But before we come to that we have one more picture in the third constellation of this Sign, which combines the first two in one.
3. ARGO (The Ship).
The Pilgrims safe at Home.
This is the celebrated ship of the Argonauts, which Homer sung nearly ten centuries before Christ. Sir Isaac Newton puts the expedition of the Argonauts shortly after the death of Solomon (about 975 b.c.). While Dr. Blair's chronology puts it 1236 b.c.
Whatever fables have gathered round the story there can be no doubt as to its great antiquity. Some think that the story had its origin in name, as well as in fact, from the Ark of Noah and its mysterious journey. All that is clear, when divested of mythic details, is that the sailors in that ship, after all their dangers, and toils, and battles were [pg 158] over, came back victorious to their own shores. The “golden fleece,” for which the Argonauts went in search, tells of a treasure that had been lost. “Jason,” the great captain, tells of Him who recovered it from the Serpent, which guarded it with ever-watchful eye, when none else was able to approach it. And thus, through the fables and myths of the Greeks, we can see the light primeval shine; and this light, once seen, lights up this Sign and its constellations, so that their teaching cannot be misunderstood.
Aratus sings of Argo:—
“Stern-foremost hauled; no mark of onward-speeding ship.
Sternward she comes, as vessels do
When sailors turn the helm