Aratus with Commentaries

And these things indeed lie between the north and the path of the wandering sun; but other stars rise below, many between the south and the sun’s path.

Orion is inclined obliquely at the cutting of Taurus. Let no one who passes him by while he lies high on a clear night trust that, having looked up at the sky, he will see anything more prominent. Such is the guardian that appears to him while his back is being raised, the Kyon Dog/Canis Major, treading upon both feet, dappled, though not all of him is visible. But along his very belly, he is dark, and his terrible jaw is struck with a star, which glitters most sharply; and men call him Seirios Sirius. The orchards do not deceive the planter when he rises with the sun, for he dries up the plants as they grow; for he passes through the rows, sharp and swift, and strengthens some, but destroys the bloom of others entirely. We hear of him even as he sets; and others lie around, being lighter signs for the limbs.

The Lagos Hare is pursued constantly, all the days, beneath both feet of Orion. But Seirios is always carried behind him, as if following him; he rises with him, and watches him as he descends.

The Argo Ship is pulled by the stern along the tail of the great Kyon; for the paths are not there by necessity, but she is carried turned backward, just as ships themselves are when the sailors turn the stern while entering a harbor. The whole crew immediately pulls back the ship, and the back-wash clings to the shore; so the Iasonis Argo Jason's Argo is pulled from the stern. And these parts are airy and starless until the mast near the prow, but the rest is entirely shining. And the tiller is let down and fixed beneath the feet of the Kyon which moves in front.

And the great Ketos Sea Monster, approaching, presses upon Andromeda, who lies not far away. For she is carried, inclined beneath the blast of the Thracian north wind, but the south wind brings the hostile Ketos to her, beneath Krios Ram and both the Ichthyes Fishes, lying a little above the starry river.