Atlas, whose head with piny forests crown'd The reason why the poets feigned that Atlas sustained the heavens on his shoulders, was this: Atlas was a very famous astronomer, and the first person who understood and taught the doctrine of the sphere; and on the same account the poets tell us, that his daughters were turned into stars. By his wife Pelione he had seven daughters, whose names were Electra, Halcyone, Celano, Maia, Asterope, Taygete, and Merope; and they were called by one common name, Pleiades; and by his wife Æthra he had seven other daughters, whose names were Ambrosia, Euloria, Pasithoe, Coronis, Plexaris, Pytho, and Tyche; and these were called by one common name, Hyades, from *a word which in the Greek language signifies "to rain," because, when they rise or set, they are supposed to cause great rain; and therefore the Latins called them Sucula, that is, "swine," because the continual rain that they cause makes the roads so muddy, that they seem to delight in dirt, like swine. Others derive their name from Hyas, their brother, who was devoured by a lion: his sisters were so immoderately afflicted and grieved at his death, that Jupiter in compassion changed them into seven stars, which appear in the head of Taurus. And they are justly called Hyades, because showers of tears flow from their eyes to this day. The Pleiades derive their name from a Greek word signifying t" sailing." From whence these stars rise, they portend good weather to navigators. • Aro r8 vuv, id est, pluere. "Navita quas Hyades Graius ab imbre vocat." From rain the sailors call them Hyades. ↑ ATO TY Walliy a navigando, commodum enim tempus navi gationi ostendunt. Because they rise in the *spring time, the Romans call them Virgilia. Yet others think that they are called Pleiades from their number, since they never appear single, but altogether, except Merope, who is scarcely ever seen; for she is ashamed that she married Sisyphus, a mortal man, when all the rest of the sisters married gods: others call this obscure star Electra, because she held her hand before her eyes, and would not look upon the destruction of Troy. The Hyades were placed among the stars because they bewailed immoderately the death of their brother Hyas; and the Pleiades were translated into heaven, because they incessantly lamented the hard fate of their father Atlas, who was converted into a mountain. But let us speak a little about their uncle Hesperus. Hesperus was the brother of Atlas, and because he lived some time in Italy, that country was called anciently Hespera from him. He frequently went up to the top of the mountain Atlas to view the stars. At last he went up and came down from the mountain no more. This made the people imagine that he was carried up into heaven; upon which they worshipped him as a god, and called a very bright star from his name Hesperus, Hesper, Hesperugo, Vesper and Vesperugo, which is called the evening star, when it sets after the sun; but when it rises before the sun, it is called progos [Phosphorus] or Lucifer; that is the morning star. Further, this Hesperus had three daughters, Egle, Prethusa, and Hesperethusa; who in general were called the Hesperides. It was said, that in their gardens, trees were planted that bore golden fruit; and that these trees were guarded by a watchful dragon, which Hercules killed, and then carried away the golden apples. * Virgiliæ dictæ a verno tempore quod exoriuntur. † Quasi wàmoves, hoc est, plures, quod numquam singulæ ap pareant, sed omnes simul. Hence the phrase, *to give some of the apples of the Hesperides; that is, to give a great and splendid gift. QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. Who was Prometheus? What did he bring from heaven? What did Jupiter do in consequence? How did Jupiter punish Prometheus? Why did he set him at liberty? From what is the name of Prometheus derived, and wnat is the meaning of the fable? What is the story of Deucalion? How is Atlas represented, and how was he changed into a mountain? Why has Atlas the world on his shoulders? From what do the Hyades derive their name? What is said of Hesperus? CHAPTER VI. ORPHEUS AND AMPHION. ACHILLES. ORPHEUS and Amphion are drawn in the same manner, and almost in the same colours, because they both excelled in the same art, namely, in music; in which they were so skilful, that by playing on the harp they moved not only men, but beasts, and the very stones themselves. Orpheus, the son of Apollo by Calliope the Muse, with the harp that he received from his father, played and sang so sweetly, that he tamed wild beasts, stayed the course of rivers, and made whole woods follow him. He descended with the same harp into hell, to recover, from Pluto and Proserpine, his wife Eurydice, who had been killed by a serpent, when she fled from the violence of Aristæus. Here he so • Mãàn 'Eornpidŵv dwęngai, id est, mala Hesperidum largiri. charmed both the king and queen with the sweetness of his music, that they permitted his wife to return to life again, upon this condition, that he should not look upon her till they were both arrived upon the earth: but so impatient and eager was the love of Orpheus, that he could not perform the condition; therefore, she was taken back into hell again. Upon this, Orpheus resolved for the future to live a widower: and with his example alienated the minds of many others from the love of women. This so provoked the Mænades and Bacchæ, that they tore him in pieces: though others assign another reason of his death, which is this: the women, by the instigation of Venus, were so inflamed with the love of him, that, quarrelling with one another who should have him, they tore him in pieces. His bones were afterward gathered by the Muses, and reposed in a sepulchre, not without tears; and his harp was made the constellation Lyra. Amphion was the son of Jupiter by Antiope. He received his lute and harp from Mercury; and with the sound thereof moved the stones so regularly, that they composed the walls of the city of Thebes. "Dictus et Amphion, Thebanæ conditor urbis, Hor. de Art. Poet. Amphion too, as story goes, could call The occasion of which fable was this: Orpheus and Amphion were both men so eloquent, that they persuaded those who lived a wild and savage life before, to embrace the rules and manners of civil society. Arion is a proper companion for these two musicians, for he was a lyric poet of Methymna, in the island of Lesbos, and gained immense riches by his art. When he was travelling from Lesbos into Italy, his companions assaulted him to rob him of his wealth; but he entreated the seamen to suffer him to play on his harp, before they cast him into the sea he played sweetly, and then threw himself into the sea, where a dolphin, drawn thither by the sweetness of his music, received him on his back, and carried him to Tenedos. “Ille sedet, citharamque tenet, pretiumque vehendi With harp in hand, by which he calms the seas, The dolphin for this kindness was carried into heaven, and made a constellation. Achilles was the son of Peleus by Thetis.. His mother plunged him in the Stygian waters when he was an infant, which made his whole body ever after invulnerable, excepting that part of his foot by which he was held when he was washed. Others say, that Thetis hid him in the night under a fire, after she had anointed him in the day with ambrosia; whence at first he was called Pyrisous, because he escaped safe from the fire; and afterward Achilles, *because he had but one lip, for he licked the ambrosia from his other lip, so that the fire had power to burn it off. Others again report, that he was brought up by Chiron the Centaur, and fed, instead of milk, with the entrails of lions, and the marrow of bears so that by that means he received immense greatness of soul, and mighty strength of body. From him those who greatly excelled in strength, were called Achilles, and an argument is called Achilleum, when no objection can weaken or disprove it. Ab a priv, et xiλes, labrum; quasi sine labro. ↑ Apoll 1. 3. Eurip. in Iphig. Gell. 1. 2. c. 11. |