Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

DIES. DIES. 409
sometimes with the epithet -KeOs7pacJ, or xAta- was allowed to administer justice ill tile public
srav8pov) by means of which the natural day was courts; they derived their name from jfri (fari
divided into twelve equal spaces of time. (Herod. tric verba; do, dico, addico, Ovid, Fast. i. 45, &c.;
ii. 109; Diog. Laert. ii. 1. 3; Plin. H. N. ii. 6. Varro, De Ling. Lat. vi. 29, 30. ed. MiUller; Ia78; Suidas, s. v.'AvaSavspos.) These spaces crob. Sat. i. 16). On some of the dies fasti comnitia
were, of course, longer or shorter according to the could be held, but not on all. (Cicero, pro Sext. 1 5,
various seasons of the year. The name hours with the note of Manutius.) Dies might be fasti
(ROpa), however, did not come into general use till in three different ways: 1. diesfasli proprie at toti
a very late period, and the difference between or simply diesfasti, were days on which the praenatural and equinoctial hours was first observed by tor used to hold his courts, and could do so at all
the Alexandrine astronomers. hours. They were marked in the Roman calendar
During the early ages of the history of Rome, by the letter F, and their number in the course of
when artificial means of dividing time were yet the year was 38 (Niebuhr, H7ist. of Ro~me, iii.
unknown, the natural phenomena of increasing p. 314); 2. dies propie sed non totifltsti, or dies
light and darkness formed with the Romans, as intercisi, days on which the praetor might hold his
with the Greeks, the standard of division, as we courts, but not at all hours, so that sometimes one
see from the vague expressions in Censorinus (De half of such a day was fastus, while the other half
Die Nat. 24). Pliny states (H. N. vii. 60) that was nefastus. Their number was 65 in the yeal,
in the Twelve Tables only the rising and the and they were marked in the calendar by the silgns
setting of the sun were mentioned as the two Fpp'fihstusprino, Np -2efstzss primzo, EnL=enparts into which the day was then divided, but from dotercisu s= i5ntercisus, Q. Rex C. F = quai2do Rex
Censorinus (I. c.) and Gellius (xvii. 2) we learn conitio f2git, or qualCdo Rex comlitiCait fils,
that midday (oneridies) was also mentioned. Varro Q. St. Df qa ncaldo st.ercus lefertuzr; 3. dies
(De Ling. Lot. vi. 4, 5, ed. Miiller; and Isidor. no p7ropie sed casuz fAsti, or days which were
Orig. v. 30 and 31) likewise distinguished three not fhsti properly speaking, but became fasti acparts of the day, viz., mwane, nmeridies, and suprezla, cidentally; a dies comitialis, for instance, might
scil. ternpestas, after which no assembly could be become fastus, if either during its whole course, or
held in the forum. The lex Plaetoria prescribed during a part of it, no comitia were held, so that it
that a herald should proclaim the suprema in the accordingly became either a dies fastus totus, or
comitium, that the people might know that their fastus ex parte. (Macrob. Sat. i. 16; Varro, De
meeting was to be adjourned. But the division of Linq. Lat. 1. c.)
the day most generally observed by the Romans, DIES NEFASTI were days on which neither
was that into temnpus anteszeridianum and pomeri- courts of justice nor comitia were allowed to be
diaiszm. the nseridies itself being only considered held, and which were dedicated to other purposes.
as a point at which the one ended and the other (Varro, 1. c.) According to the ancient legends
commenced. But as it -Was of importance that this they were said to have been fixed by Numa Ponmmoment should be known, an especial officer pilius. (Liv. i. 19.) Fromtheremarks made above
[AccENsus] was appointed, who proclaimed the it will be understood that one part of a day might
time of midday, when from the curia he saw the be fastus while another was nefastus. (Ovid. Fast.
sun standing between the rostra and the graeco- i. 50.) The unzdinae, which had originally been
stasis. The division of the day into twelve equal dies fasti for the plebeians, had beenmade nefasti
spaces, which, here as in Greece, were shorter in at the time when the tvwelvemonths-year was inwinter than in summer, was adopted at the time troduced; but in B. c. 286 they were again made
when artificial means of measuring time were in- fasti by a law of Q. Hortensius. (Macrob. Sat. i.
troduced among the Romans from Greece. This 16.) The term dies nefasti, which originally had
was about the year B. C. 291, when L. Papirius nothing to do with religion, but simply indicated
Cursor, before the war with Pyrrhus, brought to days on which no courts were to be held, was in
Rome an instrument called solarium horologium, subsequent times applied to religious days in geor simply solarium. (Plaut. ap. Gelliton, iii. 3. neral, as dies nefasti were mostly dedicated to the
~ 5; Plin. If. N. vii. 60.) But as the solarium worship of the gods. (Gellius, iv. 9, v. 17.)
had been made for a different latitude, it showed In a religious point of view all days of the year
the time at Rome very incorrectly. (Plin. 1. c.) were either dies./ sti, or dies proftst, or dies interScipio Nasica, therefore, erected in B. C. 159 a cisi. According to the definition given by Macropublic clepsydra, which indicated the hours of the bius, dies festi were dedicated to the gods, and
night as well as of the day. (Censorin. c. 23.) spent with sacrifices, repasts, games, and other
Before the erection of a clepsydra it was cus- solemnities; dies profesti belonged to men for the
tomary for one of the subordinate officers of the administration of their private and public affairs.
praetor to proclaim the third, sixth, and ninth They were either diesfizsti, or comnitiales, or coinhours; which shows that the day was, like the perendini, or stati, or proeliales. Dies intercisi
night, divided into four parts, each consisting of were common between gods and men, that is,
three hours. See Dissen's treatise, De Partibus partly devoted to the worship of the gods, partly
Noctis et Dici ex Divisiolsibus Veterunm, in his to the transaction of ordinary business.
Kleine Lateinische und Deutsclhe Schnri/ien, pp. 130, We have lastly to add a few remarks on some
150. Compare the article HOROLOGIUAs. of the subdivisions of the dies profesti, which are
All the days of the year were, according to dif- likewise defined by Macrobius. Dies cogzitiales
ferent points of view, divided by the Romans into were days on which comitia were held; their numdifferent classes. For the purpose of the admini- ber was 184 in a year. Dies co2sperendizi were
stration of justice, and holding- assemblies of the days to which any action was allowed to be transpeople, all the days were divided into dies fasti ferred (quibus svadiioniums licet dicere, Gaiuns iv.
and dies nefasti. ~ 15). Dies stati were days set apart for causes
Dxrs FPASTI were the days on which the practor between Roman citizens and foreigners (qui judicii