Part 2

Emperor Charles V., of Germany and Spain, the monarch who boasted that “the sun never set on his dominions,” was so moved by the appearance of a Comet in 1556, that he gave up his crown and became a monk.

Certain metaphysicians have held that there is a substance in a Comet, or in its tail, which has a weird effect on man’s brain, as moonshine is believed to have on some men, making them lunatics. As a matter of fact, as Arago pointed out, Comets have caused tremendous spring tides just like the moon. The same irresistible pull of gravity or electricity or light-pressure must perforce affect other substances besides water, such as human brains.

According to this metaphysical theory, the close approach of a Comet to the earth affects and disturbs men’s brains, so that men are inwardly stirred with warlike impulses. Hence the great wars almost invariably following the appearance of Comets.

Hence, too, the appeal to Comets made by so many conquerors, from William the Conqueror down to Napoleon. In the homely phrase of one writer, “the inner eye of man, under the weird effect of a Comet, sees red and makes him thirst for blood.”

Those rare beings who have lying latent within them the gift of Second Sight or divination, according to this same metaphysical theory, upon the near approach of Comets find themselves stirred to prophesy. Hence, so many marvellous prophesies inspired by Comets since the ancient days of Merlin, the seer.

[Illustration: “THE COMET OF 1910 SO ALARMED THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO THAT MANY THOUSANDS WENT ON A HOLY PILGRIMAGE TO THE SHRINE OF TALPA IN XALISCO.”—_Mexican Herald._]

THIS YEAR’S PROPHECIES

The return of Halley’s Comet in this Year of Our Lord 1910 has already called forth several memorable prophesies.

On January 20th the French astrologer and prophetess Madame de Thebes, who predicted the disastrous French floods of this year, as well as the coming of Inness’ unexpected Comet, uttered the following prophesies:

“This year, 1910, will be one to look back to with trembling.

“The earth is under a terrific strain from Comets and planetary revolutions. Human destiny is red. That means blood. Political events are black. Terrible changes are imminent.

“This winter, France will be swept by terrible floods. Paris will be under water. The influence of form changes in other planets and the coming of a Comet will affect us for the worse.

“The strain of the stars will be most severely felt in America. The people of America will have to pay dearly for all their riches and sudden prosperity. With the coming of another Comet disaster will descend upon America.

“A financial crash is impending, to be followed by a long string of suicides. Black ruling us, men will commit all manner of crimes and knaveries for money.

“The times are swaying toward degeneration. We are swinging within the evil influence of a strange orbit. Our souls are jarred from their proper bearings. I dare not say all that is revealed to me. It would be too terrible.”

Soon after this prophesy was uttered came the first of such suicides. Adam Toma, a wealthy landowner of Szozona, Hungary, cut his throat because of the Comet. He left a note saying that the Comet was the cause of his death.

Cardinal Gibbons later expressed his profound belief that the Paris floods of this year were sent by God as a punishment to the Parisians for their frivolities and sins, of which the Comet was a fiery warning.

Commenting on Madame de Thebes’ predictions and her connection of the Comet of 1910 with this year’s spring-floods in France, Italy and Germany, the French astronomer Henri Deslandres, late Director of the Astronomical Observatory of Meudon and member of the French Academy of Sciences, said:

“However distant Comets may be, it is not at all impossible that their enormous tails, measuring 75,000,000 to 125,000,000 miles in length, may come in contact with our atmosphere. The theory that a Comet may disturb the atmosphere of the earth, causing rains of great duration, and consequently inundations and the sudden overflow of rivers, is not at all absurd. It can be sustained by scientific reasoning.”

It should be remembered here that Laplace, one of the greatest of all astronomers, credited the deluge to a Comet.

Before Madame de Thebes’ ominous prophesy concerning Halley’s Comet and its effects upon America were cabled over to this country, another, no less dire prediction of financial disaster in the United States, coincident with the appearance of Halley’s Comet, was made by W. E. Corey, the President of the American Steel Trust.

[Illustration: THE COMET OF 1910, FROM A TELESCOPIC PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT GREENWICH.]

Mr. Corey then warned his friends to “call in their money and get from under” because a calamitous financial crash and general business ruin would surely come during the Spring of 1910.

The most ominous of all prophesies connected with the coming of Halley’s Comet this year was made by the venerable General Ballington Booth, the head of the Salvation Army. Speaking in London, immediately after Halley’s Comet had been located, early this year, General Booth said:

“We are, this year, rapidly approaching the end of all things, with similar results, but far surpassing in horrors any disaster that has gone before.

“All things will be wound up. Besides a deluge of water sweeping parts of the world and its inhabitants there will be fierce destruction by fire.”

FAMOUS COMETS OF OLDEN TIMES

Bacon, the great English thinker, has said: “Comets have some action and effect on the universality of things.”

All Comets recorded in history, so Lubienitius has shown in his “Universal History of All Comets,” appeared in connection with some great event or catastrophe in the History of Man.

George F. Chambers, one of the most up-to-date writers on Astronomy and Comets, on the second page of his “Story of the Comets” (1909), declares:

“It is the general testimony of History during many hundreds of years, one might even say during fully 2,000 years, that Comets were always considered to be peculiarly ‘ominous of the wrath of Heaven and as harbingers of wars and famines, of the dethronement of Monarchs and the dissolution of Empires.’”

Reaching back into remotest history, the sacred books of India show that the births of Krishna and of Buddha were foretold by moving lights in the Heavens.

The ancient records of China tell of the appearance of a moving beacon in Heaven at the birth of Yu, the first ruler of the Celestial Empire, and again at the birth of the great Chinese prophet, Lao-Tse.

The ancient Greeks have recorded similar appearances of Comets. Aesculapius, the divine healer and first physician, was born under a Comet.

The oldest traditions of the Jews tell us that when Abraham was born a moving star was seen in the East.

Another moving star with long radiant gleams of light streaming behind it shone forth at the birth of Moses. This Comet was seen by the Magi of Egypt, who pointed it out to the King as an omen meant for him. Hence Pharaoh’s order, as recorded in the Old Testament, for the slaughter of all male Jewish infants then born in Egypt.

GREAT EVENTS CONNECTED WITH HISTORIC COMETS IN ANTIQUITY

The earliest Comet of which there is any historic record was a Comet mentioned in the oldest cuneiform inscriptions of Babylonia several thousand years before our Christian era, recently found on the north bank of Nahr-al-Kalb, near Beyrut in Syria. This Comet is recorded to have been visible to the naked eye for 29 nights.

At the time Lubienitius wrote his big “History of all the Comets” the exact date of this Comet had not been fixed. Lubienitius, though, had a record of this same Comet, the date of which he fixes at the year 2312 before Christ, the date computed by him and other writers for the beginning of the deluge.

In modern times the great French astronomer Laplace credited a Comet with causing huge floods at the time of the great Deluge.

Two hundred and eighty-eight years after the great Deluge, according to the records of the Chaldean star gazers, there appeared another Comet. This is the date, computed by Lubienitius, for the building of the Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues.

Two thousand and sixty-four years before Christ, another Comet appeared, as recorded by the Chaldeans. This is the date given for the birth of Abraham.

When Abraham was seventy years old, in the year 1949 B. C., a Comet was seen shining over the Valley of Siddim for twenty-two nights. This is the date given by Bible historians for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the two cities of iniquity which lay in the Vale of Siddim.

Jewish annalists record a Comet in Egypt in the year corresponding to B. C. 1841. This Comet shone at the time of the bitter persecution of the Jews by the Egyptians.

Arabian star gazers have recorded a Comet shining over Arabia 1732 B. C. In that year there was a terrible famine, of which mention is made in the Old Testament.

The ancient Chinese year books record the appearance of a Comet over northern China and Manchuria in the year corresponding to 1537 B. C. The appearance of the Comet, so the Chinese chronicles tell, was followed by a great flood and disastrous famine.

The next Comet of which we have any record, appeared 1515 B. C. This was at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from Egypt.

In the year B. C. 1194, we are told by Hyginus that “On the fall of Troy, one of the Pleiades group of stars rushed along the Heavens toward the Arctic pole, where the star remained visible with dishevelled hair, to which the name of Comet is applied.”

We are informed by Pliny, the Roman historian, that in B. C. 975, the “Egyptians and Ethiopians suffered from a terrible famine, the dire effects of a Comet. It appeared all on fire, and was twisted in the form of a wreath, and had a hideous aspect. It seemed not to be a star, but rather a knot of fire.”

Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions tell us that about 575 B. C., when Nebuchadnezzar overran Elam, “a star arose whose head was bright as day, while from its luminous body a tail extended like the sting of a scorpion.”

According to Pliny, again, a Comet in the form of a horn was seen in the year B. C. 480, just before the great invasion of Greece by Xerxes ending in the bloody sea fight of Salamis.

The next Comet mentioned by Lubienitius appeared in B. C. 466, when it was seen for 75 nights all over Greece. In that year Greece was ravaged by war between the Spartans and Athenians, and the city of Sparta was all but destroyed by an earthquake.

The next Comet appeared one generation later in 431 B. C., and was seen through 60 nights all over the ancient world. This Comet was followed by a terrible pestilence which swept over Aethiopia, Egypt, Athens, and Rome. War broke out all over Greece. It was the beginning of the great Peloponnesian War, which devastated Greece for a generation to follow.

In the year 394 B. C., there was another Comet seen in Greece, followed by the great Corinthian War with the bloody battles of Knidus and Koronea.

Aristotle records a Comet seen by him in his fifteenth year, 371 B. C. The sight of it inspired the youth to a special study of astronomy. The Comet was visible until the end of the first week of July. On July eighth was fought the great battle between the Thebans and Spartans, when Epaminondas, one of the greatest generals of antiquity, overthrew the Spartans.

The next Comet, that of 338 B. C., which was likewise observed by Aristotle, who had then become the teacher of Alexander the Great, marked Alexander’s first public entry into the history of the world. The Comet blazed its brightest on the eve of the bloody battle of Chaeronea, Alexander’s first victory and achievement in war.

In the year 344 B. C., there was another Comet, followed by another war in Greece and Sicily. Diodorus of Sicily wrote of this Comet: “On the departure of the expedition of Timoleon from Corinth for Sicily with all his war ships, the Gods foretold success by an extraordinary prodigy: A burning torch appeared in the Heavens for an entire night and went before the fleet into Sicily.”

_The Comets of Carthage._

Nearly a hundred years passed before the appearance of another Comet in 240 B. C. This is the first recorded appearance of Halley’s Comet. By the light of this Comet, Hamilcar, the great Carthaginian general, made his young son Hannibal swear eternal enmity to the Romans. Hamilcar was then in the midst of preparations for the war against Rome, which broke out soon afterward.

Comets appear to have been stars of special omen to Hannibal and to his native city, Carthage. Twenty years later, appeared another Comet which shone over Carthage for 22 nights. Its appearance was followed by the outbreak of the great war between Hannibal and the Romans, and by a terrible earthquake in Greece.

The next Comet shone in 204 B. C., when Hannibal suffered his first bloody defeat by Sempronius, while Scipio, Hannibal’s arch enemy, was crossing over to Africa, for the first attack upon Carthage.

The appearance of the next Comet, twenty years later, 184 B. C., which shone through 88 nights over Asia Minor “with a horrible lustre” was followed by the death of Hannibal. Soothsayers at the court of King Prusias of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, whither Hannibal had fled from the Romans, told the King that the Comet betokened Hannibal’s early death. This so wrought on Hannibal’s spirit that he ended his life with poison.

In the year 150 B. C., appeared another Comet “of horrible size.” It was seen for many nights running all over the Mediterranean Sea. Its appearance was followed by the outbreak of the third great Punic War between Rome and Carthage.

Within four years another Comet, blazing over northern Africa in 146 B. C., was followed by the fall of Carthage, which was stormed and utterly destroyed by the Romans.

_Mithridates’ Star._

Mithridates, King of Pontus, and conqueror of Asia Minor, another arch foe of the Romans, having been born under a Comet, seems to have fallen under the bane of Comets.

During the Winter of 134-135 B. C., preceding Mithridates’ birth, a Comet of unusual lustre flared over Asia Minor through 72 days. This Comet was so bright that its long, flaming tail was plainly visible even in day time. The ancient historian Justinus thus described it:

“Its splendour eclipsed that of the midday sun and occupied the fourth part of Heaven.”

The next Comet, burning through 72 nights again, preceded Mithridates’ accession to the throne of Pontus, 119 B. C.

Mithridates’ fourth Comet, now identified as Halley’s Comet, was seen over Asia Minor through the Winter months of 87-88 B. C., just before the horrible massacre of 150,000 Italians ordered by Mithridates.

Twenty-five years later, 63 B. C., Mithridates saw his Comet for the last time when his own son rose up in arms against him. The omen of the Comet so wrought on Mithridates that he first poisoned himself and then had one of his own soldiers despatch him with his sword.

No other Comet is recorded in ancient history during this century, except the one which was seen shining over Italy preceding the birth (July 11, 100 B. C.) of Julius Caesar, destined to become “The foremost man of all this world,” as Shakespeare calls him.

“Caesar’s Comet” as it came to be known (now identified as Halley’s Comet) appeared again over Italy during the great Civil War between Marius and Sylla, when Caesar was first entering into public affairs and earned his spurs as a warrior.

“Caesar’s Comet” shone again over Rome in the year 60 B. C., when Julius Caesar, together with Pompey and Crassus, took charge of the government of Rome and presently seized supreme power as Consul of Rome.

Ten years later “Caesar’s Comet” was seen once more in Italy in the Winter months of 49-50 B. C., when Caesar, returning from his conquest of Gaul, crossed the Rubicon and began the great Civil War against his rival for power, Pompey.

The last appearance of “Caesar’s Comet,” was in 44 B. C., on the death of Caesar. Its coming was foreseen in a dream by Caesar’s wife Calpurnia, who warned him of the omen, as immortalized in Shakespeare’s lines, put into the mouth of Caesar’s wife:

“When beggars die, there are no Comets seen, The Heavens themselves blaze forth the death of Princes”;

followed by Caesar’s famous answer, as culled from Plutarch by Shakespeare:

“What can be avoided, Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods? Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions Are to the world in general as to Caesar.”

On the following morning Caesar was murdered at the foot of Pompey’s statue in the Curia.

Immediately after Caesar’s death, records the Roman historian Suetonius in his “Life of Caesar”: “A Comet blazed for seven nights together, rising always about eleven o’clock, visible to all in Rome. It was taken by all to be the soul of Caesar, now received into Heaven; for which reason, accordingly, Caesar is represented in his statue with a star on his brow.”

Only one more Comet is recorded in ancient history before the birth of Christ. This was the Comet, now identified as Halley’s Comet, which shone over the dense forests of Germany, eleven years before the birth of Christ, when Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, was warring against the ancient Germans and robbing them of their last vestige of liberty. At the same time fell the death of Agrippa, who ruled over the Roman Empire in the absence of Augustus.

_THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM_

The coming of the Messia, according to the sacred legends of the Jews, was to be foretold by a flaming star.

Many sacred writers have held, and many still hold, as did the distinguished American astronomer R. A. Proctor, that the “Star of Bethlehem,” whose shining trail guided the Wise Men from The East, was a Comet. Lubienitius in his “History of Comets” expressly mentions the Star of Bethlehem as the most important Comet of history.

As a matter of fact our modern astronomical computations prove that a Comet appeared in that year so as to be visible to the naked eye over Arabia, Syria, and the Holy Land.

When this Comet appeared Herod was King of Judea. On the appearance of the Comet, Herod consulted the oracle of the Sibyl in Rome. She told him that the Comet shone in token of a boy destined to be far greater than he.

Herod grew so afraid at this that he caused to be murdered his own two infant sons, Aristobolus and Alexander, and after that his eldest son, the boy Antipater. Herod further ordered the massacre of all male infants born in Judea under this Comet, as told in the Gospel of Matthew (Chap. II., Verse 1). As the Comet kept on blazing in the sky, Herod, becoming desperate, tried to kill himself. Five days after this he died of a loathsome disease.

Christian painters and writers from olden times until now, accordingly have pictured the Star of Bethlehem as a Comet.

Take for instance this description of “The Light in the Sky” as given by Lew Wallace in his “Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ”:

“About midnight some one on the roof cried out: ‘What light is that in the sky? Awake, brethren, awake and see!’

The people, half asleep, sat up and looked; then they became wide awake, though wonder struck.... Soon the entire tenantry of the house and court and enclosure were out gazing at the sky.

And this is what they saw: A ray of light, beginning at a height immeasurably beyond the nearest stars, and dropping obliquely to the earth; at its top, a diminishing point; at its base, many furlongs in width; its sides blending softly with the darkness of night; its core a roseate electrical splendour. The apparition seemed to rest on the nearest mountain southeast of the town, making a pale corona along the line of the summit. The khan was touched luminously so that those upon the roof saw each others’ faces all filled with wonder.

Steadily the ray lingered....

‘Saw you ever the like?’ asked one.

‘Can it be that a star has burst and fallen?’ asked another, his tongue faltering.

‘When a star falls its light goes out.’

* * * * *

After that there was silence on the housetop, broken but once again while the mystery continued.

‘Brethren!’ exclaimed a Jew of venerable mien, ‘what we see is the ladder our father Jacob saw in his dream. Blessed be the Lord God of Our Fathers!’”

Meanwhile the Wise Men from the East, as described in the same story, were travelling over the desert, on the alert for the apparition of the star, whose coming had been revealed to them.

“Suddenly, in the air before them, not farther up than a low hill-top,” writes Lew Wallace, “flared a lambent flame; as they looked at it, the apparition contracted into a focus of dazzling lustre. Their hearts beat fast; their souls thrilled; and they shouted as with one voice: ‘The Star! the Star! God is with us!’”

GREAT EVENTS LINKED WITH COMETS SINCE CHRIST

Since the time of Christ, thanks to the spread of Christianity and learning, with the growing zeal for keeping records and studying the stars, a far greater number of Comets and events connected therewith have been recorded.

A number of learned writers have made a special study of the history of Comets and their effect upon man. Long before Lubienitius’ ponderous work on the subject there were other histories written in Latin and Arabic, with references to which his book abounds.

Since then others have followed in the same direction, notably Pingré, Hind, Lalande, Messier, Chambers and latterly Messrs. Crommelin and Cowell, of the Greenwich Observatory.

The number of known Comets has grown immeasurably since Galileo’s invention of the telescope, 300 years ago, and our later perfections of this instrument, together with latter-day devices for photographing Comets invisible to the naked eye.

It would carry us too far to trace the possible connection between modern events and Comets that were seen only by astronomers. Since our record of Comets is already too full, we shall limit our story of the Comets and their influence upon man to a bare recital of the most important events connected with the more memorable and conspicuous Comets from the time of Christ until now.

DATES OF COMETS FOLLOWED BY IMPORTANT EVENTS

=A. D.=

14—A Comet preceded the death of Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome. Earthquake in Italy.

55—Suicide of Pontius Pilate, the judge who condemned Christ.

68—Halley’s Comet. Suicide of Nero, persecutor of Christians. Siege of Jerusalem.

73—A Comet shone 180 days over Cyprus. Earthquake in Cypress in which 10,000 persons perished.

79—Death of Emperor Vespasian, who began the siege of Jerusalem. The Roman historians Dion Cassius and Suetonius relate that Vespasian, when taken sick, heard his astrologers discussing in a low tone of voice the Comet which was then visible, which they said predicted his death. The Emperor roused angrily and said: “This hairy star is not meant for me. It must be meant for my enemy, the King of the Parthians, for he is hairy, while I am bald.”

On the following night Vespasian died in great pain, and the Comet was seen no more.