Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/394

 378 lilUTINA. possession shortly after, at the commencement of tlic Second Punic War, b. c. 218. At that period Mutina must have ah-eady been a considerable place and well fortified; as we are told that, when the sudden outbreak of the Gauls interrupted the pro- ceedings of the triumvirs who were appointed to found the new colony of Placentia, and compelled them to fly for safety, they took refuge within the walls of JIutina, which afforded them an effectual protection against the arms of the barbarians. (Liv. xxi. 25, 26, sxvii. 21; Pol. iii. 40.) Polybius calls it at this period a Roman colomj ; but it seems probable that this is a mistake ; for we have no ac- count of its foundation as such, nor does Livy ever allude to Mutina as a colony, where he expressly notices those of Cremona and Placentia (xxvii. 10). But whether it had been fortified by the Pvomans, or was a regular walled city previously existing (in which case it must have been, like its neighbour Bononia, of Etruscan origin), we have no means of determining, though the latter supposition is per- haps the more probable. In any case it continued to be held by the Pomans not only during the Second Punic War, but throughout the long wars which followed with the Cisalpine Gauls and Ligurians. (Liv. XXXV. 4, 6.) It was not till after the final de- feat of the Boians in B.C. 191, on which occasion they were deprived of a large portion of their lands, that the Eomans determined to secure the newly acquired territory, by planting there the two colonies of Parma and Mutina, which were accordingly es- tablished in B.C. 183. (Liv. sxxLx. 55.) They were both of them "coloniae civium ;" so that their inhabitants from the first enjoyed the full rights of Roman citizens : 2000 settlers were planted in each, and these received 5 jugera each for their portion. (Liv. I. c.) The construction of the great military high road of the Via Aemilia a few years before, B.C. 187 (Liv. xxxis. 2), must have greatly facili- lated the foundation of these new colonies, and became the chief source of their prosperity. But shortly after its foundation Mutina sustained a severe disaster. The Ligurians, who still oc- cupied the heights and valleys of the Apennines bor- dering on the Boian territory, in B.C. 177 made a sudden descent upon the new colony, and not only ravaged its territory, but actually made themselves masters of the town itself. This was, however, re- covered with little difficulty by the consul C. Clau- dius, 8000 of the Ligurians were put to the sword, and the colonists re-established in the possession of Mutina. (Liv. sh. 14. 16.) For a considerable period after this, we do not again meet with its name in history ; but it appears that it must have risen r.apidly to prosperity, and become one of the most flourishing of the towns along the line of the Via Aemilia. Hence it bears a conspicuous part in the Civil Wars. When Lepidus, after the death of Sulla, B.C. 78, raised an insurrection in Cisalpine Gaul against the senate, Mutina was almost the only plap e which was able to offer any resistance to the arms of Pompeius, and was held against him by Brutus for a considerable period. (Plut. Pomj). 16.) But it was the siege which it sustained, and the battles fought in its neighbourhood after the death of Caesar, B.C. 44, that have rendered the name of Mutina chiefly celebrated in history, and are referred to by Suetonius under the name of " Bellum Mutinense." (Suet. Aug. 9.) On thai occasion D. Brutus, to whom the province of Cisal- pine Gaul had been decreed by the senate, threw MUTINA. ! himself into Blutina with three legions and a large body of auxihary troops. Here he was besieged by M. Antonius with a numerous army ; but the senate having declared against the latter, the two consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, as well as the young Octavian, were despatched to the relief and succour of Brutus. (Jan. B.C. 43.) Antonius at this time occupied Bononia, as well as Parma and Regium, with his garrisons, while he himself, with the bulk of his forces, maintained the siege, or rather blockade, of Mutina. Hirtius on his arrival seized on Claterna, while Octavian occupied Forum Cornelii {Imola). From thence they advanced after considerable de- lays, took possession of Bononia, and approached Mutina itself, but were unable to open communica- tions with Brutus. Meanwhile the other consul, C. Pansa, was advancing with a force of 4 newly raised legions to their support, when he was at- tacked by Antonius, at a place called Forum Gal- lorum, about 8 miles from Jlutina on the road to Bononia. [Forum Gallorum.] A severe con- test ensued, in which Pansa was mortally wounded; but the other consul, Hirtius, having fallen on An- tony's army in the rear, completely defeated it, and compelled him to retire to his camp before Mutina. A second battle took place some days afterwards (April 27, B.C. 43), under the walls of that city, in which Hirtius was slain; but the forces of Antonius were again worsted, and that general found himself compelled to abandon the siege (which had now lasted for above four months), and retire westward, with a view of crossing the Alps. (Appian, B. C. iii. 49—51, 61, 65—72; Dion Cass. xlvi. 35—38; Cic. ad Fam. x. 11, 14, 30, 33, Phil, v.— viii.; Veil. Pat. ii. 61 ; Suet. Avg. 10.) Mutina was evidently at this period a flourishing and important town, as well as strongly fortified. Cicero calls it " firmissima et splendidissima populi Romani colonia" QPhil. v. 9); and these praises are confirmed by Appian (£. C. iii. 49), who calls it " a wealthy city," as well as by the fact, that it was capable of supporting so large an army as that of Brutus for so long a time. Mela, also, singles out Mutina, together with Bononia and Patavium, as the most opulent cities in this part of Italy. (Mela, ii. 4. § 2.) The same inference may fairly be drawn from the circumstance, that it was at Slutina the numerous body of senators who had accompanied the emperor Otho from Rome, in A. P. 69, remained, while Otho himself advanced to meet the generals of Vitellius, and where they very nearly fell victims to the animosity of the soldiery, on the first news of his defeat and death. (Tac. Hist. ii. 52 — 54.) But with this exception, we meet with scarcely any mention of Mutina under the Roman empire until a late period, though the still extant inscriptions attest the fact of its continued prosperity. Some of these give to the city the title of Colonia, as do also Mela and Pliny. (Mela, I. c. ; Plin. iii. 1 .5. s. 20; Cavedoni, Marmi Modenesi, pp. 120, 165.) We learn also from Pliny and Strabo, that it was famous for the excellence of the wool produced in its territory, as well as for its wine, and the city itself possessed considerable manufactures of earthenware, as well as woollen goods. (Strab. v. p. 218; Plin. xiv. 3. s. 4, xxxv. 12. s. 46; Colum. vii. 2. § 3.) luA. D. 312, Mutina was taken by Constantino dui-ing his war with Maxentius, but appears to have suffered but little on this occasion. (Nazar. Paneg. 27.) Before the close of the century, however, bath