462 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



to a wrong date. According to Petavius and his adherents, Ner- 

 va died a.d. 98, and hence they recurred to the aforesaid eclipse. 

 It is, however, still a question whether Nerva died a.d. 98 or 

 99; for Petavius himself (Doct. Tern. xi. 20, p. 182) concedes 

 that the year 98 is in conflict with Domitian's coins, and that 

 some authors put the death of Domitian in 97 a.d. Since, then, 

 Nerva died 16 months after Domitian, Nerva's death belongs to 

 a.d. 99 ; and, in this case, the eclipse under consideration was that 

 of a.d. 99, Sept. 2d, 22h. (-f-2h. 9m.) P. T., ft 2° 20' E., curve 

 11°, 0°, *. According to our Table (p. 429), the ft lay 1° west 

 of the sun, and hence the eclipse was plainly visible in Rome. 



48. O +118, Sept. 2, 22h. 30m., ft 6° W., Rome, curve 53°, 

 42°, 14°. The Chronogi-apher of a.d. 354 (Anonymus Norisii), 

 published by the R. Saxon Society of Science, Leips., 1850, p. 

 660, relates that "his consulibus" (Hadrian II. and Tib. Claud. 

 Tusc. Salinator a.d. i 18) "sol eclipsin passus est." The longitude 

 of the ft was (p. 430) shorter by 3° 15', and the conjunction 

 happened later, about 2 p.m. 



49. O -(-200, Mar. 31, 2ih. 30m., ft4°E., Utica (Carthage), 

 curve *, — 15°, 7°. Tertullian (Apol. ad Scop. c. 3, p. 70) nar- 

 rates : "nam etsol illo in conventu Uticensi extincto paene lumine 

 adeo portentum fuit, ut non potuerit ex ordinario deliquio hoc 

 pati, potius in suo hypsomate et domicilio," etc. The Council of 

 Utica took place in the course of the eight-year reign of Emperor 

 Severus, a.d. 200 ; for which reason Petavius recurred to the 

 aforesaid eclipse, although it was invisible in 36° 51' N. Lat. 

 According to our Table (p. 429), however, the ft lay only i'" E. 

 of the sun. The eclipse in +199, Oct. 7th, 5h. 30m., happened 

 after sunset, and that of a.d. 201, March 21st, i2h., was visible 

 only in Eastern Asia. 



50. O +219, April ist, 2oh., ft 3° W., Rome, curve 1°, 26°, 

 48°. The eye-witness Dio Cassius (78, 30, p. 769) reports that 

 u.c. 971, a.d. 219, -^Xioo ixXc(pi(; Trep^paveardr^ bitb r«c ^[ispa^ 

 ix£iva<: iysveTO. This small eclipse, however, was nearly a total 

 one in Rome, because the ft lay about 6° W. of the sun, and the 

 conjunction happened nearly two hours later (p. 429). 



31. O +237, April 12, 3h. 30m., ft 2° W., Rome, curve 44°- 

 48°. Julius Capitolinus (Gord. iii. 23 ; vol. ii. p. 13, ed. Lugd.) 

 bears witness that, within the first year of Gordian (a.d. 237), a 



