H. G. D.
213. Martial's Distribution of Hours.—
"Prima salutantes atque altera continet hora;
Exercet raucos tertia causidicos.
In quintam varios extendit Roma labores,
Sexta quies lassis ——"
Martial, iv. 8.
These lines are the forenoon portion of Martial's well-known distribution of hours and occupation.
Taking these hours then, for the sake of simplification, at the equinox, when they assimilate in length to our modern hours and assuming it as granted that "quies lassis" refers to the noon-tide siesta, and therefore that "sexta" cannot signify any time previous to our twelve o'clock, or noon, I wish to ask the classical readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES"—
1st. How far into the day are we carried by the expression "in quintam?"