t unreasonable to bring
this chapter to a close by giving the views of an eminent American
astronomer as to the objections to placing too much reliance on ancient
accounts of eclipses. Says Prof. S. Newcomb[60]:--"The first difficulty
is to be reasonably sure that a total eclipse was really the phenomenon
observed. Many of the statements supposed to refer to total eclipses are
so vague that they may be referred to other less rare phenomena. It must
never be forgotten that we are dealing with an age when accurate
observations and descriptions of natural phenomena were unknown, and
when mankind was subject to be imposed upon by imaginary wonders and
prodigies. The circumstance which we should regard as most unequivocally
marking a total eclipse is the visibility of the stars during the
darkness. But even this can scarcely be regarded as conclusive, because
Venus may be seen when there is no eclipse, and may be quite conspicuous
in an annular or a considerable partial eclipse. The exaggeration of a
single object into a plural is in general very easy. Another difficulty
is to be sure of the locality where the eclipse was total. It is
commonly assumed that the description necessarily refers to something
seen where the writer flourished, or where he locates his story. It
seems to me that this cannot be safely done unless the statement is made
in connection with some battle or military movement, in which case we
may presume the phenomena to have been seen by the army."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 36: _De Republica_, Lib. vi., cap. 22.]

[Footnote 37: E. Millosevich, _Memorie della Societa Spettroscopisti
Italiani_, vol. xxii. p. 70. 1893.]

[Footnote 38: _Herodotus_, Book i., chap. 74. This eclipse is also
mentioned by Pliny (_Nat. Hist._, Book ii., chap. 9) and by Cicero
(_De Divinatione_, cap. 49).]

[Footnote 39: _Astronomy of the Ancients_, p. 88.]

[Footnote 40: _Herodotus_, edited by Rev. G. Rawlinson, vol. i. p.
212.]

[Footnote 41: _Month. Not._, R.A.S., vol. xviii. p. 148; March
1858.]

[Footnote 42: _Anabasis_, Lib. iii., cap. 4, sec. 7.]

[Footnote 43: _Washington Observations_, 1875, Appendix II., p. 31.]

[Footnote 44: Book vii., chap. 37. See Rawlinson's _Herodotus_, vol.
iv. p. 39.]

[Footnote 45: _Scholia, in Aristidis Orationes_, Ed. Frommel, p.
222.]

[Footnote 46: Book ix., chap. 10. See Rawlinson's _Herodotus_, 3rd
ed