The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-12-31


even wrong ideas held by the Rom ans. as oews
In the labyrinth OF Roman chronology and the
Narro computation Of years is usually ac-
cepted Then there was. besides. the plap OF
counting by the years OF the Emperors' reiRns
Wnich was still less common. though Il worked
pretty well when Emperors did not change too
often and when there were not too mauv Of
them at one time.
Both the dating from the found dalton OF Rome
and that from the years OF the Empernrs were
supp anted In measure 10 the fourth century
by system OF reckoning from the accession
OF the Emp 'ror Diocletan In 2s4 A. d. There
were several good reasons Tor this. Dioclstian
Is one oil the great figures In history. What he
did lasted, and men remembered him. Much
that had been attributed to Constantine by
Christian writer's In now traced to him, He re-
united the Empire. strengthened IL nQaipst
outside barbarians an, marked the division be.
tween East and West that has on the whole
lasted to this day. He also perfected wonderful
bureaucratic civil service that helped to crush
the Empire "a much as Christianity and the
Barbarians did. He undertook. too. to extir-
pate tho Christians, who he saw were a
danger 10 the Empire. by the most cruel and
Systematic persecution to which they were ever
subjected. Nevertheless they counted years
from his accession like other Romans Tor more
than two centuries. though they tried to dis.
guise IL by calling the era that OF the martyrs
OF hia pe rsecuton. II was q convenient mole
OF computation that East and West could use.
When bot Dionysius Exiguus tho Little.
came to compute his tables or Easter In the
sixth century. he found that Cyril. whose Ia bles
he was continuing had reckoned In years Of
Diocletian. and thought that IN improvement
might be made. I'VE were unwilling, !" he said,
TO weave into our cycles the memory OF that
I'm niOua nor hut IL
dates OF years from the incarnation OF our Lord
Jesus Christ" and he n um bered the year Of the
first Easter which he aided to Cyril's table
63l. instead OF PAT after Diocletans acce ssion,
That was the first time, so far IA Is known.
that our count In years OF our Lord was
employed. Tho usage was aoon adopted by
other than scientific men. and when the Ven
| cradle Behe in the eighth century continued
and improved Dionysiu-'s tables. IL spread
| throughout the West. and by the end OF the
| tenth century IL had become general, and
many phrases were employed tn d.si gnate the
era the year Of the incarnation of the Lord Of
the nativity. Of grace, OF salvation. OF tho Word
| incarnate. OF the redemption OF the world. or
simply the year OF Our Lord. ammo domini. A. u.
| What reasons Dionysius had for making the
| year PAT OF Diocletian equivalent to ISL A. ID.
or 1913 Of the building Of Rome We do not
/ know. His calculation was doubtless as cor
| rect as the information possessed by the anti
! auarians Of his day would allow. and Be'e.
who was a calendar reformer and probably the
most learned man OF mis- time. found no fault
| with the date and adopted It. Modern theo-
| logiahs seem To agree that II Is wrong and that
\ the birth OF Christ must be put from four to
seven years earlier than Dionysius put It. so
that the Dinet.enth century really was COM
pleted somewhere between 1898 aud 1895.
Tho mistake has lasted too long. how
! ever. to DO remedied now All We
can do Ia TO admit that the Christian
| era begins unscicntihcally from four u
seven years after the nativity. However absurd
aud illogical II may he to say that Christ was
born in the year 1 or before Christ II Ia n less
evil than wou Il be the inconceivable labor and
confusion that an attempt to set straight now
all past dates. even II scholars could agree
on some year FRA starting point. Mistake
and all. Diouysiuss era WAS adopted by the
Church: the first Christmas was believed &c
have been Dec 20 OF the wear 81 Rome 753. nnC
the era started with the following Jan. !, I54
the beginning Of the official Roman. Julian
year There WAS no thought Of a year o. tho
year INN .diately preceding the year /. A. d
was called the year before Christ and III,
notation back from that year was applied
to all previous time.
D,onysius knew that his date WAS not strictly
accurate Dut preferred 10 make inc ~
week rather than interfere with the estab
lished state measure OF time with which al
men were familiar. the Julian year begnninG
Jan. !. He might, OF course. have begun
year earlier. with that at whose end Chris
was born. but he did not. The one Churci
spread his system throughout the who'll
world. for the Roman world was Christian
then. and the need o. fixing the right date 10
the greatest Of Christian festivals. Easter. an
the feasts dependent on II made 1t essentia
for the Church to keep the calendar In its con
troll. especially after the Council OF NicaeI
creed that Easter should be celebrated on tn
same day by all Christians and decided VIII
should Tx the day.
Countless other scales for numbering year
have been used In different countries. concur
rently with or In orpositon to the Christia
era. Their Starting point is commonly tn
wear OF q rulers accession or that OF som
striking event. like the H"glra or the Declare
ton OF Independence. In England for 10
stance, this month falls In 90 Victoria. A
historical eras have. however. one point |
common. they begin with year l and M
: with u year o. Some sys EN- might con
ceivably begin with such year. those {
reckoning by yenrs from the bcginnin
OF the world. where an Infinitely prolonge
Z zero before the beginning could he used
counterbalance the infinite eternity after III
t end, hut such systems when used In histoi
= have been finite. They are ull OF comparative
= late origin and have never com" into popn''
y use. There are good many OF them. who
= differ according to their authors ideas OF q
date Of the Creation. the variance rang ng b
tween 6ssS4 and 34s3 before Christ. This
n course does not include the guesses OF modei
d biologists. but only systems that have bee
o used to count years by. The world era tn
s has been most employed In Chrstion comp
= tations IL tho Byzantine. by which the nrst di
r OF creation was Sept of the year 5000 Is.
= This was used In Russia as late AS lf0o.
= julius Cesar did n great service to the wor
a when he directed his Astronomers 10 straiGht'
n out tho calendar and thus provided fixed un
: Of time. His year OF 385 days. with leap ye
d of 3ty8 DAYS every 'ourth year. has endure
O The slight inaccurucy, which In twenty CO
J. turtles moved the seasons about forrnig
" ahead OF time. would probably have chus
n little Inconvenience II 1t had not been matt
"A ~ vital i'm portance to the Christian Chur