Pisces

From Hone's Everyday Book.

Pisces (♓) is the twelfth astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the Pisces constellation.

In classical works

• For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon,
  And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies.
  • Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy (c. 1308-1321), Inferno XI.

• Venus ow'd her Safety to their Shape.
  • Marcus Manilius, Astronomica, as quoted in Richard Hinckley Allen, Star-names and their meanings (1899: G. E. Stechert), oclc 1285139, p. 339.

• But nowe sadde winter welked hath the day,
  And Phoebus, weary of his yerely taske,
  Ystabled hath his steeds in lowly laye,
  And taken up his ynne in Fishes haske.
  • Edmund Spenser, Shepheardes Calender, as quoted in Richard Hinckley Allen, Star-names and their meanings (1899: G. E. Stechert), oclc 1285139, p. 341.

• Hence Syrians hate to eat that kind of fishes,
  nor is it fit to make their gods their dishes.
  • Ovid, Fasti, as quoted in Richard Hinckley Allen, Star-names and their meanings (1899: G. E. Stechert), oclc 1285139, p. 339.

• In Pisces, where Venus is exaltat,—
  • Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath's Tale, as quoted in Richard Hinckley Allen, Star-names and their meanings (1899: G. E. Stechert), oclc 1285139, p. 340.

In modern context

• Among others, the fable of the Greeks, that the constellations of Piscis Australis, the Southern Fish, was the fish into which Venus transformed herself to escape from the terrible giant Typhon. This evidently arose from the astrological doctrine, that the sign Pisces is the exaltation of Venus. That this original intent of mythology was afterwards corrupted both by poets and priests, there needs no argument to prove, as it is abundantly evident in history; but that fact only serves to confirm its real and reasonable origin. Let it no longer be supposed that the sages of the East occupied themselves in inventing childish and unmeaning fables. When unlocked by the key of astrology, the secrets of ancient mythology are replete with science, harmony, and intelligence.
  • Richard James Morrison, The Metropolitan, Vol. 10 (1834), p. 94.

• When the equinox entered Pisces, the Savior of the World "appeared as the Fisher of Men."
  • Benson Bobrick, The Fated Sky: Astrology in History (2006: Simon & Schuster), ISBN 9780743268950, p. 10.

Poetry

• And here fantastic fishes duskly float,
  Using the calm for waters, while their fires
  Throb out quick rhythms along the shallow air.
  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "A Drama of Exile", as quoted in Richard Hinckley Allen, Star-names and their meanings (1899: G. E. Stechert), oclc 1285139, p. 336

In music

• She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak, I've been locked inside your heart shaped box for weeks.
  • Kurt Cobain, "Heart-Shaped Box", In Utero. Ref. Nirvana: The Lyrics (2004: Hal Leonard Corporation), ISBN 9780634068027, p. 53.

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Pisces on Wikipedia
• Media related to Pisces on Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of Pisces on Wiktionary