Augustus’s Calendrical Year. 187
Some twenty years after Horace ’s fourth book ofOdes,at the beginning of his
calendar poem, Ovid shows how aware he is of the differences between the old and
new calendars, and also of the way that this annotation of the fastiis something
that will continue on into the future, with each succeeding generation. Here he is
addressing Germanicus Caesar, the heir apparent, the nephew and adopted son of
the emperor Tiberius (Fast.1.7 – 12):
sacra recognosces annalibus eruta priscis
et quo sit merito quaeque notata dies.
inuenies illic et festa domestica uobis;
Figure14.
The Fasti Praenestini for 6 – 15 January, a transcript of the text in figure 13. Degrassi
1963, 113.