Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/157

 898 FICANA. beneath which it has its source. Its w})o1e course does not exceed 7 or 8 miles in length : hut, like many rivers in a limestone country, it rises all at once with a considerable volume of water, which forms, in the first instance, a deep and dear pool, or little lake, from whence its waters flow in a channel of 10 or 12 yards in breadth, but of great depth and remarkable clearness. This insignificant but beautiful stream derives a high d^ree of in- terest from the description of it by Cicero, whose paternal villa was situated on its immediate banks, or even as it would appear on an island surrounded by its waters. Great doubts have, however, been raised as to the exact locality of this villa. The opinion commonly adopted places its site in an island formed by two arms of the Fibrenus, just above its confluence with the Liris, where there now stands a convent called S. Domenico^ and considerable re- mains of ancient buildings are certainly visible. Others, however, have transferred it to a smaller island, now called La Cornelia, about a mile higher up the stream. This islet seems to agree perfectly with the description given at the beginning of the second book De Legibtu of the spot, " insula quae est in Fibreno," where that dialogue was held ; but this is clearly represented as at some distance from the villa itself, and approached by following the shady banks of the river. Hence it seems probable that the villa may have been at S. Domenico, while the " palaestra," or planted grove for exercise, which Cicero compares with the Amalthea of his friend Atticus, was in the little island of Cornelia. This appears to be the same which he elsewhere (^ad AtL xii. 12) calls ** insula Arpinas." The FSbreno is still remarkable for its extreme coldness, a quali^ common to many rivers which rise under similar circxmistances. (Cic. (2e Leg. ii. 1, 3, Tvtc, v. 26, cd Q. F, iii. 1, aJd Att. xiii. 16; Romanelli, vol. iii. pp. 366 — 371 ; Kelsall, Excursion to Arpino, pp. 89 — 100 ; Hoare, Clasncal Tour, vol. i. p. 293.) The villa of Cicero passed, at a later period, into the hands of the poet Silius Italicus, who is the only other author besides Cicero that mentions the name of the Fibrenus. (Sil. Ital. viii. 401 ; Martial, xi. 48, 49.) [E. H. B.] FICANA, an ancient city of Latium, which fi- gures in Roman history, only on the occasion of its conquest by Ancus l^reius, who is said to have removed the inhabitants to Rome, and destroyed the city itself. (Liv. i. 33 ; Dionys. iii. 38, where the editions have Fidenae, but there is little doubt that the event referred to is the same related by Livy.) It is certain that it was never repeopled : its name is found in Pliny's list of the extinct cities of Latium (iii. 5. s. 9), and is noticed also by Festus (v. Puilia Saxa) as a place no longer in existence. The latter passage, however, affords us a chie to its position ; according to Antistius Labeo there cited, it was situated on the Via Ostiensis, eleven miles from Rome, and apparently immediately adjoining the Tiber, on which it had a port, at a place called by Fabius Pictor the Puilia Saxa. A rocky hill, abutting on the Tiber, to the right of the Via Os- tiensis, at the required distance from Rome, now marked by a farm called DragonceUo, may there- fore be presimied to be the site of Ficana, though no ruins remain. (Gell, Top. of Rome, p. 245; Nibby, Dintomi, vol. ii. p. 40.) [E. H. B.] FICU'LEA or FICIfLNEA (♦i»c<JA»'6o«, Dionys. : Eth, Ficuleas-fttis, Varr. ; Ficulensis, Cic. et Inscr.: €esarini)f a city of ancient Latium, situated on the FICULEA. Visi Nomentana, between Rome and Namentum. It is mentioned repeatedly in the early Roman liistny, both by Livy and Dionysios. The latter t^li ns that it was founded by Uie Aborigines, together witii Antemnae and Tellenae (i. 16). Its name appears also among the cities of the Prisci Latini anbdned by the elder Tarqutn (Liv. i. 38): and aa it is oo longer found in the list of the thirty I^atin cities that composed the League in b. c. 493 (Diooys^ r. 61), we may probably conclude that it continiied subject to, or at least dependent on, Rome. Nor doe it again figure in any of the ordinary liist<iries of Rome; but Varro has preserved to na a tzBditioB (de L, L. vi. 18) which represents the FlcnkateK, Fidenates, and other ndghbouring ** popnli ** aa 6»1- denly taking up arms against Rome, ahortly alts' the departure of the Gauls, and prodaczng for a time a panic terror in the city, the memory of wfaich was recorded by a festival called the Popliftigia. No subsequent notice of Ficulea itaelf occnra in the Roman history: and the change of name of the rcmd which led thither from Via Flculensb to Nomentaia (Liv. iii. 52) may probably be regarded as a praef of its declining importance. But the " ager Fm- lensis " is mentioned by Cicero (ad AtL adi. 34). as well as in the Liber Coloniarum (p. 256. wbeire it ii slightly corrupted intoFiciliensis): and PlinjnotieeB the Ficolenses among the existing towns of Latiom (iii. 5. s. 9). These indications are confirmed by inscriptions, which prove that it still snbsisted as a municipal town in the reign of M. Aurelins, tboogh there seem reasons for supposing that it fell iBto decay soon after, and all trace of it disappears in the middle ages. (Nibby, Brntondy vol. ii. pfn 45, 46.) The inscriptions just mentioned, one of which is interesting, sa recording the institution by M. Aa- relius of a college or charitable institution far bofi and girls, who were called " Pueri et Paellae Afi- mentarii Ficolensium ** (OreH. In»cr. 3364), wen found in the neighbourhood of a &rm-hoase called Cesarini, on the left of the Via Nomentana, about 9 miles from Rome. They, therefore, leave no doubt that the Ficulea of Imperial times, at least, was sitnated in that neighbourhood, fiut the epithet of ** Ficulea ve- tus," applied by Livy to the ancient Latin city Q. 38), would seem to indicate that it was distinct from tbe town which bore that name in his day. Martial also speaks of "Ficelias veteres"* (vi. 27), as if they were in the immediate neighbourhood of Nomentom; and it is not improbable that the words used by Dionysins, — " Ficulnea, which adjoins the Comicolan mountains" (i.l 6.), — ^were added for the same purpose of distinction. Hence it is probable that the Roman Ficulea was situated somewhere within the confines of the tenimento or domain of Cesarmi, but that the ancient Latin city occupied a site more distant from Rome, and nearer to Nomentum, dither on the hill called Afonte Gentile, or more probably on that now- marked by a lofty tower called Torre JAtpara. This site, which is 1 1 miles from Rome, and on the Via Nomentana, is described as *' strewed with tiles and pottery, perhaps one of the surest indications of an ancient city." (Gell, Top. of Borne, p. 247.) One of the inscriptions above mentioned (OrelL 111) gives us the names of two Pagi in the territory of Ficulea, called the Pagus Ulmanus and Transulroanoa : hence we may presume that the brook which now Rows by Ceearmi, and crosses the Via Nomentana near the Casaie dn Paesif bore in ancient times the name of Uhnus. [E. H. B.]