18.4
and that at the outset the Romans had only ten months in their year, as some Barbarians have three, and as, among the Greeks, the Arcadians have four, and the Acarnanians six; the Aegyptian year had at first only a single month in it, afterwards four, as we are told. And therefore, though they inhabit a very recent country,Perhaps as formed by the deposits of the Nile (Herod. ii. 5 and 9). they have the credit of being a very ancient people, and load their genealogies with a prodigious number of years, since they really count their months as so many years.
19.1
That the Romans had at first only ten months in their year, and not twelve, is proved by the name of their last month; for they still call it December, or the tenth month. And that March used to be their first month, is proved by the sequence of months after it; for the fifth month after it used to be called Quintilis, the sixth Sextilis, and so on with the rest. Therefore, when they placed January and February before March, they were guilty of naming the above-mentioned month Quintilis, or fifth, but counting it seventh.
