Lightly I tripped, nor weary, as before,
Sunk in the sand, but skimmed along the shore,
Till, rising on my wings, I was preferred
To be the chaste Minerva's virgin bird."
VIRGO.—This constellation lies directly south of Coma Berenice, and east of Leo. It occupies considerable space in the heavens, and contains one hundred and ten stars. It comes to the meridian the 23d of this month. Spica Virginis, which marks the left hand of the Virgin, is a star of the first magnitude, and is of great brilliancy, and, with Denebola in Leo, and Arcturus in Boötes, forms a large equilateral triangle, which, joined with Cor-Caroli, a star of the same brilliancy, at an equal distance north, forms the Diamond of Virgo. The stars in this diamond are of equal brilliancy, rendering it one of the most clearly defined and most beautiful figures in this part of the heavens.
This constellation is probably of Egyptian origin. A zodiac discovered among the ruins of Estne, in Egypt, commences with Virgo, and, according to the regular progression of the equinoxes, this zodiac must be two thousand years older than that at Dendera. This relic of the earliest ages of the human species is conjectured to have been preserved during the deluge by Noah, to perpetuate the actual appearance of the heavens immediately subsequent to the creation.
The Athenians also claim the origin of this constellation, maintaining that Erigone was changed into Virgo. Erigone was the daughter of Icarius, an Athenian, who was slain by some peasants whom he had intoxicated with wine; and it caused such a feeling of despair in Erigone, that she repaired to the wood and hung herself on the bough of a tree.
"Thus once in Marathon's impervious wood,