After gaining this victory over Maximus

After gaining this victory over Maximus, and after the arrival of Theodosius at Rome, when the emperor was on the point of taking his departure thence, a new and strange star was seen in the sky, which announced the coming of very great calamities upon the world. It appeared first at midnight, near the east, in the very circle which is called the Zodiac. It was large and bright, and in brilliance it was not much inferior to the morning star. After this, a concourse of stars gathered around it on every side, like a swarm of bees gathering in a cluster round their queen. Then, as if impelled, by some mutual collision, the light of all the stars mingled  together, and shone forth in a single flame, assuming the shape of a double-edged sword, huge and terrible. But that one star which first appeared seemed like the hilt of the sword above mentioned, or rather like a root shooting up the large body of light, from what appeared to be a star, surmounted with flowers darting up like the flame from a lamp. Such was the novel and wondrous sight exhibited by the star which then appeared. Its course, moreover, was very different from that of the rest of the stars ; for from the time of its first appearing in the place where we have said, and moving on from thence, it began to rise and set together with the morning star. Afterwards, however, receding by little and little, it went up towards the north, advancing slowly and gradually, and following its own course with a slight deflection towards the left of those who beheld it, but in reality it pursued in the same course as the other stars, with which it came into contact from time to time. At length, having completed its course in the space of forty days, it suddenly passed on into the sign of the Great Bear, and was last seen in the very centre of it, where, soon afterwards, it was extinguished. In addition to these particulars, Philostorgius gives us many other wonderful details concerning this star in the shape of a sword.

Focio. Epítome de la Historia eclesiástica de Filostorgio, XI, 7.

At the time that Cyril administered the church

At the time that Cyril administered the church of Jerusalem after Maximus, the sign of the cross appeared in the heavens. It shone brilliantly, not with divergent rays like a comet, but with the concentration of a great deal of light, apparently dense and yet transparent. Its length was about fifteen stadia from Calvary to the Mount of Olives, and its breadth was in proportion to its length. So extraordinary a phenomenon excited universal terror. Men, women, and children left their houses, the market-place, or their respective employments, and ran to the church, where they sang hymns to Christ together, and voluntarily confessed their belief in God. The intelligence disturbed in no little measure our entire dominions, and this happened rapidly; for, as the custom was, there were travelers from every part of the world, so to speak, who were dwelling at Jerusalem for prayer, or to visit its places of interest, these were spectators of the sign, and divulged the facts to their friends at home. The emperor was made acquainted with the occurrence, partly by numerous reports concerning it which were then current, and partly by a letter from Cyril the bishop. It was said that this prodigy was a fulfillment of an ancient prophecy contained in the Holy Scriptures. It was the means of the conversion of many pagans and Jews to Christianity.

Hermias Sozomen. Historia eclesiástica, IV, 5.

He says that a Heliopolis

'He says that at Heliopolis in Syria Asklepiades made the ascent of Mount Libanos and saw many of the so-called baitylia or baityloi concerning which he reports countless marvels worthy of an unhallowed tongue. He declares too that he himself and Isidoros subsequently witnessed these things with their own eyes....

I saw, he says, the baity los moving through the air. It was sometimes concealed in its garments, sometimes again carried in the hands of its ministrant. The ministrant of the baity los was named Eusebios^. This man stated that there had once come upon him a sudden and unexpected desire to roam at midnight away from the town of Emesa as far as he could get towards the hill on which stands the ancient and magnificent temple of Athena. So he went as quickly as possible to the foot of the hill, and there sat down to rest after his journey. Suddenly he saw a globe of fire leap down from above, and a great lion standing beside the globe. The lion indeed vanished immediately, but he himself ran up to the globe as the fire died down and found it to be the batty los. He took it up and asked it to which of the gods it might belong. It replied that it belonged to Gemiaios., the "Noble One." (Now the men of Heliopolis worship this Gennaios and have set up a lion-shaped'' image of him in the temple of Zeus.) He took it home with him the self-same night, travelling, so he said, a distance not less than two hundred and ten furlongs. Eusebios, however, was not master of the movements of his baitylos, as others are of theirs ; but he offered petitions and prayers, while it answered with oracular responses.

Having told us this trash and much more to the same effect, our author, who is veritably worthy of his own baitylia, adds a description of the stone and its appearance. It was, he says, an exact globe, whitish in colour, three hand- breadths across. But at times it grew bigger, or smaller ; and at other times it took on a purple hue. He showed us, too, letters that were written on the stone, painted in the pigment called tingdbari, "cinnabar." Also it knocked on a wall ; for this was the means by which it gave the enquirer his desired response, uttering a low hissing sound, which Eusebios interpreted.

After detailing these marvels and many others even more remarkable concerning the baitylos this empty-headed fellow continues : " I thought the whole business of the baitylos savoured of some god; but Isidoros ascribed it rather to a daimon. There was, he said, a daitnon who moved it — not one of the harmful nor of the over-material kind, yet not of those either that have attained to the immaterial kind nor of those that are altogether pure." He adds in his blasphemous way that different baityloi are dedicated to different deities — Kronos, Zeus, Helios, etc'

Arthur Bernard Cook. Zeus: a study in ancient religion, III. Cambridge: University Press, 1940.

In Antioch a star appeared

In Antioch a star appeared in the eastern part of the sky during the day, emitting much
smoke as though from a furnace, from the third to the fifth hour.

Teófanes. Cronografía, A.C. 326.

Transformations of kiao into human shapes

Transformations of kiao (scaled dragon) into human shapes are the subjects of several tales. The Wu ki'" tells the following: "Under the Emperor Ta Ti of the Wu dynasty (A. D. 228—251), in the seventh month of the third year of the Ch'ih-wu era (A. D. 240), there was a certain Wang Shuh who gathered medicinal herbs on T'ieu Tai mountain. At the hottest time of the day he took a rest under a bridge, when suddenly he saw a little blue boy, over a foot long, in the brook. The boy held a blue rush in his hand and rode on a red carp. The fish straightly entered a cloud and disappeared little by little. After a good while Shuh climbed upon a high mountain top and looked to all four sides. He saw wind and clouds arising above the sea, and in a moment a thunderstorm broke forth. Suddenly it was about to reach Shuh, who terrified hid himself in a hollow tree. When the sky cleared up, he again saw the red carp on which the boy rode and the little boy returning and entering the brook. It was a black Kiao!"

M. W. De Visser. The Dragon in China and Japan. Amsterdam: Johannes Muller, 1913. P. 80-81.

235. Période Khien-Hing, 13e année

235 . Période Khien-hing, 13e année , pendant que les troupes du pays de Chou attaquaient le camp des Weï à Weï-nan (latitude 34° 29', Chen-si ), une grande étoile rouge, avec des pointes rayonnantes, et allant du N. E. au S. O. tomba dans le camp.

Edouard Biot. Catalogue général des etoiles filantes et des autres météores observés en Chine : pendant vingt-quatre siècles depuis le VIIe siècle avant J. C. jusqu'au milieu du XVIIe de notre ère. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1846. P. 15.

Our annals record that a large variety of prodigies

Our annals record that a large variety of prodigies had occurred in Albion a little before Galdus’ battle with the Romans. Flaming brands were seen to fly through the air, a great part of Caledonia appeared to be ablaze at night, but to be untroubled by fire in the daytime. Phantom ships appeared in the sky, in Athol it rained stones, and in Horestia there was a torrential downpour of frogs. At Tulina, a town I have already mentioned, a hermaphrodite was born, a foul monster in every respect, and was put to death lest it offend men’s eyes. These prodigies troubled many men’s minds and divided their opinions: as happens in such situations, some put a good interpretation on them, and others a bad. When these happy Roman success in Albion were reported to Domitian Caesar in dispatches of senior officers with the army, although he feigned a happy expression, they deeply troubled his fretful heart. For the emperor exceedingly disliked having a private man’s reputation, fame, and glory extolled above his own. And so, after many honors had been heaped on Agricola by decree of the senate, he sent a letter recalling him to Rome, as if to replace the dead Attilius Ruffus, a man of consular rank, as legate of Syria. But once in Rome, he died not long thereafter, as rumor had it, thanks to Caesar’s machinations. But while still alive, he had handed over the province to Gnaeus Trebellius, Domitian’s new appointee, prior to his departure. Up to this point, Roman affairs had been prosperous, but a little after Agricola’s departure they went into a decline.

Hector Boece. Historia gentis scotorum, IV, 58.