Hans—
Here is the text that produces the problem on the wiki (pdfTeX/MKII
option).
\starttext
adeo aberratum est, ut C. Caesar pontifex maximus suo III et M.\
Aemilii Lepidi consulatu, quo retro delictum corrigeret, duos menses
intercalarios dierum LXVII in mensem Novembrem et Decembrem
interponeret, cum iam mense Februario dies III et XX intercalasset,
faceretque eum annum dierum CCCCXLV, simul providens in futurum, ne
iterum erraretur: nam intercalario mense sublato annum civilem ad
solis cursum formavit. Itaque diebus CCCLV addidit decem, quos per
septem menses, qui dies undetricenos habebant, ita discriberet, ut
Januario et Sextili et Decembri bini accederent, ceteris singuli;
eosque dies extremis partibus mensium adposuit, ne scilicet religiones
sui cuiusque mensis a loco summoverentur. Quapropter nunc cum in
septem mensibus dies singuli et triceni sint, quattuor tamen illi ita
primitus instituti eo dinoscuntur, quod nonas habent septimanas,
ceteri tres omnes alii reliqui quintanas.~[{\em De die nat}.\ 20.8||10]
\starttabulate[|p|p|]
\NC
\noindent Things had deviated so much that Gaius Caesar, as \hbox{\em
pontifex} {\em maximus} in his third consulship and that of M.\
Aemilius Lepi\-dus, in order to correct the past mistake, inserted
between the months of November and December two intercalary months of
67 days, since he had already intercalated 23 days in the month of
February, and made that a year of 445 days, at the same time taking
care that the mistake would not be repeated in future; for with the
intercalary month done away with, he shaped the civil year to the
course of the sun. And so to the 355 days he added 10, which he
distributed through the seven months which had 29 days as follows: two
days were added to January, Sextilis, and December, and one to the
others; and he placed these days at the ends of the months, evidently
so that the religious ceremonies of each month might not be moved from
their place. Therefore now, although there are 31 days in seven
months, nevertheless four are distinguished by this feature of the
original tradition, that they have the Nones on the seventh day, while
the other three remaining ones have them on the fifth.
\NC
\noindent Things got so bad that Julius Caesar, when he was {\em
pontifex max\-imus}, during his third consulship, which he shared with
M.\ Aemilius Lepidus, in order to correct the accumlated errors, had
to insert two intercalary months with a total of 67 days between
November and December, even though he had already made the usual
addition of 23 days in February, adding up to a total of 445 days for
that year. At the same time he made sure that the problem would not
return in the future, for he removed the additional month from the
calendar and made the civil year conform to the course of the sun. He
added 10 days to the old 355, dividing them up among the seven months
that had 29 days. January, Sextilis [August], and December got two,
the others (April, June, September, November) got one. He added these
days at the end of each month, so that the religious festivals would
not be moved from their usual places in the month. That is why to this
day we have seven months with 31 days, but we can recognize the four
which were set up in the ancient system by the fact they have the
Nones on the seventh day, but the other three long months and all the
short months have them on the fifth. [Parker, 47]
\NC\NR
\stoptabulate
Of late my own approach to translation has been consciously to seek to
replicate the sentence structures of the original Latin or Greek,
however long or compressed or contorted they may seem to our English
eyes. The often awkward structures of the original are a window into
the minds and mental processes of the ancient (and let us not forget,
foreign) writers. Thucydides and Tacitus, for instance, are not
particularly easy \quote{reads} in the original, and I personally
prefer to allow modern readers to gain a sense of the sometimes
difficult structures that they use but which most modern translations
attempt to smooth out into something more accessible to our ways of
thinking and reading. The more we read like them, I tell myself, the
more we may think like them and so ultimately appreciate how they saw
the world around them. In a world where most of our students in
Classics are devoid of Latin and Greek, exposure to the ancient modes
of thought and expression increases in importance.
\stoptext
You will see that the columns “play nice” with text that follows, but
not with text that precedes.
Alan
On Aug 27, 2008, at 13;06,01 , Hans Hagen wrote:
Alan Bowen wrote:
Thanks, Hans. I have now tried
.... preliminary text ....
\starttabulate[|p|p|]
\NC
long paragraph A
\NC
long paragraph B
\NC\NR
\stoptabulate
on my setup (ConTeXt 2008.08.04 MK II) and on the wiki (ConTeXt
2008.08.27 MK II).
On the wiki:
the tabulated paragraphs do not follow upon the preliminary text
immediately on the same page but start on their own page.
in that case we need a complete test file
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Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
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If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an
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___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the
Wiki!
maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________
