Chapter 246

1369Probably the people of Lavinium were thus called from their supposed Trojan descent. The town was said to have been founded by Æneas in honour of his wife Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus. In the times of the Antonines it was united with Laurentum; their ruins are to be seen at Casale di Copocotta.

1370The people of Norba, a town of Latium. It is now called Norma, and there are still some remains of the ancient walls.

1371Nomentum, now called La Mentana, was a Latin town, fourteen miles from Rome.

1372The people of Præneste, one of the most ancient towns of Latium. It was originally a Pelasgic city, but claimed a Greek origin, and was said to have been built by Telegonus, the son of Ulysses. During summer it was much frequented by the Romans for its delightful coolness. The remains of its ancient walls are still to be seen at Palestrina.

1373The people of Privernum, now Piperno, an ancient city of Latium.

1374The people of Setia, now Sesse or Sezza, an ancient town of Latium, to the east of the Pomptine marshes. It was famous for its wine.

1375The people of Signia, now Segni, a town of Latium founded by Tarquinius Priscus. There are still some remains of its walls.

1376The people of Suessula, now Castel di Sessola.

1377The people of Telesia, a town of Samnium seven leagues from Capua, now called Telese.

1378Trebula was distinguished probably by this surname from a town of that name in Samnium. There seem to have been two places of the name in the Sabine territory, but it is not known which is here meant. The ruins of one of them are supposed to be those not far from Maddaloni.

1379The people of Treba, now Trevi, a town of Latium.

1380The people of Tusculum, an ancient town of Latium, the ruins of which are to be seen on a hill about two miles distant from the modern Frascati. Cicero’s favourite residence was his Tusculan villa, and Cato the censor was a native of this place.

1381The people of Verulæ, a town of the Hernici, in Latium, now Veroli.

1382The people of Velitræ, an ancient town of the Volsci, now Velletri. It was the birth-place of the emperor Augustus.

1383The people of Ulubræ, a small town of Latium, near the Pomptine Marshes; its site is unknown.

1384The people of Urbinum; there were two places of that name in Umbria, now called Urbeno and Urbania.

1385The name probably by which the city was called in the mystical language of the priesthood. It has been said that this mysterious name of Rome was Valentia; if so, it appears to be only a translation of her name Græcized—Ῥώμη, “strength.” This subject will be found again mentioned in B. xxviii. c. 4.

1386Solinus says that he was put to death as a punishment for his rashness. M. Sichel has suggested that this mysterious name was no other than Angerona.

1387It is not known whether this mystical divinity was the goddess of anguish and fear, or of silence, or whether she was the guardian deity of Rome. Julius Modestus says that she relieved men and cattle when visited by the disease called “angina,” or “quinsy,” whence her name.

1388The Carmental, the Roman, and the Pandanian or Saturnian gates, according to Varro.

1389Titus was saluted Imperator after the siege of Jerusalem, and was associated with his father Vespasian in the government. They also acted together as Censors.

1390The Lares Compitales presided over the divisions of the city, which were marked by thecompitaor points where two or more streets crossed each other, and where ‘ædiculæ’ or small chapels were erected in their honour. Statues of these little divinities were erected at the corner of every street. It was probably this custom which first suggested the idea of setting up images of the Virgin and Saints at the corners of the streets, which are still to be seen in many Roman Catholic countries at the present day.

1391This was a gilded column erected by Augustus in the Forum, and called “milliarium aureum;” on it were inscribed the distances of the principal points to which the “viæ” or high-roads conducted.

1392Supposing the circuit of the city to have been as he says, 132⁄5miles, he must either make a great miscalculation here, or the text must be very corrupt. The average diameter of the city would be in such case about 41⁄2miles, the average length of each radius drawn from the mile-column 21⁄4miles, and the total amount 831⁄4miles, whereas he makes it but 203⁄4miles, or little better than an average of half-a-mile for each radius. We may also remark that the camp of the Prætorian cohorts here mentioned was established by the emperor Tiberius, by the advice of Sejanus. Ajasson’s translation makes the measurement to be made totwelvegates only, but the text as it stands will not admit of such a construction.

1393The Aventine, Cælian, and Quirinal hills.

1394Such as Ocriculum, Tibur, Aricia, &c.

1395Near Antium. Casale di Conca stands on its site.

1396Suæssa Pometia. It was destroyed by the consul Servilius, and its site was said, with that of twenty-two other towns, to have been covered by the Pomptine Marsh, to which it gave its name.

1397A town of Latium destroyed by Ancus Martius.

1398An ancient city of Latium, conquered by Romulus; on which occasion he slew its king Acron and gained thespolia opima. Nibby suggests that it stood on the Magugliano, two miles south-east of Monte Gentile. Holstein says that it stood where the present Sant’ Angelo or Monticelli stands.

1399Also destroyed by Ancus Martius. A farm called Dragonello, eleven miles from Rome, is supposed to have stood upon its site. Tellene was also destroyed by the same king. Tifata was a town of Campania.

1400A city of Latium, which was conquered by Tarquinius Priscus. It has been suggested that its ruins are visible about a mile to the north of Monte Sant’ Angelo.

1401A Sabine town, the people of which were incorporated by Tarquinius Priscus with the Roman citizens. It is supposed to have stood on the present Monte Sant’ Angelo.

1402An ancient city of Latium, subdued by Tarquinius Priscus, on which occasion Ocrisia, the mother of Servius Tullius, fell into the hands of the Romans as a captive. It was probably situate on one of the isolated hills that rise from the plain of the Campagna.

1403Both Virgil and Ovid allude to this tradition.

1404Said to have been so called from being “opposite” to the ancient city of Saturnia. The Janiculus or Janiculum was a fortress on the opposite bank of the Tiber, and a suburb of Rome, connected with it by the Sublician bridge.

1405A very ancient city situate three miles from Rome, and said to have been so called from its position on the Tiber,ante amnem. In the time of Strabo it had become a mere village. It stood at the confluence of the Anio and the Tiber.

1406An ancient city of Latium reduced by Tarquinius Priscus. It has been suggested that the town of Palombara, near the foot of Monte Gennaro, stands on its site.

1407An ancient city of Latium. It probably gradually fell into decay. Lucius Tarquinius, the husband of Lucretia, is represented as dwelling here during the siege of Ardea. Its site is thought by some to have been at Castellaccio or Castel dell’ Osa, and by others at Lunghezza, which is perhaps the most probable conjecture.

1408An ancient city of the Sabines. Its ruins are visible at San Vittorino, a village near Aquila.

1409An ancient town of the Volsci, five leagues from Velletri. Sermonata now stands on its site. It must not be confounded with the town of the Peligni, the birth-place of Ovid.

1410“Populi Albenses.” It does not appear to be exactly known what is the force of this expression, but he probably means either colonies from Alba, or else nations who joined in the confederacy of which Alba was the principal. Niebuhr looks upon them as mere demi or boroughs of the territory of Alba.

1411“Accipere carnem.” Literally, “to take the flesh.” It appears that certain nations, of which Alba was the chief, were in early times accustomed to meet on the Alban Mount for the purposes of sacrifice. The subject is full of obscurity, but it has been suggested that this minor confederacy co-existed with a larger one including all the Latin cities, and there can be little doubt that the common sacrifice was typical of a bond of union among the states that partook therein. It does not necessarily appear from the context that more than the thirty-one statesaftermentioned took part therein, though the text may be so construed as to imply that the Latin nations previously mentioned also shared in the sacrifice; if so, it would seem to imply that Alba was the chief city of thewholeLatin confederacy. See this subject ably discussed in Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of Ancient Geography, under the articleLatini.

1412The people of Æsulæ. Of this Latin city nothing is known. The territory is mentioned by Horace, and Gell places its site on the Monte Affiliano.

1413The people of Bubentum. Nothing is known of this Latin city or of the preceding ones.

1414Bola was an ancient city of Latium, taken successively by Coriolanus and M. Postumius. Its site is supposed to have been five miles from the modern Palestrina, at the modern village of Lugnano.

1415The people of Corioli. It was probably a Latian town, but fell into the possession of the Volsci, from whom it was taken by Cn. Marcius, who thence obtained the name of “Coriolanus.” Monte Giove, nineteen miles from Rome, has been suggested as its site.

1416Pliny is supposed to be in error in representing Fidenæ, the early antagonist of Rome, as being extinct in his time, and he will be found in the sequel reckoning it in the Fourth Region. This ancient Latian town never lost its municipal rank, though it had no doubt in his time become a mere country town. The present Castel Giubilco is supposed to be situate on its site.

1417The people of Horta, a town of Etruria, now Horte. Many Etruscan remains have been discovered there.

1418The people of Longula, a Volscian town. Buon Riposo now occupies its site.

1419The people of Pedum; nothing is known of it. The rest of these nations are either almost or entirely unknown.

1420This was an ancient town between Pompeii and Surrentum. After its overthrow, as mentioned by Pliny, it was in some measure rebuilt, possibly after this passage was penned. It was finally destroyed by the great eruption of Vesuvius in the yearA.D.79, and it was here that our author breathed his last.

1421A town three miles west of Capua. It was of much importance as a military position, and played a considerable part in the second Punic war. The period of its final destruction is unknown; but modern Capua is built on its site.

1422This city took the lead in the war of the Latin cities against Tarquinius Priscus. Gell and Nibby think that it was situate about eleven miles from Rome, a mile to the south of the Appian way, where there are some remains that indicate the site of an ancient city, near the stream called the Fosso delle Fratocche. Livy tells us that with the spoils thence derived, Tarquinius celebrated theLudi Magnifor the first time.

1423Opposite Capreæ, and situate on the Promontory of Minerva. Sorrento now stands on its site.

1424The modern Silaro; it was the boundary between Lucania and Campania, and rises in the Apennines.

1425A town in the south of Campania, at the head of the Gulf of Pæstum. In consequence of the aid which they gave to Hannibal, the inhabitants were forced to abandon their town and live in the adjoining villages. The name of Picentini was given, as here stated, to the inhabitants of all the territory between the Promontory of Minerva and the river Silarus. They were a portion of the Sabine Picentes, who were transplanted thither after the conquest of Picenum,B.C.268. The modern Vicenza stands on its site.

1426The Argonaut. Probably this was only a vague tradition.

1427By using the genitive ‘Salerni,’ he would seem to imply that the Roman colony of Salernum then gave name to the district of which Picentia was the chief town. Ajasson however has translated it merely “Salernum and Picentia.” ‘Intus’ can hardly mean “inland,” as Picentia was near the coast, and so was Salernum.

1428This was an ancient town of Campania, at the innermost corner of the Gulf of Pæstum, situate near the coast, on a height at the foot of which lay its harbour. It attained great prosperity, as Salerno, in the middle ages, and was noted for its School of Health established there; which issued periodically rules for the preservation of health in Latin Leonine verse.

1429“Græciæ maxime populi.” This may also be rendered “a people who mostly emigrated from Greece,” in reference to the Siculi or Sicilians, but the other is probably the correct translation.

1430A town of Lucania, colonized by the Sybarites aboutB.C.524. In the time of Augustus it seems to have been principally famous for the exquisite beauty of its roses. Its ruins are extremely magnificent.

1431Now the Golfo di Salerno.

1432A Greek town founded by the Phocæans. It was the birth-place of the philosophers Parmenides and Zeno, who founded a school of philosophy known as the Eleatic. Castell’ a Mare della Brucca stands on its site.

1433Now Capo di Palinuro; said to have received its name from Palinurus, the pilot of Æneas, who fell into the sea there and was murdered by the natives. See Virgil, Æneid, B. vi. l. 381et seq.

1434Now the Golfo di Policastro.

1435This tower or column was erected in the vicinity of Rhegium on the Straits of Sicily. It was 100 stadia, or about eight miles, from the town, and at it passengers usually embarked for Sicily. The spot is now called Torre di Carallo.

1436Now the Faraone.

1437A Greek colony. The present Policastro occupies very nearly its site. It seems to have received its name from the cultivation of box trees in its vicinity.

1438Or more properly Laos, originally a Greek colony. In the vicinity is the modern town of Laino, and the river is called the Lao.

1439Ptolemy mentions it as an inland town, and Livy speaks of it as a Lucanian city. It probably stood near the modern Maratea, twelve miles south-east of Policastro.

1440The modern Bato.

1441The bay of Bivona, formerly Vibo, the Italian name for the Greek city of Hippo or Hippona. On its site stands the modern Bivona.

1442“Locus Clampetiæ.” Clampetia or Lampetia stood in the vicinity of the modern Amantia. From other authors we find that it was still existing at this time. If such is the fact, the meaning will be “the place where the formermunicipal townof Clampetia stood,” it being supposed to have lost in its latter years its municipal privileges.

1443One of the ancient Ausonian towns, and afterwards colonized by the Ætolians. Like its namesake in Cyprus it was famous for its copper. Its site is now occupied by Torre di Lupi.

1444A Greek city, almost totally destroyed by Hannibal; Santa Eufemia occupies its site.

1445One of the cities of the Bruttii; now Cosenza.

1446The part which now constitutes the Farther Calabria.

1447Supposed to be the same as the Arconte, which falls into the Crathis near Consentia. Nothing is known of the town here alluded to, but it must not be confounded with Acherontia, the modern Acerenza, in Apulia, which was a different place.

1448Supposed to have been the same as the modern port of Tropea.

1449The modern Marro.

1450Its ruins are supposed to be those seen near Palmi.

1451Probably the modern Melia stands on its site.

1452A town on the promontory of the same name, now called Scilla or Sciglio, where the monster Scylla was fabled to have dwelt.

1453Homer says (Odyssey, xii. 124), that it had its name from the nymph Cratæis, the mother of Scylla. It is probably the small stream now called Fiume di Solano or dei Pesci.

1454The modern Capo di Cavallo, according to the older commentators; but more recent geographers think that the Punta del Pezzo was the point so called.

1455Now called Capo di Faro, from the lighthouse there erected.

1456Originally a Greek colony; a Roman colony was settled there by Augustus. The modern city of Reggio occupies its site.

1457it extended south of Consentia to the Sicilian Straits, a distance of 700 stadia. It produced the pitch for which Bruttium was so celebrated. Its site still has the name of Sila.

1458Or White Rock, now Capo dell’ Armi. It forms the extremity of the Apennine Chain.

1459The site of the city of Locri is supposed to have been that of the present Motta di Burzano.

1460He says that they were called Epizephyrii, from the promontory of Zephyrium, now the Capo di Burzano; but according to others, they had this name only because their colony layto the westof their native Greece. Strabo says that it was founded by the Locri Ozolæ, and not the Opuntii, as most authors have stated.

1461This expression is explained by a reference to the end of the First Chapter of the present Book.

1462Called by some the Canal de Baleares.

1463Or Southern Sea.

1464The modern Iviza and Formentera.

1465The Greek for which isπίτυς.

1466Less than two leagues in width.

1467The real distance is 34 miles from the northern point of Iviza, called Punta de Serra, to the southern point of Formentera, namely—across Iviza 22 miles, across the sea 5, and across Formentera 7.

1468Now Denia.

1469This is not correct: the distance is but 45 miles.

1470This is incorrect: taken at the very greatest, the distance is only 522 stadia, eight to the mile.

1471The Xucar in Spain.

1472We more generally find it stated that the isle of Formentera, one of the Pityussæ, was called Colubraria. He probably refers to the islands of the group about twenty leagues from the coast of Spain, now known by the name of Columbrete; but they are not near the Xucar, from which, as well as from the Pityussæ, they are distant about seventy miles. The latter islands are now generally considered as part of the group of the Baleares.

1473Now Majorca and Minorca, with the ancient Pityussæ.

1474They served as mercenaries, first under the Carthaginians and afterwards under the Romans. The ancient writers generally derive the name of the people from their skill as archers—βαλεαρεῖς, fromβάλλω, “to throw”; but Strabo assigns to the name a Phœnician origin, as being equivalent to the Greekγυμνῆται, “light-armed soldiers.” It is probably from their light equipment that the Greeks gave to the islands the name ofΓυμνησίαι. Livy says that they used to go naked during the summer.

1475Seventy miles is the real length of Majorca, and the circumference is barely 250 miles.

1476Still called Palma. This and Pollentia were Roman colonies settled by Metellus.

1477Now Pollenza.

1478Now Sineu on the Borga.

1479The circumference is about 110 miles, the length 32.

1480Now Ciudadela.

1481Now Port Mahon. The site of Sanisera, which was probably more inland, is unknown.

1482Now Cabrera. The distance is not twelve, but nine miles.

1483Now called the Malgrates.

1484Now Dragonera.

1485Now El Torre.

1486As already mentioned he seems to confound Formentera, which was called Ophiusa, with the present group of Columbrete, which islands were probably called Colubraria.

1487The former editions mostly omit “nec”; and so make it that Ebususdoesproduce the rabbits. Certainly, it does seem more likely that he would mention that fact than the absence of it, which even to Pliny could not appear very remarkable.

1488D’Anville thinks that this is Metapina, but D’Astruc thinks that the flat islands, called Les Tignes, are meant.

1489Now called Brescon, near Agde, according to D’Anville.

1490Who were of Greek origin, and so called them, because they stood in a row,στοῖχος.

1491Now called Porqueroles. Prote signifies the first, Mese the middle one, and Hypæa the one below the others.

1492Now Port Croz. D’Anville considers that Pliny is mistaken in identifying this island with Pomponiana or Pompeiana, which he considers to be the same with the peninsula now called Calle de Giens, which lies opposite to Porqueroles.

1493Now called the Ile du Levant or du Titan. The group is called the Islands of Hières or Calypso.

1494These are probably the little islands now known as Ratoneau, Pomègue, and If. It has however been suggested that these names belong to the islands of Hières already mentioned in the text, and that Sturium is the present Porquerolles, Phœnice Port-Croz, and Phila, Levant or Titan.

1495Now Antibes, or Antiboul in the Provençal idiom.

1496Now Saint Honorat de Lérins. The island of Lero is the present Sainte Marguerite de Lérins, and is nearer to Antibes than Lerina. The Lerinian monastery was much resorted to in the early ages of Christianity.

1497In ancient Etruria, now Torre di Vada. The distance is, in reality, about ninety miles.

1498Mariana was situate in the northern part of the island, and the ruins of Aleria are still to be seen on the banks of the river Tavignano, near the coast.

1499Probably near the present Monte Cristo.

1500He probably means thegroupof islands called Formicole, which are situate only thirty-three miles from Corsica, and not near sixty.

1501Now La Gorgona.

1502Both of these names meaning “Goat island.” It is now called Capraia.

1503The modern Giglio.

1504Now Gianuto, opposite Monte Argentaro on the main-land.

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