western horizon of the then known world. The promontory on the northern side of the straits is now called the "Rock of Gibraltar."
Hercules one day donned a tunic that had been steeped in the blood of a Centaur which he had slain with a poisoned arrow. To escape the terrible torture, he erected a funeral pyre on Mount Etna, lay down on his lion's skin and set the pyre on fire. Amid peals of thunder Jupiter descended in his chariot and carried the hero to Mount Olympus where he was given his promised reward.
As seen in the sky, Hercules kneels on Draco, the Dragon, with his head lying downward near the head of the giant Ophiuchus. These two giants cover a vast amount of sky space although neither one have very bright stars. Although Hercules rests inactive, Ophiuchus, one notes, is busily engaged, for his limbs are enfolded by the scaly body of a huge serpent
Its swelling neck, his left hand securely clasps,
The reptile rears its crested head on high
Reaching the seven-starred Crown in northern sky."
In the meantime
Crushing the monster's eye and plated breast."
—Aratus.
And we gaze with admiration as Aratus describes this struggle which seems by all odds to be against the giant.
Ophiuchus perpetuates the memory of Æsculapius, father of medicine. He and his serpent, as seen in the sky, are exceedingly hard to trace but men also sought to do him honor on earth by
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