sc r^pio'rda'fis (twv avf/xtov) yivovrai, avruv Kara- iravofi4v«ov, us rovs ^xo/i^vovs, Karh r)]v rov ri\iov /ifTdarraaiv {Meteorohgioa, 2, 6). * The cycle of winds when they cease of themselves (i.e. without being disturbed by opposite winds) is a continuous transformation of wind from one quarter into a wind from the adjacent quarter, following the direction of the (diurnal) movement of the sun.' When speaking of the Moon and Sun and Manger, Ara- tus wanders backwards and forwards from signs of Wind to signs of Rain. Afterwards, following the footsteps of Theophrastus, he arranges his matter more methodically according to the thing portended, and treats separately of the signs of Wind, of Rain, of Fair weather, and of Foul weather. Lines 907-930 give the signs of Wind ; 931-985 of Rain ; 986-1010 of Fair weather ; 1011-1139 of Wintry storm or Foul weather. This last term is unfortunately 68 NOTES. NOTES, 69 i i LIHK. W^ V^. V t ' ' , • » COLUMBIA UNIVERS TY 0032142803 ( •^ i V8Arl ?? ^ ^ * ^- a. Qc a