Aldebaran

“ This sheathed sword upon thy side will stab thee hourly with deeper thrusts than any adversary can give. 'Twill be a daily 'minder of thy thwarted hopes. For foiled ambition is the hydra-headed monster of the Lerna marsh. Two heads will rise for every one thou severest. 'Twill be a fight till death. Art brave enough to lift the gauntlet that Despair flings down and wage this warfare to thy very grave?"
Such call to arms seemed mockery as Aldebaran looked down upon his twisted limbs, but as the bloodstone on his finger met his sight his kingly soul leapt up. ”

“ It was not his especial duty, but it was no time to be particular when the Aldebaran lay swept from end to end at the mercy of the squall, and he swung himself up into the shrouds close behind the Dutchman with Appleby following. The wind flattened them against the rattlings as they fought their way up, and then almost choked and blinded them as with the swinging foot-rope against their heel and stiffened hands on the slippery spar they crept outwards from the mast along the yard. ”

“ But in the night a storm swept down the mountain pass with sudden fury, uprooting trees a century old, and rending mighty rocks with sword thrusts of its lightning. And when it passed Aldebaran lay prone [19] upon the earth borne down by rocks and fallen trees. Lay as if dead until two passing goat-herds found him and bore him down in pity to their hut. ”

“ Thou couldst at least put on my grotesque garb, couldst learn the quips and quirks by which I make men laugh. Thou wouldst not be the first man who has hid an aching heart behind a smile. The tune thou pipest may not bring thee pleasure, but if it sets the world to dancing it is enough. And, too, it is an honest way to earn thy bread. Canst think of any other?"
Aldebaran hid his face within his hands. "No, no!" he groaned. "There is no other way, and yet my soul abhors the thought, that I, a king's son, should descend to this! The jester's motley and the cap and bells. ”

“ As it appears to our eyes Aldebaran gives one twenty-five-thousand-millionth as much light as the sun, but if we were placed midway between them the star would outshine the sun in the ratio of not less than 160 to 1. And yet, gigantic as it is, Aldebaran is possibly a pygmy in comparison with Arcturus, whose probable dimensions were discussed in the chapter relating to Boötes. Although Aldebaran is known to possess several of the metallic elements that exist in the sun, its spectrum differs widely from the solar spectrum in some respects, and more closely resembles that of Arcturus. ”

“ And now Aldebaran was but the crippled makeshift of a man, who could not even draw that Sword from out its scabbard; at whose wry features all must turn away in loathing, and some perchance might even set the dogs to snarling [31] at his heels, in haste to have him gone.
"In all the world," he cried in bitterness, "there breathes no other man whom Faith hath used so cruelly! Emptied of hope, robbed of my all, life doth become a prison-house that dooms me to its lowest dungeon! Why struggle any longer 'gainst my lot? ”

“ Aldebaran tore off the painted mask and threw himself upon the hearth.
"'Tis more than flesh can well endure!" he cried. "All day the thought of what I've lost was like a constant sword-thrust in my heart. Instead of deference and respect that once was mine from high and low, 'twas laugh and jibe and pointing finger. And, too" (his voice [53] grew shrill and querulous) , "I saw young lovers straying in the lanes together. How can I endure that sight day after day when my arms must remain for ever empty? ”

“ Aldebaran is further interesting as being a standard first-magnitude star. With the four-inch glass we see without difficulty the tenth-magnitude companion following Aldebaran at a distance of 114", p. 35°. There is an almost inexplicable charm about these faint attendants of bright stars, which is quite different from the interest attaching to a close and nearly equal pair. The impression of physical relationship is never lacking though it may be deceptive, and this awakens a lively appreciation of the vast differences of magnitude that exist among the different suns of space. ”

“ The precise hue is rather uncertain, but Aldebaran is not orange as Betelgeuse in Orion is, and no correct eye can for an instant confuse the colors of these two stars, although many persons seem to be unable to detect the very plain difference between them in this respect. Aldebaran has been called "rose-red," and it would be an interesting occupation for an amateur to determine, with the aid of some proper color scale, the precise hue of this star, and of the many other stars which exhibit chromatic idiosyncrasy. ”

“ When Aldebaran heard that he swore by the bloodstone on his finger that when the time was ripe for him to wield the sword he would show the world a far greater courage than it had ever known before. And Vesta smiling, promised by that same token to keep vigil by one fire only, the fire that she had kindled in his heart.
One by one his elder [8] brothers grew up and went out into the world to win their fortunes, and like a restless steed that frets against the rein, impatient to be off, he chafed against delay and longed to follow. ”

“ The sovereign brilliancy of Sirius pierced the eye with a steely glitter, the star called Capella was yellow, Aldebaran and Betelgueux shone with a fiery red.
To persons standing alone on a hill during a clear midnight such as this, the roll of the world eastward is almost a palpable movement. ”

“ Remember, men need laughter sometimes more than food, and if thou hast no cheer [68] thyself to spare, why, thou mayst go a-gathering it from door to door as I do crusts, and carry it to those who need."
Long after the good friar had supped and gone, Aldebaran sat in silence. Then crossing to the tiny casement that gave upon the street, he stood and gazed up at the stars. Long, long he mused, fitting the friar's [69] lesson to his own soul's need, and when he turned away, the old astrologer's prophecy had taken on new meaning. ”

“ But to wake helpless as well as empty-handed, the strength for ever gone from arms that were invincible; to crawl, a poor crushed worm, the mark for all men's pity, where one had thought to win the meed of all men's praise, ah, then to live is agony! Each breath becomes a venomed adder's sting.
[25]
Most of all Aldebaran thought of Vesta. The stroke that marred his comeliness and took his strength had robbed him of all power to win his happiness. It was written "by the hearth of him who is the bravest she shall keep eternal vigil." ”

“ Many of the brighter stars have names, as Aldebaran, Capella, Sirius, etc., but astronomers now indicate the stars of a constellation by the letters of the Greek alphabet. The usual method is to call the brightest star of a constellation α, that is, Alpha, the next brightest β which is Beta, and so on, but sometimes the stars are lettered in order of position in the sky. ”

“ The beauty of Aldebaran, the singularity of the figure shaped by its attendants, the charming effect produced by the flocks of little stars, the Deltas and the Thetas, in the middle of the arms of the letter, and the richness of the stellar groundwork of the cluster, all combine to make the Hyades one of the most memorable objects in the sky; but no one can describe it, because the starry heavens cannot be put into words. Terrestrial analogies, and phrases applied [Pg 109] to things seen on the earth, utterly fail to convey the impressions made by such spectacles. ”

“ The name Aldebaran seems to have been originally applied to the whole of the Hyades group. Aldebaran was also called by the Arabians al-fanik, the great Camel, and the Hyades al-kilas, the young Camels. The two close stars υ and κ Tauri were called al-kalbaïn, the dogs of Aldebaran. La Condamine states that the Indians of the Amazon saw in the Hyades the head of a bull.
Gemini, the Twins, is the third constellation of the Zodiac. It was also called Gemelli, etc. According to Dupuis it represents the 11th “labour of Hercules”—his triumph over the dog Cerberus. ”

“ The Hyades also show some fine fields with low powers.
Aldebaran, the principal star of the Hyades, as also of the constellation Taurus, is a noted red star. It is chiefly remarkable for the close spectroscopic analysis to which it has been subjected by Messrs. Huggins and Miller. Unlike Betelgeuse, the spectrum of Aldebaran exhibits the lines corresponding to hydrogen, and no less than eight metals—sodium, magnesium, calcium, iron, bismuth, tellurium, antimony, and mercury, are proved to exist in the constitution of this brilliant red star. ”

“ If it were worth the while to settle in those parts near to the Pleiades or the Hyades, to Aldebaran or Altair, then I was really there, or at an equal remoteness from the life which I had left behind, dwindled and twinkling with as fine a ray to my nearest neighbor, and to be seen only in moonless nights by him. Such was that part of creation where I had squatted;—
“There was a shepherd that did live,
And held his thoughts as high
As were the mounts whereon his flocks
Did hourly feed him by.” ”

“ Axoum is nearly in 14°, and the Western Saba or Meroë is to the north of that. Forty-eight centuries ago, Aldebaran, the leading star of the year, had, at the Vernal Equinox, attained at daylight in the morning, an elevation of about 14 degrees, sufficient for him to have ceased to be combust, that is, to have emerged from the Sun's rays, so as to be visible. The ancients allowed twelve days for a star of the first magnitude to emerge from the solar rays; and there is less twilight, the further South we go. ”

“ The chief star of the group, Aldebaran, one of the finest of all stars both for its brilliance and its color, is the most affected by the easterly motion. In time it will drift entirely out of connection with its present neighbors. Although the Hyades do not form so compact a group as the Pleiades in the same constellation, yet their appearance of relationship is sufficient to awaken a feeling of surprise over the fact that, as with the stars of the “Dipper,” their association is only temporary or apparent. ”

“ Astrologically Aldebaran was a fortunate star, portending riches and honour, and it was one of the four "Royal Stars" or "Guardians of the Sky" of Persia, 5000 years ago, when it marked the vernal equinox.
Mrs. Martin sees in these four starry Guardians of the Sky a suggestion of royalty: "As one slips away from our admiring gaze we turn to hail the coming of the other. 'The King is dead: long live the King.'" The rising of Aldebaran is thus described by Mrs. ”

“ But we must pass on for, while I have been talking, the whole sky has become bespangled with hundreds of stars. That glorious one to the west, which you can find by following (Fig. 54) a curved line upwards from Betelgeux, is the beautiful red star Aldebaran or the hindmost; so called by the Arabs, because he drives before him that well-known cluster, the Pleiades, which we reach by continuing the curve westwards and upwards. ”

“ A light which is near to the eye may produce an effect quite as great as a very much stronger light which is further away. The intensity of a light varies inversely as the square of the distance. If the distance of a light from the eye be doubled, then the intensity of that light is reduced to one-fourth. Now Aldebaran as a sun-like body emits light which is literally millions of times as great as the gleam of sunshine which starts back to us after reflection from Mars ”

“ When these constellations have advanced well toward the meridian, as shown in our circular map, their united radiance forms a scene never to be forgotten. Counting one of the stars in Gemini as of the first rank, there are no less than seven first-magnitude stars ranged around one another in a way that can not fail to attract the attention and the admiration of the most careless observer. Aldebaran, Capella, the Twins, Procyon, Sirius, and Rigel mark the angles of a huge hexagon, while Betelgeuse shines [91] with ruddy beauty not far from the center of the figure. ”

“ As many as two hundred stars down to the eighth magnitude were occasionally printed on a single plate with a single exposure. No cylindrical lens was employed. The movement of the stars themselves was turned to account for giving the desirable width to their spectra. The star was allowed—by disconnecting or suitably regulating the clock—to travel slowly across the line of its own dispersed light, so broadening it gradually into a band. Excellent results were secured in this way. About fifty lines appear in the photographed spectrum of Aldebaran, and eight in that of Vega. ”

“ Aldobrand, the brotherhood of a convent are, at the opening of the play, roused from their sleep by a violent storm. At a short distance a vessel, to which they are unable to render assistance, is seen to go to pieces. One wild-looking and incoherently-speaking man alone is rescued and conducted to the prior in a state of utter exhaustion.—At the castle, too, the inmates are disturbed by the rage of the elements. Lord Aldobrand himself appears to be absent, and his lady is sitting in her apartment, contemplating a miniature picture of Bertram. ”

“ But Adelgar only consented with much reluctance, and accompanied his permission with many conditions and counsels, the chief of which were that Lareyn and his suite should every one go forth clothed in a Tarnhaut11, and that he should exercise his choice [28] in a far distant country where the ways of the dwarfs were not known, and where, whatever might befall, no friend of the bride could think of coming to his palace to seek her, for the old king rightly judged that the Christian folk would not willingly give a daughter of theirs to the Norgs. ”