an eclipse of
the Moon, and fearing the malign influence of the phenomenon, he put off
his departure, and lost the chance of retreat. This superstition cost
him his life. The Greek army was destroyed, and this event marks the
commencement of the decadence of Athens.

In 331 B.C. an eclipse of the Moon disorganized the troops of Alexander,
near Arbela, and the great Macedonian Captain had need of all his
address to reassure his panic-stricken soldiers.

Agathocles, King of Syracuse, blocked by the Carthaginians in the port
of this city, had the good fortune to escape, but was disturbed on the
second day of his flight by the arrival of a total eclipse of the Sun
which alarmed his companions. "What are you afraid of?" said he,
spreading his cloak in front of the Sun. "Are you alarmed at a shadow?"
(This eclipse seems to be that of August 15, 309, rather than that of
March 2, 310.)

[Illustration: FIG. 75.--Battle between the Medes and Lydians arrested
by an Eclipse of the Sun.]

On June 29, 1033, an epoch at which the approaching end of the world
struck terror into all hearts, an annular eclipse of the Sun occurring
about midday frustrated the designs of a band of conspirators who
intended to strangle the Pope at the altar. This Pope was Benedict IX, a
youth of less than twenty, whose conduct is said to have been anything
but exemplary. The assassins, terrified at the darkening of the Sun,
dared not touch the Pontiff, and he reigned till 1044.[15]

On March 1, 1504, a lunar eclipse saved the life of Christopher
Columbus. He was threatened with death by starvation in Jamaica, where
the contumacious savages refused to give him provisions. Forewarned of
the arrival of this eclipse by the astronomical almanacs, he threatened
to deprive the Caribs of the light of the Moon--and kept his word. The
eclipse had hardly begun when the terrified Indians flung themselves at
his feet, and brought him all that he required.

In all times and among all people we find traces of popular
superstitions connected with eclipses. Here, the abnormal absence of the
Moon's light is regarded as a sign of divine anger: the humble penitents
betake themselves to prayer to ward off the divine anger. There, the
cruelty of the dread dragon is to be averted: he must be chased away by
cries and threats, and the sky is bombarded with shots to deliver the
victim from his monstrous oppressor.

In France the announcement of a solar eclipse for August 21