| nan | Why have they in the month three beginnings or fixed points, and do not adopt the same interval of days between them? Is it, as Juba Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iii. p. 470. and his followers relate, that on the Kalends the officials used to call Cf. Old Latin calare, equated with Greek καλεῖν by Plutarch and by other writers. the people and announce the Nones for the fifth day thereafter, regarding the Ides as a holy day? Or is it rather because, since they measured time by the phases of the moon, they observed that in each month the moon undergoes three very important changes: first, when she is hidden by her conjunction with the sun: second, when she has escaped the sun’s rays and becomes visible for the first time at sunset; and third, at the full moon, when her orb is completely round? The disappearance and concealment of the moon they call Kalendae, for everything concealed or secretis clam, and to be concealed is celari . Much is made of Plutarch’s mistake in equating celare (mss.) with λανθάνειν rather than with κρύπτειν, but the mistake is more likely that of a scribe. The first appearance of the moon they call Nones, the most accurate since it is the new moon: for their word for new and novel is the same as ours. This is true etymologically; but is Plutarch thinking of the syllable nou in νουμηνία and nouus ? They name the Ides as they do either because of the beauty and form ( eidos ) of the full-orbed moon, or by derivation from a title of Jupiter. Cf. Macrobius, Saturnalia, i. 15. 14, where it is stated that Idus is derived from the Etruscan Itis, said to mean Iovis fiducia. But we must not follow out the most exact calculation of the number of days nor cast aspersions on approximate reckoning; since even now, when astronomy has made so much progress, the irregularity of the moon’s movements is still beyond the skill of mathematicians, and continues to elude their calculations. Cf. Life of Aristides, chap. xix. (331 a). |
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| nan | Why have they in the month three beginnings or fixed points, and do not adopt the same interval of days between them? Is it, as Juba and his followers relate, that on the Kalends the officials used to call the people and announce the Nones for the fifth day thereafter, regarding the Ides as a holy day? Or is it rather because, since they measured time by the phases of the moon, they observed that in each month the moon undergoes three very important changes: first, when she is hidden by her conjunction with the sun; second, when she has escaped the sun's rays and becomes visible for the first time at sunset; and third, at the full moon, when her orb is completely round? The disappearance and concealment of the moon they call Kalendae, for everything concealed or secret is clam, and "to be concealed" is celari. The first appearance of the moon they call Nones, the most accurate since it is the new moon: for their word for "new" and "novel" is the same as ours. They name the Ides as they do either because of the beauty and form (eidos) of the full-orbed moon, or by derivation from a title of Jupiter. But we must not follow out the most exact calculation of the number of days nor cast aspersions on approximate reckoning; since even now, when astronomy has made so much progress, the irregularity of the moon's movements is still beyond the skill of mathematicians, and continues to elude their calculations. |
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