the Nonconformist—for so we call him, seeing he would neither conform to Neolithic fashions nor Roman barbarites—built the Temple of Janus,[1] and, with astrological abitities which now cause wonder to some and doubt to others, fixed, as regards linquistic forms, ten months, as we presently use them. The period down to 510 B.C. is known as the era of the kings in which Numa was second.
18. In or about the year 509 B.C., the Romans adopted a novel mode of securing a visible tally to the twelve months, and of counting the flight of time. Every year on (what is our) thirteenth day of September,[2] a large nail was publicly driven into the wall of the Temple of Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom and Science. This duty was first performed by the praetor, and afterwards by one of the consuls. These officials were appointed first in 244 A.U.C. or 509 B.C., when the years were calculated as containing 354 days, with bi-annual additions of twenty-two days, which made 1,460 days in four years. The Roman pontiffs, in exchange for private bribes, began to corrupt and falsify the Calendar Rolls. They at times, for instance, ordained special intercalculations, so as to favour a moneyed friend, who wished to retain an office, or they failed to announce annual addition when justly needed, because some wealthy legate wished to return to the Eternal City before his regular recall. But, as the art of the pontiffs, which had become an artifice, was not understood by the people, these chronologic tricks passed unheeded for a long period. Finally the civil and the solar year fell months out of time. Consuls, who were supposed to enter upon office in January,
