Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/512

 494 CAMPANIA. (b.c. 216) the smaller towns of Atella and Galatift declared in favour of the Carthaginian general, and shortly after the powerful city of Capua itself opened its gates to him. (Liv. zxiL 6 1, xriii. 2 — 10.) This was not however followed, as might have been perhaps expected, by the reduction of the rest of Campania^ Hannibal took Nuceria and Acerrae, but was foiled in his attempts upon Neapcdis and Nok: and even the little town of Casilinam was not redoeed till after a long protracted sieges From this time Cam* pania became one of the diief seats of the war, and during sevenU successive campaigns was the scene •f operations of the rival armies. Many actions ensued with various success : but the result was oa the whole decidedly unfavourable to the Roman arms. Hannibal never suoceoded in making himself master of Nola, while the Bomans were able in the spring of B. o. 212 to form the siege of Capua, and before the close of the following year that important city once more fell into their hands. From this time the Carthaginians lost all footing in Campania, and the war was transferred to ether quarters of Italy. The revolted cities were severely punished, and deprived «f all municipal privileges; but the tranquillity which this part of Itoly henceforth enjoyed, together with the natural advantages of its soil and cUraate) soon restored Campania to a state of prosperity equal, if not superior, to what it had before «ijoyed : and towards the close of the Bepublie Cieero contrasts its flourishing and populous towns and its fertile territory with the decayed Municipia and barren soil •f Latinyd. (/>« Xe^. Affr. ii. 35.) This interval of repose was not however altogether uninterrupted. The Campanians took no part in the outbreak of the Italian nations which led to the 8ocial War: but they were in consequence exposed to the ravages of their neighbours the Samnites, and Papius Mutilus laid waste the southern part of the province with fire and sword, and took in succession Kola, Nttceria, Stabiae, and Salemum: but was de- feated by Sex. Julias under the walls of Acerrae. The next year fortune turned in fiivour of the Romans, and L. Sulla recovered possession of the whole of Campania, with the exception of Nola, which continued to hdd out long after idl the neighbouring cities had submitted, and was the last place in Italy that was reduced by the Roman aims^ (Appian. B. C. i. 42, 45, 65; YaM Pat. ii. 17, 18.) During the civil wars between Sulla and Cinna, Campania was traTcrsed repeatedly by both armies^ and was the scene of some conflicts, but probably auBered comparatively little. In b. o. 73 it was the scene of the commencement of the Servile War under Spartacus, who breaking out with only 70 companions from Capua, took refuge on Mt. Vesuvius, and from thence for some time [Sundered the whole surround- ing country. (Appian. ^. C. i. 1 1 6 ; Plut CroM. 8 ; Flor. iiL 20.) During the contest between Caesar and Pompey Campania was spared the sufferings of actual war: and neither this nor the subsequent civil wars between Octavian and Antony brought any interruption to its continued prosperity. Under the Roman Empire, as well as during the later period of the Republic, Campania became the favourite resort of wealthy and noble Romans, who crowded its shores with their villas, and sought in its soft climate and beautiful scenery a place of luxurious retirement. Whole towns thus grew up at Baiae and Bauli : but the neighbourhood of Neapolis, Pompeii, and Surrentum were scarcely less favoured, and the beantiful shores of the Cmter were tsar- CAMPAMIA.^ rounded with an afanost eontinuoos rttogt of palaees villas, and towns. The great eruption of Vesuvius in A. D. 79, wlueh buried under heaps of ashes the flourishing towns of Hercnlaneum and Pompeii, and bid wa'^ great part of the fertile lands on all side» of it, gave for a time a'violoit shock to this pros- perity; but tiie natural advantages of this favoured land wonld soon enable it to reooirer even so great » disaster: and it appears certain that Campania eon* tinned down to the very close of the Western Empire to be one of the most flourishing and pofnilbus pro- vinees of Italy. According to the division of Augustus, Campania together with Latinm c(nistituted the First Region of Italy (Plin. iii. 5); but at a later period, probably under Hadrian, Beneventtun, with the extoisive territory dependent on it, and apparently the other cities of the Hirpini also, were annexed to Cam- pania; while, on the other hand, the name seems to have gradually been applied to tlrt whole of the First Region of Augustus. Hence we find the " Civi^ tates Campaniae," as given in the laber Coloniarum (p. 229), including all the cities of Latiam, and those of Samnium and the Hirpini also; and the Itineraries place the boundary of Campania on the side of Apulia, between Equus Tuticus and Aecae. (Itm. Ant p. Ill; Itin. Hier. p. 610.) This latter extension of the term does not, however, seem to have been genendly adopted : we find Samnium generally separated from Campania for adminis^ trative purposes (Treb. Poll Tetrkut, 24; Not Dign. iL pp. 63, 64), and tiie name was certainly retained in common usage. On the other hamd, the name of Campania appears to have come into ge^ neral use as synonymous with the whole of the First Region of Augustus, so as to have completely su^ perseded that of Latlum; and ultimately, by a change analogous to what we find in several other instances, came to designate Latium exchrnvdy^ or the country round Rome, which retains to the pre- sent day the appellation of La Campagna di Roma* The exact period and progress of the change caniRjC be traced ; it was certainly completed in the time ci the Lombards ; but on the Tabula Pentingeriana Campania already extends from the Tiber to the Silarus. (Tab. Pent.; P. Diac. ii. 17; Pellegrini, Ducorn deUa Campania^ vol. i. p. 45—85.) Ancient writers have left us scarcely any in^ formation concerning the nationid characteristics or habits of the Campaniims during the period of thdr existence as an independent people, with the excep* tion of vi^ue declamations concerning their luxury. But a fiict, strangely at variance with the accounts of their unwarlike and effeminate habits, is, that we find Campanians extensively employed as mercenary troops, especially by the despots of Sicily. Here they first appear as early as b. c. 410, in the ser- vice of the Carthaginians (Diod. xiii. 44 — 62), and were afterwards of material assistance to the elder Dionysius. But, not satisfied with serving as mere mercenaries, they established themselves in the twd cities of Aetna ukl Entilla, of which they held pos- session for a long period. (Id. xiv. 9, 58, xvi. 82.) Again the mercenaries in the service of Agathocles, who rendered themselves so formidable under the name of Mamertines [Mamertuvi], were in great part of Campanian origin. It is singular that we find these m^^naries, in the cases of Entella and Messana, repeating precisely the same treacherous conduct by wMch the Samnites had originally made themselves masters of Capua; and eren a Camw