Carmen Saliare

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.

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.

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".

Roman bas relief. The Salian priests carry their sacred shields.
Relief depicting the Salii (National Museum of Rome - Palazzo Altemps, Rome)