Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/136

 120 LANGOBAEDI. afterwards they shook off the yoke, and, in conjunc- tion with the Semnones, joined the confederacy of the Cheruscans against the Marcomanni. (Tac. Ann. ii. 45.) When, in consequence of the murder of Armi- nius, the power of the Cheruscans was decaying more and more, the Langobardi not only supported and restored Italus, the king of the Cheruscans who had been expelled, but seem to have extended their own territory in the south, so as to occupy the country between Ilalle, Magdeburg, and Leipzig. (Tac.^«?i. xi. 17.) They were not a numerous tribe, but their want of numbers was made up for by their natural bravery (Tac. Germ. 40), and Yellelus describes them as a " gens etiam Germana feritate ferocior." Shortly after these events the Langobardi disappear from history, until they are mentioned again by Ptolemy (I. c), who places them in the extensive territory between the Ehine and Weser, and even beyond the latter river almost as far as the Elbe. They thus occupied the country which had formerly been inhabited by the tribes forming the Cherascan confederacy. Tliis great extension of their territory shows that their power must have been increasing ever since then- liberation from the yoke of Maro- boduus. After this time we again hear nothing of the Longobardi for a considerable period. They are indeed mentioned, in an excerpt from the history of Petrus Patricius {Exc. de Legat. p. 124), as allies of the Obii on the frontiers of Pannonia ; but other- wise history is silent about thi^m, until, in the second half of the 5th century, they appear on the north of the Danube in Upper Hungary as tributary to the Heruli (Procop. de Bell Goth. ii. 15, who describes them as Christians). Whether these Langobardi, however, were the same people whom we last met with between the Rhine and the Elbe, or whether they were only a band of emigrants who had in the course of time become so numerous as to form a distinct tribe, is a question which cannot be answered with certainty, although the latter seems to be the more probable supposition. Their natural love of freedom could not be.ar to submit to the rule of the Heruli, and after having defeated the king of the latter in a great battle, they subdued the neighbouring Quadi, likewise a Suevian tribe, and henceforth they were for a long time the terror of their neighbours and tlie Roman province of Pannonia. (Paul. Diac. i. '22.) For, being the most powerful nation in those parts, they extended their dominion down the Danube, and occupied the extensive plains in tlie north of Dacia on the river Theiss, where they first came in conflict with the Gepidae, and entered Pannonia. (Paul. Diac. i. 20.) The emperor Justinian, wanting their support against the Gepidae, gave them lands and supplied them with money (Procop. Bell. Goth. iii. 33), and under th.eir king Audoin they gained a great victory over the Gepidae. (Paul. Diac. i. 25; Procop. Beil. Goth. iii. 34, iv. 18, 25.) Alboin, Audoin's successor, after having, in conjunction with the Avari, completely overthrown the empire of the Gepidae, led the Langobardi, in a. d. 568, into Italy, where they permanently established themselves, and founded the kingdom from which down to this day the north-east of Italy bears the name of Lombardg. (^Exc. de Legat. pp. 303, 304; Marius Episc. Chron. Rone. ii. 412.) The occasion of their invading Italy is related as follows. When Alboin had concluded his alliance with the Avari, and had ceded to them his own dominions, Narses, to take revenge upon Justin, invited them to quit their poor country and take possession of the fertile plains of Italy. Alboin LANUVIUM. accordingly crossed the Alps, and as the north of Italy was badly defended, he succeeded in a short time in establishing his kingdom, which continued to flourish until it was overpowered and destroyed by Charlemagne. (Paul. Diac. ii. 5; Eginhard, Vit. Carol. M. 6.) Tiie history of this singular people whose name still survives, has been written in Latin by Panlus Diaconus (Warnefried), in the reign of Charlemagne, and by another Lombard of the 9th century, whose name is unknown. (Com[i. Wilhelm, Germanien, p. 281, foil.; Zeuss, die Deutschen und die Nachbarstamyne, p. 109, foil.; F. DuflFt, Qimes- tioties de Antiquissima Longobardomm IIi.9toria, Berlin, 1830, 8vo. ; Koch-Sternf'eld, das Reich der Longobarden in Italien, MuniL-h, 1839; Latham, Tac. Germ. p. 139, and Epileg. p. Ixxxiv.) [L.S.] LANGOBRI'GA. [Lusitania.J LANU'VIUM (^havovCov, Strab. ; Aavoviiov, Ptol. : Eth. Aavovios, LanuYinns: Civiia Lavinia), an ancient and important city of Latium, situated on a lofty hill forming a projecting spur or promontory of the Alban Hills towards the S. It was distant about 20 miles from Rome, on the right of the Appian Way, rather more than a mile from the road. The name is often written in inscriptions, even of a good time, Lanivium ; hence the confusion which has arisen in all our JISS. of ancient authors between it and Lai'inium: the two names are so frequently interchanged as to leave constant doubt which of the two is really meant, and in the middle ages they appear to have been actually regarded as the same place; whence the name of " Civitas Lavinia" by which Lanuvium is still known, and which can be traced as far back as the fourteenth century. The foundation of Lanuvium was ascribed by a tra- dition recorded by Appian (5. C. ii. 20) to Diomed; a legend probably arising from some fancied con- nection with the worship of Juno at Argos. A tra- dition that has a more historical aspect, though perhaps little more historical worth, represented it as one of the colonies of Alba. (Diod. vii. ap. Euseb. Arm. p. 185.) The statement of Cato {ap. Priscian. iv. 4. § 21) that it was one of the cities which co-operated in the consecration of the cele- brated temple of Diana at Aricia, is the first fact concerning it that can be looked upon as liistorical, and shows that Lanuvium was already a city of consideration and power. Its name appears also in the list given by Dionysius of the cities that formed the league against Rome in b. c. 496, and there is no doubt that it was in fact one of the thirty cities of the Latin League. (Dionys. v. 61 ; Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 17.) But from this time we hear little of it, except that it was the fiiithful ally of Rome during her long wars with the Volscians and Aequians (Liv. vi. 21): the position of Lanuvium would indeed cause it to be one of the cities most immediately interested in opposing the progress of the Volscians, and render it as it were the natural rival of Antium. We have no explanation of the causes which, in B.C. 383, led the Lanuvians sud- denly to change their policy, and take up arms, to- gether with some other Latin cities, in favour of the Volscians (Liv. vi. 21). They must have shared in the defeat of their allies near Satricum; but ap- parently were admitted to submission on favourable terms, and we hear no more of them till the great Latin War in b. c. 340, in which they took an active and important part. At first, indeed, they seem to have hesitated and delayed to take the field ; but in the two last campaigns their forces are