tion of Hercules as being of immemorial antiquity and describes it as a figure of a man in sorrow with his hands upraised and stretched "one this way and one that, a fathom's length." In the early days of the world's history it was called "The Kneeler" although even this was not supposed to be its original name. Aratus says—
"Right there in its orbit wheels a Phantom form, like to a man that strives at a task. That sign no man knows how to read clearly, nor on what task he is bent, but simply calls him On His Knees."
—Trans. by G. R. Mair.
"On His Knees" was given the name of the hero Hercules when the Greeks placed their heroes and divinities among the stars, but his pictures in the modern maps do not seem to accord with the description of his posture in this ancient poem. His foot now rests upon Draco, the Sky Dragon, which probably is here imagined as old Laden, the sleepless dragon which once coiled around the tree of golden apples.
Hercules, the great grandson of Perseus, was the greatest of all the heroes. He possessed every high quality of mind and character and was endowed with such great physical strength that his life was filled with constant adventure. Armed with a huge club, he performed the most remarkable deeds, the most wonderful of these being his "Twelve Labors." Some of these labors or adventures were so thrilling that the Greeks named constellations in honor of them as well as of the hero, and they have ever since been proverbs among men. There are many allusions to these throughout literature—
Leo, who leads the zenith constellations across the sky, was the same ferocious lion which Hercules encountered and killed in the
[105]
