s looking upwards and is in an unnaturally
constrained position. (I would not, indeed, claim to understand
perfectly all the ways of dragons; still it may be assumed that a dragon
hovering above the horizon would rather look downwards in a natural
position than upwards in an awkward one.)

The star Iota of Hercules marks the heel of this giant, called the
Kneeler (Engonasin) from time immemorial. He must have been an important
figure on the old zodiac temples, and not improbably his presence there
as one of the largest and highest of the human figures may have caused a
zodiac-dome to be named after Hercules. The Dome of Hercules would come
near enough to the title, 'The Shield of Hercules,' borne by the
fragmentary poem dealt with above. The foot of the kneeling man was
represented on the head of the dragon, the dragon having hold of the
heel. And here, again, some imagine that a sculptured representation of
these imagined figures in the heavens may have been interpreted and
expanded into the narrative of a contest between the man and the old
serpent the dragon, Ophiuchus the serpent-bearer being supposed to
typify the eventual defeat of the dragon. This fancy might be followed
out like that relating to the deluge; but the present place would be
unsuitable for further inquiries in that particular direction.

Some interest attaches to the constellation Ophiuchus, to my mind, in
the evidence it affords respecting the way in which the constellations
were at first intermixed. I have mentioned one instance in which, as I
think, the later astronomers separated two constellations which had once
been conjoined. Many others can be recognised when we compare the actual
star-groups with the constellation-figures as at present depicted. No
one can recognise the poop of a ship in the group of stars now assigned
to the stern of Argo, but if we include the stars of the Greater Dog,
and others close by, a well-shaped poop can be clearly seen. The head
of the Lion of our maps is as the head of a dog, so far as stars are
concerned; but if stars from the Crab on one side and from Virgo on the
other be included in the figure, and especially Berenice's hair to form
the tuft of the lion's tail, a very fine lion with waving mane can be
discerned, with a slight effort of the imagination. So with Bootes the
herdsman. He was of old 'a fine figure of a man,' waving aloft his arms,
and, as his name implies, shouting lustily at the retreating bear.