Moreover, there is a legend that the month of March, being the
first, was dedicated by Romulus to Mars, and the second, April, to
Aphrodite (Venus); in which month they sacrifice to this goddess, and
the women bathe on the first day of it crowned with myrtle. Some,
however, say that April is not named after Aphrodite, because the word
April does not contain the letter _h_, and that it comes from the Latin
word _aperio_, and means the month in which the spring-time opens the
buds of plants; for that is what the word signifies. Of the following
months, May is named after Maia, the mother of Hermes or Mercury, for it
is dedicated to her, and June from Juno. Some say that these names
signify old age and youth, for old men are called by the Latins majores,
and young men juniores. The remaining months they named, from the order
in which they came, the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth:
Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, December. Then
Quintilis was called Julius after Julius Caesar, who conquered Pompeius;
and Sextilis was called Augustus, after the second of the Roman
Emperors. The next two months Domitian altered to his own titles, but
not for any long time, as after his death they resumed their old names
of September and October. The last two alone have preserved their
original names without change. Of the months, added or altered by Numa,
Februarius means the month of purification, for that is as nearly as
possible the meaning of the word, and during it they sacrifice to the
dead, and hold the festival of the Lupercalia, which resembles a
ceremony of purification.
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