The Year of Confusion(3)

“Are you sure? I always thought it was some number in that area, but I could never be sure exactly how many.”

“It is not easy to determine and a great deal of study went into ascertaining exactly that fact. It is now agreed by all astronomers that the year is about 365 days long.”

“‘About’?” I said.

He looked at the others. “Did I not say that the senator is extremely quick of apprehension?” Then, back to me, “Yes, no matter how many experiments were done, it was found that the year is never quite exactly 365 days long. It is always a few hours longer than that, about one-quarter of a day.”

“So it cannot be divided evenly into any number of days at all?” I asked.

“Not with perfect precision. However, we have worked out a new calendar based upon the solar year, using the winter solstice as the beginning and ending point.”

“Everyone starts the year at the beginning of January or thereabouts,” I said.

“Yes, but using months of twenty-eight days, taken together with the fact that there are a few extra hours every year, means that if you use a certain number of months to the year, you always end up with a number of extra days. You Romans have made up this anomaly by having the priests give varying numbers of days to the months and by adding an extra month from time to time.”

“We’ve found it a useful political tool,” I told him. “If you have an in with the pontifexes, you can get them to extend your term in office by an extra month or two.”

“Well, yes. Useful for politicians and for generals looting provinces, I am sure, but terribly inconvenient for everybody else.”

“You’ll find that Romans of the ruling class don’t care much what inconveniences other people.”

“It seems that Julius Caesar is an exception, then,” he said dryly.

“I can’t argue with you there, but I still fail to see how this can be an improvement. It is impossible to divide the year into an even number of months and the year in any case can’t be measured to the last hour.”

“That,” he said, “is where subtlety and unconventional thinking are called for. You see, people have been so fixated upon the lunar phase of twenty-eight days that they have always wanted each month to contain the same number of days, even knowing that that is impossible. Upon reflection, though, there is no necessity for this. Why should a month not be twenty-nine days? Or thirty days? And why should each month have exactly the same number of days?”

“Eh?” I said brightly.

“Think about it. Why should each month have the same number of days?”

“Why, because it would be convenient, I suppose.”

“Exactly. People are bound by custom and tradition and convenience. It is this sort of thinking we must avoid if we are to break new philosophical ground.” Here the crowd of astronomers made approving sounds, as if he were an advocate who had just made a telling point in court. “What is far more important, for everyday convenience and for the regulation of both public and agricultural life, is that the year start and end upon exactly the same day, and have exactly the same number of months as every other year, and that each month start and end on exactly the same days each year, with no variation.”

“I suppose that is logical,” I said, trying to get my mind around the concept of such a year. I, like everyone else, was used to the months wandering around a bit, and never knowing exactly how many days a month would have until the pontifexes announced the number.

“Very logical,” he concurred. “To that end we have devised a solar calendar based upon this concept. It consists of seven months of thirty-one days each, four of thirty days each, and a single month of twenty-eight days.”

I did some quick arithmetic in my head. “All right, that adds up to 365 days, but you still have that quarter day left at the end of each year.”

Sosigenes beamed triumphantly. “That is where that short month comes in. It will be the only month that does not adhere to the rule that each month have the same number of days every year. Every fourth year, it will have an extra day added, making it a twenty-nine-day month for that year.”

“And this structure will be stable, from year to year?” I asked him.

“Yes, with very slight discrepancies. That quarter day I spoke of is not precisely one-quarter of a day.”

“So adjustment will be necessary, from time to time?”

“Yes, but not as frequently as now. In about a thousand years it will be a few days off and require correction.”

“Oh. Well, let it be somebody else’s problem, then.”