"Prima salutantes atque altera continet hora;
Exercet raucos tertia causidicos.
In quintam varios extendit Roma labores,
Sexta quies lassis ----"
Martial, iv. 8.
These lines are the forenoon portion of Martial's well-known
distribution of hours and occupation.
Taking these hours then, for the sake of simplification, at the equinox,
when they assimilate in length to our modern hours and assuming it as
granted that "_quies lassis_" refers to the noon-tide siesta, and
therefore that "_sexta_" cannot signify any time previous to our twelve
o'clock, or noon, I wish to ask the classical readers of "NOTES AND
QUERIES"--
1st. How far into the day are we carried by the expression "_in
quintam_?"
2nd. If no farther than to a point equivalent to our eleven o'clock,
A.M., in what way is the vacant hour between that point and _sexta_, or
noon, accounted for by Martial?