Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1307

 VESTINI. rates. (Liv. Epit. Isxv, Isxvi; Appian, B. C. i. 52; Oros. V. 18.) There is no doubt that they at this time received the Roman franchise, and henceforth be- came merged in the ordinary condition of Roman citi- zens. Hence we hear nothing more of them in history, though it is evident that they retained their existence as a separate tribe, which is recognised by all the geographers, as well as by inscriptions. (Strab. v. p. 241 ; Plin. iii. 12. s. 17; Ptol. iii. 1. § 59; Orell. Iiiscr. 4036.) From the last source we learn that they were enrolled in the Quirinian tribe. Their territory was included in the Fourth Region of Au- gustus (Plin. I. c), but in the later division of Italy it was separated into two, the maritime district being united with Pieenum, while the inland portion or valley of the Aternus was included (together with the Sabines and Peligni) in the province of Valeria. {Lib. Colon, pp. 227, 228; Bingham's Eccles. An- tiq. ix. ch. 5, sect. 3.) We learn from Juvenal that they continued to retain their primitive simplicity and rustic habits of lite even under the Roman Em- pire. (Juv. siv. 181.) Silius Italicus speaks of them as a race, hardy and warlike, and habituated to the chase: their rugged mountains were doubt- less still the refuge of many wild animals. (Sil. Ital. viii. 513.) The more inland parts of their ter- ritory abounded in excellent upland pastures, which produced a kind of cheese that was higlily esteemed at Rome. (Plin. xi. 42. s. 97; Martial, xiii. 31.) The most important physical feature of the terri- tory of the Vestini is the Monle Corno or Gran Sasso cV Italia, which, as already observed, is the highest summit of the Apennines. This was identi- fied by Cluver, who has been followed by most later writers, with the Cunarus Mons of Servius {ad A en. x. 185). But Silius Italicus (viii. 517) places the Mons Fiscellus, a name much better known, among the Vestini ; and though this is op- posed to the statement of Pliny that that mountain contains the sources of the Nar, there seems much reason to believe that Pliny has here confounded the Narwithitstributary the Velinus [Nam], which really rises in a group closely connected with the Gran Sasso, and that it was therefore that remarkable mountain range which was known to the ancients as the Mons Fiscellus. The following towns are noticed by ancient writers as belonging to the Vestini. Pinna, now called Civita di Penne, appears to have beepi the chief of those which were situated on the eastern slope of the mountains. Lower down, and only a few miles from the sea, was Angulus, now Civita S. Angelo. Aternum, at the mouth of the river of the same name, now Pescara, was the seaport of the Vestini, and, being the only one along this line of coast fur pome distance, served also as that of the Marrucini. In the valley of the Aternus were: Peltuinum {.-insedonia), about 14 miles S. oi Aquila; Aa'EIA, the remains of which are still visible at Fossa, about C miles S. of Aquila; and Pitinum, still called To7Te di Pitino, about 2 miles E. of the same city, which must have immediately adjoined the territory of Amilernum. Fukconhim, the ruins of which are still visible at Civita di Bar/no, a little to the S. of Aquila, though an important place in the early part of the middle ages, is not mentioned by any writer before Paulus Diaconus {Hist. Lang. ii. 20), and was certainly not a municipal town in the time of the Romans. Pkifkunu.'m (mentioned only in the Tab. Pent.) is of very un- certain site, but i.s supposed to have been near As- VESUXXA. 1283 sergio. Aquila, the present capital of this district, is a wholly modern city, having been founded by the emperor Frederic II. in the 13th century, when its population was gathered together from the surround- ing towns of Amiternum, Aveia, Furconium, &c. , the complete desolation of which apparently dates from this period. Aufina, which accordmg to Pliny (iii. 12. s. 17) was in his time united for municipal purposes with Peltuinum, still retains the name of 0/enu. Cutina and Cingilia, two towns of the ^'estini mentioned by Livy (viii. 29), are wholly unknown, and the sites assigned to them by Romanelli, at Civita A qiiana and Civita Retenga respectively, are merely conjectural. The topography of the Vestini is specially illus- trated in the work of Giovenazzi {Delia Ciltii d' Aveja nei ]'estini, 4to. Roma, 1773), as well as by Romanelli (vol. iii. pp. 241—284). [E. H. B.] VESUBIA'NI, a people mentioned in the inscrip- tion of the arch of Susa. The resemblance of name has led geographers to place the Vesubiani in a valley through which runs a torrent called Vesubia, which falls into the Va7 The Esubiani, who are mentioned in the inscription of the Trophy of the Alps (Pliny, iii. 2(i) seem to be the same as the Vesubiani, for the only difference is a V. But D'Anville places the Esubiani on the Ubaye and the Uhayette, which two streams unite above Barce- lonefte in the department of Basses -Alpes. [G. L.] VESULUS JIOXS {Mont£ Viso), one of the most lofty summits of the Alps, which, from its prominent position near the plains of Italy, and its great su- periority in height over any of the neighbouring peaks, is one of the m.ost conspicuous mountains of the whole Alpine range as viewed from the Italian side. Hence it is one of the very few individual summits of the Alps of which the ancient name can be identified with certainty. It is mentioned by both Pliny and Mela as containing the sources of the Padus; and the former adds that it was the highest summit of the Alps, which is a mistake, but not an unnatural one, considering its really great elevation (12,580 feet) and its comparatively isolated posi- tion. (Plin. iii. 16. s. 20; Mela, ii. 4. §4.) Virgil also mentions the forests of " the pine-clad Vesu- lus " as atfording shelter to numerous wild boars of the largest size. (Virg. Aen. x. 70S ; Serv. ad he.) [E. H. B.] VESUXNA (OyeVouco), according to Ptolemy (ii. 7. § 12) tiie capital of the Petrocorii, a people of Aquitania. In inscriptions the name is written Vesunna. The place occurs in the Itins., and its position is Perigmux, in the old province of Pirigord, which name as well as Pcrigueux is a memorial of the name of the people, Petrocorii. But it is said that the remains of the old town are still called La Vi'sone. Periguetvx is on the I lie, a branch of the Bordogne, and it is tiie capital of the department of Dordogne. There is no Roman city in France of which we know so little that contains so many remains a,s Perigueiix. Foundations of ancient buildings, mo- saics, statues, and ruins of edifices show its fm-nier magnitude. The tour de Vesone, a round building constructed of small stones and of rough materials, is supposed to have been the cella of a temple, or a tomb, as some conjecture. It is about 200 feet in circumference. There were seven bridges at Vesunna, four of which have been repaiied or re- built. There are some remains of :in amj)hitheatre of large dimensions. Several aqueducts supplied the 4 N 2