478 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



ration must have been very great in Bceotia. Petavius, of course, 

 computed the two-years earlier eclipse in — 393, Aug. 13th, 23I1., 

 ft 2° east, curve 24 , 29 , o° ; but, alas ! this eclipse happened in 

 yetfJL(bv and not in fri^o^, and it was, moreover, too small (nine 

 inches according to La Hire's Tables) and not tx^uuiidr^. 



19. Xenophon (Hell. vii. 4, 29-32) reports that the battle near 

 Olympia was fought during both the Olympian games and the 

 archonship of Timocrates, accoixlingly in the month of June of 



— 361. Nearly 10 months after this battle, consequently in — 360, 

 during the spring, Pelopidas died in the city of Thebes, Boeotia, 

 as Plutarch (Pel. 31, p. 3S9 R.) narrates, whilst a great eclipse 

 of the sun took place {axozoz £v fyiepa ztjv xohv ea%ev). The 

 same we read in Diodor (xv. 81, p. 65 W.) This is obviously 

 the eclipse in — 360, May 12th, 3I1. 15m., ft i° W., curve 2 , 2S , 

 21 ; but the obscuration was very small in Boeotia (38 20' N., 

 21 5' E.), according to the prevalent lunar theory. Thus, our 

 correction (p. 429), according to which the ft lay nearly 6° west 

 of the sun, and the conjunction happened 3h. 25m. later, is con- 

 firmed. In — 351 no solar eclipse was visible in Greece. Peta- 

 vius, who put the Olympian games two years earlier, and the 

 archons of this time earlier by three years, recurred to the eclipse 

 in _ 363, July 12, 22h. 15m., ft 6° W., curve 41 , 54 , 17 ; but the 

 obscuration of the sun amounted to 4 inches only, and it is con- 

 tradicted by Plutarch, by the epochs of the Olympian games, and 

 by the succession of the archons. I 



20. Plutarch (Dion 19, p. 286 R.) narrates that during Plato's 

 third sojourn in Sicily (01. 105, 3), a remarkable eclipse of the 

 sun, predicted by Helicon, occurred in Syracuse (37 2 1 N., 12 

 56°E.) Petavius, commencing the Olympiad 105, 3, with July in 



— 357, computed the eclipse in — 356, Feb. 2S, 23b.. 13m., ft 4 

 W., curve ii°, 26 , 41°; but the obscuration amounted in Sicily 

 to 4 inches only. Other authors refer the same eclipse to Ol. 104, 

 3, commencing with Jul}' 2d in — 361, and in this case Helicon's 

 eclipse would have been the same mentioned by Xenophon (No. 

 19). But Petavius correctly demonstrates that Plato's third visit 

 to Sicily belongs to — 357. According to our Table, p. 429, the 

 longitude of the ft was shorter by 5 14' in — 356, Feb. 28th, 

 23b.. 30m. P. T., to the effect that the sun was probably totally 

 obscured in Syracuse. 



