The Pattern of the Days in Ancient Rome

Abstract

Time is a pattern of passing days. There are bright days and dark, and days that have the unobtrusive colour of a background; but each day must begin, and sequences of days, such as the week, have fresh beginnings. This web of repetition, inwoven with the various colours of the days, makes the pattern of time by which we think and plan; for without beginnings there would be no time, and without repetition there can be no pattern. It is a fascinating occupation to try to call up from the past the pattern by which the ancient Romans thought, a pattern agreeably varied, with monthly festivals recurring at fixed but irregular intervals, and market-day every eight days irrespective of the months. The heavens themselves provide a pattern for mankind with day and night, stars and the seasons, and the revolutions of the moon and sun; and man makes markets to be held at stated intervals, and markets make a week. There is refreshment in irregular interruptions, but in the prospect of a regular break there is repose of spirit; and it is pleasant to know that from very early times the Romans profited by both. It is impossible to say how early. The origin of such institutions was already lost by the first century b.c., and our earliest information comes from the researches of Varro, the antiquary of that epoch. The fullest comes from five centuries later, when Macrobius, for his delight and ours, assembled from the works of earlier writers a choice medley of uncertain lore. It seems probable, however, that both markets and monthly dates were in existence by the beginning of the Republic. To this point we may look then for the main lines of the pattern, sparse here, and simple; at later times it is found filled in and shaded, with added detail; and under the Empire another pattern is to be seen coming through alongside of and unrelated to the first, and in the end predominating: the pattern of the modern week.