happened, when the fight had begun, that suddenly the day became
night. And this change of the day Thales, the Milesian, had
foretold to the Ionians, laying down as a limit this very year in
which the change took place. The Lydians, however, and the Medes,
when they saw that it had become night instead of day, ceased
from their fighting and were much more eager, both of them, that
peace should be made between them."

This memorable incident occurred while Alyattus, father of
Croesus, was king of the Lydians. The modern astronomer,
reckoning backward, estimates this eclipse as occurring probably
May 25th, 585 B.C. The date is important as fixing a mile-stone
in the chronology of ancient history, but it is doubly memorable
because it is the first recorded instance of a predicted eclipse.
Herodotus, who tells the story, was not born until about one
hundred years after the incident occurred, but time had not
dimmed the fame of the man who had performed the necromantic feat
of prophecy. Thales, the Milesian, thanks in part at least to
this accomplishment, had been known in life as first on the list
of the Seven Wise Men of Greece, and had passed into history as
the father of Greek philosophy. We may add that he had even found
wider popular fame through being named by Hippolytus, and then by
Father aesop, as the philosopher who, intent on studying the
heavens, fell into a well; "whereupon," says Hippolytus, "a
maid-servant named Thratta laughed at him and said, 'In his
search for things in the sky he does not see what is at his
feet.' "

Such citations as these serve to bring vividly to mind the fact
that we are entering a new epoch of thought. Hitherto our studies