C. THE ROMAN CALENDAR
All primitive calendars went by the moon. Moon and month are the same word in English. No more than Hengist and Horsa could the early Romans have conceived of a month not beginning with the day of the new moon, as all months begin yet in the Jewish and Mohammedan calendars.
The first day of each month the Romans called its Kalends (announcement day). After that day they called each day so many before the Nones (half moon), then so many before the Ides (full moon), then so many to the Kalends of the next month. Julius Caesar, impatient with the difficulties of fitting together the solar and lunar calendars, bade his experts ignore the moon and divide the solar year into twelve months. They did, and his calendar, with trifling improvements, has lasted till our days. The Romans continued to reckon days before the Nones, Ides and Kalends. The Nones fell on the seventh of March, May, July and October, on the fifth of the other months; the Ides on the fifteenth of March, May, July and October and on the thirteenth of the rest.
D. THE LEGION
The legion, always the largest fighting unit of the Roman armies, corresponded most nearly to our regiment, but had also features of our brigade. It was always rostered as of 6,000 men, all told. But the causes which operate in all armies brought it about that a legion in the field had usually about 5,000 men. It was divided into sixty bodies resembling our companies, called centuries, because nominally of 100 men, each commanded by a centurion. The Roman army never, like ours, had tiering grades of officers; it always, theoretically, consisted of soldiers, centurions and the commander: other officers were additional and special. Each centurion chose from among his men an optio, to assist him and to take his place if killed. These optiones corresponded most nearly to our corporals, but their duties and authority were always very vague. The centurions corresponded to our sergeants, in that they were picked men from the ranks, but they had all the duties and powers of our lieutenants and, some of them, of much higher officers. Three centuries made up a maniple, more or less like one of our battalions, each commanded by its senior centurion. Two maniples made up a cohort, also commanded by its senior centurion, and the ten centurions commanding cohorts were the actual officers of the legion, its head centurion an officer of great importance.
True, a tribunus militum (tribune of the soldiers) was attached to each cohort; but he did more advising than commanding, though, in theory, he represented the general. The tribunes answered to our captains. Under the Empire each legion was commanded by a legatus, who also represented the general in his absence. Such an officer corresponded most nearly to our colonel, but had many of the characteristics of a brigadier-general.
E. "Ubi tu Caius, ego Caia."
These words, never varied whatever the names of the bride and groom, were the kernel of the Roman wedding ritual and after their utterance the bride was a wife. They correspond to the "I do" and "love, honor and obey" of our customary marriage formulas. As Caius and Caia were far and away the most frequent names among the Romans the phrase might be rendered: "Where you are Jack, I'm Jill."
No English words convey precisely the mingling of banter, and earnestness, of archness, devotion, shyness and fervor implied in the Latin words as uttered by Vedia.