'He changed him into
a stone, which, from this circumstance, is called "index" about
Pylos.' 'Index' was a name of infamy, corresponding with the Greek
word +sykophantes+, and with our term 'spy.']

EXPLANATION.

The Centaurs, fabulous monsters, half men and half horses, were
perhaps the first horsemen in Thessaly and its neighborhood. It is
also probable that Chiron, who was one of these, acquired great fame
by the knowledge he had acquired at a time and in a country where
learning was little cultivated. The ancients regarded him as the first
promulgator of the utility of medicines, in which he was said to have
instructed his pupil AEsculapius. He was also considered to be an
excellent musician and a good astronomer, as we learn from Homer,
Diodorus Siculus, and other authors. Most of the heroes of that age,
and among them Hercules and Jason, studied under him. Very probably,
the only foundation for the story of the transformation of Ocyrrhoe,
was the skill and address which, under her father's instruction, she
acquired in riding and the management of horses. For if, as it seems
really was the case, the horsemen of that age were taken for monsters,
half men and half horses, it is not surprising to find the story that
the daughter of a Centaur was transformed into a mare.

Chiron is generally supposed to have marked out the Constellations,
for the purpose of directing the Argonauts in their voyage for the
recovery of the Golden Fleece.

FABLE XII. [II.708-764]

Mercury, falling in love with Herse, the daughter of Cecrops,
endeavors to engage Aglauros in his interest, and by her means, to
obtain access to her sister. She refuses to assist him, unless he
promises to present her with a large sum of money.

Hence, the bearer of the caduceus raised himself upon equal wings; and
as he flew, he looked down upon the fields of Munychia,[83] and the land
pleasing to Minerva, and the groves of the well-planted Lycaeus. On that
day, by chance, the chaste virgins were, in their purity, carrying the
sacred offerings in baskets crowned with flowers, upon their heads to
the joyful citadel of Pallas. The winged God beholds them returning
thence; and he does not shape his course directly forward, but wheels
round in the {same} circle. As that bird swiftest in speed, the kite, on
espying the entrails, while he is afraid, and the priests stand in
numbers around the sacri