Page:1888 Cicero's Tusculan Disputations.djvu/303

Before him goes

 
Cassiopea^[1] with a faintish light;
But near her moves (fair and illustrious sight!)
Andromeda,^[2] who, with an eager pace,
Seems to avoid her parent's mournful face.^[3]
With glittering mane the Horse^[4] now seems to tread,
So near he comes, on her refulgent head;
With a fair star, that close to him appears,
A double form^[5] and but one light he wears;
By which he seems ambitious in the sky
An everlasting knot of stars to tie.
Near him the Ram, with wreathed horns, is placed;

by whom

The Fishes^[6] are; of which one seems to haste
Somewhat before the other, to the blast
Of the north wind exposed.

XLIV. Perseus is described as placed at the feet of Andromeda:

And him the sharp blasts of the north wind beat.
Near his left knee, but dim their light, their seat
The small Pleiades^[7] maintain. We find,
Not far from them, the Lyre^[8] but slightly join'd.
Next is the winged Bird,^[9] that seems to fly
Beneath the spacious covering of the sky.

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1. Grotius, and after him Dr. Davis, and other learned men, read Cassiepea, after the Greek Κασσίεπεια, and reject the common reading, Cassiopea.
2. These northern constellations here mentioned have been always placed together as one family with Cepheus and Perseus, as they are in our modern maps.
3. This alludes to the fable of Perseus and Andromeda.
4. Pegasus, who is one of Perseus and Andromeda's family.
5. That is, with wings.
6. Aries, the Ram, is the first northern sign in the zodiac; Pisces, the Fishes, the last southern sign; therefore they must be near one another, as they are in a circle or belt. In Flamsteed's Atlas Cœlestis one of the Fishes is near the head of the Ram, and the other near the Urn of Aquarius.
7. These are called Virgiliæ by Cicero; by Aratus, the Pleiades, Πληϊάδες; and they are placed at the neck of the Bull; and one of Perseus's feet touches the Bull in the Atlas Cœlestis.
8. This northern constellation is called Fides by Cicero; but it must be the same with Lyra; because Lyra is placed in our maps as Fides is here.
9. This is called Ales Avis by Cicero; and I doubt not but the northern constellation Cygnus is here to be understood, for the description and place of the Swan in the Atlas Cœlestis are the same which Ales Avis has here.

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