Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/154

 138 LATIUM. to the notion that Alba was in another sense the me- tropolis of Latium, and that all, or at any rate the greater part, of the cities of Latium were merely co- lonies of Alba. So far was this idea carried, that we find expressly enumerated in the list of such colonies places like Ardea, Tusculum, and Praeneste, which, according to other traditions generally received, were more ancient than Alba itself. (Liv. i. 52 ; Dionys. ill 34; Diod. vii. ap. Euseh.Arm. p. 185; Vict. Orig. Gent. Rom. 17.) [Alba Loxga.] Pliny has, however, preserved to us a statement of a very different stamp, according to which there were thirty towns or communities, which he terms the " populi Albenses," that were accustomed to share in the sacrifices on the Alban Jlount. Many of these names are now obscure or unknown, several others appear to have been always inconsiderable places, while a few only subsequently figure among the well-known cities of Latium. It is therefore highly probable that we have here an authentic record, preserved from ancient times, of a league which actually subsisted at a very early period, before Alba became the head of the more important and better known confederacy of the Latins in general. Of the towns thus enumerated, those whose situation can be determined with any cer- tainty were all (with the remarkable exception of Fidenae) situated in the immediate neighbourhood of the Alban Hills ; and thus appear to have been grouped around Alba as their natural centre. Among them we find Bola, Pedum, Toleria, and Vitellia on the N. of the Alban Hills, and Corioli, Longula, and PoUusca on the S. of the same group. On the other hand, the more powerful cities of Aricia, Lanu- vium, and Tusculum, though so much nearer to Alba, are not included in this list. But there is a remarkable statement of Cato {ap. Priscian. iv. p. 629), in which he speaks of the celebrated temple of Diana at Aricia, as founded in common by the people of Tusculum, Aricia, Lanuvium, Laurentum, Cora, Tibur, Pometia, Ardea, and the Rutuli, that seems to point to the existence of a separate, and, as it were, counter league, subsisting at the same time with that of which Alba was the head. All these minor unions would seem, however, to have ultimately been merged in the general confederacy of the La- tins, of which, according to the tradition universally adopted by Roman writers, Alba was the acknow- ledged head. Another people whose name appears in all the earliest historical traditions of Latium, but who had become completely merged in the general body of the Latin nation, before we arrive at the historical period, was that of the Rutuli. Their capital was Ardea, a city to which a Greek or Argive origin was ascribed [Ardea] ; if any value can be attached to such traditions, they may be regarded as pointing to a Pelasgic origin of the Kutuli ; and Niebuhr ex- plains the traditionary greatness of Ardea by sup- posing it to have been the chief city of maritime Latium, while it was still in the hands of the Pe- lasgians. (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 44, vol. ii. p. 21.) One of the most difficult questions connected with the early history of Latium is the meaning and origin of the term " Prisci Latini," which we find applied by many Roman writers to the cities of the I^atin League, and which occurs in a formula given by Li-y that has every apjiearance of being very ancient. (Liv. i. 32.) It may safely be assumed tiiat the term means "Old Latins," and Niebuhr's idea tl'.at Prisci was itself a national appellation LATIUM. has been generally rejected as untenable. But it is difficult to believe that a people could ever have called themselves '' the old Latins : " and yet it seems certain that the name was so used, both from its occurrence in the formula just referred to (which was in all pi-obability borrowed from the old law books of the Fetiales), and from the circumstance that we find the name almost solely in connection with the wars of Ancus JIarcius and Tarquinius Priscus (Liv. i. 32, 33, 38) ; and it never occurs at a later period. Hence it seems impossible to suppose that it was used as a term of distinction for the Latins properly so called, or inhabitants of Latium Antiquum, as contradis- tinguished from the Aequians, Yolscians, and' other nations subsequently included in Latium : a supposition adopted by several modern writers. On the other hand the name does not occur in the Roman history, prior to the destruction of Alba, and perhaps the most plausible conjecture is that the name was one assumed by a league or con- federacy of the Latin cities, established after the fall of Alba, but who thus asserted their claim to represent the original and ancient Latin people. It must; be admitted that this explanation seems wholly at variance with the statement that the Prisci Latini were the colonies of Alba, which is found both in Livy and Dionysius (Liv. i. 3; Dio- nys. i. 45), but this probably meant to convey nothing more than the notion already noticed, that all the cities of Latium were founded by such colo- nies. Livy, at least, seems certainly to regard the " Prisci Latini " as equivalent to the whole Latin nation, and not as a part contradistinguished from the rest. (Liv. i. 38.) 2. Relations of the Latins with Rome. — As the first historical appearance of the Latins is that of a confederation of diflerent cities, of which Alba was the head, so the fall and destruction of Alba may be regarded as the first event in their annals which can be termed historical. The circumstances transmitted to us in connection with this are undoubtedly poetical fictions ; but the main fact of the destruction of the city and downfal of its power is well established. This event must have been followed by a complete derangement in the previously existing relations. Rome appears to have speedily put forth a claim to the supremacy which Alba had previously exercised (Dionys. iii. 34) ; but it is evident that this was not acknowledged by the other cities of Latium ; and the Prisci Latini, whose name appears in history only during tl is period, probably formed a separate league of their own. It was not long, however, be- fore the Romans succeeded in establishing their supe- riority : and the statement of the Roman annals, that the Latin league was renewed under Tarquinius Su- perbus, and the supremacy of that monarch acknow- ledged by all the other cities that composed it, derives a strong confirmation from the more authentic testi- mony of the treaty between Rome and Carthage, preserved to us by Polybius (iii. 22). In this im- portant document, which dates from the year immedi- ately following the expulsion of the kings (b.c. 509), Rome appears as stipulating on behalf of the people of Ardea, Antium, Laurentum, Circeii, Tarracina, and the other subject (or dependent) cities of Latium, and even making conditions in regard to the whole Latin territory, as if it was subject to its rule. But the state of things which appears to have been at this time fully established, was broken up soon after ; whether in consequence of the revolution at