Excerpt: ...time came when a battle was to take place between the vessels of the two cities. It happened on a day when there was to be an eclipse of the sun. Now, you know that this is a very simple and natural thing. An eclipse of the sun is a darkening of its surface, which occurs whenever the moon passes between it and the earth. As the moon is a very large and solid body, we cannot see either through or around it, and for a few minutes while it is directly between us and the sun it Pg 154 entirely hides the latter from our sight. Pericles, who had so often talked with Anaxagoras and the other learned men of his day, knew what an eclipse was, and had even been told that one would soon take place. He was therefore quite ready for it, warned his soldiers that it was coming, and illustrated his meaning by flinging his cloak over the head of his pilot. "Can you see the sun now?" he asked.