October (Roman month) October (Roman month) October (from Latin "octo", "eight") or mensis October was the eighth of ten months on the oldest Roman calendar. It had 31 days. October followed September (from "septem", "seven") and preceded November ("novem", "nine"). After the calendar reform that resulted in a 12-month year, October became the tenth month, but retained its numerical name, as did the other months from September through December. Some of the observances in October marked the close of the season for military campaigning and farming, which commenced in March ("Martius", "Mars' month"). October was under the guardianship "(tutela)" of Mars. The Romans
Latin word order "five ships were burnt" but "no fewer than five ships were burnt". The use of hyperbaton (separation of words which normally go together) is also worth observing. Thus Caesar's "hae permanserunt aquae dies complures", with "hae" separated from "aquae" and "complures" at the end of the sentence, doesn't mean "These floods remained for several days" but "This time the flood waters, unlike the previous ones, remained for several days". In the past hundred years, but especially since the advent of computerised texts, Latin word order has been extensively studied, with a view to elucidating the principles on which it is