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. Ap. 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.