Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-06-05
WHAT TIME Is 1T?

=
before the reform of Julius Caesar b. C.
| 46), was briefly as follows:
Like all primitive nations they reckon
ed originally by moons; and, when they
wished for a larger measurement of time,
thes grouped ten months into year.
The earliest Roman year WAS decimal,
beginning with March and ending with
December, the tenth month.
IL was easy, then, TO see that it took
about twelve moons to make natural
or solar year, and they added the two
months of Jannlry and February.
But, seeing thai twelve moons did not
make quite year, :hey found it necessa-
~ to lrngthen them. and thus bring the
calendar year into correspondence with
the solar year.
The months by this ceased to be moons;
but many of the divisions and usages
4hich belonged to the lunar month were
retained when it had ceased to have any
connection y ia tue phases of the moon.
Even with this additional number of
DAYS, however, the tUe've months, 10y
some miscalculsi ip!, sti.l fsll short Of the
required til.i-.
The old superstition, that there Is luck
III odd numbers, led them to make their
months OF twenty nine and thirty-one
days respectively; and Unfortunately they
made but four months of thirty-une days
March, May, July and October; the rest
except February received twenty-nine
each, and each year WAS still short by ten
days.
But even worse than the reckoning of
| the months themselves was the method
Nf,~ .NfN Nk.n,
The month was divided into three un
equal periods by three fixed points the
Kalends, or days If the new moon; the
Nones, five or seren days later; and the
Ides, or full-moon day.
FROM these liked points they reckt ned
back kward-always dropping one day.
however. in the counting, 50 that they
said, for example, the Ides, the day be-
fore the ldes. the third dav before the
Ides (instei id of tue second), and so on.
These three divisions, as has been said,
were unequal.
The Roman week, consisting of sight
DAYS. nund mum. each IN. nth cohtain~
ling three full eeks lid ii few daNs over.
Th- first two of these, counting back
ward, were taken together, so that the
Ides, or fuil-moon days. ala avs Except
in February came sixteen days before
the Kalends Of the following month; the
.Nunes again, came eight days before the
ldes; there remained, therefore, Oily four
OF six days for the space between the
Kalends and the ldeS.
Thus, in the thirty>one day months =
March, Asv. July, October the Ides
rame upo u,.' IJtn. and the Nones upon
the seventh; i'll Liic Ot Il months they
fell upon the 18th and 9TH respectively.
This division of the month belongs it
is evident, to the very earliest times,
when the month was really a moon.
When the new moon was seen for the
rst time, the king summoned the people
to the capitol, where he announced to them
the length OF the first subdivision of the
coming month, five or seven days:
Five days Tor seven days. | cali thee.
crescent Junor-Juno being here The
goddess of the new moon, and the day of
call;ng-the Kalends-being sacr,d to
her
On the day thus Sa1nounced-the NoneS
the people were assembled again TO
hear the e-announcement of the festivals
and busitess days of the remainder of
the month.
When the months came to have names
and dsfipite lengths, so that they no long,
er ccrresponded with the phases of the
moon, the Kalehds were. of course, no
longer determined by actual observation,
but by calculation.
still, however. the practice of making
the announcements upon the Kalends and
Nones WIS kept up; and when The repub-
lie vas established, and the city no long
er had king at its head, special priest
was appointed for life, called King of
Sacritices-Rex Sacrorum whose it was,
among other things, to make these an-
nonncements.
Besides the Kalends, Nones, and 1des,
which came upon fixed day S of the month.
there was weekly market day, once in
eight DAYS, called Nundina. which might,
of course, fall upon any festival or busi-
ness day.
And the days that were not occupied
by festivals als-feri@-were = assigned to the
no ding of public assemblies, dies conf
tales, or of courts of law, dies fasti.
The festivals themselves varied at diff
ferent epochs. At first care WIS taken
not to have them fall on two successive
days; but they were gradually increased
in number and duration until many oc-
cupied week or more, ard the year was
almost filled with them.