Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 248

1348 An 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. 667 et seq.

1349 There 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.

1350 Once 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. Bernard A.D. 529.

1351 The present Calvi probably occupies its site.

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

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

1354 The 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.

1355 The 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.

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

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

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

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

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

1361 Probably 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.

1362 The people of Fabrateria or Frabateria, a Volscian city. A Roman colony was placed there B.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.

1363 The 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.

1364 These 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.

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

1367 The 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.

1368 The 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.

1369 Probably 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.

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

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

1372 The 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.

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

1374 The 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.

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

1376 The people of Suessula, now Castel di Sessola.

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

1378 Trebula 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.

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

1380 The 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.

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

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

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

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

1385 The 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.

1386 Solinus 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.

1387 It 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.

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

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

1390 The Lares Compitales presided over the divisions of the city, which were marked by the compita or 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.

1391 This 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.

1392 Supposing the circuit of the city to have been as he says, 13²⁄₅ miles, 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 4¹⁄₂ miles, the average length of each radius drawn from the mile-column 2¹⁄₄ miles, and the total amount 83¹⁄₄ miles, whereas he makes it but 20³⁄₄ miles, 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 to twelve gates only, but the text as it stands will not admit of such a construction.

1393 The Aventine, Cælian, and Quirinal hills.

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

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

1396 Suæssa 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.

1397 A town of Latium destroyed by Ancus Martius.

1398 An ancient city of Latium, conquered by Romulus; on which occasion he slew its king Acron and gained the spolia 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.

1399 Also 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.

1400 A 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.

1401 A 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.

1402 An 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.

1403 Both Virgil and Ovid allude to this tradition.

1404 Said 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.

1405 A 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.

1406 An 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.

1407 An 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.

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

1409 An 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 states after mentioned 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 the whole Latin confederacy. See this subject ably discussed in Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of Ancient Geography, under the article Latini.

1412 The 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.

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

1414 Bola 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.

1415 The 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.

1416 Pliny 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.

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

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

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

1420 This 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 year A.D. 79, and it was here that our author breathed his last.

1421 A 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.

1422 This 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 the Ludi Magni for the first time.

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

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

1425 A 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.

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

1427 By 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.

1428 This 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.

1430 A town of Lucania, colonized by the Sybarites about B.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.

1431 Now the Golfo di Salerno.

1432 A 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.

1433 Now 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. 381 et seq.

1434 Now the Golfo di Policastro.

1435 This 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.

1436 Now the Faraone.

1437 A 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.

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

1439 Ptolemy 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.

1440 The modern Bato.

1441 The 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 former municipal town of Clampetia stood,” it being supposed to have lost in its latter years its municipal privileges.

1443 One 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.

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

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

1446 The part which now constitutes the Farther Calabria.

1447 Supposed 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.

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

1449 The modern Marro.

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

1451 Probably the modern Melia stands on its site.

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

1453 Homer 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.

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

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

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

1457 it 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.

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

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

1460 He 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 lay to the west of their native Greece. Strabo says that it was founded by the Locri Ozolæ, and not the Opuntii, as most authors have stated.

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

1462 Called by some the Canal de Baleares.

1463 Or Southern Sea.

1464 The modern Iviza and Formentera.

1465 The Greek for which is πίτυς.

1466 Less than two leagues in width.

1467 The 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.

1468 Now Denia.

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

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

1471 The Xucar in Spain.

1472 We 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.

1473 Now Majorca and Minorca, with the ancient Pityussæ.

1474 They 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, from βάλλω, “to throw”; but Strabo assigns to the name a Phœnician origin, as being equivalent to the Greek γυμνῆται, “light-armed soldiers.” It is probably from their light equipment that the Greeks gave to the islands the name of Γυμνησίαι. Livy says that they used to go naked during the summer.