Mario Arnaldi wrote: << Well, this is the passage: "Concerning the division of the day, we have to know that, as we said in the sixth [chapter] of the third treatise, the Church uses the seasonal hours, that are twelve every day, longher or shorter, according the sun. But the sixth hour, that is midday, is the noblest and the most virtuous of all day, and the Church puts close to it all the Offices, from every part, that is earlier or later, as far as possible. The Office of the first part of the day, that is Terce, they recite at its end; and the Office of the third (Nones) and fourth (Vespers) part they recite at the beginning. But we use to call half Terce before that the bells are struck for that part, and half Nones after that the sound of bells announced Nones; and the same is for half Vespers. But everyone must know that the right Nones must always strike at the beginning of the seventh hour of the day". >> Haven't we got here by Mario the most striking reference for an eight- divisioned day which has nothing to do with a special Nordic octaval system? I should like to know of similar references by advocates of such a Nordic system!
Karlheinz Schaldach
