Rome

Egressum magna me accepit Aricia Roma hospitio modico; rhetor comes Heliodorus, Graecorum longe doctissimus; inde forum Appi, differtum nautis, cauponibus atque malignis. hoc iter ignavi divisimus, altius ac nos praecinctis unum; minus est gravis Appia tardis.

When I left great Rome, Aricia gave me modest lodging. My companion was Heliodorus, a rhetor, by far the most learned of the Greeks. From there we went on to Forum Appi, which was crammed with boatmen and crooked innkeepers. Being lazy, we took two days over this stretch, which faster travelers do in one. The Appian Way is easier if you take it slowly.

Sed ut hos annos omittam caligine iam profundae vetustatis obductos, in his quoque, qui sunt recentioris memoriae et ad cursum lunae vel solis instituti, quanta sit varietas facile est cognoscere, si quis vel in unius Italiae gentibus, ne dicam peregrinis, velit inquirere. nam ut alium Ferentini alium Lavinii itemque Albani vel Romani habuerunt annum, ita et aliae gentes. omnibus tamen fuit propositum suos civiles annos varie intercalandis mensibus ad unum illum verum naturalemque corrigere.

But let me pass over these years [of the earliest peoples], already lost in the darkness of the distant past. Even among the years of more recent memory, set by the course of the moon or the sun, it is easy to see how much variety there is. One only has to look at the peoples of Italy alone, to say nothing of foreign ones. The people of Ferentinum had one year, those of Lavinium another, the Albans and the Romans others again, and so did other peoples. But all of them aimed to correct their civil years to match the one true, natural year, by inserting extra months in different ways.

de quibus omnibus disserere quoniam longum est, ad Romanorum annum transibimus. Annum vertentem Romae Licinius quidem Macer et postea Fenestella statim ab initio duodecim mensum fuisse scripserunt: sed magis Iunio Gracchano et Fulvio et Varroni et Suetonio aliisque credendum, qui decem mensum putarunt fuisse, ut tunc Albanis erat, unde orti Romani.

It would take too long to discuss all of these, so I will move on to the year of the Romans. Licinius Macer, and later Fenestella, wrote that the year at Rome had twelve months from the very beginning. But we should rather believe Junius Gracchanus, Fulvius, Varro, Suetonius and others, who thought it had ten months. So it was at that time among the Albans, from whom the Romans came.

ex hoc anno ita a Iulio Caesare ordinato ceteri ad nostram memoriam Iuliani appellantur, eique consurgunt ex quarto Caesaris consulatu. qui etiam si optimo , non soli tamen ad annum naturae aptati sunt: nam et priores anni, etiam si qui decemmenstres fuerunt, nec Romae modo vel per Italiam, sed et aput gentes omnes, quantum poterat, idem fuerunt correcti.

The years since then, down to our own time, are called Julian after this year that Julius Caesar set in order. They are counted from Caesar's fourth consulship. Even if these are the best [words are lost here], they are not the only years fitted to the year of nature. The earlier years too, even those of ten months, were corrected in the same way as far as possible, not only at Rome or in Italy but among all peoples.

secundum quam rationem nisi fallor hic annus, cuius velut index et titulus quidam est V. C. Pii et Pontiani consulatus, ab olympiade prima millensimus est et quartus decimus, ex diebus dumtaxat aestivis, quibus agon Olympicus celebratur; a Roma autem condita nongentensimus nonagensimus primus, et quidem ex Parilibus, unde urbis anni numerantur;

By this reckoning [of Varro's], unless I am mistaken, the present year is the 1,014th since the first Olympiad. This year is marked and named, as it were, by the consulship of those most distinguished men, Pius and Pontianus. Its Olympic count starts from the summer days when the Olympic games are held. It is the 991st year since Rome was founded, counting from the Parilia, the festival from which the city's years are counted.

Maium vero non a maioribus, sed a Maia nomen accepisse, quod eo mense tam Romae quam antea in Latio res divina Maiae fit et Mercurio. Iunium quoque a Iunone potius quam iunioribus, quod illo mense maxime Iunoni honores habentur.

May, he says, took its name not from the elders but from Maia, because in this month sacrifice is made to Maia and Mercury, now at Rome as before in Latium. June too came from Juno rather than from the younger men, because in that month Juno is honored most of all.

in hoc autem mense Lupercalibus, cum Roma lustratur, salem calidum ferunt, quod februum appellant, unde dies Lupercalium proprie februatus et ab eo porro mensis Februarius vocitatur.

In this month, at the Lupercalia, when Rome is purified, they carry hot salt, which they call februum. So the day of the Lupercalia is properly called februatus, and from it in turn the month is called February.

non igitur mirum in hac uarietate Romanos quoque olim auctore Romulo annum suum decem habuisse mensibus ordinatum, qui annus incipiebat a Martio, et conficiebatur diebus trecentis quattuor, ut sex quidem menses, id est Aprilis Iunius Sextilis September Nouember December, tricenum essent dierum, quattuor uero, Martius Maius Quintilis October, tricenis et singulis expedirentur, qui hodieque septimanas habent Nonas, ceteri quintanas.

So with all this variety it is no surprise that the Romans too once had a year of ten months, set up by Romulus. This year began with March and was 304 days long. Six months, April, June, Sextilis, September, November and December, had 30 days each. The other four, March, May, Quintilis and October, had 31 days each. These four still have their Nones on the seventh day; the rest have them on the fifth.