Hyginus Fabulae, 192, Hyas.

     Atlas had twelve daughters with Pleione or with a daughter of Oceanus, and he had a son named Hyas. When his sisters were lamenting Hyas' death — attacked by a boar or by a lion — they were consumed by the grief. The first five of these sisters were turned into stars and hold a position between the horns of the Bull — Phaesyla, Ambrosia, Coronis, Eudora, and Polyxo, who are called the Hyades after their brother's name. These same are called in Latin the Suculae. (3) Some authors said that put in the shape of the capital letter Y [upsilon] and are thus called the Hyades [῾Υάδες]; but, many say that they cause rainstorms when they arise, for in Greek hyein [ὕειν] means "to rain." Again, others figure that these individuals are among the stars for the reason that they were the nurses of Father Bacchus and that Lycurgus therefore banished them from the isle of Naxos. (4) The remaining sisters after they had been consumed in grief became stars and, since there were several of them, they were called the Pleiades. Many think that they are so called since they are bound together — that is they are πλησίον [near]; for they are placed so closely together that they can scarcely be counted, nor can anybody's eye discern whether there are six or seven stars. (5) The names of these are Electra, Alcyone, Celaeno, Merope, Sterope, Taygeta, and Maia; people think that Electra does not shine because Dardanus was lost and Troy was taken away from her. Still others think that Merope seems to blush because took a mortal husband when all her sisters married immortals; (6) Merope, therefored, was expelled from her sisters' band and in her grief now wears her hair undone; and she is called either the "comet" or the "lance-shaped one" because she is stretched out in length, or she is called the "sword" since she has the shape of a sword's edge. This star is the harbinger of grief.'
     — translation RTMacfarlane


     


     192, Hyas
      Atlas ex Pleione siue Oceanitide duodecim filias habuit et filium Hyantem, quem ab apro uel leone occisum dum lugent sorores, ab eo luctu consumptae sunt. (2) ex his quinque primae inter sidera relatae locum habent inter cornua Tauri, Phaesyla Ambrosia Coronis Eudora Polyxo, quae a fratris nomine appellantur Hyades; easdem Latine Suculas uocant. (3) quidam aiunt in modum Υ litterae positas inde Hyades dici; nonnulli quod cum oriantur pluuias efficiunt, est autem Graece hyin pluere; sunt qui existiment ideo has in sideribus esse quod fuerint nutrices Liberi patris, quas Lycurgus ex insula Naxo ediderat. (4) ceterae sorores postea luctu consumptae sidera facta sunt, et quia plures essent Pleiades dictae. nonnulli existimant ita nominatas quia inter se coniunctae, quod est πλησίον, adeo enim confertae sunt ut uix numerentur, nec unquam ullius oculis certum est sex an septem existimentur. (5) earum nomina haec sunt, Electra Alcyone Celaeno Merope Sterope Taygeta et Maia, ex quibus Electram negant apparere propter Dardanum amissum Troiamque sibi ereptam; alii existimant Meropen conspici erubescere quia mortalem uirum acceperit, cum ceterae deos haberent; (6) ob eamque rem de choro sororum expulsa maerens crinem solutum gerit, quae cometes appellatur siue longodes [λογχώδης], quia in longitudinem producitur, siue xiphias [ξιφίας] quia gladii mucronis effigiem producit; ea autem stella luctum portendit.