allegory, the Virgin of August became a goddess who descended to the earth, presided over the harvest, taught mankind agriculture, and was worshipped under various names."
Maunder does not agree with Brown's statement that Virgo represents the wheat harvest. He points out that the star ε Virginis is known as "the herald of the vintage," and the vintage comes considerably later in the year than the harvest. Aratos asserted that Leo first marked the harvest month, and this statement supports Maunder's argument.
According to the poets, this Virgin was Astraæ, the daughter of Astræus and Aurora, and the goddess of justice. Near her appear the Scales in which, it is said, she weighed the good and evil deeds of men. In the golden age she resided in the earth, but becoming offended at the wickedness of mankind she returned to heaven. Hesiod claimed that she was the daughter of Jupiter and Themis, and Aratos gives more space to the history of this constellation in his celebrated poem than to any other constellation. His account is in part as follows:
She made abode, and deigned to dwell with mortals.
In those old times, never of men or dames
She shunned the converse; but sat with the rest
Immortal as she was. They call her Justice.
Gathering the elders in the public forum
Or in the open highway, earnestly
She chanted forth laws for the general weal,
Nor yet was known contention mischievous,
Nor fierce recrimination, nor uproar.
So lived they. Far off rolled the surly sea,
No ship yet from a distance brought supplies
But ploughs and oxen brought them. Queen of nations,
Justice herself poured all just gifts on man.
As long as earth still nursed a golden race
There walked she; but consorted with the silver
Rarely, and with reserves, nor always ready;
Demanding the old customs back again.
