Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/123

 864 £TRimiA. Viter^, Bohenaj and Cometo, which are now snb- jeot to tiie Papal dominioiu The foundation of this division seems to have been laid daring the period of the Lombard rale*. V. PoiilTIGAL CoWSlTTOTIOir* bistoiy of Etraria, — its internal history especial! j, — we cannot wonder that our knowledge of its govern- ment and political institations shoald be verj incom- plete^ All ancient writers ooncar in representing the Etmsoans as not nnited into one reguUr state nnder a national govemmenti bat forming a con- jfederaoj of twelve cities, each of which was a sove- reign and independent state, possessing not onlj the right of internal self-government, bat that of making war or peace on its own aooount They were indeed in the habit of holding general assemblies of deputies from all the citiea, analogous to those of the Latins at the Lacus Ferentinae, and which took phu» in like manner at a national sanetnarj called the Fannm Voltamnae, the site of which cannot be determined with certainty. These meetings, which were held v^larly once a year, appear to have been in the first instance rather of a religioos than a political tharaeter; and the election of a head priest or pon- tiff, to o6Sciate in the name of the twelve cities of Etrnria (Liv. v. I), mast have had reference to these annnal solemnities. They became, however, the nsaal occasion for deliberating on all political matters affiwting the common welfare of the Etmscan nation; and besides these regalar assemblies, it was not an* nsaal to hold eztraordinaiy ones at the same place, if any nnnsnal emergency called for them. (Liv. ii. 44, iv. 23, 25, 61, ▼. 1, vi. 2, z. 16; MUUer, E(rw- her^ ii. 1.) It is, however, manifest that the de- cisions of this congress were not considered binding upon the several states, which we find in many in- stances acting wholly independently; and we have no evidence that, even in time of war, there was any tnprsme aathori^ established wad recognised throoghoot the confederacy, thoagh there mast ne- eessarily have been some general appointed to the fthief command of the combined armies when ao- toally in the field. The dties which composed the league of Central Etrnria or Etrnria Proper (the only one with which we are here concerned) are nniversally reckoned as twelve in nnmber: and Livy expressly tells as that the same number of cities was established in the territory N. of the Apennines in imitation of this parent league.. (Liv. iv. 23, v. 33; IMonys. vL 75; Strab. ▼. p. 219.) But no ancient writer has pre- ierved to us a list of the cities that composed the confederacy, and it is impossible to determine with oertainty which were the sovereign twelve, there being considerably more than that number of names that would seem to have an equal claim to the dis- tinction. Hence the lists proposed by modem writers have varied greatly: the cities that appear to have the most unquestionable claim to be included are Tarquinii, Veil, Volsinii, Glusium, Volaterrae, Vetu- lonia, Perusia, Cortona, and ArreUum: to these may probably be added Caere and Falerii: but the claims ef Faesulae, Rusellae, Pisae, and Volci are neariy equally strong. Populonium, which appean to have been a powerful and flourishing dty, is generally rejected as having been a colony of VoUterrae, but it is certain that it was at one period an independent state, and the same may be said of Capena, Luna, and several other towns in Etrnria. It b probable fiTRUBlA. indeed that, as in the case of the Adateut Leago^ while the number was alwajrs preserved, the consti-* tuent members varied, from time to time, with the rise and fall, the growth and decay, of the different Etruscan cities. (Niebuhr, voLi. pp. 118 — IS If Miiller, Etruiketf vol. L pp. 344 — 355; Dennia, Etruria^ vol. i. p. xzviil.) But besides these, we find several other towns in Etrnria which appear on different occasions as assuming an independent posi- tion and acting like sovereign states: the natnre of the relations between these and the heads of the League are wholly unknown to us. But, ao fully reoognised was the existence of the regular confede- racy, that the " Twelve states of Etrnria" (dnodecim Etruriae populi) was become a common designation for the whole Etmscaa nation, like the *^ triginta populi Latini " for that of the Latins. jOf the internal government and oonstitutian of the several Etruscan cities we know little more than that it was essentially aristocratie, and that the dominant body, like tiie patricians at Rome m the early days of the city, fortified th«r pditical power by sacerdotal influence, retaining in their own hands the ezcloffive possession of all the sacred offices and the discharge of the numerous and complicated functions and observances of their religions ritual. It is apparently this aristocratic body in each dty' which is commonly designated by Roman writers a» the ^ Principes," and it appears that it was they alone who assisted at the general councils of tiw nation already mentioned. (Liv. it 44, vL 2, x. 16.) The exact meaning of the term Lucumo, an Etmscaa word which appears to have designated oeitaiil members of this privileged order, cannot now be de- termined. It b not unfirequently misunderstood by Roman writers as a proper name, while others use it as equivalent to nobles in general (Censorin. 4. § 13; Val. Max. ds iVbm. § 18), and others agaia regard it as corresponding to a chief magistnte or even king (Serv. ad Aen. iL 278). The genniiw Etruscan form seems to have been Lauchme. (MQlkrf Etr, vol. i. p. 363), whence Propertins uses the fonn Lucmo (v. 1. 29). Besides this privileged body, there must have existed, at least in the towns of Etrnria, a commonalty or free population anakgooa to the plebeians at Rome, but whose political power seems to have been very limited. The mass of the country populati<m was composed of serfis QnrforeiX in all probability the descendants of the oanquerea people, the Umbrians and Pelasgians: these IVneataa were led out to battle, like the Spartan Helots, by their respective lords, the nobles of the superior raci^ (Dionys. ix. 5; Niebuhr, vol. L p. 121; MiUIer^ Einuherj vol. i. pp. 377, 378.) It is probable that the account of the civil dissensions at Volsinii, whidi are said to have thrown the political power into the hands of the slaves^ must refer to a somewhat similaf class of vassals or dependents (Iflebuhr, vol. L y. 124), but the version transmitted to us u too vague to be of much value. The earliest traditions concerning Etrnria, esp^ dally those of a mythical character, make fiiequent mention of kings of the several dties, of which Porw sena, king of Clusium, is one of the 1 itest instances. But in the period of the wars of Etrnria with Rome the regal dignity had been abolished throngbout the Etruscan dties, and an aristocratical government with annual chief magistrates established, probaUy not much unlike that of Rome in the first years of the republic. So strong, indeed, was at this time their objection to the monarchical form of goven^
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