我们都知道中国有“阴历”，但早期的罗马人也是用月亮的阴晴圆缺来定日期的，每个月份的长短是由政治家决定的。他们偷偷延长自己任期的月份，缩短对手的任期，致使日期一度陷入混乱。直到凯撒出现，才解决了这个问题，并固定了“阳历”。

The early Romans used the moon as a guide to measure the months. That led to a twelve-month year that came up short, with only 355 days. To keep the four seasons at the right time, the habit of occasionally adding extra weeks and days began. But corrupt public officials used this as an advantage. They began to change the calendar to lengthen their own terms in office and shorten the terms of detested rivals. So they were in fact stealing time to selfishly expand their own political purposes.

早期的罗马人利用月亮的圆缺和位置作为向导来推测月份。这种推测方法使得一年十二个月变短了，只有355天。为了跟上四季的变化，人们开始习惯于在每个季节偶尔加上额外的几天，甚至几个星期。但腐败的公职人员却以此来捞取好处。他们开始修改日历，延长他们的任期，而缩短他们所憎恶的对手的任期。因此，实际上，他们是为了一己私欲，扩大自己的政治目的。

By 46 B.C., the Roman year was more than two whole months off the actual date. That is when the leader of the Romans - Julius Caesar - took charge and invented a new solar calendar. This resulted in a year that is 365 days long. He also changed New Year's Day from the start of March to January 1, and added one extra day every four years. Rivals complained that Caesar was not satisfied in ruling the earth, but had to control the heavens as well.

直到公元前46年，罗马一年比实际天数多了整整两个月。也就在那一年，掌管罗马的领导人朱利尤斯•恺撒发明了一种新的纪年法——阳历。从此，一年就按365天计算。同时，他把元旦由原来的3月1日改为1月1日，而且每四年加一天。恺撒的对手抱怨道：恺撒统领地球还不够，还要控制天堂。

To bring the calendar back to normal, Caesar plunked two extra months to the year 46 B.C between November and December and three weeks between February and March. The consequence was a year that no one had seen before - 445 days long! This year in Rome was forever known as the “year of confusion,” but Caesar himself was quick to point out that it was actually the year the confusion came to an end.

为把日历带回到正常的轨道上来，恺撒在公元前46年的11月和12月之间重重地加上了2 个月，而在2月和3月之间加上了3周。结果导致公元前46年有445天之多，这是人们之前从来没有看见过的。罗马人永远都知道这一年是一个“混乱年”，但是恺撒自己很快指出那一年实际上是纪年混乱的结束年。

 

（来源：译索网 实习生许雅宁 英语点津 Yvonne 编辑）

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