§18.1ἥψατο δὲ καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν πραγματείας οὔτε ἀκριβῶς οὔτε παντάπασιν ἀθεωρήτως.
He also touched upon the study of the heavens, neither with exact precision nor yet entirely without theoretical consideration.
Ῥωμύλου γὰρ βασιλεύοντος ἀλόγως ἐχρῶντο τοῖς μησὶ καὶ ἀτάκτως, τοὺς μὲν οὐδὲ εἴκοσιν ἡμερῶν, τοὺς δὲ πέντε καὶ τριάκοντα, τοὺς δὲ πλειόνων λογιζόμενοι, τῆς δὲ γινομένης ἀνωμαλίας περὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τὸν ἥλιον ἔννοιαν οὐκ ἔχοντες, ἀλλʼ ἓν φυλάττοντες μόνον, ὅπως ἑξήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίων ἡμερῶν ὁ ἐνιαυτὸς ἔσται.
For under the reign of Romulus, people used the months irrationally and without order, reckoning some at not even twenty days, others at thirty-five, and others at more, having no conception of the discrepancy that arises between the moon and the sun, but keeping only to this one rule, that the year should consist of three hundred and sixty days.
§18.2Νομᾶς δὲ τὸ παράλλαγμα τῆς ἀνωμαλίας ἡμερῶν ἕνδεκα γίνεσθαι λογιζόμενος, ὡς τοῦ μὲν σεληνιακοῦ τριακοσίας πεντήκοντα τέσσαρας ἔχοντος ἡμέρας, τοῦ δὲ ἡλιακοῦ τριακοσίας ἑξήκοντα πέντε, τὰς ἕνδεκα ταύτας ἡμέρας διπλασιάζων ἐπήγαγε παρʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐπὶ τῷ Φεβρουαρίῳ μηνὶ τὸν ἐμβόλιμον, ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων Μερκηδῖνον καλούμενον, εἴκοσι καὶ δυοῖν ἡμερῶν ὄντα.
But Numa, calculating that the discrepancy of the irregularity amounted to eleven days, inasmuch as the lunar year has three hundred and fifty-four days and the solar three hundred and sixty-five, doubled these eleven days and inserted every other year, after the month of February, an intercalary month of twenty-two days, which is called Merkedinus by the Romans.
§18.3καὶ τοῦτο μὲν αὐτῷ τὸ ἴαμα τῆς ἀνωμαλίας μειζόνων ἔμελλεν ἰαμάτων δεήσεσθαι.
And this remedy of his for the irregularity was itself destined to stand in need of greater remedies.
μετεκίνησε δὲ καὶ τὴν τάξιν τῶν μηνῶν τὸν γάρ Μάρτιον πρῶτον ὄντα τρίτον ἔταξε, πρῶτον δὲ τὸν Ἰανουάριον, ὃς ἦν ἑνδέκατος ἐπὶ Ῥωμύλου, δωδέκατος δὲ καὶ τελευταῖος ὁ Φεβρουάριος, ᾧ νῦν δευτέρῳ χρῶνται.
He also changed the order of the months; for March, which was first, he placed third, and January first, which had been eleventh under Romulus, and February twelfth and last, which they now use as second.
πολλοὶ δέ εἰσιν οἳ καὶ προστεθῆναι τούτους ὑπὸ Νομᾶ τοὺς μῆνας λέγουσι, τόν τε Ἰανουάριον καὶ τὸν Φεβρουάριον, §18.4ἐξ ἀρχῆς δὲ χρῆσθαι δέκα μόνον εἰς τὸν ἐνιαυτόν, ὡς ἔνιοι τῶν βαρβάρων τρισί, καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Ἀρκάδες μὲν τέσσαρσιν, ἓξ δὲ Ἀκαρνᾶνες, Αἰγυπτίοις δὲ μηνιαῖος ἦν ὁ ἐνιαυτός, εἶτα τετράμηνος, ὥς φασι.
But there are many who say that these months, both January and February, were actually added by Numa, and that from the beginning they used only ten months for the year, just as some of the barbarians use three, and of the Greeks, the Arcadians four, and the Acarnanians six; and for the Egyptians, the year was of one month, and then of four, as they say.
διὸ καὶ νεωτάτην χώραν οἰκοῦντες ἀρχαιότατοι δοκοῦσιν εἶναι καὶ πλῆθος ἀμήχανον ἐτῶν ἐπὶ ταῖς γενεαλογίαις καταφέρουσιν, ἅτε δὴ τοὺς μῆνας εἰς ἐτῶν ἀριθμὸν τιθέμενοι.
For this reason, though they inhabit a very new land, they seem to be the most ancient of peoples, and they bring down in their genealogies an immense number of years, inasmuch as they reckon their months as years.