ABSTRACT
This is the eclipse which maketh the moon to become dark, when it is situated a long way from the sun in the seventh bzlrgka, and this is the cause thereof. When the head of the Serpent, or his tail, is in the seventh burglza of the sun, and the moon is in the burgha wherein is the sun, there taketh place I an eclipse of the moon on the fourteenth day of the Page 484 moon. As concerning the signs which take place therein when this happeneth, observe the colour of the moon. If it be black, there will be gloom, and manifold winds in the air, and sicknesses, and the flocks will die, and exceedingly great fear will fall upon the children of men. And if its colour be black, with redness therein, there will fall upon the children of men pestilence, and slaughter, and the sickness that is caused by the decay of unburied bodies, and famine. And if its colour be yellow, there will be disease of the liver, and the fruits of the trees and the crops will perish, and birds and animals will die. And if its colour be like unto that of dust, in that year there will take place want, and snow, and ice, and frost, and the animals (or, cattle) will die. According to the position of the head of the Serpent there will be good, and according to the position of its tail there will be evil.
