This mode of indicating dates, to which the name hypatic (from ὕπατος, consul) has been applied, continued in vogue till the latter part of the sixth century, and is the last recognition of that venerable institution, the Roman consulate. The year of the emperor, which was enjoined by Justinian, A. D. 537, for the dating of all public acts, appears after that time. Towards the close of the fourth century the date is sometimes indicated by the name of the presiding bishop of the church at Rome, as SVB LIBERIO EPISCOPO, SVB DAMASO EPISCOPO, or TEMPORIBVS SANCTI INNOCENTII, the last expression used probably after the death of the pope named. The names of the bishops of other dioceses than that of Rome are also used, an indication of the parity of episcopal rank in the primitive ages. Thus we have in the year A. D. 397 the name PASCASIO EPISCOPO, according to De Rossi, probably the bishop of an ancient diocese in the immediate vicinity of the city. In the sixth century the names of certain priests, and even deacons, were used as local marks of time. In a large number of inscriptions the day of the month is mentioned, although the year is not. Cardinal Wiseman attributes this to the 411 custom of commemorating the anniversary of the death of the departed as that of his birth into a higher life.[683] But a similar usage is observed also in pagan epitaphs; and Dr. McCaul has well remarked[684] that it is the day of burial that is mentioned more frequently than that of death. The date of birth is seldom given,[685] but the length of life is almost invariably indicated, frequently with great minuteness. Not only are the number of years, months, and days mentioned, but often, with loving exactness, the hours, half-hours, and even the “scruples” or twenty-fourths of an hour, as in the following example: BENE MERENTI IN PACE SILVANA QVAE HIC DORMIT VIXIT ANN. XXI. MENS. III. HOR. IV. SCRVPLOS VI.--“To the well-deserving Silvana, who sleeps here in peace. She lived twenty-one years, three months, four hours, and six scruples.” Six scruples are a quarter of an hour. When the exact number of years was unknown, the expressions PLVS MINVS, ΠΛΕΟΝ ΕΛΑΤΤΟΝ--“more or less”--were used.[686] Frequently the duration of married life is also mentioned with extreme definiteness, 412 as in the following:[687] SILVANA NICIATI MARITO BENE MERENTI CUM QVO VIXIT ANNIS TRIBVS MANSIBVS DVABVS HORIS UNDECIM,--“Silvana to her well-deserving husband Niciatis, with whom she lived three years, two months, eleven hours.”