Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/425

 NEAPOLIS. fleets throughout the long wars of the Republic. (Pol. i. 20; Liv. xxxv. 16.) Though Neapolis thus passed gradually into the condition of a mere provincial town of the Roman state, and, after the passing of the Lex Julia, became an ordinaiy municipal town (Cic. pro Balb. 8, ad Fam. xiii. 30), it continued to be a flourishing and populous place, and retained, to a far greater extent than any other city in this part of Italy, its Greek culture and instiJutions; while its population was .still almost exclusively Greek. Thus Strabo tells us that, in his time, though they had become Roman citizens, they still had their gymnasia and quin- quennial games, with contests of music and gym- nastic exercises after the Greek fashion; and retained the division into Phratries, a circumstance attested also by inscriptions still extant. (Strab. v. p. 246; V.arr. L. L. v. 85; Boeckh, C. I. vol. iii. p. 715.) Before the close of the Republic, the increasing love of Greek manners and literature led many of the upper classes among the Romans to resort to Neapolis for education, or cultivation of these pursuits ; while many more were attracted by the delightful and luxu- rious climate or the surpassing beauty of the sceneiy. It possessed also hot springs, similar to those of Baiae, though inferior in number (Strab. I. c); and all these causes combined to render it one of the favourite resorts of the Roman nobility. Its pros- perity received a rude shock, in b. c. 82, during the Civil War of JIarius and Sulla, when a body of the partisans of the latter, having been admitted by treacheiy into the city, made a general massacre of the inhabitants (Appian, B. C. i. 89); but it seems to have quickly recovered this blow, as it was cer- tainly a flourishing city in the time of Cicero, and continued such throughout the period of the Roman Empire. It is not improbable that it received a body of fresh colonists under Sulla, but certainly did not then assume the title of a Colonia, as it is repeatedly alluded to by Cicero as a Municipium. (Cic. ad Fam. xiii. 30, ad Att. x. 13.) Under the Empire we find it in inscriptions bearing the title of a Colonia (Grater, Inscr. p. 110. 8, p. 373. 2); but there is much doubt as to the period when it obtained that rank. It is, however, noticed as such by Petronius, and would seem to have first received a colony under Claudius, to which subsequent addi- tions were made under Titus and the Antonines. (Z,/6. Colon, p. 235; Zumpt, de Colon, pp. 259, 384; Petron. Sa?^;-. 44, 76; Boeckh, C. I. vol. iii. pp. 717, 718.) Besides its immediate territory, Neapolis had formerly possessed the two important islands of Ca- preae and Aenaria (Ischia); but the latter had been wrested from it by force of arms, probably at the period of its first war with Rome. Capreae, on the other hand, continued subject to Neapolis without interruption till the time of Augustus, who, having taken a fancy to the island, annexed it to the impe- rial domain, giving up to the Neapolitans in ex- change the richer and more important island of Aenaria. (Suet. Atiff. 92; Dion Cass. Iii. 43.) The same attractions which had rendered Neapolis a favourite residence of wealthy Romans under the Republic operated with still increased force under the Empire. Its gymnasia and public games continued to be still celebrated, and the emperors themselves condescended to preside at them. (^Suct.Aurj. 98. Ner. 40; Veil. Pat. ii. 123 ; Dion Cass. Ixiii. 26.) Its strong tincture of Greek manners, which caused it to be frequently distinguished its " the Greek NEAPOLIS. 409 city," attracted thither many grammarians and others ; so that it came to acquire a reputation fur learning, and is called by Martial and Columella "docta Parthenope" (Martial, v. 78. 14; Colum. X. 134); while its soft and luxurious climate rendered it the favourite resort of the indolent and effeminate. Hence Horace terms it " otiosa Neapolis;" and Ovid still more strongly, "in otia natam Parthenopen." (Hon Ejjod. 5. 43; Ovid, 3/et. xv. 711; Stat. Silv. iii. 78—88; Sil. Ital. xii. 31.) The coasts on both sides of it were lined with villas, among which the most celebrated was that of Vedius Pollio, on the ridge of hill between Neapolis and Puteoli, to which he had given the name of Pausilypus (UavaiXviros); an appellation afterwards extended to the whole hill on which it stood, and which retains to the present day the name of Monte Posilipo. (Dion Cass. liv. 23; Plin. ix. 53. s. 78.) Neapolis was a favourite residence of the emperor Nero, as well as of his pre- decessor Claudius; and it was in the theatre there that the former made his first appearance on the stage, before he ventured to do so publicly at Rome. (Tac. ^?m. xiv. 10, xv. 33; Dion Cass. Ix. 6.) It is well known also that it was for a considerable period the residence of Virgil, who composed, or at; least finished, his Georgics there. (Virg. Georg. iv. 564.) Thither, also, his remains were transferred after his death; and his tomb was still extant there in the time of the poets Statins and Silius Italicus, who paid to it an almost superstitious reverence. The last-named poet himself died at Neapolis, where he had a villa, which was his favourite place of resi- dence, as it was also that of Statins, who, in several passages, appears to allude to it as the place of his birth. (Donat. Vit. Virg.; Plin. £;;. iii. 7; Mar- tial, xi. 49; Stat. Silv. iii. 5. 13, iv. 4. 51—55.) It is clear that Neapolis was at this period a pro- vincial city of the first class; and though we meet with little historical mention of it diu-ing the later ages of the Empire, inscriptions sufliciently prove that it retained its consideration and importance. It appears to have escaped the ravages of the Goths and Vandals, which inflicted .such severe blows upon the prosperity both of Capua and Nola (//is<. Mis- cell. XV. p. 553); and under the Gothic king The- odoric, Cassiodorus speaks of it as still possessing a numerous population, and abounding in every kind of delight, both by sea and land. (Cassiod. J'ar. vi. 23.) In the Gothic wars which followed, it was taken by BeWsarius, after a long siege, and a great part of the inhabitants put to the sword, A. D. 536. (Procop. B. G. i. 8 — 10.) It was retaken by To- tila in A. D. 542 (lb. iii. 6 — 8), but again recovered by Narses soon after, and continued from this time subject to the supremacy of the Byzantine Empire, as a dependency of the exarchate of Ravenna, but under the government of its own dukes. In the eighth century Paulus Diaconus still speaks of it as one of the " opulentissimae urbes " of Campania. {Hist Lang. ii. 17.) It was about this period that it threw off the yoke of the Byzantine emperors, and continued to enjoy a state of virtual independence, until it was conquered in a. d. 1 140 by the Normans, and became thenceforth the capital of the kingdom of Naples. It is certain that the ancient city of Neapolis did not occupy nearly so great a space as the modei'n Naples, which is the largest and most populous city in Italy, and contains above 400,000 inhabitants. It appears to have extended on the E. as far as the river Sebethus, a small stream still called the ScOeiv,