the Roman tribunes, foretold this eclipse, first to the Consul and then,
with his leave, to the army, whereby that terror which eclipses were
wont to breed in ignorant minds was entirely taken off and the soldiers
more and more disposed to confide in officers of so great wisdom and of
such general knowledge. This eclipse is often identified with that of
June 21, 168 B.C., but Johnson gives reasons why this cannot be the case
and that the eclipse in question was that which happened on the night of
June 10-11, 167 B.C., and commenced about midnight, whereas the eclipse
of 168 B.C. was nearly over when the Moon was above the horizon at Rome.
Stockwell, however, fixes on the eclipse of September 3, 172 B.C. as
that which was connected with the Battle of Pydna.

Josephus[125] speaking of the barbarous acts of Herod, says:--"And that
very night there was an eclipse of the Moon." There has been some
controversy respecting the identification of this eclipse (the only one
mentioned by Josephus) which also is associated with Herod's last
illness, it not having been easy to reconcile some discordant
chronological statements connected with the length of Herod's reign and
the date when he began to reign. On the whole, probably, we shall be
safe in saying that the reference is to the eclipse of March 13, 4 B.C.
This was a partial eclipse to the extent of less than half the Moon's
diameter, a defalcation of light sufficient, however, to attract public
notice even at 3 a.m., seeing that no doubt, even at that hour, the
streets of Jerusalem were in a state of turmoil owing to the burning
alive by Herod of some seditious Rabbis.

It should be stated, however, that Hind assigns the account by Josephus
to the eclipse which occurred on January 9, 1 B.C. On this occasion the
Moon passed nearly centrally through the Earth's shadow soon after
midnight, emerging at 2.57 a.m. on the early morning of January 10,
local Mean Time at Jerusalem.

Tacitus[126] mentions an eclipse of the Moon as having happened soon
after the death of Augustus. This has been identified with the eclipse
of September 27, A.D. 14. Tacitus says:--"The Moon in the midst of a
clear sky became suddenly eclipsed; the soldiers who were ignorant of
the cause took this for an omen referring to their present adventures:
to their labours they compared the eclipse of the planet, and prophesied
'that if to the distressed goddess should be restored her wonted
brightness and splendou