456 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



possible in a.d. 14, he metamorphosed even this eclipse into a 

 " supernatural phenomenon." 



■34- Tacitus (Ann. i. 28) and Dio Cass. (Ivii. 4, p. 522 St.) re- 

 port that nearly six months after Augustus's death a total eclipse 

 of the moon happened, soon after sunset, in Laybach, Tyrol, 

 which eclipse terminated the rebellion of the legions there sta- 

 tioned. This is the eclipse of a.d. 17, January 30th, 8h., Q, 8° E.^ 

 obscuration 6 inches. Since, however, the SI lay only 4° 20' E. 

 of the sun (p. 429), the eclipse was indeed a total one. Petavius 

 had in his mind the eclipse of a.d. 14, Sept. 26ht, iSh. (Laybach 

 T.) ; but this eclipse commenced a short time before sunrise, and 

 not soon after sunset. It is, moreover, opposed to all the facts ; 

 for, from Augustus's death (Aug. 19) to Sept. 26th, only 38 days 

 elapsed, and this short time was insufficient to accomplish what, 

 according to Tacitus's detailed description, was done during this 

 period. This eclipse apparently confirms the fact that the consuls 

 after Caesar ruled two years later. 



35. Phlegon and Thallus (Euseb. Chr. i. 77 & ii. 202 ; Paulus 

 Diac. Hist.Misc. 7, p. 253 ; Syncel. p. 256, Ven. ; Fasti. Sic. p. 222, 

 Par.), bear witness that in the 19th year of Tiberius, Ol. 202, 4^ 

 a total eclipse of the sun {ixhi/nc 'j^lou rshca) had been seen 

 ^bout noon (w/>7; ixzYj ry^c, ^fj.ipac:') in Nicsea, Bithynia (40° 30' 

 N., 27° 30' E.) The years of the emperors commenced in Egypt 

 and other Roman provinces, it is well known, with the local 

 newyears day preceding the epoch of their actual reign ; and 

 hence the 19th year of Tiberius began in the autumn of a.d. 32. 

 Accordingly, the attested eclipse must have been that in a.d. 33,. 

 Sept. II, 22h. 30m. P. T., y 8° E., curve 78°, 63°, 33°. Accord- 

 ing to our Table (p. 429-30), the conjunction happened 2h. i8m. 

 later, and the 13 lay 4° 25' only east of the sun, and hence the 

 eclipse was total in Nictea, and, as history reports, there it coin- 

 cided with noon. 



36. Dio Cass. (ix. 26, p. 776) relates that "on Claudius's birth- 

 day" (Aug. I St) an eclipse of the sun occurred in Rome (6 tjAco^ 

 IxXsiiptcv l//$//£v). The only eclipse, about that time, coincid- 

 ing with the I St day of August was that of a.d. 45, July 31, 22h. 

 U 0° W., curve 22°, 19°, — 14°. The longitude of the ft being 

 shorter by 3° 30', the obscuration of the sun in Rome must have 



