Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/156

 FERRARU PfiOM. mlitj of the nama in Soathon Etruria. But it is singokr that Ptolemj, wlio alao notices a Lnoua Feroniaa, to which ho gives the title of a colonia, places it in the NW. eztremitj of Etmria, between the Amiis and the Macn. (Ptol. iii. 1. § 47; Plin. iiL 5. s. 8.) No other notice oocon of anj snch place in this part of Etruria; and the liber Coloniamm, thoufch nnnsuallj copious in its description of the province of Tnscia, mentions no snch colooj at all. An inscription, on the other hand, in which we find the name of " Colonia Julia Felix Lncoferonensis " (Orell. 4099), refers probably to the Southern Etrus- can town: and on the whole it is more probable that the name should have been altogether misplaced by Ptolemy, than that there should have existed a second colony of the name, of which we know nothing. (Zumpt, de Colon, p. 347.) 2. A place near Tarracina, on the border of the Pontine Bfarshes, where there existod also a shrine or sanctuary of the goddess Feronia, with a fountain and sacred grave. The latter is alluded to by Virgil (^ Viridi gaudens FeronU luoo," Aen. vii. 800) in connection with Circeii and Anzur (Tarracma), and the fountain is mentioned by Horsce, on his journey to Brundusium, as adjoining the ]Jace where the travellen quitted the canal through the Pontine Marshes, and from whence they had a long ascent of three miles to Anzur. (Hor. Sot i. fi. 23.) Diony- sius relates (ii 49) a l^end of the temple having been founded by some Lacedaemonian exiles, who afterwards settled among the Sabincs; a tale which was probably derived firom the £sct of Feronia being a Sabine divinity. We learn finom Servius that there was a stone seat in her temple here, on which if any slaves took their seat they obtained their liberty. Feronia, mdeed, appears to have been especially wor- shipped by freed men and women. (Serv. ad Aen. viii. 564 ; Liv. xxii. 1.) Yibins Sequester erro- neously speaks of a lake of Feronia : whether he meant the fountain of that name, or substituted 23; Oberlin, adloc) The site of this sanctuary is dearly marked at a place now called Torre di Terradna, where there ^4 is a beautiful and abundant source of limpid waten, ^ I breaking out just at the foot of the hills which here bound t^e Pontine Marshes, and some remains of the temple are still visible. The spot is just 58 miles from Bome, by the line of the Appian Way. (Ghaupy, Maiton dHorace, vol. iii. p. 453.) [£. U. B.] FERRA'BIA PRO^L [Dianium.J FERRATUS M. (Jebel Jurjura), a mountain- chain of Mauretaiiia Sitifensis, running SW. from the neighbourhood of Tubusuptns. (Ammian. Marc xxix. 5.) [P. S.] FESCE'NNIUM (*turKiviov, Dionys.: Eth. Fe- scenninus), an ancient town of Etruria, situated not veiy far from Falerii, with which it always appears in close connection. Dionysios, indeed, expressly tells us that the Faltsci had two cities, Falerii and Fescennium; and other authors confirm this by ascribing the same Argive or Pelasgic origin to both. (Dionys. i. 21 ; Solin. 2. § 7.) It is very probable also that the " Faliacum" of Strabo, which he speaks of as a town distinct from Falerii (v. p. 266), was no other than Fescennium. Virgil mentions the '* Fescenninae acies " among the Etruscan forces that followed Tumus to the war against Aeneas {^Aen, vii. 695) ; but no independent notice of Fescen- nium occurs in history, and it appears certain that it was merely a dependency of Falerii, and followed FIBRENUS. 897 the fortunes of that city, during the period of its greatness and power. Pliny, however, speaks of Fesoennia (as ht writes the name) as in his time an independent municipal town (iii. 5. s. 8), but this is the only notice we find of it under the Roman Em- pire; ud we have no clue to its position beyond that of its proximity to Falerii. Hence the determinatioc. of its site has been involved in the confusion which has arisen with regard to that of the more important city; and both Gell and Milller have placed Fescen- nium at Cinta CoMtdkma. It may, however, be regarded as certain that that city occupies the site of the ancient or Etruscan Falerii [Fauiiui] ; and we must therefore seek for Fescennium elsewhere. A local antiquarian (Antonio Massa), whose opinion has been followed by Cluver and sevml other writen, would place it at GaUue, a village about 9 miles to the N. of Cvvita CaiteOana, where some Etruscan remains have been found. Mr. Dennis has pointed out another site, a short distance from Borghetto on the Tiber, between that village and CorchianOf where there are unquestionable remains of an Etruscan city (part of the walls, &c being still visible), which appear to have the best dum to be regarded as those of Fescennium. They are distant about 6 miles from Civita CaeteUana, and indicate the site of a ci^ of considerable magnitude. The spot is marked only by a ruined churdb, named S. SUveetro. (Den- nis, Etruria^ vol. i. pp. 162 — 162; Cluver, ItaL p^ 551 ; Nibby, Dintomiy vol iL p. 28.) It is singular that a jJace which seems to have been of so little importance as Fescennium, should apparently have given name to a particular branch of literature, — the " Fescennini venus,** which ap- pear to have been originally a kind of rude dramatic entertainment, or rustic dialogue in verse: though, when these were superseded by more polished dra- matic productions, the name of Fescennini was re- tained, prindpaUy, if not exclusivdy, for verses sung at nuptial festivities, when great licentiousness ^ language was pennitted, as had been the case ia the older Fescennine dialogues. (Ljv. vii. 2 ; Uor. Ep. ii. 1. 145; Catull. Ixi. 127; Claudian, FetcemUna, xi. — ^xiv. ; Senec. Med. 113.) The only authors who expree^dy derive these dialogues from Fescen- nium are Servius (ad Aen. vlL 695) and Festus (v. Fescennini, p. 85) ; and the former, strangely enough, caUs it a town o/ Campama^ probably by a confusion between the Fescennini and Atellanae [Atella] : but the name Is in itsdf strong evidence in favour of their derivation fix>m thence. And though we are unable to account for the application of such a local epithet to a class of compodticms which must have been to a great extent the spontaneous efiusions of rustic character, the same remark applies in a great degree to the "fabulae Atellanae," which could hardly have been confined to the one city of Cam- pania to which they owe their name. Hence, it ap- pears unreasonable to reject the obvious derivation from Fescennium (as Klotz and Bemhardy have done), merdy because we cannot explain the origin of the appellation. (See on this subject MUller, Etrusker, vol ii. pp. 284 — 286 ; Klotz, RdmUche Literat. Geechichte, vol. i. p. 293; Bemhardy, Hdni. Literatwr. note 1 18.) [E. H. B.] FIBRE'NUS, a small river of Latium, in the country of the Volsci, which falls into the Liris on its left bank, about 4 miles below Sora and less than 3 frt>m Arpinum. It is still called the FibrenOf though more commonly known in the country as the Fiume della Poeta from the village of La Poita, 3m
 * Lacus" for **Lucna," is uncertain. (Vib. Seq. p.