To the resplendent Sun was dedicated the fourth car, all glittering,
gilded, and jewelled, which, drawn according to custom by four swift and
winged coursers, was seen to have Velocity, with a head-dress of a
dolphin and a sail on the head, as charioteer; and in it were painted
(as has been told of the others), but with a different distribution, and
as pleasing and gracious as could well be imagined, seven of his fables.
For the first of these was seen the fate of the too audacious Phaethon,
who contrived so ill to guide that same car, even as for the second was
seen the death of the serpent Python, and for the third the chastisement
inflicted on the rash Marsyas. In the fourth was seen how the Sun
deigned for a time to lead a humble pastoral life, grazing the flocks of
Admetus; even as in the fifth was seen how, flying from the fury of
Typhoeus, he was constrained to change himself into a raven. In the
sixth were likewise depicted his other transformations, first into a
lion and then into a hawk; and as the last was seen his love received so
ill by the timid Daphne, who finally, as is very well known, was changed
by the compassion of the Gods into laurel. At the foot of the car, then,
were seen riding, all winged and of different ages and colours, the
Hours, the handmaids and ministers of the Sun, each of whom, in
imitation of the Egyptians, carried a hippopotamus in the hand, and was
crowned with flowers of the lupine; and behind them, likewise following
the Egyptian custom, in the form of a young man all dressed in white,
with two little horns on the head that were turned towards the ground,
and with a garland of oriental palm, was seen walking the Month,
carrying in the hand a calf which, not without reason, had only one
horn. And after him was seen likewise walking the Year, with the head
all covered with ice and snow, the arms wreathed in flowers and
garlands, and the breast and stomach all adorned with ears of corn, even
as the thighs and legs, also, were seen to be all wet and stained with
must, while in one hand he carried, as a symbol of his circling course,
a circle formed by a serpent that appeared to be seeking to devour the
tail with the mouth, and in the other hand a nail, such as the ancient
Romans used, so we read, to keep count of the years in their temples.
Then came rosy Aurora, all pleasing, fair, and lissom, with a little
yellow mantle, and with an ancient lamp in the hand, seated with most
beautiful grace upon the horse Pegasus. In her company was seen the
physician AEsculapius, in the habit of a priest, with a knotted stick and
a ruddy serpent in the hands, and a dog at his feet; and with them the
young Phaethon, also (like AEsculapius) the child of the Sun, who, all
burning, to recall the memory of his unhappy fate, appeared to wish to
transform himself into even such a swan as he carried in his hand.
Orpheus, next, their brother, was seen walking behind them, young and
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