Some of the most intelligent and learned Greeks were very punctilious in their observance of Egyptian days. The philosopher Proclus (A. D. 412-485) was said to be even more scrupulous in this regard than the Egyptians themselves. And Plotinus (A. D. 204-270), another eminent Grecian philosopher, believed with the astrologers of a later day, that the positions of the planets in the heavens exerted an influence over human affairs.[408] In an ancient calendar of the year 334, in the reign of Constantine the Great, twenty-six Egyptian days were designated.[409] At an early period, however, the church authorities forbade the superstitious observance of these days. Some of the most eminent early writers of the Christian Church, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Chrysostom, were earnest in their denunciation of the prevalent custom of regulating the affairs of life by reference to the supposed omens of the calendar. The fourth council of Carthage, in 398, censured such practices; and the synod of Rouen, in the reign of Clovis, anathematized those who placed faith in such relics of paganism.[410] We learn on the authority of Marco Polo that the Brahmins of the province of Laristan, in southern Persia, in the thirteenth century, were extremely punctilious in their choice of suitable days for the performance of any business matters. This famous traveler wrote that a Brahmin who contemplated making a purchase, for example, would measure the length of his own shadow in the early morning sunlight, and if the shadow were of the proper length, as officially prescribed for that day, he would proceed to make the purchase; otherwise he would wait until the shadow conformed in length to a predetermined standard for that day of the week. The Latin historian, Rolandino (1200-76), in the third book of his “Chronicle,” describes an undertaking which resulted disastrously because, as was alleged, it was rashly begun on an “Egyptian day.” There is frequent mention of these days in many ancient manuscripts in the Ambrosian Library at Milan.[411] In a so-called “Book of Precedents,” printed in 1616, fifty-three days are specified as being “such as the Egyptians noted to be dangerous to begin or take anything in hand, or to take a journey or any such thing.” An ancient manuscript mentions twenty-eight days in the year “which were revealed by the Angel Gabriel to good Joseph, which ever have been remarked to be very fortunayte dayes either to let blood, cure wounds, use marchandizes, sow seed, build houses, or take journees.” Astrologers formerly specified particular days when it was dangerous for physicians to bleed patients; and especially to be avoided were the first Monday in April, on which day Cain was born and his brother Abel slain; the first Monday in August, the alleged anniversary of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; and the last Monday in December, which was the reputed birthday of Judas Iscariot.