verb /ˈstɛl.ɪ.faɪ/
In Classical mythology, being stellified was about the greatest posthumous honor for a mortal.
By the hissing snake Spenser presumably means the scorpion sent by Diana that killed Orion. Like Orion it, too, was stellified. But since, as Scorpio, it rises in the east as Orions sign sets in the west, the two were regarded as being kept forever apart, Orion perpetually avoiding in the heavens his vanquisher on earth.
Wikipedia foundation.