Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/374

 358 HISTORY OF GREECE. merous visitors to this holy spot, 1 perhaps hardly less than those of the inhabitants of Krissa from the vicinity of Delphi. Of the relations of these Cumoeans with the Hellenic world generally, we unfortunately know nothing ; but they seem to have been in inti- mate connection with Rome during the time of the kings, and especially during that of the last king Tarquin, 2 forming the intermediate link between the Greek and Latin world, whereby the feelings of the Teukrians and Gergithians near the JEolic Kyme, and the legendary stories of Trojan as well as Grecian heroes ^Eneas and Odysseus passed into the antiquarian im- agination of Rome and Latium. 3 The writers of the Augustan age knew Cuma3 only in its decline, and wondered at the vast ex- tent of its ancient walls, yet remaining in their time. But during the two centuries prior to 500 B. c., these walls inclosed a full and thriving population, in the plenitude of prosperity, with a surrounding territory extensive as well as fertile, 4 resorted to by purchasers of corn from Rome in years of scarcity, and unassail- ed as yet by formidable neighbors, and with a coast and harbors well suited to maritime commerce. At that period, the town of Capua, if indeed it existed at all, was of very inferior impor- tance, and the chief part of the rich plain around it was in- 1 Strabo, v, p. 243. Kal elaeirfaw ye oi -xpo-dvaonevoi Kal ttzGuftevoi ron KaTax&oviovr dai/j.ovag, ovruv ruv ixpjjyovpevuv Til roiade lepiuv, j/pyoTiapr, KOTUV rbv roirov. 8 Dionys. H. iv, 61-62, vi, 21 ; Livy, ii, 34. 3 Sec, respecting the transmission of ideas and fables from the JEolir Kyme to Cumse in Campania, the first volume of this History, chap, xv, p. 457. The father of Hesiod was a native of the JEolic Kyme : we find in the Hesiodic Theogony (ad fin.) mention of Latinus as the son of Odysseus and Circe : Servius cites the same from the 'Aam So-rroua of Hesiod ( Servius ad Virg. JEn. xii, 162 ; compare Cato, Fragment, p. 33, ed. Lion). The great family of the Mamilii at Tusculnm, also derived their origin from Odysseus and Circe (Livy, i, 49). The tomb of Elpenor, the lost companion of Ciysseus, was shown at Circeii in the days of Theophrastus (Hist. Plant v, 8, 3) and Skyhis (f. 10). Hesiod notices the promontory of Felorus. the strait of Messina, and tlir islet of Ortygia near Syracuse (Diodor. iv, 85 ; Strabo, i, p. 23). 4 Livy, ii, 9.