Page:Ten Tragedies of Seneca (1902).djvu/727



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6. Arctos Alta. — Callisto, the daughter of Ljcason was de- bauched by Jupiter and changed by Juno into a. Bear; she was afterwards placed in the heavens with her son Areas, the one was called Helice, and the other the Cynosure.

9. Vector. — Jupiter disguised as a Bull, carried Europa across the sea to Crete — Taurus was the second sign of.the Zodiac, and which the poets feign to have been the Bull, which conveyed him, and which was subsequently placed by Jupi- ter amongst the constellations.

11. Atlantides. — The seven Pleiades between Taurus and the tail of Aries, and were the daughters of Atlas by Plei'one, of which three were debauched by Jupiter, Maia, Electra and Taygetes, they were very dangerous to navigators.

12. Orion. — Born from the combined urines of Jupiter, Neptune and Mercury — ab urinS. Ovid says ; "Perdidit antiquum littera prima sonum" "The first letter has lost its ancient sound." As the con- stellation appears on the glh March, and sets on the 21st June, it was generally accompanied at its rising by great rains and storms. — Another definition is; "Quod zelotypam deam male urit" "Because he sadly vexed the jealous Goddess Diana.'' But the terrifying character of Orion, was that the neighbour- ing constellations were scared by the severe atmospheric disturbances, with which he heralded his approach.

13. Stellas — aureus. — Sprung from Danae, upon whom Jupiter descended, as a golden shower. Perseus, as the result of this embrace has in his constellatory retinue, twenty-six "golden" stars.

14. Clara— Tyndarid^. — Bright stars, Castor and Pollux, twin brothers and sons of Jupiter by Leda, wife of Tyndarus, whom he approached as a "Swan."

16. QuiBUSQUE NATIS.— Latona, although made a deity, is no- where mentioned as a constellation, so that Juno, in enum- erating the various constellations, reminding her of Jupiter's infidelities, casts her eyes earthwards, and quotes Delos, as one of the refreshing mementoes — the rendering, therefore, which I have given, I think, fully elucidates this line.