7. But why do I speak of these trifles? What man is there who is ignorant that in the Capitol of the imperial people is the sepulchre of Tolus4608 Vulcentanus? Who is there, I say, who does not know that from beneath4609 its foundations there was rolled a man’s head, buried for no very long time before, either by itself without the other parts of the body,—for some relate this,—or with all its members? Now, if you require this to be made clear by the testimonies of authors, Sammonicus, Granius, Valerianus,4610 and Fabius will declare to you whose son Aulus4611 was, of what race and nation, how4612 he was bereft of life and light by the slave of his brother, of what crime he was guilty against his fellow-citizens, that he was denied burial in his father4613 land. You will learn also—although they pretend to be unwilling to make this public—what was done with his head when cut off, or in what place it was shut up, and the whole affair carefully concealed, in order that the omen which the gods had attested might stand without interruption,4614 unalterable, and sure. Now, while it was proper that this story should be suppressed, and concealed, and forgotten in the lapse of time, the composition of the name published it, and, by a testimony which could not be got rid of, caused it to remain in men’s minds, together with its causes, so long as it endured itself;4615 and the state which is greatest of all, and worships all deities, did not blush in giving a name to the temple, to name it from the head of Olus4616 Capitolium rather than from the name of Jupiter.
Footnotes
- 4608
So the ms., first four edd., and Oberthür, reading Toli, corrected Oli in the others, from Servius (ad. Æn., viii. 345). Arnobius himself gives the form Aulus, i.e., Olus, immediately below, so that it is probably correct.
- 4609
Lit., “the seats of.”
- 4610
Ursinus suggested Valerius Antias, mentioned in the first chapter of the fifth book, a conjecture adopted by Hild.
- 4611
The ms., LB., Hild., and Oehler read Aulus, and, acc. to Oehler, all other edd. Tolus. Orelli, however, reads Olus, as above.
- 4612
The ms. and both Roman edd. read germani servuli vita without meaning, corrected as above by Gelenius, Canterus, Elm., and Oberthür, ut a g. servulo, and ut a g. servulis—“by the slaves,” in the others, except Oehler who reads as above, g. servulo ut.
- 4613
The ms. and both Roman edd. read unintelligibly patientiæ, corrected paternæ in Hild. and Oehler, patriæ in the rest.
- 4614
Lit., “the perpetuity of the omen sealed might stand.”
- 4615
Lit., “through the times given to itself.”
- 4616
The ms. reads s-oli,—changed into Toli by the first four edd., Elm., and Oberthür. The others omit s.