SONG 

 
 
 ARTHUR E. EN 
 VOU
 
 THE STARS IN SONG 
 AND LEGEND 
 
 BY 
 
 JERMAIN G. PORTER, PH.D. 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE CINCINNATI OBSERVATORY AND PROFESSOR OF 
 ASTRONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE DRAWINGS OF 
 
 ALBRECHT DURER 
 
 BOSTON, U.S.A., AXD LONDON 
 GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 
 C&e 8tl)cmrttm 
 1901
 
 ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1901 
 BY JEKMAIN G. PORTER 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
 
 I HAVE attempted in this little volume to present the 
 legendary lore of the heavens in such a way as to attract the 
 unprofessional reader. By numerous poetical quotations I 
 have tried also to show the intimate connection of the stars 
 with the best arid highest in literature. The book embodies 
 to a considerable extent the material that I have collected on 
 this subject in the course of many years' lecturing to col- 
 lege classes, though I have made free use also of that ency- 
 clopedic work on Star Names and their Meanings, by R. H. 
 Allen, published only a year or two ago. So exhaustive is 
 the treatment of the constellations in Mr. Allen's book, that 
 there might seem small excuse for again presenting the sub- 
 ject ; but the very completeness of that volume will render 
 it less useful to many who might be interested in a briefer 
 and more popular account of the star legends. 
 
 I wish also here to record my indebtedness to Sir Norman 
 Lockyer's Dawn of Astronomy for much interesting informa- 
 tion concerning sun worship among the ancients. I have 
 consulted, besides, many of the older standard works on 
 mythology and on the constellations. 
 
 1781113
 
 vi PREFACE 
 
 Most of the quotations are taken directly from the originals, 
 though in a few cases I have copied these from Smyth's Cycle 
 of Celestial Objects or from Mr. Allen's work. 
 
 The Latin forms of classic names have in general been 
 adopted, and care has been taken to avoid as far as possible 
 the introduction of Greek words or technical terms which 
 would puzzle the unscientific reader. 
 
 JERMAIN G. PORTER. 
 JUNE, 1901.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . ix 
 
 THE DAY-STAR SUN MYTHS AND SUN WORSHIP . . 1 
 
 LUNAR FABLES AND FANCIES ....... 13 
 
 THE STARRY HEAVENS ........ 22 
 
 ARIES, THE RAM ......... 27 
 
 TAURUS, THE BULL ........ 30 
 
 GEMINI, THE TWINS ......... 39 
 
 CANCER, THE CRAB ........ 43 
 
 LEO, THE LION .......... 45 
 
 VIRGO, THE VIRGIN ........ 47 
 
 LIBRA, THE SCALES ......... 50 
 
 SCORPIO, THE SCORPION ....... 52 
 
 SAGITTARIUS, THE ARCHER ....... 54 
 
 CAPRICORNUS, THE GOAT ....... 55 
 
 AQUARIUS, THE WATER-BEARER . . . . . .57 
 
 PISCES, THE FISHES ....... 58 
 
 URSA MAJOR, THE GREAT BEAR ...... 61 
 
 I'i:- A MINOR, THE LITTLE BEAR . . . . . . 67 
 
 CEPHEUS AND CASSIOPEIA ....... 72 
 
 PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA ....... 74 
 
 AURIGA, THE CHARIOTEER ....... 77 
 
 COMA BERENICES (BERENICE'S HAIR) ..... 80 
 
 BOOTES, THE HERDSMAN ........ 82
 
 viii CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CORONA BOREALIS, THE NORTHERN CROWN- ... 85 
 
 HERCULES ........... 88 
 
 OPHIUCHUS, THE SERPENT-BEARER ..... 90 
 
 LYRA, THE LYRE; DELPHINUS, THE DOLPHIN; A^MI.A. THE 
 
 EAGLE ."92 
 
 CYGNUS, THE SWAN 96 
 
 PEGASUS, THE WINGED HORSE 99 
 
 ORION 101 
 
 CANIS MAJOR AND CANIS MINOR, THE GREAT AND LITTI.K 
 
 DOGS 107 
 
 ARGO NAVIS, THE SHIP ARGO . . . . . .111 
 
 CRUX, THE SOUTHERN CROSS . . . . . . .110 
 
 THE GALAXY, OR MILKY WAY . . . . . .119 
 
 INDEX . . 125
 
 ASTRONOMY as usually taught is purely a nature study. 
 Viewed solely in that light, none certainly will dispute its 
 educational value. To a far greater extent than any other 
 science does it enlarge the mind and give a true conception 
 of the relation of man to his physical environment. A liberal 
 education implies some general knowledge, at least, of the 
 wonderful revelations of modern astronomy. 
 
 But astronomy possesses an interest for the student also 
 from other points of view. Its great antiquity, for instance, 
 renders it worthy of attention historically. Unlike other 
 branches of science, which, for the most part, are but of yes- 
 terday, the science of the stars may be traced backward till 
 its beginnings are lost in the mythological and the fabulous. 
 It is not, however, the formal history of astronomy that I now 
 refer to, so much as the general relation of the progress of 
 astronomical ideas with the growth of civilization. It will, 
 in fact, be found that the knowledge of practical astronomy 
 possessed by a people forms a very good criterion of their 
 advancement in those arts which minister to physical well- 
 being. Among savage tribes the heavenly bodies may be
 
 x INTRODUCTION 
 
 regarded with awe, and even worshiped ; but their motions 
 and their relations to the form of the earth are not understood, 
 and hence cannot be employed for the accurate reckoning of 
 time, for navigation and surveying, with all the attendant 
 advantages. Throughout historic times the connection has 
 always been very close between the intellectual activity 
 which has sought to wrest the secrets of nature from the 
 stars, and the industrial activity which has manifested itself 
 in exploration and extended commerce. 
 
 To take one illustration, why was the discovery of the 
 western continent so long delayed? We admire the splen- 
 did civilizations of classic times. Why was it that clouds 
 and darkness then enveloped four-fifths of the earth's sur- 
 face ? Why could not the art which built the pyramids, or 
 the skill that clothed the hills and vales of Greece with 
 beauty, or the administrative power that made Rome the 
 mistress of the nations, have pierced also the secrets of 
 the ocean and brought to light the continents and islands 
 embosomed in its heaving billows ? Why was Atlantis but 
 a myth, and the outlying waters so full of terrors to the 
 imagination of the ancient mariners that they only groped 
 along the shore? We readily find the explanation in the 
 crude notions regarding the figure of the earth which still 
 enchained the popular mind. 
 
 The ideas of those philosophers of the Augustan age, who 
 had already perceived the truth on this subject, failed to gain
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 general acceptance and were soon lost amid the darkness of 
 scholasticism. Only with the revival of learning and the 
 renewed study of the Greek classics did they again appear 
 and begin to influence the thought of the age. Even in the 
 time of Columbus the figment of a flat earth surrounded by 
 an ocean stream was still so prevalent that, as we know, it 
 was with the greatest difficulty that he obtained the means to 
 fit out his vessels or the crews to man them. But for his 
 thorough belief in the most advanced astronomical teaching 
 of his day, we may be sure he would never have ventured 
 upon his momentous voyage. 
 
 Again, astronomy possesses an interest from what we may 
 call the aesthetic point of view ; and this is the phase of the 
 subject which it is desired particularly to present in this book, 
 though it is also true that the mythology of the heavens 
 throws much light on the historical development of the sci- 
 ence. In all ages the celestial bodies have been objects of 
 admiration, yet no doubt this was so more universally in the 
 infancy of the race than in modern times. The progress of 
 civilization tends to wean us away from nature. We do 
 indeed make use of her forces and her laws, but the knowl- 
 edge and skill which such use implies and necessitates are 
 confined mostly to scientists and inventors ; and the scien- 
 tific spirit which insists on uncovering all the secret springs 
 of the cosmos reacts also on the popular mind and leads to 
 unromantic views of nature. The rising and setting of the
 
 xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 sun, the waxing and waning of the moon, the solemn man h 
 of the glittering star host across the firmament, are taken as 
 matters of course and excite no wonder and inspire no awe. 
 
 Very different was it in the early days, when nature was 
 not regarded as one vast machine wherein each part and each 
 movement were articulated with all the rest, but rather as a 
 series of phenomena with special relations and individual 
 significance. In the case of the heavenly bodies this view 
 would naturally lead to their deification and worship. More 
 especially would this be true because of the seemingly inti- 
 mate connection not simply of the sun, but of the stars as 
 well, with the changes of the seasons and the varying round 
 of human activity associated therewith. That this worship 
 of the sun, moon, and stars was well-nigh universal, we have 
 abundant evidence. Even the Israelites had to be cautioned 
 many times against the practice, as in Deuteronomy iv. 15-19: 
 " Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves . . . lest thou 
 lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, 
 moon and stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be 
 driven to worship them, which the Lord thy God hath divided 
 unto all nations under the whole heaven." 
 
 Although such worship was frequently accompanied by 
 cruel and shameful rites, nevertheless the beauty and dignity 
 of the objects, together with their exalted position and mys- 
 terious yet beneficent influence, certainly redeemed this spe- 
 cies of idolatry from the grossness and degrading character of
 
 INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 some other forms, as, for instance, the worship of animals 
 and reptiles. 
 
 In this deification of the celestial bodies many of the 
 legends relating to them had their origin. These old stories, 
 wild and fanciful as they are, reveal to us the thoughts and 
 feelings with which primitive man gazed into the sky, and 
 the relations and influences which he there traced. While 
 they contain much that is crude and even ridiculous, we may 
 discover also many beautiful ideas and ennobling conceptions. 
 It is certainly worth while to study these legends, both because 
 of their intrinsic interest, and for the view they give us of the 
 weak, but none the less honest and earnest efforts, which our 
 remote ancestors made to solve that complex, momentous 
 problem, the relation of heaven to earth. 
 
 Not all the star legends, however, come to us from antiquity. 
 We meet them in the folklore of more recent periods. In the 
 far north and in the sunny south, among the wild aborigines 
 of the continents and islands of the sea, as well as the peas- 
 antry of the more civilized nations, these stories concerning 
 the sky and its inhabitants are current. Then, too, the litera- 
 ture of modern times abounds in references to the constella- 
 tions and the myths associated with them. It is impossible 
 to read understandingly a poet like Tennyson, with his con- 
 stant allusions to classic mythology, or Longfellow, whose 
 verse mirrors in numberless instances the beauties of the 
 starry firmament, without some knowledge not simply of
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 astronomy as a science, but of the legendary lore connected 
 with it. 
 
 It is in the hope of leading the reader to a fuller apprecia- 
 tion of the poetry of the sky, as well as to a greater interest 
 in the stars themselves, that this little book has been written. 
 Emerson in his essay on Nature says : " If the stars should 
 appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe 
 and adore, and preserve for many generations the remem- 
 brance of the city of God which had been shown ! But 
 every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the 
 universe with their admonishing smile." And, alas ! too 
 often we pay them scant heed. Even though our minds be 
 unscientific, and the dry facts of astronomy do not appeal to 
 us, let us at least familiarize ourselves with the face of the 
 sky ; let us make friends with those mysterious giant figures 
 that people its depths, so that whenever we lift our eyes and 
 behold them shining down from their serene heights of ether, 
 we shall recall the wonderful legends told of them in the 
 long-ago, and the beautiful fancies which they have inspired 
 in the poetic soul of every age.
 
 When I survey the bright 
 
 Celestial sphere, 
 
 So rich with jewels hung, that night 
 Doth like an Ethiop bride appear ; 
 My soul her wings doth spread, 
 
 And heavenward flies, 
 The Almighty's mysteries to read 
 In the large volumes of the skies. 
 
 WILLIAM HABIXGTOX, 1005-45. 
 
 xvi
 
 THE STARS IN SONG AND 
 LEGEND 
 
 THE DAY-STAR SUN MYTHS AND 
 SUN WORSHIP 
 
 One sun by day, by night ten thousand shine, 
 
 And light us deep into the Deity ; 
 
 How boundless in magnificence and might ! 
 
 YOUNG Night Thoughts. 
 
 THEKE can be no doubt that the sun was the first 
 of all the celestial bodies to be observed and studied. 
 The mysterious thoughts and unanswerable question- 
 ings which its rising must have excited in the inind 
 of the primitive philosopher are well voiced in the 
 poems of Ossian : 
 
 Whence are thy beams, Sun, thy everlasting light? 
 
 Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty ; the stars hide them- 
 selves in the sky ; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in 
 the western wave ; but thou thyself movest alone.
 
 2 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 It is impossible for us, with our accurate knowledge 
 of the natural causes that produce the phenomenon of 
 day and night, to appreciate the feelings of our remote 
 ancestors as the great orb of day sank below the hori- 
 zon. How almost death-like must have seemed the 
 darkness that settled over the landscape, and how 
 tremendously important the coming of the dawn and 
 the return of day ! That divine honors should be 
 paid to the great source and dispenser of light and 
 life was inevitable. 
 
 Sun Worship in India. Evidences of this sun worship 
 can be found in nearly every nation of antiquity. The 
 Vedas contain hymns to the sky, to the dawn, and to 
 the sun, forming a kind of ritual, which was chanted 
 by the priests at sunset and sunrise. The burden of 
 these hymns is the universal conflict between good and 
 evil as typified by the struggle between light and dark- 
 ness. " Will the dawn return ? Will the sun again 
 rise? Will the powers of darkness be conquered by 
 the god of light?" 
 
 Professor Max Muller thus characterizes this primitive 
 literature : " I look upon the sunrise and sunset, on 
 the daily return of day and night, on the battle 
 between light and darkness, on the whole^ solar drama
 
 SUN MYTHS AND SUN WORSHIP 3 
 
 in all its details that is enacted every day, every 
 month, every year, in heaven and in earth, as the 
 principal subject." 
 
 Egyptian Ideas of the Sun-God; the Myth of Horus. 
 While the Vedas carry us back more than three 
 thousand years and give us some insight into the forms 
 of worship prevailing among the ancestors of our own 
 Aryan race, in the Nile country we can trace the 
 evidences of a similar cult to a period even more 
 remote. By the Egyptians the sun was worshiped, 
 not simply as the general source of light ; they dis- 
 tinguished various forms of the sun-god, depending 
 upon the positions occupied in its daily course. The 
 rising sun was Horus, the child-god ; Amen Ra, the 
 sun in his noontide strength ; and Osiris, the setting 
 sun, dying and passing into the under-world of dark- 
 ness. The deity that presided over this under-world 
 was Typhon, and we find him symbolized by the cir- 
 cumpolar constellations. These constellations never 
 set, and are consequently always visible when the sun 
 is absent from the sky. To the untutored mind there 
 came naturally, therefore, to be an antithesis between 
 the two. The relations, as they existed in the thoughts 
 of those primitive peoples, between the rising and
 
 4 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 setting sun and the powers of darkness that ruled the 
 night were beautifully set forth in the Myth of 
 Horus. 
 
 This legend, depicted on the temple walls, is exceed- 
 ingly ancient, going back perhaps as early as 5000 B.C. 
 It represents Horus, the rising sun, battling with and 
 slaying Typhon, the god of darkness, in the form of 
 a crocodile or hippopotamus, to revenge the death of 
 his father Osiris, the setting sun. The astronomical 
 significance of the myth is very plain. The rising sun 
 blots out or destroys the circumpolar constellations, 
 symbolized by the crocodile or hippopotamus ; these in 
 their turn being responsible for the disappearance and 
 death of the setting sun. 
 
 Orientation of Egyptian Temples. It is a well-known 
 fact that the pyramids stand square with the points of 
 the compass, and therefore face sunrise at the time of 
 the equinox. But the pyramids do not represent by 
 any means the oldest civilization of Egypt. Among 
 the temple remains in Upper Egypt are some whose 
 ruins must have been already hoary with the dust of 
 centuries when the pyramid builders began their work. 
 When these ruins were first explored and mapped, 
 their arrangement greatly puzzled archaeologists ; they
 
 SUN MYTHS AND SUN WORSHIP 
 
 seemed to have been set down haphazard, facing indis- 
 criminately in all directions. Later and more careful 
 study has revealed the inter- 
 esting fact that these temples 
 were erected for the purpose of 
 observing the rising or setting 
 of different heavenly bodies. 
 Indeed, in some respects they 
 resembled gigantic telescopes. 
 Their ground plan was such, 
 with chamber and ante-cham- 
 ber connected by ever-narrow- 
 ing apertures, that a beam of 
 light entering through the 
 outer pylon would pass along 
 the whole length of the tem- 
 ple, until finally it penetrated 
 to the inmost sanctuary and 
 there formed an image of 
 the luminous object upon the 
 wall. 
 
 Some of these structures were used for 
 the sun, others for the stars. It was found that 
 many of the solar temples faced the sunrise or sunset 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF TEMPLE AT 
 THEBES (LEPSIUS) 
 
 A. Pylon 
 
 B. Inner sanctuary 
 
 observing
 
 6 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 at the time of the summer solstice. The motive that 
 suggested this arrangement we can readily under- 
 stand. The rising of the Nile was to the Egyptians 
 the most important event of the year, and this rise 
 during all historic . time has begun very near the sol- 
 stice. The priests, in the absence of an accurate cal- 
 endar, were enabled to determine the time when the 
 inundation was due by watching from their temples 
 the gradual northward movement of the sun. No 
 doubt the temples of this class played a prominent 
 part in the ceremonies connected with the great 
 annual festival which celebrated the approach of the 
 life-giving flood. 
 
 Other temples were oriented to the winter solstice. 
 Here, too, the motive is not far to seek. As the sun 
 was the personification of all good, its gradual sinking 
 downward in the south, causing shorter days and a 
 longer reign of the nocturnal powers of darkness, was 
 naturally regarded with foreboding and dread. The 
 cessation of this southward movement and the begin- 
 ning of the sun's return were hailed with gladness and 
 made the occasion of joyous festivities. 
 
 Solar Temples in Greece. Although the worship of 
 the sun was perhaps more thoroughly organized and
 
 SUN MYTHS AND SUN WORSHIP 7 
 
 attended by more elaborate ceremonies in Egypt than 
 elsewhere, yet traces of this cult may be discovered in 
 nearly every land. Recent investigations have shown 
 that almost all the Grecian temples were oriented so 
 that the sunlight might enter them at some time in the 
 year. While the artistic spirit of the Greeks trans- 
 formed the Egyptian architectural ideas of massiveness 
 and mystery into those of grace and beauty, yet the 
 one fundamental thought remained the same, an 
 unobstructed axis, so that the sun's rays might pierce 
 through to the cella and render glorious the statue 
 of the god there erected. 
 
 The sun's representative in the Greek pantheon was 
 Helios, afterwards identified, partially at least, with 
 Phoebus Apollo. According to the later poets, he inhab- 
 ited a splendid palace somewhere below Colchis, to 
 which, after his daily drive in a glowing chariot across 
 the sky, he was conveyed in a winged boat of gold 
 along; the northern coast of the Euxine sea. 
 
 o 
 
 Baal Worship. The Phoenicians worshiped the sun 
 under the name of Baal. The Moloch of the Ammon- 
 ites and Chemosh of the Moabites were probably variant 
 names of the same deity. From these nations the Israel- 
 ites borrowed their idolatrous practices. Some have
 
 8 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 thought that the Beltane, or sacred fire of the Celtic 
 nations, was a survival of Baal worship. However this 
 may be, it is certain that the sun was reverenced 
 among these peoples, and yearly festivals in his honor 
 were held. 
 
 The Druids. - - The priests of this worship were the 
 Druids. They seem to have erected no temples, but to 
 have performed their rites under the open sky. The 
 
 STONEHENGE 
 
 immense circles of standing stones, of which Stone- 
 henge on Salisbury plain is the most famous, probably 
 marked their sacred places. The circular arrangement
 
 SUN MYTHS AND SUN WORSHIP 9 
 
 of these monoliths in itself suggests a connection with 
 the worship of the sun, and this idea has received 
 confirmation by the discovery that the single large 
 rock lying in the avenue which forms the approach to 
 Stonehenge is so placed that, as the sun rises on mid- 
 summer's day, its shadow falls upon the central altar. 
 The Druids, like the Egyptian priests, no doubt 
 determined in this way the turning point of the year. 
 Mrs. Hemans thus refers to this Druidical worship : 
 
 Where the Druid's ancient cromlech frowned, 
 And the oaks breathed mysterious murmurs round, 
 There thronged the inspired of yore, on plain or height, 
 In the sun's face, beneath the eye of light, 
 And baring unto heaven each noble head, 
 Stood in the circle, where none else might tread. 
 
 Scandinavian Myths. In the cosmogony of the north- 
 ern nations the sun naturally played a prominent part. 
 The conflict of the wild, bitter forces of the north with 
 the genial, radiant influences of the south resulted in 
 the birth of the world and its inhabitants. Night was 
 of the race of the giants, and Day was her son. To 
 them the All-father gave chariots and horses. As 
 Night courses across the sky the foam from the mouths 
 of her steeds flecks the earth with rime-drops. Following
 
 10 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 close in her tracks comes the fair youth Day, and the 
 light which streams from the glowing manes of his 
 horses illumines the sky and the world. 
 
 It is a somewhat curious fact that, according to the 
 Norse mythology, the end of the world, as well as its 
 beginning, will be due to the agency of the fire prin- 
 ciple. The personification of this principle is Loki, 
 who at first was beneficent, but fell from his high 
 estate and became destructive like a raging flame. 
 His progeny will finally, in the " twilight of the gods," 
 prevail over the other deities, devouring the sun, moon, 
 and stars, and scattering abroad firebrands which will 
 burn up, not only the world, but even Valhalla itself. 
 Among the Scandinavian as well as the Celtic peoples, 
 the worship of fire and sun seems to have been very 
 prevalent. 
 
 Peruvian Sun Worship. Again, in far-away Peru, the 
 Spanish conquerors found this cult well organized with 
 elaborate ceremonials. The Incas claimed to be the 
 children of the sun, and his worship was their peculiar 
 care. In Cuzco, the capital, stood a splendid temple 
 with an image of the sun in solid gold upon the 
 western wall. When the huge doors of the eastern 
 portal were thrown open, the rays of the rising sun
 
 SUN MYTHS AND SUN WORSHIP 11 
 
 fell full upon this image, which shone with dazzling 
 splendor. All of the implements and ornaments of 
 the temple were likewise of gold. In the figurative 
 language of the people, gold was the " tears wept by 
 the sun." 
 
 Orientation of Christian Cathedrals. We thus see how 
 exceedingly widespread was the worship of the great 
 luminary. It is not surprising that upon the introduc- 
 tion of Christianity the usages incident to sun worship 
 could not be wholly displaced, but were to some extent 
 retained and adapted to Christian ideas. The medieval 
 cathedrals, for instance, like the temples of Egypt and 
 Greece, were oriented to the sunrise. The old basilica 
 of Saint Peter at Rome was so exactly aligned to the 
 east, that when the great doors were opened on the 
 vernal equinox, the sun's rays penetrated straight 
 through the nave and illuminated the high altar. 
 From the fifth century to the Renaissance this practice 
 was generally carried out, many even of the old Eng- 
 lish cathedrals facing either due east or to the point 
 of sunrise on the festival of their patron saint. The 
 mystical reasons given in defense of this custom were 
 that the Saviour on the cross had his face toward the 
 west ; hence the Christian's sanctuary should have its
 
 12 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 outlook to the east, where also in the last day Christ 
 will descend from heaven. 
 
 But what necessity for explanation or apology ? 
 Where in all nature shall we find a more fitting type 
 of the Uncreated Glory than in the sun?
 
 LUNAR FABLES AND FANCIES 
 
 The silver-footed queen. 
 
 HOMER. 
 
 All night, through archways of the bridged pearl 
 And portals of pure silver, walks the moon. 
 
 TENNYSON Sonnet. 
 
 Moon Worship among the Ancients. The moon, like 
 the sun, had her worshipers. Astarte, the beautiful 
 but licentious Syrian divinity, called by the Hebrews 
 Ashtaroth, or the Queen of Heaven, was a moon 
 goddess. In Greece she became Selene, and with the 
 Romans, Diana. Following classic mythology, we 
 make the moon feminine, but this usage is not by any 
 means universal. In the Scandinavian myths the 
 moon is a god and the sun a goddess. The same 
 inversion of gender is found also among the Arabians, 
 the Aztecs and Hindus. Possibly the lugubrious and 
 unmistakably masculine countenance which the full 
 moon shows, may be to some extent responsible for 
 this practice. Yet, curiously enough, the picture seen 
 in the lunar spots has not been so generally a human 
 
 13
 
 14 THE STAKS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 likeness. The folklore both of the eastern and the 
 western world has associated them far more frequently 
 with the hare. 
 
 Legend of Buddha. According to a Hindu legend, 
 Buddha, in an early stage of his existence, was a hare 
 traveling in company with an ape and a fox. The god 
 Indra, disguised as a beggar, asked them for food, and 
 the three went out to seek it. The hare alone returned 
 from his quest unsuccessful ; and not wishing to seem 
 lacking in hospitality, ordered a fire built, and cast 
 himself into it to roast for his guest's supper. In 
 reward for this heroic devotion to duty, the god placed 
 him in the moon. Other legends locate on the moon 
 the palace of the king of the hares ; and some of the 
 South African tribes associated the hare and the moon 
 in their worship, and explained the markings on its 
 face as the result of scratches inflicted by the hare in 
 revenge for the moon's ill treatment. 
 
 The Man in the Moon. The "man in the moon" is 
 so plain as to be recognizable at a glance. Various 
 stories to account for his presence there have been 
 current. One of the most widely prevalent connected 
 him with the Hebrew who was stoned for gathering 
 sticks on the Sabbath. A variation of this legend as
 
 LUNAR FABLES AND FANCIES 15 
 
 given by many writers is something like this : A man 
 traveling on Sunday with a bundle on his back was 
 met by a fairy, who asked him why he worked on the 
 Sabbath. He replied : " Sunday on earth or Monday in 
 heaven, it is all one to me." " Then carry your bundle 
 forever," she answered. "As you have no regard for 
 Sunday on earth, take your perpetual Monday (Moon- 
 day) in heaven and travel with the moon." So there 
 he still remains. 
 
 Scandinavian folklore recognizes on the moon two 
 children bearing a pail of water suspended on a pole 
 from their shoulders. This is probably the original of 
 our Jack and Jill, the vanishing of one spot after 
 another as the moon wanes, representing the fall first 
 of Jack and then of Jill. 
 
 The Lady in the Moon. The " man in the moon " is 
 decidedly homely, not to say ugly ; but a much more 
 beautiful as well as more striking likeness to a human 
 countenance may be seen by those who know where 
 to look for it. Upon the western half of the moon, 
 with face slightly upturned towards the east, can be 
 traced the profile of a lovely maiden. In modern 
 times this has received the name of Selene, the Greek 
 title of the moon goddess. Whether it has ever been
 
 1C 
 
 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 recognized previous to our day seems to be doubtful; 
 yet legends of fair women in connection with our 
 
 Actual Contour 
 
 The Face accentuated 
 
 THE LADY IN THE MOON 
 
 satellite are to be found in every age. In classic times 
 we have the identification of the moon with Diana. 
 
 Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, 
 
 Now the sun is laid to sleep, 
 Seated in thy silver chair, 
 
 State in wonted manner keep. 
 
 BEN JONSON. 
 
 Sometimes it is Diana's chariot, rather than the 
 goddess herself, as in her wooing of Endymion told 
 by Morris : 
 
 There came a vision of a lovely maid, 
 Who seemed to step, as from a golden car, 
 Out of the low-hung moon.
 
 LUNAR FABLES AND FANCIES 17 
 
 Then the Incas of Peru had their story of a beauti- 
 ful maiden, who in the long-ago fell in love with the 
 moon and cast herself into his arms ; while some of 
 the Pacific islanders made the moon the rough wooer 
 who snatched a fair bride from the earth. The 
 Indian legend regarding the moon spots is told by 
 Longfellow, where Hiawatha 
 
 Saw the moon rise from the water, 
 
 Rippling, rounding from the water, 
 
 Saw the flecks and shadows on it, 
 
 Whispered, " What is that, Nokomis ? " 
 
 And the good Nokomis answered, 
 
 " Once a warrior very angry, 
 
 Seized his grandmother and threw her 
 
 Up into the sky at midnight ; 
 
 Right against the moon he threw her ; 
 
 'Tis her body that you see there." 
 
 Many other stories about these markings might be 
 collected. All of them, of course, like the pictures one 
 sees in the fire, are purely children of the fancy. 
 
 Supposed Resemblance to the Earth. Vague notions of 
 a possible resemblance to the earth seem now and then 
 to have been entertained. The Druids, we are told, 
 imagined seas upon its surface, and even considered it
 
 18 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 to be the residence of happy souls who at death were 
 borne thither on a whirlwind. But it was not until 
 the invention of the telescope that this idea took defi- 
 nite shape. Milton, the contemporary of Galileo, 
 immortalized the discovery of his astronomer friend, 
 comparing Satan's shield to 
 
 . . . the moon, whose orb 
 Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views 
 At evening from the top of Fesole, 
 Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, 
 Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe. 
 
 To be sure, this likeness to the earth did not prove 
 to be so close as the early telescopic observers fondly 
 dreamed. Many of their beautiful fancies faded away, 
 leaving the moon a lifeless, waterless, and airless world. 
 What wonder that philosophers and poets, in despair at 
 the uninviting prospect presented by science for their 
 contemplation on the hither side of the moon, have 
 turned for consolation to the farther side, allowing their 
 imaginations to run riot in depicting its loveliness and 
 splendor ! 
 
 Thus Robert Browning : 
 
 What, there's nothing in the moon noteworthy? 
 Nay : for if that moon could love a mortal,
 
 LUNAB FABLES AND FANCIES 19 
 
 Use, to charm him (so to fit a fancy), 
 
 All her magic ('t is the old sweet mythos), 
 
 She would turn a new side to her mortal, 
 
 Side unseen of herdsman, huntsman, steersman, 
 
 Blank to Zoroaster on his terrace, 
 
 Blind to Galileo on his turret, 
 
 Dumb to Homer, dumb to Keats him, even ! 
 
 Think, the wonder of the moon-struck mortal, 
 
 When she turns round, comes again in heaven, 
 
 Opens out anew for worse or better! 
 
 What were seen ? None knows, none ever shall know. 
 
 Only this is sure the sight were other, 
 
 Not the moon's same side, born late in Florence, 
 
 Dying now impoverished here in London. 
 
 God be thanked, the meanest of his creatures 
 
 Boasts two soul-sides, one to face the world with, 
 
 One to show a woman when he loves her ! 
 
 One Word More. 
 
 Moon Superstitions. Modern superstitions concerning 
 the moon are quite numerous, and much more widely 
 credited than would be supposed possible in this 
 enlightened age. One of the most common is the 
 expectation of good luck if the new moon be first 
 seen over the right shoulder. Rustic belles frequently 
 attempt in this way to discover their future partners,
 
 20 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 the glance at the moon being accompanied by an 
 
 incantation : 
 
 I prithee, good moon, declare to me 
 This night who my husband shall be. 
 
 A dream is expected to follow giving the desired 
 information. 
 
 In rural neighborhoods also the belief in the moon's 
 influence on vegetation is very strong. The general 
 rule seems to be that things which grow in the ground, 
 like potatoes, must be planted in the dark of the 
 moon, and those that grow above ground in the light 
 of the moon. The old superstition about the malign 
 influence of the moon on the human body is largely 
 dispelled. Though lunacy is, perhaps, not less com- 
 mon than formerly, we no longer attribute it to the 
 changing aspects of fair Luna. Not so, however, 
 with the weather. There is never a storm nor a 
 drought, a cold wave or hot wave, but the poor 
 moon is held responsible. Every change of the 
 weather, expected or unexpected, is readily accounted 
 for by the appearance, position, or phase of the 
 moon. 
 
 One old writer described the moon as " the great 
 depository of misspent time, wasted wealth, broken
 
 21 
 
 vows, unanswered prayers, fruitless tears, abortive 
 attempts, unfulfilled desires and intentions." If we 
 could only add to this list unfounded superstitions, of 
 what a vast amount of useless rubbish should we clear 
 the world !
 
 THE STARRY HEAVENS 
 
 Stars with golden feet aiv wand'ring 
 
 Yonder, and they gently weep 
 That they cannot earth awaken 
 
 Who in night's arms is asleep. 
 
 HEINE. 
 
 Number of the Stars. When we gaze into the star- 
 bespangled vault we are apt to experience a certain 
 bewilderment. Those glittering gems seem to stand 
 "thick as dewdrops on the fields of heaven," and to be 
 absolutely numberless. The sands upon the seashore 
 and the stars of heaven have ever been symbols of infin- 
 itude. Thus God said to Abraham, " I will multiply 
 thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which 
 is upon the seashore " ; and of David, " As the host of 
 heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the 
 sea measured ; so I will multiply the seed of David my 
 servant." 
 
 That the number of the stars revealed by the tel- 
 escope does actually exceed the possibility of reckoning 
 is absolutely true ; but when we begin to count those
 
 # 
 
 I . V ';'-i 
 
 1 
 
 *
 
 THE STARRY HEAVENS 23 
 
 that can be certainly discerned with the naked eye, we 
 discover that they are not so innumerable as they seem. 
 Seldom can more than two thousand be distinguished at 
 any one time ; but this number is not sharply defined, for 
 a multitude hover just on the verge of visibility and 
 under favorable conditions start, as it were, into being. 
 
 The Constellations. Although scattered in apparent 
 confusion over the sphere, yet the brighter stars form 
 many striking configurations, which from the earliest 
 ages have been recognized and named. The great 
 majority of the constellations date back to prehistoric 
 times. Forty-eight of them come down to us from days 
 preceding those of Homer and of Hesiod. Not many 
 of these groups show any resemblance to the objects for 
 which they are named, and it is therefore impossible in 
 most cases to discover the relationship supposed to exist, 
 or the consideration which influenced the choice of appel- 
 lation. Evidently imagination was the most potent 
 factor in determining the nomenclature of the sky. 
 
 To some extent we find different systems prevailing 
 among different nations ; but it is to Greece that we 
 principally owe the figures which are now depicted on 
 our celestial globes, and the many interesting myths 
 associated with them. Not that all the constellations
 
 24 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 primarily originated in that country ; for the Greeks, 
 great astronomers though they were, were also great 
 travelers, and were ever ready to borrow from other 
 peoples and other civilizations. We know that many 
 of their wise men visited Egypt, and brought back 
 thence much curious information gathered in the silent, 
 mysterious temples, or wormed out of the sphinx-like 
 priests. Even more of their astronomical knowledge, 
 however, was probably obtained from the Chaldeans, 
 who were especially proficient in that science. Among 
 the Romans Chaldean and Astrologer were synonymous 
 terms. Isaiah also mentions Babylon as the home of 
 the astrologers, the star-gazers, and the monthly prog- 
 nosticators ; and we must remember that there was then 
 no definite distinction between astrology and astronomy. 
 In particular, an intimate acquaintance with the con- 
 stellations was requisite for the casting of horoscopes. 
 It is, therefore, probably true, as Ideler asserted nearly 
 a century ago, that the majority of the constellations 
 originated on the Euphrates. With regard to the zodiac 
 certainly, there is a general agreement of opinion among 
 archaeologists that its twelve divisions or signs, each 
 marked by a corresponding star group, have come down 
 to us from Accadian or pre-Babylonian peoples.
 
 THE STAKE Y HEAVENS 25 
 
 The Zodiac. --This zone or girdle, stretching around 
 the celestial sphere, might be called the zoological 
 garden of the sky, our title, zodiac, coming from the 
 Greek and signifying " a circle of animals." Previous 
 to the introduction of Libra, the Scales, which occurred 
 at a comparatively late epoch, all the signs, in fact, rep- 
 resented living creatures. Notwithstanding this addi- 
 .tion, the division into twelve parts seems to have been 
 very ancient, the Scorpion being originally a double sign 
 and the Claws occupying the present position of Libra. 
 
 We may, no doubt, trace this duodecimal division to 
 the twelve months which constitute the solar year ; 
 each sign would thus measure the progress of the sun 
 during one complete revolution of the moon. It were 
 rash, perhaps, to ascribe the sacred character of the 
 number twelve to this source ; yet Josephus associated 
 the twelve stones in the breastplate of the high priest 
 with the constellations of the zodiac ; and the twelve gates 
 of the celestial city of Saint John's apocalyptic vision, 
 each several gate of one pearl, not unnaturally suggest 
 the twelve starry portals of the sun's annual journey. 
 Schiller at any rate has expressed the thought : 
 
 Twelve ! twelve signs hath the zodiac, five and seven ; 
 The holy numbers include themselves in twelve.
 
 26 THE STAKS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 For one who desires to familiarize himself with the 
 configurations of the stars, it will be well to begin with 
 the zodiacal constellations. Since they follow each 
 other in a continuous belt around the sky, the recog- 
 nition of a few prominent ones assists in locating the 
 rest : thus, the Pleiades mark Taurus ; Castor and 
 Pollux distinguish Gemini ; the sickle indicates Leo ; 
 Virgo may be known by the lone star Spica, Scorpio by 
 the fiery Antares, and Sagittarius by the arrowhead. 
 The last three, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces, are 
 less distinct, but may be traced with a little patience. 
 Moreover, if these groups are familiar, we have celestial 
 landmarks, so to speak, some of which are always visi- 
 ble ; and by their help other constellations, contiguous 
 to the north or south, may be found. Assuming that 
 the two principal circumpolar constellations, the Great 
 Dipper and the celestial "W," or Cassiopeia's Chair, 
 lying on opposite sides of the pole star, are also known, 
 the remaining regions of the sky are not so extensive 
 but that, with the assistance of a good atlas, they may 
 be surveyed and their mystic figures traced without 
 serious difficulty.
 
 Now the zephyrs diminish the cold, and the year being ended, 
 Winter Maeotian seems longer than ever before ; 
 And the Ram that bore unsafely the burden of Helle, 
 Now makes the hours of the day equal with those of the night. 
 
 LONGFELLOW Translation from Ovid. 
 
 ARIES is the first sign of the zodiac. Two or three 
 thousand years ago, when these constellations were 
 originally fashioned, it marked the vernal equinox, the 
 passage of the sun through which betokens the opening 
 of spring ; but owing to the precession or slow west- 
 ward movement of the equinoctial points, Aries no 
 longer occupies this place of honor but has drifted on 
 to the eastward. Spenser in the Faerie Queene very 
 correctly sets forth this fact : 
 
 For that same golden fleecy Eam, which bore 
 Phrixus and Helle from their stepdame's feares, 
 Hath now forgot where he was plast of yore, 
 And shouldered hath the Bull, which fayre Europa bore. 
 
 The constellation is not particularly brilliant, yet 
 Aratus' description, 
 
 27
 
 28 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 Faint and starless to behold 
 As stars by moonlight, 
 
 scarcely does it justice. 
 
 The Phenomena of Aratus. The poem of Aratus, just 
 quoted, is the earliest description of tlie starry heavens 
 now extant. It is entitled The Phenomena, and was 
 written in the third century B.C. So popular was 
 it with the Greeks and afterwards with the Romans, 
 that Landseer tells us " it became the polite amuse- 
 ment of the ladies to work the celestial forms in gold 
 and silver on the most costly hangings." Even in 
 more modern times this popularity does not seem to 
 have waned, as shown by the fact that no less than 
 one hundred and twenty editions in the various lan- 
 guages of Europe have appeared since the invention 
 of printing. The chief value of the poem lies in the 
 accurate knowledge it affords us of the early arrange- 
 ment of the constellations, our present star maps being, 
 indeed, to a large extent based upon it. Aratus has 
 also for us an added interest as the poet whom Saint 
 Paul quotes in his speech on Mars' Hill to the novelty 
 loving Athenians, the line, 
 
 For \ve are also his offspring, 
 occurring in the opening dedication.
 
 AKIES, THE KAM 29 
 
 Mythology of Aries. -To return to our constellation, 
 it represents in mythology the ram with the golden 
 fleece of Argonautic fame, whose story briefly told is 
 this. Phrixus and Helle were the children of Athamas, 
 a legendary king of Thessaly, who afterward repudiated 
 his first wife and married another. To enable the 
 children to escape the displeasure of their stepmother, 
 Mercury sent a ram, which took them on its back, 
 vaulted into the air, and rushed off towards the east. 
 In crossing the strait that divides Europe from Asia, 
 Helle became frightened, lost her hold, and fell into 
 the sea, which thereafter was known as the Hellespont. 
 Continuing his flight, the ram bore the boy to Colchis, 
 at the eastern end of the Euxine or Black sea. In 
 return for his kind reception, Phrixus sacrificed the 
 ram and gave its golden fleece to the king of the 
 country, who hung it in the sacred grove of Ares 
 under the guard of a sleepless dragon. As we shall 
 see, several other constellations are associated with the 
 further history of this remarkable fleece. 
 
 Hamal. The chief star of Aries, marking his fore- 
 head, was called by the Arabs Hamal, a sheep. Among 
 the Greeks in early times this star held the important 
 office of sunrise herald at the vernal equinox.
 
 TAURUS, THE BULL 
 
 Sweet Europa's mantle blew unclasp'd, 
 
 From off her shoulder backward borne : 
 From one hand droop'd a crocus ; one hand grasp'd 
 
 The mild bull's golden horn. 
 
 TENNYSON Palace of Art. 
 
 TAURUS is one of the most notable of all the constel- 
 lations, containing within its borders two celebrated 
 groups of stars, the Hyades and the Pleiades. The 
 Roman year prior to the time of Julius Cassar began 
 in March. At that season Taurus is just visible on 
 the western horizon, setting after the sun ; hence 
 Virgil's well-known description : 
 
 The white bull opens with his golden horns the year. 
 
 In legendary lore it was Europa's bull, Jupiter 
 having assumed this disguise to bear the maiden away 
 from her companions, with whom she was sporting on 
 the shores of her native Phoenicia, to the island of 
 Crete. On our star maps, following the ancient 
 representation, only the front part of the animal is 
 depicted. This, as usually explained, is because he 
 
 30
 
 TAURUS, THE BULL 31 
 
 is swimming through the sea, and his flanks are 
 immersed in the waves. 
 
 The Hyades. The Hyades, which Aratus accurately 
 describes as 
 
 Whitening all the bull's broad forehead, 
 
 form a most conspicuous and beautiful group. They 
 were daughters of Atlas, and together with their half- 
 sisters, the Pleiades, were called Atlantides. The 
 appellation Hyades, supposed to be derived from the 
 Greek word for rain, is usually attributed to their 
 reputed influence on the weather. In the showery 
 springtime they set just after the sun, and in the 
 stormy period of late fall just before sunrise. Why 
 the stars in these special positions should exercise more 
 than ordinary control over terrestrial affairs would be 
 difficult to explain ; but the notion was extremely 
 prevalent in ancient times that the heliacal rising or 
 setting, as it was called, of the heavenly bodies had 
 some peculiar influence ; the heat of the dog days, for 
 instance, being ascribed to the appearance of Sirius 
 above the horizon just before sunrise. Whether or not 
 the suggested derivation of the word be correct, however, 
 moisture and storm were universally attributed to the
 
 32 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 Hyades. The classic writers again and again refer to 
 them as the rain stars; Spenser called them "moist 
 daughters," and in Tennyson's Ulysses we read : 
 
 Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades 
 Vex'd the dim sea. 
 
 Aldebaran. Aldebaran, the bright star in the Hyades 
 group, signifies " hindmost." The Arabians so named 
 it because it follows or drives the Pleiades. Another 
 popular title is " the Bull's-eye," from its position 
 in the constellation. The slight tinge of red in the 
 light of this star gives it an added beauty, and makes 
 it one of the most conspicuous ornaments of our win- 
 ter nights. Mrs. Sigourney in The Stars thus firiely 
 
 portrays it : 
 
 Go forth at night 
 
 And talk with Aldebaran, where he flames 
 In the cold forehead of the wintry sky. 
 
 The Pleiades. The Pleiades lie upon the neck of the 
 Bull, where they seem to cluster, as Bayard Taylor has 
 it, like golden bees upon its mane, or, as Tennyson 
 beautifully describes them, like fireflies in the even- 
 ing's dusk : 
 
 Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow shade, 
 Glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled iu a silver braid.
 
 TAURUS, THE BULL 33 
 
 With the Greeks these were the sailing stars, indi- 
 cating by their heliacal rising the opening of navigation 
 in May ; and this has been the common derivation of 
 the title Pleiades, from the Greek "to sail," but it 
 seems more probable that it comes from another word 
 signifying "many." Some of the classic poets made 
 them a flock of pigeons flying from the celestial hunter 
 Orion, and in popular folklore they have been widely 
 known as the " hen and her chickens," Alcyone, the 
 brightest star, being the " golden cluck-hen," though 
 sometimes this star is a girl who is feeding the brood. 
 A favorite eastern simile has been that of a necklace 
 of brilliant gems, and it is even possible that this may 
 have been the thought in the mind of the sacred writer 
 
 o 
 
 in the Book of Job, for the passage has been translated, 
 "Canst thou bind together the brilliant Pleiades?" If, 
 on the other hand, we follow Milton, 
 
 the gray 
 
 Dawn and the Pleiades before him danced, 
 Shedding sweet influence, 
 
 then it is the gentle but potent power of advancing 
 
 spring which this group by its heliacal rising heralds. 
 
 Not only to civilized peoples have these stars been 
 
 objects of interest ; " out of the dim reveries about
 
 34 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 them of untutored races, issued their association with 
 the seven beneficent sky spirits of the Vedas and the 
 Zendavesta, and the location among them of the center 
 of the universe and the abode of the Deity, of which 
 the tradition is still preserved by the Berbers and Dyaks. 
 With November, the Pleiad month, many primitive peo- 
 ple began then: year ; and on the day of the midnight 
 culmination of the Pleiades, November 17, no petition 
 was presented in vain to the ancient kings of Persia ; 
 the same event gave the signal at Busiris for the com- 
 mencement of the feast of Isis. . . . Savage Australian 
 tribes to this day dance in honor of the i Seven stars,' 
 because ' they are very good to the black fellows.' " l 
 
 The Lost Pleiad. The legend of the lost Pleiad has 
 been well-nigh universal. Long ago Aratus wrote, 
 " Seven stars they count, but only six appear." With 
 poets it has been a favorite theme. 
 
 And is there glory from the heavens departed? 
 
 Oh! void unmarked! Thy sisters of the sky 
 
 Still hold their place on high, 
 Though from its rank thine orb so long hath started, 
 
 Thou, that no more art seen of mortal eye. 
 
 MRS. HEMAXS The Lost Pleiad. 
 
 1 Miss Clerke's System of the Stars, pp. 220-221.
 
 TAUKUS, THE BULL 35 
 
 But when we consider that under favorable circum- 
 stances as many as a dozen can be seen with the 
 unaided vision, while optical assistance increases them 
 to five or six hundred, and the photographic plate 
 again multiplies this fivefold, we are forced to the 
 conclusion that the number is simply a matter of eye 
 and telescope. 
 
 As to which of the seven sisters disappeared, mythol- 
 ogy is uncertain. According to one story it was 
 Electra, who hid her face that she might not see the 
 destruction of Troy, founded by her son Dardanus ; 
 but another account identifies her with Merope, who, 
 having been deceived into marrying a mortal, felt so 
 disgraced that she withdrew herself from the company 
 of her sisters. 
 
 Alcyone. Alcyone, the lucida of this group, is asso- 
 ciated with the halcyon, the similarity of the words 
 lending color to the idea that they had a common 
 origin. Thompson, the English ornithologist, hazards 
 the conjecture that the connection between them may 
 be found in the fact that Alcyone culminates at night- 
 fall about the time of the winter solstice, during the 
 calm weather accompanying which season the king- 
 fisher, our modern representative of the ancient
 
 36 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 halcyon, was believed to nest. Milton in his Hymn 
 to the Nativity connects this legend with the time of 
 universal peace at the Saviour's birth : 
 
 But peaceful was the night 
 Wherein the Prince of light 
 
 His reign of peace upon the earth began; 
 The winds with wonder whist 
 Smoothly the waters kist, 
 
 Whispering new joys to the mild ocean, 
 Who now hath quite forgot to rave, 
 While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave. 
 
 The old myth is something like this. Halcyone, 
 the daughter of Eolus the wind-god, was the devoted 
 wife of Ceyx, king of Thessaly. Desiring to consult 
 the oracle of Apollo, against the protestations of his 
 wife, Ceyx embarked upon the winter sea and was 
 shipwrecked and drowned. Halcyone, wandering dis- 
 consolately upon the shore, sees his body floating on 
 the waves, and in her grief and despair rushes into 
 the raging waters to cast herself upon the beloved 
 form. Then behold, a miracle ! They are both 
 changed into halcyon birds and skim across the bil- 
 lows, which at once sink to rest, and calm succeeds 
 the wild tempest.
 
 TAURUS, THE BULL 37 
 
 Alcyone has of late years become more than ever 
 an object of popular regard, from the brilliant specu- 
 lations of Madler, who surmised that it might be 
 the central sun of the whole vast stellar universe. 
 But though further investigations fail entirely to cor- 
 roborate his views, still the star is one that may 
 well enthrall the fancy. Lying sunk in space at a 
 depth too great to fathom, and outshining our own 
 sun a thousandfold, Archibald Lampman's magnificent 
 description is hardly overdrawn : 
 
 . . . the great and "burning star, 
 Immeasurably old, immeasurably far, 
 Surging forth its silver flame 
 Through eternity ! 
 
 Nebula of the Pleiades. The investigations of the 
 Pleiades by modern astronomy have led to many sur- 
 prises. Most startling of all is the fact that the group 
 combines the characteristics of a vast nebula with those 
 of a cluster, thus indicating that these two classes of 
 objects are not in reality as distinct as was formerly 
 supposed. The magnificent photographs taken by the 
 Henry Brothers at Paris show that the greater part of 
 the constellation is enshrouded in nebulous matter. In 
 the neighborhood of the principal stars it lies in heavy
 
 38 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 masses, while elsewhere the sky background is scarcely 
 stained by its delicate tracery. The condensation is 
 greatest around Merope, thus giving plausibility to 
 the conjecture that the light of this star may be 
 variable. 
 
 This enfolding nebulosity, together with the common 
 drift of the majority of the stars, renders it certain 
 that the Pleiades constitute a connected system, the 
 grandeur of which, however, exceeds our comprehen- 
 sion. A ray of light, which would take but a few 
 hours to cross the solar system, could not under several 
 years fly from boundary to boundary of this miniature 
 universe of suns.
 
 GEMINI, THE TWINS 
 
 Mild Pollux, void of blame, 
 And steed-subduing Castor, heirs of fame. 
 
 SHELLEY Translation of Homer. 
 
 CASTOR and Pollux, the twins, were the sons of 
 Leda, and hence these stars are sometimes known as 
 the Ledasan lights. Thus Owen Meredith in Tlie 
 Wanderer : 
 
 The lone Ledsean lights from yon enchanted air 
 
 Look down upon my spirit, like a spirit's eyes that love me ; 
 
 recalling Cowley's earlier lines : 
 
 How oft unwearied have we spent the nights, 
 Till the Ledsean stars, so famed for love, 
 Wonder'd at us from above. 
 
 Helen, of Trojan fame, was their sister. They 
 accompanied the Argonautic expedition ; and when 
 on the return voyage the vessel was almost over- 
 whelmed in the storm, Orpheus with his lyre invoked 
 Apollo, who caused two stars to appear on the heads 
 of the twins, and the tempest was allayed. From this 
 
 39
 
 40 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 circumstance Castor and Pollux became the tutelary 
 deities of the seamen; and among the Romans it was 
 very common to place their effigies upon the prows of 
 vessels. It will be remembered that Saint Paul and 
 his companions made the latter part of their voyage 
 to Rome in a vessel whose sign was Castor and Pollux. 
 The lambent flames which sometimes in heavy 
 weather play about the mastheads were regarded as 
 typifying the twin gods. Thus Horace speaks of them 
 as " Helen's brethren, starry lights " ; but a single flame 
 was thought to represent Helen herself, and was con- 
 sidered a threatening omen. In modern times these 
 electrical displays, for such they are, go by the name 
 of Saint Helen's or Saint Elmo's lights. The Padrone 
 in Longfellow's Golden Legend tells the prince : 
 
 Last night I saw Saint Elmo's stars, 
 
 With their glittering lanterns all at play 
 
 On the tops of the masts and the tips of the spars, 
 
 And I knew we should have foul weather to-day. 
 
 Castor was a renowned horseman and Pollux a famous 
 pugilist. Both were great warriors, and were frequently 
 invoked in battle as well as in storm. Macaulay's 
 description of how they turned the tide of conflict in 
 the battle of Lake Regillus is familiar to all.
 
 GEMINI, THE TWINS 41 
 
 So spake he, and was buckling 
 
 Tighter black Auster's band, 
 
 When he was aware of a princely pair 
 
 That rode at his right hand. 
 
 So like were they, no mortal 
 
 Might one from other know: 
 
 White as snow their armor was ; 
 
 Their steeds were white as snow. 
 
 Never on earthly anvil 
 
 Did such rare armor gleam ; 
 
 And never did such gallant steeds 
 
 Drink of an earthly stream. 
 
 After the battle they bore the glad tidings to Rome 
 and were recognized by the high Pontiff. 
 
 The gods who live forever 
 Have fought for Rome to-day ! 
 These be the great Twin Brethren 
 To whom the Dorians pray. 
 Back comes the chief in triumph, 
 Who in the hour of fight 
 Hath seen the great Twin Brethren 
 In harness on his right. 
 Safe comes the ship to haven 
 Through billows and through gales, 
 If once the great Twin Brethren 
 Sit shining on the sails.
 
 42 THE STAKS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 Castor, albeit slightly inferior in luster, is much more 
 interesting than his twin brother, being one of the 
 most magnificent double stars which the telescope has 
 revealed. The components, nearly equal in brightness, 
 are circling about each other in orbits so extended and 
 with motion so stately, that a single revolution will 
 occupy nearly a thousand years.
 
 CANCER, THE CRAB 
 
 I was born, sir, when the Crab was ascending, and my affairs go 
 backward. CONGREVK. 
 
 CANCER is the most inconspicuous of all the zodiacal 
 constellations, yet none probably has been the subject 
 of more attention. As the sign which marks the 
 northern tropic, where the sun stops ascending and 
 begins his retrograde movement, it is fittingly sym- 
 bolized by the obliquely crawling crab. Here was 
 located, according to the Chaldean and Platonic phi- 
 losophy, " the gate of men," by which souls were sup- 
 posed to descend into human bodies ; Capricorn, the 
 corresponding sign marking the southern tropic, being 
 " the gate of the gods," through which the souls 
 released at death returned to heaven. 
 
 Mythology recounts that Juno sent this crab to annoy 
 Hercules by pinching his toes, when he was contending 
 with the many-headed hydra of the Lernaean swamp. 
 Hercules having easily crushed the creature with a single 
 blow, Juno, by way of reward, placed it in the sky. 
 
 43
 
 44 
 
 This constellation contains the celebrated cluster 
 Praesepe, or the Manger, the two stars lying one on 
 either side being the asses. Since it is at best but a 
 faint object, the slightest condensation of vapor in the 
 atmosphere naturally hides it from view. Hence its 
 dimness was regarded by the ancients as an infallible 
 sign of coming storm. Aratus, who, besides his astro- 
 nomical poem, wrote another on weather prognostics, 
 gives the following rules : 
 
 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." 
 
 Popularly this cluster is often called the beehive.
 
 LEO, THE LION 
 
 The lion huge, whose tawny hide 
 And grinning jaws extended wide, 
 He o'er his shoulders threw. 
 
 WOODHULL Translation from Euripides. 
 
 LEO represents the Nemaean lion, the fight with 
 which formed the first of the celebrated labors of 
 Hercules. It was also considered an emblem of heat, 
 being the fiery trigon of the Arabs ; and throughout 
 antiquity it has held a close relationship with the sun. 
 To the Egyptians especially was it sacred, because the 
 sun's entrance into the sign coincided with the Nile 
 rise. The Sphinx, sculptured with the lion's body and 
 virgin's head, is thought to have symbolized Leo and 
 the neighboring Virgo, through which the sun passed 
 during the continuance of the inundation. 
 
 The constellation is marked by the well-known 
 sickle. Regulus in the end of the handle has ever 
 been the " star royal," its name being the diminutive 
 of the Latin rex. Ptolemy seems first to have used this 
 title, but far back in ancient Persia our star was the 
 
 45
 
 46 THE STAES IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 leader of the four royal guardians of heaven, each 
 ruling over a quarter of the sphere. Cor Leonis, the 
 lion's heart, was another popular title of the star. 
 The impression of greatness and power connected with 
 it was universal, and was carried over into astrology, 
 glory, riches, and might being the inheritance of all 
 born under its potent influence. 
 
 Considerably to the eastward of the sickle is Dene- 
 bola, marking the lion's tail. This star forms with 
 Arcturus and Spica an equilateral triangle, and by 
 taking in Cor Caroli on the north we have the so-called 
 diamond of Virgo. The tracing of these large figures 
 on the sky is a great help towards locating and remem- 
 bering the different constellations.
 
 VIRGO, THE VIRGIN 
 
 I am the Virgin, and my vestal flame 
 
 Burns less intensely than the Lion's rage ; 
 
 Sheaves are my only garments, and I claim 
 A golden harvest as my heritage. 
 
 LONGFELLOW Poefs Calendar, August. 
 
 VIRGO has been universally the virgin, and generally 
 the goddess of harvest holding a wheat-ear in her 
 hand. In classic times she was interchangeably either 
 Ceres or her daughter Proserpine. In the springtime 
 Proserpine, playing among the flowers, is seized by 
 Pluto and carried off to the lower regions to be his 
 wife. Ceres, her mother, vainly seeks her up and 
 down the earth. At length, having learned her sad 
 fate from Arethusa, the nymph of the fountain, she 
 beseeches Jupiter to intercede, and Proserpine is allowed 
 to return at intervals, spending half her time with her 
 mother, and the rest with her husband Pluto. There 
 can be little doubt that this legend is allegorical, 
 Proserpine representing the seed, which is buried in 
 
 47
 
 48 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 the earth, but after a time comes forth to the light of 
 day in a glad and bountiful harvest. 
 
 Aratus in his astronomical poem, however, makes 
 this constellation Astraea the goddess of justice and 
 purity. During the golden age of innocence and 
 happiness she dwelt perpetually with men. When 
 the world began to degenerate, and the silver age 
 dawned, she took up her abode in heaven, but returned 
 at eventide to visit those who yet cared for her. But 
 at last came the brazen age with war and violence ; 
 and then this fair goddess hid her face from men and 
 left the world to famine, pestilence, and misery. 
 
 The bright star Spica indicates the wheat-ear which 
 Virgo holds in her left hand. By the Arabs it was 
 called the solitary or defenseless one, a title which 
 refers, doubtless, to its lone position on the sky, there 
 being no other conspicuous star near it. Vindemiatrix, 
 lying some distance to the north, though now but a 
 third magnitude star, would seem from the great 
 attention paid to it to have been brighter in past ages. 
 The name means " grape gatherer," and its heliacal 
 rising was formerly the herald of the vintage time. 
 
 Virgo is the largest of all the zodiacal constellations. 
 This region of the sky, while comparatively starless, is
 
 VIRGO, THE VIRGIN 49 
 
 especially remarkable for the extraordinary number of 
 nebulse that here congregate. No other equal area 
 of the heavens is nearly so rich in these mysterious 
 objects. Sir John Herschel first called attention to 
 the significant fact that the gaseous nebulae seem to 
 crowd towards those portions of the sky most remote 
 from the Milky Way. This mass, gathered together 
 in Virgo and Coma Berenices, he likens to " a canopy 
 which, taking the circle of the Milky Way as a horizon, 
 occupies the zenith and descends thence to a consider- 
 able distance on all sides."
 
 LIBRA, THE SCALES 
 
 I bear the scales, when hang in equipoise 
 The night and day. 
 
 LONGFELLOW Poet's Calendar, September. 
 
 LIBRA in classic days marked the autumnal equinox, 
 though now, owing to precession, Virgo occupies that 
 position. In all the round of the zodiac this constella- 
 tion alone represents an inanimate object ; and its 
 antiquity, though somewhat in dispute, does not seem 
 to be very great. Certain it is that the Greeks asso- 
 ciated its stars with the claws of the Scorpion which 
 follows to the east. Scorpio, indeed, seems to have 
 been considered a double sign, thus completing the 
 twelve. 
 
 Among the Romans, however, we find the title Libra 
 commonly employed. Virgil, in his first Georgic, 
 natters Augustus by representing the Scorpion as con- 
 tracting his claws to make room for the soul of the 
 emperor to rest after death in his natal sign, the sun 
 having occupied this position at his birth. The scales 
 
 60
 
 LIBEA, THE SCALES 51 
 
 might, in this connection, be regarded as the appro- 
 priate insignia for the dispenser of justice to the world. 
 Milton suggests another origin : 
 
 The Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray, 
 
 Hung forth in heaven his golden scales, yet seen 
 
 Betwixt Astrsea and the Scorpion sign; 
 
 Astraga being, as we have seen, one of the designa- 
 tions of Virgo. The constellation is comparatively 
 faint, but may be readily located from its position 
 with reference to Scorpio.
 
 SCORPIO, THE SCORPION 
 
 Though on the frigid scorpion I ride, 
 
 The dreamy air is full, and overflows 
 With tender memories of the summer-tide 
 
 And mingled voices of the doves and crows. 
 
 LONGFELLOW Poet's Calendar, October. 
 
 SCORPIO was the mythological monster which caused 
 the disastrous runaway of the steeds of Phoebus Apollo. 
 Phaethon, it would seem, desiring to prove his sonship, 
 demanded of his father that he be allowed to drive for 
 one day the chariot of the sun. After vainly expostu- 
 lating, Phcebus granted his request and the horses were 
 harnessed. Up the steep way they mount, and finding 
 inexperienced hands upon the reins, the steeds dash oft' 
 from the traveled road and rush headlong through the 
 constellations. But when they come to where the 
 Scorpion stretches out its long arms shod with huge 
 and threatening claws, and its immense tail ending in 
 a horrid sting, then Phaethon, pale with terror, loses 
 all control and throws down the reins ; while the 
 horses plunge wildly, hurling the chariot over trackless 
 
 52
 
 SCORPIO, THE SCOKPION 53 
 
 wastes, now up in high heaven until the gods are 
 scorched with the heat, and now down close to the 
 world until the clouds go up in vapor and the moun- 
 tains begin to smoke. At length Jupiter, aroused to 
 action by the imminent peril, launches a thunderbolt 
 which hurls the ambitious youth from his chariot and 
 plunges him into the great sky-river Eridanus. 
 
 Scorpio cannot well be mistaken because of the fiery 
 Antares which marks the creature's heart. Its title 
 signifies in the Greek " the rival of Mars," this being, 
 in fact, the only star in all the sky that could be 
 mistaken for the red god of war. 
 
 Antares is interesting telescopically, not only for its 
 red color, but more especially on account of the small 
 green companion which lies so close as to be involved 
 in the flaming rays of the larger star. Not far to the 
 northwest of this fine double is a comet-like cluster, 
 which Herschel describes as "the richest and most 
 condensed mass of stars in the firmament." Renewed 
 interest in it was excited by the blazing out in 1860 of 
 a new star right in the center of the group. The 
 appearance, to use Miss Clerke's striking simile, was 
 that of a triton invading a shoal of minnows.
 
 SAGITTARIUS, THE ARCHER 
 
 The centaur, Sagittarius, am I, 
 
 Born of Ixion and the cloud's embrace : 
 
 With sounding hoofs across the earth I fly, 
 A steed Thessalian with a human face. 
 
 LONGFELLOW PoeVs Calendar, November. 
 
 SAGITTARIUS is the patron of the hunter and the 
 chase. In the time of Eratosthenes it was figured as 
 a satyr, but afterwards was changed to a centaur, not, 
 however, to be confounded with the larger Centaurus 
 far to the south. These centaurs, or bull-killers, as 
 the word signifies, were an ancient race inhabiting 
 Mount Pelion in Thessaly. Homer called them savage 
 beasts, but in later times they were represented as half 
 man and half horse. The Thessalians being famous 
 riders, and hunting the bull on horseback, a national 
 sport, we can readily understand how the fable arose. 
 
 Forming the western portion of this constellation 
 is the familiar milk dipper. According to Allen it is 
 extremely ancient, having been " an object of worship 
 in China for a thousand years before our era." 
 
 54
 
 CAPRICORNUS, THE GOAT 
 
 Then grievous blasts 
 Break southward on the sea, when coincide 
 
 The Goat and sun, and then a heaven-sent cold. 
 
 ARATCS. 
 
 CAPRICORNUS marked in classic times the winter 
 solstice. It occupied, therefore, the most southern or 
 lowest part of the zodiac. Milton's lines allude to this : 
 
 Some say the sun 
 Was bid turn reins from the equinoctial road 
 
 Up to the tropic Crab; thence down amain, 
 By Leo and the Virgin and the Scales, 
 As deep as Capricorn, to bring in change 
 Of seasons to each clime. 
 
 One ancient writer suggests that, as the sun here 
 begins his ascent in the heavens, the goat is a fitting 
 symbol from its propensity to scale the inaccessible 
 mountain sides. As usually depicted, however, Capri- 
 cornus is a sea-goat, having the head and body of a 
 goat, but the tail of a fish. It is thus represented on 
 our modern star maps.
 
 56 THE STARS IX SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 Naturally we find this constellation associated with 
 the god Pan, who was also part goat. The legend goes 
 that when the gods were driven from Olympus by the 
 giants and took refuge in Egypt, disguising themselves 
 variously as animals, Pan took the form of a goat. 
 When Typhon, the fire-breathing monster, suddenly 
 attacked him, he leaped in a fright into the Nile and 
 became amphibious. 
 
 Capricornus contains one of the few notable naked- 
 eye doubles. This is the principal star lying at the 
 base of the horns. Its duplicity is now obvious to the 
 most casual observer, but two thousand years ago it 
 would have required a sharp eye to distinguish the 
 components. They are separating at the rate of one 
 minute of arc in about thirteen hundred years, their 
 present distance being six minutes.
 
 AQUARIUS, THE WATER-BEARER 
 
 The sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers, 
 And now the nights draw near to half the day. 
 
 LONGFELLOW Translation of Dante. 
 
 AQUARIUS is the almost universal designation of the 
 next zodiacal constellation. Its watery character has 
 been attributed to the fact that the sun passes through 
 it during the rainy season. Many of the constellations 
 in this neighborhood, in fact, are aquatic, there being, 
 besides Capricornus and Aquarius, the Dolphin, three 
 fishes, and Cetus, the Whale ; so that naturally enough 
 we find this part of the sky designated by the Chaldeans 
 as the sea. 
 
 The river Eridanus also is sometimes shown as hav- 
 ing its source in the Waterman's bucket, a most 
 unaccountable circumstance, unless, like the widow's 
 barrel of meal and cruse of oil in the days of Elijah, 
 it never runs dry. Manilius did indeed assert as much 
 in describing the constellation ; for he says, " And so 
 the urn flows on," an expression which became pro- 
 verbial for a ceaseless babble of tongues. 
 
 57
 
 PISCES, THE FISHES 
 
 Sunset and evening star. 
 
 TENNYSON Crossing the Bar. 
 
 THE zodiacal constellation Pisces consists of two 
 fishes, quite widely separated, but having their tails 
 connected by a ribbon. There is, besides, another 
 south of Aquarius distinguished as the Southern Fish, 
 and marked by the bright star Fomalhaut. 
 
 The two finny inhabitants of the zodiac are compara- 
 tively starless, and of little interest aside from their 
 mythological connection with Aphrodite or Venus. That 
 goddess, frightened by the giant Typhon, threw herself 
 with the infant Cupid into the Euphrates. One account 
 says that the fishes bore them away to safety, but the 
 Greek legend changed them into fishes which were after- 
 ward exalted to the sky. Hence this constellation was 
 popularly known as " Venus and Cupid." A few words, 
 then, concerning the brightest and most beautiful of all 
 the starry host may here be appropriately added. 
 
 Venus. The coy character of the goddess who was 
 fabled to have sprung from the sea foam is fittingly 
 
 58
 
 PISCES, THE FISHES 59 
 
 symbolized by her representative in the sky. Now 
 bursting out in a blaze of beauty that dazzles the 
 admiring world, now swiftly retreating and vanishing 
 in the sunset's glare, then shyly peeping forth in the 
 east before the world wakes, she is as fickle and incon- 
 stant as the most incorrigible flirt that ever queened it 
 over her unfortunate lovers. Yet even this capricious 
 beauty owns allegiance to her lord the sun, and held 
 by indissoluble bonds, continually follows and attends 
 upon his glorious majesty. 
 
 Although the title is sometimes given to other 
 planets, Venus is preeminently the evening and the 
 morning star. Its identity in the two positions must 
 certainly have been known from early ages, yet it was 
 frequently designated by different names when respec- 
 tively east and west of the sun. Thus the Greeks 
 called it Hesperus as evening star and Phosphorus as 
 morning star. These names will recall Tennyson's 
 lines in his In Memoriam: 
 
 Sad Hesper o'er the buried sun, 
 And ready, thou, to die with him; 
 Thou watchest all things ever dim 
 And dimmer, and a glory done.
 
 60 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night, 
 By thee the world's great work is heard 
 Beginning, and the wakeful bird ; 
 Behind thee comes the greater light. 
 
 Sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double name 
 For what is one, the first, the last, 
 Thou, like my present and my past, 
 Thy place is changed, thou art the same.
 
 URSA MAJOR, THE GREAT BEAR 
 
 One after one the stars have risen and set, 
 Sparkling upon the hoar-frost of my chain ; 
 The Bear that prowled all night about the fold 
 Of the North-star hath shrunk into his den, 
 Scared by the blithesome footsteps of the Dawn. 
 
 LOWELL Prometheus. 
 
 Tins constellation, though in no way resembling that 
 animal, has in all ages and among nearly all peoples 
 been the Bear. Homer speaks of it as keeping a watch 
 upon Orion from its arctic den, and references to it 
 abound alike in classic and modern literature. 
 
 Mythology. Mythology recognized in this star group 
 the beautiful Callisto, who, having unfortunately excited 
 the jealousy of Juno, was changed by the angry goddess 
 into a bear. Wandering in this sad plight through the 
 woods, she met her own son Areas, and was about to 
 embrace him, when he in alarm raised his hunting 
 spear to strike her. Jupiter, however, took pity on 
 them, and prevented the crime by snatching both up 
 to the sky, where they became the Great and the 
 
 61
 
 62 THE STARS IN SONG ASD "LEGEND 
 
 Little Bears. Juno, still further enraged at the honor 
 thus done them, instigated Oceanus and Tethys to 
 forbid the creatures' approach to their watery domain. 
 In virtue of this prohibition they wander round and 
 round the pole but never venture to dip their huge 
 bodies beneath the horizon. As Bryant well ex- 
 presses it, 
 
 The Bear, that sees star setting after star 
 In the blue brine, descends not to the deep. 
 
 As we approach the equator, of course, this condi- 
 tion no longer holds, and the constellations which are 
 circumpolar in our latitude begin to rise and set. Thus 
 Camoens, the Portuguese poet, wrote : 
 
 We saw the Bears, despite of Juno, lave 
 Their tardy bodies in the boreal wave. 
 
 Reference in Job. - - That it is this group of stars, and 
 not Arcturus, the leading brilliant in Bootes, which 
 is referred to in Job's question, ({ Canst thou guide 
 Arcturus with his sons ? " seems tolerably certain. 
 Indeed, the passage as translated in the revised version 
 reads, " Canst thou guide the Bear with her train ? " 
 This figuring of the stars as a she-bear attended by her 
 young avoids the sadly unnatural representation of our
 
 URSA MAJOR, THE GREAT BEAR 63 
 
 modern maps which furnish a comparatively tailless 
 animal with a most notable caudal appendage. 
 
 Indian Legend. Our North American Indians saw 
 here also a bear, but the stars of the tail were for them 
 the hunter and his dogs. Mr. Allen tells us that " the 
 Housatonic Indians, who roamed over that valley from 
 Pittsfield through Lenox and Stockbridge to Great Bar- 
 rington, had a story that the chase of the stellar bear 
 lasted from spring till the autumn, when the animal 
 was wounded and its blood plainly seen on the crimson 
 foliage of the forest." 
 
 Other Names. While, as we have seen, the more 
 formal title of this constellation has almost universally 
 been the Bear, yet various other appellations, based on 
 real or fancied resemblances, have also been very widely 
 prevalent. Homer, for instance, refers to " the Bear, 
 which oft the Wain they call," showing that even at 
 that early period the popular imagination had found in 
 its seven stars the likeness to some huge celestial cart 
 lumbering nightly about the pole. Among the Romans 
 it was frequently the Plow, usually drawn by three 
 oxen represented by the stars in the tail ; but Cicero 
 speaks of Septem- or Septentriones, the Seven Plow- 
 oxen. We thus have two terms derived from this
 
 64 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 constellation denoting the frigid characteristics of the 
 northern regions, arctic, from the Greek word for 
 bear ; and septentrion, from the plow-oxen. 
 
 The Plow is still a common title in England, but 
 hardly so popular as the older Homeric appellation, the 
 Wain. In early English days it seems to have been 
 Arthur's Wain ; and Smyth, deriving the name from 
 the Welsh Arth, a bear, finds in the circling of 
 this constellation about the pole the possible origin 
 of King Arthur's famous Round Table. Afterwards it 
 became Charles' Wain, originally perhaps in honor of 
 Charlemagne (Charles the Great), though later, of 
 course, associated with the English kings of the same 
 name. 
 
 Use as a Timepiece. From the circumstance that to 
 northern peoples these stars are visible throughout the 
 year, they have naturally served the rustic population 
 as timepieces, indicating the progress of the night by 
 their slow revolving motion. Shakespeare in Kimj 
 Henry IV makes the carrier in the Rochester Inn 
 yard exclaim, " Heigh-ho ! An 't be not four by the 
 day, I '11 be hanged : Charles' Wain is over the new 
 chimney, and yet our horse not packed." Spenser 
 in the Faerie Queene has a similar allusion :
 
 UESA MAJOR, THE GREAT BEAR 65 
 
 By this the northern wagoner had set 
 
 His sevenfold teme behind the steadfast starre ; 
 
 and likewise Tennyson in his well-known New Years 
 
 Eve: 
 
 We danced about the may -pole and in the hazel copse, 
 
 Till Charles' Wain came out above the tall white chimney-tops. 
 
 I need hardly refer to the extremely popular modern 
 name of this group, the Great Dipper. In springtime 
 it runs high up overhead in the evening, and appears 
 upside down ; while in the fall and early winter it 
 seems to be resting upon the horizon in an upright 
 position. Perhaps B. F. Taylor had this in mind when 
 he wrote in his World on Wheels: 
 
 From that celestial dipper, or so I thought, the dews 
 were poured out gently upon the summer world. 
 
 The middle star in the handle of this dipper is the 
 well-known naked-eye double formed by Mizar and 
 Alcor. They are popularly called " the horse and his 
 rider," or "Jack on the middle horse," referring to the 
 idea of the three horses dragging the wain or plow. A 
 similar conceit prevails in Germany, where Alcor repre- 
 sents Hans the wagoner, who, as a reward for assisting 
 the Saviour when weary, was offered the kingdom of
 
 66 THE STAES IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 heaven ; but modestly deeming himself unsuited to 
 enjoy such a royal gift, he besought that instead he be 
 permitted to drive this celestial team, and may accord- 
 ingly be seen mounted upon the highest horse. 
 
 In Italy also Alcor was known as the Little Starry 
 Horseman; but the Greeks identified it as the lost 
 Pleiad Electra, who had wandered away from her 
 companions and been changed into a fox.
 
 URSA MINOR, THE LITTLE BEAR 
 
 Visit us 
 
 With thy long leveled rule of streaming light, 
 And thou ahalt be our star of Arcady, 
 
 Or Tyrian Cynosure. 
 
 MILTON Comus. 
 
 Cynosure. The Little Bear is less ancient in its con- 
 stellated form than the Great Bear. It seems to have 
 originated with the Phoenicians, who were great sea- 
 faring people, and naturally made use of this group, 
 which for several millenniums has occupied the immedi- 
 ate region of the celestial pole. It was, however, early 
 adopted by the Greeks, by whom it was designated 
 Cynosure or Dog's Tail. Great difficulty has been 
 experienced in trying to account for this title, since the 
 dog is not usually mentioned in connection with the 
 legend of Callisto and Areas. Some authorities have 
 attempted to trace the word to a much earlier source 
 in the Euphrates valley. 
 
 However this may be, the appellation, which in 
 modern times is generally restricted to the pole-star 
 alone, has always been very popular, and even appeared 
 
 67
 
 68 THE STARS IX SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 in scientific treatises of two and three centuries ago. 
 It has also sometimes been called the Little Wain or 
 Chariot ; thus Tennyson in In Memoriam says : 
 
 The lesser wain 
 Is twisting round the polar star. 
 
 Tramontana, Mountain of the North. Another name, 
 Tramontana or Transmontane, that is, above or beyond 
 the mountain, given in medieval times indiscriminately 
 to the constellation and its principal star, suggests a 
 most curious and persistent legend respecting the 
 "mountain of the north." Professor Sayce finds traces 
 of this in the early Sumerian days, when " the heaven 
 was believed to rest on the peak of ' the mountain of 
 the world ' in the far northeast, where the gods had 
 their habitations." In classic times the Hyperboreans 
 wefe thought to dwell beyond its lofty peak in a clime 
 of perpetual spring, as Moore sings : 
 
 I come from a land in the sun-bright deep, 
 
 Where golden gardens glow, 
 "Where the winds of the north, becalmed in sleep, 
 
 Their conch shells never blow. 
 
 The sacred writers were evidently familiar with the 
 story of this fabulous mountain. Isaiah writes of it :
 
 URSA MINOR, THE LITTLE BEAR 69 
 
 " How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer ! For 
 thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven ; 
 I will exalt my throne above the stars of God ; I will 
 sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides 
 of the north.''' And the Psalmist likens Mount Zion to 
 it : " Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, 
 is Mount Zion, in the sides of the north, the city of the 
 great King." 
 
 The Hindus called it Mount Meru, "the seat of 
 the gods " ; and in Norse mythology we find the same 
 " Hill of heaven." Its existence seems to have been 
 believed in as late as the seventeenth century, for in 
 Chilmead's work we read of " the mountaine Slotus, 
 which lies under the pole, and is the highest in 
 the world." Poe also in Ulalume fancifully refers 
 to " Mount Yaanek, in the realms of the boreal 
 pole." 
 
 The Pole-Star. The pole-star, forming the point 
 around which this constellation swings, is naturally 
 from its apparent fixity the most familiar and oft- 
 mentioned of all the stars. Christina Rossetti sings 
 of it: 
 
 One unchangeable upon a throne 
 
 Broods o'er the frozen heart of earth alone.
 
 70 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 Shakespeare in Julius Caesar makes him say : 
 
 But I am constant as the northern star, 
 
 Of whose true-fixed and resting quality 
 
 There is no fellow in the firmament. 
 
 The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks ; 
 
 They are all fire, and every one doth shine : 
 
 But there 's but one in all doth hold his place. 
 
 Bryant in his fine Hymn to the North Star thus 
 apostrophizes it : 
 
 The sad and solemn night 
 Hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires ; 
 
 The glorious host of light 
 Walk the dark hemisphere till she retires; 
 All through her silent watches, gliding slow, 
 Her constellations come, and climb the heavens, and go. 
 
 And thou dost see them rise, 
 Star of the Pole ! And thou dost see them set. 
 
 Alone in thy cold skies, 
 Thou keep'st thy old unmoving station yet, 
 Nor join'st the dances of that glittering train, 
 Nor dipp'st thy virgin orb in the blue western main. 
 
 It has been for many centuries, and will be for as 
 many more to come, preeminently the Stella Marts, 
 the seaman's star. Dryden wrote of the infancy of 
 navigation :
 
 URSA MINOR, THE LITTLE BEAR 71 
 
 Rude as their ships were navigated then, 
 No useful compass or meridian known ; 
 Coasting, they kept the land within their ken, 
 And knew no north but when the Pole-star shone. 
 
 Moore also in Lalla Rookh sings of Nourmahal : 
 
 Thou loveliest, dearest of them all, 
 The one whose smile shone out alone, 
 Amidst a world the only one ! 
 Whose light, among so many lights, 
 Was like that star, on starry nights, 
 The seaman singles from the sky 
 To steer his bark forever by. 
 
 So it came to be called the lode-star, leading or guid- 
 ing the mariner ; and to quote once more Bryant's 
 Hymn : 
 
 A beauteous type of that unchanging good, 
 
 That bright eternal beacon, by whose ray 
 
 The voyager of time should shape his heedful way.
 
 CEPHEUS AND CASSIOPEIA 
 
 Or that starred Ethiop queen that strove 
 
 To set her beauty's praise above 
 
 The sea-nymphs, and their powers offended. 
 
 MILTON II Penseroso. 
 
 CEPHEUS was king of Ethiopia, and Cassiopeia his 
 beautiful queen. But so inordinate was her vanity 
 that she dared compare herself with the sea-nymphs, 
 who were greatly enraged and sent a frightful monster 
 to ravage the coast of the kingdom. On appealing to 
 the oracle, the unhappy pair were told that the only 
 way to avert the disaster would be to chain their 
 daughter Andromeda to a rock and allow the leviathan 
 to devour her. How she was rescued by the gallant 
 Perseus will appear later. 
 
 Cepheus and his queen are side by side upon the starry 
 sphere, opposite the Great Bear. Cepheus is an incon- 
 spicuous constellation, but Cassiopeia is marked by the 
 well-known celestial W. The rude resemblance to an 
 armed chair may also be made out, and this in fact has 
 from classic days been the common mode of depicting 
 
 72
 
 CEPHEUS AND CASSIOPEIA 73 
 
 the group, the queen having been further condemned, 
 after the rescue of her daughter, to be bound to this 
 chair and swung round and round the pole, in order 
 that her lesson in humility might be complete. 
 
 Tycho Brahe's New Star. It was in Cassiopeia that 
 the great new star flamed out in November, 1572, 
 speedily outshining Venus and becoming conspicuous 
 in full daylight, then gradually fading, till after the 
 lapse of sixteen months it totally vanished. The tele- 
 scope, however, shows in the same spot a faint reddish 
 star, which from its nebulous appearance and unsteady 
 light is generally regarded by astronomers as the 
 smouldering embers of the once unrivaled orb. This 
 brief apparition caused great alarm throughout Europe, 
 many considering it a portent of the end of the world. 
 Even the great Beza, falling in with the superstitions 
 of his age, attempted to prove that it was the same 
 star which had conducted the wise men of the East to 
 Bethlehem when Christ 'was born, and that its mission 
 now was to proclaim his second coming.
 
 PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA 
 
 Perseus, even amid the stars, must take 
 Andromeda in chains ethereal. 
 
 MRS. BROWNING Paraphrases on Nonnus. 
 
 PERSEUS, the son of Jupiter and Danae, might be 
 called the knight-errant of mythology. His earliest 
 exploit was the slaying of the snaky-locked Gorgon, 
 Medusa. Panoplied with Pluto's helmet of invisibility 
 and with Minerva's polished shield, and shod with Mer- 
 cury's winged shoes, he tracked the monster to her sea- 
 girt cave, severed her horrid head, and flew away in 
 safety. Coming to the western limit of the world, he 
 found old Atlas, who, fearing lest he be robbed of his 
 golden apples, refused to receive the youth ; whereupon 
 Perseus held up the Gorgon's head before the giant and 
 turned him into stone. There, in the gardens of the 
 Hesperides, according to fable, he still stands, bearing 
 the weight of the heavens upon his shoulders. 
 
 Perseus, flying once more through the air, saw far 
 beneath him the lovely Andromeda chained to the 
 rocks, and the slimy sea-monster approaching to devour 
 
 74
 
 PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA 75 
 
 her. After a desperate struggle he succeeded in hack- 
 ing the dragon in pieces and rescuing the maiden. At 
 the wedding feast, which was a natural sequence to 
 this knightly episode, Phineus, the former lover of the 
 princess, burst in, demanding his promised bride and 
 threatening to take her by force. Perseus reminded 
 him that he should have claimed her earlier from the 
 jaws of the horrid monster, but that now it was too 
 late ; for, since he had failed to prove himself a man, 
 he should become but the stone image of one. There- 
 upon holding up the Gorgon's head he petrified the 
 coward and his band of ruffians. Then the marriage 
 bells pealed merrily, and conflicts were forgotten in 
 happiness and peace. At their death this noble pair 
 were transferred to the sky. 
 
 Charles Kingsley's Andromeda, after most beautifully 
 telling the legend, makes Aphrodite thus address the 
 heroine : 
 
 Courage I give thee, the heart of a queen and the mind of 
 
 immortals, 
 God-like to talk with the gods, and to look on their eyes 
 
 unshrinking. 
 
 Bearing a god-like race to thy spouse, till dying I set thee 
 High for a star in the heavens, a sign and a hope for the seamen,
 
 76 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 Spreading thy long white arms all night in the heights of the 
 
 ether ; 
 Hard by thy sire and the hero, thy spouse, while near thee thy 
 
 mother 
 
 Sits in her ivory chair, as she plaits ambrosial tresses ; 
 All night long thou wilt shine. 
 
 These two constellations are immediately south of 
 Cassiopeia, Perseus being directly in the Milky Wav, 
 where, according to Aratus, he is stirring up a dust in 
 his haste to liberate Andromeda. He still bears in one 
 hand the head of Medusa, with its baleful, blinking 
 demon-eye, Algol, which about every third day drops 
 from the second magnitude to the fourth and recovers 
 in a few hours. 
 
 Andromeda contains two very interesting telescopic 
 objects. One is Almach, which Herschel pronounced 
 the most beautiful double star in the heavens. Its com- 
 ponents are deep yellow and sea-green, producing a fine 
 contrast of color. The other is the great nebula. This 
 is the only true nebula which can be certainly discerned 
 without optical aid, being known to the Arabians as 
 "the little cloud." Although a magnificent spectacle 
 in the telescope, it requires photography to show its 
 marvelous extent and involved structure.
 
 AURIGA, THE CHARIOTEER 
 
 Star of the winter night, 
 Whose chill and threatening light 
 O'er the tempestuous main shineth afar ! 
 Calm days of autumn bright 
 Reluctant take their flight, 
 
 When from the misty deep riseth thy car. 
 
 ANON. 
 
 PASSING over Draco, coiled about the pole of the 
 ecliptic and representing the dragon which guarded the 
 golden apples in the gardens of the Hesperides,we come 
 to constellations lying somewhat farther south, between 
 the circumpolar groups and the zodiac. Southeast of 
 Perseus is the widely extended Auriga, or Charioteer, 
 though the name ill accords with the time-honored 
 pictorial representation of a man carrying in his arms 
 the goat Capella and the Kids, or Hsedi. 
 
 This chariot driver has been identified with Erech- 
 theus, the son of Vulcan, of whom Swinburne has 
 written : 
 
 Thou hast loosened the necks of thine horses, and goaded their 
 
 flanks with affright, 
 
 77
 
 78 THE STAKS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 To the race of a course that we know not, on ways that are hid 
 
 from our sight. 
 As a wind through the darkness the wheels of their chariot are 
 
 whirled, 
 And the light of its passage is night on the face of the world. 
 
 The bright first magnitude Capella, the lucida of the 
 constellation, represents the goat which suckled the 
 infant Jupiter. According to one tradition, Amalthea 
 herself was the goat, but more commonly she was the 
 nymph who fed the young god on the goat's milk. 
 Having in his play broken off one of the horns of the 
 animal, Jupiter endowed it with the miraculous power 
 of being filled with whatever the possessor might wish, 
 whence it was called the cornucopia or horn of plenty. 
 
 The three small stars near Capella are the Kids, though 
 more properly perhaps only the two southern ones should 
 be so denominated. They were in extremely bad repute 
 with the ancients, being termed by the classic writers 
 " horrid and hurtful," and Callimachus in the third 
 century B.C. counseled mariners : 
 
 Tempt not the winds, forewarned of dangers nigh, 
 When the Kids glitter in the western sky. 
 
 This connection of individual stars or constellations 
 with certain seasons of the year, and therefore with
 
 #J 
 
 
 -
 
 AURIGA, THE CHARIOTEER 79 
 
 the probability of pleasant or tempestuous weather, 
 was, of course, at best but local and temporary ; for 
 the slow precession of the equinoxes, by gradually shift- 
 ing the panoramic scenery of the skies, will in the 
 course of ages make these same stars rulers over 
 different seasons.
 
 COMA BERENICES (BERENICE'S HAIR) 
 
 The streaming tresses of the Egyptian queen. 
 
 BRYANT The Constellations. 
 
 JUST north of Virgo lies a group of faint stars, so 
 crowded together that they present a nebulous appear- 
 ance like a wisp of hair, or, as Serviss suggests, like 
 " gossamers spangled with dewdrops, which the old 
 woman of the nursery rhyme, who went to sweep the 
 cobwebs out of the sky," had overlooked. 
 
 The origin of this constellation, in its present form 
 at least, dates back to the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes 
 in the third century B.C. As the king was departing 
 on a dangerous expedition against the Assyrians, his 
 queen Berenice vowed, should he return in safety, to 
 dedicate her lovely amber tresses to the goddess of 
 beauty. Accordingly when the king marched home 
 victorious, the hair was placed in the temple of Aphro- 
 dite, but shortly afterwards was stolen. This grieved 
 the royal pair exceedingly, until Conon, the court 
 astronomer, announced that Jupiter had taken the 
 
 80
 
 COMA BERENICES (BERENICE'S HAIR) 81 
 
 locks and hung them in the sky, pointing to these 
 stars which, it would seem, had up to that time been 
 unrecorded. 
 
 The similarity of the name with that of the Herodian 
 princess Bernice (in the Latin Beronicd) has led to the 
 association of this star group with the legend of Saint 
 Veronica, who, in sympathy for the Saviour's sufferings 
 on the way to the cross, lent him her veil to wipe the 
 sweat from his brow, and found miraculously impressed 
 thereon the true image of our Lord. 
 
 Not far from Berenice's Hair, across the constellation 
 Leo, is the spot where the Capuchin De Rheita in the 
 seventeenth century fancied he saw, with an improved 
 telescope of his own construction, this same veil or 
 napkin bearing the likeness of the divine countenance. 
 This marvelous apparition is described in all serious- 
 ness in his work entitled Oculus Enoch et Elice, but 
 as Sir John Herschel appropriately remarked, " Many 
 strange things were seen among the stars before the 
 use of powerful telescopes became common."
 
 BOOTES, THE HERDSMAN 
 
 Not every one doth it become to question 
 The far-off, high Arcturus. 
 
 SCHILLER Death of Wallenstein. 
 
 BOOTES is usually translated the Herdsman, though 
 the name really signifies Ox Driver, a much more 
 appropriate title, since this constellation follows the 
 seven plow-oxen of Ursa Major in their daily course 
 around the pole. Our modern maps, however, follow 
 the suggestion of Hevelius, a Polish astronomer of the 
 seventeenth century, who placed the two hounds, Aste- 
 rion and Chara, in front of Bootes, and represented him 
 as a hunter pursuing the Great Bear. 
 
 The superb lucida of the group, Arcturus, was so 
 designated by the Greeks, the name meaning Bear- 
 guard. Smyth derives it from the similar Greek word 
 for tail, making it signify " tail of the Bear." Although 
 this etymology is probably incorrect, yet it is useful to 
 remember that Arcturus lies in the prolongation of the 
 Bear's tail and may thus be surely and readily identi- 
 fied. The biblical references to Arcturus, as already 
 
 82
 
 BOOTES, THE HERDSMAN 83 
 
 noted, indicate Ursa Major rather than this star, the 
 connection between the two names in the Greek lan- 
 guage naturally leading to frequent confusion. In 
 early days it represented a spear in the hunter's hand, 
 and with the Arabs it was the Lance-bearer, as Emer- 
 son, translating the Persian poet Hafiz, has it : 
 
 Poises Arcturus aloft morning and evening his spear. 
 
 From the fact that in middle latitudes Arcturus is 
 setting in the northwest just as Capella and the Kids 
 are rising away in the northeast, the stormy character 
 of the latter has been transferred also to this star. 
 Demosthenes tells of an insurance policy issued on a 
 vessel going to the Crimea and back, the rate being 
 twenty-two and one-half per cent ; but if she did not 
 return before the heliacal rising of Arcturus in late 
 September, the rate was to be thirty per cent. Horace 
 also in his well-known ode extols the contented man 
 who is disturbed not by the " fierce violence of the 
 setting Arcturus or of the rising Kids." 
 
 Cor Caroli. This is a fine double star, which on 
 modern maps is located in the heart between the two 
 hunting dogs of Bootes. The story goes that Scar- 
 borough, the court physician, on the evening before 
 the return of Charles II to London, beheld this star
 
 84 THE STARS IN SONG AND LE(iKND 
 
 shine out with peculiar luster, and thereupon suggested 
 to the astronomers that it be named in honor of the 
 king. " The merry monarch," who, we are told, " never 
 said a foolish thing, and never did a wise one," was 
 certainly hardly worthy of being commemorated in so 
 exalted a fashion ; yet to his credit it should be remem- 
 bered that he issued the decree for the founding of the 
 royal observatory at Greenwich, an institution whose 
 influence in the extension of commerce and civilization 
 has been exceedingly beneficent.
 
 CORONA BOREALIS, THE NORTHERN CROWN 
 
 And still her sign is seen in heaven, 
 
 And, 'midst the glittering symbols of the sky, 
 
 The starry crown of Ariadne glides. 
 
 APOLLONIUS RHODIUS. 
 
 Tins little constellation lies just east of Bootes, and 
 is one of the few which really resemble the objects they 
 commemorate. It is a beautiful circlet of stars forming 
 an admirable wreath or tiara. 
 
 The legend of Ariadne and her crown, which has 
 always been a popular one in literature, is interlinked 
 with that of Theseus and Bacchus. At the time when 
 the young prince Theseus was making a name for him- 
 self by his wonderful exploits, the Athenians were in 
 deep distress because of the tribute they were forced to 
 pay each year to Minos, king of Crete. This tribute 
 consisted of seven youths and seven maidens ; and a 
 most horrible fate was theirs, for they were imprisoned 
 in a labyrinth so artfully constructed that no one could 
 possibly escape, and a hideous Minotaur, with bull's 
 body and human head, soon caught and devoured them. 
 
 85
 
 86 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 Theseus resolved to deliver his countrymen from this 
 calamity, and accordingly offered himself as one of the 
 victims. On arriving at Crete they were inspected by 
 King Minos ; and it happened fortunately that his 
 daughter Ariadne was present and fell deeply in love 
 with Theseus. She furnished him with a sword and a 
 clew of thread, by means of which the hero succeeded 
 in slaying the monster and escaping from the laby- 
 rinth. Taking Ariadne with him he sailed for Athens, 
 but stopped on the way at the island of Naxos, where 
 he basely deserted his newly made bride while she 
 slept. 
 
 But Venus, taking pity on her, promised that she 
 should have an immortal lover instead of the mortal one 
 she had lost. Bacchus, just returning from his triumphal 
 progress through Asia, landed on the island, and finding 
 the fair Ariadne in tears, consoled and wedded her, and 
 gave her this glorious crown as a marriage present. At 
 her death it was transferred to its place in the sky, the 
 gems changing into glittering stars. 
 
 According to some of the classic writers this group 
 represents the coiled hair of Ariadne, or even the 
 beautiful maid herself, upon whom Bacchus conferred 
 immortality. Spenser in the Faerie Queene follows
 
 CORONA BOEEALIS, THE NORTHERN CROWN 87 
 
 yet another form of the legend, making the crown a 
 gift of Theseus : 
 
 Looke ! how the crowne which Ariadne wore 
 Upon her yvory forehead, that same day 
 That Theseus her unto his bridale bore, 
 
 Being now placed in the firmament, 
 
 Through the bright heavens doth her beams display, 
 
 And is unto the starres an ornament, 
 
 Which round about her move in order excellent.
 
 HERCULES 
 
 Great Alcides, stooping with his toil, 
 Rests on his club. p 
 
 THE huge sky-figure Hercules lies next to Bootes on 
 the east, the little stellar garland last described just 
 finding room between the two giants. Although the 
 constellation is extremely ancient, its present name 
 seems to have been unknown to the early Greek 
 astronomers. Aratus thus describes it : 
 
 Like a toiling man, revolves 
 A form. Of it can no one clearly speak, 
 Nor to what toil he is attached; but, simply, 
 Kneeler they call him. 
 
 As now usually represented, one foot rests on the 
 head of Draco ; in his right hand he holds a club, and 
 in his left a branch around which serpents are twisting ; 
 while over his shoulders is thrown the hide of a lion. 
 The latter, of course, recalls his conquest of the 
 NemaBan lion, already alluded to. The slaughter of 
 the Hydra is symbolized by the serpent's head under 
 his foot ; while the apple bough was no doubt intended 
 
 88
 
 HERCULES 89 
 
 to represent the golden fruit of the Hesperides, which 
 Hercules was obliged to wrest from the clutches of the 
 sleepless dragon that guarded the tree. On some maps 
 we find this branch in the giant's left hand replaced 
 by Cerberus, the triple-headed guardian of the lower 
 regions, one of the last of the celebrated twelve labors 
 having been to throttle this horrid creature and bring 
 him up to the light of day. 
 
 The Hercules Cluster. The great cluster, lying on 
 the west side of the trapezium which marks the giant's 
 body, is one of the most remarkable objects in the 
 heavens. Halley wrote of it in 1716: "This is but a 
 little patch, yet it shows itself to the naked eye when 
 the sky is serene and the moon absent." The telescope, 
 however, resolves it into a glorious company of glowing 
 suns. Although its diameter is less than eight minutes 
 of arc, and its area therefore not over one-sixteenth 
 that of the full moon, there are crowded together 
 within its borders, according to a conservative estimate, 
 as many as three or four thousand stars. Yet this 
 crowding is probably only apparent. No doubt its 
 real extent is so tremendous that there would be 
 plenty of room for planetary systems to revolve undis- 
 turbed about each member of the group.
 
 OPHIUCHUS, THE SERPENT-BEARER 
 
 Satan stood 
 
 Unterrified, and like a comet burned, 
 That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge 
 In th' arctic sky, and from its horrid hair 
 
 Shakes pestilence and war. 
 
 M i I.TON Paradise Lost. 
 
 LYING south of Hercules we come upon Ophiuchus, 
 the Serpent-bearer. Milton, who is usually correct in 
 his astronomical allusions, blundered sadly in the lines 
 above quoted ; for Ophiuchus lies upon the celestial 
 equator, and can by no stretch of poetic license be 
 considered an arctic constellation. It is supposed to 
 represent ^Esculapius, the son of Apollo, and proto- 
 type of the medical fraternity. So skilled did he 
 become in his profession that he was reputed to be 
 able even to raise the dead to life. Pluto took offense 
 at this, fearing lest his kingdom should become depop- 
 ulated ; and at his request Jupiter launched a thunder- 
 bolt against the bold physician, and so scattered his 
 precocious wisdom that none of his numerous descend- 
 ants seems as yet to have succeeded in recovering it. 
 
 90
 
 OPHIUCHUS, THE SERPENT-BEARER 91 
 
 Apollo, however, insisted that his son be placed in the 
 sky, where his healing arts, if they can do no good, 
 can certainly do no harm. The association of the 
 serpent with this constellation may perhaps indicate 
 the miraculous powers which are usually ascribed in 
 the Orient to snake-charmers. 
 
 The foregoing is the generally accepted explanation 
 of this figure; but an altogether different interpre- 
 tation is sometimes given, by which Ophiuchus is 
 identified with Laocoon, the priest of Neptune, who, 
 during the siege of Troy, was attacked and strangled 
 by sea-serpents for his irreverent treatment of the 
 wooden horse.
 
 LYRA, THE LYRE; DELPHTNUS, THE DOLPHIN; 
 AQUILA, THE EAGLE 
 
 I saw, with its celestial keys, 
 Its chords of air, its frets of fire, 
 The Samian's great JEolian lyre, 
 Rising through all its sevenfold bars, 
 From earth unto the fixe'd stars. 
 
 LONGFELLOW Occultation of Orion. 
 
 The Lyre of Orpheus. Few probably have not noticed 
 and admired the brilliant star which culminates nearly 
 overhead in our summer evenings. This is Vega, the 
 Harp-star ; and indeed, with the help of the smaller 
 stars close by, the rude resemblance to a lyre or harp 
 may easily be traced. According to the common version 
 this was the lyre of Orpheus, and his skill upon it was 
 such, that when Eurydice shortly after their marriage 
 was snatched from him, he succeeded in so charming 
 the guardians of the Stygian realms that they allowed 
 him to enter. Presenting himself before the deities 
 which presided over this kingdom of ghosts, he sang 
 
 Such notes as, warbled to the string. 
 Drew iron tears down Pluto's check. 
 
 And made him grant what love did seek. MILTON. 
 92
 
 LYKA, THE LYKE, ETC. 93 
 
 Consent was given that Eurydice accompany her 
 husband back to the upper world ; but the condition 
 imposed, that he look not back to see if she were 
 following, proved too much for his anxious love, and 
 he again lost her. Yet the lyre that could bring tears 
 to the eyes of the furies and melt the heart of stern 
 Pluto, was thought worthy of a place among the 
 stars. 
 
 Legend of Arion and the Dolphin. By some of the 
 poets Lyra has been called the harp of Arion, the 
 legend concerning whom connects it with the little 
 Dolphin not far off to the southeast. Arion was a 
 famous musician of the court of Periander, king of 
 Corinth. Returning from a musical contest in Sicily, 
 where he won a valuable prize, he was seized by the 
 sailors who coveted his treasure. As they were about 
 to throw him overboard, he requested permission to 
 play for the last time upon his harp. The dolphins, 
 lured by the sweet strains, surrounded the ship ; and 
 when he slipped into the water, one of them took him 
 upon its back and bore him safely to land. 
 
 Vega. The resplendent Vega, or Wega, as some- 
 times written, derives its name from the Arabic, and 
 signifies " falling eagle." In Bayer's Uranometria,
 
 94 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 published early in the seventeenth century, the eagle 
 is actually represented standing behind the harp and 
 holding the star in its beak. Vega ranks with Capella 
 in brightness, being surpassed only by Sinus and 
 Canopus. Its sapphire hue justifies the appellation 
 " arc-light of the sky." 
 
 The Double-Double. A little to the northeast of 
 Vega is the celebrated quadruple star. An exception- 
 ally keen eye can distinguish its duplicity, while the 
 telescope shows both components to be further divisible. 
 Each pair seems to be revolving in one or two thousand 
 years, and their common drift through space renders it 
 probable that the two couples form one greater system, 
 whose period of revolution must stretch far on towards 
 a million years. 
 
 Ring Nebula. Very interesting too is the ring 
 nebula of Lyra, the only object of this character acces- 
 sible to ordinary telescopes. It consists of an oval 
 ring somewhat over a minute in diameter, " the interior 
 of which is filled with a dim nebulous haze, like gauze 
 stretched over a hoop." l 
 
 Aquila. Southeast of Lyra is the constellation 
 Aquila, figured as a flying eagle, such being the 
 
 1 Miss Clarke's System of the Stars.
 
 LYEA, THE LYRE, ETC. 95 
 
 meaning of Altair, its chief star. It was known to the 
 classic writers as the bird of Jove and bearer of his 
 thunder. In its talons it holds the beautiful Gany- 
 mede, whom Jupiter, desiring for his cup-bearer, sent 
 this eagle to seize and carry up to heaven. Occasion- 
 ally the name Antinous is given to this youth, while 
 Ganymede is recognized in Aquarius, the zodiacal con- 
 stellation. The former interpretation is preferable as 
 being that usually adopted in literature. Tennyson in 
 his Palace of Art describes the picture representing 
 this legend: 
 
 Or else flushed Ganymede, his rosy thigh 
 
 Half buried in the eagle's down, 
 Sole as a flying star shot through the sky 
 
 Above the pillared town.
 
 CYGNUS, THE SWAN 
 
 Down the broad galactic river, 
 
 Where the star-beams dance and quiver, 
 
 Flies the swan with grace transcendent, 
 
 Bearing on its wings resplendent 
 
 Sacred cross of death and glory, 
 
 Emblem of 'redemption's story. ANON 
 
 Cycnus. This beautiful constellation, lying just east 
 of Lyra and directly in the Milky Way, represents 
 mythologically Cycnus 1 (as properly written), the son 
 of Mars and most intimate friend of Phaethon. When 
 the latter, after his disastrous drive in the chariot of 
 the sun, was hurled into the river Eridanus, Cycnus 
 lingered about the spot, and frequently plunged beneath 
 the flood, seeking some relic of his lost companion. 
 But the gods finally grew angry and changed him into 
 a swan ; and therefore it is that this bird " ever sails 
 about in the most pensive manner, and frequently 
 thrusts its head into the water." Ovid thus describes 
 this metamorphosis : 
 
 1 The constellation is written Cygnus, the mythological name Cycnus. 
 
 90
 
 CYGNUS, THE SWAN 97 
 
 His voice was lessened as he tried to speak, 
 And issued through a long extended neck : 
 His hair transforms to down ; his fingers meet 
 In skinny films, and shape his oary feet : 
 From both his sides the wings and feathers break, 
 And from his mouth proceeds a blunted beak : 
 All Cycnus now into a swan was turned. 
 
 The Northern Cross. The principal stars of Cygnus 
 form the northern cross, so well known to all star- 
 gazers. Exquisitely does Lowell picture its place 
 among the constellations that preside over the open- 
 ing of the New Year : 
 
 Orion kneeling in his starry niche, 
 The Lyre whose strings give music audible 
 To holy ears, and countless splendors more, 
 Crowned by the blazing Cross high-hung o'er all. 
 
 Albireo and 61 Cygni. The star Albireo in the Swan's 
 head is one of the most lovely objects in the sky, 
 its components being golden and azure, and so well 
 separated that a very small telescope will reveal them. 
 The faint pair lying on the left wing, known as 61 
 Cygni, is deserving of notice, not so much from any 
 intrinsic interest, as because " these little suns were the 
 first of all the starry host to reveal to Bessel the secret
 
 98 THE STAKS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 of their distance." 1 Light requires nearly ten years to 
 travel thence, so that we do not perceive them as they 
 now are, but as they were a decade ago. Yet, as Webb 
 finely remarks, " not one in a million of the stars but 
 lies at a distance incalculably exceeding that of 61 
 Cygni. How vast must be the dimensions of this great 
 universe ! What a temple for the Creator's glory ! " 
 
 1 Webb's Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes.
 
 PEGASUS, THE WINGED HORSE 
 
 I dreamt that I flew through the vaulted blue, 
 
 Like Pegasus of old, 
 That winge'd steed of heavenly breed, 
 
 Which bore Bellerophon bold. 
 
 ANON. 
 
 STILL to the eastward we come to Pegasus marked by 
 the well-known square. The northeastern star of this 
 square, however, lies in the head of Andromeda, and 
 may conveniently serve to locate that constellation. 
 
 All doubtless are familiar with the story of Pegasus, 
 so charmingly told in Hawthorne's Wonder Book. 
 Although he sprang from the blood of the hateful 
 Gorgon, he seems nevertheless to have been an amiable 
 steed. Being presented by Minerva to the Muses, he 
 took up his abode on Mount Helicon, where with a 
 blow of his hoof he opened up that fountain at which 
 every poet must drink ere he can soar on Pegasean 
 wing. Here it was that Bellerophon caught him with 
 Minerva's golden bridle ; but after slaying the Chimaera, 
 this hero grew too presumptuous and attempted to fly 
 
 99
 
 100 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 up to heaven, whereupon Jupiter sent a gadfly which 
 stung Pegasus and caused him to throw his rider. 
 
 With Pegasus we have completed our review of the 
 principal constellations north of the zodiac. Among 
 those that lie south of this circle only a few are of 
 sufficient interest to claim our attention. The region 
 of the sky about the south pole was, of course, practi- 
 cally unknown to the classic astronomers, and most of 
 its star-figures are of recent date.
 
 ORION 
 
 Begirt with many a blazing star 
 Stood the great giant Algebar, 
 Orion, hunter of the beast ! 
 His sword hung gleaming by his side, 
 And on his arm the lion's hide 
 Scattered across the midnight air 
 The golden radiance of its hair. 
 
 LONGFELLOW Occultation of Orion. 
 
 Brilliancy of Orion. The question is often asked 
 whether the atmosphere in winter is not clearer than 
 in summer, since the heavens never appear so brilliant 
 as on a crisp frosty night. The reason of this does not 
 lie in the transparency of the air. Partly no doubt it 
 is due to its disturbed condition which causes the stars 
 to flash and twinkle, but chiefly to the fact that the 
 winter constellations outrank in splendor those that 
 preside with their milder radiance over the summer 
 months. 
 
 Supreme in the glittering skies of our northern 
 winter reigns Orion. He is mentioned several times 
 
 in the Bible, the reference in the ninth chapter of Job 
 
 101
 
 102 
 
 to " the Seven stars, Orion and the Pleiades, and the 
 chambers of the south," being intended as a compre- 
 hensive description of the whole starry heavens, the 
 Seven stars, or Great Bear, representing the arctic skies, 
 Orion and the Pleiades, the equatorial regions, and the 
 chambers of the south, that portion near the south pole 
 which to a northern observer is closed or concealed. 
 
 Threatening Character. Orion's huge size and threat- 
 ening posture, combined with the stormy character of 
 the time of year when he rises, gave him an extremely 
 evil reputation with the classic writers, who hurled 
 against him all sorts of ugly invective, rainy, tem- 
 pestuous, destructive to sailors and altogether "horrid " ! 
 According to Polybius the loss of the Roman fleet in 
 the first Punic war was due " to the obstinacy of the 
 consuls, who, despite of the pilots, would sail between 
 the risings of Orion and Sirius, always a squally time." 
 Milton also in Paradise Lost alludes to the boisterous 
 character of this constellation : 
 
 When with fierce winds Orion armed 
 
 Hath vexed the Ked sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew 
 
 Busiris and his Memphian chivalry. 
 
 Mythology. Mythologically, he was a hunter or 
 warrior-giant, though the legends about him are
 
 ORION 103 
 
 conflicting. One account made him the lover of Merope, 
 daughter of (Enopion, king of Chios. After Orion had 
 rendered the king most valuable service by clearing 
 his realm of wild beasts, he demanded Merope's hand 
 in marriage, but was refused. Thereupon he attempted 
 to take her by force. (Enopion, enraged, made him 
 drunk, and having put out his eyes, cast him on the 
 seashore. Following the sound of the hammer, the 
 giant made his way to Vulcan's forge and besought his 
 help. Vulcan gave him the services of a cy clops to be 
 his guide, and Orion, placing him on his shoulders, 
 proceeded to the east, and there meeting the sun-god, 
 was restored to sight, as Longfellow relates : 
 
 But he 
 
 Reeled as of yore beside the sea, 
 When blinded by CEnopion 
 He sought the blacksmith at his forge, 
 And climbing up the narrow gorge, 
 Fixed his blank eyes upon the sun. 
 
 According to another story he was the companion of 
 Diana, who fell in love with him and would have 
 married him, had not her brother Apollo put a stop to 
 the mad project by causing the Scorpion to sting him. 
 At the intercession of the goddess, however, he was
 
 104 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 placed in the sky opposite to the Scorpion, so that he 
 might escape. in the west as that loathsome reptile lifted 
 its head above the eastern horizon. Aratus refers to 
 this arrangement in his poem : 
 
 When the Scorpion comes 
 
 Orion flies to the utmost end of earth. 
 
 Culminating on the meridian the giant is upright, 
 but as he approaches the horizon his position becomes 
 more and more inclined. Tennyson, with his custom- 
 ary accuracy, writes in Locksley Hall of 
 
 Great Orion sloping slowly to the west. 
 
 In Maud, too, he thus beautifully pictures the western 
 sky at the opening of spring : 
 
 It fell at a time of year 
 
 When the face of the night is fair on the dewy downs, 
 And the shining daffodil dies, and the Charioteer 
 And starry Gemini hang like glorious crowns 
 Over Orion's grave low down in the west. 
 
 The Stars of Orion. Of the brilliants in this constel- 
 lation, Betelguese, meaning "armpit," marks the right 
 shoulder ; Rigel, sometimes called Algebar, the left 
 foot; while Bellatrix, the female warrior or Amazon 
 star, lies on the left shoulder. The three stars in the
 
 ORION 105 
 
 belt constitute the golden yardarm of seamen, and the 
 yardstick or ell of tradesmen, besides being popularly 
 known as the Magi or three wise men from the Orient, 
 and the three Marys. Tennyson in The Princess 
 describes them as 
 
 Those three stars of the airy Giant's zone 
 That glitter burnished by the frosty dark. 
 
 The celestial equator now passes just above the 
 northern one of the three. In 1807 the University of 
 Leipsic resolved that the stars belonging to the belt 
 and sword of Orion should in future be called Napoleon. 
 As Thomas Hood two centuries earlier had told us that 
 " this fellow was placed in heaven to teach men not to 
 be too confident in their own strength," there was, 
 perhaps, very good ground for the proposed change of 
 appellation ; but the new name has never been adopted 
 by the map-makers. 
 
 Great Nebula of Orion. The telescope does not reveal 
 in all the heavens a more wonderful object than the 
 great nebula lying just below Orion's belt. It is fre- 
 quently called the fish-mouth nebula, from the rude 
 resemblance to the head of some marine monster. Its 
 brilliancy is not uniform, and the glare of the brighter
 
 106 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 portions contrasts strongly with the darker regions, 
 giving one a " sensation of looking through into the 
 luminous regions of illimitable space." Sir John 
 Herschel, viewing it through his twenty-foot reflector, 
 compares it to a curdling liquid, or to the breaking up 
 of a mackerel sky. Involved in it is the fine multiple 
 star, known as the trapezium from the configuration of 
 its four principal components.
 
 Th' autumnal star, whose brilliant ray 
 Shines eminent amid the depth of night, 
 Whom men the dog-star of Orion call. 
 
 LORD DERBY Translation of Homer's Iliad. 
 
 Sirius, the Dog Star. Homer's oft-mentioned Dog 
 was simply the star Sirius, our present constellation 
 being the creation of a later date. In another passage 
 of the Iliad besides the one above quoted, Sirius is 
 alluded to as 
 
 The star of autumn laved by ocean's wave. 
 
 The time of year intended by Homer was no doubt 
 the latter part of July or the first of August when 
 Sirius rose just before the sun ; but we may still very 
 properly call it autumn's star, for late in the fall, when 
 the wind has stripped the trees and the hoarfrost 
 sparkles on the ground, Sirius, large and brilliant, 
 begins to loom in the evening sky. 
 
 No other star visible in our northern latitudes re- 
 motely rivals Sirius in splendor. By the Arabs it was 
 
 107
 
 108 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 known as Al Shira, the shining one ; in fact, the word 
 Sirius signifies in the Greek " scorching " or u spark- 
 ling." \Ye can scarcely wonder that the ancients 
 attributed the burning heat of summer to the com- 
 mingling of the rays of this star with those of the 
 sun, their canicular or dog days being reckoned from 
 its heliacal rising. It thus came to pass that, although 
 so beautiful, it acquired a very evil reputation, all the 
 discomforts and ills of the torrid season being ascribed 
 to its influence. Pope's translation of Homer's lines, 
 
 Terrific glory ! for his burning breath 
 
 Taints the red air with fevers, plagues, and death, 
 
 well expresses the popular estimate in classic days of 
 the noxious effects of this glowing orb. 
 
 The Nile Star. In Egypt, however, Sirius bore a very 
 different character. Some five thousand years ago, 
 before precession had carried it so far to the eastward, 
 it rose with the sun at the time of the summer solstice, 
 and hence heralded the approach of the Nile inundation. 
 It was, therefore, naturally held in great reverence as the 
 Nile star, and had many temples dedicated to its worship. 
 Sir Edwin Arnold in his Egyptian Princess voices the 
 unquestioned belief in the star's potent influence :
 
 CANIS MAJOR AND CANIS MINOR 100 
 
 And ever when the Star of Kneph has brought the summer 
 
 round, 
 
 And the Nile rises fast and full along the thirsty ground, 
 They bear her from her rock-hewn tomb to where the sun's 
 
 bright light 
 May linger on. the close-bound eyes were once so glad and 
 
 bright ; 
 And strew palm chisters on her breast, while gray-haired 
 
 singers tell 
 Of the high Egyptian lady who loved the sun so well. 
 
 Twinkling of Sirius. Not only is Sinus the most 
 luminous of all the fixed stars, it also exhibits in the 
 most marked manner the phenomenon of scintillation 
 or twinkling. This is due both to its brightness and to 
 its low altitude as seen from northern stations. While 
 it is in reality an intensely white star, its twinkling 
 gives the impression of a many-colored, changeful light, 
 as Tennyson most correctly and beautifully describes it 
 
 in The Princess : 
 
 The fiery Sirius alters hue, 
 
 And bickers into red and emerald. 
 
 The scientific explanation of twinkling is found in 
 the composite nature of the ray of light which proceeds 
 from the star, and which in its passage through the 
 atmosphere becomes more or less broken up.
 
 110 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 The Little Dog, Procyon. Canis Minor, the other 
 hound of Orion, was known to the Greeks as Procyon, 
 a term which we now apply only to the principal star. 
 It means "precursor of the Dog," that is, of Sirius. 
 While it lies somewhat to the east, it is also much 
 farther north than the Greater Dog, and hence with 
 us rises first. When, however, Sirius comes to the 
 western horizon, Procyon is almost directly above it 
 towards the zenith. 
 
 The Companions of Sirius and Procyon. Both Sirius 
 and Procyon have in recent years been found to be 
 double. The companion in each case, though heavy 
 enough to sway the brighter star to a quite perceptible 
 degree, is a body of very inferior luster. Thus Sirius 
 has only twice the mass of its companion, yet it gives 
 ten thousand times as much light. In the Procyon 
 system the disparity between mass and luminosity is 
 even greater ; while in Algol and other stars of its 
 class the satellite seems to be entirely dark. Discov- 
 eries like these suggest the possibility that the telescope 
 fails to reveal the full extent of the universe, and that 
 the conjectures of Laplace and Bessel of the existence 
 of countless orbs, grand but invisible, may yet prove 
 well founded.
 
 ARGO NAVIS, THE SHIP ARGO 
 
 Then with a whistling breeze did Juno fill the sail, 
 And Argo, self-impelled, shot swift before the gale. 
 
 ELTON Translation of Onomacritus. 
 
 ONLY a portion of this constellation rises above the 
 horizon in middle latitudes, its principal star, Canopus, 
 first becoming visible on the southern border of the 
 United States. Yet it was one of the original forty- 
 eight asterisms, well known in classic times. 
 
 The Legend. This ship was built for Jason, the 
 leader of the Argonautic expedition which sailed from 
 Greece to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece. Pallas 
 Athene herself took a hand in its construction and 
 placed in the vessel's prow a timber from the speaking 
 oak of Dodona, which should serve to guide and warn 
 the adventurous chieftains who formed the crew. One 
 of the most thrilling adventures on the outward voyage 
 was the passing of the Symplegades, or clashing rocks. 
 These guarded the entrance to the Euxine sea ; and, 
 tossing back and forth, were almost sure to crush any 
 
 boat that attempted to sail between them. By the 
 
 111
 
 112 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 advice of Phineus the Argonauts first let go a dove, 
 which skimmed through in safety, losing only some of 
 the feathers of her tail. Taking advantage of the 
 rebound, they bent to their oars and barely succeeded 
 in effecting the passage before the rocks again crashed 
 together. The stern of their vessel, indeed, did not 
 wholly escape, but was more or less broken ; and so it 
 is represented on the maps, though some writers insist 
 that it is the bow of the ship that is wanting. This, 
 however, is evidently a mistake. On Bayer's map of 
 1639, we have a very interesting delineation of ilic 
 passage of the swinging rocks, the Argo being pictured 
 as just emerging, with her stern torn off by their deadly 
 impact. After the fortunate completion of the voyage 
 the vessel was placed in the sky by Athene. If, as 
 many hold, this story contains a substratum of truth, and 
 actually brings down to us the account, highly colored 
 of course, of the first important commercial expedition 
 to what was then the far east, we may well look upon 
 the celestial Argo with more than ordinary interest. 
 
 Canopus. Canopus, the lucida of this constellation, 
 which lies just below our horizon where the prow of 
 the Argo cuts the water, is, after Sirius, the brightest 
 star in the heavens. Canopus was the chief pilot of
 
 ARGO NAVIS, THE SHIP ARGO 113 
 
 the fleet of Menelaus. On the return voyage after the 
 Trojan war, they landed in Egypt, where Canopus died 
 and was buried. His name was given to the city 
 founded upon the site, and to this star which rose just 
 above the horizon. This, at least, is the popular deri- 
 vation of the name as given by Plutarch. 
 
 Long, long before this visit of the Grecian warriors 
 to the shores of Egypt, which thus resulted in naming 
 the star, the magnificent orb itself was known and 
 worshiped on the banks of the Nile. Lockyer con- 
 cludes that several temples in Upper Egypt were not 
 unlikely oriented to its setting more than eight thou- 
 sand years ago ! That it held an important place in the 
 early cult of that country there can be no doubt. The 
 reference to it in Moore's Lalla Rookh will be recalled 
 in this connection : 
 
 As on some black and troublous night 
 
 The Star of Egypt, whose proud light 
 
 Never hath beamed on those who rest 
 
 In the white islands of the west, 
 
 Burns through the storm, with looks of flame 
 
 That put heaven's cloudier eyes to shame. 
 
 It might also well be designated the Desert Star, 
 for not only was it much used by the wild, wandering
 
 114 THE STARS IN SoNti AND LEGEND 
 
 tribes in tracking their way through the pathless 
 wastes, and in regulating their calendar, but it 
 naturally became an object of worship among them. 
 Carlyle in Heroes and Hero-Worship intimates how 
 this might be : 
 
 " Canopus, shining down over the desert with its 
 blue, diamond brightness (that wild, blue, spirit-like 
 brightness, far brighter than we ever witness here), 
 would pierce into the heart of the wild Ishmaelitish 
 man, whom it was guiding through the solitary wastes 
 there. To his wild heart, with all feelings in it, with 
 no speech for any feeling, it might seem a little eye, 
 that Canopus, glancing out on him from the great, deep 
 eternity, revealing the inner splendor to him." 
 
 The Argo Nebula. - - This grand object is situated 
 between Argo and Centaurus, in one of the most bril- 
 liant portions of the Milky Way. "It is not easy," 
 s iys Herschel, " for language to convey a full impres- 
 sion of the beauty and sublimity of the spectacle which 
 this nebula offers as it enters the field of view of the 
 telescope, ushered in as it is by so glorious and innumer- 
 able a procession of stars, to which it forms a sort of 
 climax." Miss Clerke strikingly characterizes it as " a 
 chaotic sea of luminous billows." It is sometimes
 
 ARGO NAVIS, THE SHIP ARGO 115 
 
 called the keyhole nebula from a peculiar shaped open- 
 ing in its brightest part. 
 
 Among the small stars that cluster on its border is 
 one which, though now insignificant, has had a most 
 surprising history. From the time when Halley first 
 observed it in 1677, until the early part of the last 
 century, its light varied irregularly, but never exceeded 
 that of a second magnitude star. In 1827 it increased 
 to the first magnitude, and after fluctuating for several 
 years, finally in 1843 burst out with a splendor rival- 
 ing that of Sirius. For nearly ten years it maintained 
 this high rank ; then its light slowly waned till 1886, 
 when it had passed beyond the range of unaided vision. 
 Its partial recovery at the present time encourages the 
 belief that its strange career is not yet ended.
 
 CRUX, THE SOUTHERN CROSS 
 
 Then did I feel as one who, much perplext, 
 Led by strange legends and the light of stars 
 Over long regions of the midnight sand 
 Beyond the red tract of the pyramids, 
 Is suddenly drawn to look upon the sky, 
 From sense of unfamiliar light, and sees, 
 Revealed against the constellated cope, 
 The great cross of the south. 
 
 OWEN MEREDITH Queen Guenevere. 
 
 Early References. Although not an ancient constella- 
 tion and invisible within the boundaries of the United 
 States, yet the Southern Cross is so universally known 
 and so remarkable a configuration of stars that it 
 deserves mention. The earliest reference to it seems 
 to have been in Dante's great poem, where he speaks of 
 The rays of the four consecrated stars. 
 
 In the lines, 
 
 ! thou septentrional and widowed site, 
 Because thou art deprived of seeing these ! 
 
 he seems to refer to the interesting fact that in early 
 ages these stars were visible from the greater portion 
 
 116
 
 CEUX, THE SOUTHERN CROSS 117 
 
 of the northern hemisphere, but through the slow pre- 
 cessional change gradually shifted southward and sunk 
 out of sight. 
 
 The voyages of discovery of the sixteenth century 
 brought the constellation into prominence ; and to the 
 Spanish conquerors of Mexico and South America it 
 became a token of heaven's approbation of their 
 endeavors to plant the faith in the wilds of the New 
 World. Mrs. Hemans' lines in the Cross of the South 
 beautifully illustrate this sentiment : 
 
 But to thee, as thy lode-stars resplendently burn 
 In their clear depths of blue, with devotion I turn, 
 Bright Cross of the South ! and beholding thee shine, 
 Scarce regret the loved land of the olive and vine. 
 Thou recallest the ages when first o'er the main 
 My fathers unfolded the ensign of Spain, 
 And planted their faith in the regions that see 
 Its imperishing symbol ever blazoned in thee. 
 
 Upon the first maps of the southern hemisphere 
 South America is designated " Terra sancte crucis," the 
 land of the holy cross, a circumstance still commemo- 
 rated on certain Brazilian postage stamps where this con- 
 stellation appears. The same suggestive device may 
 be seen on a recent issue of New South Wales.
 
 118 
 
 Use as a Timepiece. Like the Great Bear to northern 
 peoples, the Cross is the night-clock of those who dwell 
 within and beyond the tropics. Its stars are so placed 
 that when culminating on the meridian it stands very 
 nearly upright. Humboldt in alluding to this says : 
 " How often have we heard our guides exclaim in the 
 savannahs of Venezuela and in the desert extending 
 from Lima to Truxillo, ' Midnight is past, the Cross 
 begins to bend ! ' 
 
 A story of the tropics, wherein this constellation fig- 
 ures, is told for us by Whittier in his Cry of a Lost 
 Soul. The traveler floating at nightfall through the 
 gloomy forests of the Amazon is startled by 
 
 A cry, as of the pained heart of the wood, 
 The long, despairing moan of solitude. 
 
 The guide crosses himself, and in a frightened whisper 
 explains that it is the cry of a lost soul, of some infidel 
 or heretic burning in hell. But the traveler 
 
 Lifts to the starry calm of heaven his eyes, 
 And lo ! rebuking all earth's ominous cries, 
 The Cross of pardon lights the tropic skies.
 
 THE GALAXY, OR MILKY WAY 
 
 A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold 
 And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear, 
 Seen in the galaxy, that milky way. 
 
 MILTON Paradise Lost. 
 
 The Sky-River. From time immemorial this circling 
 zone of light has been likened to a river, being known 
 anciently as Eridanus, the river of heaven, into which 
 the burning chariot of the sun was plunged after 
 Phaethon's mad drive ; often, too, as the shining stream 
 or river of light, recalling Longfellow's lines : 
 
 Torrent of light and river of the air, 
 
 Along whose bed the glimmering stars are seen, 
 
 Like gold and silver sands in some ravine 
 
 Where mountain streams have left their channels bare. 
 
 Among the orientals it was sometimes the silver 
 river, " whose fish were frightened by the new moon, 
 which they imagined to be a hook." 
 
 This semblance to a celestial stream is rendered even 
 more striking where the Galaxy divides into two 
 branches between Centaurus and Cygnus. Miss Clerke 
 
 119
 
 120 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 in her System of the Stars says: "Involuntarily the 
 image presents itself of a great river, forced by an 
 encounter with a powerful obstacle to throw its waters 
 into a double channel, lower down merged again into 
 one. The intervening long strip of islanded rock and 
 gravel might stand for the great rift between the 
 branches of the sidereal stratum, which, although to 
 the eye, owing to the effect of contrast, darker th.tn 
 the general sky, is in reality nowhere quite free from 
 nebulous glimmerings. It is encroached upon In- 
 fringes, effusions, and filaments, spanned by bridges of 
 light, and here and there half filled up by long, narrow, 
 disconnected masses or pools of nebulae, lying parallel 
 to the general flow of the stream." 
 
 The Path of Souls. Again the Galaxy is a road or 
 pathway, our Milky Way being in fact but a transla- 
 tion of the classic Via lactea. Almost universally this 
 has been the path by which departing souls reach the 
 realms of the blessed, as Milton has it, 
 
 The way to God's eternal house. 
 
 So in the medieval ages it was popularly called "the 
 way of Rome," because the Roman pontiffs controlled 
 and guarded the only avenue of approach to the celestial
 
 THE GALAXY, OR MILKY WAY 121 
 
 city. The Norsemen knew it as the path to Valhalla, 
 up which went the souls of heroes who fell in battle. 
 The belief of our North American Indians is set forth 
 in Longfellow's Hiawatha, where 
 
 Many things Nokomis taught him 
 Of the stars that shine in heaven. 
 
 Showed the broad white road in heaven, 
 Pathway of the ghosts, the shadows, 
 Running straight across the heavens, 
 Crowded with the ghosts, the shadows, 
 To the Kingdom of Ponemah, 
 To the land of the hereafter ; 
 
 or in the beautiful Indian Fancy of William Hamilton 
 Hayne : 
 
 Pure leagues of stars from garish light withdrawn 
 Behind celestial lace-work pale as foam, 
 
 I think between the midnight and the dawn 
 
 Souls pass through you to their mysterious home. 
 
 The Winter Street. With the Swedish peasantry it 
 is the " Winter Street," probably because, while in 
 the spring and summer evenings its pale milky light 
 mingles with the haze of the horizon, in winter it 
 arches magnificently across the zenith. Miss Edith
 
 122 THE STARS IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 Matilda Thomas in her short poem of this name 
 thus describes it : 
 
 Silent with star-dust, yonder it lies 
 
 The Winter Street, so fair and so white ; 
 
 Winding along through the boundless skies, 
 Down heavenly vale, up heavenly height. 
 
 And who are they, all unheard and unseen 
 
 0, who are they, whose blessed feet 
 Pass over that highway smooth and sheen ? 
 
 What pilgrims travel the Winter Street ? 
 
 Are they not those whom here we miss 
 
 In the ways and the days that are vacant below '.' 
 
 As the dust of that street their footfalls kiss, 
 Does it not brighter and brighter grow ? 
 
 Jacob's Road. In Germany a popular title has been 
 Jakobs Strasse, Jacob's Road, a simile borrowed from 
 the ladder of his dream, on which the angels of God 
 ascend arid descend. The same idea occurs elsewhere, 
 for Longfellow tells us, 
 
 The Spaniard sees in thee the pathway where 
 His patron saint descended in the sheen 
 Of his celestial armor, on serene 
 And quiet nights when all the heavens were fair.
 
 THE GALAXY, OR MILKY WAY 123 
 
 Very beautiful, noble even, are these fancies, which 
 find in this luminous track the highway of spirits, 
 growing, like the path of the just, ever brighter as it 
 rises above the mists and fogs of this world, up into 
 the glorious expanses of the ether, till it is lost in the 
 boundlessness of the celestial realms. But grander 
 still, shall we not say ? is the reality, the true concep- 
 tion of this mighty circle of light, which science tells us 
 is composed of worlds heaped on worlds, suns towering 
 beyond suns, in a profusion that startles the imagina- 
 tion and awes the soul. Something of this did Long- 
 fellow see in the Galaxy : 
 
 The white drift of worlds o'er chasms of sable, 
 The star-dust that is whirled aloft and flies 
 From the invisible chariot wheels of God.
 
 INDEX 
 
 jEsculapius, 90 
 
 Albireo, 97 
 
 Alcides, 88 
 
 Alcor, 65 
 
 Alcyone, 35-37 
 
 Aldebaran, 32 
 
 Algebar, 104 
 
 Algol, 76 
 
 Allen, E. H., 54, 63 
 
 Almach, 76 
 
 Altair, 95 
 
 Amalthea, 78 
 
 Amazon star, 104 
 
 Andromeda, 72, 74, 75 
 
 Antares, 53 
 
 Antinous, 95 
 
 Antiquity of constellations, 23 
 
 Aquarius, 57 
 
 Aquila, 94 
 
 Aratus, 28, 31, 34, 44, 48, 55, 88, 
 
 Areas, 61 
 
 Arcturus, 62, 82, 83 
 
 Arethusa, 47 
 
 Argonauts, 39, 111, 112 
 
 Argo Navis, 111 
 
 Ariadne, 85, 86 
 
 Aries, 27 
 
 Arion, 93 
 
 Arnold, Sir Edwin, 108 
 
 104 
 
 Arthur's Wain, 64 
 Astarte, 13 
 Astrsea, 48 
 Astrology, 24 
 Athene, 111, 112 
 Atlantides, 31 
 Atlas, 31, 74 
 Auriga, 77 
 Autumn's star, 107 
 
 Baal worship, 7, 8 
 
 Bacchus, 86 
 
 Bellatrix, 104 
 
 Bellerophon, 99 
 
 Beltane, 8 
 
 Berenice's Hair, 80 
 
 Betelguese, 104 
 
 Bootes, 82 
 
 Browning, Elizabeth B., 74 
 
 Browning, Robert, 18, 19 
 
 Bryant, W. C., 62, 70, 71, 80 
 
 Buddha, 14 
 
 Bull, 30 
 
 Callimachus, 78 
 Callisto, 61 
 Camoens, 62 
 Cancer, 43 
 Canis Major, 107 
 
 125
 
 126 
 
 THE STA11S IN SONG AND LEGEND 
 
 Canis Minor, 110 
 
 Canopus, 112-114 
 
 Capella, 77, 78 
 
 Capricornus, 55 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 114 
 
 Cassiopeia, 72 
 
 Castor, 39, 40 
 
 Centaurs, 64 
 
 Cepheus, 72 
 
 Cerberus, 89 
 
 Ceres, 47 
 
 Ceyx, 36 
 
 Chambers of the south, 102 
 
 Charioteer, 77 
 
 Charles' Wain, 64 
 
 Claws of Scorpio, 25, 50 
 
 Clerke, Agnes M., 33, 34, 94, 114, 
 
 120 
 
 Cluster in Hercules, 89 
 Colchis, 7, 29 
 Coma Berenices, 80 
 Congreve, William, 43 
 Conon, 80 
 
 Constellations, Origin of, 23, 24 
 Cor Caroli, 83 
 Cor Leonis, 46 
 Cornucopia, 78 
 Corona Borealis, 85 
 Cowley, Abraham, 39 
 Crab, 43 
 Crux, 116 
 Cycnus, 96 
 Cygnus, 96 
 Cynosure, 67 
 
 Dante, 57, 116 
 Delphinus, 93 
 Demosthenes, 83 
 
 Denebola, 46 
 De Rheita, 81 
 Desert star, 113, 114 
 Diana, 13, 16, 103 
 Dog star, 108 
 Dolphin, 93 
 Draco, 77, 88 
 Druids, 8, 9, 17 
 Dry den, John, 70 
 
 Eagle, 94 
 
 Egyptian temples, 4 
 Egypt, Star of, 113 
 Electra, 35 
 Emerson, R. W., 83 
 Endymion, 16 
 Erechtheus, 77 
 Eridanus, 53, 57, 96, 119 
 Euripides, 45 
 Europa, 30 
 Eurydice, 92, 93 
 Evening Star, 59 
 
 Fishes, 58 
 
 Fish-mouth nebula, 105 
 
 Galaxy, 119 
 
 Galileo, 18 
 
 Ganymede, 96 
 
 Gemini, 39 
 
 Goat, 56 
 
 Golden age, 48 
 
 Golden fleece, 29, 111 
 
 Gorgon, 74 
 
 Great Bear. 61 
 
 Great Dipper. C>~> 
 
 Great Dog, 107 
 
 Greenwich Observatory, 84
 
 INDEX 
 
 127 
 
 Hsedi, 77 
 
 Hafiz, 83 
 
 Halcyon, 36 
 
 Halcyone, 36 
 
 Halley, Edmund, 89, 115 
 
 Hamal, 29 
 
 Hare, 14 
 
 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 99 
 
 Hayne, W. H., 121 
 
 Heine, 22 
 
 Helen's lights, 40 
 
 Helicon, Mount, 99 
 
 Helios, 7 
 
 Helle, 29 
 
 Hellespont, 29 
 
 Hemans, Felicia, 9, 34, 117 
 
 Hercules, 43, 45, 88 
 
 Herdsman, 82 
 
 Herschel, Sir John, 49, 53, 81, 106, 
 
 114 
 
 Hesperides, 74, 89 
 Hesperus, 59 
 Hevelius, Johannes, 82 
 Homer, 13, 39, 61, 63, 107, 108 
 Hood, Thomas, 105 
 Horace, 40, 83 
 Horus, Myth of, 3, 4 
 Humboldt, Baron von, 118 
 Hyades, 31, 32 
 Hydra, 43 
 Hyperboreans, 68 
 
 Incas, 10, 17 
 Indra, 14 
 Isaiah, 24, 68, 69 
 
 Jack and Jill, 15 
 Jacob's Road, 122 
 
 Jason, 111 
 Job, 33, 62, 101 
 Jonsou, Ben, 16 
 Josephus, 25 
 Juno, 43, 61, 62 
 Jupiter, 78 
 
 Kids, 77, 78 
 Kingfisher, 36 
 Kingsley, Charles, 75 
 Kneph, Star of, 109 
 
 Lady in the Moon, 15, 16 
 
 Lampman, Archibald, 37 
 
 Lance-bearer, 83 
 
 Landseer, John, 28 
 
 Laocoon, 91 
 
 Ledaean lights, 39 
 
 Leo, 45 
 
 Libra, 50 
 
 Lion, 45 
 
 Little Bear, 67 
 
 Little Dog, 110 
 
 Little Wain, 68 
 
 Lockyer, Sir J. Norman, 113 
 
 Lode-star, 71 
 
 Loki, 10 
 
 Longfellow, H. W., 17, 27, 40, 47, 
 
 50, 52, 54, 57, 93, 101, 103, 119, 
 
 121, 122, 123 
 Lowell, J. R., 61, 97 
 Lyra, 93 
 
 Macaulay, Thomas B., 40 
 
 Manger, 44 
 
 Manilius, 57 
 
 Man in the Moon, 14, 15 
 
 Medusa, 74, 76
 
 L28 
 
 Till: STARS IX SONC AND LKclKND 
 
 Meredith, Owen, 39, 116 
 
 Merope, 35, 38, 103 
 
 Milk dipper, 54 
 
 Milky Way, 119 
 
 Miltun. John, 18, 33, 36, 51, 55, G7, 
 
 7-_'. ( .H), 92, 102, 119, 120 
 Minerva, 99 
 Minos, 85 
 Minotaur, 85 
 Mi/.ar, 65 
 Moon, 13 
 
 Moon superstitions, 19, 20 
 Moon worship, 13 
 Moore, Thomas, 68, 71, 113 
 Morris, Lewis, 16 
 Mountain of the north, 68 
 Miiller, Max, 2 
 
 Nebulae in Virgo, 49 
 
 Nebula in Andromeda, 76 
 
 Nebula in Argo, 114 
 
 Nebula in Orion, 105 
 
 Nebula in Pleiades, 37, 38 
 
 Nebula in Scorpio, 53 
 
 New star in Cassiopeia, 73 
 
 New star in Scorpio, 53 
 
 Nile inundation, 6, 45 
 
 Nile star, 108 
 
 North American Indians, 17, 63, 
 
 121 
 
 Northern Cross, 97 
 Northern Crown, 85 
 North Star, 69 
 
 CKnopion, 103 
 Onomacritus, 111 
 Ophiuchus, 90 
 Orientation of cathedrals, 1 1 
 
 Orientation of temples, 4-C 
 
 Orion, 101 
 
 Orpheus, o!>. '.Hi 
 
 < >siris. 3, 4 
 
 Ossian, 1 
 
 Ovid, L'T, 90 
 
 Tan, :>o 
 
 Paul, Apostle, 28, 40 
 
 Pegasus, !>'. 
 
 Perseus, 74, 75 
 
 Peru, 10 
 
 Phaethon. :>_'. '.Hi 
 
 Phoebus Apollo, 7, 52 
 
 Phoenicians, 7, 67 
 
 Phosphorus, 59 
 
 Phrixus, 29 
 
 Pisces, 58 
 
 Pleiad, lost, 34, 35 
 
 Pleiades, 32-34 
 
 Plow, 63 
 
 Plow-oxen, 63 
 
 Pluto, 47, 90, 93 
 
 Poe, K. A.. 09 
 
 Pole-star. 09-71 
 
 Pollux, :!<>, 40 
 
 Polybius, 102 
 
 Pope, Alexander, 88, 108 
 
 Prsesepe, 44 
 
 Procyon, 110 
 
 Proserpine, 47 
 
 Pyramids, 4 
 
 Quadruple star in Lyra. !>l 
 Queen of Heaven, 13 
 
 Hani, 27 
 Kegulus. I".
 
 INDEX 
 
 129 
 
 Rhodius, 85 
 Rigel, 104 
 King nebula, 94 
 Rossetti, Christina, G9 
 
 Sagittarius, 54 
 
 Saint Elmo's lights, 40 
 
 Sayce, A. H., 68 
 
 Scales, 50 
 
 Scandinavian sun myths, 9, 10 
 
 Schiller, ,T. C. F. von, 25, 82 
 
 Scorpio, 52, 103, 104 
 
 Sea Goat, 55 
 
 Seaman's star, 70 
 
 Selene", 13, 15 
 
 Septentriones, 63 
 
 Serpent-bearer, 90 
 
 Serviss, G. P., 80 
 
 Shakespeare, 04, 70 
 
 Shelley, Percy B., 39 
 
 Sigourney, Lydia, 32 
 
 Sirius, 107-109 
 
 Southern Cross, 11(5 
 
 Spenser, Edmund, 27, 32, 64, 86 
 
 Sphinx, 45 
 
 Spica, 48 
 
 Star of Bethlehem, 73 
 
 Star of Egypt, 113 
 
 Stars, Number of, 22, 23 
 
 Stonehenge, 8, 9 
 
 Sun, 1 
 
 Sun worship in Egypt, 3, 4 
 
 Sun worship in Greece, 6, 7 
 
 Sun worship in India, 2 
 
 Sun worship in Peru, 10, 11 
 
 Swan, 96 
 
 Swinburne, A. C., 77 
 Syinplegades, 111 
 
 Taurus, 30 
 
 Taylor, Bayard, 32 
 
 Taylor, B. F., 65 
 
 Tennyson, Alfred, 13, 30, 32, 58, 59, 
 
 65, 95, 104, 105, 109 
 Theseus, 85, 86 
 Thomas, Edith M., 122 
 Tramontana, 68, 69 
 Twinkling, 109 
 Typhon, 3, 4, 56 
 
 Ursa Major, 61 
 Ursa Minor, 67 
 
 Valhalla, 10, 121 
 Variable star in Argo, 115 
 Vedas, 2, 34 
 Vega, 92-94 
 Venus, 58, 59, 86 
 Veronica, 81 
 Vindemiatrix, 48 
 Virgil, 30, 50 
 Virgo, 47 
 Vulcan, 103 
 
 Water-bearer, 57 
 Weather prognostics, 44 
 Whittier, J. G., 118 
 Winter constellations, 101 
 Winter Street, 121 
 
 Young, Charles D., 1 
 Zodiac, 25, 26
 
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