79. "So after the poet had represented the cup of Nestor as studded with stars, he then proceeds on to the most brilliant of the fixed stars, by contemplating which men form their conjectures of what is to happen to them in their lives. I mean the Pleiades. For when he says δύο δὲ πελειάδες were placed in gold around each handle, he does not mean the birds called πελειάδες, that is to say, turtle-doves; and those who think that he does use πελειάδες here as synonymous with περιστεραὶ are wrong. For Aristotle says expressly that the πελειὰς is one bird, and the περιστερὰ another. But the poet calls that constellation πελειάδες which at present w call πλειάδες; by the rising of which men regulate their swing and their reaping, and the beginning of their raising their crops, and their collection of them; as Hesiod says:— When the seven daughters of the Libyan king Rise in the heavens, then begin to mow; And when they hide their heads, then plough the ground. And Aratus says— Their size is small, their light but moderate, Yet are they famous over all the world; At early dawn and late at eve they roll, Jove regulating all their tranquil motions; He has ordain'd them to give signs to men, When winter, and when summer too begins,— What is the time for ploughing, what for sowing. And accordingly it is with great appropriateness that the poet has represented the Pleiades, who indicate the time of the generation and approach to perfection of the fruits of the earth, as forming parts of the ornaments of the cup of that wise prince Nestor. For this vessel was intended to contain any kind of food, whether solid or liquid; on which account he also says that the turtle-doves bring ambrosia to Jupiter:— No bird of air, nor dove of trembling wing, That bears ambrosia to th' ethereal king, But shuns these rocks. For we must not think here that it is really the birds called turtle-doves which bring ambrosia to Jupiter, which is the opinion of many; for that were inconsistent with the majesty of Jupiter; but the daughters of Atlas, turned into the constellation of Pleiades or doves. For it is natural enough that they who indicate the appropriate seasons to the human race should also bring ambrosia to Jupiter, on which account also he distinguishes between them and other birds, saying— No bird of air, nor dove of trembling wing; and that he considers the Pleiades as the most famous of all fixed stars is plain, from his having placed them in the first rank when giving a list of other constellations:—