Anthony strikes again !!

I'm waiting to be struck down by furious thunder bolts
post is now corrected.

Ah, those Romans ... they copied all our work and just changed a few names here and there.

It is they that deserve a smack at the back of the head. :lol:

He'll smack you, Dave.
Hercules is Roman. The Greeks call him Heracles.
Not much of an imager, though, compared to Antonis.

I am impressed and delighted to see that people do recognize the subtle differences which are often overlooked.

I've spent far too many days in the past 25 years drinking Metaxa and Ouzo and scoffing keftedes and tyropitakia to make mistakes like that anymore, Antonis.
They can steal your gods, but I'm glad the Romans left your spirits and cuisine just where they were!

By the way, congratulations on the Astronomy Now photo too!

The quotation is from the Latin poem "The Aeneid" by Virgil.

I added "stellorum" to Virgil making it "gifts of stars".

The story:

Among the Trojan priests was Laocoon, who added his warnings to those of Cassandra, saying that he distrusted the Greeks always, but most when they left gifts. The priest drove his spear into the wooden horse, and all were startled by hearing a groan from within. In truth, one of the hidden Greeks had been wounded by the spear. Then Jupiter, having determined on the destruction of the city, bade Neptune send two enormous serpents, which came gliding up out of the sea, and strangled Laocoon and his two sons in their coils.

Laocoon, follow'd by a num'rous crowd,
Ran from the fort, and cried, from far, aloud:
‘O wretched countrymen! What fury reigns?
What more than madness has possess'd your brains?
Think you the Grecians from your coasts are gone?
And are Ulysses' arts no better known?
This hollow fabric either must inclose,
Within its blind recess, our secret foes;
Or 't is an engine rais'd above the town,
T' o'erlook the walls, and then to batter down.
Somewhat is sure design'd, by fraud or force:
Trust not their presents, nor admit the horse.’

Peter.

I remember too many drowsy afternoons sitting in dusty classrooms as the sun shone outside, whilst our Latin teacher droned on with "The Aeneid"
Mind you, I still read the "Iliad" "Odyssey" (in English, not Greek) and "Aeneid" to this day, so something must have lodged in there.
Latin's a good basis for astronomy too...