Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/308

 292 JIASSILIA. iv. 179, 180.) Caesar, wlio knew the site well, de- scribes Massalia as washed by the sea almost along three parts of its extent; the fourth part was that by which the city was connected with the main- land ; and here also the part that was occupied by the citadel was protected by the nature of the ground and a very deep valley {B. C. ii. 1). He speaks of an island opposite to Massalia. There are three small islands nearly opposite the entrance of the present port. It was connected with the mainland, as Eu- menius describes it, " by a space of fifteen hundred paces." D'Anville observes that these fifteen hun- dred paces, or a Roman mile and a half, considerably exceed the actual distance from the bottom of the port to the place called the Grande Pointe ; and he supposes that we must take these to be single paces, and so reduce the space to half the dimensions. Walckenaer (Geof/. cfc. vol. i. p. 25) supposes Eumenius to mean that the tongue of land on which Jlassalia stood was 1500 paces long. At present the port of Marseille is turned to the west ; but the old port existed for a long time after the Roman period. This old port was named Lacy don (Mela, ii. 5), a name which also appears on a medal of JIassalia. The houses of Massalia were mean. Of the public buildings not a trace remains now, though it seems that there were not very long ago some re- mains of aqueducts and of baths. Medals, urns, and other antiquities have often been dug up. The friendship of Rome and Massalia dates from the Second Punic War, when the Massahots gave the Romans aid (Liv. xxi. 20, 25, 26), and assisted them all through the long struggle. (Polyb. iii. 95.) In B. c. 208 the Massaliots sent the Romans intel- ligence of Asdrubal having come into Gallia. (Liv. xxvii. 36.) Massalia was never safe against the Ligurians, who even attacked them by sea (Liv. xl. 18). At last (n. c. 154) they were obliged to ask the Romans for aid against the Osybii and Deceates, who were defeated by Q. Opimius. The story of the establishment of the Romans in Southern (Jallia is told in another place [Gallia Tkans- ALPLVA, Vol. L p. 953.] PLAN OF. THE ENVIRONS OF MAllSEILLL. A. Site of the modern town. B. Mount above the Citadel. C. MoUern Port. D. Port Ncuf. E. Citailel. y. Catalan village and harbour. G. Port I'Eiidooine. H. I. ,1'lf. I. Ratenean 1. K. Pomcgues 1. By the victory of the Romans over the Ligurians th<> Massaliots got some of the Ligurian lands ; and after the defeat of the Teutones by C. Marius (i5. c. 1IASSILIA. 102) near Aquae Sextiae (Air), the Roman com- mander g.ave the Massaliots the canal which he bad constructed at the eastern outlet of the Rhone, and they levied tolls on the ships that used it [Fossa Mauiana]. The Massaliots were faithful to the Romans in all their campaigns in Gallia, and fur- nished them with supplies. (Cic. pro Font. c. 1.) Cn. Pompeius gave to the community of Massalia lands that had belonged to the Volcae Arecomici and the Helvii ; and C. Julius Caesar increased their revenue by fresh grants. {B. C. i. 35.) When Caesar (b. c. 49) was marching from Italy into Spain against the legati of Pompeius, Massalia shut her gates against him. The excuse was that they would not side with either party ; but they showed that they were really favourable to Pom- peius by admitting L. Domitius within their walls and giving him the command of the city (i>. C. i. 34 — 36). At the suggestion of Pompeius the Massaliots also had made great preparations for defence. Caesar left three legions under his legatus C. Trebonius to besiege Massalia, and he gave D. Brutus the command of twelve ships which he had constructed at Arelate (^Arles) with great ex- pedition. While Caesar was in Spain, the Massaliots having manned seventeen vessels, eleven of which were decked ships, and put on board of them many of the neighbouring mountaineers, named Albici, fought a battle with Brutus in which they lost nine ships. {B. C. i. 56—59.) But they still held out, and the nari-ative of the siege and their sufferings is one of the most interesting parts of Caesar's History of the Civil War (B. C. ii. 1—22 ; Dion Cassius, xli. 25). When the town finally surrendered to Caesar, the people gave up their arms and military engines, their ships, and all the money that was in the public treasury. The city of Blassalia appeared in Caesar's triumph at Rome, '" that city," says Cicero, " without which Rome never triumphed over the Transalpine nations" {Philipp. viii. 6, de Offic. ii. 8). Still it retained its freedom (avro- voixia), or in Roman language it was a Libera Civitas, a term which Strabo correctly explains to signify that the Massaliots " were not under the governors who were sent into the Provincia, neither the city itself, nor the dependencies of the city." Pliny names Massalia a "foederata civitas" (iii. 4), a term which the history of its early connection with Rome explains. The constitution of Massalia was aristocratic and its institutions were good (Strab. iv. p. 179). It had a council of 600, who held their places for life, and were named Timuchi (T<fxovxoi). The council had a committee of fifteen, in whose hands the ordinary administration was : three out of the fifteen presided over the committee, and had the chief power : they were the executive. Strabo's text here becomes corrupt, and it is doubtful whether he means to say that no man could be a Timuchus, unless he had children and unless he could trace his descent for three generations from a citizen, or that no man could be one of the fifteen unless he fulfilled these conditions. (See Groskurd, Transl. Strabo, vol. i p. 310.) Their laws were Ionic, says Strabo, what- ever this means ; and were set up in public. Pro- bably we may infer that they were not overloaded with legislation. Aristotle (^Pol. v. 6) seems to say that Massalia was once an oligarchy, and we may conclude from this and other authorities that it be- came a Timocracy, that is, that the political power came into the hands of tho.se who had a certain amount of wealth. Cicero {de Rep. i. 27, 28) in