The Polyhistor of Gaius Julius Solinus

C. JULIUS SOLINUS
PREFACE TO POLYHISTOR

Chapter I: The Intention of the Work and the Author.

Since I perceive that you, [Autius], excel others both in the grace of your intellect and in your dedication to the liberal arts, and since I have experienced this firsthand and have not arrived at my assessment of your benevolence without cause, I thought it best to offer the examination of this little work primarily to you, whose industry promised a more prompt judgment, or whose kindness a more ready pardon. The book has been prepared in a compendious manner and, as far as reason has permitted, so moderately restrained that there is neither an excessive abundance nor a damaging conciseness within it: if you direct your mind closer to it, you will find that a "ferment of knowledge" is present within it more than the mere "gold leaf of eloquence." I confess that I have studied several exquisite volumes so that I might retreat from more common knowledge and linger on those more remote. The mention of places holds a great deal of weight, toward which the entire subject matter is generally inclined: it seemed appropriate to recall these in such a way that we might render the celebrated sites of the lands and the distinguished tracts of the sea in their own order, while preserving the distinction of the globe. We have also inserted many things that are congruous in a diverse way, so that, if nothing else, this very variety might remedy the boredom of readers. Among these, we have expressed the natures of men and other animals. A few things have been added about exotic trees and stones, about the forms of far-off peoples, and about the discordant rites of hidden nations: and some things worth remembering...

[COLUMN BREAK]

EXPLANATION OF THE FIRST CHAPTER.

At the beginning, it seems necessary to warn that copies vary greatly in the inscription of this preface: some indeed present the name of Autius—to whom some have falsely claimed the book was dedicated—while others omit it entirely, having only the title of the preface. Again, in others, instead of "Autius," we read "Adventus" or "Aventinus." But regarding the inscription, since nothing certain exists even about the author himself, it would perhaps be ridiculous to be too anxious. For the rest, in this preface, Solinus sets forth his design and the argument of the entire work. He wished to gather here, simultaneously and concisely, those things that had been handed down diffusely and sporadically by others concerning the wonders of the world, so that this book might be as if seasoned with the best leaven, which makes a small portion of dough swell into a large mass, and that it might be far removed from the thin gold leaf of verbosity, which has nothing in it besides thinness or emptiness itself. And so that greater faith might be applied to his words, he also wished the very places that he mentions throughout to be confirmed by the readers, and that no one should read his work who did not possess a moderate grasp of the distinction of the globe, the sites of the lands, and the gulfs and tracts of the sea. For those things that are read in this or similar authors who have written about the parts of the world, without knowledge of cosmography, are read without profit. Furthermore, he begins with the city of Rome, which he says is the head of the world, because in his time the monarchy had its seat there. Yet historians have reported this reason why Rome was called the head of the world: when Tarquinius Superbus was building the Capitol, it is said that a human head with a complete face appeared to those opening the foundations of the temple, which appearance, as it was seen, portended, not through riddles, that this would be the citadel of empire and the head of affairs: and this was prophesied by the seers who were in the city, whom they had summoned from Etruria to consult on the matter. Livy is the authority for this in the first book of the history from the founding of the city. Dionysius of Halicarnassus adds, in the fourth book of his Roman Antiquities, that this head was of a man recently slain, and that it had a face like a living man, and blood flowing from the head, and that the head itself was still warm and fresh; and that finally the response was given to the Roman envoys by an Etruscan seer, who had been sent to him for this reason from among the most proven citizens: "Roman men, tell your citizens that it is given by fate that this place, where the head has been found, will be the head of all Italy": and from that, that place is called the Capitoline, on account of the finding of the head.

MARGINALIA:
a: With grace of intellect: He is capturing benevolence.
b: The book is: Attention, with docility.
c: Ferment of knowledge: The material or mixture by which the knowledge of things may be increased.
d: Present within it: Or "he is."
e: Gold leaf: A metaphor from gold leaf. Whence "gold-plated work," and "gold-beaters," and the "art of gold-beating" are spoken of. Thus, he refers to the ornamentation of words and the facade of speech.
f: Exquisite: That is, select. Thus Pliny: "Having studied 100 exquisite authors, we included [this in] 36 volumes."
g: Variety: This is even called the condiment of all things by proverb.
h: Exotic: Foreign.