Aratus

“ Where Scorpio to the south his claw expands,
Burning with constant fire an Altar stands.
Few are the hours it shines to mortal eye—
Short is its passage through the wintry sky—
Long as Arcturus o'er the ocean rides,
So long the darksome wave the Altar hides. 420
Primeval Night, who with the God of day
O'er earth and ocean holds divided sway,
Pitying the toils and dangers of the brave
Adventurous sailor through the pathless wave,
By certain signs the coming tempest shows,
While Zephyr breathes, and smoothly ocean flows. ”

“ And when the Cranes their course unbroken steer,
Beating with clanging wings the echoing air:
These hail—prognostics sure of weather fair.
When the bright gems that night's black vault
adorn
But faintly shine—of half their radiance shorn—
And not by cloud obscur'd, or dimm'd to sight
By the fine silvery veil of Cynthia's light; 310
But of themselves appear to faint away,
They warning give of a tempestuous day.
No weather calm expect, when floating high
Cloud rides o'er Cloud: when clamorous cry
The Geese: when through the night the Raven caws ”

“ Made vocal warbled forth harmonious sound—
Jove snatch'd from earth the care-dispelling Lyre—
The Gods themselves sweet melody admire.
Before the Labouring Man its place in heaven—
To smooth toil's rugged brow sweet music given. 280
Next soars with wings expanding far and wide
Around the pole in majesty to glide
Jove's mottled Swan. Th’ adulterous bird, they say,
That lent his form fair Leda to betray.
His curving neck around the Lyre he bends—
To distant sky his diamond head extends—
Dark and obscure in parts—in others bright
Studded his wings with numerous gems of light. ”

“ Now lifts to sight his rising leg and thigh— 640
Ever he kneels—aloft his arm he flings,
As if to strike the Lyre's responsive strings.
Poor Labouring Man—he knows no night of rest–
Ere all his wearied limbs have gain'd the west
His morning course begins. Slow to the east
He lifts his giant form. His heaving breast
Rises with Scorpio, while his head below
Advances with the Archer’s outstretch'd bow.
Lingering he struggles on the ocean's verge,
And slowly with three signs his limbs emerge. ”

“ To tread the corn, and share his master's toil, 130
Dragg'd from his stall—poor harmless slaughter'd beast—
Gave to his cruel lord a bloody feast.
Justice was shock'd—the blood-stain’d earth she flies—
Jove bade her welcome to her native skies;
And near Bootes take her honour'd place,
Where men might still adore her angel face.
Sparkle her golden wings with crystal light—
One gem they bear superlatively bright:
It rolls beneath the tail, and may compare
With the fam'd stars that deck the greater Bear. ”

“ Dips her black head—her wings, and body laves.
The Ox looks up and snuffs the coming showers,
E'er yet with pregnant clouds the welkin lowers:
Dragging from vaulted cave their eggs to view
Th' industrious Ants their ceaseless toil pursue;
While numerous insects creep along the wall,
And through the grass the slimy earth-worms crawl,
The black earth's entrails men these reptiles call. ”

“ Harmonious all. On the celestial sphere
Though stars untold, as ocean's sand, appear,
Each tracks its separate orbit through the skies—
Fix’d is its place to set—its place to rise.
But the fourth circle on the ocean's face
To set and rise has no determin’d place.
Now mounting high to Cancer's torrid side—
With Capricorn now sinking in the tide.
If we this circle measure in the sky,
Spanning a sixth part with the human eye, 560
Two signs of twelve it can at once embrace,
Thence to the central eye an equal space. ”

“ Their high aerial flight the Cranes suspend,
And to the earth in broken ranks descend.
When the dull fire emits no cheerful rays—
With lustre dimm'd the languid torches blaze,
And the light cobwebs float along the air ”

“ When the shrill screaming Hern the ocean seeks:
All these prognostics to the wise declare
Pregnant with rain, though now serene, the air.
When keen the Flies—a plague to man and
beast—
Seek with proboscis sharp their bloody feast; 270
When in the wearisome dark wintry night
The flickering torches burn with sputtering light,
Now flaring far and wide—now sinking low—
While round their wicks the fungous tumours grow ”

“ Aratus might not make the observations himself, but study and adopt the notions of Eudoxus, in the same manner as Cicero himself, who was proud of his own astronomical knowledge, obtained it from writers upon the subject. Aratus was certainly a proficient in astronomy, as far as the science had advanced in his times. It is not to be expected that in all his statements he should he minutely accurate, for he is not writing a scientific essay on astronomy, but a popular poetical description of the celestial sphere. ”

“ Round him its speckled coils the serpent twines.
Engonasin above revers'd appears—
First to the sky his feet and legs he rears—
Sweet soother of his toils the Lyre he brings, 700
Harmonious warbling with its golden strings.
The stars that Sirius and Orion boast
In deepest night to human ken are lost.
Auriga stands upon the watery verge–
Touches his naked feet the rising surge.
Capella on his shoulder shines afar,
To sailors oft an unpropitious star. ”

“ And the keen blast—half-fed—half-clad—sustains.
The prudent husbandman, while autumn lasts,
His precious seed on the broad furrow casts,
And fearless marks the marshall'd Cranes on high,
Seeking in southern climes a milder sky. ”

“ As Scorpio's claws, and fam'd Orion's zone. 240
Deltoton next—another sign—is given,
Which marks the place of Aries in the heaven.
Three stars the form of a Triangle trace—
Two equal sides upon a shorter base.
Southward of this, declining to the west,
Behold his ample horns and shaggy breast.
Where the equator cuts the zodiac line,
On the blue vault the glittering Fishes shine.
Though far apart a diamond-studded chain,
Clasping their silvery tails, unites the twain. 250
The Northern one more bright is seen to glide
Beneath th' uplifted arm, and near the side
Of fair Andromeda. ”

“ At the period when Aratus found himself thus fortunately established in the court of Antigonus much attention was given to the study of astronomy. About a century and a half before, Meton, the celebrated mathematician of Athens, had discovered the lunar cycle of nineteen years, and published it in his book entitled Enneadecaterides. At a later period Eudoxus had brought from Egypt an improved celestial sphere, and had introduced at Cyzicus and Athens a system of astronomy and philosophy derived from the priests of that country. ”

“ At a later period, in the fourth century of the Christian æra, Festus Avienus rendered the Phenomena and Diosemeia into Latin hexameters. His version is far more diffuse than the original, and assumes the character of a poetical paraphrase of Aratus. He considerably enlarges upon the text, follows out the fables, and occasionally adds fresh matter [7] . The translation of Avienus has the advantage, which neither that of Cicero or Germanicus possesses, of coming down to us unmutilated. ”

“ Some time after, when Persæus was amusing himself with disputations in philosophy, and some one advanced this position: "None but a philosopher is fit to be a general:" "It is true," he said, "and indeed, this maxim of Zeno once pleased me more than all the rest, but I changed my opinion, when I was better taught by the young Sicyonian." ↑ The king gave the poet a copy of the work of Eudoxus: ἅμα εἰπόντος "ὡς εὐδοξότερον ποιεῖς τὸν Εὔδοξον, ἐντείνας τὰ παρ ̓ αὐτῷ κείμενα μέτρῳ." ”

“ WHEN Cilicia, in the days of Cicero [1] , boasted of being the birth-place of the Poet Aratus, there was reserved for her a far higher honour, the giving birth to one of the noblest of mankind, if true nobility consist in the power of benefiting the human race, and in the exercise of that power to the greatest extent by the most unexampled self-denial. Soli, the native city of Aratus, was not far distant from Tarsus, the birth-place of St Paul ”

“ Beneath its coils the giant Claws are found:
Few are their stars—for splendour unrenown'd. 80
Hard on the traces of the greater Bear
Presses Bootes in his swift career.
'Mong many gems more brilliant than the rest
Arcturus glows upon his belted waist.
Through the long day he drives the Arctic Wain,
And sinks reluctant in the western main. ”

“ To another class of commentators and readers the poems of Aratus have been recommended by the circumstance of St Paul, when addressing the philosophers of Athens, having quoted the exordium of the Phenomena ”