The first,hora prima, began at sunrise. The last,hora duodecima, ended at sunset.The night was divided into eight watches—Vespera, Prima fax, Concubia,andIntempesta before midnight;Inclinatio, Gallicinium, Conticinium, andDiluculum after it.The days of the week were Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Sun.Pompeii takes place over four days.Sunrise on the Bay of Naples in the fourth week of AugustA.D. 79 was at approximately 06:20 hours. MARS 22 AugustTwo days before the eruption CONTICINIUM[04:21 hours]A strong correlation has been found between themagnitude of eruptions and the length of the precedinginterval of repose. Almost all very large, historic eruptions havecome from volcanoes that have been dormant for centuries.—JACQUES-MARIE BARDINTZEFF, ALEXANDER R. McBIRNEYVOLCANOLOGY (SECOND EDITION)They left the aqueduct two hours before dawn, climbing by moonlight into the hills overlooking the port—six men in single file, the engineer leading. He had turned them out of their beds himself—all stiff limbs and sullen, bleary faces—and now he could hear them complaining about him behind his back, their voices carrying louder than they realized in the warm, still air.“A fool’s errand,”
