method, which is
natural, inasmuch as nine months of the Indiction belong to the later
date and only three to the earlier. Thus, for instance, Marcellinus
Comes calls the year of the Consulship of Belisarius, which was
undoubtedly 535, 'Indictio XIII:' the thirteenth Indiction of that
cycle having begun Sept. 1, 534, and ended August 31, 535. But it is
well that the student should be warned that our greatest English
authority, Mr. Fynes Clinton, adopts the other method. In the very
useful table of comparative chronology which he gives in his Fasti
Romani[189] he assigns the Indiction to that year of the Christian era
in which it had its beginning, and accordingly 534, not 535, is
identified with the thirteenth Indiction.

[Footnote 189: Vol. ii. pp. 214-216. See his remarks, p. 210: 'The
Indictions in Marcellinus and in the Tables of Du Fresnoy are compared
with the Consulship and the Julian year in which they end. In the
following Table they are compared with the year in which they begin,
because the years of the Christian era are here made the measure of
the rest, and contain the beginnings of all the other epochs.']

In order to translate years of Indiction into years of the Christian
era it is necessary first to add some multiple of 15 (_what_ multiple
our knowledge of history must inform us) to 312. On the 1st of
September of the year so obtained the Indiction cycle began; and for
any other year of the same cycle we must of course add its own number
minus one. Thus, when we find Cassiodorus as Praetorian Praefect
writing a letter[190] informing Joannes of his appointment to the
office of Cancellarius 'for the _twelfth_ Indiction,' as we know
within a little what date is wanted, we first of all add 14 x 15 (=
210) to 312, and so obtain 522. The first Indiction in that cycle ran
from September 1, 522, to August 31, 523. The twelfth Indiction was
therefore from September 1, 533, to August 31, 534, and that is the
date we require.

[Footnote 190: Var. xi. 6.]

On the other hand, when we find a letter written by Cassiodorus as
Praetorian Praefect to the Provincials of Istria[191] as to the
payment of tribute for the _first_ Indiction, we know that we must now
have entered upon a new cycle. We therefore add 15 x 15 (= 225) to
312, and get 537. As it happens to be the _first_ Indiction that we
require, our calculation ends here: September 1, 537, to August 31,
538, is the answer required.

[Footnote 191: Var. xii.