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Quintus Valerius Soranus

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Quintus Valerius Soranus(born between c. 140–130 BC,[1]died 82 BC) was aLatinpoet, grammarian, andtribune of the peoplein the LateRoman Republic.He was executed in 82 BC whileSullawasdictator,[2]ostensibly for violating a religious prohibition against speaking the arcane name of Rome, but more likely for political reasons.[3]ThecognomenSoranus is atoponymindicating that he was fromSora.[4]

A singleelegiac coupletsurvives more or less intact from his body of work. The two lines addressJupiteras an all-powerful begetter who is both male and female. Thisandrogynous,unitarianconception ofdeity,[5]possibly an attempt to integrateStoicandOrphicdoctrine, has made the fragment of interest inreligious studies.[6]

Valerius Soranus is also credited with a little-recognized literary innovation:Pliny the Eldersays he was the first writer to provide atable of contentsto help readers navigate a long work.[7]

Life and political career

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Valerius Soranus was admired for his learning byCicero(depictedanachronisticallyin a 16th-century edition of his letters)

Cicerohas aninterlocutorin hisDe oratorepraise Valerius Soranus as “most cultured of all who wear thetoga,”[8]and Cicero lists him and his brother Decimus among an educated elite ofsociietLatini;[9]that is, those who came from alliedpolitieson theItalian peninsularather than from Rome, and those whose legal status was defined byLatin rightrather than fullRoman citizenship.ThemunicipalityofSorawas near Cicero's nativeArpinum,and he refers to the Valerii Sorani as his friends and neighbors.[10]Soranus was also a friend ofVarroand is mentioned more than once in that scholar's multi-volume work on theLatinlanguage.[11]

The son of Q. Valerius Soranus is thought to have been theQuintus Valerius Orcawho waspraetorin 57 BC.[12]Orca had worked for Cicero's return to public life[13]and is among Cicero's correspondents in theEpistulae ad familiares(Letters to Friends and Family).[14]

Cicero presents the Valerii brothers of Sora as well schooled in Greek and Latin literature, but less admirable for their speaking ability.[15]AsItalians,they would have been lacking to Cicero's ears in the smooth sophistication (urbanitas) and faultless pronunciation of the best native Roman orators.[16]This attitude of social exclusivity may account for why Valerius Soranus, whose scholarly interests and friendships might otherwise suggest aconservativetemperament, would have found his place in thecivil wars of the 80son the side of thepopularistMariusrather than that of thepatricianSulla.[17]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 amunicipium,and had to overcome the same obstructing biases that he adopts and expresses.[18]

In 82 BC, the year of his death, Valerius Soranus was or had been atribuneof the people (tribunus plebis), a political office open only to those ofplebeianrather thanpatricianbirth.[12]

Execution

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The fullest account of the infamous death of Valerius Soranus is given byServius,who says he was executed for revealing the secret name of Rome:[19]

The tribune Valerius Soranus dared to disclose this name, according to Varro and many other sources. Some say he was hauled in by thesenateand strung up on across;others, that he fled in fear of retribution and was apprehended by apraetor[20]inSicily,where he was killed by order of the senate.[21]

Servius's account presents several difficulties.Crucifixionwas a punishment generally reserved for slaves in the Late Republic;[22]Valerius Maximus,a historian in the earlyPrincipate,reckoned that the punishment should not be inflicted on those of Roman blood even when they "deserved" it.[23]Moreover, a tribune's person was by law sacrosanct.[24]Finally, it is unclear whether the ten tribunes should possess the knowledge of Rome's secret name,[25]or in what manner Soranus would have publicized it. Among sources earlier than Servius, bothPliny the ElderandPlutarchnote that Valerius Soranus was punished for this violation.[26]It has been suggested that the name was revealed in his one work for which a title is known, theEpoptides.The title, if interpreted as it sometimes is to mean "tutelary deities,"offers an apt context.[27]But elsewhere Servius — so tooMacrobius— implies that the name remained unrecorded.[28]

Quintus Valerius Soranus has been identified with the Q. Valerius, described asphilologosandphilomathes( “a lover of literature and learning” ),[29]whom Plutarch says was a supporter ofMarius.This man was put to death byPompeyin Sicily,[30]where he would have accompaniedCarbo,theconsularcolleague of the recently murderedCinna.Carbo was executed by Pompey.[31]

In 1906, Conrad Cichorius published an article[32]that organized the available evidence for the life of Valerius Soranus and argued that his execution was a result of theSullan proscriptionin 82. The view of his death as politically motivated has prevailed among modern scholars:

His death was thus the result of being proscribed (as a supporter of Marius), and has nothing to do with religious issues of any kind. At the same time, we know that Soranus wrote works of a religious-antiquariankind, as well as verse, and was often cited by Varro. This link with Varro must be the reason for associating the revelation of Rome's secret name with Soranus' violent death, for, as we saw, it is Varro whom Servius cites as his authority for linking the death with the revelation.[33]

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.[34]The biases of the contemporary sources were not lost on Plutarch in his account of the killing:[35]

Furthermore,Caius Oppius,the friend ofCaesar,says that Pompey treated Quintus Valerius also with unnatural cruelty. For, understanding that Valerius was a man of rare scholarship and learning, when he was brought to him, Oppius says, Pompey took him aside, walked up and down with him, asked and learned what he wished from him, and then ordered his attendants to lead him away and put him to death at once. But when Oppius discourses about the enemies or friends of Caesar, one must be very cautious about believing him.[36]

Speaking the name could be construed as a political protest and also an act oftreason,as the revelation would expose the tutelary deity and leave the city unprotected.[37]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.[38]Theintellectual historianof theRepublicElizabeth Rawsonventured cautiously that Soranus's "motive remains unclear, but may have been political."[39]More vigorous is the view of Luigi Alfonsi, who argued that Soranus revealed the name deliberately so that theItalianmunicipalitiescould appropriate it and break Rome's monopoly of power.[40]

Another interpretation of these events, worth noting despite its fictional context, is that ofhistorical novelistColleen McCullough,who melds political and religious motives in a psychological characterization. InFortune's Favorites,McCullough's Soranus “screams aloud” the arcane name because the atrocities committed during thecivil warhad rendered Rome unworthy of divine protection:

Rome and all she stood for would fall down like a shoddy building in an earthquake. Quintus Valerius Soranus himself believed that implicitly. So having told air and birds and horrified men Rome's secret name, Soranus fled toOstiawondering why Rome still stood uponher seven hills.[41]

Literary works

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The singlecoupletthat survives from Valerius Soranus's vast work as a poet, grammarian, andantiquarianis quoted bySt. Augustinein theDe civitate Dei(7.9) to support his view that thetutelary deityof Rome was theCapitoline Jupiter:[42]

Iuppiter omnipotens regum rerumque deumque

progenitor genitrixque deum, deus unus et omnes…

Thesyntaxposes difficulties in attempts attranslation,and there may be somecorruption of the text.It seems to say something like "JupiterAll-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 ofdeityAugustine argues throughout Book 7 of theDe civitate Dei.The view of Varro, and presumably of Soranus, was that Jupiter represents the wholeuniversewhich emits and receives seeds (semina), encompassing the generative powers of Earth the Mother as well as Sky the Father.[43]This unitarianism is aStoicconcept, and Soranus is usually counted among the Stoics of Rome, perhaps of the contemporary school ofPanaetius.[44]The unity of opposites in deity, including divineandrogyny,is also characteristic ofOrphicdoctrine, which may have impressed itself on Stoicism.[45]

The couplet may or may not come from theEpoptides.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.[46]Soranus's innovation in providing atable of contents[47]— most likely a list ofcapita rerum( "subjectheadings ") at the beginning — suggests that theEpoptideswas anencyclopedicorcompendiousprose work.[48]Alternatively, theEpoptidesmay have been a longdidacticpoem. Soranus is known to have written didactic poetry and is likely to have been an influence whenLucretiuschose verse as his medium for philosophical subject matter.[49]

The most extensive argument regarding theEpoptidesis that of Thomas Köves-Zulauf.[50]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," feminineepoptisand pluralepoptides), the highest grade of initiate at theEleusinian mysteries.[51]Köves-Zulauf argued that Soranus'sEpoptideswas an extended treatment ofmystery religions,and the title is sometimes translated into German asMystikerinnen.The classicist andmythographerH.J. Rose,on the contrary, insisted that theEpoptideshad nothing to do with initiates.[52]Elizabeth Rawson held withInitiated Women;[53]theLoeb Classical LibraryoffersLady Initiates;[54]Nicholas Horsfall is satisfied withThe Watchers.[55]

Köves-Zulauf maintains that theepoptidesof the title represent the Stoic conception of femaledaimoneswho are guardians of humanity, such as the Hours (Horae) and the Graces (Charites). Soranus integrates this concept, he says, with theTutelae,ancientItalicprotective spirits. The crime of Soranus was thus to reveal in this work the name of theTutelacharged with protecting Rome.

Works of later Roman grammarians suggest that Soranus took an interest inetymology[56]and other linguistic matters.[57]

References

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  1. ^Conrad Cichorius, “Zur Lebensgeschichte des Valerius Soranus,”Hermes41 (1906), p. 67;American Journal of Philology28 (1907) 468.
  2. ^T.R.S. Broughton,The Magistrates of the Roman Republic,vol. 2, 99 B.C.–31 B.C. (New York: American Philological Association, 1952), p. 68.
  3. ^Conrad Cichorius, “Zur Lebensgeschichte des Valerius Soranus,”Hermes41 (1906) 59–68, remains the most thorough discussion of the evidence; English abstract inAmerican Journal of Philology28 (1907) 468.
  4. ^Oxford Latin Dictionary(Oxford: Clarendon Press 1982, 1985 printing), entry on "Soranus," p. 1793.
  5. ^Jaime Alvar, “Matériaux pour l'étude de la formulesive deus, sive dea,”Numen32 (1985), pp. 259–260.
  6. ^Edward Courtney,The Fragmentary Latin Poets(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), pp. 66–68; Attilio Mastrocinque, "Creating One's Own Religion: Intellectual Choices," inA Companion to Roman Religion,edited byJörg Rüpke(Blackwell, 2007), p. 382.
  7. ^Pliny the Elder,preface 33,Historia naturalis;John Henderson, “Knowing Someone Through Their Books: Pliny on Uncle Pliny (Epistles3.5),”Classical Philology97 (2002), p. 275.
  8. ^Marcus Tullius Cicero,De oratore3.43:litteratissimum togatorum omnium.
  9. ^Marcus Tullius Cicero,Brutus169.
  10. ^Cicero,Brutus169:vicini et familiares mei;Elizabeth Rawson,Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), p. 34.
  11. ^Marcus Terentius Varro,De lingua latina7.31, 7.65, 10.70;Aulus Gellius,Noctes Atticae2.10.3; Edward Courtney,The Fragmentary Latin Poets(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), p. 65.
  12. ^abGiovanni Niccolini,I fasti dei tribuni della plebe(Milan 1934), pp. 430–431.
  13. ^Marcus Tullius Cicero,Post reditum in senatu23.
  14. ^Marcus Tullius Cicero,Epistulae ad familiares13.4 (= 318 in thechronologicaleditionofShackleton Bailey), 13.5 (= 319 SB), 13.6 (= 57 SB), 13.6a (= 58 SB); discussion in John Pairman Brown,Israel and Hellas: Sacred Institutions and Roman Counterparts,vol. 2 (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1995), pp. 248–249.
  15. ^Cicero,Brutus169:non tam in dicendo admirabilis quam doctus et Graecis litteris et Latinis.
  16. ^Edwin S. Ramage, “Cicero on Extra-Roman Speech,”Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association92 (1961) 481–494, especially pp. 487–488.
  17. ^John Pairman Brown,Israel and Hellas,vol. 2 (Berlin 1995), pp. 249–250.
  18. ^Elizabeth Rawson,Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), p. 34et passim.
  19. ^Matthias Klinghardt discusses the religious case in "Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation: Their Use and Function in Ancient Religion,"Numen46 (1999), pp. 43–45; see also H.S. Versnel, “A Parody on Hymns in Martial V 24 and Some Trinitarian Problems,”Mnemosyne27 (1974), p. 374, especially note 44.
  20. ^The "praetor" may be Pompey; see below.
  21. ^Servius,Commentary on the Aeneid1.277:denique tribunus plebei quidam Valerius Soranus, ut ait Varro et multi alii, hoc nomen ausus enuntiare, ut quidam dicunt raptus a senatu et in crucem levatus est, ut alii, metu supplicii fugit et in Sicilia comprehensus a praetore praecepto senatus occisus est;from thePerseus Project'sonline editionofServii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii,edited by George Thilo et Hermann Hagen (Teubner1881).
  22. ^Smith,Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,entry on "Crux," Bill Thayer'sLacusCurtiusedition;Elizabeth Rawson, "Sallust on the Eighties?",Classical Quarterly37 (1987), pp. 175–176; K.M. Coleman, "Fatal Charades: Roman Executions Staged as Mythological Enactments,"Journal of Roman Studies80 (1990), p. 53et passim;for full discussion, see M. Hengel,Crucifixion in the Ancient World(London 1977), especially "Crucifixion and Roman Citizens" and "The 'Slaves' Punishment,"chapters 6 and 8.
  23. ^Valerius Maximus,2.7.12.
  24. ^"Tribune" atLivius.org;fuller discussion of the tribunate at Smith,Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,"Tribunus," Bill Thayer'sLacusCurtiusedition..
  25. ^“This name and the name of thetutelary deityof Rome had to be handed down from one generation of Roman priests and magistrates to the succeeding one”:Jerzy Linderski,"The Augural Law,"Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen WeltII 16.3 (1986), p. 2255, note 424. The story of Valerius Soranus, Linderski assumes, indicates that tribunes knew the name; the reasoning may be circular.
  26. ^Pliny the Elder,Historia naturalis3.65;Plutarch,Roman Questions61. The late antique grammarianSolinus(1.4) also reports that Valerius Soranus was killed for profaning the name of Rome, connecting the act to the Roman goddessAngerona,whose cult statue depicted her with a sealed mouth.
  27. ^Thomas Köves-Zulauf, "Die Ἐπόπτιδες des Valerius Soranus,"Rheinisches Museum113 (1970) 323-358. "Tutelary deities" is not the universal translation: see discussion underLiterary Works.
  28. ^Servius,Commentary on the Aeneid1.277;Macrobius,Saturnalia3.9; John Pairman Brown,Israel and Hellas,vol. 2 (Berlin 1995), p. 250. The ancient sources on the violation make a distinction without, in the outcome for Soranus, a difference; some say thearcanumnot to be revealed was the secret name of Rome, and others that of Rome's tutelary deity, seeL'identità segreta della divinità tutelare di Roma. Un riesame dell'affaireSorano.Roma, Settimo Sigillo, 2011.
  29. ^Plutarch,Life of Pompey10.4: φιλόλογος ἀνὴρ καὶ φιλομαθής.
  30. ^Conrad Cichorius, "Zur Lebensgeschichte des Valerius Soranus,"Hermes41 (1906), p. 59; T.R.S. Broughton,The Magistrates of the Roman Republic,vol. 2, 99 B.C.–31 B.C. (New York: American Philological Association, 1952), p. 68; Edward Courtney,The Fragmentary Latin Poets(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), p. 65.
  31. ^Jörg Rüpke,Religion of the Romans,translated and edited by Richard Gordon (Cambridge: Polity, 2007) p. 133.
  32. ^Conrad Cichorius, "Zur Lebensgeschichte des Valerius Soranus,"Hermes41 (1906) 59–68; English abstract inAmerican Journal of Philology28 (1907) 468.
  33. ^Jörg Rüpke,Religion of the Romans,translated and edited by Richard Gordon (Cambridge: Polity, 2007). p. 133. This view is shared by Stefan Weinstock, review ofDie Geheime Schutzgottheit von Romby Angelo Brelich,Journal of Roman Studies40 (1950) 149–150. Political and religious motives reviewed by John Pairman Brown,Israel and Hellas,vol. 2 (Berlin 1995), pp. 249–250.
  34. ^For the development of the story of Valerius Soranus as a cautionary tale, see Trevor Murphy, “Privileged Knowledge: Valerius Soranus and the Secret Name of Rome,” inRituals in Ink: A Conference on Religion and Literary Production in Ancient Rome(Stuttgart 2004), pp. 127–137.
  35. ^Elizabeth Rawson,Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), p. 105.
  36. ^Plutarch,Pompey10.4–5, Loeb Classical Library translation of theLives,vol. 5 (Cambridge University Press 1917), Bill Thayer's edition atLacusCurtius.
  37. ^John Pairman Brown,Israel and Hellas,vol. 2 (Berlin 1995), p. 250, citing Luigi Alfonsi, "L'importanza politico-religiosa della 'enunciazione' de Valerio Sorano,"Epigraphica10 (1948) 81–89.
  38. ^Plinysays that the Romans practicedevocatiowhen they laid siege to a city, with the priests calling out the foreign god and promising him a greater cult among them (Historia naturalis28.18). Macrobius even provides the charm of evocation used againstCarthage(Saturnalia3.9). The secrecy surrounding prayer formularies, particularly the correct names of gods, was characteristic also ofJudaism,Egyptiansyncretisticreligion,mystery religions,and laterChristianity.See Matthias Klinghardt, “Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation: Their Use and Function in Ancient Religion,”Numen46 (1999) 1–52, pp. 43–44 on this case; also article on "Magic and Religion:The Name of God."
  39. ^Elizabeth Rawson,Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), p. 300, note 12.
  40. ^Luigi Alfonsi, "L'importanza politico-religiosa della enunciazione di Valerio Sorano (a proposito diCILI² 337). "Epigraphica10 (1948) 81-89.
  41. ^Colleen McCullough,Fortune's Favorites(HarperCollins,1994 edition), pp. 108 and 158.
  42. ^Arthur Bernard Cook,“The European Sky-God III: The Italians,”Folklore16 (1905), p. 299.
  43. ^Robert M. Grant, review ofVarrosLogistoricusüber die Götterverehrung ( "Curio de cultu deorum" ),dissertation by Burkhart Cardauns (Würzburg 1960) inClassical Philology57 (1962), p. 140; Elizabeth Rawson,Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), p. 300, especially note 12; Jaime Alvar, "Matériaux pour l'étude de la formulesive deus, sive dea,"Numen32 (1985), pp. 259–260.
  44. ^Eduard Zeller,A History of Eclecticism in Greek 'Philos',translated by S.F. Alleyne (Kessinger, 2006, originally published 1883), p. 74;Michael von Albrechtet al.,A History of Roman Literature: From Livius Andronicus to Boethius,vol. 1 (Brill, 1997), p. 504, translated fromGeschichte der römischen Literatur: von Andronicus bis Boethius(1992).
  45. ^Edward Courtney,The Fragmentary Latin Poets(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), pp. 66–68; Attilio Mastrocinque, "Creating One's Own Religion: Intellectual Choices," inA Companion to Roman Religion(Blackwell, 2007), p. 382, pointing out that theHymn to Zeusof Cleanthespresents a similar view of the god, and thatLaevius,a likely contemporary of Valerius Soranus, held thatVenuswas both female and male (according toMacrobius,Saturnalia3.8.3). Marcello De Martino, inL'identità segreta della divinità tutelare di Roma. Un riesame dell'affaireSorano.Roma, Settimo Sigillo, 2011, believes that Sorano revealed the name of Roman tutelar deity, who was androgynous.
  46. ^Nicholas Horsfall, “Roman Religion and Related Topics,” review of Thomas Köves-Zulauf,Kleine Schriften(Heidelberg 1988),Classical Review41 (1991) 120-122.
  47. ^An innovation admired byPliny the Elder,preface 33,Historia naturalis.
  48. ^Elizabeth Rawson,Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), p. 51; John Henderson, “Knowing Someone Through Their Books: Pliny on Uncle Pliny (Epistles3.5),”Classical Philology97 (2002), p. 275.
  49. ^C. Joachim Classen, “Poetry and Rhetoric inLucretius,”Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association99 (1968), p. 115; "Lucretius andCallimachus,"inLucretius,edited by Monica R. Gale, Oxford Readings in Classical Studies (Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 329.
  50. ^Nicholas Horsfall called the 33-page essay on a non-extant work "something of a tour de force," in “Roman Religion and Related Topics,”Classical Review41 (1991) 120-122.
  51. ^Liddell and Scott,A Greek-English Lexicon(Oxford: Clarendon Press 1843, 1985 printing), entry on ἐποπτεία and related words, p. 676; Trevor Murphy, “Privileged Knowledge: Valerius Soranus and the Secret Name of Rome,” inRituals in Ink(Stuttgart 2004), p. 133.
  52. ^H.J. Rose,“Latin Literature for Italian Children,”Classical Review51 (1937) p. 229.
  53. ^Elizabeth Rawson,Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), p. 34, note 85.
  54. ^H. Rackham's translation of Pliny'sNatural History(Harvard University Press, 1991).
  55. ^Nicholas Horsfall, noting that the word's only other occurrence in Latin is fromCornutus,in “Roman Religion and Related Topics,”Classical Review41 (1991) 120-122.
  56. ^For instance,Aulus Gellius,citingVarro,notes that Valerius Soranus thought the Old Latin wordflavisareferred to the same object as the Greek-derived wordthesaurus'treasure trove', and suggested that the Latin word derived from theflata pecunia,that is 'minted money', stored there (Attic Nights2.10 = Varro, fragment 228 in FunaioliGrammaticae Romanae Fragmenta). Roman antiquarians often used etymology to investigate the history of objects and institutions.
  57. ^Varro,De lingua latina7.31 and 10.70

Annotated bibliography

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  • Alfonsi, L. "L'importanza politico-religiosa della enunciazione di Valerio Sorano (a proposito diCILI² 337). "Epigraphica10 (1948) 81–89. Argues that Valerius Soranus should be identified withValerius Aedituus,a poet from the circle ofLutatius Catulus(this identification is not widely agreed upon, though bothE. Badian,"From the Gracchi to Sulla (1940–59),"Historia11 (1962), p. 222, note 94, and E. Gabba, "Politica e cultura in Roma agli inizi del I secolo a. C.,"Athenaeum(1953), p. 259ff., as cited by Badian, are willing to entertain the possibility) and that he revealed the name of Rome to disrupt the exclusivity of the Roman aristocracy and enable the participation of the Italic communities. (Abstract translated fromL'Année philologique.)
  • Brown, John Pairman.Israel and Hellas,vol. 2. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1995,pp. 247–250on Valerius Soranus.
  • Cichorius, Conrad. “Zur Lebensgeschichte des Valerius Soranus.”Hermes41 (1906) 59–68. The most thorough biographical reconstruction. English abstract inAmerican Journal of Philology28 (1907) 468.
  • Courtney, Edward.“Q. Valerius (Soranus).”The Fragmentary Latin Poets.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993, pp. 65–68.ISBN0-19-814775-9Edition withcommentaryandbiographicalnote. Courtney refrains from identifying some recognized fragments of Soranus's work as poetry and thus omits them. SeeFunaioliandMorelfollowing.
  • De Martino, Marcello.L'identità segreta della divinità tutelare di Roma. Un riesame dell'affaireSorano.Roma: Settimo Sigillo, 2011.
  • 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 Review41 (1991) 120–122.
  • Klinghardt, Matthias. “Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation: Their Use and Function in Ancient Religion.”Numen46 (1999) 1–52. On the case of Valerius Soranus, pp. 43–45.
  • Köves-Zulauf, Thomas. "DieἘπόπτιδεςdes Valerius Soranus. "Rheinisches Museum113 (1970) 323–358. Reprinted in the author'sKleine Schriften,ed. Achim Heinrichs (Heidelberg 1988). Argument summarized underLiterary 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.” InRituals in Ink: A Conference on Religion and Literary Production in Ancient Rome(Stuttgart 2004),pp. 127–137.ISBN3-515-08526-2Rehearses sources fornomentransgression, with a stated interest in the significance of the story rather than itshistoricity.Some misapprehensions in handling primary source material.
  • Niccolini, Giovanni.Ifastideitribuni della plebe.Milan 1934. Section on Valerius Soranus, pp. 430–431.
  • Rüpke, Jörg.Religion of the Romans.Translated and edited by Richard Gordon. Cambridge: Polity, 2007.ISBN0-7456-3014-6Discusses the case of Valerius Soranus(p. 133)in his consideration of Rome's tutelary deity.
  • Weinstock, Stefan. Review ofDie Geheime Schutzgottheit von Romby Angelo Brelich.Journal of Roman Studies40 (1950) 149–150. Passing consideration of the likely political character of Valerius Soranus's execution, valuable mainly because of Weinstock'sauctoritas.
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