Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 247

1225 Now the Vaccina.

1226 The remains of this once powerful city are marked by the village of Cervetri or Old Cære. According to Strabo it received its name from the Greek word χαῖρε “hail!” with which the inhabitants saluted the Tyrrhenian or Lydian invaders. It was to this place that the Romans sent their most precious sacred relics when their city was taken by the Gauls. Its most interesting remains are the sepulchres, of which an account is given in Dennis’s Etruria.

1227 Its remains are to be seen in the vicinity of the modern village of Palo.

1228 Its site is supposed to have been at the spot now called the Torre di Maccarese, midway between Palo and Porto, and at the mouth of the river Arone. Its situation was marshy and unhealthy.

1229 This exceeds the real distance, which is about 230 miles.

1230 The site of the Etruscan Falerii or Falisci is probably occupied by the present Civita Castellana; while that of the Roman city of the same name, at a distance of four miles, is marked by a single house and the ruins of a church, called Santa Maria di Falleri. The ancient city was captured by the Romans under Camillus.

1231 In his book of “Origines,” which is now lost.

1232 “The Grove of Feronia.” The town was so called from the grove of that Sabine goddess there situate. In the early times of Rome there was a great resort to this spot not only for religious purposes, but for those of trade as well. Its traces are still to be seen at the village of Saint Orestes, near the south-east extremity of the hill there, which is still called Felonica. This is in southern Etruria, but Ptolemy mentions another place of the same name in the north-west extremity of Etruria, between the Arnus and the Macra.

1233 The people of the spot now called Siena, in Tuscany.

1234 Now Sutri, on the river Pozollo.

1235 The people of Arretium, one of the most powerful cities of Etruria. The three tribes or peoples here mentioned probably did not occupy distinct towns, but constituted separate communities or municipal bodies, being distinct colonies or bodies of settlers. The Julienses were the colonists settled there by Augustus. The Fidentes had probably settled at an earlier period. The modern Arezzo has risen on the remains of the Roman city, while the remains of the Etruscan city are pointed out on an elevated spot called Poggio di San Cornellio, two or three miles south-east of Arezzo. Many valuable relics of antiquity have been discovered here. The family of Mæcenas sprang from this place.

1236 The people of Aquæ Tauri, a watering-place of Etruria, situate about three miles north of the present Civita Vecchia, and now called Bagni di Ferrata. The baths are described by Rutilius in his Itinerary, who calls them Tauri Thermæ (the Bull’s Baths), and ascribes their name to the fact of their having been accidentally discovered by a bull.

1237 The people of Blera, on the site of the modern village of Bieda, about twelve miles south of Viterbo. Numerous remains of Etruscan antiquity have been found here.—See Dennis’s Etruria, vol. i. pp. 260-272.

1238 The people of Cortona, a powerful city of Etruria, which is still known by the same name. It was probably in the number of the cities of Etruria that were ravaged by Sylla, and then recolonized by him. Numerous remains of Etruscan antiquity have been discovered there.

1239 The people of Capena, an ancient and important city of Etruria, which, after long opposing the inroads of the Romans, was reduced to submission shortly after the fall of Veii, B.C. 393. It existed and held municipal rank till the time of the Emperor Aurelian, after which all traces of its name or existence were lost, till 1750, when Galetti fixed its site with great accuracy at Civitucola or San Martino, about 24 miles from Rome. It was situate on the banks of a small river now called the Grammiccia, and in its territory was the celebrated ‘Lucus Feroniæ’ previously mentioned.

1240 The new and old colonists of the city of Clusium, who probably enjoyed distinct municipal rights. The modern Chiusi stands on its site.

1241 The modern Fiorenze or Florence occupies the site of their city.

1242 The village of Fiesole stands on its site. Extensive remains of the ancient city are still to be found.

1243 The 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.

1244 An 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.

1245 Or 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.

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

1247 Now Nepi, near the river Pozzolo.

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

1249 Its 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.

1250 The modern Pistoia stands on its site.

1251 Now Perugia.

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

1253 Probably situate in the modern duchy of Castro.

1254 The 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.

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

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

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

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

1259 The 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.

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

1261 The 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.

1262 Called 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.

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

1264 The 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.

1265 Livy, 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.

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

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

1268 A 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.

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

1270 The 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.

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

1272 As 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.

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

1274 A 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.

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

1276 Founded 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.

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

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

1279 Now the river Numico.

1280 The 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.

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

1282 Its 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.

1283 This 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.

1284 The 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.

1286 To 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.

1287 This 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.

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

1289 Now called Il Portatore.

1290 It 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.

1291 The 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.

1292 This 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.

1293 Now Lago di Fondi.

1294 Now 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.

1295 On 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.

1296 Homer 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 Greek ὅρμος), as being a good roadstead for shipping.

1297 Its 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.

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

1299 Its 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.”

1301 Now Sezza.

1302 A 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

1309 The modern Saove.

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

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

1312 Strabo 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.

1313 Now 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.

1314 Famous 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.

1315 The 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.

1316 Probably 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.

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

1318 Now 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.

1319 Now 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, from φλέγω, “to burn.”

1320 Now 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.

1321 Neapolis, 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.

1322 Said 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.

1323 This 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.

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

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

1326 Now Sorrento.

1327 Now also called Capo della Minerva.

1328 It probably had its name from Campania, of which it was the capital, and which was so called from its extensive campi or 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.

1329 Originally 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.

1330 Or 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.

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

1332 On 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.

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

1334 The 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.

1335 The 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.

1336 A 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.

1337 The 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.

1338 The 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.

1339 The 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.

1340 The 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.

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

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

1343 The 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.

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

1345 The 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.

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

1347 Or 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 Note 1335 p. 198.