Il Carmen Saliare

The fragmentary remains of the Carmen Saliare have been the object of scholarly discussions for centuries, but no exhaustive collection has been published after 1894. This work intends to fill this gap by gathering all the testimonies on this ancient hymn. This new commentary takes into account all the various issues posed by the text. First of all, it undertakes a philological reassessment of the most important manuscripts in which the fragments are preserved (Varro's De Lingua Latina, T. Scaurus' De Orthographia and Festus' De Verborum Significatione). The readings thus established are the basis for the ensuing linguistic analysis conducted on the fragments, in which new suggestions are proposed. In the hypothetical restoration of the text, a scheme of antiphonic recitation is reconstructed in which different 'voices' are identified. The review of the testimonies as a whole - together with a comprehensive collection of the classical sources on the Salian tradition - presents a picture of the linguistic and cultural frame in which the hymn was composed. By combining linguistic, philological and cultural data, this work offers a thorough survey of the Carmen Saliare to scholars interested in the most ancient phase of old Latin.