Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/199

 940 GALLIA CIS. the great plun be^ns. The most eastern of these affluents of the Po is the Mincins, which flows through the great lake Benacns. A ridge of hills lies between this lake and the riTer Athesis {Adige)^ whidi descends from the Rhaetian Alps in a long yalley, which has a general southern direction. On reaching the plain, the Athesis turns S£. and E., and, nmning parallel to one of the branches of the Po, enters l£c Adriatic. The Athesis forms a na- tural boundary in this great plain, and is the limit of Gallia Cisalpina, considered as the country of the Galli. The territory east of it, Venetia, or the conn- try of the Veneti, extended along the Adriatic to the head of the gulf. It is drained by numerous streams, whose upper courses are in narrow valleys in the mountain nigion; and the lower part of their course IS through the flat country which borders the coast of tiie Adriatic from Ravenna northwards to the bay of Tergeste {Trieste). The Po, and the numerous streams that enter the Adriatic through the plains north of it, aro described under their several names [Athesis, Padus, &c.]. The length of the great plain from Augusta Tauri- norum {Torino) to the delta of the Po is above 200 miles; the breadth varies in difierent parts. Be- tween Bononia {Bologna) and Verona it is near 70 miles wide. From the towers of Bologna, a man can see over this wide level as far as the Euganean hills at the back of Verona. Gallia Gisalpma, as already observed, has a nar- row meaning, if we lunit the term to the parts which wera occupied by the Galli There is no doubt that the Romans first used it as a general name for North Italy, without fixing its meaning exactly, though they meant by it the country <^ the Cisalpine Galli. Afterwards they gave the name -to all the basin of the Po, and included In It at least so much of the hill country as they had subdued ; but the people within the Alps (Inalpini) and on the Italian side were not subdued till the time of Augustus. The following are the chief Alpine tribes of Gallia Cisalfuna, proceeding from west to east The Le- pontii were both on the north and on the south side of the Alps, in the country that lies between the sources of the Rhodanus, Rhenus, and Tidnus. The Focunates were probably on the west ade of the Lago Maggiore ; the Mesiates, at the north end of the lake; and the Isarci, on the south-east side. The Genanni are pUoed by some writers on the north- east side of the Maggiore. About the lake Larius, or ComOf in the south part, were the Orobii, in whose country Caesar establuhed the Latin colony of No- vum Comum. The Cnlicones [Cuugones] were on the NE. mde of the lake of Como ; and the Vennones are supposed to be the inhabitants of the Valteline. The Snanetes and Rugusd seem to have been in the hills north of Bergomum {Bergamo), The Gamuni [Camuni], a tribe akin to the Euganei, were in the upper valley of the Ollius {OgUo); and the Euganei, an old Italian people, were situated, in the historical times, aboul the lake Benacus {Garda) and about Edrum {Idro), The Btcnl, mentioned by Pliny, may, perhaps, be somewhere north of the Benacus. The warlike nation of the Rbaeti, who gave name to a part of the High Alps, were east of the Lepontii, but only a small part could be within the limits of Italy. The valley of the Adige, which forms one of the great roads into Italy frcon the basin of the Danube, contained the Tridentini, whose position is determined by that of Tridentum {TVento) on the Adige; and Uie Briz- QALLLA CIS. entes are the people of Brixen, higber op in the valley of the Adige. The Breuni were still fnrtber north [Breuhi] : they are incorrectly placed by some modem writers east of the Lago Mfaggiore, East of the Athesis in the hill oountry the po- sition of the Medoad was probaUy in the upper valleys of the two rivers named Hedoacos or Meda- acus ; and in the mountains above the bead of tiie Adriatic were the Carm, a Celtic people, — for there were Celtae in these parts. [Carhi.] The ooontir between the Adige and the Canii was Venetu, or the country of the Veneti, which is genamlly exdaded from the descriptions of GalliaCisalpina in the limited sense ; and this is correct enough, for the BemsK had no wars with the Veaeti, and their writexs hare not told us tiiat they were Galli. This name, one of the oldest national names of Italy, has subsisted to the present day. If the Veneti were Celtae or GaDi, they belong to some very early migration, and the supposition that they were Celtae, is at least as probable as any other. The remark of Pdyhsiis (ii. 17) as to their language, is not dedsive agaiist the supposition of thdr twing of Gallic or Ceitie stock. Herodotus (v. 9) had heard of the fieneti or Eneti on the Adriatic, and he speaks of £neti (i. 196) as Illyrians, from which, even if it be true, we can conclude nothing, except that the Eneti, who are probably the Veneti, were on the Adriatic in the fifth century before our era. Strabo (p. 212) gives two traditions about the VeD^ ; one that they were from the Armoric Veneti in GaDia, and anotiier that they were from the PapUagonian Heneti. In another plan (pw 195) he has a aen^^ remaric on this matter : he says, ** I think tfaai these Veneti of Transalpine Gallia were the parent stock ef the Veneti on the Hadriatic, for nearly all tJie rest «f the Celtae who are in Italy, here migrated thither from the country beyond the Alps, like the Bon a^ the Senones ; but oo account of the sameness ef name (some) say that they are Papfalagoniaas. However, I do not speak positively, for in soeh matters probability is sufBdent" This passage contains a good deal First, it states that n^rly nE the Celtae of Italy came from the ooontiy b^ood the Alps, which implies that there were some Cdtae who did not come from Transalpine Gallia ; secondly, he means to say, that the Veneti are Celtae, for be says, *' nearly all the rest of the Celtae,** which isK plies that the Veneti were Celtae. Besides, if tbey were not Celtae, but something else, he would not have supposed that they were descendants of the Transalpine Veneti. His text clearly means that they were Celtae. His argument for their Trans- alpme origin is not worth much. We might just as well suppose these Italian Veneti to be the pro- genitors of the Transalpine Veneti ; for, as Herodotus says, "in a very long time any thing may take place." Polybius (il. 17) enumerates the prindpal GalSe tribes, for he does not profess to mention all, from west to east ; and first, those on the north ade of the P& He places the Lai and Lriiedi or Ltum and labidi, about the sources of the Po, which is not very precise. Probably they did not extend farther east than the Ticinus. Polybius only mentions the Sa- lassi once {Frag, xxxiv. 10), and he describes one of the passes over the Alps as lying through their country. They were north of the Ls«vi and Libicai, in the valley of the Duria Major, the Vol tTAotUi^ in which was the subsequent Roman settlement of Augusta Praetoria, and lower down at tiie cntnnos