Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/157

 LATIUM. which the ancient Latium is knovm in modern times. [C^vsiPANiA, p. 494.] V. Political, and Religious Institutions. It is for the most part impossible to separate tlie Latin element of the Roman character and insti- tutions from that which they derived fi-om the Sa- bines: at the same time we know that the con- nection between the Romans and the Latins was so intimate, that we may c;encrally regard the Roman sacred rites, as well as their political institutions, in the absence of all evidence to the contrary, as of Latin origin. But it would be obviously here out of place to enter into any detail as to those parts of the Latin institutions which were common to the two nations. A few words may, however, be added, concerning the constitution of the Latin League, as it existed in its independent form. This was com- posed, as has been already stated, of thirty cities, all apparently, in name at least, equal and inde- pendent, though they certainly at one time admitted a kind of presiding authority or supremacy on the part of Alba, and at a later period on that of Rome. The gener.al councils or assemblies of deputies from the several cities were held at the Lucus Fe- rentinae, in the immediate neighbourhood of Alba ; a custom which was evidently connected in the first instance with the supremacy of that city, but which was retained after the presidency had devolved on Rome, and down to the great Latin War of b. c. 340. (Cincius, aj). Fest. v. Praetor, p. 241.) Each city had undoubtedly the sole direction of its own affairs : the chief magistrate was termed a Dictator, a title borrowed from the Latins by the Romans, and which continued to be employed as the name of a municipal magistracy by the Latin cities long after they had lost their independence. It is remarkable that, with the exception of the mythical or fictitious kings of Alba, we meet with no trace of monarchical government in Latium; and if the ac- count given by Cato of the consecration of the temple of Diana at Aricia can be trusted, even at that early period each city had its chief magistrate, with the title of dictator. (Cato, ap. Priscian. iv. p. 629.) They must necessarily have had a chief magistrate, on whom the command of the forces of the whole League would devolve in time of war, as is represented as being the case with Mamilius Oc- tavius at the battle of Regillus. But such a com- mander may probably have been specially chosen for each pai-ticular occasion. On the other hand, Livy speaks in b. c. 340 of C. Annius of Setia and L. Numisius of Circeii, as the two " praetors of the Latins," as if this were a customary and regular magistracy. (Liv. viii. 3.) Of the internal govern- ment or constitution of the individual Latin cities we have no knowledge at all, except what we may gather from the analogy of those of Rome or of their later municipal institutions. As the Lucus Ferenlinae, in the neighbourhood of Alba, was the established place of meeting for po- litical purposes of all the Latin cities, so the temple of Jupiter, on the summit of the Aiban Slount {Monte Cavo), was the central sanctuary of the wliole Latin people, where sacrifices were offered on tlieir behalf at the Feriae Latinae, in which every city was bomid to participate, a custom retained down to a very late period by the Romans themselves. (Liv. xsxii. 1 ; Cic. pro Plane. 9 ; Plm. iii. 6. s. 9.) In like manner there can be no doubt that the cus- tom sometimes adopted by Roman generals of cele- LATIUM. 141 brating a triumph on the Alban Mount was derived from the times of Latin independence, when the temple of Jupiter Latiaris was the natural end of such a procession, just as that of Jupiter Capitolinus was at Rome. Among the deities especially worshipped by the Romans, it may suffice to mention, as apparently of peculiarly Latin origin, Janus, Saturnus, Faunus, and Picus. The latter seems to have been so closely connected with JIars, that he was probably only ano- ther form of the same deity. Janus was originally a god of the sun, answering to Jana or Diana, the goddess of the moon. Saturnus was a terrestrial deity, regarded as the inventor of agriculture and of all the most essential improvements of life. Hence he came to be regarded by the pragmatical mytho- logers of later times as a very ancient king of Latium ; and by degrees Janus, Saturnus, Picus, and Faunus became estabhshed as successive kings of the earliest Latins or Aborigines. To complete the series Latinus was made the son of Faunus. This last appears as a gloomy and mysterious being, probably originally connected with the infernal deities; but who figures in the mythology received in later times partly as a patron of agriculture, partly as a giver of oracles. (Hartung, ReUfjlon der Rijmer. vol. ii. ; Schwegler, R. G. vol. i. pp. 212—234.) The worship of the Penates also, though not pe- culiar to Latium, seems to have formed an integral and important part of the Latin religion. The Penates at Lavinium were regarded as the tutelary gods of the whole Latin people, and as such continued to be the object of the most scrupulous reverence to the Romans themselves down quite to the extinction of Paganism. Every Roman consul or praetor, upon first entering on his magistracy, was bound to re- pair to Lavinium, and there offer sacrifices to the Penates, as well as to Vesta, whose worship was closely connected with them. (Macrob. Sat. iii. 4 ; Varr. L.L. v. 144.) This custom points to Lavinium as having been at one time, probably before the rise of Alba, the sacred metropolis of Latium: and it may very probably have been, at the same early period, the political capital or head of the Latin con- federacy. VI. TopoGKAPirr. The principal physical features of Latium have already been described ; but it remains here to notice the minor rivers and streams, as well as the names of some particular hills or mountain heights which have been transmitted to us. Of the several small rivers which hare their rise at the foot of the Alban hills, and flow from thence to the sea between the mouth of the Tiber and Antium, the only one of which the ancient name is preserved is the Nuaiicius, which may be iden- tified with the stream now called Rio Torto, between Lavinium and Ardea. The Astuea, rising also at the foot of the Alban hills near Velletri, and flowing from thence in a SW. direction, enters the sea a little to the S. of the promontory of Astura : it is now known in the lower part of its course as the Flume di Conca, but the several small streams by the confluence of which it is formed have each their separate appellation. The Nyjipiiaeus, mentioned by Pliny (iii. 5. s. 9), and still called La Ninfn, rises immediately at the foot of the Volscian moun- tains, just below the city of Norba : in Pliny's time it appears to have had an independent course to the sea, but now loses itself in the Pontine Marshes,