Yes, brown - or dark brown - eyes are called black. I remember McCullough´s argument that a eye with a very light blue iris seem to be wholly black - blacker than a brown eye.

This is somewhat true, eyes with very light irises and dark pupils do seem black. I know a guy who´s irises are almost colourless, just a bit of blue (living in Finland and all...).

But if Roman authors use black to decribe brown irises.. then its brown.