CALENDAR, Romah. For this in its most com. plete and final form, the world is indebted to Julius Cesar, who, during his ofiSoe as Pontifex Maximus, un- dertook the memorable task known as the "reform of the calendar.** The Roman year had hitherto con- sisted of 856 days, with a month of thirty days inter- calated every third year, so that tbe average length of the year was 865 days. Tliis arrangement was at- tributed to Numa Pompilius, who added two months to the short year of Rcanulns ; its regulation was left
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lo tbe poDtiifo. Iftheintercalatioiiliadbeeiiregiilar- Ij made, tiie Bomans would hare lost nearly one day in every four years, sinoe the zeal len£^ of the 8olar jear is about 866^ days; batihe bnsiness was so care- iMsly execoted that tito diflferenoe between the civil sad the solar year sometimes amounted to several mooths. Oosar called on the astronomers, especially on Soeigenes of Alexandria, to rectify the discrepancy and prevent fatnre error. It was determined to make tlie first of Jannary of the Roman year U.G- 709 coin- cide with the first of Janoary of the solar ypar which we call B.C. 45. Bnt it was calcnlated that this Jan. 1 of the year U.C. 709 wsold be 67 days in advance of the tme time; in otiier words, It would not concur with Jan. 1 of B.C. 45, bnt with Oct. 22 of KC. 46. Two intercalary months, making together 67 days, were therefore inserted between the last Zay of No- vember and the first of December of the year U.C. 708. An intercalary month of 38 days had already been added to February of that year, according to the old method. The Boman year 706 was thus made to condstin all of the prodigious number of 445 days (t e. tt5+28+67). It was hence scoffingly called **the year of conAisiaii ;" more justly it should be named, as Maerobius observes, ** the last year of confbsion.** To prevent f^iture errors, the year was lengthened from 855 to 865 days, oach month except February being lengtfwned (by one or two days, nearly aheiiiatelyX acooiding to the role which we still observe. Bnt as the solar year consists of very nearly 865^ days, it was maaifestly necessary to add one day in every fodr years, and this was done at the end of February, as at pce«ent hi our " leap year." Such was the funons JuUtm Catmdar^ which, with a slight alteration, con- tiaues in use in all Christian oountriee to the present
Gr^forian Calendar, — ^The addition of one day for eveiy four years would be correct if the solar year esDiisted exactly of 865^ days, or 865 days and 6 hours ; bot» fai hdt it consists of only 865 days, 5 hours, 47 minutes, 51| seconds ; so that the Julian year is longer thin the true solar year by about 12 minutes. Cie- stf 's astronomers are supposed to have been aware of this, but to have neglected it Accordingly, in the jeer A.D. 1582, the beginning of the Julia|i year was fon&d to be about 18 days behind the true time, the venud equinox falling on the 11th Instead of the 21st of March, its date at the Council of Nice, A.D. 825. The time of Easter, therefore, and of the other mova- ble festivals, had been unsettled by the progressive noession of days, and it was matter of importance for ecclesiastical as well as civil purposes that the calen- dar should be rectified. Pope Gregory XIII (q. v.) theieliDte " ordained that ten days shotdd be deducted from the year 1582, by calling what, according to the old calendar, would have been reckoned the 5th of Oc- tober, the 15th of October, 1582 ; imd in order that this fsj^acement might not recur, it was forther ordained that every hundredth year (1800, 1900, 2100, etc.) drnzld not be counted a leap-year, except every fourth hundredth, beginning with 2000. In this way the dif- ference between the civil and the natural year will not imoant to a day in 5000 years. In Spain, Portugal, and part of Italy the pope was exactly obeyed. In Frnee ^ changa took place in the same year, by ollmg the 10th the 20th of December. In the Low Goontriea, the change was from the 15th of December to the 25th ; but it was resisted by the Protestant part of tbe community till the year 1700. The Romanist Bstions in general adopted the style ordained by their sorereiga pontiff; bnt the Protestants were then too modi inflsoned against Romanism in all its relations to leceive even a purely scientific improvement from nch hands. The Lutherans of Germany, Switzer- land, and, as already mentioned, of the Low Countries, at leogdi gave way in 1700, when it had become neces- wy to omit efesm instead of ten days. Abilltothis
effect had been brought before tiie Parliament of Eng^ land in 1585, bnt does not appear to have gone beyond a second reading in the House of Lords.* It was not till 1751, and after great inconvenience had been ex- perienced for nearly two centuries, from the difference of the reckoning, tiiat an act was passed (24 Geo. II, 1751) for equalizing the style in Great Britain and Ireland with that used in other countries of Europe. It was then enacted that eleven days should be omit- ted after the M of September, 1752, so that the ensu- ing day shoi^^ the 14th." Russia still adheres to the Old Style, so that her reckoning is now 12 days behind that of the rest of Europe.