azing
torch of extraordinary size, which was compared to a flaming beam, was
seen during several nights.' Guillemin, from whose interesting work on
Comets I have translated the above passage, remarks that this same comet
was regarded by the ancients as having not merely presaged but produced
the earthquakes which caused the towns of Helice and Bura to be
submerged. This was clearly in the thoughts of Seneca when he said of
this comet that as soon as it appeared it brought about the submergence
of Bura and Helice.

In those times, however, comets were not regarded solely as signs of
disaster. As the misfortunes of one nation were commonly held to be of
advantage to other nations, so the same comet might be regarded very
differently by different nations or different rulers. Thus the comet of
the year 344 B.C. was regarded by Timoleon of Corinth as presaging the
success of his expedition against Corinth. 'The gods announced,' said
Diodorus Siculus, 'by a remarkable portent, his success and future
greatness; a blazing torch appeared in the heavens at night, and went
before the fleet of Timoleon until he arrived in Sicily.' The comets of
the years 134 B.C. and 118 B.C. were not regarded as portents of death,
but as signalising, the former the birth, the latter the accession, of
Mithridates. The comet of 43 B.C. was held by some to be the soul of
Julius Caesar on its way to the abode of the gods. Bodin, a French lawyer
of the sixteenth century, regarded this as the usual significance of
comets. He was, indeed, sufficiently modest to attribute the opinion to
Democritus, but the whole credit of the discovery belonged to himself.
He maintained that comets only indicate approaching misfortunes because
they are the spirits or souls of illustrious men, who for many years
have acted the part of guardian angels, and, being at last ready to die,
celebrate their last triumph by voyaging to the firmament as flaming
stars. 'Naturally,' he says, 'the appearance of a comet is followed by
plague, pestilence, and civil war; for the nations are deprived of the
guidance of their worthy rulers, who, while they were alive, gave all
their efforts to prevent intestine disorders.' Pingre comments justly on
this, saying that 'it must be classed among base and shameful
flatteries, not among philosophic opinions.'

Usually, however, it must be admitted that the ancients, like the men of
the Middle Ages, regarded comets as harbingers of evil. 'A fearf