Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/385

 K. v. c. IT. 11, 12. ITALY. 371 other smaller settlements, some of which are said to be Sam- nite. 1 The Samnites, by making incursions into Latium as far as Ardea, and afterwards devastating Campania itself, greatly extended their power. The Campanians, being other- wise accustomed to a despotic government, yielded ready obedience to their commands. At the present day they have been almost entirely exterminated by the various Roman generals, and last of all by Sulla, who was absolute master of the republic. He, after having by numerous battles extin- guished the Italian revolt, observing that the Samnites, almost without exception, remained in one body, and with one sole intention, so that they had even marched upon Rome itself, gave them battle under the walls, and as he had issued orders to make no prisoners, many of them were cut to pieces on the field, while the remainder, said to be about three or four thousand men, who threw down their arms, were led off to the Villa Publica in the Campus Martius, and there shut in ; three days after soldiers were sent in who massacred the whole; and when [Sulla] drew up his conscription list, he did not rest satisfied until he had destroyed, or driven from Italy, every one who bore a Samnite name. To those who re- proached him for this animosity, he replied that he had learned by experience that not a single Roman could rest in peace so long as any of the Samnites survived. Thus their cities have now dwindled into villages, some indeed being entirely de- serted, as Boianum, 2 Jisernia, 3 Panna, Telesia 4 adjoining Venafrum, and others similar, none of which can be looked upon as cities ; but in a country so renowned and powerful as Italy, we thought proper to mention places even of second-rate importance. [We should add that] Bene- ventum 5 and Venusia 6 are still prosperous. 12. The following is the tradition concerning the [origin of the] Samnites. The Sabines having been engaged for 1 Such was Nola, which our author in his sixth book evidently places in the territory of the Samnites. 2 Bojano. 3 Isernia. Telese. Allifse was between Telesia and Venafrum. 5 Benevento. 6 Venosa. The coins of Venusia have on the reverse the inscription VE., and an eagle resting on a thunderbolt. On the obverse, a head of Jupiter, and sometimes of Bacchus. Sestini, Monet. Vet. p. 15. The Antiquitates Venusinae and the Iter Venusinum were published at Naples in the last century. 2 B 2
 * The ruins of Telesia are to be seen about a mile from the modern