sed doubts
as to whether after all Xenophon's allusion is to an eclipse, but,
judging by his closing words, the learned American does not seem quite
satisfied with his own scepticism, for he says--"Notwithstanding my want
of confidence, I conceive the possibility of a real eclipse to be
greater than in the eclipse of Thales, while we have the great
advantages that the point of occurrence is well defined, the shadow
narrow, and, if it was an eclipse at all, the circumstance of totality
placed beyond serious doubt."[43]

In the same year as that in which, according to the common account, the
battle of Salamis was fought (480 B.C.), there occurred a phenomenon
which is thus adverted to by Herodotus[44]--"At the first approach of
Spring the army quitted Sardis and marched towards Abydos; at the moment
of its departure the Sun suddenly quitted its place in the heavens and
disappeared though there were no clouds in sight and the day was quite
clear; day was thus turned into night." We are told[45] that "As the
king was going against Greece, and had come into the region of the
Hellespont, there happened an eclipse of the Sun in the East; this sign
portended to him his defeat, for the Sun was eclipsed in the region of
its rising, and Xerxes was also marching from that quarter." So far as
words go these accounts admirably befit a total eclipse of the Sun, but
regarded as such it has given great trouble to chronologers, and the
identification of the eclipse is still uncertain. Hind's theory is that
the allusion is to an eclipse and in particular to the eclipse of
February 17, 478 B.C. Though not total at Sardis yet the eclipse was
very large, 94/100ths of the Sun being covered. If we accept this, it
follows that the usually recognised date for the battle of Salamis must
be altered by two years. Airy thought it "extremely probable" that the
narrative related to the total eclipse of the _Moon_, which happened on
March 13, 479 B.C., but this is difficult to accept, especially as
Plutarch, in his _Life of Pelopidas_, says--"An army was soon got ready,
but as the general was on the point of marching, the Sun began to be
eclipsed, and the city was covered with darkness in the daytime." This
seems explicit enough, assuming the record to be true and that the same
incident is referred to by Plutarch as by Herodotus and Aristides.

Since the time when Airy and Hind examined this question, all the known
facts have been again reviewed by Mr