Into how many classes are the constellations divided? Name the zodaical constellations. Name the northern and southern constellations.

CHAPTER HI.

Of the zodaical constellations, and fables relative to them.

1. In the twelve zodaical constellations, there are five stars of the first magnitude, called Aldebaran, Castor, Regulus, Spica Virginis, and Antares; and five remarkable stars of the second magnitude, called Arietis, Pollux, Deneb, Vindemiatrix, and Zuberich Meli. The Pleiades and the Hyades are also in these constellations.

The constellations in the zodiac, which now seem so whimsical and uncouth, were not however the offspring of unsystematic fancy; they appear to have been intended to relate to the motion of the sun, or to signify the state of the earth at the different seasons of the year; the figures of these constellations are supposed by astronomers to be Egyptian or Chaldean hieroglyphics, intended to represent some remarkable occurrence in each month. Among these figures there are some that have, as it were, a common relation to every portion of the globe, while others seem to relate to circumstances or events merely local. Thus, Aries is said to signify that the lambs begin to follow the sheep about the time of the vernal equinox, when the sun enters this sign; and that the cows bring forth their young about the time he approaches the second constellation, Taurus. The third sign now called Gemini, was originally two kids, and signified the time of the goats bringing forth their young, which are usually two at a time, while the former (the sheep and the cow,) commonly produce only one.

The fourth sign, Cancer, an animal that goes sideways

and backwards, was placed at the northern tropic, or that point of the ecliptic where the sun begins to return back again from the north to the southward. The fifth sign, Leo, as being a furious animal, was thought to denote the heat and fury of the burning sun after he had left Cancer, and entered the next sign Leo. The sixth sign, Virgo, received the sun at the time of the ripening of corn, and the approach of harvest; which was aptly expressed by one of the female reapers, with an ear of corn in her hand.

The next sign, Libra, evidently denotes the equality of days and nights, which takes place at that season; and Scorpio, the next sign in order, the time of gathering in the fruits of the earth, which being generally an unhealthy season, is represented by this venomous animal, extending his long claws, threatening the mischief which is to follow.

The fall of the leaf was the season of the ancient hunting; and for this reason the constellation Sagittarius represents a huntsman with his arrows and his club; the weapons of destruction employed by huntsmen at that time.

The reason of the goat being chosen to mark the farthest south point of the ecliptic, is obvious enough, for when the sun has attained his extreme limit in that direction, he begins to return, and mounts again to the northward, which is very well represented by the goat, an animal which is al ways found climbing and ascending some mountain as it browses. As the winter has always been considered a wet and uncomfortable season, this was expressed by Aquarius, the figure of a man pouring out water from an urn.

The last of the zodaical constellations was Pisces, a couple of Fishes tied together, which had been caught. which signified that the severe season was over, and though the flocks did not yield their store, yet the seas and rivers were open, and fish might be caught in abundance.

2. Although: these signs might have served to distinguish the seasons of the year when they were first formed, or employed for that purpose, yet this is not altogether the case at the present day. For owing to the retrograde motion of the equinoctial points, the constellations of the zodiac have now so far changed their positions, as to be found more than a sign advanced.

The constellation Aries, for example, is now three Of four degrees within the sign Taurus, or the first point of Aries, which used to coincide with the vernal equinoctial point, is now about thirty-four degrees farther advanced; however, the first point of the sign Aries still continues to be reckoned from the equinoctial point. The signs of the zodiac must therefore now be distinguished from the constellations, the signs merely being ideal, and serving only to designate the course of the sun in the ecliptic, while the constellations continue to signify a group or cluster of stars designated by a particular name.

3. ARIES: Arietis, a star of the 2nd magnitude, ẞ of the 3d, and two stars of the 4th, are the principal stars which form this constellation.

Aries is thought by some to be the ram with the golden fleece, that carried Phryxus and Helle through the air on his back, when they fled from their father Athamus, who was going to immolate them, at the instigation of their stepmother Ino. Helle, in this aërial passage, fell into the Hellespont, where she was drowned.

Phryxus continued his flight, and arrived safe at Colchis, an ancient country of Asia, east of the Black Sea, now Mingrelia, Guriel, and a part of Georgia; where he sacrificed the ram to Mars, the god of war. The fable of the flight of Phryxus from Bœotia to Colchis, on a ram, has been explained by some, who observe, that the ship in which he embarked was called by that name, or carried on her prow the figure of that animal, which ensign may probably be called the golden ram.

The fleece of gold is explained by the immense treasures which he carried from Thebes. He was afterwards murdered by his father-in-law Ætis, which gave rise to a celebrated expedition which was achieved under Jason and many of the princes of Greece, and which had for its object the recovery of the golden fleece, and the punishment of the king of. Colchis for his cruelty to the son of Athamus.

4. TAURUS: Aldabaran, a star of the first magnitude, the Pleiades, and the Hyades, are in this constellation. Seven remarkable stars in the neck of. Taurus, are called the Pleiades; there are now only six of these stars visible to the naked

eye, the largest of which is of the 3d magnitude, and called Lucido Pleiadum. Five stars in the ■ face of Taurus are called the Hyades.

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Taurus is supposed by some to be the animal under the figure of which Jupiter carried away Europa, the daughter of Agenor, king of Phenicia, to the island of Crete. As it was, the custom of the ancients to have images on their ships, both at the head and stern, the first of which was called the sign, from which the ship was named, and the other was that of the tutelar deity to whose care the ship was committed; it is supposed by some that this circum■stance gave rise to the fable, that Europa was carried away by Jupiter under the figure of Taurus. Some supposed that Europa lived about 1552 years before the Christian era. See the history of Europa in Lempriere's Classical Dictionary.

5. GEMINI: In this constellation are two remarkable stars called Castor and Pollux, the former is of the first, and the latter of the second ⚫ magnitude.

Castor and Pollux were the sons of Jupiter by Leda, the wife of Tyndarus, king of Laconia. They embarked with | Jason to go in quest of the golden fleece, and both behaved with superior courage. During the Argonautic expedition, in a violent storm, a flame of fire was seen to play around the head of each of them, and immediately the tempest ceased; from this occurrence their power to protect sailors has been credited; and the two fires, which are very common in storms, have since been called Castor and Pollux. 'These brothers cleared the Hellespont, and the adjacent seas, of pirates; on which account they have always been deemed the friends of navigation. The appearance of these stars together was, according to many ancient writers, thought favourable to mariners; and therefore for a good omen, they had them carved or painted on the head of the ship, and gave it a name from thence. The Alexandrian vessel in which Paul sailed from Melita or Malta, to Syracuse in Sicily, had for its sign, and consequently its name, Castor and Pollux.

6. CANCER: There are no stars of the first three magnitudes in this constellation, and therefore it is less remarkable than any other in the zodiac.

This is supposed to be the sea-crab which Juno sent to bite the foot of Hercules, while he fought the serpent Hydra, in the lake of Lerna, which was situated near Argos in the Peloponnesus. This new enemy was soon dispatched; and Juno, unable to succeed in her attempts to lessen the fame of Hercules, placed the crab among the constellations.

LEO: Regulus of the 1st, and ẞ or Denebola of the 2nd magnitude, are the principal stars in this constellation. There are also several remarkable stars of the 3d magnitude in Leo.

Leo is supposed to be the famous lion killed by Hercules on mount Citheron, which preyed on the flocks of Amphitryon, his supposed father, and which laid waste the adjacent country. Others suppose it to be the Nemæan lion which was sent by Juno against Hercules; being slain by this hero. the goddess placed the animal among the constellations.

8. VIRGO: Spica Virginis of the 1st, and Vindemiatrix of the 3d magnitude, are the principal stars in this constellation.

This constellation is supposed to take its rise from the Virgin Astræa, the goddess of justice. She lived upon the earth, as the poets mention, during the golden age; but the wickedness and impiety of mankind drove her to heaven in the brazen and iron ages, and she was placed among the constellations under the name of Virgo. She is represented as a virgin, with a stern but majestic countenance, holding a pair of scales in one hand, and a sword in the other. Some, however, maintain that Erigone was changed into the constellation Virgo. Her father Icarius, an Athenian, perished by the hands of some shepherds, whom he had intoxicated with wine. When Erigone heard of her father's death, she hung herself, and was afterwards changed into the constellation Virgo.

9. LIBRA: a, or Zubenelchamali of the 2nd magnitude, is the principal star in this constellation.

Libra is supposed to be the balance of Astræa, with which that goddess is always painted; hence this constellation is