The Polyhistor of Gaius Julius Solinus

C. JULIUS SOLINUS

[...] worth remembering, which it seemed careless to omit, and whose authority (a point I would wish to be especially instilled in your industry) flows from the most accepted writers. For what can be uniquely our own, when the diligence of antiquity has omitted nothing that remains untouched up to this age? Therefore, I ask you not to weigh the reliability of this edition by the present time: since we have pursued the footprints of old coin [i.e., established authority], we have preferred to choose from all opinions rather than to innovate. Thus, if any of these things have come into your mind differently than I would wish, I would ask you to grant pardon to my infancy: for the constancy of truth lies with those whom we have followed. Just as, therefore, those who emulate the forms of bodies, having put aside what remains, portray the measure of the head before all else, and do not design lines on other limbs before they have made an auspicious beginning: so we too shall take our start from the head of the world, that is, from the city of Rome, although the most learned authors have left nothing regarding it that can be raised into a new proclamation, and it is almost superfluous to retrace the path already run through so many annals. Nevertheless, so that it might not be entirely ignored, we shall pursue its origin with as much fidelity as we are able.

SCHOLIA CHAPTER II.

[COLUMN BREAK]

Chapter II: On the origin of the city of Rome, and its times, and the seven Roman kings.

There are those who would wish it to appear that the name of Rome was first given by Evander, when he encountered a town there which the Latin youth had previously built and called Valentia; and, keeping the meaning of the name previously imposed, they called it "Rome" [Ῥώμη] in Greek, [which means] Valentia: which, because the Arcadians had lived on the high part of the mountain, was derived thereafter so that it would be called the citadel, as the safest of cities. It pleases the Heraclidans that, after Troy was captured, some of the Achaeans arrived in those places where Rome now is, by way of the Tiber; then, at the persuasion of Rome, a most noble woman among the captives who was a companion to them, they burned the ships, established their seats, built walls, and called the town Rome after her. Agathocles writes that Rome was not a captive, as was said above, but was born to Ascanius, the granddaughter of Aeneas, and was the cause of that appellation. It is also handed down that the true name of Rome [is known], but it was forbidden to be made public, since the secrets of the ceremonies decreed that it not be pronounced, so that in this way faith in a decided silence might abolish the knowledge of it. Finally, Valerius Soranus was put to death for the merit of his profane utterance, because he dared to speak it against the interdict. Certainly, among the most ancient religions...

MARGINALIA (Page 28, Column 1):
i: Diligence of antiquity: The same Pliny, book 23, chapter 6: "It is not enough to marvel at the care and diligence of the ancients, who, having searched everything, left nothing untried." And book 25, chapter 1: "Nothing, therefore, was untried or unexamined by them: nothing then hidden, which they did not wish to benefit posterity."
k: Weigh: You may judge. He spoke with the same metaphor as he did before with "examination."
l: Footprints of old coin: That is, leaning on the authority of the ancients. Metaphor.
m: As therefore: The reason why he preferred to begin with the city of Rome rather than elsewhere.
n: Retrace the path: This is, to repeat what has been celebrated by all authors everywhere concerning the city of Rome. Virgil: "And we coast along the shores of Epirus." Concerning how annals differ from history, see Gellius, book 5, chapter 18.

MARGINALIA (Page 28, Column 2):
a: The name of Rome: Much on the name of the city of Rome [can be found] in Plutarch in his Life of Romulus, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, book 1.
b: By Evander: They think this Evander, a most ancient king of Arcadia, sailed from the city of Pallantium in Arcadia to Italy before the Trojan affairs, and reigned there. More on this in Virgil, Aeneid 8; Ovid, Fasti 1; Justin, book 43; Livy, decade 1, book 1. Why Rome was called Valentia before this Evander, there are various opinions even among ancient writers. Further, that some thought the name of Rome should not be made public is thought to have been done so that it might not be cursed by enemies with charms and prayers. For prayers were believed to be ineffective before the gods if the proper name were not expressed. When Soranus had blurted it out inconsiderately among foreigners, he ended his life with punishment. More [in] Pliny, book 3, chapter 5, and book 28, chapter 2; Plutarch, problem 60; Macrobius, Saturnalia 3, chapter 9; Sempronius on the divisions of Italy.
c: Built before: Dionysius of Halicarnassus says that Evander built it first.
d: Ῥώμην: Signifies strength and power to the Greeks.
e: Which the Arcadians: M. Varro, On the Latin Language, book 1, says the citadel [arx] is so called from "warding off" [arcendo], because it wards off and deters enemies from attack.
f: Rome most noble: On this [see] Fabius Pictor and C. Sempronius, chapter 6. Also Plutarch, On the Virtues of Women.
g: The proper name of Rome: Pliny, book 3, chapter 5, and book 28, chapter 2; Plutarch.