44© TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD SCIENCE. 



Livy shows this eclipse to have taken place past noon in Rome. 

 Since the l^omans obtained their lunar calendar first by Numa, it 

 is evident that the "Nonas Qiiinctiles" referred to the ancient solar 

 year of the Romans, and hence the Nonse Qiiinctiles signified, as 

 is well known, June 5th. About that time only one solar eclipse 

 coincided with June 5th, viz. that in -715, June 5th, 2ih. 15m. 

 Moreover, from the foundation of Rome in —752 down to -715, 

 as history reports, exactly 37 years, i month, and some days 

 elapsed. That eclipse, however, preceded noon in Rome, but, 

 according to our Table (p. 429-30), the conjunction took place 

 4h. 30m. later, which agrees with Livy. Further, the place of 

 the D> was then, according to all Lunar Tables, 2° E. of the sun, 

 and hence Pingre found that, during this eclipse, the shadow of 

 the moon described the following curve : _ 14°, -f- 10°, _ 9°. Con- 

 sequently this eclipse was invisible in Rome. According to our 

 Table (p. 429-30) the longitude of the U, however, was shorter 

 by nearly 7° 3' ; it lay, in accordance with history, 4° W. of the 

 sun. Petavius referred to the eclipse in -714, May 26, 5h. 30m. : 

 but this ecliptic new moon happened not on the "■ Nonte Qiiincti- 

 les," viz. June 5th ; it coincided with sunset, and not with noon ; 

 it was, moreover, a small one SI 6° W. (the curve of the moon's 

 shadow being 25°, 34°, 40°) ; and from Petavius's date of the 

 foundation of Rome in _ 753 to this eclipse, not 37 years only, as 

 history says, but 39 elapsed. 



4' Livy (vii. 28) reports that, in the course of the consulate of 

 Rutilus and Torquatus, u.c. 409, an eclipse about sunrise and a 

 shower of stones occurred, and that both prodigia had likewise 

 happened in the last years of Tullus Hostilius, who died in -63S. 

 Indeed, a similar eclipse occurred in -642, Jan. 11, i8h., ft 1° E. 

 (_6^ 28') ; but Livy (i. 31) mentions only the shower of stones, 

 and not the eclipse ; therefore the latter is dubious. 



5. Pliny (ii. 12, 9) reports that, u.c. 170, and Ol. 48, 4, a total 

 eclipse of the sun, predicted by Thales, occurred in Miletus. 

 Solinus (Pol. c. 15, 16) refers the same eclipse to Ol. 49 [i], and 

 to the 604th year after the destruction of Troy ; consequently to 

 — 581 (1x84- 603 = 581). Since Rome was founded in _ 752, the 

 1st Julian year p. u.c. commenced in_75ii and hence u.c. 170 

 commenced likewise in -581, to which Pliny refers the Thalesian 

 eclipse. Pliny, moreover, counting the Olympiads from_775v 



