Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/575

 CASINOMAGUS. CASINOHAGUS, in Transalpine Gaol, is placed by the Table on a rwid from Mediolannin Santonum (^Samtes) to Ausritum, Augnstoritttm {Limoget)^ 25^ Roman mUM from Limoget. It seems to be Chattenon, on the left bank of the Viennef which is a probable corruption of Casinomafros. D'Anville discoases the position of another Casinomagos some- where between Avch and Toulou$9j but nothing can be made of it [G. L.] CASrNUM (Kdurtywi Eth, Casinas, -fttis: San Germano), a considerable citjr of Latiumi in the more extended use of the term, mtuated on the Via Latina, 7 miles from Aquinumi and 16 from Vena- from. It was distant about 5 miles from^the left bank of the river Liris, and was the last city of Latium towards the frontier of Campania. (Strab. ▼. p. 237 ; /(m. AnL p. 303.) From its situatiim it must have been included in the Volsdan territory, and probably belonged originally to that people; but it was subsequently occupied by the Samnites, frtnn whom it was wrested by the Romans. (Van*, de L,L. Tii. 29.) In B. c. 312 a Roman colony was sent there, at the same time as to Interamna, both evi- dently for the purpose of securing the rich valley of the Litis. (Liv. ix. 28.) As its name is not found in the list of the thirty Latin colonies given by Livy iu B. c 209, it is probable that it was a " colonia civium ** (Madvig. cfe Colon, p. 264), but no subse- quent notice is found of it as su<^. Its name is repeatedly mentioned during the Second Punic War, and on one occasi<ni Hannibal encamped in its ter- ritory, which he ravaged for two days, but did not attempt to reduce the town itself. (Liv. xxii. 13, zzvi. 9.) After this we hear no more of it as a for- tress, but it became a flourishing and opulent muni- cipal town, both under the Republic and the Empire. (Cic. pro Pkmc, 9 ; Strab. v. p. 237.) Its territory, like th^ of the neighbouring Venafrum, was parti- cularly fiivonrable to the growth of olives, but the broad level tract from the city to the banks of the Luris was in all respects very rich and fertile. (Varr. K R. ii. 8. § 11, Fr. p. 207; Cic de Leg. Agr, ii. 25, uL 4.) These favoured lands were among those which it was proposed by the agrarian law of Bullns to portion out among the Roman citizens (Cic. t c) ; they actually underwent that fate a little latflr, when a military colony was established there by the Second Triumvirate. {Lib. Colon. p. 232 ; Zumpt, de Colon, p. 336.) Casinum is not termed a colony bj Pliny, though it bears that title in several inscriptions (Murat. Inter, p. 11 04. 7, 8 ; OrelL 2797) ; but whatever may have been its rank, it is clear, both from inscriptions and extant remains, that it must have continued a flourishing and considerable town under the Roman Empire. It appears to have been destroyed, at least in great part, by the Lombards in the 6th century; the modem city of San Germano has grown up on its ruins, while the name of MorUe Catino has been retained by the celebrated monastery founded (a. d. 529) by St. Benedict on the lof^ hill which towers immediately above it. San Germano, however, occupies but a part of the site of the ancient Casinum, the ruins of which apread over the lower slopes of the hill for a am- aiderable distance. Among them are the remains of an ainj^itheatre, of small size but in unusually per- fect preservation, which was erected, as we learn from an inscription still extant, at her own private cost by Ummidia Qnadratilla, the same person cele- brated by the younger Plmy. {Ep, viL 24 ; further CASIUS MONS. 557 notices of the same famWy are found in Varro de R. JR. iii. 3. 9 ; and an inscription given by Hoare, p. 270.) Some ruins of a temple erected at the same time are also visible; as well as fragments of a theatre, a small temple or sepulchral monument. of a renuurkable style, considerable portions of a ' JMived road, and some parts of the ancient widls. The momasteiy of MonU Casino, on the summit of the mountain, is said to have replaced a temple d Apollo which occupied the same lofty site. (P. Duic i. 26; Gregor. Magn. Dial. ii. 8.) In the plain below S. Gemumo, and on the banks of the little river now called Fiume Rapido, are some fragments of ruins that are considered with much pr^Ulity to have belonged to the villa of Varro, of which he has left us a detailed description; it contained a museum, an aviary, and various other appendages, while a clear and broad stream of water, embanked with stone and crossed by bridges, tra- versed its whole extent. (Varr. R. R. iii. 5.) It "ins this same villa that M. Antonins afterwards made the scene d his orgies and debaucheries. (Cic. Phil. ii. 40.) The stream just mentioned was pro- bably not the Rapido itself, but one of several small but clear rivulets, which rise in the plain near Casinum. The abundance of these springs is allude to by SiHoa Italicus, as well as the foggy climate whidi resulted fixnn them, and which at the present day renders the town an unhealthy residence. (Sil. Ital. iv. 227, xii. 527.) Pliny also notices one of these streamlets, under the name of Scatebra (ii. 96), for the coldness and abundant flow of its waters. The name of Vnmius, found m some editions oi Varro, appears to be a false readmg (Schneider, ad loe.)j nor is there any authority for the name Ca- 8INUS as applied to the river Rapido, which has been introduced into the text of Strabo. (Kramer, ad he. cU.) The ruins, still visible at S. Germano, are described by Romanelli (vol. iii. pp. 389 — 394), Hoare(Ci^. Tour, vol. i.pp. 268 — 277), and Keppel Craven (Abrvesi, vol. i. pp. 40—46.) [E. H. B.] CA'SIUS MONS (Krfo-ioir: Jebel-el-AJcrd), a mountain of N. Syria, near Kymphaeum (Strab. xvi. p. 751) and Seleuceia (Plin. v. 22). Its base was bathed by the waters of the Orontes. (Amm. Marc, xiv. 8. § 10.) Thb great mass of rock, rising ab- ruptly from the sea, with the exception of some highly crystalline gypsum near its foot on the £. side, and some diallage rocks, serpentine, &c. towards the S£., is entirely composed of supracretaceous limestone. The height has been ascertained to be 5318 feet, falling far short of what is implied by Pliny's (I. c; comp. Solin. 39) remark, that a spec- tator on the mountain, by simply turning his head from left to right, could see both day and night. The emperor Hadrian, it was said, had passed a night upon the mountain to verify this marvellous scene; but a furious storm prevented his gratifying his curiosity. (Spartian. Hadrian, 14.) A feast in honour of 2^eus was celebrated in the month of Au- gust at a temple situated in the lower and wooded region, at about 400 feet from the sea. Julian, during his residence at Antioch, went to offer a sacri- flce to the god. (Amm. Marc. xxii. 14. § 8 ; Julian, Misop, p. 361 ; Le Beau, Bos Empire, vol. iii. p. 6.) A feast in honour of Triptolemus was also celebrated on tliis mountain by the people of Antioch. (Strab. p. 750.) Coins of Trajan and Severus have the epi- graph ZETC KACIOC CEAEYKEON nEIEPIAC. (Rasche, vol i pt ii. p. 428.) The upper part of