Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/171

 912 FORUM VULCANL others fix it at Vulauban, east of Le CaneL Plinj (iii. 5) calls Fomm Voconii a Latin town, that ia, it had the LatUutaa. [G. L.] FORUM VULCANL [Putbjou.] FOSI, a snnall German tribe, of which nothing ia known beyond what Tacitoa {Germ, 36) relatea of them, viz., that they were anbject to the Cherasci, and became involved with them in their min. The banks of the stream Ferae, in Brvmswick^ are gene- rally looked upon as the coontry once inhabited by them, and the little town of Fotenbrock may have derived its name from thenL In the time of Pto- lemy their country was already occupied by the LangobardL [L. S.] FOSSA CORBULO'NIS. When Oorbulo com- manded in the parts about the mouths of the Rhine, he employed his men in making a cut, 23 M. P. long, between the Mosa and the Rhenus, "^ qua in- oerta Oceani vetarentur." (Tac ^nn. zL 20.) Some critics have proposed to change *' vetarentur " into '* vitarentur,'* but probably the text is right. Dion Gassius (Iz. 30), who speaks of this canal, says that it was about 170 stadia long. If we take the usual estimate of the Roman mile, which is 8 stadia, the distance of Dion is somewhat too small, if the text of Tacitus is right The reason for making the canal which the Gredc historian gives, was, " that the rivers might not flood the countiy, by having their waters driven back by the high tides;** an ex- planation which seems to agree with ''vetarentur" in Tacitus, and to be a probable explanation of Cor- bulos design. There seems little doubt about the position of this canal, though there has been great difference of opnion. It is the channel which runs from Leiden^ past Deifi^ to MatuUxnd-duyt near Vlaardingen (Flenium). The distance agrees very well, and the position agrees with the purpose for which the canal was made. The old Rhine, or the Rhine proper, runs past Leiden^ and was a more considerable stream in the Roman period than it is now, [G. L.] FOSSA DRUSIA'NA. [Flbvo Lacus.] FOSSA MARIA'NA or FOSSAE MARIA%A£. Plutarch (J/artM, c. 15) gives a sufficiently olear account of this canal. When C. Marius, b. c. 102, crossed the Alps to oppose the Teutones and their barbaric allies, he fixed his camp near the Rhone. , The entrance to the river was choked with mud, sand, and clay, and ^ was thus made difficult and laborious, and shallow for the vessels that brought supplies. As the army had nothing to do, Marius brought the soldiers here and commenced a great cut, into which he diverted a large part of the river; and by making the new channel termmate at a con- venient point on Uie coast, he gave it a deep outlet, which had water enough for large vessels, and was smooth and safe against wind and wave. This cut still bears the name of Marius." Plutarch supposed that the canal was on the east side of the ouUets of the Rhone. Strabo (p. 1 83) — after quoting Polybius, who says that the Rhone had two outlets, and Arte- midorus, who says that it had three — adds : " but Marius, afterwards seeing that the channel was be- coming obstructed by the alluvium and difficult of access, cut a new channel, in which having received the greater part of the river, he gave it to the Mas- sallots, as a reward for their services in the war against the Ambrones and Toygeni; from which channel the Massaliots acquired great wealth, by exacting tolls from those who sailed up and down. However, the difficulties of the navigation continue, FOSSA MARIANA. owing to the violence of the stream and the aUnvinm, and Uie lowness of the coast, which cannot be seen, even when a vesael is near, in foggy weather: where- fore the Massaliots set up towers as beacons, making the country thdr own in every way; and especially they built there also a temple of the Ephesian Ar- temis, having taken possession of the part which is made an island by the mouths of the river. And there lies beyond the mouth of the Rhodanos, a sea- lake, which they call Stomalimne; some ha^^ reck- oned it one of the mouths of the Rhodaons, and especially those who say that the river has seven mouths (or five, as the text perhaps should be), — being right neiUier in one thing nor the other, for there is a hill between, which separates the lake ftQ/m. the river.** Here Strabo finishes his descrip* tion of the coast as fiu- as Massalia, and he then de- scribes the coast as fiur as the Var. Ifis description of this coast of GaUia shows that the canal of Marios was on the east side of the outlets of the Rhone. Mela's description must be interpreted the same waj (ii. 5). Pliny (iii. 4) calls one of the mouths of the Rhodanns the Massaliotic ; and this is the most eastern of the mouths. (Polyb. iii. 41.) Be- yond, that is east of, the Mawaliotic branch, are " the canals from the Rhodanns, the work of C. Marius, which bears his name; a lake (stagnmn) Mastramela; a town Maritima, of the Avatici, and above it the stony plains (campi lapidei)." The stony plains are the CrcM^ an extensive fiat tract, which is covered with stones. Pliny*s text has " Astromela," which Harduin has changed to Mastro- mela, to make it agree with the nante in Stephanos Byzantinus and Avienus; for which Walckenaer finds fault with him, without reason, — for it is plain that, as " stagnum " ends with " m," the next word, if it began with "m,** might easily lose it in transcription. The Itineraries also plaoe the Fossa Mariana en the east side of the Rhone. But Ptolemy (ii. 10) in the common texts, has it on the west side. Pro- ceeding from west to east he has: Setius hill; Fossae Marianae ; the west Qiouth of the Rhone ; and the east mouth. He correctly places Maritima east of the east mouth of the Rhone, It is hard to explain how Ptolemy made a mistake in a matter which was known to every body. Walckenaer {Giog. 4^. iii. p. 133) supposes that we ought to read Marinae for Maiianae (Mo^toyol ^6c<raL), in Ptolemy's text ; and lie adds, that the edition (tf 1475 has '' Fossae Marinae." There is also the reading " Fossae Marinae," in the Latin edition of Pirckheimer (1524.) The two words might easily be confounded. If we do not accept; thb ooDJectme we inust either allow that Ptolemy has made a veiy great mistake, or that the Fossae Marianae have been transposed in his text, without transposing the numbers. For it is hardly possible that he should place in his geography Fossae Marinae, a name otherwise unknown, and omit the Fossae Marianae, the great work that was familiar to all geographers. The best ^d most recent authority for the an- tiquities of this part of France (^Staiistique du dep. (Us Bouckea du RkSne) states that the canal of Marius ran in a straight line from east to west frcm the gulf of Stomalimne, now theE'kmgde VEstouma^ to the Rhone, which it joined about a mile above its mouth. The length was 16 miles. There are many proo& of the existence of the canal in the place here assigned to it The village of /V^i which retains the name of this canal, stands jost