Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/227

 LUCERIA. after an obstinate resistance, made liimself master of the city, which was defended by a earrison of above 7000 Samnites. (Id. ix. 12 — 15.) Besides re- covering the hostages, he obtained an immense booty, so that Luceria was evidently at this period a flourishing city, and Diodorus (xix. 72) calls it the most important place in Apulia. A few years after (B.C. 314), the city was again betrayed into the hands of the Samnites ; but was quickly recovered by the Romans, who put the greater part of the inhabitants to the sword, and sent thither a body of 2.500 colonists to supply their place. (Id. ix. 26 ; Veil. Pat. i. 14 ; Diod xix. 72.) The possession of so important a stronghold in this part of the country became of material service to the Romans in the subsequent operations of the war (Diod. I.e.); and in b. c. 294, the Samnites having laid siege to it, the Roman consul Atilius advanced to its relief, and defeated the Samnites in a great battle. According to another account, Luceria afforded shelter to the shattered remnants of the consul's army after he had sustained a severe defeat. (Liv. x. 35, 37.) Not less important was the part which Luceria bore in the Second Punic War. The establishment of this powerful colony in a military position of the utmost importance, was of signal advantage to the Romans during all their operations in Apulia ; and it was repeatedly chosen as the place where their armies took up their winter-quarters, or their gene- rals established their head-quaiters during successive campaigns in Apulia. (Liv. xxii. 9, xxiii. 37, xxiv. 3, 14, 20; Pol. iii. 88, 100.) But though it was thus exposed to a more than ordinary share of the sufferings of the war, Luceria was nevertheless one of the eighteen Latin colonies which in b. c. 209 expi-essed their readiness to continue their contri- butions, both of men and money, and which in con- sequence received the thanks of the senate for their fidelity. (Liv. xxvii. 10.) From this time we meet with no notice of Luceria till near the close of the Roman Republic ; but it ap pears from the manner in which Cicero speaks of it (pro Cluent. 69) that it was in his time still one of the most considerable towns in this part of Italy ; and in theCivil War between Caesar and Pompey, it is evident that much importance was attached to its possession by the latter, who for some time made it his head-quarters before he retired to Brundusium. (Caes. J5. C. i. 24; Cic. ad Att. vii. 12, viii. 1; Ap- pian, B. C. ii. 38.) Strabo speaks of Luceria as having fallen into decay, like Canusium and Arpi (vi. p. 284): but this can only be understood in comparison with its former presumed greatness; for it seems certain that it was still a considerable town, and one of the few in this part of Italy that retained their prosperity under the Roman Empire. Pliny terms it a Colonia, and it had therefore probably re- ceived a fresh colony under Augustus (Plin. iii. 1 1. s. 16 ; Lib. Colon, p. 21 ; Zumpt, de Colon, p. 349). Its colonial rank is also attested by inscriptions (Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. pp. 50, 51); and from the Tabula it would appear to have been in the 4th cen- tury one of the most considerable cities of Apulia ( Tab. Pent., where the indication of a great building with the name " Praetorium Laverianum" evidently points to the residence of some provincial magistrate). E'en after the fall of the Roman Empire Luceria long retained its prosperity, and is enumerated in the 7th century by P. Diaconus among the " urbes satis opulentas" which still remained in Apulia. (P. Diac. ii. 21.) But in a.d. 663 it was taken by LUCRETILIS MONS. 211 the emperor Constans II. from the Lombards, and utterly destroyed (Id. v. 7). Nor does it appear to have recovered this blow till it was restored by the emperor Frederic IL in 1227. The modern city of Lucera still retains its episcopal see and about 12,000 inhabitants. It occupies the ancient site, on a hill of considerable elevation (one of the last under- falls of the Apennines) overlooking the extensive and fertile plains of Apulia. Livy speaks of it as situated in the plain (" urbs sita in piano," ix. 26); but if this was the case with the Apulian city, the Roman colony must have been removed to the heights above, as existing remains leave no doubt that the ancient city occupied the same site with the modern one. The remains of buildings are not of much im- portance, but numerous inscriptions, fragments of sculpture, &c. have been found there. The inscrip- tions are collected by Slommsen {Inscr. Regn. Neap. pp. 50 — 54). The neighbourhood of Luceria was ce- lebrated in ancient, as it still is in modern, times for the abundance and excellence of its wool (Hor. Cann. iii. 15. 14), an advantage which was indeed common to all the neighbouring district of Apulia. (Strab. vi. p. 284; Plin. viii. 48; K. Craven, Suicth- em Tour, p. 45.) Ptolemy writes the name Nuceria ; and that this is not merely an error of the MbS. in our existing copies is shown by the circumstance that the epithet Apula is added to it (NovKfpia 'AirovXwv Viol. iii. 1. § 72), as if to distinguish it from other towns of the name. Appian also writes the name Nouicepia {B. C. ii. 38): and the same confusion between No- cera and Lucera occurs perpetually in the middle ages. But the coiTectness of the orthography of Luceria is well established by inscriptions and coins. The latter, which iiave the name Lovceri in Roman characters, are certainly not earlier than the establishment of the Koman colony. [E. H. B.] coin of luceria. LUCEIUM. [Blucium.] LUCENSES, CALLAICL [Galt.aecia.] LUCENTUM (Plin. iii. 3. s. 4 ; Lucentia, Mela, ii. 6. § 6; AovKevroi ^ AovKivrov, Ptol. ii. 6. § 14: Alicante), a city on the sea-coast of the Contestani, in Hispania Tarraconensis, with the Latin franchise. (Marca, Hisp. ii. 6 ; Ukert, ii. 1. p. 403.) [P. S.] LUCI'NAE 0PPIDU5L [Ilithvia.] LUCOPIBIA (Aoi/KOTrigia), in North Britain, mentioned by Ptolemy (ii. 3) as one of the towns of the Novantae (^Gallotoat/), Rhetigoninm being the other. Probably, this lay on Imz-b Bay, in Wig- ton.'fhire. The Monumenta Brilcumica suggests Brovqhtern. and Whiterne. [R. G. L.] LUCRE'TILIS II0NS (lifonte Gennaro), a mountain in the land of the Sabines, whose name is known to us only from the mention of it by Horace, who calls it " the pleasant Lucretilis," whose shades could allure Fannus himself from Mount Lycaeum. (Hor. Carm. i. 17.) It is evident from the expres- sions of the poet that it was in the immediate neigh-