He is usually represented naked and obscene, with a stern countenance, matted hair, crowned with garden herbs, and holding a wooden sword, or scythe, whilst his body terminates in a shapeless trunk. His figures are generally erected in gardens and orchards to serve as scarecrows. Priāpus held a pruning-hook in his hands, when he had hands, for he was sometimes nothing more than a mere log of wood, as Martial somewhat humorously calls him. Indeed the Roman poets in general seem to have looked on him as a ridiculous god, and are all ready enough either to despise or abuse him. Trimalchio, in his ridiculous feasts described by Petronius, had a figure of this god to be held up during his dessert: it was made of paste, and, as Horace observes on another occasion, that he owed all his divinity to the carpenter, Petronius seems to hint that he was wholly obliged for it to the pastry cook in this. Some mythologists make the birth of Priāpus allude to that radical moisture which supports all vegetable productions, and which is produced by Bacchus and Venus, that is, the solar heat, and the fluid whence Venus is said to have sprung. Some affirm that he was the same with the Baal of the Phœnicians, mentioned in scripture. ARISTÆUS, son of Apollo, by the nymph Cyrene, daughter of Hypseus, king of the Lapĭthæ, was born in Lybia, and in that part of it where the city Cyrene was built. He received his education from the nymphs, who taught him to extract oil from olives, and to make honey, cheese, and butter; all which arts he communicated to mankind. Going to Thebes, he there married Autonŏe, daughter of Cadmus, and, by her, was father to Actæon, who was torn in pieces by his own dogs. At length he passed into Thrace, where Bacchus initiated him into the mysteries of the Orgia, and taught him many things conducive to the happiness of life. Having dwelt some time near Mount Hemus, he disappeared, and not only the barbarous people of that country, but the Greeks likewise decreed him divine honors. It is remarked by Bayle, that Aristæus found out the solstitial rising of Sirius, or the dog-star; and he adds, it is certain that this star had a particular relation to Aristæus; for this reason, when the heats of the dog-star laid waste the Cyclădes, and occasioned there a pestilence, Aristæus was entreated to put a stop to it. He went directly into the isle of Cea, and built an altar to Jupiter, offered sacrifices to that deity, as well to the malignant star, and established an anniversary for it. These produced a very good effect, for it was from thence that the Etesian winds had their origin, which continue forty days, and temper the heat of the summer. On his death, for the services he had rendered mankind, he was placed among the stars, and is the Aquarius of the Zodiac.