Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/164

 FORMIAE Adopted by late writen ascribed the fonndatkn of. Formiae to a Greek colony, which was derived from Lacedaemon, and connected with the origin of the neighbooringAmyclae. In accordance with this trsdi- tion,its name was said to have been originally Hormiae, and was derived from the ezceUent anchonge or road- stead for shij^nng (5p^f ) which its bay affoded (Strab. V. p. 233 J Plm. iii. 5. s. 9 ; Feet «. v. Formiaei Serv. ad Am. x. 564.) Another legend, still more ge- nerally received both by Greek aad Soman writers, selected Formiae as the site of the fable of the I<ae»- trygones in the Odyssey ; and the Roman family of the Lamiae, in the days of Angnstos, even asserted their direct descent frmn Lamns, the king of the Laestrygones. (Cic ad Att. ii. 13; Hor. Carm, iii. 17 ; Plin. I e. ; SU. Ital. vii. 410 ; Solin. 2. § 23.) The first historical mention of Formiae occmv immediately tSter the great Latin War, in B.C. 338« It appears that on that occasion Uie two cities of Fnndi and Formiae had taken no part in the vrar, and had thos kept the -passes through their territory (of the highest importance in a military point of view) always open to the Roman armies. For this service they were rewarded with the gifb of the Roman citizoiship, bat at first without the right of suffrage, which was not granted them till b.c. 190 : they wen then includei in the Aemilian tribe. (Liv. viiL 14, xzzvili. 36 ; YelL Pat I 14 ; Cic. ad AtL ii. 14.) From henceforth Formiae appears to have been a flonrishmg Roman munidpsl town, to vriiich its situation on the Appian Way doubtless contributed ; but it was probably still more indebted to the extreme beauty of its situation, which ren- dered it a fiivonrite place of resort with the wealthy Roman nobles in the latter days of the Republic, as well as under the Empire. The charm of its beau- tiful climate and tranquil bay, the " Temperatae duloe Fonniae litns,**^ ^^ is celebrated by Martial in one of his most elegant epigrams ; and alhnodem travellers concur in extol- ling Mola di Gaeta as one of the most lovely spots in all Italy. Among the villas with which Formiae thus became adorned, by far the most celebrated is that of Cicero, which appears to have become a favourite randflooe of the great orator, from whence many of his letten to Atticus are dated, and which afibided him a welcome retirement during the most disturbed periods of the dvil wars. It was here also that, on his flight from Rome, he landed for the last time, and spent the night in his Formian villa, from whence he was attempting to escape when he was overtaken by the mnrderen and put to death, B. G. 43. (Cic ad Att ii. 13, 14, iv. 2, vii. 8, &&, ad Fam, xvi. 10, 12, &c ; Plut Ck. 47, 48 ; Appian, B, C. iv. 19, 20; Val. Max. i 4. § 5; Vict de Vir, lUmir. 81.) Several ancient writers, including Plutarch, represent CaiSta as the scene of this catastrophe ; but this evidenUy arises from a mere confusion of the two : Caieta, indeed, at this time, appears to have been in a municipal sense a mere dependency of Formiae, of which it served ss the port ; and it is certainly not necessary to sup- pose, as Middleton has done, that Cicero had a villa at GaiSta itself as well as at Formiae. (See this point fully discussed by Chaupy, Maiion dHorace^ ToL i. pp. 232 — ^236.) Several other Romans had villas at Formiae in the days of the great (urator, as well as in those of Horace ; but the wealthy family of Mamurra, who was himself a native of Formiae, had at the latter period engrossed so great a part FORMIC. 905 of the locality, that Honoe calls it the ** city of the Mamurrae." (Hor. Sat i. 5. 37, and Schol. ad loc ; Plm. xxxvi. 6. s. 7.) Martial bean tes- timony that, at a later period, the charms of Baiae and the other places on the Ba^ of Naplet had not caused Formiae to be neglected. (Mart x. SO.) The hilb at the back of it, and which bound the Sums CaiStanus, are also celebrated by Horace for the ex- cellence of their wine. (Hor. Carm, i. 20. 12, iii. 16. 34.) We learn that Formiae received a colony under the Second Triumvirate, and it bean the titie of a colonia in several inscriptions of im- perial date. (Z46. Colon, p. 234; Orell. Inter. 3782, 3884.) It appean to have continued a tole- rably flourishing place till the close of the Roman Empire, and retamed its episcopal see till the '9th century, when it was taken and destroyed by the Saracens, in 856. The remaining inhabitants took refuge at Gaeta, which succeeded to the episcopal dignity ; and the modem town of Mola, which has grown up on the ruins of Formiae, is, as its appel- lation of Mola di GaSta implies, a sort of depen- dency of the neighbouring city. The remains of an- tiqui^ still visible at Formiae an extensive; they appear to have all belonged to different Roman villas, of which there remain extensive substructirais, with the ruins of terraces, vaulted passages, badis, grottoes, &c, lining the whole coast from ifola di Gaeta to the neighbouring village of CatteUone. These ruins may hi traced to have fbnned part of three ancient villas, of which the one next to Mola is commonly known as that of Cicero; but the Abbtf Chaupy would assign to the great orator the m(Mne important remains in the garden of the mo- dem ViUa Martanei, the furthest of the three from Mola, The point is scarcely susceptible of precise determination ; but a monument on the hill above ' is resarded as that of Cicero, and the discovery near it of an inscription bearing the names of some fireedmen of the Tullian fiunily, certainly affords some countenance to the attribution. Several other ancient inscriptions have been discovered at Formiae, and numerous sepulchres and rains of ancient edi- fices are scatterMl along the coast for some miles eastward of Mola along the Appian Way. Among these the names of the Torre di Scauri, and a spot called Mamurano, evidently indicate the site of villas of Aemilius Scaurus, and of the wealthy Mamurta. (Chaupy, Maiton d^ Horace, vol. L pp. 181 —231 ; Romanelli, vol. iii. pp. 422, 423 ; Hoare, CUue. Torn-, vol. L pp. 118—129.) [E. H. B.] FOllMIO (*opfiiMf, Ptol. iii. 1. § 27), a small river, now called the Rteano, Mlrng into the Adriatic Sea between Tergeste (TVisste) and Aegida (^Capo dlHria), which formed the limit between Venetia and Istria, and conseqnentiy at one time the eastern limit of Italy, until Augustus included Istria also under that denomination, in consequence of which the Arsia became the boundary of Italy. (Plin. iiL 18. s. 22.) Ptolemy, however, reckons both the riw Formio and the colony of Tergeste as included in Istria; but Pliny*s statement is probably correct with regard to the limit as fixed in the time of Augustus, previous to the annexation of Istria to Italy. [Ita- UA.] Pliny places the river Formio 6 miles S. of Trieste, which agrees very well with the Ritano; and this river has accordingly been identified with the Formio both by Cluver and D'Anville. Walcke- naer fixes on a smaller stream flowing into the sea near Miga Vecchia ; but this seems too near Trieete, as well as too inconsiderable a stream. [E. H. B. J