And shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord.”
(Jer. xxxi. 11, 12.)
This is the return of the great emigrant-ship (Argo) and all its company of travellers (for this is the meaning of the word Argo).
Plate 38: ARGO (the Ship)
In Kircher's Egyptian Planisphere Argo is represented by two galleys (as we have two sheepfolds), whose prows are surmounted by rams' heads; and the stern of one of them ends in a fish's tail. One of the two occupies four segments of the sphere (from Taurus to Virgo), while the other occupies the four from Leo to Capricorn. One half of the southern meridians is occupied with these galleys and their construction and decorations. Astronomers tell us that they carry us back, the one to the period when the Bull opened the year (to which time Virgil refers); and the other to the same epoch, when the summer solstice was in Leo—“an era greatly antecedent to the Argonautic expedition. How else, they ask, do we account for the one ship having her prow in the first Decan of Taurus, and her poop in the last Decan of Leo? or for one galley being freighted with the installed Bull, and the other with the solstitial Lion?”[74]
These are the words of an astronomer who knows nothing whatever of our interpretation of the heavens which is set forth in this work.
It will indeed be a large vessel, the true Argo, with its company of travellers, “a great multitude which no man can number.” All this is indicated by the immense size of the Constellation, as well as by the large number of its stars. There are 64 stars in Argo (reckoning by the Britannic catalogue); one of the 1st magnitude, six of the 2nd, nine of the 3rd, nine of the 4th, etc. Only a small part of the ship's poop is visible in Britain.
Its brightest star, α (near the keel), is called Canopus or Canobus, which means the possession of Him who cometh. Other star-names, not identified, are—Sephina, the multitude or abundance; Tureis, the possession; Asmidiska, the released who travel; Soheil (Arabic), the desired; and Subilon, the Branch.
Is not all this exactly in harmony with the rest of this sign? And is not this what is written in the Book?