Carmen Saliare
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The Carmen Saliare is a fragment of archaic Latin, which played a part in the rituals performed by the Salii (Salian priests, a.k.a. "leaping priests") of Ancient Rome.[1] There are 35 extant fragments of the Carmen Saliare, which can be read in Morel's FPL.[2]
The rituals revolved around Mars and Quirinus, and were performed in March and October. These involved processions in which they donned archaic armour and weapons, performed their sacred dance, and sang the Carmen Saliare. As a body they existed before the founding of the Roman Republic, tracing their origin back to the reign of Numa Pompilius. The Salian priests were chosen from the sons of patrician families whose parents were still living. They were appointed for life, though they were allowed to resign from the Salian priesthood if they achieved a more prestigious priesthood or a major magistracy.
In the Annales written by Roman historian Tacitus, it is revealed that several Romans proposed the name of Germanicus to be added to the Salian Song, as a memory of his virtue and goodwill.
Two fragments which have been preserved by Marcus Terentius Varro in his De Lingua Latina, 7.26, 27 (fragment 2 and 1 by Maurenbrecher's numbering):[3]
| Latin (ed. C. O. Muellerus) |
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| Latin (ed. A. Spengel) |
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| Latin (ed. R. G. Kent) |
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| English translation (ed. R. G. Kent) |
The mysterious cozeulodorieso has attracted several proposals. Julius Pomponius Laetus proposed in his editio princeps the interpretation osculo dolori ero "I shall be as a kiss to grief", though his emendations are now dismissed as "editorial fantasy".[4] George Hempl restored it more carefully to coceulod orieso, attested in some manuscripts aside from the spacing, which is good archaic Latin for classical cucūlō oriēre "(thou shalt) come forth with the cuckoo".[5]
A fragment preserved by Quintus Terentius Scaurus in his De orthographia (fragment 6 by Maurenbrecher's numbering):[6]
| Latin (ed. H. Keilius) | † cuine ponas Leucesiae praetexere monti quot ibet etinei de is cum tonarem. |
| Theodor Bergk's conjectured reconstruction | Cúme tonás, Leucésie, práe tét tremónti, Quóm tibeí cúnei décstumúm tonáront |
An excerpt of it:[7]
| Latin with metre indicated | cumé tonás, Leucésie, praé tét tremónti |
| Rendering in classical Latin | cum tonas, Luceti, prae te tremunt |
| English translation | When thou thunderest, O god of Light (Jupiter), men tremble before thee |
