Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/149

 LATIUJI. comprised Fidenae, Crustumcriuni, and Nomentnm, all of which are clearly established as Latin towns, wliile Ert'tum, only 3 miles from Nomentum, is equally well made out to be of Sabine origin. This line of demarcation is confirmed by Strabo, who speaks of the Sabines as extending from the Tiber and Nomentum to the Vestini. (Strab. v. p. 228.) From Nomentum to Tibur the frontier cannot be traced with accuracy, from our uncertainty as to the position of several of the towns in this part of Latium — Corniculum, Jledullia, Cameria, and Ame- riola ; but we may feel assured that it comprised the outlying group of the Montes Corniculani (J/te. S. Angela and Monticelli'), and from thence stretched across to the foot of Monte Gennaro (Mons Lucre- tilis), around the lower slopes of which are the ruins or sites of more than one ancient city. Probably the whole of this face of the mountains, fronting the plain of the Campagna, was always regarded as be- longing to Latium, though the inner valleys and re- verse of the same range were inhabited by the Sabines. Tibur itself was unquestionably Latin, though how far its territory extended into the interior of the moun- tains is difficult to determine. But if Empulum and Sassula (two of its dependent towns) be correctly placed at Ampiglione and near Sicillano, it must have comprised a considerable tract of the mountain country on the left bank of the Anio. Varia, on the other hand, and the valley of the Digentia, were un- questionably Sabine. 3. Returning to the Anio at Tibur, the whole of the W. front of the range of the Apennines from thence to Praeneste {Palestrina) ■was certainly Latin ; but the limits which separated the Latins from the Aequians are very difficult to determine. Wo know that Bola, Pedum, Tolerium, and Vitellia, all of which were situated in this neigh- bourhood, were Latin cities ; though, from their prox- imity to the frontier, several of them fell at one time or other into the hands of the Aequians ; in like manner we cannot doubt that the whole group of the Alban Hills, including the range of Jlount Al- gidus, was included in the original Latium, though the Aequians at one time were able to occupy the heights of Algidus at the opening of almost every campaign. Valmontone, whether it represent To- lerium or Vitellia, must have been about the most advanced point of the Latin frontier on this side. 4. The Volscian frontier, as already observed, ap- pears to have undergone much fluctuation. On the one hand, we find, in the list of the cities forming the Latin League, as given by Dionysius (v. 61), not only Velitrae, which at a later period is called a Volscian city, but Cora, Norba, and Setia, all of which were situated on the western front of the range of mountains which formed in later times the stronghold of the Volscian nation; but looking on the Pontine Marshes. Even as late as the outbreak of the great Latin War, b. c. 340, we find L. Annius of Setia, and L. Numicius of Circeii, holding the chief magistracy among the Latins, from whom at the same time Livy expressly distinguishes the Vol- scians (Liv. viii. 3). These statements, combined with those of Pliny and Strabo already cited, seem to leave no doubt that Latium was properly regarded as extending as far as Circeii and the promontory of the same name, and comprising the whole plain of the Pontine Marshes, as well as the towns of Cora, Norba, and Setia, on the E. side of that plain. On the other hand, Tarracina (or Ansur) and Pri- vernum were certainly Volscian cities ; and there can be no doubt that during the period of the Volscian LATIUM. rss' power they had ^vrcsted a great part of the tract just described from the dominion of the Latins. Antium, which for some reason or other did not form a member of the Latin League, was from an early period a Volscian city, and became one of the chief strongholds of that people duiing the fifth century b. c. The extent of Latium Antiquum, as thus limited, was far from considerable; the coast-line, from the mouth of the Tiber to the Circeian promontory, does not exceed 52 geographical or C.5 Roman miles (Pliny erroneously calls it only 50 Roman miles) ; while the greatest length, from the Circeian promontory to the Sabine frontier, near Eretum, is little more than 70 Roman miles; and its breadth, from the mouth of the Tiber to the Sabine frontier, is just about 30 Roman miles, or 240 stadia, as correctly stated by Dionysius on the authority of Cato. (Dionys. ii. 49.) 2. Latium Novum. The boundaries of La- tium in the enlarged or geographical sense of the name are much more easily determined. The term, as thus employed, comprehended, besides the original territory of the Latins, that of the Aequians, the Hernicans, the Volscians, and the Auruncans or Ausonians. Its northern frontiers thus remained un- changed, while on the E.and S. it was extended so as to border on the Marsi, the Samnites, and Campania. Some confusion is nevertheless created by the new line of demarcation established by Augustus, who, while he constituted the first division of Italy out of Latium in this wider sense together with Campania, excluded from it the part of the old Latin territory N. of the Anio, adjoining the Sabines, as well as a part of that of the Aequians or Aequiculani, including Carseoli and the valley of the Turaiio. The upper valley of the Anio about Subiaco, on the other hand, together with the mountainous district extending from thence to the valley of the Sacco, constituting the chief abode of the Aequi during their wars with Rome, was wholly comprised in the newly extended Latium. To this was added the mountain district of the Hernici, extending nearly to the valley of the Liris, as well as that of the Volsci, who occupied the country for a considerable extent on both sides of the Liris, including the mountain district around Arpinuni and Atina, where they bordered on the territory of the Samnites. The limits of Latium towards the S., where its frontiers adjoined those of Campania, are clearly marked by Strabo, who tells us that Casinum was the last Latin city on the line of the Via Latina, — Teanum being already in Campania ; while on the line of the Via Appia, near the sea-coast, Sinuessa was the frontier town of Latium. (Strab. v. pp. 231, 233, 237 ; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9.) Pliny, in one passage, appears to speak of the Liris as constituting the boundary of this enlarged Latium (76. § 56), while shortly after (§ 5^) he terms Sinuessa "oppidum extremum in adjecto Latio," whence it has been supposed that the boundary of Latium was at first extended only to the Liris, and subsequently carried a step further so as to include Sinuessa and its territory. (Cramer's Italy,Yo.n.-p. 11.) But we have no evidence of any such successive stages. Pliny in all probability uses the term " adjectum Latium " only as contra- distinguished from " Latium antiquum;" and the expression in the previous passage, " unde nomen Latii processit ad Lirim amnem," need not be con- strued too strictly. It is certain, at least, that, in the days of Strabo, as well as those of Pliny, Si- K. 3