Swords of fire,
bloody crosses, flaming daggers, spears, dragons, fish, and other
appearances of the same kind, were given to them in the middle ages
and the Renaissance.

Comets like those of 1577 appear, moreover, to justify by their
strange form the titles with which they are generally greeted. The
most serious writers were not free from this terror. Thus, in a
chapter on celestial monsters, the celebrated surgeon, Ambroise Pare,
described the comet of 1528 under the most vivid and frightful colors:
"This comet was so horrible and dreadful that it engendered such great
terror to the people, that they died, some with fear, others with
illness. It appeared to be of immense length, and of blood color; at
its head was seen the figure of a curved arm, holding a large sword in
the hand as if it wished to strike. At the point of the sword there
were three stars, and on either side was seen a great number of
hatchets, knives, and swords covered with blood, amongst which were
numerous hideous human faces, with bristling beards and hair."

The imagination has good eyes when it exerts itself. The great and
strange variety of cometary aspects is described with exactitude by
Father Souciet in his Latin poem on comets. "Most of them," says he,
"shine with fires interlaced like thick hair, and from this they have
taken the name of comets. One draws after it the twisted folds of a
long tail; another appears to have a white and bushy beard; this one
throws a glimmer similar to that of a lamp burning during the night;
that one, O Titan! represents thy resplendent face; and this other, O
Phoebe! the form of thy nascent horns. There are some which bristle
with twisted serpents. Shall I speak of those armies which have
sometimes appeared in the air? of those clouds which follow as it were
along a circle, or which resemble the head of Medusa? Have there not
often been seen figures of men or savage animals?

"Often, in the gloom of night, lighted up by these sad fires, the
horrible sound of arms is heard, the clashing of swords which meet in
the clouds, the ether furiously resounding with fearful din which
crush the people with terror. All comets have a melancholy light, but
they have not all the same color. Some have a leaden color; others
that of flame or brass. The fires of some have the redness of blood;
others resemble the brightness of silver. Some again are azure; others
have the dark and pale color of iron. These differences com