Another zodiac, however, was destined to have an even wider popularity, spreading, in the course of centuries, from Greece to Arabia, Persia, India, and China, where it finally superseded the native constellations; it crossed the Mediterranean into Africa, conquered the whole of Europe, and is used to-day over the whole civilised world. The names of these twelve zodiacal constellations are familiar to us all:— _English Names. Latin Names._ Ram Aries Bull Taurus Twins Gemini Crab Cancer Lion Leo Virgin Virgo Scales Libra Scorpion Scorpio Archer Sagittarius Capricorn Capricornus Water-Bearer Aquarius Fishes Pisces. Strange to say, we cannot tell with any certainty where, when, or by whom, this ancient series of constellations was devised and named. The earliest full description which we possess is by a Greek poet of the 4th century B.C., Aratus. A line from the prologue to his “Phenomena” was quoted by St. Paul in his address to the Athenians on Mars’ Hill. “From Zeus we lead the strain, he whom mankind Ne’er leave unhymned; of Zeus all public ways, All haunts of men are full, and full the sea And harbours; and of Zeus all stand in need. We are his offspring;[8] and he, mild to man, Gives favouring signs and rouses us to toil, Calling to mind life’s wants; when clods are best For plough and mattock, when the time is ripe For planting vines and sowing seeds he tells. Since he himself hath fixed in heaven these signs, The stars dividing; and throughout the year Stars he provides to indicate to men The seasons’ course, that all things duly grow.”[9] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [8] Acts, xvii. 28. [9] _The Phainomena of Aratos, done into English verse by Robert Brown_, lines 1-13. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ But Aratus did not know who had invented the names of the star-groups which he describes. “Some man of yore,” he supposes, “A nomenclature thought of and devised, And forms sufficient found. For men could not Or tell or learn the separate names of all, Since everywhere are many, size and tint Of multitudes the same, but all are drawn around. So thought he good to make the stellar groups, That each by other lying orderly, They might display their forms. And thus the stars At once took names and rise familiar now.”[10] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [10] _Ibid._, 373-382. ------------------------------------------------------------------------