THE NEW THEORY OF ACHILLES'S SHIELD. 341 



placed at a date preceding, perhaps by many genera- 

 tions, that at which Homer flourished. 



Indeed, there have not been wanting those who find 

 in the ancient constellations the record of the early 

 history of man. According to their views, Orion is 

 Mmrod the " Giant," as the Arabic name of the con- 

 stellation implies the mighty hunter, as the dogs and 

 hare beside him signify. The Centaur bearing a 

 victim toward the altar is Noah ; Argo, the stern of a 

 ship, is the ark, as of old it might be seen on Mount 

 Ararat. Corvus is the crow sent forth by Noah, and 

 the bird is placed on Hydra's back to show that there 

 was no land on which it could set its foot. The figure 

 now called Hercules, but of old Engonasin, or the 

 kneeler, and described by Aratus as " a man doomed 

 to labor," is Adam. His left foot treads on the 

 dragon's head, in token of the saying, " It shall bruise 

 thy head ; " and Serpentarius, or the serpent-bearer, is 

 the promised seed. 



Of course, if we accept these views, we have no 

 difficulty in understanding that a poet so ancient as 

 Homer should refer to the constellations which still 

 appear upon celestial spheres. And, in any case, the 

 mere question of antiquity presents, as we have already 

 shown, little difficulty. 



But there is a difficulty in one respect, a notice 

 of which must close this paper, already carried far be 

 yond the limits I had proposed to myself: It may be 



