§2.70.1ἕκτη δὲ μοῖρα τῆς περὶ τὰ θεῖα νομοθεσίας ἦν ἡ προσνεμηθεῖσα τοῖς καλουμένοις ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων σαλίοις, οὓς αὐτὸς ὁ Νόμας ἀπέδειξεν ἐκ τῶν πατρικίων δώδεκα τοὺς εὐπρεπεστάτους ἐπιλεξάμενος νέους, ὧν ἐν Παλατίῳ κεῖται τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ καλοῦνται Παλατῖνοι.
The sixth part of the legislation concerning sacred matters was that assigned to those called Salii by the Romans, whom Numa himself appointed, having selected twelve of the most handsome young men from the patricians, whose sacred things are deposited on the Palatine and who themselves are called Palatines.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ Ἀγωναλεῖς, ὑπὸ δέ τινων Κολλῖνοι καλούμενοι σάλιοι, ὧν τὸ ἱεροφυλάκιόν ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοῦ Κολλίνου λόφου, μετὰ Νόμαν ἀπεδείχθησαν ὑπὸ βασιλέως Ὁστιλίου κατʼ §2.70.2εὐχήν, ἣν ἐν τῷ πρὸς Σαβίνους εὔξατο πολέμῳ.
For the Agonales, called by some Collinian Salii, whose sacred depository is on the Colline hill, were appointed after Numa by King Hostilius, in accordance with a vow which he made in the war against the Sabines.
οὗτοι πάντες οἱ σάλιοι χορευταί τινές εἰσι καὶ ὑμνηταὶ τῶν ἐνόπλων θεῶν.
All these Salii are a kind of dancers and singers of the armed gods.
ἑορτὴ δʼ αὐτῶν ἐστι περὶ τὰ Παναθήναια ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ Μαρτίῳ μηνὶ δημοτελὴς ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας ἀγομένη, ἐν αἷς διὰ τῆς πόλεως ἄγουσι τοὺς χοροὺς εἴς τε τὴν ἀγορὰν καὶ τὸ Καπιτώλιον καὶ πολλοὺς ἄλλους ἰδίους τε καὶ δημοσίους τόπους, χιτῶνας ποικίλους χαλκαῖς μίτραις κατεζωσμένοι καὶ τηβέννας ἐμπεπορπημένοι περιπορφύρους φοινικοπαρύφους, ἃς καλοῦσι τραβέας ʽἔστι δʼ ἐπιχώριος αὕτη Ῥωμαίοις ἐσθὴς ἐν τοῖς πάνυ τιμίἀ καὶ τὰς καλουμένας ἀπίκας ἐπικείμενοι ταῖς κεφαλαῖς, πίλους ὑψηλοὺς εἰς σχῆμα συναγομένους κωνοειδές, ἃς Ἕλληνες προσαγορεύουσι κυρβασίας.
Their festival is held around the time of the Panathenaia, in the month called March, at public expense, being celebrated for many days, during which they lead their dances through the city both to the Forum and to the Capitol and many other private and public places, girt with variegated tunics by bronze belts and having buckled over them purple-bordered cloaks of scarlet, which they call trabeae (this is a native Roman dress, among those held in the highest honor) and wearing on their heads the so-called apices, high caps drawn up into a conical shape, which Greeks call kyrbasiai.
§2.70.3παρέζωσται δʼ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν ξίφος καὶ τῇ μὲν δεξιᾷ χειρὶ λόγχην ἢ ῥάβδον ἤ τι τοιοῦθʼ ἕτερον κρατεῖ, τῇ δʼ εὐωνύμῳ κατέχει πέλτην Θρᾳκίαν· ἡ δʼ ἐστὶ ῥομβοειδεῖ θυρεῷ στενωτέρας ἔχοντι τὰς λαγόνας ἐμφερής, οἵας λέγονται φέρειν οἱ τὰ Κουρήτων παρʼ Ἕλλησιν ἐπιτελοῦντες ἱερά.
Each of them is girt with a sword and in his right hand holds a spear or a staff or some other such thing, while in his left he holds a Thracian pelta; this is similar to a rhomboid shield having its sides narrower, such as those which those who perform the sacred rites of the Curetes among the Greeks are said to carry.
§2.70.4καί εἰσιν οἱ σάλιοι κατὰ γοῦν τὴν ἐμὴν γνώμην Ἑλληνικῷ μεθερμηνευθέντες ὀνόματι Κουρῆτες, ὑφʼ ἡμῶν μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς ἡλικίας οὕτως ὠνομασμένοι παρὰ τοὺς κούρους, ὑπὸ δὲ Ῥωμαίων ἐπὶ τῆς συντόνου κινήσεως.
And the Salii, at least in my opinion, if translated into a Greek name, are the Curetes, named thus by us because of their age, from the 'kouroi', but by the Romans because of their vigorous movement.
τὸ γὰρ ἐξάλλεσθαί τε καὶ πηδᾶν σαλῖρε ὑπʼ αὐτῶν λέγεται.
For leaping and jumping is called 'salire' by them.
ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς αἰτίας καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας ὀρχηστάς, ἐπεὶ κἀν τούτοις πολὺ τὸ ἅλμα καὶ σκίρτημα ἔνεστι, παράγοντες ἀπὸ τῶν σαλίων τοὔνομα σαλτάτωρας καλοῦσιν.
And from the same cause, they call all other dancers, since in them too there is much leaping and bounding, deriving the name from the Salii, 'saltatores'.
§2.70.5εἰ δὲ ὀρθῶς ὑπείληφα ταύτην αὐτοῖς τὴν προσηγορίαν ἀποδιδοὺς ἐκ τῶν γιγνομένων ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ὁ βουλόμενος συμβαλεῖ.
Whether I have correctly understood in giving them this appellation, anyone who wishes may judge from what is done by them.
κινοῦνται γὰρ πρὸς αὐλὸν ἐν ῥυθμῷ τὰς ἐνοπλίους κινήσεις τοτὲ μὲν ὁμοῦ, τοτὲ δὲ παραλλὰξ καὶ πατρίους τινὰς ὕμνους ᾅδουσιν ἅμα ταῖς χορείαις.
For they move in rhythm to the flute in their armed movements, sometimes together, and sometimes alternately, and they sing certain ancestral hymns along with their dances.
χορείαν δὲ καὶ κίνησιν ἐνόπλιον καὶ τὸν ἐν ταῖς ἀσπίσιν ἀποτελούμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχειριδίων ψόφον, εἴ τι δεῖ τοῖς ἀρχαίοις τεκμηριοῦσθαι λόγοις, Κουρῆτες ἦσαν οἱ πρῶτοι καταστησάμενοι.
And a dance and armed movement, and the noise made on the shields by the daggers, if we must judge by ancient accounts, the Curetes were the first to establish.
τὸν δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν μῦθον οὐδὲν δέομαι πρὸς εἰδότας ὀλίγου δεῖν πάντας γράφειν.
But there is no need for me to write the myth concerning them to those who know it almost all.