SAGITTARIUS. 



539 



Fig. 603. Scorpio. 



LIBRA, which follows, may either indicate the balance, or scales of 

 justice, of Astraea, or the equal day and 

 night at the autumnal equinox. Virgil men- 

 tions Astraea's balance, and thus we have a 

 classical authority for the very mythological 

 view of the two foregoing constellations. 

 Libra is not very distinct ; it contains 

 fifty-one stars, four of which are very 



bright. F ; g . 6o 2 .-Libra. 



SCORPIO, the Scorpion, according to classical writers, encountered Orion, 



who is also met with in the stellar universe. 

 The scorpion stung Orion because he de- 

 clared there was no living creature he could 

 not overcome by force. On the other hand, 

 this sign may have some reference to the 

 unhealthy time of year, and the prevalence 

 of disease about the time that Scorpio ap- 

 peared. A beautiful star of reddish hue 

 and of the first magnitude is prominent 

 amongst the brilliant assembly of the Scorpion's forty-four stars. 



SAGITTARIUS, the Archer, is, as one can see, a Centaur, and said to be 

 Chiron, who was wounded by Hercules, and 

 cured by being taken up to Heaven by 

 Jupiter. This Chiron is represented as a 

 great patron of the arts, and thus the fable 

 may be said to exemplify the proverb, "Art 

 is long, time in fleeting"; for readers of 

 mythology will find much more in the 

 legends than is apparent on the surface. 

 But we can now only regard the Centaur 



from an as- 



tronornical, 



and not a I 



philosophical ^^ 



. . Fig. 604. Sagittarius. 



standpoin t. 



Sagittarius has no very brilliant stars. He is 

 close to the Milky Way, and contains sixty- 

 nine stars, five forming a sort of V in the bow, 

 sometimes compared to a ladle or " dipper." 



CAPRICORNUS, the Goat, is supposed to 

 be Pan " the great god Pan," who turned 

 himself into a goat. The sun was in Capri- 

 cornus at mid -winter, so the " southern gate of the sun " was a title be- 



