Plēiădes

, or Vergĭliæ , a name given to seven of the daughters of Atlas by Pleione or Æthra, one of the Oceanides. They were placed in the heavens after death, where they formed a constellation called Pleiades, near the back of the bull in the Zodiac. Their names were Alcyone, Merope, Maia, Electra, Taygeta, Sterope, and Celeno. They all, except Merope, who married Sisyphus king of Corinth, had some of the immortal gods for their suitors. On that account, therefore, Merope’s star is dim and obscure among the rest of her sisters, because she married a mortal. The name of the Pleiades is derived from the Greek word πλεειν , to sail , because that constellation shows the time most favourable to navigators, which is in the spring. The name of Vergiliæ they derive from ver , the spring . They are sometimes called At lan tides , from their father, or Hesperides , from the gardens of that name, which belonged to Atlas. Hyginus , fable 192; Poetic a Astronomic a , bk. 2 , ch. 21 .— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 13 , li. 293 ; Fasti , bk. 5 , lis. 106 & 170; Hesiod , Works and Days .— Homer , Ody ey , bk. 5 .— Horace , bk. 4 , ode 14.— Virgil , Georgics , bk. 1 , li. 138 ; bk. 4 , li. 233 .――Seven poets, who, from their number, have received the name of Pleiades, near the age of Philadelphus Ptolemy king of Egypt. Their names were Lycophron, Theocritus, Aratus, Nicander, A poll on i us, Philicus, and Homerus the younger.