_ 288 The Dying God_, pp. 58 _sqq._ Speaking of the octennial cycle Censorinus observes that “_Ob hoc in Graecia multae religiones hoc intervallo temporis summa caerimonia coluntur_” (_De die natali_, xviii. 6). Compare L. Ideler, _op. cit._ ii. 605 _sq._; G. F. Unger, “Zeitrechnung der Griechen und Römer,” in Iwan Müller’s _Handbuch der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, i.2 732 _sq._ The great age and the wide diffusion of the octennial cycle in Greece are rightly maintained by A. Schmidt (_Handbuch der griechischen Chronologie_, Jena, 1888, pp. 61 _sqq._), who suggests that the cycle may have owed something to the astronomy of the Egyptians, with whom the inhabitants of Greece are known to have had relations from a very early time. M58 The motive for instituting the eight years’ cycle was religious, not practical or scientific. 289 Aratus, _Phaenomena_, 733 _sqq._; L. Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_, i. 255 _sq._ 290 Geminus, _Elementa Astronomiae_, viii. 15-45. M59 In early times the regulation of the calendar is largely an affair of religion. 291 Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, i. 15. 9 _sqq._; Livy, ix. 46. 5; Valerius Maximus, ii. 5. 2; Cicero, _Pro Muraena_, xi. 25; _id._, _De legibus_, ii. 12. 29; Suetonius, _Divus Iulius_, 40; Plutarch, _Caesar_, 59. M60 The quadriennial period of games and festivals in Greece was probably arrived at by bisecting an older octennial period. 292 See _The Dying God_, pp. 92 _sqq._ 293 Plato, _Meno_, p. 81 A-C; Pindar, ed. Aug. Boeckh, vol. iii. pp. 623 _sq._, Frag. 98. See further _The Dying God_, pp. 69 _sq._ 294 Plutarch, _Aristides_, 21; Pausanias, ix. 2. 6. 295 See above, p. 80. M61 The reasons for bisecting the old octennial period into two quadriennial periods may have been partly religious, partly political. 296 Pausanias, iv. 5. 10; compare Aristotle, _Constitution of Athens_, iii. 1; G. Gilbert, _Handbuch der griechischen Staatsalterthumer_, i.2 (Leipsic, 1893) pp. 122 _sq._ 297 See _The Dying God_, pp. 89-92. M62 The biennial period of some Greek games may have been obtained by bisecting the quadriennial period. 298 L. Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_, ii. 606 _sq._ 299 Censorinus, _De die natali_, xviii. 2-4. 300 Censorinus, _De die natali_, xviii. 2. 301 L. Ideler, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie_, i. 270. M63 Application of the foregoing conclusion to the Eleusinian games. M64 Varro on the rites of Eleusis.