Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/690

 674 rPvOVixciA. the Narbonitis,'' says Strabo, "has the same natural products as Italia; bat as we advance towards the north and the Cemmenon {Cevetmes), the land planted with the olive and the fig terminates, but all the other things are grown. The grape also does m^t ripen well as we advance further north" (iv. p. 178). Strabo's remark about the olive is true. As we advance from Nimes by the great road to Clermont Ferrand in the Awergne, we ascend gradually in a north-west direction to a rocky country well planted with vine.*, mulberry trees, and olives. After pro- ceeding a few miles further the olives suddenly disappear, a sign that we have passed the limits of the temperature which they require. The country is now an irregular plateau, rocky and sterile, but in parts well planted with mulberries and vines; and there is a little wheat. Before descending to An- dusia (^Andiise), which is deep sunk in a gorge of the Vardo (^Gardoii), a few more olives ai-e seen, but these are the last. We are approaching the rugged Cevennes. The native population of the Provincia were Aquitani, Celtae, arid Ligures. The Aquitani were in the parts along the base of the Pyrenees. Tbe Ligures in the historical period occupied the south-east part of the Provincia, north and east of Marseille, and it is probable that they were once on the west side of the Riione also. The Greeks were on the coast, east and west of the city of Massilia [Ma.ssili.v]. After the country was reduced to the form of a Provincia, the Italians flocked to the Provincia to make money. They were petty dealers (niercatores), bankers, and money-lenders (negoti- atores), sheep-feeders, agriculturists, and traders. (Cic. pro P. Quititio, c. 3, pro M. Fonteio, c. 5.) The wine of Italy was imported into the Pro- vincia in Cicero's time, and a duty was levied on it, if not at the port, at least in its transit through the country Q^^'^* Fonteio, c. 9). Cicero sneeringly says, " We Romans are the most just of men, for we do not allow the Transalpine nations to plant the olive and the vine, in order that our olive plantations and vineyards may be worth more" (rfe lie Publica, iii. 9). It does not appear from Cicero when this selfish order was made. But the vine is a native of Xarbonensis, and the Greeks made wine, as we might safely assume, and they sold it to the Galli. Posi- donius, whom Cicero knew, and who had travelled in the country, says that the rich Galli bought Italian wine and wine from the Massaliots. (Posidonius, ap. Athen. iv. p. 152.) If any of the Galli got this wine, the Galli of the Provincia would have it. This favourite province of the Romans was full of large cities, which under the Empire were orna- mented with works both splendid and useful, am- phitheatres, temples, theatres, and aqueducts. Many of these buildings have perished, but the magnificent monuments at Aries and Nimes, and the less striking remains in other cities, show what this country was under Roman dominion. The tribes or peoples within the limits of the Provincia are very numerous. Pliny ha.s a long list. On the west side of the Rhone at the foot of the Pyrenees were the Consorani and Sordones or Sordi. North of them were the Volcae Tectosages, whose capital was Tolosa; and the Ruteni Provinciales. The Volcae Arecomici occupied the country east of the Tectosages and extended to the Rhone. The position of the Tasconi, a small people mentioned by Pliny, is only a matter of conjecture [Tasconi]. North of the Arecomici only one people is men- PRUSA. .tioned between the Ctvennes and the Rlione, the Helvii [Helvii]. The ^»'f/ec/(e (a mountain stream from the Cevennes") flows through their country into the Rhone. It was by the valley of the Ardeche that Caesar got over the Cevennes into the countiy of the Arverni through the snow in the depth of winter {B. G. vii. 8). He could go no other way, for he tells us that he went through the territory of the Helvii. East of the Rhone the tribes were very numerous for the surface is larger and full of valleys. It has been already observed that the Seduni, Veragri, and Nantuates must have been included in the Nar- bonensis of Augustus. The Allobroges occupied the country south-west of Geneva, to the here and the Rhone. Pliny's list of names in the Provincia com- prises all Ptolemy's, with some slight variations, except the Commoni, Elicoci, and Sentii. Some of the names in Pliny are probably coiTupt, and nothing is known about some of the peoples. The following are the principal peoples south of the Nantuates and Allobroges: the Centroiies, Graioceli, Medulli, Ca- turiges, Tricorii, Segovellauni, Tricastini, Cavares, Vocontii, Vulgientes, Bodiontici. and Albici, all of them north of the Druentia or its branches. South of them were the Salyes or Salluvii, the neigh- bours of Massilia; the Suetri, Oxybii, Deciates, and the Nerusi, who were separated from Italy by the Var. [G. L.] PRUSA (Jlpovaa : Eth. Upova-afvs), generally with the addition of 4m or irphs t^ 'OAvfnrcj), to distinguish it from another place of the same name, was situated at the northern foot of Mount Olympus, in Mysia. Pliny (v. 43) states that the town was built by Hannibal during his stay with Prusias, which can only mean that it was built by Pru.sias, whose name it bears, on the advice of Hannilial. According to the common text of Strabo (sii. p. 5C4), it was founded by one Prusias, who waged war against Croesus, for whom Stephanus B. (s. v.) sub- stitutes Cyrus. As no such Prusias is known in the age of Croesus or Cyrus, various conjectures have been made upon the passage of Strabo, but without success. At all events, it is acknowledged by Dion Chrysostomus (^Orat. xliii. p. 58.5), who was a native of the town, that it was neither very ancient nor very large. It was, however, as Strabo remarks well governed, continued to flourish under the Roman emperors (Plin. Epist. x. 85), and was celebrated for its warm baths, which still exist, and bore the name of the " royal waters." (Athen. ii. p. 43; Steph. B. s. v. Qepfx.a.) Under the Greek emperors it suffered much during the wars against the Turks (Nicet. Chon. pp. 186, 389); when at last it fell into their hands, it was for a time the capital of their empire under the name of Brusa or Broiissa, which it still bears, for it still is one of the most flourishing towns in Asia Minor. (Browne's Travels in Walpole's Turkey, vol. ii. p. 108; Sestini, Mon. Vet. p. 70; Ramihon, Researches, i. p. 71, &c.) Ptolemy (v. 1. § 13) and Pliny (v. 43) mention a town of the same name on the river Hyppius or Hypius, in Bithynia, which, according to Memnou (cc. 29, 42, 49), had formerly been called Cierus (Ki'epos), and had belonged to the territory of Heracleia, but had been taken by Prusias, who changed its name. But there seems to be some con- fusion liere between Cierus and Cius, the latter of which is known to have received the name of Prusias from the king of that naihe. (Strab. xii. pp. 563, 566.) " [L.S.]