"The gods confound the man who first found out How to distinguish hours! Confound him, too, Who in this place set up a sundial To cut and hack my days so wretchedly Into small portions! When I was a boy, My belly was my only sun-dial, one more sure, Truer, and more exact than any of them. This dial told me when ’twas proper time To go to dinner, when I had aught to eat; But nowadays, why even when I have, I can’t fall to unless the sun gives leave. The town’s so full of these confounded dials The greatest part of the inhabitants, Shrunk up with hunger, crawl along the streets."
Before standardized time priests used to shorten or lengthen the year to kick people out of office or keep people in office longer.