n
Summer, in Autumn, and in Winter. And it is the same in the day even
to the third hour, and then even to the ninth, leaving the sixth in
the middle of this part, or division, for the reason which is
understood, and then even to vespers, and from vespers onwards. And
therefore the Gentiles said that the chariot of the Sun had four
horses; they called the first Eoo, the second Piroi, the third Eton,
the fourth Phlegon, even as Ovid writes in the second book of the
Metamorphoses concerning the parts or divisions of the day.

And, briefly, it is to be known that, as it has been said above in the
sixth chapter of the third treatise, the Church makes use of the hours
temporal in the division of the day, which hours are twelve in each
day, long or short according to the amount of sunlight; and because
the sixth hour, that is, the midday, is the most noble of the whole
day, and has in it the most virtue, the Offices of the Church are
approximated thereto in each side, that is, from the prime, and thence
onwards as much as possible; and therefore the Office of prime, that
is, the tertius, is said at the end of that part, and that of the
third part and of the fourth is said at the beginning; and therefore,
before the clock strikes in a division of the day, it is termed
half-third or mid-tertius; or mid-nones, when in that division the
clock has struck, and thus mid-vespers.

And, therefore, let each one know that the right and lawful nones
ought always to strike or sound at the beginning of the seventh hour
of the day, and let this suffice to the present digression.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Returning to the proposition, I say that Human Life is divided into
four ages or stages. The first is called Adolescence, that is, the
growth or increase of life; the second is called Youth, that is, the
age which can give perfection, and for this reason one understands
this Youth to be perfect, because no man can give except of that which
he has; the third is called Old Age; the fourth is called Senility,
Extreme Old Age, as has been said above.

Of the first no one doubts, but each wise man agrees that it lasts
even to the twenty-fifth year; and up to that time our Soul waits for
the increase and the embellishment of the body. While there are many
and very great changes in the person, the rational part cannot possess
perfectly the power of discretion; wherefore, the Civil Law wills
that, previous to that age, a man cannot do certain t