Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/44

12 Pleiades being considered as a separate constellation in addition to Taurus.

Allen makes the following interesting reference to this famous poem: "When the poem entitled The Phenomena of Aratos was introduced at Rome by Cicero and other leading characters, we read that it became the polite amusement of the Roman ladies to work the celestial forms in gold and silver on the most costly hangings, and this had previously been done at Athens, where concave ceilings were also emblazoned with the heavenly figures."

The Phenomena is the most ancient description of the constellations extant, and has been translated into all languages. Cicero and Germanicus Cæsar both made translations of it, and no less than thirty-five Greek commentaries on the work are known to us.

Eudoxus considered the heavens as divided up into constellations with recognised names. "He did not deal with the stars singly, but gave a sort of geographic description of their territorial position and limits, according to groups, distinguished by a common name." His work's chief value consists in the comprehensive view of the heavens it affords, and in the description of the constellated heavens in their entirety.

Although the contributions of Eudoxus and Aratos to astronomical literature are highly regarded and authoritative, the acknowledged founder of our scientific astronomy is Hipparchus, who was the first to discover the perpetual and apparent shifting of the stars known as the Precession of the Equinoxes. Only two of his works have come down to us, his Commentary, and the reproduction of his Star Catalogue by Ptolemy, who was known as "the Prince of Astronomers." This catalogue enumerated 1022 stars, of which 914 form constellations, and 108 are unformed. It is held in much respect even by modern astronomers, and agrees in the main with the enumeration of Aratos. Procyon, however, appears as a constellation, and the asterism Equuleus, the foremost Horse, is added,