OLD ENGLISH PILLAR DIAL
Sun-Dials, Greek—1. Diogenes asserts that the first Greek dial or gnomon was erected by Anaximander of Miletus. It was probably a vertical rod on a horizontal plane. This was two centuries after the Dial of Ahaz. 2. On the "Tower of the Winds" in Athens—a dial on each face.
Sun-Dial, Hollow—A form of sun-dial invented by the Chaldean Berosus. A hollow hemisphere with a bead at its center, whose shadow indicated the hour of the day.
Sun-Dial, Mottoes—On nearly all sun-dials both ancient and modern there there is inscribed a motto—usually of the moral significance of the passage of time.
Very ancient also, as well as equally common in modern times is the custom of placing upon the sun-dial some appropriate motto expressive of the mystery of Time. There are hundreds of such mottoes, ranging in sentiment from the old Roman one: Horas non numero nisi Serenas. "I number no hours but the fair ones," to the couplet of a modern poet:
"Time flies, you say? Ah no,
Alas! Time stays; we go."
And these two thoughts, expressed in many forms, represent fairly the tenor of most of them. There is a story of a lazy apprentice asking a motto for his dial, to whom his master sharply replied: "Begone about your business!" and the fellow, appropriately enough, took that for the motto required. It is at least a familiar sentiment, especially in Puritan times; and equally so during the Middle Ages is that more mystic suggestion, Umbra Dei—"the Shadow of God."