Man has taken thousands of years, from his appearing on earth, watching the sky, sometimes impressed by the thousands of bright spots, around 1,500 naked eye, moving or standing still, and other times frightened by the influence which the sky can have on their lives.<\/b><\/p>\n
\n\tThe sky itself is a god and those bright points are also divine beings. So any signal that comes from heaven must be observed, analyzed, countered if its effect is threatening.<\/p>\n
\n\tConcerning the stars, one of the aspects that most interested the ancients was the present position of the stars; some of them, the planets <\/em>move, but others apparently remain fixed and anchored in heaven. Just the word "planet<\/em>" πλαν\u03aeτης, planetes <\/em>in Greek, means "wanderer, moving<\/em>"<\/p>\n \n\tFrom the position and appearance (ortho<\/em>) and disappearance (set<\/em>) of the stars in the sky depend two fundamental issues: one the determination of the calendar<\/em>, the ability to organize and understand the cycles of nature; the other one is related to the belief in the influence the stars have on the lives of men, especially the position of the stars at the time of birth. This question is studying since years the "astrology<\/em>" and irrational it may seem us, it has not yet ceased to have a large presence in contemporary life.<\/p>\n \n\tWell, to determine the position of the stars and their appearances and cycles patient observations were made during thousands of years. The first were the Mesopotamians <\/em>and Egyptians<\/em>; from them learned Greek<\/em>, who incorporated this knowledge into their mythology and their fledgling science and developed it greatly.<\/p>\n \n\tOne sign that most impressed the ancients, and that continues fascinating us today, are the eclipses<\/em>, in our position especially they of the sun, but also of the moon.<\/p>\n \n\tThe word eclipse <\/em>comes from the Greek \u1f14κλειψις, ékleipsis<\/em>, which means "disappearance, missing<\/em>". \n\tAccording to the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy<\/em> in astronomy eclipse <\/em>it is "temporary total or partial hiding of a star by the interposition of another celestial body<\/em>."<\/p>\n \n\tEclipses can be solar eclipse or lunar eclipse. They are especially striking and dramatic the solar eclipses, which can be partial, total or annular according the part of sun which is obscured by the interposition of the moon.<\/p>\n \n\tSolar eclipses, especially total eclipses, may cause fear and anxiety for people, even today where the scientific explanation, long ago established, is known worldwide. In this type, night falls in the middle of the day and some stars can see and though they did not last long, they alter the behavior of animals and impress people greatly.<\/p>\n \n\tIt can not, therefore, surprise us the interest that eclipses arose in the ancient.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Babylonians <\/em>were remarkable observers of the sky and Egyptians and Greeks <\/em>learned from then. And Babylonians <\/em>were those who realized that the planets periodically returned to the same one position and established the so called "Saros cycle<\/em>", which naturally inherited the Greeks<\/em>. This cycle is a period of 18 years, 10 or 11 days and 1\/3 day (ie, 6585.32 days), time between two solar or lunar eclipses with similar conditions, when the Moon and Earth they are again in the same approximate position in their orbits: at the same stage, on the same node and at the same distance.<\/p>\n \n\tThe name "Saros<\/em>" (Greek σ\u03acρος), which first was used in 1691 by Edmond Halley taking from encyclopedia or from Byzantine lexicon of eleventh century "Suda<\/em>", which says:<\/p>\n \n\t[The saros is] a measure and a number among Chaldeans. For 120 saros-cycles make 2222 years according to the Chaldeans' reckoning, if indeed the saros makes 222 lunar months, which are 18 years and 6 months.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThe Greeks <\/em>in turn seems that they took the word "saros<\/em>" from the Babylonian "Saru<\/em>", which meant the number 3,600.<\/p>\n \n\tPtolemy <\/em>and Pliny <\/em>refer to this cycle, but they do not call it that. Pliny <\/em>(23-79 AD) devotes the whole chapter 10 of Book II<\/em> to the analysis of the recurrence of eclipses, solar and lunar, taking it from Hipparchus<\/em>:<\/p>\n \n\tPliny, Naturalis Historia, II, 10 (56-57)<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tIt is ascertained that the eclipses complete their whole revolution in the space of 223 months, that the eclipse of the sun takes place only at the conclusion or the commencement of a lunation, which is termed conjunction, while an eclipse of the moon takes place only when she is at the full, and is always a little farther advanced than the preceding eclipse. Now there are eclipses of both these stars in every year, which take place below the earth, at stated days and hours; and when they are above it they are not always visible, sometimes on account of the clouds, but more frequently, from the globe of the earth being opposed to the vault of the heavens. It was discovered two hundred years ago, by the sagacity of Hipparchus, that the moon is sometimes eclipsed after an interval of five months, and the sun after an interval of seven; also, that he becomes invisible, while above the horizon, twice in every thirty days, but that this is seen in different places at different times. But the most wonderful circumstance is, that while it is admitted that the moon is darkened by the shadow of the earth, this occurs at one time on its western, and at another time on its eastern side. And farther, that although, after the rising of the sun, that darkening shadow ought to be below the earth, yet it has once happened, that the moon has been eclipsed in the west, while both the luminaries have been above the horizon. And as to their both being invisible in the space of fifteen days, this very thing happened while the Vespasians were emperors, the father being consul for the third time, and the son for the second.<\/strong><\/em> (The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)<\/p>\n \n\tdefectus ccxxiii mensibus redire in suos orbes certum est, solis defectus non nisi novissima primave fieri luna, quod vocant coitum, lunae autem non nisi plena, semperque citra quam proxime fuerint; omnibus autem annis fieri utriusque sideris defectus statis diebus horisque sub terra nec tamen, cum superne fiant, ubique cerni, aliquando propter nubila, saepius globo terrae obstante convexitatibus mundi. \n\tPtolemy <\/em>tells us something similar in his Almagest, IV, 2 in its Latin version<\/em>:<\/p>\n \n\tDe periodicis lunae temporibus<\/em> \n\tPrisci ergo admodum tempus hoc esse putabant directum 6585 dies et tertiam unius diei partem utpote horas 8 in tanto enim tempore 223 menses proxime colligi videbant: Revolutiones aut inaequalitatis quidem 239. Latitudinis autem 242, longitudinis vero revolutiones 241 et ad haec gradus 10.40 quoque in 18 revoutionibus in praedicto tempore.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tIn the Greco-Roman<\/em> world the astronomy <\/em>(currently defined as "The science which is the study of that which is related to the stars, and especially to the laws of their movements<\/em>") and astrology <\/em>(currently defined as "Study of the position and movement of the stars through whose interpretation and observation it is to know and predict the fate of men and predict terrestrial events. <\/em>") are confused, they are the same science. So the myths and beliefs that come from the mists of time are mixed with that reason and science find out. Gradually the astronomy was expressed in mathematical and geometric language without thereby the “astrology<\/em>” disappear.<\/p>\n \n\tI will summarize this long process, in regard to eclipses, on a few ancient texts, from hundreds of interesting, that have been remained.<\/p>\n \n\tHomer <\/em>in his Odyssey, XX, 350 et seq<\/em>. refers to an eclipse, which he presents as a premonition of the terrible end of the suitors of Penelope <\/em>at the hands of Odysseus <\/em>in his palace in Ithaca<\/em>:<\/p>\n \n\tThen the godlike Theoclymenus spake among them: \n\tArchilochus <\/em>reminded us that eclipses are the work of the gods. Greek poet Archilochus <\/em>lived in the seventh century BC and he refers to an eclipse, probably that of the year 648, as a work of Zeus<\/em>. He says in the fragment 122 (West):<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tZeus and the Eclipse (fragment 122 West)<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tNothing is unexpected, nothing can be declared impossible \n\tMen do not know what causes eclipses, which as disturbance of the natural order of heaven produce enormous fear. Sometimes they believe they are caused by the own magic action of men.<\/p>\n \n\tSome authors, like Democritus of Abdera<\/em> (450a.C. – ca. 370 BC) think the sun or the moon become invisible when they descend from their orbits. The responsible for this descent are witches or wizards, according to popular belief.<\/p>\n \n\tPlato <\/em>reflects this belief that he puts on the mouth of Socrates<\/em> in Gorgias, 513a<\/em>:<\/p>\n \n\tsee if this is to your advantage and mine, so that we may not suffer, my distinguished friend, the fate that they say befalls the creatures who would draw down the moon—the hags of Thessaly; that our choice of this power in the city may not cost us all that we hold most dear<\/strong><\/em>. (Translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1967.)<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to popular belief they turn blind, suffered burns and were left with broken legs for the effort.<\/p>\n \n\tAristophanes uses the belief on The Clouds, v. 750 ff <\/em>.:<\/p>\n \n\tStrepsiades. I have got a device for cheating them of the \n\tSocrates. Exhibit it.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tStrep. Now tell me this, pray; if I were to purchase a \n\tSoc. What good, pray, would this do you?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tStrep. What? If the moon were to rise no longer \n\tSoc. Why so, pray?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tStrep. Because the money is lent out by the month.<\/strong><\/em> \n\tPliny <\/em>also tells us how men believed that eclipses were the result of witchcraft and how they produced them enormous fear, that they tried to ward producing great noise. He says in a text on that he values the great work of the men who liberated the men from fear to these phenomena. He says it in Naturalis Historia, II, 12 (54):<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThese were indeed great men, superior to ordinary mortals, who having discovered the laws of these divine bodies, relieved the miserable mind of man from the fear which he had of eclipses, as foretelling some dreadful events or the destruction of the stars. This alarm is freely acknowledged in the sublime strains of Stesichorus and Pindar, as being produced by an eclipse of the sun. And with respect to the eclipse of the moon, mortals impute it to witchcraft, and therefore endeavour to aid her by producing discordant sounds. In consequence of this kind of terror it was that Nicias, the general of the Athenians, being ignorant of the cause, was afraid to lead out the fleet, and brought great distress on his troops.<\/em><\/strong> (The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)<\/p>\n \n\tviri ingentes supraque mortalia, tantorum numinum lege deprehensa et misera hominum mente iam soluta, in defectibus scelera aut mortem aliquam siderum pavente – quo in metu fuisse stesichori et pindari vatum sublimia ora palam est deliquio solis – aut in luna veneficia arguente mortalitate et ob id crepitu dissono auxiliante – quo pavore ignarus causae nicias atheniensium imperator veritus classem portu educere opes eorum adflixit<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tLivy <\/em>also, commenting on the site by the Romans <\/em>in the city of Capua<\/em>, occupied by the Carthaginians<\/em>, and describing the noise and clamor of the battle in that also is involved Anibal<\/em>, says in (Ab Urbe Condita libri), 26, 5 9,:<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThe battle commenced not only with the usual clamour and tumult, but in addition to the din of men, horses, and arms, a multitude of Campanians, unable to bear arms, being distributed along the walls, raised such a shout together with the clangour of brazen vessels, similar to that which is usually made in the dead of night when the moon is eclipsed, that it diverted the attention even of the combatants<\/strong><\/em>. (Translated by D. Spillan and Cyrus Edmonds)<\/p>\n \n\tproelium non solito modo clamore ac tumultu est coeptum, sed ad alium virorum, equorum armorumque sonum disposita in muris Campanorum inbellis multitudo tantum cum aeris crepitu, qualis in defectu lunae silenti nocte cieri solet, edidit clamorem, ut averteret etiam pugnantium animos.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tBoethius <\/em>(480-ca.526), still reminds us of the established practice of beating bronze objects to ward off the evil spell of the solar eclipse, in his Consolation of Philosophy, Book IV, M (etro) 5, 7, -12<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tpalleant plenae cornua lunae \n\tWhen the full-orbèd moon grows pale \n\tThe texts that reflect these fears are numerous. Thucydides <\/em>(460-396) provides an interesting text commenting on the magnitude of the Peloponnesian War<\/em>. Thucydides <\/em>puts in relation the disasters of war with the misfortunes of all kinds that occurred then.<\/p>\n \n\tHistory of the Peloponnesian War, I, 23:<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThe Median war, the greatest achievement of past times, yet found a speedy decision in two actions by sea and two by land. The Peloponnesian war was prolonged to an immense length, and long as it was it was short without parallel for the misfortunes that it brought upon Hellas. [2] Never had so many cities been taken and laid desolate, here by the barbarians, here by the parties contending \uff08the old inhabitants being sometimes removed to make room for others\uff09; never was there so much banishing and blood-shedding, now on the field of battle, now in the strife of action. [3] Old stories of occurrences handed down by tradition, but scantily confirmed by experience, suddenly ceased to be incredible; there were earthquakes of unparalleled extent and violence; eclipses of the sun occurred with a frequency unrecorded in previous history; there were great droughts in sundry places and consequent famines, and that most calamitous and awfully fatal visitation, the plague. All this came upon them with the late war,…<\/strong><\/em> (London, J. M. Dent;)<\/p>\n \n\tNote<\/em>: Thucydides <\/em>in his History <\/em>mentions two solar eclipses, in II, 28 and IV, 52.1<\/em>; he also refers to one lunar eclipse in VII, 50.4:<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tAll was at last ready, and they were on the point of sailing away, when an eclipse of the moon, which was then at the full, took place. Most of the Athenians, deeply impressed by this occurrence, now urged the generals to wait; and Nicias, who was somewhat over-addicted to divination and practices of that kind, refused from that moment even to take the question of departure into consideration, until they had waited the thrice nine days prescribed by the soothsayers<\/strong><\/em>. (Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton. 1910.)<\/p>\n \n\tPindar <\/em>also uses the same idea and belief that eclipses carry great misfortunes in his Pean 9 (52K Fragment Maehler, A1 Rutherford):<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tBeam of the sun ! O thou that seest afar, what \n\t[Is it because, in thine anger at the presumptuous \n\tBut art thou bringing a sign of some war, or wasting \n\t(English translation by Sir John Sandys, Lttt.D., F.B.A. The Loeb Classical Library)<\/p>\n \n\tSome commentators appreciate precedent of this paean in Egyptian <\/em>poems to the sun.<\/p>\n \n\tSeneca<\/em>, in a long and rhetorical choir singing in his tragedy "Thyestes<\/em>" poetizes on the status of cosmic disorder and panic generated by eclipses:<\/p>\n \n\tAt the crime of Atreus <\/em>who killed the children of Thyestes <\/em>and had offered as food in a terrible feast, the sun goes back. The choir, stunned, fears that the whole structure of the world comes down and then all returns to the old chaos.<\/p>\n \n\tThe choir at the end of his Thyestes, v. 789-884:<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tChorus<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tWhither, O father of the lands and skies, before \n\tHeaven's accustomed alternations are no more; \n\tBut whatever this may be, would that night \n\tChorus \n\tVirgil <\/em>(70-19 BC), relates sun signals (Phoebus<\/em>) to the assassination of Caesar <\/em>and the wars and misfortunes that will befall on Rome <\/em>in his Georgics I, vv. 464-468:<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tHe it is who warneth oft \n\t… Ille etiam caecos instare tumultus \n\tVirgil <\/em>also, at the end of Book I <\/em>of the Aeneid<\/em>, when Aeneas <\/em>has been \n\tAeneid, I,736-750<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThe goblet then she took, with nectar crown'd \n\tThose peals are echo'd by the Trojan throng. \n\tDixit, et in mensam laticum libavit honorem, \n\tVirgil repeated almost verbatim the same ideas although in another context, now singing the excellence of the old Roman farmer and happy worker of his land; curiously they repeated here two upright lines of the previous text corresponding to the Aeneid, in Georgics, II, v. 475 et seq .:<\/p>\n \n\tMe before all things may the Muses sweet, \n\tMe vero primum dulces ante omnia Musae, \n\tPlutarch <\/em>(50-120d.C.) offers an interesting text on the fear instilled in the army by eclipses, lunar in this case. He says it in the biography of the Roman <\/em>general Paulus Aemilius<\/em> (229-160 BC) describing an eclipse that took place on June 21, 168 BC immediately before the battle of Pydna <\/em>when the Romans<\/em> consolidated their dominance in Macedonia<\/em>:<\/p>\n \n\tPlutarch, Life of Paulus Aemilius, XVII, 3 ff .: (1821, II, 160)<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tNow, when night had come, and the soldiers, after supper, were betaking themselves to rest and sleep, on a sudden the moon, which was full and high in the heavens, grew dark, lost its light, took on all sorts of colours in succession, and finally disappeared. \n\tNow, Aemilius was not altogether without knowledge and experience of the irregularities of eclipses, which, at fixed periods, carry the moon in her course into the shadow of the earth and conceal her from sight, until she passes beyond the region of shadow and reflects again the light of the sun; however, since he was very devout and given to sacrifices and divination, as soon as he saw the moon beginning to emerge from the shadow, he sacrificed eleven heifers to her.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tStrabo <\/em>(ca. 63 BC-AD 19-24) in his Geography, 1, 1, 12<\/em> defines eclipses as συγκρ\u03afσεις \u1f21λ\u03afου κα\u1f76 σελ\u03aeνης (syncríseis Heliou kay Selenes)<\/em>, ie as combinations, compositions or alignment of the sun and moon<\/em> [to the earth]. This precise definition remains valid today.<\/p>\n
\n\tintra ducentos annos hipparchi sagacitate compertum est et lunae defectum aliquando quinto mense a priore fieri, solis vero septimo, eundem bis in xxx diebus super terras occultari, sed ab aliis hoc cerni, quaeque sunt in hoc miraculo maxime mira, cum conveniat umbra terrae lunam hebetari, nunc ab occasus parte hoc ei accidere, nunc ab exortus, quanam ratione, cum solis exortu umbra illa hebetatrix sub terra esse debeat, semel iam acciderit ut in occasu luna deficeret utroque super terram conspicuo sidere. nam ut xv diebus utrumque sidus quaereretur, et nostro aevo accidit imperatoribus vespasianis patre iii. filio consulibus.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tThe ancient considered that this period was approximately 6585 days and third day, ie 8 hours, because at that time they saw that they ran approximately 223 months (lunar), or 239 revolutions of the anomaly, however 242 around the same latitude, but 241 revolutions in length and 10.40 degrees plus on 18 revolutions at this time<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t'Ah, wretched men, what woe is this ye suffer?
\n\tShrouded in night are your heads and your faces and your knees,
\n\tand kindled is the voice of wailing, and all cheeks are wet with tears,
\n\tand the walls and the fair main-beams of the roof are sprinkled with blood.
\n\tAnd the porch is full, and full is the court,
\n\tof ghosts that hasten hellwards beneath the gloom,
\n\tand the sun has perished out of heaven,
\n\tand an evil mist has overspread the world.'<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(The Odyssey of Homer, done into English prose by S.H.Butcher, M.A. and A.Lang.Ma. Project Gutenberg)<\/p>\n
\n\tor wonderful, since Zeus, father of the Olympians,
\n\tmade night at midday keeping back to the light
\n\teven sun was shining; and fear fell upon men.
\n\tFrom this time men can believe all things, they can wait all things.
\n\tNone of you may be surprised in the future, even when you
\n\tbeasts change places with dolphins and go to pasture
\n\tin the deep, when the resonant waves of the sea become
\n\tdearer than the land, and the dolphins love the wooded hills.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t interest.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t Thessalian witch, and draw down the moon by night, and
\n\t then shut it up, as if it were a mirror, in a round
\n\t crest-case, and then carefully keep it—<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t anywhere, I should not pay the interest.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t (Translated by William James Hickie)<\/p>\n
\n\tinfecta metis noctis opacae,
\n\tquaeque fulgenti texerat ore,
\n\t10 confusa Phoebe detegat astra:
\n\tcommouet gentes publicus error
\n\tlassantque crebris pulsibus aera.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tIn the mid course of night,
\n\tAnd suddenly the stars shine forth
\n\tThat languished in her light,
\n\tTh' astonied nations stand at gaze,
\n\tAnd beat the air in wild amaze.<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(Translated by H.R. James, M.A., CH. )<\/p>\n
\n\twilt thou be devising } O mother of mine eyes ! O
\n\tstar supreme, reft from us in the daytime. Why
\n\thast thou perplexed the power of man and the way
\n\tof wisdom, by rushing forth on a darksome track }
\n\tArt thou bringing on us some new and strange
\n\tdisaster? Yet, by Zeus, I implore thee, thou swift
\n\tdriver divine of steeds ! do thou, O queen I change
\n\tthis worldwide portent into some painless blessing
\n\tfor Thebes . . .<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tsons of mortals, thou art unAvilling utterly to blot
\n\tout the pure light of life ?] ^<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tof produce, or an unspeakably violent snow-storm, or
\n\tfatal faction, or again, some overflowing of the sea
\n\ton the plain, or frost to bind the earth, or heat of
\n\tthe south-wind streaming with raging rain ? Or wilt
\n\tthou, by deluging the land, cause the race of men to
\n\tbegin anew ? I in no wise lament whate'er I shall
\n\tsuffer with all the rest.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\twhose rising thick night with all her glories flees,
\n\twhither dost turn thy course and why dost blot out
\n\tthe day in mid-Olympus? Why, O Phoebus, dost
\n\tsnatch away thy face ? Not yet does Vesper,
\n\ttwilight's messenger, summon the fires of night ; not
\n\tyet does thy wheel, turning its western goal, bid free
\n\tthy steeds from their completed task; not yet as day
\n\tfades into night has the third trump sounded; the
\n\tploughman with oxen yet unwearied stands amazed at
\n\this supper-hour's quick coming. What has driven
\n\tthee from thy heavenly course? What cause from
\n\ttheir fixed track has turned aside thy horses? Is
\n\tthe prison-house of Dis thrown wide and are the
\n\tconquered Giants again essaying war? Doth sorewounded
\n\tTityos renew in his weary breast his ancient
\n\twrath ? Has Typhoeus thrown off the mountainous
\n\tmass and set his body free? Is a highway being built
\n\tby the Phlegraean foe, and does Thessalian Pelion
\n\tpress on Thracian Ossa?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tno setting, no rising shall there be again. The dewy
\n\tmother of the early dawn, wont to hand o'er to the
\n\tgod his morning reins, looks in amaze upon the
\n\tdisordered threshold of her kingdom; she is not
\n\tskilled to bathe his weary chariot, nor to plunge his
\n\tsteeds, reeking with sweat, beneath the sea. Startled
\n\thimself at such unwonted welcoming, the sinking
\n\tsun beholds Aurora, and bids the shadows arise,
\n\tthough night is not yet ready. No stars come out;
\n\tthe heavens gleam not with any fires : no moon
\n\tdispels the darkness' heavy pall.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\twere here ! Trembling, trembling are our hearts,
\n\tsore smit with fear, lest all things fall shattered in
\n\tfatal ruin and once more gods and men be o'erwhelmed
\n\tby formless chaos; lest the lands, the encircling sea,
\n\tand the stars that wander in the spangled sky, nature
\n\tblot out once more. No more by the rising of his
\n\tquenchless torch shall the leader of the stars, guiding
\n\tthe procession of the years, mark off the summer and
\n\tthe winter times; no more shall Luna, reflecting
\n\tPhoebus' rays, dispel night's terrors, and outstrip
\n\ther brother's reins, as in scantier space she speeds
\n\ton her circling path. Into one abyss shall fall the
\n\theaped-up throng of gods. The Zodiac, which,
\n\tmaking passage through the sacred stars, crosses the
\n\tzones obliquely, guide and sign-bearer for the slowmoving
\n\tyears, falling itself, shall see the fallen
\n\tconstellations ; the Ram, who, ere kindly spring has
\n\tcome, gives back the sails to the warm West- wind,
\n\theadlong shall plunge into the waves o'er which he
\n\thad borne the trembling Helle ; the Bull, who
\n\tbefore him on bright horns bears the Hyades, shall
\n\tdrag the Twins down with him and the Crab's widecurving claws;
\n\tAlcides’Lion, with burning heat inflamed, once more
\n\tshall fall down from the sky ; the Virgin shall fall to the earth
\n\tshe once abandoned, and the Scales of justice with their weights
\n\tshall fall and with them shall drag the fierce Scorpion down;
\n\told Chiron,who sets the feathered shafts upon
\n\tHaemonian chord, shall lose his shafts from the
\n\tsnapped bowstring; the frigid Goat^ who brings
\n\tback sluggish winter, shall fall and break thy urn,
\n\twhoe'er thou art ; with thee shall fall the Fish, last
\n\tof the stars of heaven, and the Wain, which was
\n\tne'er bathed by the sea, shall be plunged beneath
\n\tthe all-engulfing waves ; the slippery Serpent which,
\n\tgliding like a river, separates the Bears, shall fall,
\n\tand icy Cynosura, the Lesser Bear, together with the
\n\tDragon vast, congealed with cold; and that slow-
\n\tmoving driver of his wain, Arctophylax,no longer
\n\tfixed in place, shall fall.
\n\tHave we of all mankind been deemed deserving that heaven,
\n\tits poles uptorn, should overwhelm us? In our time has the last day come?
\n\tAlas for us, by bitter fate begotten, to misery
\n\tdoomed, whether we have lost the sun or banished
\n\tit! Away with lamentations, begone, O fear!
\n\tGreedy indeed for life is he who would not die
\n\twhen the world is perishing in his company.<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(Translated by Frank Justus Miller, Ph.D.LL.D., The Loeb Classical Library)<\/p>\n
\n\tQuo terrarum superumque parem,
\n\tcuius ad ortus noctis opacae
\n\tdecus omne fugit, quo vertis iter
\n\tmedioque diem perdis Olympo?
\n\tcur, Phoebe, tuos rapis aspectus?
\n\tnondum serae nuntius horae
\n\tnocturna vocat lumina Vesper;
\n\tnondum Hesperiae flexura rotae
\n\tiubet emeritos solvere currus;
\n\tnondum in noctem vergente die
\n\ttertia misit bucina signum:
\n\tstupet ad subitae tempora cenae
\n\tnondum fessis bubus arator,
\n\tquid te aetherio pepulit cursu?
\n\tquae causa tuos
\n\tlimite certo deiecit equos?
\n\tnumquid aperto carcere Ditis
\n\tvicti temptant bella Gigantes?
\n\tnumquid Tityos pectore fesso
\n\trenovat veteres saucius iras?
\n\tnum reiecto
\n\tlatus explicuit monte Typhoeus?
\n\tnumquid struitur via Phlegraeos
\n\talta per hostes et Thessalicum
\n\tThressa premitur Pelion Ossa?
\n\tsolitae mundi periere vices?
\n\tnihil occasus, nihil ortus erit?
\n\tstupet Eoos
\n\tassueta deo tradere frenos
\n\tgenetrix primae roscida lucis
\n\tperversa sui limina regni;
\n\tnescit fessos
\n\ttinguere currus nec fumantes
\n\tsudore iubas mergere ponto.
\n\tipse insueto novus hospitio
\n\tSol Auroram videt occiduus,
\n\ttenebrasque iubet surgere nondum
\n\tnocte parata: non succedunt
\n\tastra nec ullo micat igne polus,
\n\tnon Luna gravis digerit umbras.
\n\tSed quicquid id est, utinam nox sit!
\n\ttrepidant, trepidant
\n\tpectora magno percussa metu:
\n\tne fatali cuncta ruina
\n\tquassata labent iterumque, deos
\n\thominesque premat deforme chaos,
\n\titerum terras et mare cingens
\n\t et vaga picti sidera mundi
\n\tnatura tegat.
\n\tnon aeternae facis exortu
\n\tdux astrorum saecula ducens
\n\tdabit aestatis brumaeque notas,
\n\tnon Phoebeis obvia flammis
\n\tdement nocti Luna timores
\n\tvincetque sui fratris habenas,
\n\tcurro brevius limite currens;
\n\tibit in unum
\n\tcongesta sinum turba deorum,
\n\thic qui sacris pervius astris
\n\tsecat obliquo tramite zonas
\n\tflectens longos signifer annos,
\n\tlapsa videbit sidera labens;
\n\thic qui nondum vere benigno
\n\treddit Zephyro- vela tepenti,
\n\tAries praeceps ibit in undas,
\n\tper quas pavidam vexerat Hellen;
\n\thic qui nitido Taurus cornu
\n\tpraefert Hyadas, secum Geminos
\n\ttrahet et curvi bracchia Cancri;
\n\tLeo flammiferis aestibus ardens
\n\titerum e caelo cadet Herculens,
\n\tcadet in terras Virgo relictas
\n\tiustaeqne cadent pondera Librae
\n\tsecumque trahent Scorpion acrem;
\n\tet qui nervo tenet Haemonio
\n\tpinnata senex spicula Chiron,
\n\trupto perdet spicula nervo;
\n\tpigram referens hiemem gelidus
\n\tcadet Aegoceros frangetque tuam,
\n\tquisquis es, urnam; tecum excedent
\n\tultima caeli sidera Pisces,
\n\tPlostraque numquam perfusa mari
\n\tmerget condens omnia gurges;
\n\tet qui medias dividit Vrsas,
\n\tfluminis instar lubricus Anguis
\n\tmagnoque minor iuncta Draconi
\n\tfrigida duro. Cynosura gelu,
\n\tcustosque sui tardus plaustri
\n\tiam non stabilis ruet Arctophylax.
\n\tNos e tanto visi populo
\n\tdigni premeret quos everso
\n\tcardine mundus?
\n\tin nos aetas ultima venit?
\n\to nos dura sorte creatos,
\n\tseu perdidimus solem miseri,
\n\tsive expulimus!
\n\tabeant questus, discedo, timor:
\n\tvitae est avidus quisquis non vult
\n\tmundo secum pereunte mori.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tOf hidden broils at hand and treachery,
\n\tAnd secret swelling of the waves of war.
\n\tHe too it was, when Caesar's light was quenched,
\n\tFor Rome had pity, when his bright head he veiled
\n\tIn iron-hued darkness, till a godless age
\n\tTrembled for night eternal;<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(Translated by J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900.)<\/p>\n
\n\tsaepe monet fraudemque et operta tumescere bella;
\n\tille etiam exstincto miseratus Caesare Romam,
\n\tcum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit
\n\timpiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\ttaken away by Dido <\/em>to the palace, presents the court poet singing the stars and their movements. He does it in verses 736 ff<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\n\t(Sprinkling the first libations on the ground,)
\n\tAnd rais'd it to her mouth with sober grace;
\n\tThen, sipping, offer'd to the next in place.
\n\t'T was Bitias whom she call'd, a thirsty soul;
\n\tHe took challenge, and embrac'd the bowl,
\n\tWith pleasure swill'd the gold, nor ceas'd to draw,
\n\tTill he the bottom of the brimmer saw.
\n\tThe goblet goes around: Iopas brought
\n\tHis golden lyre, and sung what ancient Atlas taught:
\n\tThe various labors of the wand'ring moon,
\n\tAnd whence proceed th' eclipses of the sun;
\n\tth' original of men and beasts; and whence
\n\tThe rains arise, and fires their warmth dispense,
\n\tAnd fix'd and erring stars dispose their influence;
\n\tWhat shakes the solid earth; what cause delays
\n\tThe summer nights and shortens winter days.
\n\tWith peals of shouts the Tyrians praise the song<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tth' unhappy queen with talk prolong'd the night,
\n\tAnd drank large draughts of love with vast delight;
\n\tOf Priam much enquir'd, of Hector more;<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(Translated by John Dryden)<\/p>\n
\n\tprimaque, libato, summo tenus attigit ore,
\n\ttum Bitiae dedit increpitans; ille impiger hausit
\n\tspumantem pateram, et pleno se proluit auro
\n\tpost alii proceres. Cithara crinitus Iopas
\n\tpersonat aurata, docuit quem maximus Atlas.
\n\tHic canit errantem lunam solisque labores;
\n\tunde hominum genus et pecudes; unde imber et ignes;
\n\tArcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones;
\n\tquid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles
\n\thiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet.
\n\tIngeminant plausu Tyrii, Troesque sequuntur.
\n\tNec non et vario noctem sermone trahebat
\n\tinfelix Dido, longumque bibebat amorem,
\n\tmulta super Priamo rogitans, super Hectore multa;<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tWhose rites I bear with mighty passion pierced,
\n\tReceive, and show the paths and stars of heaven,
\n\tThe sun's eclipses and the labouring moons,
\n\tFrom whence the earthquake, by what power the seas
\n\tSwell from their depths, and, every barrier burst,
\n\tSink back upon themselves, why winter-suns
\n\tSo haste to dip 'neath ocean, or what check
\n\tThe lingering night retards. But if to these
\n\tHigh realms of nature the cold curdling blood
\n\tAbout my heart bar access, then be fields
\n\tAnd stream-washed vales my solace, let me love
\n\tRivers and woods, inglorious.<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(Translated by J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900.)<\/p>\n
\n\tquarum sacra fero ingenti percussus amore,
\n\taccipiant caelique vias et sidera monstrent,
\n\tdefectus solis varios lunaeque labores;
\n\tunde tremor terris, qua vi maria alta tumescant
\n\t480obicibus ruptis rursusque in se ipsa residant,
\n\tquid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles
\n\thiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet.
\n\tSin, has ne possim naturae accedere partis,
\n\tfrigidus obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis:
\n\t485rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes,
\n\tflumina amem silvasque inglorius.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tThe Romans, according to their custom, tried to call her light back by the clashing of bronze utensils and by holding up many blazing fire-brands and torches towards the heavens; the Macedonians, however, did nothing of this sort, but amazement and terror possessed their camp, and a rumour quietly spread among many of them that the portent signified an eclipse of a king.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n