Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/509

 OAHPAmA. ' The Rgkn tbns Iinuted ia one of tbe most bean- tiful and fertUe in the world, and anqnestianablj the fiurest portioti of Italy. Greek and Roman writers vie with one another in celebmtlng its na- tnral advantages, — the fertility of its soil, the beauty of its landscape, the softness ci its climate, and the excellence of its haiixKin. Pliny calls it ** feliz ilia Campania — certamen hamanae volaptatis." Floras b still more enthusiastic : ^ Omninm non modo Italia, sed toto orbe temumm pnlcherrima Gampaniae plaga est. Nihil moUias caelou Denique Ins floribos ver- nat Nihil uberins solo, ideo Liberi Gererisque cer- tamen dicitnr. Nihil hospitalius mari." £ven the more sober Polybius and Strabo an load in its praises; and Cicero caUs the plains about Capua niae,pacis omamentam,subsidiumbelli,faudamentam ▼ectigaliam, horreum legionam, solatiam annonae." (PoL iii. 91 ; Strab. y. pp. 242, 243; Plin.iu.5. s.9; Flor. i. 16 ; CicdeLeg.Agr, 1 7, u. 28.) The greater part of Campania is an unbroken plain, of almost unequalled fertility, extending from the foot of the Apennines to the sea. But its uniformity is broken l>y two remarkable natural features : the one a group of volcanic hills of considerable extent, but of mode- rate elevation, rising abruptly from the plain between Cumae and Neapolis, and constituting a broken and hilly tract of about 15 miles in length (from E. to W.), and from 8 to 10 in breadth. One of the most considerable of these hills is the Mons Gaurus, so celebrated in ancient times for its wines. The whole range, as well as the neighbouring islands of Aenaria and Prochyta, is of volcanic origin, and preserves evident traces of the comparatively recent action of scbterranean fires. These were recognised by ancient writers in the Forum Vulcani, or SolfiUaraj near Pu- teoli (Strab. v. p. 246; Lucil. Aetn. 431; SiU Ital. xii. 1 33) ; but we have no account of any such erup • tion in ancient times as that which, in 1538, gave rise to the Monie Nuotfo^ near the same town. On the other side of Neapolis, and wholly detached from the group of hills already described, as well as from the chain of the Apennines, from which it is sepa- rated by a broad girdle of intenrening plain, rises the isolated mountain of Vesuvius, whose regular vol- canic cone forms one of the most striking natural features of Campania. Its peculiar character was noticed by ancient observers, even before the fearful eruption of A. d. 79 gave such striking proof that its subterranean fires were not, as supposed by Strabo (v. p. 247), ^ extinct for want of fuel." But the Volcanic agency in Campania, though confined in historical times to the two mountain groups just no- ticed, must have been at one period far more widely extended. The mountain called Rocca Monfina or MU di Sta Croce^ which rises above Suessa, and was the ancient seat of the Aurunci [AuRunci], is likewise an extinct volcano; and the soil of the whole plain of Campania, up to the very foot of the Apennines, is of volcanic origin, from which cir- cumstance is derived the porous and friable charac- ter to which it owes its great fertility. It was, in all probability, from the evidences of subterranean fire so strongly marked in their ndghbourhood, that the Greeks of Cumae gave the name of the Phle- graean plains (Campi Phlegraei: r& ^Ac7paia wc- 9ia) to the part of Campania adjoining their city. (Died. iv. 21 ; Strab. v. p. 245.) Another appella- tion by which the same tract appears to have been known, was that of Campi Laborini (Plin. iii. 5. s. 9), from which is probably derived the modem name CAMPANIA. 491 of Terra di LavorOy now used to designate the whole district of Campania. It is this extensive plain which was so celebrated in ancient, as well as modem, times for its extraor- dinary fertility. Strabo calls it the richest plain in tiie world (vtBloy ti^aifuwtffrarow riov avdyrwi'), and tells us that it produced wheat of the finest quality; while some parts of it yielded four crops in Uie year, — two of spelt (C odb of millet, and the foiulh of vegetables {dx<Biyd). (Strab. v. p. 242.) Pliny also relates that it grew two crops of spelt and one of millet every year; while those parts of it that were left fallow produced abundance of roses, which were employed for the ointments and perfroneries for which Capua was celebrated. The spelt of the Campanian plain was of particularly fine quality, so that it was considered to be the only one fit for the manufacture of ^^ alica," apparently a kind of ptuta, called by Strabo x^^P^'' (Plin. xviii. 8. s. 9, U.S. 29.) Virgil also selects the plains around the wealthy Capua and the tract at the foot of Ve- suvius as instances of soils of the best quality for agricultural purposes, adapted at once for the growth of wine, oil, and com. (Vlrg. G. ii. 224.) From the expressions of Cicero already cited, it is evident that the *'ager Campanus," — the district immediately around the city of Capua, — while it continued the public property of the Roman state, was one of the chief quarters from whence the supplies of com for the public service were derived. There is no doubt that vines were cultivated (as they are at the pre- sent day) all over the plain (see Virg. /. c), but the choicest wines were produced on the slopes of the hills; the Massican and Falemian on the sides of the Mons Massicus and the adjoining volcanic hills near Suessa and Gales, the Gauran on the flanks of Mt. Gaums and the other hills near Puteoli, and the Sur- rentine on the opposite side of the bay. All tliese were reckoned among the most celebrated wines then known. Nor was the olive-oil of Campania less distinguished : that of Venafrum was provei'bial for its excellence (Hor. Carm, ii. 6. 16), and the other hilly tracts of the province were scarcely inferior to it. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 9 ; Strab. v. p. 243; Flor. i. 16.) The maritime advantages of Campania were scarcely less remarkable than those which it derived from the natural fertility of its territory. Its coast- line has a tolerably uniform direction towards the SK. from the mouth of the Liris to Cumae : but S. of that city it is intermpted by the bold and isolated group of volcanic liills already described, which ter- minate towards the S. in the lofty and abrapt head- land of Misenum. Between this point and the Pro- montory of Minerva, which is itself (as already pointed out) but the extremity of a bold and lofty arm of the Apennines, the coast is deeply indented by the beautifril bay, known in ancient times as the Crater, from its cup-like form, but called also the Sinus Cumanus and Putkolanus, from the neigh- bouring cities of Cumae and Puteoli, — and now fa- miliarly known to all as the Bay of Naples, (Strab. V. pp. 242, 247.) The two ranges which constitute the two headUnds boundmg this gulf ara^farther con- tinued by the outlying islands adjoining them : those of Aenaria and Prochtta, off Cape Misenum, being, like the hills on the adjacent mainland, of vol- canic origin; while that of Capreae, with its pre- cipitous cliflb and walls of limestone, is obviously a continuation of the calcareous range of the Apennines, which ends in the SuiTentine Promontory. The shores of this beautiful gulf, so ncaiiy land-locked,
 * fandam pulcherrimnm popnli Romani, capnt pecu«