Plutarch's Romane Questions · Plutarch
19.
_Why begin the Romans their yeere at the moneth Januarie?_ FOR in old time the moneth of March was reckoned first, as a man may collect by many other conjectures, and by this specially, that the fift moneth in order after March was called _Quintilis_, and the sixt moneth _Sextilis_, and all the rest consequently one after another until you come to the last, which they named December, because it was the tenth in number after March: which giveth occasion unto some for to thinke & say, that the Romans (in those daies) determined and accomplished their compleat yeere, not in twelve moneths but in ten: namely, by adding unto everie one of those ten moneths certain daies over and above thirtie. Others write, that December indeed was the tenth moneth after March; but Januarie was the eleventh, and Februarie the twelfth: in which moneth they used certaine expiatorie and purgatorie sacrifices, yea, and offered oblations unto the dead (as it were) to make an end of the yere. Howbeit afterwards they transposed this order, and ranged Januarie in the first place, for that upon the first day thereof, which they call the Calends of Januarie; the first Consuls that ever bare rule in _Rome_ were enstalled, immediatly upon the deposition and expulsion of the kings out of the citie. But there seemeth to be more probability & likelihood of truth in their speech, who say, that _Romulus_ being a martiall prince, and one that loved warre and feats of armes, as being reputed the sonne of _Mars_, set before all other moneths, that which caried the name of his father: howbeit _Numa_ who succeeded next after him, being a man of peace, and who endevored to withdraw the hearts and minds of his subjects and citizens from warre to agriculture, gave the prerogative of the first place unto Januarie, and honoured _Janus_ most, as one who had beene more given to politick government, and to the husbandrie of ground, than to the exercise of warre and armes.
Consider moreover, whether _Numa_ chose not this moneth for to begin the yeere withall, as best sorting with nature in regard of us; for otherwise in generall, there is no one thing of all those that by nature turne about circularly, that can be said first or last, but according to the severall institutions and ordinances of men, some begin the time at this point, others at that. And verely they that make the Winter solstice or hibernall Tropick the beginning of their yeere, do the best of all others: for that the Sunne ceasing then to passe farther, beginneth to returne and take his way againe toward us: for it seemeth, that both according to the course of nature, and also in regard of us, this season is most befitting to begin the yeere: for that it increaseth unto us the time of daie light, and diminisheth the darknesse of night, and causeth that noble starre or planet to approch neerer and come toward us, the lord governour and ruler of all substance transitorie and fluxible matter whatsoever.
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