Mythology of Aries. To return to our constellation, it represents in mythology the ram with the golden fleece of Argonautic fame, whose story briefly told is this. Phrixus and Helle were the children of Athamas, a legendary king of Thessaly, who afterward repudiated his first wife and married another. To enable the children to escape the displeasure of their stepmother, Mercury sent a ram, which took them on its back, vaulted into the air, and rushed off towards the east. In crossing the strait that divides Europe from Asia, Helle became frightened, lost her hold, and fell into the sea, which thereafter was known as the Hellespont. Continuing his flight, the ram bore the boy to Colchis, at the eastern end of the Euxine or Black sea. In return for his kind reception, Phrixus sacrificed the ram and gave its golden fleece to the king of the country, who hung it in the sacred grove of Ares under the guard of a sleepless dragon. As we shall see, several other constellations are associated with the further history of this remarkable fleece.

Hamal. The chief star of Aries, marking his forehead, was called by the Arabs Hamal, a sheep. Among the Greeks in early times this star held the important office of sunrise herald at the vernal equinox.

TAURUS, THE BULL

Sweet Europa's mantle blew unclasp'd,

From off her shoulder backward borne:

From one hand droop'd a crocus; one hand grasp'd

The mild bull's golden horn.

TENNYSON Palace of Art.

TAURUS is one of the most notable of all the constellations, containing within its borders two celebrated groups of stars, the Hyades and the Pleiades. The Roman year prior to the time of Julius Cæsar began in March. At that season Taurus is just visible on the western horizon, setting after the sun; hence Virgil's well-known description:

The white bull opens with his golden horns the year.

In legendary lore it was Europa's bull, Jupiter having assumed this disguise to bear the maiden away from her companions, with whom she was sporting on the shores of her native Phoenicia, to the island of Crete. On our star maps, following the ancient representation, only the front part of the animal is depicted. This, as usually explained, is because he

is swimming through the sea, and his flanks are immersed in the waves.

The Hyades.

describes as

The Hyades, which Aratus accurately

Whitening all the bull's broad forehead,

form a most conspicuous and beautiful group. They were daughters of Atlas, and together with their halfsisters, the Pleiades, were called Atlantides. The appellation Hyades, supposed to be derived from the Greek word for rain, is usually attributed to their reputed influence on the weather. In the showery springtime they set just after the sun, and in the stormy period of late fall just before sunrise. Why the stars in these special positions should exercise more than ordinary control over terrestrial affairs would be difficult to explain; but the notion was extremely prevalent in ancient times that the heliacal rising or setting, as it was called, of the heavenly bodies had some peculiar influence; the heat of the dog days, for instance, being ascribed to the appearance of Sirius above the horizon just before sunrise. Whether or not the suggested derivation of the word be correct, however, moisture and storm were universally attributed to the

Hyades. The classic writers again and again refer to them as the rain stars; Spenser called them "moist daughters," and in Tennyson's Ulysses we read:

Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vex'd the dim sea.

Aldebaran. Aldebaran, the bright star in the Hyades group, signifies "hindmost." The Arabians so named it because it follows or drives the Pleiades. Another popular title is "the Bull's-eye," from its position in the constellation. The slight tinge of red in the light of this star gives it an added beauty, and makes it one of the most conspicuous ornaments of our winter nights. Mrs. Sigourney in The Stars thus finely portrays it:

Go forth at night

And talk with Aldebaran, where he flames
In the cold forehead of the wintry sky.

The Pleiades.

The Pleiades lie upon the neck of the Bull, where they seem to cluster, as Bayard Taylor has it, like golden bees upon its mane, or, as Tennyson beautifully describes them, like fireflies in the evening's dusk:

Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow shade, Glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid.