an _eclipse_. The early Fathers, relying on a notice
of _an_ eclipse that _seemed_ to coincide in time, though it
really _did not_, fancied that the darkness was caused by it,
but incorrectly."

Perhaps "the _origin_ of this darkness" may be explained from what we
shall now see.

At the time of the death of the Hindoo Saviour _Crishna_, there came
calamities and bad omens of every kind. A black circle surrounded the
moon, _and the sun was darkened at noon-day_; the sky rained fire and
ashes; flames burned dusky and livid; demons committed depredations on
earth; at sunrise and sunset, thousands of figures were seen skirmishing
in the air; spirits were to be seen on all sides.[207:1]

When the conflict began between _Buddha_, the Saviour of the World, and
the Prince of Evil, _a thousand appalling meteors fell; clouds and
darkness prevailed_. Even this earth, with the oceans and mountains it
contains, though it is unconscious, _quaked like a conscious
being_--like a fond bride when forcibly torn from her bridegroom--like
the festoons of a vine shaken under the blast of a whirlwind. The ocean
rose under the vibration of this earthquake; rivers flowed back toward
their sources; peaks of lofty mountains, where countless trees had grown
for ages, rolled crumbling to the earth; a fierce storm howled all
around; the roar of the concussion became terrific; _the very sun
enveloped itself in awful darkness, and a host of headless spirits
filled the air_.[207:2]

When _Prometheus_ was crucified on Mount Caucasus, _the whole frame of
nature became convulsed_. The earth did quake, thunder roared, lightning
flashed, the wild winds rent the vexed air, the boisterous billows rose,
and the dissolution of the universe seemed to be threatened.[207:3]

The ancient Greeks and Romans, says Canon Farrar,[207:4] had always
considered that the _births_ and _deaths_ of great men were announced by
_celestial signs_. We therefore find that at the death of _Romulus_, the
founder of Rome, the sun was darkened, _and there was darkness over the
face of the earth for the space of six hours_.[207:5]

When _Julius Caesar_, who was the son of a god, was murdered, there was a
darkness over the earth, _the sun being eclipsed for the space of six
hours_.[207:6]

This is spoken of by _Virgil_, where he says:

"He (the Sun) covered his luminous head with a sooty darkness,
And the impious ages feared eternal night."[207:7]

It