1792. society of Arcadia, J^ef 



bration of the Olympic games, by substituting for the 

 games formerly directed for bodily exercise, others 

 establifli ed for the exertion of the mind and talents. 

 The coram ifsion to settle perpetual Ephemerides to be 

 observed in the affairs of Arcadia, was given to two 

 famous astronomers, Selvaggio, (Monsignor Frances- 

 co Bianchini,) and Act, (^Dottor Eustachio Manfredi^. 

 who made their exact observations, and presented 

 them to the general afsembly in the year 1693, 

 when it was decreed, that, from that time forward, 

 all the businefs in Arcadia fliould be regulated ac- 

 cording to them. The joyful and melancholy days 

 tvere fixed, — the first to be marked by the custodc 

 with a laurel branch, — the second with one of cy- 

 prefs. Melancholy days, are those in which the death 

 happens of an acclammated Arcadian, of a general 

 cast OS, or of any that are actually colleagues or vice 

 custode of a colony ; joyful, that of the pope's election, 

 with the two following days ; of any Arcadian 

 being raised to be a sovereign, or a cardinal ; that 

 of the election of a new custode ; and all those days 

 in which there is the meeting of a general afsembly. 

 Three particular days are considered perpetually 

 joyful, the 5th of October, on which this literary so- 

 ciety was instituted ; the 20th of May, when the 

 laws were proclaimed ; and 25th of December, in 

 which falls the commemoration of the nativity of 

 yesus Christ, the tutelar saint of Arcadia. 



From this rough Iketch, one may well understand, 

 in what esteem and renown our pastoral society has, 

 from its infancy, been held all over Italy, so as to 

 make ail the Italian literati willingly submit to 



