piscis, is, m. [etym. dub.; cf. Angl. -Sax. fisk, Germ. Fisch], a fish.
- I. Lit.: ubi lanigerum pecus piscibus pascit, Enn. ap. Paul. ex Fest. s. v. cyprio, p. 59 Müll. (Sat. v. 42 Vahl.); id. ap. App. Mag. p. 299 (Heduph. v. 5 Vahl.); Plaut. As. 1, 3, 26; id. Truc. 2, 3, 1: pisces ut saepe minutos magnu’ comest, Varr. ap. Non. 81, 11: etsi pisces ut aiunt, ova cum genuerunt, relinquunt, Cic. N. D. 2, 51, 129; Hor. C. 4, 3, 19; Juv. 4, 72.
- 2. Sing. collect.: pisce vehi quaedam (natarum videntur), Ov. M. 2, 13; Plin. 11, 53, 116, § 281: lacus piscem suggerit, Plin. Ep. 2, 8, 1; so, piscis femina, Ov. A. A. 2, 482.
- II. Transf., as a constellation.
- A. Pisces, the Fishes, a constellation consisting of 34 stars. Acc. to the myth, Cupid and Venus, during the war of the Titans, were carried for safety across the Euphrales by fishes, who were on this account placed among the stars, Ov. F. 2, 458; Hyg. Astr. 2, 30; 3, 29; Col. 11, 2, 24; 63; cf. nodus, I. B. 7.
- B. Piscis major, Avien. Arat. 806. Prob. the same constellation, in the southern heavens, which Verg. G. 4, 234, calls Piscis aquosus; cf. Manil. 1, 428.