swer, but which of course are foreign to the subject of this
volume. This eclipse happened on September 20, 331 B.C., and was total,
the middle of the eclipse being at about 8.15 p.m. It follows therefore,
that the celebrated battle of Arbela was fought on October 1, 331 B.C.

In 219 B.C. an eclipse of the Moon was seen in Mysia, according to
Polybius.[123] The date of September 1 has been assigned for this
eclipse which is said to have so greatly alarmed some Gaulish Mercenary
troops in the service of Attalus, King of Pergamos, that he had to get
rid of them as soon as he could--make terms with them to go home.

On the eve of the battle of Pydna when Perseus, King of Macedonia, was
conquered by Paulus AEmilius, there happened an eclipse of the Moon.
Plutarch in his _Life of Paulus AEmilius_, speaking of his army having
settled down in a camp, says:--"When they had supped and were thinking of
nothing but going to rest, on a sudden the Moon, which was then at full
and very high, began to be darkened, and after changing into various
colours, was at last totally eclipsed. The Romans, according to their
custom, made a great noise by striking upon vessels of brass and held up
lighted faggots and torches in the air in order to recall her light; but
the Macedonians did no such thing; horror and astonishment seized their
whole camp, and a whisper passed among the multitude that this
appearance portended the fall of the king. As for AEmilius, he was not
entirely unacquainted with this matter; he had heard of the ecliptic
inequalities which bring the Moon at certain periods under the shadow of
the Earth and darken her till she has passed that quarter of obscurity
and receives light from the Sun again. Nevertheless, as he was wont to
ascribe most events to the Deity, was a religious observer of sacrifices
and of the art of divination, he offered up to the Moon 11 heifers as
soon as he saw her regain her former lustre. At break of day he also
sacrificed oxen to Hercules to the number of 20 without any auspicious
sign, but in the twenty-first the desired tokens appeared and he
announced victory to his troops, provided they stood upon the
defensive."

The astronomical knowledge ascribed in this account to Paulus AEmilius,
constitutes a very interesting feature in this record because the Romans
though they were good at most things, were by no means adepts at the
science of Astronomy. Livy[124] tells us that Sulpicius Gallus, one of