REMARKABLE COMETS
If eclipses were a cause of terror in past ages, comets appear to have
been doubly so. Their much longer continuance in the sight of men had no
doubt something to say to this, and also the fact that they arrived
without warning; it not being then possible to give even a rough
prediction of their return, as in the case of eclipses. As both these
phenomena were occasional, and out of the ordinary course of things,
they drew exceptional attention as unusual events always do; for it must
be allowed that quite as wonderful things exist, but they pass unnoticed
merely because men have grown accustomed to them.
For some reason the ancients elected to class comets along with meteors,
the aurora borealis, and other phenomena of the atmosphere, rather than
with the planets and the bodies of the spaces beyond. The sudden
appearance of these objects led them to be regarded as signs sent by the
gods to announce remarkable events, chief among these being the deaths
of monarchs. Shakespeare has reminded us of this in those celebrated
lines in _Julius Cæsar_:--
"When beggars die there are no comets seen,
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes."
Numbed by fear, the men of old blindly accepted these presages of fate;
and did not too closely question whether the threatened danger was to
their own nation or to some other, to their ruler or to his enemy. Now
and then, as in the case of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, there was a
cynical attempt to apply some reasoning to the portent. That emperor, in
alluding to the comet of A.D. 79, is reported to have said: "This hairy
star does not concern me; it menaces rather the King of the Parthians,
for he is hairy and I am bald." Vespasian, all the same, died shortly
afterwards!
Pliny, in his natural history, gives several instances of the terrible
significance which the ancients attached to comets. "A comet," he says,
"is ordinarily a very fearful star; it announces no small effusion of
blood. We have seen an example of this during the civil commotion of
Octavius."
A very brilliant comet appeared in 371 B.C., and about the same time an
earthquake caused Helicè and Bura, two towns in Achaia, to be swallowed
up by the sea. The following remark made by Seneca concerning it shows
that the ancients did not consider comets merely as precursors, but even
as actual _causes_ of fatal events: "This comet, so anxiously observed
by every one, _because of the great catastrophe which it produced as
soon as it appeared_, the submersion of Bura and Helicè."
Comets are by no means rare visitors to our skies, and very few years
have elapsed in historical times without such objects making their
appearance. In the Dark and Middle Ages, when Europe was split up into
many small kingdoms and principalities, it was, of course, hardly
possible for a comet to appear without the death of some ruler occurring
near the time. Critical situations, too, were continually arising in
those disturbed days. The end of Louis le Debonnaire was hastened, as
the reader will, no doubt, recollect, by the great eclipse of 840; but
it was firmly believed that a comet which had appeared a year or two
previously presaged his death. The comet of 1556 is reported to have
_influenced_ the abdication of the Emperor Charles V.; but curiously
enough, this event had already taken place before the comet made its
appearance! Such beliefs, no doubt, had a very real effect upon rulers
of a superstitious nature, or in a weak state of health. For instance,
Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, was sick when the comet of 1402
appeared. After seeing it, he is said to have exclaimed: "I render
thanks to God for having decreed that my death should be announced to
men by this celestial sign." His malady then became worse, and he died
shortly afterwards.
It is indeed not improbable that such superstitious fears in monarchs
were fanned by those who would profit by their deaths, and yet did not
wish to stain their own hands with blood.
Evil though its effects may have been, this morbid interest which past
ages took in comets has proved of the greatest service to our science.
Had it not been believed that the appearance of these objects was
attended with far-reaching effects, it is very doubtful whether the old
chroniclers would have given themselves the trouble of alluding to them
at all; and thus the modern investigators of cometary orbits would have
lacked a great deal of important material.
We will now mention a few of the most notable comets which historians
have recorded.
A comet which appeared in 344 B.C. was thought to betoken the success
of the expedition undertaken in that year by Timoleon of Corinth against
Sicily. "The gods by an extraordinary prodigy announced his success and
future greatness: a burning torch appeared in the heavens throughout the
night and preceded the fleet of Timoleon until it arrived off the coast
of Sicily."
The comet of 43 B.C. was generally believed to be the soul of Cæsar on
its way to heaven.
Josephus tells us that in A.D. 69 several prodigies, and amongst them a
comet in the shape of a sword, announced the destruction of Jerusalem.
This comet is said to have remained over the city for the space of a
year!
A comet which appeared in A.D. 336 was considered to have announced the
death of the Emperor Constantine.
But perhaps the most celebrated comet of early times was the one which
appeared in A.D. 1000. That year was, in more than one way, big with
portent, for there had long been a firm belief that the Christian era
could not possibly run into four figures. Men, indeed, steadfastly
believed that when the thousand years had ended, the millennium would
immediately begin. Therefore they did not reap neither did they sow,
they toiled not, neither did they spin, and the appearance of the comet
strengthened their convictions. The fateful year, however, passed by
without anything remarkable taking place; but the neglect of husbandry
brought great famine and pestilence over Europe in the years which
followed.
In April 1066, that year fraught with such immense consequences for
England, a comet appeared. No one doubted but that it was a presage of
the success of the Conquest, and perhaps, indeed, it had its due weight
in determining the minds and actions of the men who took part in the
expedition. _Nova stella, novus rex_ ("a new star, a new sovereign") was
a favourite proverb of the time. The chroniclers, with one accord, have
delighted to relate that the Normans, "guided by a comet," invaded
England. A representation of this object appears in the Bayeux Tapestry
(see Fig. 19, p. 263).[26]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--The comet of 1066, as represented in the Bayeux
Tapestry.
(From the _World of Comets_.)]
We have mentioned Halley's Comet of 1682, and how it revisits the
neighbourhood of the earth at intervals of seventy-six years. The comet
of 1066 has for many years been supposed to be Halley's Comet on one of
its visits. The identity of these two, however, was only quite recently
placed beyond all doubt by the investigations of Messrs Cowell and
Crommelin. This comet appeared also in 1456, when John Huniades was
defending Belgrade against the Turks led by Mahomet II., the conqueror
of Constantinople, and is said to have paralysed both armies with fear.
The Middle Ages have left us descriptions of comets, which show only too
well how the imagination will run riot under the stimulus of terror. For
instance, the historian, Nicetas, thus describes the comet of the year
1182: "After the Romans were driven from Constantinople a prognostic was
seen of the excesses and crimes to which Andronicus was to abandon
himself. A comet appeared in the heavens similar to a writhing serpent;
sometimes it extended itself, sometimes it drew itself in; sometimes, to
the great terror of the spectators, it opened a huge mouth; it seemed
that, as if thirsting for human blood, it was upon the point of
satiating itself." And, again, the celebrated Ambrose Paré, the father
of surgery, has left us the following account of the comet of 1528,
which appeared in his own time: "This comet," said he, "was so horrible,
so frightful, and it produced such great terror in the vulgar, that some
died of fear, and others fell sick. It appeared to be of excessive
length, and was of the colour of blood. At the summit of it was seen the
figure of a bent arm, holding in its hand a great sword, as if about to
strike. At the end of the point there were three stars. On both sides of
the rays of this comet were seen a great number of axes, knives,
blood-coloured swords, among which were a great number of hideous human
faces, with beards and bristling hair." Paré, it is true, was no
astronomer; yet this shows the effect of the phenomenon, even upon a man
of great learning, as undoubtedly he was. It should here be mentioned
that nothing very remarkable happened at or near the year 1528.
Concerning the comet of 1680, the extraordinary story got about that, at
Rome, a hen had laid an egg on which appeared a representation of the
comet!
But the superstitions with regard to comets were now nearing their end.
The last blow was given by Halley, who definitely proved that they
obeyed the laws of gravitation, and circulated around the sun as planets
do; and further announced that the comet of 1682 had a period of
seventy-six years, which would cause it to reappear in the year 1759. We
have seen how this prediction was duly verified. We have seen, too, how
this comet appeared again in 1835, and how it is due to return in the
early part of 1910.
[26] With regard to the words "Isti mirant stella" in the figure, Mr.
W.T. Lynn suggests that they may not, after all, be the grammatically
bad Latin which they appear, but that the legend is really "Isti
mirantur stellam," the missing letters being supposed to be hidden by
the building and the comet.