In old time each moneth of the Romane calender was reckoned after the course of the moone, and their enterances were vncerteine, as were also the changes of that planet: whereby it came to passe, that the daie of the change was the first of the moneth, howsoeuer it fell out. But after Iulius Cesar had once corrected the same, the seuerall beginnings of euerie one of them did not onelie remaine fixed, but also the old order in the diuision of their parts continued still vnaltered: so that the moneth is yet diuided as before, into calends, ides and nones, albeit that in my daies, the vse of the same bée but small, and their order reteined onelie in our calenders, for the better vnderstanding of such times, as the historiographers and old authors doo remember. The reckoning also of each of these goeth (as you sée) after a preposterous order, whereby the Romans did rather note how many daies were to the next change from the precedent, than contrariwise, as by perusall of the same you shall more easilie perceiue.
The daies also of the change of the moneth of the moone, are called Calendæ, which in time of paganisme were consecrated to Iuno, and sacrifice made to that goddesse on the same. On these daies also, and on the ides and nones they would not marie. Likewise the morow after each of them were called Dies atri, blacke daies, as were also diuerse other, and those either by reason of some notable ouerthrow or mishap that befell vnto the Romans vpon those daies, or in respect of some superstitious imagination conceiued of euill successe likelie to fall out vpon the same. Of some they were called Dies Aegyptiaci. Wherby it appeareth that this peeuish estimation of these daies came from that nation. And as we doo note our holie and festiuall daies with red letters in our calenders, so did the Romans their principall feasts & circle of the moone, either in red or golden letters, and their victories in white, in their publike or consularie tables. This also is more to be added, that if anie good successe happened afterward vpon such day as was alreadie blacke in their calender, they would solemnlie enter it in white letters by racing out of the blacke, whereby the blacke daie was turned into white, and wherein they not a little reioised.
The word Calendæ (in Gréeke Neomenia) is deriued of Calo, to call: for vpon the first day of euerie moneth, the priest vsed to call the people of the citie and countrie togither in Calabria, for so the place was called where they met, and shew them by a custome how manie daies were from the said calends to the nones, & what feasts were to be celebrated betwéene that and the next change. Their order is retrograde, because that after the moneth was halfe expired, or the moone past the full, they reckoned by the daies to come vntill the next change, as seuentéene daies, sixtéene daies, fourtéene daies, &c: as the Gréekes did in the latter decad onelie, for they had no vse of calends. The verie day therefore of the change is called Calendæ, dedicated to Iuno, who thereof was also called Calendaris. At the first also the fasts or feast daies were knowne by none other meanes vnto the people but by the denunciation of the priests (as I said) vpon this daie, till Flauius Scriba caused them to be written & published in their common calenders, contrarie to the will and meaning of the senat, for the ease and benefit of the people, as he pretended.
The nones commonlie are not aboue foure or six in euerie moneth: and so long as the nones lasted, so long did the markets continue, and therefore they were called Nonæ quasi Nundinæ. In them also were neither holiedaies more than is at this present (except the day of the purification of our ladie) no sacrifice offered to the gods, but each one applied his businesse, and kept his market, reckoning the first day after the calends or change, to be the fourth or sixt daie before the faire ended. Some thinke that they were called Nonæ, of the word Non, "quia in ijsdem dij non coluntur." For as Ouid saith, "Nonarum tutela deo caret," or for that the nones were alwaies on the ninth daie before the ides: other because Nundina dea was honored the ninth day before the ides, albeit I suppose rather that Nundina dea (a goddesse far yoonger than the name of Nonæ) tooke hir name of the nones, whereon it was a custome among the Romans, "Lustrare infantes ac nomina maribus imponere," as they did with their maid children vpon the eight: but howsoeuer this be, sure it is that they were the mart daies of euerie moneth, wherin the people bought, sold, exchanged or bartered, and did nothing else.
The ides are so named of the Hethruscan word, Iduare, to diuide: and before that Cesar altered the calender, they diuided the moneth commonlie by the middest. But afterward when he had added certeine daies thereto, therby to make it agrée to the yéere of the sunne (which he intruded about the end of euerie moneth, bicause he would not alter the celebration of their vsuall feasts, whereof the chiefe were holden alwaies vpon the day of the ides) then came they short of the middest, sometime by two or thrée daies. In these therefore (which alwaies are eight) the merchants had leisure to packe vp and conueie their merchandize, to pay their creditors, and make merie with their friends.
After the ides doo the calends follow, but in a decreasing order (as I noted) as the moone dooth in light when she is past the full. But herein lieth all the mysterie, if you can say so manie daies before the next change or new moone, as the number there expressed dooth betoken, as for 16 calends so manie daies before the next coniunction, &c: (as is aboue remembred.) Of these calends, I meane touching their number in euerie moneth, I find these verses insuing:
Ianus & Augustus denas nouémq; December,
Iunius Aprilis September & ipse Nouember
Ter senas retinent, Februs his octo calendas,
Iulius October Mars Maius epta decémq;
In English thus:
December Iune and August month
full nineteene calends haue,
Septemb Aprill Nouemb and Iune
twise nine they doo desire,
Sixteene foule Februarie hath,
no more can he well craue,
October Maie and Iulie hot
but seuenteene doo require.
In like maner doo the nones and ides.