The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1910-01-27

from Maia. the mother OF Mercury
VINO was the patron goddess of Growth
ana increase. She was the benign
deity, and May is our benign month
Following the tempest and fckleneSs
OF March and April. and preceding the
neat and storm of summer. So again
the name has a modern Significance.
June, July and August take their
names not from immortal gods. but
from eminent Romans. The first is
the name of the great Junius family
OF Rome, which reached it's high-water
mark in Lucius Junius Brutus. who
established the Roman Republic in
DO u. C., and it's low-water mark in
Decimus Julius Brutus, who was one
OF the assaSsins of his patron and
friend, Julius Caesar. This month. ac-
cording to the old Roman calendar.
was the one in which the republic
was founded.
When Caesar was at work on the
revision of the calendar he sought to
immortalize himself by giving his fam
lily name TO one of the months the
one Immediately following the month
that was sacred to the Junian family.
That was before he suspected what
the scion of that house was planning
TO do to him. But his selection of
the seventh month TO bear his name
had no connection with the Junius
name that had long been associated
with the preceding month. He was
born on the 18th of July. so he called
the seventh month julius mensis. Is a
compliment TO the Julian family. At
Ger his assassination another member
Oh the Julian gems came to the head
OF the Government, not as dictator
nc. afafr
taVius, the son of Caesars sister Julia.
His birth occurred in the month that
we know as September. but when he
had received the title Augustus. and
had been made undisputed master of
Rome, he did not choose the month
OF his birth with which TO immortalize
hlmself, as his uncle had done. He
took instead the month following i'm
medlately after Caesars month. be-
cause he followed Immediately after
caesar as ruler Of Rome however lit
tie Antony and some of the others
might have been willing to admit the
truth of this claim. Had Augustus
been able to foresee the future he
might have advanced another reason
FOR selecting the month that had al
ways borne the name Sextilis. the
sixth, according to the old calendar,
although 1t was the eight in Caesars
calendar. 1t was in this month of
August that the first Emperor of
Rome died; but We can be very sure
Augustus was not thinking about this
when he named the month.
There was one thing about that
month that did not suit His Majesty
exactly Caesars month had 81 days.
while his had only 80 days. To his
,s
ought to be reversed. for surely-at
least in his own opinion-he was
greater than his illustrious uncle
However. he was much too wise TO
wipe day from Caesars month and
add 1t to his own. The greatest Cen
eral, statesman and all-round scholar
mat Rome had ever produced was still
reversed by his COuntrymen, so Angus
tus had TO go to some other part of
the year for his extra day. There was
poor, little old February. which had
only % days. except on leap year. 1t
was the horrid month of publication
and sacrifice. and nobody liked il very
well, anyway. The big. full-size
months would probably kick if one of
their days should be purloined: but
February could not help itself So the
day which was 10 make the month of
Augustus as long as that Of Caesar
was abstracted from February. leaving
it only rs days. To make up i'm part
Tor this robbery we tack on the extra
day that accumulates in the course
OF four years, from the excess of six
hours over the exact 365 DAYS in the
year.
The other four months have nothing
interesting connected with their
names. They signify merely the
seventh. eight, ninth and tenth
months, although they are actually
the ninth. tenth, eleventh and twelfth
IN our calendar. as they were in the
calendar that Caesar made. We can
not but wonder that he should have
retained those names when they did
not mt the case. However. it is prob
able that he wanted to avoid un-
necessary innovation and confusion.
st. Louis Globe Democrat