Familiar Letters

it. But later it was attributed to that man by a certain event, just as with us, the Torquati, the Cincinati, and the Africani. I, however, failed. Furthermore, I wrote back too briefly, not out of a lack of interest, but because of a certain modesty. Because I was writing to a man of that age and authority about these matters, which I consider to be more familiar to you than to me, I feared that I might weary your ears and become inept if I were to linger too long in explaining them. Therefore, content to have merely given a hint and, as it were, pointed with my finger, I did not explain further. But since I understand that it pleases you, I will yield to your wish. And what haste took away then, delay will now restore.
On the origin of this name, Hector

You will know. First, therefore, concerning Hector: I do not doubt that this is not a proper name, but one invented by the poet, just as neither Astyanax nor Hippolytus can be doubted. For we learned from the poet himself that Astyanax had another name, Scamandrius. And the story of Hippolytus, which relates that he was torn apart by panicked horses, designates this very name in such a way that it is more than manifest that it was imposed because of the outcome of the story. Nor, indeed, should it be any cause for wonder to you or others if names are invented by poets, since we allow them to invent the events themselves, which are clearly less in our power according to nature than the imposition of the names themselves. Especially when there is a certain just reason for naming, as is the case in these very examples we mentioned above. For Hector’s son...