Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/887

 SABIXL rites, and on their sacerdotal as well as religious in- stitutions. This is in entire accordance with the character given of the Sabines by Varro and Pliny; and it is no wonder therefore that the traditions of the Romans generally ascribed to Numa, the Sal)ine king, the whole, or by far the greater part, of the religious institntions of their country, in tlie same manner as they did the military and political ones to his predecesscn- Romulus. Numa, indeed, be- came to a great extent tiie representative, or rather the impersonation of the Saiiine element of the Roman people; at the same time that he was so generally regarded as the founder of all religious rites and institutions, that it became customary to ascribe to him even those which were certainly not of Sabine origin, but belonged to the Latins or were derived from Alba. (Ambrosch, Studien, pp. 141 — 148; Schwegler, R. G. voi.i. pp. 543, 554.) Througiiout these earliest traditions concerning the relations of the Sabines with Home, Cures is the city that appears to take the most prominent part. Taiius himself was king of Cures (Dionys. ii. 36); and it was thither also that the patricians sent, after the interregnum, to seek out the wibC and pacific Numa. (Liv. i. 18; Dionys. ii. 58.) A still more striking proof of the connection of the Roman Sabines with Cures was found in the name of Quirites, which came to be eventually applied to the whole Roman people, and which was commonly considered as immediately derived from that of Cures. (Liv. i. 13; Varr. L. L. vi. 68; Dionys. ii. 46; Strab. V. p. 228.) But this etymology is, to say the least, extremely doubtful ; it is far more probable that the name of Quiiites was derived from " quiris," a spear, and meant merely " spearmen " or " war- riors," just as Qiiirinus was the " sj)car-god," or god of war, closely connected, though not identical with, Mamers or Mars. It is certain also that this superiority of Cures, if it ever really existed, ceased at a very early period. No subsequent allusion to it is found in Roman history, and the city itself was in his- torical times a very inconsiderable place. [Cur.ES.j The close union thus established between the Romans and the Sabines who had settled themselves on the Quirinal did not secure the rising city from hostilities with the rest of the nation. Already in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, the successor of Numa, we find that monarch engaged in hostilities with tiie Sabines, whose territory he invaded. The decisive battle is said to have taken jilace at a forest called Silva Malitiosa, the site of which is unknown. (Liv. i. 30; Dionys. iii. 32, 33.) During the reign of Ancus Jlarcius, who is represented as himself of Sabine descent (he was a grandson of Numa), no liostilities with the Sabines occur ; but his successor Tarquinius Prisons was engaged in a war with that people which appears to have been of a formidable description. The Sabines, according to Livy, began liostilities by crossing the Anio ; and after their final defeat we pre told that they were deprived of Col- latia and the adjoining territory. (Liv. i. 36—38 ; Diony.s. iii. 55 — 66.) Cicero also speaks of Tarquin as repulsing the Sabines from the very walls of the city. (Cic. de Rep. ii. 20.) There seems there- fore no doubt that they had at this time extended their power to the right bank of the Anio, and made themselves masters of a considerable p;irt of the territoiy which had previously belonged to the Latins. From this time no further mention of them occurs in the histoiy of Rome till after the expulsion, of the kings ; but in b. c. 504, after the repulse of Roisena, SABINL 867 a Sabine war again broke out, and from this time that people appears almost as fi-cquently among the enemies of Rome, as the Veientes or the Volscians. But the renewal of hostilities was marked by one in- cident, which exercised a permanent effect on Roman liistory. The whole of one clan of the Sabines, headed by a leader named Atta Clausus, dissenting from the policy of their countrymen, migrated in a body to Rome, where they were welcomed as citizens, and gave rise to the powerful family and tribe of the Claudii. (Liv. ii. 16; Dionys. v. 40 ; Wrg. Aen. vii. 708;Tac. J«w. xi.24; Appian, Rom. i. Fr. 11.) It is unnecessary to recapitulate in detail the ac- counts of the petty wars with the Sabines in the early ages of the Rejmblic, which present few features of historical interest. They are of much the same ge- neral character as those with the Veientes and the Volscians, but for some reason or other seem to have been a much less favourite subject for popular legend and national vanity, and therefore afford few of those striking incidents and romantic episodes with which the others have been adorned. Livy indeed disposes of them for the most part in a very summary manner; but they are related in considerable detail by Diony- sius. One thing, however, is evident, that neither the power nor the spirit of the Sabines had been I roken ; as they are represented in b. c. 469, as carrying their ravages up to the veiy gates of Rome ; and even in b. c. 449, when the decisive victory of M. Iloratius was followed by the capture of the Sabine camp, we are told that it was found full of booty, obtained by the plunder of the Roman terri- tories. (Liv. ii.'ie, 18, &c., iii. 26, 30, 38. 61 — 63 ; Dionys. v. 37—47, vi. 31, &c.) On this, as on several other occasions, Eretum appears as the frontier town of the Sabines, where they established their head-quarters, and from whence they made in- cursions into the Roman territory. There is nothing in the accounts transmitted to us of this victory of M. Horatius over the Sabines to distinguish it from numerous other instances of simi- lar successes, but it seems to have been really of importance ; at least it was followed by the remark- able result that the wars with the Sabines, which for more than fifty years had been of such perpetual recurrence, ceased altogether from this time, and for more than a century and a half the name of the Sabines is scarcely mentioned in history. The cir- cumstance is the more remarkable, because during a great part of this interval the Romans were en- gaged in a fierce contest with the Samnites, the de- scendants of the Sabines, but who do not appear to have maintained any kind of political relation with their progenitors. Of the terms of tlie peace which subsisted between the Sabines and Romans during this ))eriod we have no account. Niebuhr's conjec- ture that they enjoyed the rights of isopolity with the Romans (vol. ii. p. 447) is certainly without foundation ; and they apj)ear to have maintained a position of simple neutrality. We are equally at a loss to understand what should have induced them at length suddenly to depart from this policy, but in the year b. c. 290 we find the Sabines once more in arms against Rome. They were, however, easily vanquished. The consul M'. Curius Dentatus, who had already put an end to the 'J'hird Samnite War, next turned his arms against the Sabines, and re- duced them to submission in the course of a single campaign. (Liv. /,>//. xi.; Vict. Vii: 111 33; Oros. iii. 22; Flor. i. 15.) They were severely punished for tlieir defection; great numbers of pri- 3 !i 2