NOTES.
85
Manillius closely imitates Aratus in his description of the constellations of the Bears:
"Summa tenent ejus miseris notissima nautis
Signa, per immensum cupidos ducentia pontum:
Majoremque Helice major decircinat arcum.
Septem illum stellæ certantes lumine signant:
Qua duce per fluctus Graiæ dant vela carinæ.
Angusto Cynosura brevis torquetur in orbe,
Quam spatio, tam luce minor: sed judice vincit
Majorem Tyrio. Pœnis hæc certior auctor,
Non apparentem pelago quærentibus oram.
Nec paribus positæ sunt frontibus. Utraque caudam
Vergit in alterius rostrum, sequiturque sequentem."
(i 301.)
Signa, per immensum cupidos ducentia pontum:
Majoremque Helice major decircinat arcum.
Septem illum stellæ certantes lumine signant:
Qua duce per fluctus Graiæ dant vela carinæ.
Angusto Cynosura brevis torquetur in orbe,
Quam spatio, tam luce minor: sed judice vincit
Majorem Tyrio. Pœnis hæc certior auctor,
Non apparentem pelago quærentibus oram.
Nec paribus positæ sunt frontibus. Utraque caudam
Vergit in alterius rostrum, sequiturque sequentem."
(i 301.)
Page 34.
30.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .εἰ ἐτεὸν δὴ
Κρήτηθεν κεῑωαί γε Διὸς μεγάλοθ ἰοτητι
Οὐρανὸν εἰσανέβησαν. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Κρήτηθεν κεῑωαί γε Διὸς μεγάλοθ ἰοτητι
Οὐρανὸν εἰσανέβησαν. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
27.With mortals once they dwelt; if truth belong
To old tradition, and the Poet's song.
To old tradition, and the Poet's song.
Aratus prefaces the first fable which he introduces with εἰ ἐτεὸν δὴ hereby shewing that he himself did not credit these fabulous notions, and cautioning his reader to distinguish between the astronomical truths and ornamental fictions of his poem. In like manner Germanicus says of the Goats in the constellation of Auriga:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."una putatur
Nutrix esse Jovis, si vere Jupiter infans
Ubera Creteæ mulsit fidissima capræ."
Nutrix esse Jovis, si vere Jupiter infans
Ubera Creteæ mulsit fidissima capræ."
There were various fables respecting the constellations of the Bears. The one adopted by Aratus is, that Helice and Cynosyra, two nymphs of Mount Ida in Crete, nursed the infant Jove, when his mother Ops secreted him for a year among the Corybantes from the cruel intention of his father
