Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/177

 918 FUCIKnS LACUS. hke stood the Lucus AsamMSy r maeinarj and sacred i^rove of the goddess Anjdtia, who was in all probability a native Manic dinnitj, whose sup- posed oonnectaoQ with Circe and Medea was derived from the iact of her presiding over the magic herbs and incantations for which the Marsi were always fiunoos. [Mabsi.] At a later period there grew np a town npon the spot, which is caUed in inscrip- tions Amoitia, but most have also been cnrrentiy known as Luens; for we find the Lncenaee men- tioned by Pliny among the towns of the Marri, and the name is still retained by the modem vUlage of Luco or Lugo, [Lucus Anoitiab.] The beaati- ful lines of Viigil, in which he associates the grove of Angitia with the *'gbssy waters " of the Facinns, are well known. (Virg. iien. vii. 759 ; Sil. Ital iv. 344.) According to a trsdition mentioned by Pliny and Solinus there had formerly existed on the shores of the Fucinos a town named Archippe, which had been swallowed up by the waters of the lake (Plin. iii. 12. s. 17; Solin. 2. § 6); and Holstenins tells us that the neighbouring inhabitants still peserved the tradition, and pretended that the remains of the lost eity were visible, when the waters were low, at a spot between Trataceo and Ortuochio^ near the S. shore of the hike. (Hokten. iVbc ad Chm. p. 154.) But the whole story has a very fabulous aspect. Another marvel related of the lake Fudnus was, that it was traversed by a river called the Pitonius, without their waters becoming mingled. (Vib. Seq. PL 16; Plin. il loa s. 106, xxzi. 3. s. 24.) The story (which is told of many other lakes) is the more singular in this case, because the Fudnus has no visible natural outlet, no stream flowing /rom it in any direction. But there can be no doubt that its surplus waters were originally carried off by a sub- terranean channel, the opening of which, at a spot a little to the N. of Iako^ is distinctly visible, and is still called La Pedogna^ a name evidently retain- ing that of the andent Pitonius. On the other hand, the only stream of any magnitude that flows Into the lake is that now called the GiovencOf which enters it close to Marrubium, and is a perennial stream of dear water, supposed by some local writers to be de- rived from the neighbouring Le^ cU JScatmo : this, therefore, must be the Pitonius of the andents. There can be little doubt that a part of the waters of the Fucinus sink into a chasm or natural cavity at La PedogtMy from which they emerge (as is often the case in limestone countries) at some distant point : and this is precisely the statement of Lyco- phron, whose expressions are unusually clear upon the subject of the Pitonius, though he has diS' torted the name of the Fucinus into that of Ai/uvii went further, and concdved that they could reoog- nise the spot where these waters emerged again from thdr subterranean channel, which they identified with the sources of the Aqua Marcia in the valley of the Anio, though these are more than 20 miles dis- tant from the lake Fucinus, and separated from it by the deep valley of the Liris. This belief appears to have had no better foundation than the great clearness of the water in both cases (which would apply equally to many other sources much nearer to the lake), but it was generally adopted in antiquity: Strabo states it as a well-known &ct; and Pliny, combining both marvds in one, relates that the Aqua Marcia, which was called at its source Pitonia, took through the Marsi and the lake Fucinus, then sunk FUCIKUS LACU& into a cavnrn and nltimaidy emerged in the territny of Tibnr, from whence it was carried by an aqnediui to Rome. Statins also speaks of the Aqna Maitk as derived from the 'snows of the Manic mouituiiL (Strab. V. p. 240 ; Plin. xxxl 8. s. 24: Stat SUv. I 3.) The subterranean outlets of the Fndnos mce, however, often insufficient to cany off its smpfais waters; and the lake was in oonsequenoe subject to sudden rises, when it overflowed the low gromds oo its banks, and caused much miscluef. Strabo tdh us that it sometimes swelled so as to fill up tin whole basin to the foot of the mountains, st otfaeis would sink and leave dry a considerable tract, which then became susceptible of culture. (Stnk V. p. 240.) The project of obviating the erils srisBg from this cause, by the construction of an aitifieiid emissary or subterranean canal from the lake into the valley of the Liris, was among the great dnigBi entertained by Caesar, but frustnted by hts dc^ (Suet Coef. 44.) Its execution was aftenmds repeatedly urged upon Augustus by the Marn, boi without efie<S, and it was reserved for Claiidifli to aooomplisb this great work. The main diffienltj consisted in the hardness of the limestone rode through which the gallery had to be cut: the lengtii of this is stated by Suetonius at three Bomaa m3es (an estimate somewhat below the truth*); and be tells us that 80,000 workmen were empbyed co it continuously for a period of 11 years. The oparing of it was celebrated by Claudius with great magnifi- cence, and a mock naval comhat was exhibited m the lake upon the oocasion; but owing to the de- fective arrangements, a catastrophe ensued, in wbkh many persons lost their lives, and the emperor him- self narrowly escaped. (Suet. CUmd. 20, 21, SS; Tac. Afm, xil 56, 57; Dion Cass. Ix. 33.) The emissary, however, appears to have folly answeied its purpose at the time; but Nero, throogh hatnd of Chiudius, sufiered the works to fall into deoT, and it became necessary for Hadrian to restore tbem, m which account his biograi^Kr gives him.the credit of having constructed them. (Plui« xxxvL 15. a 24; Spartian. Hadr. 22, who says briefly, "Fudsom emisiti") From this period we have no further ac- count of it; but it appears to have fallen into decay in the middle ages, and became obstructed bj tbe falling in of stones and earth frmn above; and thoo^ many attempts have been made from the year 1*240 to the present day to clear it out^ and restore it to a serviceable state, they have beetn hitherto without efiect It is, however, readily accessible at both ends, and even in its present state suffidentlv attests the justice of Pliny's admiration, who dcwrredlj rankis it among the most memorable proofii of Romaa greatness. (Plin. /. c.) The whole work was exa- mined in detail and described, in 1825, by a Near politan engineer named Bivera: the results of hie researches are given by Kramer, whoae ezceUcnt monography of the lake Fudnus (2>er Fuaner &f, 4to. Berlm, 1839) and the surrounding conntiy is one of the most valuable contributions to our know- ledge of Italian geography. Its authority has bcfo generally followed in the present article. [E. H. B.] ments of Rivera, is 21,395 palms, or about 15,600 English feet (Kramer, Der Fucmer See^ ^ 40.) The M(mte SaJmanOf through the solid hmestooe rock of which it was pierced, rises more than 1000 feet above the level of the lake.
 * 6pKri Mo^wvis (^Alex, 1275). Later writers
 * ts rise in the mountains of the Peligni, flowed
 * The actual length, according to the measure-