Nearly every one of the festivals in Tishri has already been suggested for the phrase, but these results have been reached by elaborate and intricate calculations, which bring the thirtieth Sabbath on the festival required. The main difficulty with all such calculations has been noted. The coincidence can only have been exceptional, and an exceptional coincidence will not help us here. Some especially rigorous Jews undoubtedly fasted every week like the Pharisee in Luke xviii. 11-20, but that was intended as a form of asceticism. The custom survived in some Christian communities, notably in Rome, which elevated it almost to a dogma, so that Augustine had to combat the point with especial vigor. (Ep. xxxvi., and Casulanum, Corp. Scr. Eccl. xxxiv. pp. 33 seq.) It may be interesting to remember that from a passage of this epistle referring to this Sabbath fast (xiv. 32) is derived the famous proverb, “When you are in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Footnote 266: Sat. I. iv. 18. Footnote 267: Sat. I. v. 97. Footnote 268: Apellas is a common name for a slave or freedman. Cic. ad Fam. vii. 25; C. I. L. x. 6114. That a Jew should bear a name derived from that of Apollo, is not at all strange. Cf. ch. IX., n. 6. Footnote 269: Cf. Ep. I. vi. 1 seq. The _nil admirari_ of the first line is Horace’s equivalent for the ἀταραξία of Epicurus. Footnote 270: As is stated in the text, the _peregrina Sabbata_ and the _septima festa_, which is merely a metrical paraphrase for _Sabbata_, are treated here as of annual occurrence. The word _redeunt_ itself points to that. It has been suggested in Note 264, that the great annual Sabbath was the Day of Atonement. If that is referred to here, the application is very natural. The season of the Tishri festivals coincided in the Mediterranean with rather severe storms. These generally began after the Day of Atonement, so that among Jews sailing was rarely undertaken after that day. This is strikingly shown by Acts xxvii. 9. But the equinoctial storms, while sufficient to make a sea-voyage dangerous, do not seem to have caused serious discomfort on land. The reference, accordingly, must in each case be understood from its context. In the first the courtship is to be begun, _tu licet incipias_, at the great Sabbath, to take advantage of the exquisite autumn of Italy. In the second, the voyage is not to be deferred even for this same Sabbath, which ordinarily marked the danger line of navigation. Footnote 271: Vogelstein u. Rieger, Gesch. der Jud. in der Stadt Rom., p. 39 seq. Footnote 272: Reinach, Textes, p. 259. Footnote 273: Pliny, Hist. Nat. XXIX. i. 6. Plaut. Amphitruo, 1013. Footnote 274: Cf. Garrucci, Cimitero ... in Signa Randanini; F. X. Kraus, Roma Sott. p. 286 ff.; Garucci, Storia del arte Cristiana, VI. tav. 489-491. CHAPTER XVII