Thesauros Literature biography Ἀίτια Ῥωμαϊκά

Ἀίτια Ῥωμαϊκά

Ἀίτια Ῥωμαϊκά Plutarch
84 Or is it impossible to reckon the beginning and end of the day by sunset and sunrise? For if we follow the method by which most people formulate their definitions, by their perceptions, reckoning the first peep of the sun above the horizon as the beginning of day, and the cutting off of its last rays as the beginning of night, we shall have no equinox: but that night which we think is most nearly equal to the day will plainly be less than that day by the diameter of the sun.Long before Plutarch’s day the Greeks had calculated the angle subtended by the sun with an accuracy that stood the test of centuries, and was not modified until comparatively recent times. Cf. Archimedes, Arenarius, i. 10 (J. L. Heiberg’s ed. ii. p. 248). But then again the remedy which the mathematicians apply to this anomaly, decreeing that the instant when the centre of the sun touches the horizon is the boundary between day and night, is a negation of plain fact; for the result will be that when there is still much light over the earth and the sun is shining upon us, we cannot admit that it is day, but must say that it is already night. Since, therefore, the beginning of day and night is difficult to determine at the time of the risings and settings of the sun because of the irrationalities which I have mentioned, there is left the zenith or the nadir of the suii to reckon as the beginning. The second is better; for from noon on the sun’s course is away from us to its setting, but from midnight on its course is towards us to its rising.
85 Why in the early days did they not allow their wives to grind grain or to cook? Cf.Life of Romulus, chap. xv. (26 d), xix. (30 a).
85 Was it in memory of the treaty which they made with the Sabines? For when they had carried off the Sabines’ daughters, and later, after warring with the Sabines, had made peace, it was specified among the other articles of agreement that no Sabine woman should grind grain for a Roman or cook for him.

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