6 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



of some sort in his narrative. But explaining an 

 eclipse of the sun as an eclipse of the moon is simply 

 preposterous. 



It is singular how often the occurrence of a total 

 eclipse is connected with the military and naval under- 

 takings of ancient nations. Most of my readers must 

 remember the narrative of the total eclipse which 

 seriously threatened the success of the expedition of 

 the Athenians under Pericles against the Lacedaemo- 

 nians. ' The whole fleet was in readiness, and Pericles 

 on board his own galley, when there happened an 

 eclipse of the sun. The sudden darkness was looked 

 upon as an unfavourable omen, and threw the sailors 

 into the greatest consternation. Pericles, observing 

 that the pilot was much astonished and perplexed, 

 took his cloak, and having covered his eyes with it, 

 asked him if he found anything terrible in that, or 

 considered it as a bad presage? Upon his answer- 

 ing in the negative, Pericles said, "Where is the 

 difference, then, between this and the other, ex- 

 cept that something bigger than my cloak causes the 

 eclipse ? " 



But perhaps the most interesting of all the problems 

 with which ancient eclipses have supplied our modern 

 astronomers, is that which is connected with what is 

 termed the eclipse of Agathocles. After his defeat by the 

 Carthaginians, Agathocles was besieged by them in 

 Syracuse. But, taking advantage of a relaxation in the 

 vigilance of the blockading fleet, occasioned by the 

 approach of a fleet which had been sent for his relief, he 



