0.1 argument: Either ‘Subject matter of discussion or discourse in speech or writing; theme, subject’ or ‘The summary or abstract of the subject matter of a book’ (OED).

7 Æglogaj . . . tales: The etymology was popular but mistaken, tracing to a ninth-century life of Virgil (Mustard 1919: 195). In fact, ‘eclogue’ derives from the Greek word for ‘choice’, meaning 'selection'. Alternate generic indicators are ‘bucolic’ and ‘idyll’. In the 1581 quarto, E.K.’s three Greek words, ‘αἴγων or αἰγονόμων λόγοι’, are not given in the original but transliterated as ‘Aegon’ (aigon) and ‘Aeginomon logi’ (aignonomon logoi), and the quartos of 1586, 1591, and 1597 follow suit. Whereas E.K. assumes that 'Aegon' means goats, it means ‘pen’; ‘Aeginomon’ means ‘place where goats graze’, and logi’ means ‘words’, ‘utterances’ (see Brooks-Davies 1995: 26).

8 most . . . and Goteheards,: The producers of 1597 seem to have regarded the text they received as having only clumsily articulated E.K.’s contrast between Theocritus’ herds, all goats, and the sheep and goats of Virgil’s eclogues; they emend to ‘more Shepherds, then Goatherds,’. A more parsimonious, but equally clarifying emendation would be to replace ‘most’ with ‘both’.

17 ἀνάλυσις: The quartos of 1581, 1586, 1591, and 1597 correctly transliterate the Greek word as ‘analysis’. Cf. Let 3.566-7: ‘sometime this, sometime that, hath been noted by good wits in their Analyses.’

23 three . . . ranckes: The three forms--Plaintive, Recreative, and Moral--do not correspond to any established generic pattern, but serve as descriptors for the twelve eclogues. These forms are often used as a frame for interpreting the Calender as a whole (e.g., Berger 1988: 277-483; Oram 1997: 35-40). ‘Plaintive’ refers to a poetry of complaint, which takes up ‘metaphysical subjects like alienation, destructive love, friendship, the nature and value of poetry, and, most importantly, the force time exerts on all human efforts’. ‘Recreative’ refers to a poetry of recreation, refreshment, and solace, hence therapy. ‘Moral’ refers to a poetry of ethics, focusing on the public good (L.S. Johnson 1990: 97, 155-7, 53; see 38-47) but also on church discipline (as E.K.’s classification here of Maye, Julye, and September makes clear).

25 conceiue: Cf. FQ, II.x.2.9 for a similar use of ‘conceiue’. 1581 resists this reading, replacing it with the ‘conteine’.

42 Andalo: Andalo de (or di) Negro, who was an Italian geographer and astronomer who instructed Boccaccio in astronomy (see Muccillo 1991). Andalo’s Opus preclarissimum astrolabii compositum a domino Andalo de nigro (1475) discusses the making of astrolabes, and starts the discussion with March, but he does not treat the question of which month begins the new year. Boccaccio says that Andalo calculates the new year (Genealogia 8.2.9), but the reference does not quite support E.K.’s claim (Renwick, Var 7: 244).

42 Macrobius . . . Saturne: The Convivia Saturnalia of Macrobius (fl. 400), from which E.K. derives his information.

54 Iulius Cæsar: The issue was topical, with suggestions for reforming the Julian calendar in circulation. The Gregorian calendar (named after Pope Gregory XIII, who was Pope when the Calender was published) was adopted in 1582, but not in England until 1752, because it was associated with the papacy: ‘The calendar was being contested in two ways in early modern England. First, in 1577, Pope Gregory had proposed eliminating ten days from the calendar in order to make it conform more exactly to celestial motions,’ provoking Protestant resistance. ‘Second . . . was the argument over the calendar’s liturgical content,’ with ‘many English reformers object[ing] . . . to the Catholic calendar’s large number of holy days and denounce[ing] . . . its "idolatrous" canon of saints. . . . Spenser’s text intervenes in both of these calendar debates’: first, ‘Spenser . . . construct[s] . . . a specifically English calendar "untainted" by Catholic forms of time reckoning’; second, he ‘symbolically remakes the Catholic liturgical calendar by substituting local English figures for the traditional calendar of saints, thus bringing a pointedly English history into the patterning of sacred time’ (Chapman 2002: 3).

57 Abib: ‘Conteining part of March and part of April’ (Geneva gloss on Exod 13:3-4).

62–64 Bissextile . . . intercalares: The Julian calendar, introduced in 45 BC, established the idea of a leap year 'in order to regularize the practice of compensating for the discrepancy between the solar year and the calendar year by the irregular introduction of extra or "intercalary" days or months. The leap year was known as the "bissextile year" (year of two sixes) owing to the insertion of an intercalary day six days prior to the Calends of March. Cf. Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.13-4' (McCabe 1999: 519).

66 Romulus: Brother to Remus and legendary first king of Rome, who gave his name to the city.

67–68 Numa Pompilius: Succeeding Romulus as Rome’s second king, Numa was thought to have instituted religious ceremony and practice, and to have changed the calendrical structure by adding months eleven and twelve.

72–73 tanquam Ianua anni . . . or of the name of the god Ianus: Cf. Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.13.3: tanquam bicipitis Dei mense, respicientem ac prospicientem transacti anni finem, futurusque (‘as the month of the two-faced god who looks back to the past year and forward to the beginnings of the one to come’).

73 Ianus: The Italian god of entrances and beginnings, depicted with two faces, after whom the month of January is named.

80 Tisri: ‘The Babylonian name for the first month of the Jewish civil year, or the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year, corresponding to parts of September and October’ (OED). The fact that there are competing Jewish calendars seems relevant to E.K.’s discussion.

81–82 he commaunded . . . moneth: See Lev 23:34: ‘Speake unto the children of Israel, and say, In the fiftienth day of this seventh moneth, shalbe for seven daies the feast of Tabernacles unto the Lord’. Cf. Num 29:12.

84–88 But our Authour respecting nether . . . or canuase a case of so doubtful iudgment: E.K. ‘claims that Spenser founds his calendar structure not on scholarly or ecclesiastical principle but on rustic English tradition. . . . Spenser uses native English practice as the radix of calendar reform’ (Chapman 2002: 9).