t to make up the
governing body of ten; (2) that each decury as a whole held office in
succession, so that one decury was in power for fifty days.]

[Footnote 18: At this time a grove: later it became one of the
artificers' quarters, lying beyond the forum and in the jaws of the
suburra, which stretched away over the level ground to the foot of the
Esquiline and Quirinal Hills.--D.O.]

[Footnote 19: Romulus had made his year to consist of ten months, the
first month being March, and the number of days in the year only 304,
which corresponded neither with the course of the sun nor moon. Numa,
who added the two months of January and February, divided the year
into twelve months, according to the course of the moon. This was the
lunar Greek year, and consisted of 354 days. Numa, however, adopted
355 days for his year, from his partiality to odd numbers. The lunar
year of 354 days fell short of the solar year by 11-1/4 days; this in
8 years amounted to (11-1/4 x 8) 90 days. These 90 days he divided
into 2 months of 22, and 2 of 23 days [(2 x 22) + (2 x 23) = 90],
and introduced them alternately every second year for two octennial
periods: every third octennial period, however, Numa intercalated only
66 days instead of 90 days--i. e., he inserted 3 months of only 22
days each. The reason was, because he adopted 355 days as the length
of his lunar year instead of 354, and this in 24 years (3 octennial
periods) produced an error of 24 days; this error was exactly
compensated by intercalating only 66 days (90--24) in the third
octennial period. The intercalations were generally made in the month
of February, after the 23d of the month. The management was left
to the pontiffs--ad metam eandem solis unde orsi essent--dies
congruerent; "that the days might correspond to the same
starting-point of the sun in the heavens whence they had set out."
That is, taking for instance the Tropic of Cancer for the place or
starting-point of the sun any one year, and observing that he was in
that point of the heavens on precisely the 21st of June, the object
was so to dispense the year, that the day on which the sun was
observed to arrive at that same meta or starting-point again, should
also be called the 21st of June.]

[Footnote 20: A more general form of the legend ran to the effect that
but one of these shields fell from heaven, and that the others
were made like it, to lessen the chance of the genuine one being
stolen.--D.O.]

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