The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1900-01-17

pclluu Oi J. ut NbbtSs hhlbt utilNtu |
from the Olympic games so famous in
Grccia history, and which were Cele- |
brated at the interval named. The |
starting point of this epoch is reputcd |
to be 776 B. G. The Romans reckoned |
from the year OF the building of their
city, an era that is placed at 753 years
B. G. And there we're many Other
eras-tbe Jewish, the Mohammedan,
the Chinese, etc. There was no fixed
or universally established era. To
supply this need, ID ouisus, Roman
priest, in A. d. $50, conceived the idea
Of the Christian era. ID ,ouisius was
surnamed The Little, title which
must have been suggest d by his phys
ical stature, for there seems to have
been nothing small about him intellect
ually. Referred to the Greek and Ro
man eras, the Christian era began in
the 1914 b O.ympiad, or in the 1853 year
of the building of Rome. There is
not, however, an exact spondence
between the beginning of the Christian
era and the nativity of Christ, as de-
duced from the books of the New Tes-
lament. The range is through no less
than ten years, from b. 9. 7 to A. d 3
Dyonisius adopted the day of the
Annunciation, or the 25th of M rrch, as
the commencement of the first year of
his era. The adoption of the new era
by the peoples of the earth proceeded
slowly. 1t was introduced in Gaul and
generally followed in the ninth CEN
fury, and is known to have been adopt
ed in England at about the same time.
But the time of the beginning of the
year was not uniform. The states of
Italy adopted the 25.h of March and in
some of them this custom prevailed down
to the middle of the seventeenth GEN.
fury. In France for time the year be-
gan at Easter, in Germany and in Rome
and other Italian cities, during the
middle ages, at Christmas, but all were
gravitating toward January l, the date
they finally accepted.
England, also, at first fixed the be =
ginning of the year at Christmas; later
the custom of beginning the civil year
on March %, the day chosen by Dyo-
nisius, began to prevail, and continued
till the reformation of the calendar in
1852, when the date was changed TO
January 1, and the historical year has
always been reckoned by English au.
thors to begin on that day. Thus, in
all European countries, during the 17lh
or 18Th century, Dyonisius' reform had
been completed. A common era from
which to reckon time, and to which
were referred events chronicled under
other standards, had been established
and custom had adopted, also, uni
form day for the beginning of the civil
year. The Christian era was accepted
by all except oriental peoples, some Of
whom still reckon time from their an
cient eras.
Along with the elimination of this
multiplicity of eras from the chronol
ogy of the world was accomplished the
revision OF the calendar and the elimi
nation of chaos from the record of time
Some centuries before the Christian
era calendar of twelve months hat
been evolved by the Romans, aud q
year of mean length of 1861 days es
tablished, but 80 little care had beer
taken to regulate the year that at the
time of julius Ce ,ar, about the mid
die of the last century b. c., the civ
eqnox-the vCrual equinox being the
point of departure in determining the
length of the year-dffered from the
winter months had drifted back into
the autumn, and the autumnal into
summer. Cp ar-soldier, historian
statesman-having conquered Gaul
took up the role of scientist and ad
dressed himself to the task of subduine
the calendar and reducing it to accord
ance with the journeyings of the sun
Ce 'ar decreed that the mean length
of the year should be 1861 days ant
that every fourth year should have 36t
days, the others having 1866. The yer
nal equinox had been fixed at Marcel
%, the date of the beginning of by
isius' universal era. Owing to the
negligence or ignorance of the time
keepers, the civil year had been drifting
from it's natural moorings, and the civil
equinox, which should correspond with
the astronomical, had been carried bach
three mouths, to the beginning of win
ter. To bring the natural and civil
eqninoxes again into correspondence
on the 25.h of March, Cesar adopted
heroic measures. He ordered two ex
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