Chapter 245

1243The site of Ferentinum is now uninhabited, but is still known by the name of Ferento. The rivers of the ancient city are very considerable; it was finally destroyed by the people of Viterbo in the 12th century.

1244An ancient town of Etruria near Falisci. Cluver thinks that it was situate at Gallese, a village nine miles north of Civita Castellana; but Dennis considers its site to have been between Borghetto on the Tiber and Corchiano, where there are considerable remains of an Etruscan city. The spot is named San Silvestro, from a ruined church there.

1245Or Horta; the spot now called Orte, where numerous Etruscan remains are found; it probably derived its name from the Etruscan goddess Horta. Hortanum, the name given to it by Pliny, is perhaps an adjective form of the name, “oppidum” being understood.

1246Possibly the same as ‘Urbs Vetus,’ on the side of which the present Orvieto stands.

1247Now Nepi, near the river Pozzolo.

1248According to Hardouin the site of the Novem Pagi, or nine Boroughs, is occupied by the modern Il Mignone, near Civita Vecchia.

1249Its site is generally supposed to have been at Oriuolo, about five miles north of Bracciano; but Dennis informs us that there are no ancient remains at that place. Being a præfecture it may have consisted of only a number of little villages, united in one jurisdiction.

1250The modern Pistoia stands on its site.

1251Now Perugia.

1252Supposed by Hardouin to have inhabited the site of the modern Sovretto.

1253Probably situate in the modern duchy of Castro.

1254The people of Tarquinii near Rome, the head of the Etruscan confederation. It was here that Demaratus the Corinthian, the father of Tarquinius Priscus, settled. It was deserted by its inhabitants in the eighth or ninth century, who founded the town of Corneto on a hill opposite to it. The ruins are known as Turchina, a corruption of the ancient name.

1255The site of their town is probably marked by the modern Toscanella.

1256The ruins of their town still retain somewhat of their ancient name in that of “Vetulia.”

1257The people of the powerful city of Veii, subdued by Camillus. Its ruins have been discovered in the vicinity of the village of Isola Farnese.

1258Their town stood on the site of the present Bisontia.

1259The people of Volaterræ, the present Volterra, one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan Confederation. It was for a time the residence of the kings of Lombardy. The modern town covers only a small portion of the area of the ancient city, of which there are some interesting remains.

1260The people of Volci or Vulci, of which the ruins bear the same name. Its sepulchres have produced vast treasures of ancient art.

1261The people of Volsinii or Vulsinii, now called Bolsena. This was one of the most ancient and powerful of the twelve cities of the Etruscan confederation. On their subjugation by the Romans the Etruscan city was destroyed, and its inhabitants were compelled to settle on a less defensible site. The new city was the birth-place of Sejanus, the worthless favourite of Tiberius. Of the ancient city there are scarcely any remains.

1262Called also Crustumeria, Crustumium, and Crustuminium. It was a city of Latium on the borders of the Sabine country, and was subdued by Romulus, though it afterwards appears as independent in the time of Tarquinius Priscus. The territory was noted for its fertility. The exact site of the city is unknown; a place called Marcigliana Vecchia, about nine miles from Rome, seems the most probable.

1263The site of Caletra is quite unknown. It was situate at some point in the present valley of the Albegna.

1264The First Region extended from the Tiber to the Gulf of Salernum, being bounded in the interior by the Apennines. It consisted of ancient Latium and Campania, comprising the modern Campagna di Roma, and the provinces of the kingdom of Naples.

1265Livy, B. i. c. 3, and Ovid, Fasti, B. iii. l. 389, inform us that the name of Albula was changed into Tiberis in consequence of king Tiberinus being accidentally drowned in it.

1266Still known by that name. The Glanis is called la Chiana.

1267According to D’Anville, now known as Citta di Castello.

1268A municipal town of Umbria, situate near the confluence of the rivers Nar and Tiber, and on the Flaminian Way. There are the ruins of an aqueduct, an amphitheatre, and some temples, now the modern Otricoli.

1269The territory of Umbria extended from the left bank of the Tiber, near its rise, to the Adriatic.

1270The Sabines occupied the left bank of the Tiber from the Umbri to the Anio. The Crustumini and the Fidenates probably occupied the southern part of the district about the river Alba.

1271The Nera and the Teverone. The exact situation of the district of Vaticanum has not been ascertained with exactness.

1272As not so much causing mischief by its inundations, as giving warning thereby of the wrath of the gods and of impending dangers; which might be arrested by sacrifices and expiatory rites.—See Horace, Odes, B. i. 2. 29.

1273The frontier of ancient Latium was at Circeii, but that of modern Latium extended to Sinuessa.

1274A town of Latium, situate at the foot of the Mons Circeius, now Monte Circello. It was used as a place of retirement, and Tiberius and Domitian had villas there. The Triumvir Lepidus was banished thither by Octavius after his deposition. It was also famous for its oysters, which were of the finest quality. Considerable remains of it are still to be seen on the hill called Monte di Citadella, about two miles from the sea.

1275Now the Garigliano, the same river which he previously calls the Glanis. It was the boundary between Latium and Campania.

1276Founded by Ancus Martius, as we learn from Livy. It was abandoned under the Emperor Claudius, who built the Portus Romanus or Portus Augusti in its vicinity; and it only continued famous for its salt-works, which had been established there by Ancus Martius. Its ruins, still called Ostia, are nearly three miles from the coast, in consequence of the receding of the sea.

1277Now San Lorenzo. It was between Ostia and Antium.

1278By some, Æneas was supposed to have been worshiped by that name.

1279Now the river Numico.

1280The ruins of this once great city may still be seen near the present village of the same name. Its situation was peculiarly unhealthy. Another tradition, besides the one mentioned by Pliny, was, that it was founded by a son of Ulysses and Circe. It was twenty-four miles distant from Rome.

1281A temple of Venus, of which the ruins are still to be seen.

1282Its few ruins are still known as Anzio Rovinato. It was famous for its temple of Fortune, addressed by Horace, Odes, i. 35. Near the site is the modern village of Porto d’Anzo.

1283This island was occupied by villas of the Roman nobility, and was the resort of Cicero, Augustus and Tiberius. There is still a fortified town called the Torre di Astura.

1284The modern Ninfa.

1285“The Roman Bulwarks.” They were thrown up to protect the frontier of the ancient kingdom of Rome from the inroads of the Volscians.

1286To our previous note we may add that this spot was supposed to have been once inhabited by the enchantress Circe, the daughter of the Sun, and from her to have taken its name.

1287This has been also translated “dedicated to Nicodorus, the Archon of Athens,” but nothing appears to be known of such a fact as the dedication to Nicodorus of any of his works.

1288Now called the “Palude Pontine.” They are again mentioned in B. xxvi. c. 9.

1289Now called Il Portatore.

1290It was situate fifty-eight miles from Rome; the modern town of Terracina stands on its site. The remains of the ancient citadel are visible on the slope of Montecchio.

1291The exact site of this place is unknown. Servius, in his Commentary on B. x. of the Æneid, l. 564, tells the same story of the serpents.

1292This was near Amyclæ. A villa was situate there called “Speluncæ,” from the cavities in the rock, in one of which the Emperor Tiberius nearly lost his life by the falling in of the roof. The modern village of Sperlonga, eight miles west of Gaëta, marks its site.

1293Now Lago di Fondi.

1294Now Gaëta, said to have received its name from being the burial-place of Caieta, the nurse of Æneas. The shore was studded with numerous villas of the Roman nobility. It is now a city of great opulence; in its vicinity extensive ruins are to be seen.

1295On the spot now called Mola di Gaëta. Many of the wealthy Romans, and among them Cicero, had villas here: and at this place he was put to death. It was destroyed by the Saracens in the year 856. The remains of antiquity to be seen on this spot are very extensive.

1296Homer places these Cannibals on the coast of Sicily, but the Romans in general transplanted them to the vicinity of Circeii, and suppose Formiæ to have been built by Lamus, one of their kings. It is more probable however that it was founded by the Laconians, from whom it may have received its name of Hormiæ (from the Greekὅρμος), as being a good roadstead for shipping.

1297Its site is occupied by the present Trajetta. In its marshes, formed by the overflow of the Liris, Caius Marius was taken prisoner, concealed in the sedge.

1298The town of Minturnæ stood on both banks of the river.

1299Its ruins are probably those to be seen in the vicinity of Rocca di Mondragone. It was a place of considerable commercial importance. On its site Livy says there formerly stood the Greek city of Sinope.

1300“Felix illa Campania.”

1301Now Sezza.

1302A marshy district of Latium, extending about eight miles along the coast from Terracina to Speluncæ, famous in the time of Horace for the first-rate qualities of its wines.

1303A district famous for its wines, extending from the Massican Hills to the north bank of the Volturnus.

1304According to Hardouin, the town of Calenum was on the site of the present Calvi near Capua.

1305Now called Monte Marsico, and as famous for its wine (called Muscatella) as it was in the Roman times.

1306Now Monte Barbaro. The wines of most of these places will be found fully described by Pliny in B. xiv.

1307More fully mentioned, B. xviii. c. 29, where the ‘alicæ’ or fermenty made from the spelt grown here is again referred to.

1308Of Baiæ, Puteoli, and Stabiæ, for instance.

1309The modern Saove.

1310Now called the Volturno, with a small place on its banks called Castel Volturno.

1311The present village of Torre di Patria is supposed to occupy its site.

1312Strabo describes Cumæ as a joint colony of the Chalcidians of Eubœa and the Cymæans of Æolis. Its sea-shore was covered with villas of the Roman aristocracy, and here Sylla spent the last years of his life. Its site is now utterly desolate and its existing remains inconsiderable.

1313Now Capo or Punta di Miseno; a town built on a promontory of Campania, by Æneas, it was said, in honour of his trumpeter, Misenus, who was drowned there. It was made by Augustus the principal station of the Roman fleet. Here was the villa of Marius, which afterwards belonged to Lucullus and the Emperor Tiberius, who died here.

1314Famous for its warm springs, and the luxurious resort of the Roman patricians. Marius, Lucullus, Pompey, and Cæsar had villas here. In later times it became the seat of every kind of pleasure and dissipation. It is now rendered unwholesome by the Malaria, and the modern Castello di Baja, with numerous ruins, alone marks its site.

1315The modern village of Baolo stands near its site. It was here that Hortensius had his fish-ponds, mentioned by Pliny in B. ix. c. 55. It rivalled its neighbour Baiæ in ministering to the luxury of the wealthy Romans, and was occupied by numerous villas so late as the reign of Theodosius.

1316Probably the inner part of the Gulf of Cumæ or Puteoli, but separated from the remainder by an embankment eight stadia in length. It was famous for its oyster-beds. Behind it was the Lake Avernus, occupying the crater of an extinct volcano, and supposed by the Greeks to be the entrance to the Infernal Regions. Agrippa opened a communication with the Lucrine Lake to render Lake Avernus accessible to ships. The Lucrine Lake was filled up by a volcanic eruption in 1538, and a mountain rose in its place. The Lake Avernus is still called the Lago di Averno.

1317Or “the town Cimmerium.” Nothing is known of it.

1318Now Pozzuolo. The Romans called it Puteoli, from the strong smell of its mineral springs. There are still many ruins of the ancient town, which was destroyed by Alaric, Genseric, and Totila, and as many times rebuilt.

1319Now called Salpatara. This was the name given to the volcanic plain extending from Cumæ to Capua, and supposed to have been once covered with fire; whence the name, fromφλέγω, “to burn.”

1320Now the Lago di Fusaro. It seems to have had its name from its vicinity to Avernus, the supposed entrance to the infernal regions. Its banks were, in the later times of the Roman republic, adorned with the villas of the wealthy.

1321Neapolis, or the “New City,” was founded by the Chalcidians of Cumæ on the site of Parthenope, the supposed burial-place of the Siren of that name. It was so called as being only a ‘new quarter’ of the neighbouring city of Cumæ. The modern city of Naples stands nearly on its site.

1322Said to have been founded by Hercules. It was on the occasion of its destruction by an eruption of Vesuvius,A.D.79, that our author unfortunately met his death, a martyr to his thirst for knowledge. Its closer proximity to Vesuvius caused it to be buried under a more solid body of materials ejected from the mountain than was the case with Pompeii; which seems to have been suffocated with ashes, while Herculaneum was covered with volcanic tufa most probably hardened by the agency of water. A few scattered inhabitants are supposed to have afterwards settled upon the site where it was buried, which for many centuries was utterly forgotten, till brought to light in 1738. Part of the site over the buried town is occupied by the villages of Resina and Portici. The works of art found here far exceed in value and interest those discovered at Pompeii.

1323This seems to have been a town of Oscan origin. The first traces of it were found in 1689, but excavations were not commenced till 1721. It perished in the same eruption of Vesuvius as Herculaneum.

1324Now the Sarno. Its course was changed by the great eruption of Vesuvius previously mentioned.

1325The modern Nocera stands on its site. Pompeii was used as its harbour.

1326Now Sorrento.

1327Now also called Capo della Minerva.

1328It probably had its name from Campania, of which it was the capital, and which was so called from its extensivecampior plains. The site of this luxurious and magnificent city is now occupied by the village of Santa Maria di Capoua, the modern city of Capua being on the site of ancient Casilinum. Of ancient Capua there are but few remains. It was made a Roman colony by Julius Cæsar.

1329Originally a city of the Volscians: Cicero had a villa there, and Juvenal and the emperor Pescennius Niger were natives of it. The present Aquino stands on its site, and there are considerable remains of it to be seen.

1330Or Suessa Aurunca, to distinguish it from the Volscian city of Suessa Pometia. The poet Lucilius was a native of it. The modern Sessa stands in its vicinity.

1331The modern Venafri stands near its site. It was famous for the excellence of its olives.

1332On the banks of the Suris, and the most northerly town of the Volsci. The modern Sora is in its vicinity, and the remains of its walls are still to be seen.

1333The modern Teano occupies its site. It was famous for the medicinal springs in its vicinity. There was another Teanum, in Apulia.

1334The town on its site still preserves the name. Bells were made here, whence in the later writers they are called “Nolæ.” There is also an ecclesiastical tradition that church bells were first used by Saint Paulinus, bishop of this place, whence they were called ‘Campanæ.’ The emperor Augustus died here.

1335The remains of the ancient town, of which the ruins are very extensive, are called Avella Vecchia. It was famous for its fruit, especially its filberts, to which it gives name in the French “Avelines.” It was first a Greek colony, and then a town of the Oscans.

1336A city of Latium, sixteen miles from Rome, and said to have been of Sicilian origin. The modern town of La Riccia occupies the site of its citadel. It was celebrated for the temple and grove of Diana, whose high priest was always a fugitive slave who had killed his predecessor, and was called “Rex nemorensis,” or “king of the grove.” See Ovid, Fasti, B. vi. l. 59; Art of Love, B. i. l. 260; and Lucan, B. vi. l. 74.

1337The ancient city was destroyed by Tullus Hostilius, king of Rome. The Roman colony here was probably but small. The Roman patrician families, the Julii, Servilii, Tullii, and Quintii, are said to have migrated from Alba Longa, which, according to tradition, had given to Rome her first king.

1338The people of Acerra, still called by the same name; it was plundered and burnt by Hannibal,B.C.216, but was rebuilt by order of the Roman senate.

1339The people of Allifæ, a former city of Samnium, on the borders of Campania. The modern city of Alife, a decayed place, stands on its site. There are considerable remains.

1340The people of Atina, an ancient city of the Volscians. The modern city of Atina, noted for the bleakness of its situation, stands on its site. There are extensive ruins of the ancient city.

1341The people of Aletrium or Alatrium, an ancient city of the Hernici. The modern Alatri stands on its site; there are but few ancient remains.

1342The people of Anagnia in Latium, still called Anagni. There are scarcely any remains of the ancient place, which was of considerable importance.

1343The people of Atella, an ancient city of Campania. Some remains of its ruins are to be seen two miles east of the town of Aversa, near the villages of San Arpino and San Elpidio.

1344The people of Affilæ, an ancient Hernican town. It is still called Affile, and has many ancient remains.

1345The people of Arpinum, once a famous city of the Volscians. The present Arpino occupies its site; there are few Roman remains, but its ancient walls, of Cyclopean construction, still exist. It was the birth-place of Marius and Cicero. The villa of the latter was on the banks of the adjoining river Fibrenus. It was, and is still, famous for its woollen manufactures.

1346The people of Auximum, a city of Picenum. Its site is occupied by the modern Osimo; there are numerous remains of antiquity to be seen.

1347Or perhaps “Abellini,” people of Abelliacum; which, if meant, ought not to be included in this division, being a city of the Hirpini. This city was finally destroyed in the wars of the Greeks and Lombards, and the modern Avellino rose on its site. There are considerable ruins in the vicinity. According to Hardouin, this place also claimed the honour of giving name to filberts, which grew abundantly in its vicinity. If such is the case, it seems probable that both it and Abella took their names from that fruit as called by the early inhabitants. See Note1335p. 198.

1348An ancient city of Latium. Its ruins are to be seen in the vicinity of the Via Appia. See a curious story connected with it in Ovid’s Fasti, B. iii. l. 667et seq.

1349There were two cities of this name on the confines of Samnium and Campania, one in the valley of the Volturnum, the modern Caiazzo, the other in Campania, between Capua and Beneventum, whose ruins are probably those to be seen at Le Galazzi, between Caserta and Maddaloni.

1350Once a considerable city of Latium. The modern city of San Germano has risen on its ruins, while the name of Monte Casino has been retained by the monastery founded near it by St. BernardA.D.529.

1351The present Calvi probably occupies its site.

1352It is not named in history. Its site was probably between Palestrina and Il Piglio.

1353The people of Cereatæ, a town of Latium. It is supposed that the ancient monastery of Casamari occupied its site.

1354The people of Cora, an ancient city of Latium. The present Cori stands on its site, and there are considerable remains of the ancient walls and other buildings.

1355The people of Castrimœnium, a colony of Sylla. It has been suggested that these were the same people whom Pliny speaks of at a subsequent place in this chapter as the Munienses, an extinct people of Latium. If so, the name was perhaps changed on the establishment here by Sylla of his colony. It probably stood near the modern city of Marino.

1356The people of Cingulum, a city of Picenum, the site of which is occupied by the modern Cingoli.

1357It is conjectured that Fabia was on the same site as the present village of Rocca di Papa.

1358The inhabitants of Forum Popilii in Campania; its site is unknown.

1359The people of Frusino, originally a Volscian city. The modern Frosinone occupies its site.

1360The people of Ferentinum, a city of the Hernici: the present city of Ferentino stands on its site. The ruins are very extensive.

1361Probably the people of Fregellæ, an ancient city of the Volscians. Its site is now unknown, but it was probably on the banks of the Liris, opposite to the modern Ceprano.

1362The people of Fabrateria or Frabateria, a Volscian city. A Roman colony was placed thereB.C.124, by C. Gracchus, and probably the old inhabitants for that reason styled themselves “Veteres.” The ruins at San Giovanni in Cerico, about three miles from Falvaterra, are supposed to be those of this place, or at least of the new town or colony. In such case Falvaterra may occupy the site of the original city.

1363The people of Ficulnea or Ficulia, a city of ancient Latium, on the Via Nomentana. It is supposed to have decayed soon after the reign of M. Aurelius. Its site was probably on the modern domain of Cesarini, though some separate the ancient Latin city from the Roman town, and fix the locality of the former on the hill called Monte Gentile, or that of the Torre Lupara.

1364These are omitted in most editions, but if a correct reading, the word must signify the “people of Fregellæ,” and the Freginates must be the people of Fregenæ in Etruria; although they do not appear properly to belong to this locality.

1365“The Market of Appius.” It was distant forty-three miles from Rome, and we learn from Horace, that it was the usual resting-place for travellers at the end of one day’s journey from Rome. It is also mentioned in the account of the journey of St. Paul (Acts xxviii. 15) as one of the usual resting-places on the Appian way. There are now no inhabitants on the spot, but considerable ruins still exist, as well as the forty-third milestone, which is still to be seen.

1366Probably the inhabitants of Ferentium or Ferentinum, now Ferento, five miles from Viterbo, a city of Etruria, of which very considerable remains exist.

1367The people of Gabii, formerly one of the most famous cities of Latium. On its site the ruins of a mediæval fortress now stand, known as Castiglione. Some remains of the walls still exist.

1368The people of Interamna Lirinas, a Roman colony on the banks of the Liris; and as there were several cities of the same name, it was generally distinguished by the epithet “Lirinas.” Pliny no doubt calls it “Succasina,” from its vicinity to Casinum. Its site, though uninhabited, is still called Terame, and there are numerous remains of antiquity.

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