igi4-i9 I 5'] The Story of the Constellations. 193 



great catalogue, date about 137 a.d. This was a revision of 

 the catalogue of Hipparchus, date about 140 B.C. There is 

 also a very full description of the constellations in the poem 

 of Aratus of Soli, the ' Phenomena,' date about 280 B.C., which 

 was a versification of an astronomical work of Eudoxus, 

 date about 370 B.C." 



This is the poem from which St Paul made a quotation 

 when, preaching on Mars Hill to the men of Athens, he 

 said, " For in Him we live and move, and have our being ; as 

 certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His 

 offspring." 



The poem of Aratus, translated, begins thus : — 



" To God above we dedicate our song ; 

 To leave Him unadored we never dare ; 

 For He is present in each busy throng, 

 In every solemn gathering He is there. 

 The sea is His ; and His each crowded port ; 

 In every place our need of Him we feel ; 

 For we His offspring are." 



" The 48 constellations, therefore, have a clearly recorded 

 history of about 2300 years. But their origin can, by 

 inference, be pushed back to a far earlier date. The poem of 

 Aratus contains clear internal proof that it was not based on 

 actual observations made in Greece by either Aratus or 

 Eudoxus, but upon a description of the heavens made quite 

 1500 years earlier. This has been inferred from the refer- 

 ences to the places of the equator and tropical circles, and of 

 the rising and setting of stars. 



" But their origin can be pushed back further still. If the 

 old 48 constellations are plotted down on a globe, it is at once 

 perceived that they leave a large portion of the sky uncovered. 

 The reason for this is obvious. The stars not included in the 

 48 constellations did not rise above the horizon of the place 

 where their designers lived, and therefore they did not see 

 them, and could not include them in their scheme. The 

 centre of this void space must have been the celestial South 

 pole of that date, and its radius gives, approximately, the 

 latitude of the place. This was, roughly speaking, North 

 lat. 38°, and the date not very far short of 3000 B.C.; say 

 2800 B.C. For precession has carried round ' the first point 



