Lunar Eclipse
John Townsend
caelo visa languescere. Id miles rationis ignarus omen praesentium accepit,
suis laboribus defectionem sideris adsimulans, prospereque cessura quae
pergerent si fulgor et claritudo deae redderetur. Igitur aeris sono, tubarum
cornuumque concentu strepere; prout splendidior obscuriorve laetari aut
maerere; et postquam ortae nubes offecere visui creditumque conditam
tenebris, ut sunt mobiles ad superstitionem perculsae semel mentes, sibi
aeternum laborem portendi, sua facinora aversari deos lamentantur."
(Tacitus, Annals, I, XXVIII)
"The persecutors of the sun and moon were supposed, in the utmost heat of
their fury, to produce the eclipses of those bodies. In particular, by a
wide-spread superstition, the labours of the moon were ascribed to the
successful attacks of the enemy, who seemed to be rapidly devouring or
tearing to pieces the object of his hostility. It has been a usage
accordingly, in many countries, to issue forth at such times in large
multitudes, with sounding instruments and clamorous shouts, designed, as it
would seem, to frighten the monster from his prey, and to encourage the
fainting luminary to maintain the conflict against the powers of darkness.
The cry of" Vince Luna" seems to have been the Latin watchword of
encouragement on such occasions; and we find the early Christian preachers
inveighing earnestly against the practice, as a remnant of heathenism."
(Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Volume 48, 1840, p. 40)
Johannes Ad Finem Villae
Author of "Notes on the Life of Howard Staunton"
http://www.johntownsend.demon.co.uk/index_files/Page324.htm
Ed Cryer
"The natives pleaded with Columbus to return the Moon to its former
self. They promised food and anything else Columbus or his men wanted.
They begged for forgiveness. With high drama, old Chris told the natives
he would just nip inside and seek a bit of counsel with the Almighty and
see if he was in the forgiving mood."
http://starryskies.com/The_sky/events/lunar-2003/columbus.eclipse.html
Ed