Quintus Valerius Soranus
Encyclopedia
Quintus Valerius Soranus (b. circa 140–130 BC, d. 82 BC) was a Latin
poet, grammarian, and tribune of the people
in the Late Roman Republic
. He was executed in 82 BC while Sulla
was dictator
, ostensibly for violating a religious prohibition against speaking the arcane name of Rome, but more likely for political reasons. The cognomen
Soranus is a toponym indicating that he was from Sora.
A single elegiac couplet survives more or less intact from his body of work. The two lines address Jupiter
as an all-powerful begetter who is both male and female. This androgynous
, unitarian
conception of deity
, possibly an attempt to integrate Stoic
and Orphic
doctrine, has made the fragment of interest in religious studies
.
Valerius Soranus is also credited with a little-recognized literary innovation: Pliny the Elder
says he was the first writer to provide a table of contents
to help readers navigate a long work.
has an interlocutor
in his De oratore
praise Valerius Soranus as “most cultured of all who wear the toga
,” and Cicero lists him and his brother Decimus among an educated elite of socii
et Latini
; that is, those who came from allied polities
on the Italian peninsula
rather than from Rome, and those whose legal status was defined by Latin right
rather than full Roman citizenship
. The municipality
of Sora was near Cicero's native Arpinum, and he refers to the Valerii Sorani as his friends and neighbors. Soranus was also a friend of Varro
and is mentioned more than once in that scholar's multi-volume work on the Latin
language.
The son of Q. Valerius Soranus is thought to have been the Quintus Valerius Orca
who was praetor
in 57 BC. Orca had worked for Cicero's return to public life and is among Cicero's correspondents in the Epistulae ad familiares (Letters to Friends and Family).
Cicero presents the Valerii brothers of Sora as well schooled in Greek and Latin literature, but less admirable for their speaking ability. As Italians, they would have been lacking to Cicero's ears in the smooth sophistication (urbanitas) and faultless pronunciation of the best native Roman orators. This attitude of social exclusivity may account for why Valerius Soranus, whose scholarly interests and friendships might otherwise suggest a conservative
temperament, would have found his place in the civil wars of the 80s on the side of the popularist
Marius
rather than that of the patrician Sulla. It might also be noted that Cicero's expression of this attitude is double-edged: like Marius and the Valerii Sorani, he was also a man from a municipium
, and had to overcome the same obstructing biases that he adopts and expresses.
In 82 BC, the year of his death, Valerius Soranus was or had been a tribune
of the people (tribunus plebis), a political office open only to those of plebeian
rather than patrician birth.
Servius's account presents several difficulties. Crucifixion
was a punishment generally reserved for slaves in the Late Republic; Valerius Maximus
, a historian in the early Principate
, reckoned that the punishment should not be inflicted on those of Roman blood even when they "deserved" it. Moreover, a tribune's person was by law sacrosanct. Finally, it is unclear whether the ten tribunes should possess the knowledge of Rome's secret name, or in what manner Soranus would have publicized it. Among sources earlier than Servius, both Pliny the Elder
and Plutarch
note that Valerius Soranus was punished for this violation. It has been suggested that the name was revealed in his one work for which a title is known, the Epoptides. The title, if interpreted as it sometimes is to mean "tutelary deities," offers an apt context. But elsewhere Servius — so too Macrobius — implies that the name remained unrecorded.
Quintus Valerius Soranus has been identified with the Q. Valerius, described as philologos and philomathes (“a lover of literature and learning”), whom Plutarch says was a supporter of Marius
. This man was put to death by Pompey
in Sicily, where he would have accompanied Carbo
, the consular
colleague of the recently murdered Cinna
. Carbo was executed by Pompey.
In 1906, Conrad Cichorius published an article that organized the available evidence for the life of Valerius Soranus and argued that his execution was a result of the Sullan proscription
in 82. The view of his death as politically motivated has prevailed among modern scholars:
But if Varro originated the story, his reasons are hard to tease out of the roiled politics of the Late Republic. Although Varro was the friend of Valerius Soranus, in the civil war of the 40s he was on the side of the Pompeians; Caesar, however, not only pardoned him, but gave him significant appointments. The biases of the contemporary sources were not lost on Plutarch in his account of the killing:
Speaking the name could be construed as a political protest and also an act of treason
, as the revelation would expose the tutelary deity and leave the city unprotected. This belief rests on the power of utterance to "call forth" the deity (evocatio), so that enemies in possession of the true and secret name could divert the divine protection to themselves. The intellectual historian
of the Republic
Elizabeth Rawson
ventured cautiously that Soranus's "motive remains unclear, but may have been political." More vigorous is the view of Luigi Alfonsi, who argued that Soranus revealed the name deliberately so that the Italian municipalities
could appropriate it and break Rome's monopoly of power.
Another interpretation of these events, worth noting despite its fictional context, is that of historical novel
ist Colleen McCullough
, who melds political and religious motives in a psychological characterization. In Fortune's Favorites
, McCullough's Soranus “screams aloud” the arcane name because the atrocities committed during the civil war had rendered Rome unworthy of divine protection:
The single couplet that survives from Valerius Soranus's vast work as a poet, grammarian, and antiquarian
is quoted by St. Augustine
in the De civitate Dei (7.9) to support his view that the tutelary deity of Rome was the Capitoline Jupiter:
The syntax
poses difficulties in attempts at translation
, and there may be some corruption of the text
. It seems to say something like "Jupiter
All-powerful, of kings and the material world and of gods the Father (progenitor), the Mother (genetrix) of gods, God that is One and All … ." Augustine says that his source for the quotation is a work on religion (now lost) by Varro, with whose conception of deity
Augustine argues throughout Book 7 of the De civitate Dei. The view of Varro, and presumably of Soranus, was that Jupiter represents the whole universe
which emits and receives seeds (semina), encompassing the generative powers of Earth the Mother as well as Sky the Father. This unitarianism is a Stoic
concept, and Soranus is usually counted among the Stoics of Rome, perhaps of the contemporary school of Panaetius
. The unity of opposites in deity, including divine androgyny
, is also characteristic of Orphic
doctrine, which may have impressed itself on Stoicism.
The couplet may or may not come from the Epoptides. The title is mentioned only in Pliny, and none of the known fragments of Soranus can be attributed to this large-scale work with certainty. Soranus's innovation in providing a table of contents
— most likely a list of capita rerum ("subject
headings") at the beginning — suggests that the Epoptides was an encyclopedic or compendious
prose work. Alternatively, the Epoptides may have been a long didactic
poem. Soranus is known to have written didactic poetry and is likely to have been an influence when Lucretius
chose verse as his medium for philosophical subject matter.
The most extensive argument regarding the Epoptides is that of Thomas Köves-Zulauf. Much of what can be conjectured about the work derives from the interpretation of its title. The Greek verb ἐποπτεύω (epopteuo) has the basic meaning of "to watch, oversee" but also "to become an ἐπόπτης (epoptes, "initiate," feminine epoptis and plural epoptides)," the highest grade of initiate at the Eleusinian mysteries
. Köves-Zulauf argued that Soranus's Epoptides was an extended treatment of mystery religions, and the title is sometimes translated into German as Mystikerinen. The classicist and mythographer H.J. Rose, on the contrary, insisted that the Epoptides had nothing to do with initiates. Elizabeth Rawson held with Initiated Women; the Loeb Classical Library
offers Lady Initiates; Nicholas Horsfall is satisfied with The Watchers.
Köves-Zulauf maintains that the epoptides of the title represent the Stoic conception of female daimones
who are guardians of humanity, such as the Hours (Horae
) and the Graces (Charites
). Soranus integrates this concept, he says, with the Tutelae, ancient Italic protective spirits. The crime of Soranus was thus to reveal in this work the name of the Tutela charged with protecting Rome.
Passages in Varro's De lingua latina show Soranus also to have taken an interest in etymology
and other linguistic matters.
, a poet from the circle of Lutatius Catulus
, and that he revealed the name of Rome to disrupt the exclusivity of the Roman aristocracy and enable the participation of the Italic communities.
and biographical
note. Courtney refrains from identifying some recognized fragments of Soranus's work as poetry and thus omits them. See Funaioli and Morel following.
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
poet, grammarian, and tribune of the people
Tribune
Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
in the Late Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. He was executed in 82 BC while Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...
was dictator
Roman dictator
In the Roman Republic, the dictator , was an extraordinary magistrate with the absolute authority to perform tasks beyond the authority of the ordinary magistrate . The office of dictator was a legal innovation originally named Magister Populi , i.e...
, ostensibly for violating a religious prohibition against speaking the arcane name of Rome, but more likely for political reasons. The cognomen
Cognomen
The cognomen nōmen "name") was the third name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary. Hereditary cognomina were used to augment the second name in order to identify a particular branch within...
Soranus is a toponym indicating that he was from Sora.
A single elegiac couplet survives more or less intact from his body of work. The two lines address Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
as an all-powerful begetter who is both male and female. This androgynous
Androgyny
Androgyny is a term derived from the Greek words ανήρ, stem ανδρ- and γυνή , referring to the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics...
, unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
conception of deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
, possibly an attempt to integrate Stoic
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.Stoics were concerned...
and Orphic
Orphism (religion)
Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices in the ancient Greek and the Hellenistic world, as well as by the Thracians, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into Hades and returned...
doctrine, has made the fragment of interest in religious studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
.
Valerius Soranus is also credited with a little-recognized literary innovation: Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
says he was the first writer to provide a table of contents
Table of contents
A table of contents, usually headed simply "Contents" and abbreviated informally as TOC, is a list of the parts of a book or document organized in the order in which the parts appear...
to help readers navigate a long work.
Life and political career
CiceroCicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
has an interlocutor
Interlocutor
Interlocutor may refer to:* Interlocutor , the master of ceremonies of a minstrel show* Interlocutor , someone who informally explains the views of a government and also can relay messages back to a government...
in his De oratore
De Oratore
De Oratore is a dialogue written by Cicero in 55 BCE. It is set in 91 BCE, when Lucius Licinius Crassus dies, just before the social war and the civil war between Marius and Sulla, during which Marcus Antonius Orator, the other great orator of this dialogue, dies...
praise Valerius Soranus as “most cultured of all who wear the toga
Toga
The toga, a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome, was a cloth of perhaps 20 ft in length which was wrapped around the body and was generally worn over a tunic. The toga was made of wool, and the tunic under it often was made of linen. After the 2nd century BC, the toga was a garment worn...
,” and Cicero lists him and his brother Decimus among an educated elite of socii
Roman military confederation
The socii were the autonomous tribes and city-states of the Italian Peninsula in permanent military alliance with the Roman Republic until the Social War of 91–88 BC. After this conflict, all Rome's peninsular Italian allies were awarded Roman citizenship and their territories incorporated in the...
et Latini
Latins
"Latins" refers to different groups of people and the meaning of the word changes for where and when it is used.The original Latins were an Italian tribe inhabiting central and south-central Italy. Through conquest by their most populous city-state, Rome, the original Latins culturally "Romanized"...
; that is, those who came from allied polities
Polity
Polity is a form of government Aristotle developed in his search for a government that could be most easily incorporated and used by the largest amount of people groups, or states...
on the Italian peninsula
Italian Peninsula
The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. The peninsula's shape gives it the nickname Lo Stivale...
rather than from Rome, and those whose legal status was defined by Latin right
Latin Right
Latin Rights was a civic status given by the Romans, intermediate between full Roman citizenship and non-citizen status , and extended originally to the people of Latium . The most important Latin Rights were commercium, connubium, and ius migrationis...
rather than full Roman citizenship
Roman citizenship
Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to certain free-born individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance....
. The municipality
Municipium
Municipium , the prototype of English municipality, was the Latin term for a town or city. Etymologically the municipium was a social contract between municipes, the "duty holders," or citizens of the town. The duties, or munera, were a communal obligation assumed by the municipes in exchange for...
of Sora was near Cicero's native Arpinum, and he refers to the Valerii Sorani as his friends and neighbors. Soranus was also a friend of Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro was an ancient Roman scholar and writer. He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus.-Biography:...
and is mentioned more than once in that scholar's multi-volume work on the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
language.
The son of Q. Valerius Soranus is thought to have been the Quintus Valerius Orca
Quintus Valerius Orca
Quintus Valerius Orca was a Roman praetor, a governor of the Roman province of Africa, and a commanding officer under Julius Caesar in the civil war against Pompeius Magnus and the senatorial elite...
who was praetor
Praetor
Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...
in 57 BC. Orca had worked for Cicero's return to public life and is among Cicero's correspondents in the Epistulae ad familiares (Letters to Friends and Family).
Cicero presents the Valerii brothers of Sora as well schooled in Greek and Latin literature, but less admirable for their speaking ability. As Italians, they would have been lacking to Cicero's ears in the smooth sophistication (urbanitas) and faultless pronunciation of the best native Roman orators. This attitude of social exclusivity may account for why Valerius Soranus, whose scholarly interests and friendships might otherwise suggest a conservative
Optimates
The optimates were the traditionalist majority of the late Roman Republic. They wished to limit the power of the popular assemblies and the Tribunes of the Plebs, and to extend the power of the Senate, which was viewed as more dedicated to the interests of the aristocrats who held the reins of power...
temperament, would have found his place in the civil wars of the 80s on the side of the popularist
Populares
Populares were aristocratic leaders in the late Roman Republic who relied on the people's assemblies and tribunate to acquire political power. They are regarded in modern scholarship as in opposition to the optimates, who are identified with the conservative interests of a senatorial elite...
Marius
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
rather than that of the patrician Sulla. It might also be noted that Cicero's expression of this attitude is double-edged: like Marius and the Valerii Sorani, he was also a man from a municipium
Municipium
Municipium , the prototype of English municipality, was the Latin term for a town or city. Etymologically the municipium was a social contract between municipes, the "duty holders," or citizens of the town. The duties, or munera, were a communal obligation assumed by the municipes in exchange for...
, and had to overcome the same obstructing biases that he adopts and expresses.
In 82 BC, the year of his death, Valerius Soranus was or had been a tribune
Tribune
Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
of the people (tribunus plebis), a political office open only to those of plebeian
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
rather than patrician birth.
Execution
The fullest account of the infamous death of Valerius Soranus is given by Servius, who says he was executed for revealing the secret name of Rome:Servius's account presents several difficulties. Crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
was a punishment generally reserved for slaves in the Late Republic; Valerius Maximus
Valerius Maximus
Valerius Maximus was a Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes. He worked during the reign of Tiberius .-Biography:...
, a historian in the early Principate
Principate
The Principate is the first period of the Roman Empire, extending from the beginning of the reign of Caesar Augustus to the Crisis of the Third Century, after which it was replaced with the Dominate. The Principate is characterized by a concerted effort on the part of the Emperors to preserve the...
, reckoned that the punishment should not be inflicted on those of Roman blood even when they "deserved" it. Moreover, a tribune's person was by law sacrosanct. Finally, it is unclear whether the ten tribunes should possess the knowledge of Rome's secret name, or in what manner Soranus would have publicized it. Among sources earlier than Servius, both Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
and Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
note that Valerius Soranus was punished for this violation. It has been suggested that the name was revealed in his one work for which a title is known, the Epoptides. The title, if interpreted as it sometimes is to mean "tutelary deities," offers an apt context. But elsewhere Servius — so too Macrobius — implies that the name remained unrecorded.
Quintus Valerius Soranus has been identified with the Q. Valerius, described as philologos and philomathes (“a lover of literature and learning”), whom Plutarch says was a supporter of Marius
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
. This man was put to death by Pompey
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
in Sicily, where he would have accompanied Carbo
Gnaeus Papirius Carbo
Gnaeus Papirius Carbo was a three-time consul of ancient Rome.A member of the Carbones of the plebeian gens Papiria, and nephew of Gaius Papirius Carbo , he was a strong supporter of the Marian party, and took part in the blockade of Rome...
, the consular
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
colleague of the recently murdered Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna was a four-time consul of the Roman Republic, serving four consecutive terms from 87 to 84 BC, and a member of the ancient Roman Cinna family of the Cornelii gens....
. Carbo was executed by Pompey.
In 1906, Conrad Cichorius published an article that organized the available evidence for the life of Valerius Soranus and argued that his execution was a result of the Sullan proscription
Proscription
Proscription is a term used for the public identification and official condemnation of enemies of the state. It is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a "decree of condemnation to death or banishment" and is a heavily politically charged word, frequently used to refer to state-approved...
in 82. The view of his death as politically motivated has prevailed among modern scholars:
But if Varro originated the story, his reasons are hard to tease out of the roiled politics of the Late Republic. Although Varro was the friend of Valerius Soranus, in the civil war of the 40s he was on the side of the Pompeians; Caesar, however, not only pardoned him, but gave him significant appointments. The biases of the contemporary sources were not lost on Plutarch in his account of the killing:
Speaking the name could be construed as a political protest and also an act of treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, as the revelation would expose the tutelary deity and leave the city unprotected. This belief rests on the power of utterance to "call forth" the deity (evocatio), so that enemies in possession of the true and secret name could divert the divine protection to themselves. The intellectual historian
Intellectual history
Note: this article concerns the discipline of intellectual history, and not its object, the whole span of human thought since the invention of writing. For clarifications about the latter topic, please consult the writings of the intellectual historians listed here and entries on individual...
of the Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
Elizabeth Rawson
Elizabeth Rawson
Elizabeth Donata Rawson was a classical scholar known primarily for her work in the intellectual history of the Roman Republic and her biography of Cicero.-Early life:...
ventured cautiously that Soranus's "motive remains unclear, but may have been political." More vigorous is the view of Luigi Alfonsi, who argued that Soranus revealed the name deliberately so that the Italian municipalities
Municipium
Municipium , the prototype of English municipality, was the Latin term for a town or city. Etymologically the municipium was a social contract between municipes, the "duty holders," or citizens of the town. The duties, or munera, were a communal obligation assumed by the municipes in exchange for...
could appropriate it and break Rome's monopoly of power.
Another interpretation of these events, worth noting despite its fictional context, is that of historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
ist Colleen McCullough
Colleen McCullough
Colleen McCullough-Robinson, , is an internationally acclaimed Australian author.-Life:McCullough was born in Wellington, in outback central west New South Wales, in 1937 to James and Laurie McCullough. Her mother was a New Zealander of part-Māori descent. During her childhood, her family moved...
, who melds political and religious motives in a psychological characterization. In Fortune's Favorites
Fortune's Favourites (novel)
Fortune's Favourites is the third historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. In the United States of America, it has been published as Fortune's Favorites.-Plot summary:...
, McCullough's Soranus “screams aloud” the arcane name because the atrocities committed during the civil war had rendered Rome unworthy of divine protection:
Literary works
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
is quoted by St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
in the De civitate Dei (7.9) to support his view that the tutelary deity of Rome was the Capitoline Jupiter:
Iuppiter omnipotens regum rerumque deumque
progenitor genetrixque deum, deus unus et omnes …
The syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
poses difficulties in attempts at translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
, and there may be some corruption of the text
Textual criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
. It seems to say something like "Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
All-powerful, of kings and the material world and of gods the Father (progenitor), the Mother (genetrix) of gods, God that is One and All … ." Augustine says that his source for the quotation is a work on religion (now lost) by Varro, with whose conception of deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
Augustine argues throughout Book 7 of the De civitate Dei. The view of Varro, and presumably of Soranus, was that Jupiter represents the whole universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
which emits and receives seeds (semina), encompassing the generative powers of Earth the Mother as well as Sky the Father. This unitarianism is a Stoic
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.Stoics were concerned...
concept, and Soranus is usually counted among the Stoics of Rome, perhaps of the contemporary school of Panaetius
Panaetius
Panaetius of Rhodes was a Stoic philosopher. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon and Antipater of Tarsus in Athens, before moving to Rome where he did much to introduce Stoic doctrines to the city. After the death of Scipio in 129, he returned to the Stoic school in Athens, and was its last...
. The unity of opposites in deity, including divine androgyny
Androgyny
Androgyny is a term derived from the Greek words ανήρ, stem ανδρ- and γυνή , referring to the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics...
, is also characteristic of Orphic
Orphism (religion)
Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices in the ancient Greek and the Hellenistic world, as well as by the Thracians, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into Hades and returned...
doctrine, which may have impressed itself on Stoicism.
The couplet may or may not come from the Epoptides. The title is mentioned only in Pliny, and none of the known fragments of Soranus can be attributed to this large-scale work with certainty. Soranus's innovation in providing a table of contents
Table of contents
A table of contents, usually headed simply "Contents" and abbreviated informally as TOC, is a list of the parts of a book or document organized in the order in which the parts appear...
— most likely a list of capita rerum ("subject
Subject (documents)
In library and information science documents are classified and searched by subject - as well as by other attributes such as author, genre and document type. This makes "subject" a fundamental term in this field. Library and information specialists assign subject labels to documents to make them...
headings") at the beginning — suggests that the Epoptides was an encyclopedic or compendious
Compendium
A compendium is a concise, yet comprehensive compilation of a body of knowledge. A compendium may summarize a larger work. In most cases the body of knowledge will concern some delimited field of human interest or endeavour , while a "universal" encyclopedia can be referred to as a compendium of...
prose work. Alternatively, the Epoptides may have been a long didactic
Didacticism
Didacticism is an artistic philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature and other types of art. The term has its origin in the Ancient Greek word διδακτικός , "related to education/teaching." Originally, signifying learning in a fascinating and intriguing...
poem. Soranus is known to have written didactic poetry and is likely to have been an influence when Lucretius
Lucretius
Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".Virtually no details have come down concerning...
chose verse as his medium for philosophical subject matter.
The most extensive argument regarding the Epoptides is that of Thomas Köves-Zulauf. Much of what can be conjectured about the work derives from the interpretation of its title. The Greek verb ἐποπτεύω (epopteuo) has the basic meaning of "to watch, oversee" but also "to become an ἐπόπτης (epoptes, "initiate," feminine epoptis and plural epoptides)," the highest grade of initiate at the Eleusinian mysteries
Eleusinian Mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance...
. Köves-Zulauf argued that Soranus's Epoptides was an extended treatment of mystery religions, and the title is sometimes translated into German as Mystikerinen. The classicist and mythographer H.J. Rose, on the contrary, insisted that the Epoptides had nothing to do with initiates. Elizabeth Rawson held with Initiated Women; the Loeb Classical Library
Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library is a series of books, today published by Harvard University Press, which presents important works of ancient Greek and Latin Literature in a way designed to make the text accessible to the broadest possible audience, by presenting the original Greek or Latin text on each...
offers Lady Initiates; Nicholas Horsfall is satisfied with The Watchers.
Köves-Zulauf maintains that the epoptides of the title represent the Stoic conception of female daimones
Daemon (mythology)
The words dæmon and daimôn are Latinized spellings of the Greek "δαίμων", a reference to the daemons of Ancient Greek religion and mythology, as well as later Hellenistic religion and philosophy...
who are guardians of humanity, such as the Hours (Horae
Horae
In Greek mythology the Horae or Hours were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural portions of time. They were originally the personifications of nature in its different seasonal aspects, but in later times they were regarded as goddessess of order in general and natural justice...
) and the Graces (Charites
Charites
In Greek mythology, a Charis is one of several Charites , goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility. They ordinarily numbered three, from youngest to oldest: Aglaea , Euphrosyne , and Thalia . In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the "Graces"...
). Soranus integrates this concept, he says, with the Tutelae, ancient Italic protective spirits. The crime of Soranus was thus to reveal in this work the name of the Tutela charged with protecting Rome.
Passages in Varro's De lingua latina show Soranus also to have taken an interest in etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
and other linguistic matters.
Annotated bibliography
- Alfonsi, L. "L'importanza politico-religiosa della enunciazione di Valerio Sorano (a proposito di
Valerius Aedituus
Valerius Aedituus was a Roman poet of the 1st century BCE. He is known for his epigrams; otherwise there is very little information, what there is being in the form of literary references....
, a poet from the circle of Lutatius Catulus
Quintus Lutatius Catulus
Quintus Lutatius Catulus was consul of the Roman Republic in 102 BC, and the leading public figure of the gens Lutatia of the time. His colleague in the consulship was Gaius Marius, but the two feuded and Catulus sided with Sulla in the civil war of 88–87 BC...
, and that he revealed the name of Rome to disrupt the exclusivity of the Roman aristocracy and enable the participation of the Italic communities.
- Brown, John Pairman.
- Cichorius, Conrad. “Zur Lebensgeschichte des Valerius Soranus.”
- Courtney, Edward. “Q. Valerius (Soranus).”
Commentary (philology)
In philology, a commentary is a line-by-line or even word-by-word explication usually attached to an edition of a text in the same or an accompanying volume. It may draw on methodologies of close reading and literary criticism, but its primary purpose is to elucidate the language of the text and...
and biographical
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
note. Courtney refrains from identifying some recognized fragments of Soranus's work as poetry and thus omits them. See Funaioli and Morel following.
- De Martino, Marcello.
- Funaioli, Gino. Grammaticae romanae fragmenta, vol. 1. Leipzig: Teubner, 1907. Testimonia and fragments of Valerius Soranus's grammatical works, pp. 77–79.
- Horsfall, Nicholas. “Roman Religion and Related Topics.” Review of Thomas Köves-Zulauf, Kleine Schriften, ed. Achim Heinrichs (Heidelberg 1988). Classical Review 41 (1991) 120-122.
- Klinghardt, Matthias. “Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation: Their Use and Function in Ancient Religion.” Numen 46 (1999) 1–52. On the case of Valerius Soranus, pp. 43–45.
- Köves-Zulauf, Thomas. "Die Ἐπόπτιδες des Valerius Soranus." Rheinisches Museum 113 (1970) 323-358. Reprinted in the author's Kleine SchriftenKleine Schriftenis a German phrase often used as a title for a collection of articles and essays written by a single scholar over the course of a career. "Collected Papers" is an English equivalent. These shorter works were usually published previously in various periodicals or in collections of papers written...
, ed. Achim Heinrichs (Heidelberg 1988). Argument summarized under Literary works.
- Morel, Willy, with Karl Büchner and Jürgen Blänsdorf. Fragmenta poetarum Latinorum epicorum et lyricorum praeter Ennium et Lucilium. 3rd edition. Stuttgart: Teubner, 1995. Contains fragments of Valerius Soranus not presented in Courtney.
- Murphy, Trevor. “Privileged Knowledge: Valerius Soranus and the Secret Name of Rome.” In Rituals in Ink: A Conference on Religion and Literary Production in Ancient Rome (Stuttgart 2004), pp. 127–137. ISBN 3-515-08526-2 Rehearses sources for nomen transgression, with a stated interest in the significance of the story rather than its historicityHistoricityHistoricity may mean:*the quality of being part of recorded history, as opposed to prehistory*the quality of being part of history as opposed to being a historical myth or legend, for example:** Historicity of the Iliad**Historicity...
. Some misapprehensions in handling primary source material.
- Niccolini, Giovanni. I fastiFastiIn ancient Rome, the fasti were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events...
dei tribuni della plebeTribuneTribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
. Milan 1934. Section on Valerius Soranus, pp. 430–431.
- Rüpke, Jörg. Religion of the Romans. Translated and edited by Richard Gordon. Cambridge: Polity, 2007. ISBN 0-7456-3014-6 Discusses the case of Valerius Soranus (p. 133) in his consideration of Rome's tutelary deity.
- Weinstock, Stefan. Review of Die Geheime Schutzgottheit von Rom by Angelo Brelich. Journal of Roman Studies 40 (1950) 149–150. Passing consideration of the likely political character of Valerius Soranus's execution, valuable mainly because of Weinstock's auctoritasAuctoritasAuctoritas is a Latin word and is the origin of English "authority." While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of phenomenological philosophy in the twentieth century expanded the use of the word.In ancient Rome, Auctoritas...
.