SEYFFARTH ON THE THEORY OF THE MOON S MOTIONS. 447 



since the Kal. Jan., and u.c. 693 commenced about the same time ; 

 but the eclipse in — 5S, July 31, oh. 15m., 13 I4°E., was invisible 

 in Europe, because it commenced after sunset. The same is the 

 case with the eclipse in — 5S, March 5, 7I1. 30m. ft 16 W. One 

 year earlier the ecliptic new moon happened on March 16th, 4b.. 

 45m., ft 8° W., which likewise followed sunset; wherefore Peta- 

 vius transferred this eclipse to Spain, and yet it was there also 

 invisible. The only eclipse coinciding with sunset was, at that 

 time, that in — 60, March 27th, 4h. 15m. P. T., ft o° W. ; curve, 

 — 15 , 3 , 24 . Since the ft, however, lay rather nearly 4 W. of 

 the sun, the obscuration of the latter must have been nearly total 

 in Rome, where the sun set about 6h. 4m. (local time), in Spain 

 20m. later. During this eclipse, as Pingre's Cometography states, 

 Posidonius discovered a comet, probably near the sun, which 

 would have been impossible without a great obscuration of the sun 

 in Rome. The correction o( the secular acceleration of the moon, 

 amounting for — 60 to about -f-2h. 34m., the retardation of the 

 apsides is to be taken into account. Moreover, since Obsequens 

 lived 400 years a.c, and since at that time the true series of the 

 consuls was already corrupted, as the chi-onographer of a.d 354 

 bears witness, it is not to be wondered at that Obsequens referred 

 this eclipse to the consuls Afranius and Caecilius instead of Sila- 

 nus and Licinius. 



22 &2S. Lucan (i. 535, "Titan involvit orbem tenebris — Phoebe 

 expalluit umbra"), Petronius (Sat. cxxii. 44, " Titan vultus cali- 

 gine texit"), and Dio (xli. 1, 14, p. 692 St., "o rf/MC, avfmaq 

 i^ekine"), bear witness that whilst J. Caesar, having crossed the 

 Rubicon, marched against Rome, two total eclipses were noted 

 within fifteen days, coss. Marcellus and Lentullus, u.c. 704, i.e. 

 — 47. The season when these eclipses took place is fixed by 

 Lucan, who certifies that on that day "the Rubicon was cov- 

 ered with ice," and that Caesar crossed it three weeks after the 

 inauguration of the consuls, Kal. Jan., which at that time coin- 

 cided with Dec. 8. Caesar himself (Bell. C. i. 13) says that he, 

 having passed over the Rubicon, took first of all Corfinium on 

 viii. Kal. Mart., i.e. on the 28th of January. The said solar eclipse 

 took place on Jan. 3d, 2ih. 30m., 13 i2°E., curve touching 30 , 22°, 

 4S ; consequently the obscuration of the sun was, in Italy, a very 

 small one. But, according to our Table (p. 429-30), the longi- 



