APPENDIX.

ON THE ROMAN CALENDAR.

IN giving an account of the Roman Calendar, it will be convenient first, to explain that portion of the subject concerning which our information is full and complete; and then to pass on to the consideration of those points, which are comparatively doubtful and obscure. According to this plan, we shall commence at once with an account of the constitution of the Julian Year.1

(1.) At the time when Julius Cæsar attained to supreme power the Calendar had, from causes which will be afterwards explained, fallen into great confusion. The dictator, therefore, resolved to reform the whole system, and being himself versed in astronomy, with the aid of Sosigenes, a peripatetic philosopher of Alexandria, and Flavius, a Roman scribe, introduced B.C. 45, that division of time which, with a few modifications, is still employed by all Christian nations, and received from its author the name of the Julian Year.

The solar year, or the period between two vernal equinoxes, was supposed to contain 365 days; but, to prevent the inconvenience which would have arisen from the use of fractional parts, three years out of four were regarded as consisting of 365 days, while every fourth year had 366.

(2.) The Roman year had from a very early period been divided into twelve months. This number and the ancient names were retained,

The principal authorities are Plutarch. Vit. Caes. LIX. Dion Cassius XLIII. 26. Appian. B.C. II. Ov. Fast. 111. 155. Sueton. Jul. XL. Plin. H. N. XVIII. 25. Censorinus XX. Macrob. S. I. 14. Ammian. Marcell. XXVI. 1. 2 See Macrob. S. I. 16.

but the distribution of the days was changed. By the new arrangement, Januarius, the first month, had 31 days; Februarius, 28 in ordinary years, and every fourth year, 29; Martius, 31; Aprilis, 30; Maius, 31; Junius, 30; Quintilis, 31; Sextilis, 31; September, 30; October, 31; November, 30; December, 31.

In the year B. C. 44, Marcus Antonius, at that time consul, proposed and carried a law by which the name of Quintilis was changed to Julius, in honour of Julius Cæsar, whose birth-day was on the 12th of that month; and at a subsequent period, B. C. 8, by a similar piece of flattery, the name Sextilis was changed to Augustus, because the emperor had in that month entered upon his first consulship, had achieved some remarkable victories, and celebrated three triumphs.2 Other princes rejected,3 or courted like distinctions. September was for a while known as Germanicus, and October as Domitianus ;5 but while the names of July and August still endure, the others soon reverted to their primitive designations.

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3. Julius Cæsar retained also the ancient divisions of the month into Calenda, Nona, and Idus. The Calenda fell uniformly on the first day of each month; the Idus on the 13th, except in March, May, July, and October, when they fell on the 15th; the Nona were always eight (according to the Roman computation nine) days before the Idus, and therefore on the 5th of ordinary months, and on the 7th in March, May, July, and October.

4. The Roman method of dating exhibits several peculiarities.

In the first place, when an event did not happen exactly on the Calends, Nones or Ides of any month, they calculated the day by reckoning backwards from the next following division of the month. Thus, if it happened between the Calends and the Nones, it was said to take place so many days before the Nones; if it happened between the Nones and Ides, it was said to take place so many days before the Ides; if it happened after the Ides, it was said to take place so many days before the Calends of the ensuing month.

In the second place, in making these computations, the day from which they reckoned was always included, as well as the day to which they reckoned. Thus the 3d of January was called the third day before the Nones of January, the 10th of March the 6th day before the Ides of March, the 14th of June the 18th day before the Calends of July. We observe an analogy to this practice in the Scotch phrase, this day eight days;" the German, "acht Tage," which alike denote

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1 Macrob. S. I. 12. Dion. XLIV. 5. Appian. B.C. II. Sueton. Octav. XXXI. Dion. LV. 6. Macrobius has preserved the decree of the senate, the date is given by Censorinus XXII. Sueton. Tib. XXVI. 4 Sueton. Caius XV. 5 Sueton. Dom. XIII. Macrob. S. I. 12.

a space of seven days; and the French, "quinze jours," which stands for a fortnight.

The form of expression was likewise remarkable. When an event took place on the Calends, Nones or Ides it was said to happen, Calendis... Nonis... Idibus Januariis... Februariis, &c. or Januarii... Februarii, &c. (sc. mensis); when it took place on the day before one of these divisions, then it was said to happen, Pridie Calendas... Nonas... Idus Januarias...Februarias, &c.; but in other cases the formula generally employed was, Ante diem tertium...quartum...quintum... sextum, &c. Calendas... Nonas...Idus Januarias...Februarias, &c. Thus the 31st of January was, Pridie Calendas Februarias; the 6th of March, Pridie Nonas Martias; the 12th of April, Pridie Idus Apriles ; the 27th of April, Ante diem quintum Calendas Maias; the 2d of May, Ante diem sextum Nonas Maias; the 6th of June, Ante diem octavum Idus Junias; the 15th of August, Ante diem decimum octavum Calendas Septembres. Sometimes, but less frequently, the preposition is omitted, and the numeral put in the ablative. Thus we find, Quarto Calendas Septembris, for the 29th of August; Decimo sexto Calendas Novembres, the 17th of October; Quinto Idus Decembres, the 9th of December, and so on. In ancient monuments and old MSS., the words Ante diem are very frequently indicated by initial letters only A. D., and the number, by the Roman numeral—thus, A. D. IV. IDUS OCTOBRES; A. D. VI. CALENDAS DECEMBRES; A. D. III. NONAS NOVEMBRES; or farther abreviated, A. D. IV. ID. OCTOB.; A. D. VI. KAL. DEC.; A. D. III. NON. Nov. The ante diem, or its abreviation, are often omitted altogether, and the numeral stands alone-IV. Id. OcTOB.; VI. KAL. DEC.; III. NON. Nov.

Scaliger and others have attempted, with no great success, to account for the origin of the expression Ante diem tertium, &c., instead of what would appear to be the more natural form. Diem tertium (or, die tertio) ante.1 However the phrase may have arisen, the combination ante diem appears practically to have been a formula, which was regarded as a single word, and hence we occasionally find another preposition prefixed to the ante. Thus Cic. Phil. III. 8. "In ante diem quartum Calendas Decembres distulit," i. e. He put off (the meeting of the Senate) to the 28th of November; and again, Ep. ad. Att. III. 17. "De Quinto fratre nuntii nobis tristes, nec varii venerant ex ante diem Non. Jun. usque ad Prid. Kal. Sept." i. e. from the Nones of June until the day before the Calends of September. Nay, we even meet with ante diem introduced adverbially where no date is given, as

1 We have in Tacit. Ann. XII. 69, tertio ante Idus Octobres, but such a combination is rare.

in Caes. B. C. I. 11. “Ante quem diem iturus sit," for quo die, and the Greek writers translate the phrase literally, when computing time according to the Roman fashion. Thus Plutarch1 tells us that Rome was founded ἡμέρᾳ τῇ πρὸ ἕνδεκα Καλανδῶν Μαίων, i. e. 21st April.

(5.) The day added every fourth year, as explained above, was inserted in February, immediately after the festival of the Terminalia, which fell VII. Kal. Mart. (23d February, see p. 353.) In such years the sixth day before the Calends of March, (VI. Kal. Mart.) was repeated twice, from which circumstance the day inserted was termed Bissextum,3 or Dies Bissextus, and the year itself Annus Bissextus.5 The adjective Bissextilis, from whence comes the modern word Bissextile, is a barbarism. We find that the Roman lawyers decided that of the two days which were called VI. Kal. Mart., the latter, or that nearest to March, was, strictly speaking, to be considered in all contracts as the inserted day; but that since these two days were one in the eye of the law, any person born on the inserted day, was in ordinary years to consider the VI. Kal. Mart. as his birth-day, while any person born on the VI. Kal. Mart. in an ordinary year, was in the Annus Bissextus, to consider the former of the two days called VI. Kal. Mart. as his birth-day.6

The edict published by Julius Cæsar which explained the changes introduced, and pointed out the steps to be followed, in order to secure regularity for the future, seems to have been expressed ambiguously. The Julian Era commenced on the 1st of January, B. C. 45; Cæsar was assassinated on the Ides of March, the year following, and almost immediately after the pontifices fell into an error, and inserted a day every third year, instead of every fourth. This was continued for thirty-six years, in the course of which twelve days were added, instead of nine, when the mistake was rectified by Augustus, who gave orders that the insertion of the bissextum should be omitted for twelve years, by which a compensation would be made for the three supernumary days, after which the insertion was to proceed regularly every fourth year, according to the original intention of the author of the Calendar. A slight correction must on this account be applied to the dates of events which took place within the above period of thirty-six years, when they descend to days. Thus the battle of Actium, which we are told was fought on the 2d of September, B. C. 31, really happened on the 3d.

1 Vit. Rom. XII. 2 Observe also Cæs. B. C. I. 6. "Is dies erat ante diem V. Cal. Aprilis," and Liv. Vl. 1. "Tum de diebus religiosis agitari coeptum, diemque ante diem XV. Calendas Sextiles.... insignem...fecerunt." $ Censorin. XX. Amm. Mar. XXVI. 1. 4 Ulpian. Digest. IV. iv. 3. 5 Angustin. Ep. CXIX. ad Januar. c. 7. See also Macrob S. I. 14 6 Cels. Digest. XVI. leg. 7 Macrob. S. I. 14. Plin. H. N. XVIII. 57. Sueton. Octav. XXVI. Solin. Polyh. 1.

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(6.) From the earliest times the Romans made use of a week of eight days. During seven days the husbandman devoted himself to his rural toils, and on the eighth he repaired to the city to transact business, and exercise his political privileges. These market days were called Nundina, a word evidently formed from nonus, because, according to the Roman method of computation, they recurred every ninth day, nono quoque die. In the year B. C. 98, a law was passed by the consuls Q. Cæcilius Metellus and T. Didius, thence called Lex Cæcilia Didia, which, among other provisions, enacted that every bill should be exhibited for the inspection of the people for three market days before it was submitted to the Comitia. This space of time, which could not be less than seventeen days, was from that time forward called Trinundinum or Trinum Nundinum.1 The Nundina ran on with perfect regularity; but it was considered unlucky for them to fall upon the first day of the year, or upon the Nones of any month. Such coincidences were carefully guarded against in the infancy of the republic by the priests, who controlled the Calendar, and even so late as B. C. 40, five years after the adoption of the Julian reform, an extraordinary day was inserted to prevent the first of January in the following year from coinciding with one of the Nundina,3 the superstition having been revived, it would seem, by the circumstance that the war of Lepidus (B. C. 78,) broke out in a year which commenced in this inauspicious manner.

The Jewish week of seven days (hebdomas) was known to the Romans from the time of Pompey, but was not generally adopted until after Christianity became the established religion of the state.

We may now proceed to explain the epithets by which the days of the Roman year were distinguished individually, when considered with reference to religion and the ordinary business of life.

(7.) Dies Fasti were the days upon which the courts of justice were open, and legal business could be transacted before the Prætor, the Dies Nefasti were those upon which the courts were closed Certain days were Fasti during one portion, Nefasti during another, and such were named Intercisi (halved), or, according to the more ancient form of the word, Endotercisi.

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All days consecrated to the worship of the gods by sacrifices, feasts, of games, were named Festi, those hallowed by no such solemnities Profesti.

See Cic. Phil. V. 3. Ep. ad. Att. II. 3. Ep. ad Fam. XVI. 12. Liv. III. 33. Quintil. 1. O. 11. iv. § 35. 2 Macrob. S. I. 13. Dion. XLVIII. 33. See also XL.

We cannot doubt, however, that a day would be subsequently dropped to compensate for this irregularity. Fastus is derived by some from fas, by others from fari, as being the days on which the Prætor was permitted to speak the words which expressed his jurisdiction. See note on Ov. Fast. I. 47, p. 285. 4 Thus Macrobius S. 1. 16. Intercisi...illorum enim dierum quibusdam horis fas est, quibusdam fas non est ius dicere, nam, cum hostia cæditur, fari nefas est: inter cæsa et porrecta fari licet: rursus, cum adoletur, non licet.