The Phenomena and Diosemeia of Aratus/The Life of Aratus

by Aratus

THE

LIFE OF ARATUS.

————

WHEN Cilicia, in the days of Cicero^[1], boasted of being the birth-place of the Poet Aratus, there was reserved for her a far higher honour, the giving birth to one of the noblest of mankind, if true nobility consist in the power of benefiting the human race, and in the exercise of that power to the greatest extent by the most unexampled self-denial. Soli, the native city of Aratus, was not far distant from Tarsus, the birth-place of St Paul; and the fame of the heathen Poet has been considerably enhanced by a passage from his writings having been quoted by his countryman, the christian Apostle. One biographer indeed states that Aratus was a native of Tarsus, and he is occasionally called Tarsensis; but the more probable opinion is, that he was born at Soli, and he is commonly called Solensis. The date of his birth is about 260 years before the Christian æra. The names of his parents were Athedonorus and Letophila, they were persons of some consequence and rank in their native city. His father had distinguished himself as a warrior. The Greek scholiast speaks of him as επιφανούς καὶ έν πολέμω ἀριστεύσαντος. One of his brothers was known as a classical scholar, and broke a lance in defence of Homer with the unhappily famed critic Zoilus^[2]. Aratus was brought up by his parents to the profession of a physician, and consequently enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education, the foundation of which might probably have been laid at Tarsus, then rising into renown and eminence as a school of philosophy, and shortly rivaling those of Alexandria and Athens; and hence he might obtain the title of Tarsensis. It was, however, at Athens, the celebrated seat of literature and science, that the Poet completed his education. Here he became the pupil of Menedemus, and of Persæus the Stoic. In the latter the young student found not only a tutor, but a patron and friend. Persæus was in high estimation with Antigonus, sirnamed Gonatas, at that time king of Macedonia^[3]; and upon receiving a summons from his royal patron to repair to his court in Macedonia upon the celebration of his nuptials with Phila, a daughter of Seleucus, he took with him his pupil, and introduced him to Antigonus, who was proud of being considered the patron of learned and scientific men. The young Poet no doubt employed his muse in celebration of this festive event, having already distinguished himself by an ode to Pan. Either by his poetical talents, by his skill in medicine, or by these united accomplishments, he so won the king's favor as to become an inmate of his palace, and he continued as such the remainder of his life: equally qualified, if we may judge from the titles of the works he published, and from those which have reached us, to fill the situation of court physician, or poet laureate.

At the period when Aratus found himself thus fortunately established in the court of Antigonus much attention was given to the study of astronomy. About a century and a half before, Meton, the celebrated mathematician of Athens, had discovered the lunar cycle of nineteen years, and published it in his book entitled Enneadecaterides. At a later period Eudoxus had brought from Egypt an improved celestial sphere, and had introduced at Cyzicus and Athens a system of astronomy and philosophy derived from the priests of that country. Dionysius, the astronomer of Alexandria, had lately calculated and determined the exact length of the solar year to be 365^d. 5^h. 49^m. The expedition of Alexander to Persia, Egypt, and India, had opened fresh sources of information to the Greeks, and had given them a taste for this science. Plutarch records as an example of the ostentation of Demetrius, the son of Antigonus I., that there was a robe a long time in weaving for him of most sumptuous magnificence: the figure of the world and all the heavenly bodies were to be represented upon it. Now this piece of tapestry was probably not intended for a robe, but for a useful and scientific ornament of his palace, and manifests a taste superior to mere shew and ostentation. Ptolemy, another of Alexander's generals, became as renowned for his patronage of learning and science as for his skill and success in war, and this taste descended to his successors.

Antigonus Gonatas was himself a proficient in astronomy, and an admirer of the works of Eudoxus. Putting that philosopher's description of the celestial sphere into the hands of Aratus, he commissioned him to render it into verse in imitation of Hesiod's "Works and Days." The task, which Aratus undertook, was to give the astronomical description of the heavens, according to Eudoxus, and to relieve the dull monotony of a mere catalogue of constellations and stars by poetical language: in other words, to deck the stiff formal limbs of Urania in the graceful flowing robes of Calliope^[4]. And with great skill and ingenuity he has accomplished this undertaking. He has introduced so much of the fabulous history attached to the constellations from the heathen mythology, and such vivid descriptions of the natural animals, whose figures are depicted on the celestial sphere, as to give life and animation to his verse, without overburthening it or losing sight of his main object.

In weighing the merits and defects of Aratus, the critic should take into consideration the difficulty of his undertaking. His poem has no hero, no events, no dialogue, no action, and yet he succeeded in rendering it one of the most popular works for a series of years, that ever was published. It is an undeniable fact, that for five or six centuries it held a rank in the estimation of the learned not inferior to that of the Iliad of Homer. Maximus Tyrius only speaks the opinion of his contemporaries, when he terms Aratus, Ποιητήν ουδέν αδοξότερον του Ομήρου; or Ovid, when he ranks him with Homer and Sophocles:

Vivet Mæonides Tenedos dum stabit et Ide,
Dum rapidas Simois in mare volvet aquas.
Nulla Sophocleo veniet jactura cothurno:
Cum sole et luna semper Aratus erit.

The admiration which his poems obtained is proved by the numerous scholiasts and commentators upon them. Among the Romans they were so popular, that no fewer than three translations of them were made into Latin hexameters, and by no ordinary writers. Cicero translated the Phenomena and Diosemeia. A great part of the former has come down to us. From this specimen of the great prose writer's muse we certainly should not rank him among the first class of poets; but it must be remembered, that he produced his work while yet he was a very young man, and the Latin language had not acquired that perfection to which the writers of the Augustan age advanced it^[5].

The celebrated Germanicus Cæsar, son of Antonia, the niece of Augustus, amused the leisure hours of his military campaigns by translating the Phenomena. His version, in elegant Latin hexameters, gives him no humble rank among the poets of the Augustan age. He does not seem to have attempted the Diosemeia: it was either less inviting to his muse, or leisure might be wanting for the undertaking^[6].

At a later period, in the fourth century of the Christian æra, Festus Avienus rendered the Phenomena and Diosemeia into Latin hexameters. His version is far more diffuse than the original, and assumes the character of a poetical paraphrase of Aratus. He considerably enlarges upon the text, follows out the fables, and occasionally adds fresh matter^[7]. The translation of Avienus has the advantage, which neither that of Cicero or Germanicus possesses, of coming down to us unmutilated.

Among the more celebrated of the Latin poets Virgil, Ovid, and Manilius, have borrowed considerably from Aratus.

To another class of commentators and readers the poems of Aratus have been recommended by the circumstance of St Paul, when addressing the philosophers of Athens, having quoted the exordium of the Phenomena; for, although the sacred historian only gives four words as a reference to the passage, it is probable, that the Apostle quoted the following lines to prove to his learned hearers, that the doctrine of the eternity, unity, and omnipotence of the Godhead was no new invention, or confined to the Jewish nation, but the creed of the wisest of their own philosophers and poets:

Έκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, τὸν οὐδέποτ᾽ ἄνδρες ἐῶμεν
ἄρρητον: μεσταὶ δέ Διὸς πᾶσαι μὲν ἀγυιαί,
πᾶσαι δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἀγοραί, μεστὴ δὲ θάλασσα
καὶ λιμένες: πάντη δὲ Διὸς κεχρήμεθα πάντες.
του γαρ και γενος εσμεν' ὁ δ᾽ ἤπιος ἀνθρώποισιν
δεξιὰ σημαίνει, λαοὺς δ᾽ ἐπὶ ἔργον ἐγείρει,
μιμνῄσκων βιότοιο, λέγει δ᾽ ὅτε βῶλος ἀρίστη
βουσί τε καὶ μακέλῃσι, λέγει δ᾽ ὅτε δεξιαὶ ὧραι
καὶ φυτὰ γυρῶσαι καὶ σπέρματα πάντα βαλέσθαι.

αὐτὸς γὰρ τά γε σήματ᾽ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἐστήριξεν,
ἄστρα διακρίνας, ἐσκέψατο δ᾽ εἰς ἐνιαυτὸν
ἀστέρας οἵ κε μάλιστα τετυγμένα σημαίνοιεν
ἀνδράσιν ὡράων, ὄφρ᾽ ἔμπεδα πάντα φύωνται.
τῶ μιν ἀεὶ πρῶτόν τε καὶ ὕστατον ἱλάσκονται.
χαῖρε, πάτερ, μέγα θαῦμα, μέγ᾽ ἀνθρώποισιν ὄνειαρ.

Let us begin from Jove. Let every mortal raise
His grateful voice to tune Jove's endless praise.
Jove fills the heaven—the earth—the sea—the air:
We feel his spirit moving here and every where.
And we his offspring are. He ever good
Daily provides for man his daily food.
Ordains the seasons by his signs on high,
Studding with gems of light the azure canopy.
What time with plough or spade to break the soil,
That plenteous store may bless the reaper's toil,
What time to plant and prune the vine he shews,
And hangs the purple cluster on its boughs.
To Him—the First—the Last—all homage yield:
Our Father—Wonderful—our Help—our Shield.

St Paul, himself a citizen of Tarsus, and probably instructed in the celebrated schools of his native city in those branches of profane literature and science, in which he excelled, would with peculiar propriety quote to his learned audience the words of the poet of his own country; and by so doing shew to them, that he was not (as the Greeks reported the Christians to be) a neglecter and despiser of those acquirements, for which the age was celebrated, and which in the opinion of an Athenian audience constituted the distinguishing mark between the civilized man and the barbarian.

The example thus set by the Apostle was followed by the early fathers of the church. Eusebius^[8] and Clemens Alexandrinus^[9] quote this same passage; and Aratus appears to have been a favorite author with Christians as well as Heathen^[10].

Cicero remarks: "Aratum hominem ignarum Astrologiæ ornatissimis atque optimis versibus de coelo et stellis scripsisse;" thus highly praising his poetical talents, but disparaging his astronomical science. Cicero's remark is thus far true: Aratus might not make the observations himself, but study and adopt the notions of Eudoxus, in the same manner as Cicero himself, who was proud of his own astronomical knowledge, obtained it from writers upon the subject. Aratus was certainly a proficient in astronomy, as far as the science had advanced in his times. It is not to be expected that in all his statements he should he minutely accurate, for he is not writing a scientific essay on astronomy, but a popular poetical description of the celestial sphere. Quinctilian's observation is correct, and to the point: "Materia Arati motu caret, ut in qua nulla varietas, nullus affectus, nulla persona, nulla cujusquam sit oratio. Quid potuisset in Virginis fabula expressit, in reliquis id quod voluit. Sufficit tamen operi cui se credidit parem."

Aratus was the first to put these subjects, so interesting both to the philosopher and to the vulgar, to the scientific, and to the superficial observer, into verse. Many writers followed in his steps, none of whose productions have reached us: a convincing proof of the superior merits of our poet over his rivals and imitators. The following is the remark of Buhle upon Aratus, and is a just critique upon his works: "Insignis est utique in carminibus Arateis ars, qua formæ cœlestes deinceps descriptæ sunt; delectat harum descriptionum ordo simul et varietas; ornatæ sunt illæ mythis non oneratæ; et quod puritatem, simplicitatem, elegantiam Græci sermonis attinet vix reperias quem Arateo compares."

The two works of Aratus, which have come down to us, are "the Phenomena^[11]," and "the Diosemeia^[12]."

The Phenomena may be divided into three parts. The first, ending at line 450, contains a description of the constellations: the second, from line 451 to 568, of the position of the most important circles on the celestial sphere. The third, from line 569, ad finem, describes the position of various other constellations on the rising of each of the signs of the Zodiac.

The Diosemeia contains prognostics of the wind and weather, derived from various sources, but chiefly from observations on the heavenly bodies. This latter subject does not allow of so much poetical embellishment as the former.

Aratus was the author of numerous other works: of a didactic poem in heroic verse, the title of which was Ίατρικά, or Ίατρικαί Δυνάμεις.

Macrobius has preserved to us one of his epigrams. It is on Diotomus of Adramyttium, who was a schoolmaster at Gargara, a city of Troas on mount Ida:

Αἰάζω Διότιμον, ὅς ἐν πέτραισι κάθηται
Γαργαρέων παισὶν βῆτα καὶ ἄλφα λέγων.

I wail Diotomus, who by the rocky sea
Of Gargaron is teaching children A, B, C.

Strabo quotes from another work of Aratus, called Τὰ κατὰ λεπτόν. Speaking of Gyaros, a small island in the Grecian archipelago, he says: Aratus points out their poverty in his Τὰ κατὰ λεπτόν:

Ω Λητοῑ, σὺ μένεις μὲν σιδηρείη Φολεγάνδρῳ
Δειλὴ, ἢ Γύαρον παρελεύσεαι αὐτίχ᾽ ὀμοίη;

Dost thou remain on Pholegandros' flinty shore,

Or seek'st thou Gyaros, as wretched and as poor?

His other works, of which no fragments remain, but the titles of which are preserved by the writers of his life, are numerous and upon various subjects: rhetorick, grammar, medicine, and poetry. He certainly merited the title given him by one of his scholiasts, σφόδρα πολυγράμματος ἄνηρ.

Aratus is said to have ended his life in Macedonia at the court of Antigonus: if so, his ashes were probably removed to his native country, as Pomponius Mela, who lived in the first century of the Christian æra, states that the tomb of the poet was to be seen in his time near to Pompeiopolis, the name to which Soli had been changed in honour of Pompey the Great^[13]. There was a silver coin of Cilicia bearing the head of Aratus, and on the reverse a lyre, of which a specimen is still in existence^[14].

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1. Cicero was Proconsul of Cilicia a.u.c. 702. In his youth he had translated the poems of Aratus into Latin Hexameters.
2. "Hoc uno facinore nobilitatus, quod Homerum ausus sit reprehendere." (Hofm.)
3. Antigonus II. or Gonatas, was the great grandson of Antigonus, Alexander's general. Antigonus intrusted to Persæus the defence of the citadel at Corinth, from which the philosopher fled when it was stormed by Aratus of Sicyon. Plutarch gives the following anecdote. Some time after, when Persæus was amusing himself with disputations in philosophy, and some one advanced this position: "None but a philosopher is fit to be a general:" "It is true," he said, "and indeed, this maxim of Zeno once pleased me more than all the rest, but I changed my opinion, when I was better taught by the young Sicyonian."
4. The king gave the poet a copy of the work of Eudoxus: ἅμα εἰπόντος "ὡς εὐδοξότερον ποιεῖς τὸν Εὔδοξον, ἐντείνας τὰ παρ᾽ αὐτῷ κείμενα μέτρῳ."
5. "Conficit hanc versionem Cicero quod ipse testatur perquam adolescentulus; prodit quoque ea per se juvenilem ingenii vigorem, nee minus doctam et subactam Grseci sermonis poetici scientiam, simulque studium acerrimum patrium sermonein Latinum, turn a poetis parum adhuc tractatum et excultum, ad Greed sermonis perfectionem quantum fieri posset evehendi." (Buhle.)
6. "Dictio Germanici poetica, quamvis ille passim archaismum sectatus sit, longe est vividior et elegantior Ciceroniana, et prodit omnino poetam Virgilii et Horatii requalem." (Buhle.)
7. "In dictione poetica non comparandus est Avienus quidem Cicerone aut Germanico, excellit tamen inter poetas Latinos seriores puritate et elegantia sermonis." (Buhle.)
8. Euseb. Evang. Præf. Lib. xiii.
9. Clem. Alex. Strom. Lib. v.
10. On the revival of literature in the fifteenth century several editions of Aratus were published. In 1521, Philip Melancthon edited the Phenomena with a Latin version and preface. In 1600, Hugo Grotius published the Phenomena and Diosemeia with Cicero's translation into Latin hexameters, interpolating the lost passages. He added the versions of Germanicus and Avienus, with notes upon the whole, and a learned dissertation on the Arabic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin names of the constellations and stars. The best modern edition of Aratus is that of Professor Buhle, in 2 Vols, octavo.
11. "Φαινόμενα. Peculiariter apud astrologos. τὰ Φαινόμενα dicuntur quæ apparent in cœlo." (Scapula.)
12. Διοσημεία seu Διοσημία. Signum Jove: Prodigiosa tempestas: vol simpliciter tempestas." (Scapula.)
13. "Cydnus ultra per Tarsum exit. Deinde urbs est olim a Rhodiis, Argivisque, post Piratis Pompeio assignante possessa, nunc Pompeiopolis, tunc Soloe. Juxta in parvo tumulo Arati poetæ monumentum, ideo referendum, quia ignotum, quam ob causam jacta in id saxa desiliunt." [Pomp. Mela. Cap. 13.]
14. Vid. Beger. Thesaur. Brandenburg, p. 265.