Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/515

 OSCIXEIUM. neighbourhood of Bantia, on the borders of Apulia and Lucania, and which refers to the municipal affairs of that town ; 2. the Cippus Abellanus, so called from its having been found at Abella in Campania, and containing a treaty or agreement between th8 two neigiibouring cities of Xola and Abella ; and 3. a bronze tablet recently discovered in the neighbourhood of Agnone in northern Samnium, containing a dedication of various sacred offerings. It is remarkable that these three monuments have been found in nearly the most distant quarters of the Oscan territory. By the assistance of the numerous minor inscriptions, we may fix pretty clearly the limits within which the language was spoken. They include, besides Campania and Sanmium Proper, the land of the Hirpini and Frentani, and the northern part of Apulia. No inscriptions in Oscan have been found in Lucania (except immediately on its borders) or Bruttium, though it is probable that in both of these countries the Sabeliian conquerors introduced the Oscan language, or one closely connected with it ; and we are distinctly told by Festus that the Bruttians spoke Greek and Oscan. (Fe-st. p. 3.5, M.) We learn also with certainty that not only the vernacular, but even the official, use of the Oscan language continued in Central Italy long after the Roman conquest. Indeed few, if any, of the extant inscriptions date from an earlier period. The comic poet Titinius alludes to it as a dialect still in common use in his time, about B.C. 170. (Fest. s.v. Opscum, p. 189.) The coins struck by the Samuites and their allies during the Social War (b. c. 90—88) have Oscan inscriptions ; but it is probable that, after the close of that contest and the general admission of the Italians to the Eoman franchise, Latin became universal as the official language of Italy. Oscan, however, must have continued to be spoken, not only in the more secluded mountain districts, but even in the towns, in Campania at least, until a much later period ; as we find at Pompeii inscriptions rudely scratched or painted on the walls, which from their hasty execution and temporary character cannot be supposed to have existed long before the destruction of the city in A. D. 79.

(Concerning the remains of the Oscan language see ilommsen, Unter-Ilalischtn Dialekte, 4to. Leipzig, 1850; Klenze, Philologische Ahhandlungen, 8vo. Berlin, 1839 ; and Donaldson, Varronianiis, pp. 104—138.)

We have no evidence of the Oscans having any literature, properly so called ; but it was certainly from them that the Romans derived the dramatic entertainments called Atellanae, a kind of rude farces, probably bearing considerable resemblance to the performances of Pulcinello, still so popular at Naples and in its neighbourhood. When these were transplanted to Rome they were naturally rendered into Latin ; but though Strabo is probably mistaken in speaking of the Fabulae Atellanae of his day as still performed at Rome in Oscan, it is very natural to suppose that they were still so exhibited in Cam- pania as long as the O^can language continued in common use in that country. (Strab. v. p. 233 ; concerning the Fabulae Atellanae see ^Moinmsen, I.e. p. 118; Bernhardy, Rumische Literattir, p. 378, &c. ; Munk, de Fahulis Atellanis, Lips. 1840.) [E. H. B.]

OSCINEIUM, a name which appears in the Jerusalem Itin. on the road from Vasatae (^Bazas) to Elusa {Eause). [Cossio; Ei.usates.] The order OSISJIL 499 of names is Vasatae, Tres Arbores, Oscineium, Sat- tium or Solium, and Elusa. Oscineium is marked at the distance viii. from the two places between which it lies. D'Anville finds on this road a place named Esquies, which in name and po.sition agrees pretty well with the Oscineium of the Itin. [G. L.]

OSERIATES ('Oo-epiares), a tribe of Pannonia Sufjcrior, dwelling on the banks of the river Dravus ; but nothing is known about thein but their name (Ptol. ii. 15. § 2; Plin. iii. 28.) [L S.]

OSI, a German tribe mentioned only by Tacitus (Genre. 28, 43), as dwelling beyond the Qnadi, in a woody and mountainous country. But their national customs, as we'l as their language, were tho.se of tlie Pannonians. They were moreover, tributary to the Quadi and Samiatae. The exact districts they in- habited cannot be determined, nor do we know whether they had migrated into Germany from Pan- nonia, or whether they were an ancient remnant of Pannonians in those districts. [L. S.]

OSIANA, a town in the west of Cappadocia, between the river Halys and lake Tatla, on the road from Ancyra to Caesarea {It. Ant. p. 206). Its site must probably be looked for in the district* of Jurliup or Urguh. [L. S.]

OSISMI or OSISMII, a Celtic people who joined the Veneti in the war against Caesar, B. c. 56. {B. G. iii. 9.) There is nothing in Caesar which shows their position further than this, that they were in the peninsula of Bretagne. Ptolemy (ii. 8. § 5) makes them extend as far south as the Gobaeum headland, and he names Vorganium as their chief city. [Gobaeum.] If we accept the authority of Mela, who says (iii. 6) that the island Sena (Sein) is opposite to the shores of the Osismii, this will help us to determine the southern limit of the Osismii, and will confirm the conjecture of Gobaeum being the headland called Raz Pointe, which is opposite to the small island Sein, or as it is improperly called Isle des Saints ; or being somewhere near that headland. In another passage (iii. 2) Mela makes the great bend of the west coast of Gallia commence where the limits of the Osismii end: " ab illis eniin iterum ad septentriones frons littorum respicit, jiertinetque ad uliimos Gallicarum gentiiim Morinos." Pliny (iv. 18) describes this great peninsula of Bretngne thus: " Gallia Lugdunensis contains a considerable peninsula, which runs out into the ocean with a circuit of 625 miles, beginning from the border of the O.^ismii, the neck being 125 miles in width: south of it are the Xannetes." It is plain then that Pliny placed the 0.iismii ahmg the north coast of Bretagne, and there is Jlela's authority for placing them on the west coast of the peninsula. The neck of the peninsula which riiny describes, may be determined by a line drawn from the bay of St. Bneuc on the north to Lorient on the south, or rather to some of the bays east of it, or Morbihan. It seems a fair conclusion, that the Osismii occupied a large part of the peninsula of i?;-eta^«e; or as Strabo (iv. p. 195) says: "Next to the Veneti are the Osismii, whom Pytheas calls Timii, who dwell in a peninsula tthich runs out considerably into the ocean, but not so far as Pytheas says and those who bi-licve him." He does net tell us how far Pytheas said that the peninsula ran out into the sea, but if we had Pytheas' words, we might find that he knew something about it. The conclusion of D'Anville is justified by the ancient authorities, lie says: "It seems that it has been agreed up to the present time to limit the territory 