On the Months of the Roman L(U7iar Year. 473 II. On the Months of the Roman Lunar Year. Macrobius, Saturnalia i. 13. states, that Numa, through a superstitious reverence for odd numbers, made the lunar year of the Romans to consist of S55 days ; and for the same reason made each of the months, except February, to con- sist of an odd number of days. Numa, in honorem imparis numeri secretum hoc et ante Pythagoram parturiente natura unum adjecit diem quern Januario dedit; ut tam in anno quam in mensibus singulis praeter unum Februarium impar numerus servaretur. He then gives the number of days in each month: in March, May, July, October, 31 each; in February, 28 ; and in each of the rest 29. Now it appears to me that by investigating the number of days in each month of the old Roman year, we may arrive at the explana- tion of the division of the months by Calends, Nones, and Ides, which seems at first sight so arbitrary and puzzling. That the four months named above had always 31 days, and so two days more than the other months of the year, appears from the circumstance that their Nones and Ides were placed two days later than the Nones and Ides of the other months. Their Nones were on the 7th day; their Ides on the 15th. In the remaining months, the Nones were on the 5th; the Ides on the 13th. Even in the other months, to which 31 days were assigned in the Ju- lian Calendar, January, August, and December, the Nones continued to be on the 5th; the Ides on the 13th: beyond doubt because they used to be so before. In the lunar year therefore, or in Numa's Calendar, as it was called, there was in every month an interval of 8 days from the Nones to the Ides; and a complete period of 16 days from the Ides to the end of the month: except that in February this last period wanted one day. Now the religious year, which the early Romans borrowed from the Etruscans, and which is called the year of Romulus, consisted of 304 days, and was divided into 38 periods of 8 days each: and the last days of these periods were marked as public days of pe- culiar solemnity (see Nicbuhr, Vol. i. p. 273.) I conceive
