_Phil. Trans._, vol. lxvii., p. 598. 1777.]

[Footnote 34: See p. 70 (_ante_).]

[Footnote 35: _Knowledge_, vol. xx., p. 9, January 1897.]

CHAPTER X.

ECLIPSES OF THE SUN MENTIONED IN HISTORY--CLASSICAL.

In this chapter we shall, for the most part, be on firmer ground than
hitherto, because several of the most eminent Greek and Latin historians
have left on record full and circumstantial accounts of eclipses which
have come under their notice, and which have been more or less
completely verified by the computations and researches of astronomers in
modern times. But these remarks do not, however, quite apply to the
first eclipse which will be mentioned.

Plutarch, in his _Life of Romulus_, refers to some remarkable incident
connected, in point of time at any rate, with his death:--"The air on
that occasion was suddenly convulsed and altered in a wonderful manner,
for the light of the Sun failed, and they were involved in an
astonishing darkness, attended on every side with dreadful thunderings
and tempestuous winds." This so-called darkness is considered to have
been the same as that mentioned by Cicero.[36] There is so much myth
about Romulus that it is not safe to write in confident language.
Nevertheless it is a fact, according to Johnson, that there was a very
large eclipse of the Sun visible at Rome in the afternoon of May 26, 715
B.C., and 715 B.C. is supposed to have been the year, or about the year,
of the death of Romulus. Plutarch is also responsible for the statement
that a great eclipse of the Sun took place sometime before the birth of
Romulus; and if there is anything in this statement Johnson thinks that
the annular eclipse of November 28, 771 B.C., might meet the
circumstances of the case, but too much romance attaches to the history
of Romulus for anyone to write with assurance respecting the
circumstances of his career. Much of it is generally considered to be
fabulous.

In one of the extant fragments of the Greek poet Archilochus (said to be
the first who introduced iambics into his verses), the following
sentence occurs:--"Zeus the father of the Olympic Gods turned mid-day
into night hiding the light of the dazzling sun; an overwhelming dread
fell upon men." The poet's language may evidently apply to a total
eclipse of the Sun; and investigations by Oppolzer and Millosevich make
it probable that the reference is to the total eclipse of