Day came

Natural,

Civil, or
Artificial.

6. Holy days are thofe wherein Business is laid afide; which the Romans formerly called Nefafti.

7. And thofe are made holy, either by Divine or Humane Authority.

8. Some People obferve Sundays and other Holy-days as being of Divine Inftitution.

9. But many Nations by Humane Impofition did heretofore vainly obferve Jeveral Days, and do at this time; as'twill appear from the enfuing difcourfe, in which the various Customs of feveral Nations with reference to the fixing of Days of Solemnity, are recounted at large. 10. Thofe that are not Holy-days, but Work-days, are alfo called Fafti, being thefe wherein the folemn Offices are not performed either to the true God, or to the falje Geds of the Gentiles.

How the S. 1.THofe that call that Space of time a Natural. Day wherein the Sun is upon the Horizon, are to be call'd chiefly moved thereto, becaufe Nature and not Art makes the Day; but thofe that would have it an intire Revolution of the Sun, alledge that Nature intends a perfect Circulation. In like manner the vuxenμegor is called a Civil Day, because that the Citizens were wont to use it in dating their contracts and other Civil Actions. In fine, they call the Suns ftaying upon the Horizon an Artificial Day, for that it's then convenient for Artificers to do their Work; and as fome will add, because the difference of fuch Days depends upon the Artificial Workmanship of Almighty God, and is taught by the ufe of an Artificial Sphere.

Not the

§. 2. But a Natural Day is not taken in the fame fame with Sence by all Authors, for what in Chronology we call all Authors. a Natural Day, the fame the Aftronomers usually term an Art ficial, and what we call a Civil they call

Natural.

The meas. 3. The measure of the Civil Day (according to jure of a Chronologers) and the Natural (according to Aftrono Civil day mers) is the daily Revolution of the Sun round the

Earth, or, as Aftronomers do otherwife fpeak, it is an entire Revolution of the Æquator, with fo much over as anfwereth to the Suns own Retrograde Motion on the Ecliptick. Now the additional Complements being unequal, the mean ones are 59min. 8". of the Equator's motion or 3min. 57' of time, by which part

of

of time the Solar day exceeds the day of the Primum Mobile.

21

4. As to the difference of Natural and Civil days, The diffe fome call thofe that are unequal Natural days, and rence of a thofe that are equal Civil, though very abfurdly; for Civil and under the Æquator all Natural days are equal, and, Natural properly fpeaking, the Civil days are not equal, by reafon of the inequality of what is added. In like manner, if a Country juft under the Pole were habita ble, its Inhabitants would have their Natural day nerther equal nor unequal; for it is called equal or unequal, in respect of another; but in fuch a Country they would know no other day but one, till the year were paft. Yet it is true that in an Oblique Spliere, its Inhabitants have their Natural days unequal, whence Ovid when he would defcribe an impoflibi lity, fays.

Longa dies citior brumali tempore, noxque

Tardior hyberna folftitialis erit.

Iib. de

Ponto 2.

§. 5. As to the Queftion whether all Civil days are All Civil equal and exactly 24 Hours: "Tis true indeed that an days nor intire Revolution of the Equator moving from Eaft precisely to Weft is performed in the space of 24 Hours: But 24 Hours in the mean time that the Equator fteers that rapid courfe, the Sun like the other Stars moves towards the Eaft, at the rate of 59'. 8". for its mean diurnal Motion, the space alloted for its real diurnal Motion being unequal. Now this being fuppofed 'twill follow. that when the degree of the Ecliptick formerly poffeffed by the Sun, together with the degree of the Equator, are arriv'd at the Meridian, the Sun has not yet reached it; and to account for its diftance a certain portion of time must be allowed beyond the 24 Hours; and by reafon of the inequality of the apparent motion of the Sun that additional Complement must likewife be unequal.----This inequality (fays Dr. Holder) has been diligently obferv d' by feveral Ingenious Clock-makers, and Equations have been made and ufed by them. But the moft Authentick Tables of Equation of Natural days are handed to us by the skill and diligence of our great Matter in Aftronomy, Mr. Flamstead, and Publifhed in Mr. Parkers Aim

C 3

nacks

2.2

nacks for the year 1692 and 1693. Out of which we may take a compendious view only of the Days of extreme inequality, and of the mean between 'em ; referring to the whole Table for a daily Account.Suppofing a Watch or Clock to be made and fet fo exactly to correfpond with the day of the middle motion of the Sun, that 'twill continue to go truly according to that Motion of the Sun for a whole year; the Sun's days fometimes lengthening and fometimes thortening (I mean the Natural days) the Accounts of the Hours of the Sun Dial will vary from the equal going Watch, according to the Table following

The Diftin&ion be

vil and

Natural

Days is

§. 6. That the Distinction of the Day into Natural and Civil is very ancient, plainly appears by that Stratween Ci- tagem of the Thracians formerly made ufe of, which as Strabo relates 1. 9. p. 277, was thus: Ephorus (fays he) Writes that the Thracians having made a Truce with the very Anci- Boetians, fell upon 'em at Night, prefuming that the Camp would be carelessly Guarded after the conclufion of a Peace, But had the Misfortune to be routed by their Enemy, and when charg'd with the violation of a Truce, juftify'd their Conduct by alledging that the Truce exten ded to a certain number of Days, but not Nights. This gave rife to the Proverb, Thracicum Commentum. The like Story Plutarch relates in's Laconick Apothegms.

ent.

Of the va

vious be

S. 7. The Variety oblerv'd by feveral Nations in fixginnings of ing the beginning of their Days is very great, as well as Days.

that

23

that of their Months and Years; This gave rise to the
memorable Distich

Articus occafum fpectat, Babylonius ortum,

Nox media Aufoniis, media at Lux perplacet Umbris.

That is, the Athenians commenc'd the Day from Sunfet, the Babylonians from Sunrise, the Aufonian: from Midnight, and the Umbrians from Midday or Noon.

4

5.8. Thofe Nations that computed their Days from What NaSunfet, are fuch as obferved the courfe of the Moon tions begin in the regulation of their years and Months, for it is af- their Day terSunfet that the Standard of the LunarSeafons appears from Sunin the Starry Orb,and for that reafon they gave the pre-fer. ference to that period of time, perhaps in imitation of Mofes. And there is no queftion but the fews, Arabians, Athenians, and other Eastern Nations, as well as the Africans, made ufe of this computation.

S. 9. 'Tis certain that among the Babylonians, the Chaldean Soothsayers, the Syrians and the Perfians, the From Sun. Sunrife gave date to the beginning of the Day: and Petavius de Dot. Temp. l. 7.p.609. is of the opinion that rife. in that computation thefe Nations follow'd Hipparchus and Prolomaus.

S. 10. The cuftom of Calculating the Days from From MidMidnight, is chiefly afcribed to the Aufonians, the night. moft Ancient Inhabitants of Italy, with whom it is very well known the Romans did agree for many years; and probably this may be reafon of its Inftitution, for that after the Sun has croffed the lower part of the Meridian, it begins to mount again; fo that there might be a fort of Harmony betwixt the beginning of the year and day, pursuant to that Verfe of Ovid.

Principium capiunt Phoebus & annus idem.

Plutarch brings other Reafons befides this in his Problems, which may be feen in Varro,and from him in Aulus Gellius his Noct. Att. 1. 3. c. 2.

§. 11. The Days begun from Noon among the Um From Neen brians, a People well known in Italy near the Apennine Mountains and the Adriatick Sea, whom the Greeks fuppofed to be the only People that furviv'd the General Inundation; whence Pliny l. 3. c. 14. and Solinus c.&. derive

C 4

Now the

derive the name 'Oμlgíus, i. e. fhomery. The Hetruscians being Borderers on the aforefaid Appennine Mountains, joyn'd with the Umbrians in the fame Calculation. And because the Meridian is a fixed immovable Circle (and eafie for Obfervations) the Mathematicians have followed this Cuftom two feveral Ways; fome beginning their Days flower by 12 Hours. and others fooner by the faid time, than the Civil; of the former fort were Tycho Brahe and his Followers; of the latter, Alphonfus and his Disciples.

S. 12. But many Authors of good Account difagree Egypti concerning the Ægyptians. Alexander ab Alexandro, as began Genial. di. l. 4. c. 20. fays, that the Egyptians and ADay. thenians began their Day at Sunset, which lafted to the fame time next Day. Others there are, who have given out that the Egyptians together with the Chaldeans began their Day from Noon-tide, whom Christmannus upon Alfraganus follows. Pliny l. 2. c. 77. fays that the Agyptians computed their Civil Day from Midnight to Midnight. Nor are there wanting Arguments that will prove them to have begun their Day from Noon which Calculation Ptolemy frequently follows. Salmafius confidering thofe Difficulties, makes ufe of this unheard of Solution: He fuppofeth Exerc. Plin. p. 552. the Agyptians to have had not Unequal but Equal Tears, and their Year to confift of 365 Days and a Quarter; which fourth part or fix Hours he fuppofes to be added every Year, whence it hapned, that if the firft Year began at Midnight, the next began fix Hours later, or in the Morning, the third at Midday, and the fourth at Sun fet: So that the firft Day of every Year had not a certain, but fourfold Beginning in refpect of the Hour. But fince this opinion runs contrary to all other Authors, it is not to be relied on: And therefore we fix upon this, that the Egyptians, at least fome of 'em, began their vulgar Year at Sunrife,

The compuS. 12. The Gauls and ancient Germans feem to dif sation of fer but little from the Jewish Cultom about this the ancient matter, for thefe People obferved the Moon in Gauls and their Affairs, which Tacitus takes notice of, when Germans. writing of Germans: They affemble (fays he) on certain

Days, either at the New or the Full Moon, unless any accidental or unexpected thing falls out: And it is probable that thofe Days began from Sunfett, ac

cording