Chapter VI: Part 6

FREGELLAE is found in our maps in the vicinity of Arpinum, and not far from the Liris. It is remarkable in history, and its first occurrence in Livy throws considerable light upon the course of events. It was a Volscian town, and was destroyed by the Samnites; the Romans then, contrary to the ordinary Italian law of nations, sent a colony into it. The Samnites, who were allied with the Romans, denied their right to establish a colony there. This was one of the chief causes of the second Samnite war. The Samnites, however, were wrong in claiming it, for Fregellae was the key to the Via Latina, and hence the security of the Roman frontier demanded that the place should be in the hands of the Romans: to the Samnites it was a point of attack, to the Romans it was a means of defence; unless, therefore, the Samnites intended to make war upon the Romans, they were wrong in opposing its occupation by the Romans. Such circumstances must be taken into consideration, in deciding upon the justice or injustice of a question. It is difficult to comprehend how that town rose to such extraordinary power. Pyrrhus conquered it, and it suffered greatly; but from the last book of Livy we see that thousands of Sabellian families, Samnites, Pelignians, and others had settled there. This circumstance, however, was followed by consequences unfortunate for Fregellae. The numerical increase made the town proud, and during the disputes between the Latin colonies and Rome, it claimed to be at their head. Encouraged by the measures of the Gracchi, it obstinately demanded the franchise long before the Italicans came forward. On the whole, ancient history presents many parallels to modern history, sometimes they occur on a larger scale in antiquity and sometimes in modern times. The relation here alluded to is that of the Irish in their connection with England. When Ireland, in 1782, demanded its independence, the Anglicans in their claims against England, went far beyond the Roman Catholics and the other dissenters, and they alone gained advantages. A small parallel in comparison with the great one in antiquity occurs at Geneva, in the relation between the _bourgeoisie_ of the suburb St. Gervais to the _citoyens_ of the old town, where the _natifs_ had all the real power, while the _habitans_ possessed only very little. Fregellae, then, stood at the head of the Latin colonies, and looked with pride upon its power; its inhabitants believed that Rome would not allow matters to come to extremes, and if they should come to that, they counting the population of the Latin colonies found that they were stronger than Rome by many hundred thousands: they thought that they might oppose the Romans, degraded by freedmen and poverty, with an able force of free country people. But the result was quite different. Rome acted with cunning: the Italian allies had not yet made up their minds, and did not yet take part in the interests of the Latins, thinking that the Latin colonies would take care of themselves alone, and that, if it should come to a war, they would become reconciled with Rome, and leave the Italian allies to settle their affairs as best they could. Even the other colonies showed no common interest, perhaps because they were jealous of Fregellae, or they hesitated because they were so much scattered among the Umbrians, Etruscans, etc., and for that reason were wanting in courage. Fregellae thus stood alone: it was conquered and destroyed by L. Opimius, and never restored. Fabrataria, another colony, was established in its vicinity.

The Latin colonies, _Interamnium_, _Sora_, and _Casinum_, formed a complete chain of fortresses in the same district. It was partly before the outbreak of the second Samnite war, and partly during its progress, that the Romans were anxiously bent upon establishing fortified places; and these measures made them as secure as France was by its frontier fortresses. Their frontier was thus very effectually protected against the Samnites, for all those fortresses were planned with great sagacity. The Samnites, who, besides their unsatisfactory constitution, had no fortresses, were thus weak, and the Roman army could enter Samnium without meeting with any obstacle. They were not inferior to the Romans in bravery, but were nevertheless conquered by them, because they were not agreed as to the manner in which the war should be carried on. It is pitiable to see how the excellent people year after year became more unhappy, because they could not raise themselves above their traditionary prejudices, though their salvation depended upon it.

CAMPANIA.

This name has likewise different meanings. In the Roman sense, it is the country of the Campanians, as Samnium is the country of the Samnites; but the Campanians (on coins they are called _Capani_) are the inhabitants of Capa or Capua. In this sense Campania is a country of small extent, comprising Capua and the neighbouring places, Atella, Acerrae, Saticula, Calatia, Abella, Casilinum, Vulturnum, and Linternum. All these places were situated on the south of the Vulturnus, with the exception of Saticula; the _ager Falernus_, between the Vulturnus and Liris, however, likewise belonged to Campania. The Greeks, on the other hand, applied the name Campanians to all the nations of southern Italy belonging to the Oscan race, and this accounts for the fact that the name Campania was also used in a wider sense. This, however, occurs only in later times; and the extent of country which is marked Campania in all our maps, even in those of D’Anville, was not generally so designated until the time of Augustus. The name then embraced the whole country between the Vulturnus, the Liris, and the heights of the Apennines about Arpinum and Aquinum, so as to include Cales and Teanum,—in one word, all the Oscan tribes north of the Vulturnus as far as the frontier of the Volscians. I think I have already observed, in the account of the division of Italy into regions, that the expression _Campania Romae_ was used as early as the fourth or fifth century of our era; it is found in the abridgment of Servius, which, however, was made in the seventh century. The name Champagne has quite a different origin, probably from _campus_, a plain, whence _Campi Catalaunici_, which also comprise the foreign immigrants such as the Goths and others.

You must bear in mind this difference of meaning, in order that in reading the ancients, e.g., Livy, you may not fall into the mistake of believing that Campania is the name for the country which is so marked in our maps.

Advancing from the Liris, we come upon Ausonian tribes and CALES, which, according to Livy, was an Auruncian town. It was conquered by the Romans in the interval between the great Latin and the second Samnite war, and received a Roman colony.

TEANUM was a town of the Sidicines, likewise an Ausonian people. That northern district between the Vulturnus and the Liris, which did not extend as far as the mountains, is one of the most delightful and fertile countries; it is not, indeed, as productive as southern Campania, the _agri lugubres Campaniae_, the πεδία Φλεγραῖα, the coast country from Terracina to Gaeta and Formiae, where a man has the feeling as if he were in a paradise full of the most indescribable beauties—I was there in the month of March, when spring was already displaying all its loveliness; the summer, too, is not so scorching as in the neighbourhood of Rome, for the country is well watered, and that even in the middle of summer;—but the neighbourhood of Teanum is a most delightful hilly country, with a beauty and richness of trees which form a great contrast with those of Latium. This was the country of the Falernian and Classic wines. Teanum, according to Strabo, was a large town; but the present ruins do not show many traces of that greatness, though the silver coins which are found there show that Strabo is correct.

The LIRIS deserves the name of _taciturnus amnis_; it has no strong current, except in winter, when the heights are covered with snow. The VULTURNUS is quite different; descending from the neighbouring hills it has a strong current; but it is not a beautiful river, being extremely muddy. It is, however, a pleasure to see the active flow of its waters. On its banks was situated

CASILINUM, on the site of the modern Capua, which is celebrated for the extraordinary defence of the Praenestine cohort against Hannibal: the perseverance of a besieged town is always interesting, and excites veneration. The garrison murdered the Campanian inhabitants, that the provisions might last so much longer. Hannibal took the place, and after that time it is not often mentioned again. The situation on the Via Appia somewhat raised its importance in the time of the emperors; its means of subsistence, as was the case with all places on high roads, were derived from commerce.

If we compare the present condition of Italy with what it was in ancient times, say under Nero or at the time of Pliny, there can be no doubt that Rome itself is only a shadow of what it then was; I have calculated that its population then amounted to from 600,000 to 700,000 souls. But the territory around Rome was in those days far more desolate than it is now: it is at present more thickly peopled, better cultivated, and happier. Under the later emperors the country may have somewhat recovered; in the fourth century, previously to the plague under Gallienus, it may have had a larger population, and so also in the time of Theodosius. But I entirely agree with Hume, against Wallace, that the population of Italy in antiquity was far less numerous than at present, except in Rome itself. Naples was then only a country town, of about 20,000 or 30,000 inhabitants, while at present it has 400,000. But notwithstanding all this, Italy possessed incomparably more wealth than at present, so that a small town was of much greater importance than one at present with a far larger population; a third-rate town, for example, was illustrious for its works of art to a much greater extent than any modern town of any country.

The name CAPUA is now transferred to the town built upon the ruins of Casilinum; ancient Capua was destroyed by the Saracens during the Lombardic period: its ruins can still be recognised; and among them the remains of an amphitheatre are particularly remarkable; but no ancient Campanian ruins are found there. I never was there, because at the time the country was not safe, and there are no high roads in those parts: I was a whole month at Naples, but was too much engaged to go to Capua. The inhabitants of the district are reported to form a band of robbers, and many a one is said to have had sad experience there. Notorious districts of this kind, however, are different at different times: you may often go to such a place without exposing yourself to any particular danger, while at other times it would be madness to approach it. During my residence at Rome, e.g., it was impossible to visit mount Algidus, whereas at present I have no doubt whatever that a person may go there without any danger. Capua is regarded by the ancients as an Etruscan colony, but we have every reason for supposing that it never was Etruscan. There is, in all probability, some confusion here between Etruscan and Tyrrhenian, because the Etruscans occupied the country of the Tyrrhenians as far as the Tiber, and the name of the latter must have been confounded with the former; the other places on the coast, unless they were Greek, were likewise Tyrrhenian. The name of this Tyrrhenian Capua is compared by the ancient grammarians with _Campi_, the name of the Pelasgian Chaonians. The town was taken, about the middle of the third century of the Roman era, by the Oscans, who were pressed onward by the Sabellians. At that time the district was under the supremacy of Cumae. But the Oscans did not remain long in the undisturbed possession of the place; the Sabellians having once established themselves in Samnium, did not stop short there, but pressing onward, compelled the Oscans at Capua to enter into an arrangement with them, and to admit a portion of them as epoeci—a phenomenon not unusual in ancient times. But such an alliance was generally formed with faithless intentions, and either the ancient inhabitants murdered the conquerors, or the latter expelled the former: at Capua the Samnites made themselves masters of the city, but they seem either to have been expelled by the ancient population, or else to have become amalgamated with them. The Oscans had, perhaps, become a commonalty, and afterwards rose again; in the Roman period, at least, the Oscans are the ruling people at Capua. The greatness of the city is well known from Livy: it stood to Rome in the relation of isopolity; it had not submitted _in deditionem_, as is erroneously stated by Livy: its relation to Rome was the same as that of the ancient Latins, and as a compensation for the Roman conquests, it received an extension of its own territory. In these circumstances, Capua could with satisfaction look upon herself as the second city of Italy; but she was ambitious enough to wish to become the first, and with this view, faithlessly entered into an alliance with Hannibal against Rome, which was then in great distress, but had not broken its obligations towards Capua. We may say without hesitation, that Rome was generous towards Capua, and this was no trifling matter for Rome in its weakness: Rome then formed alliances which benefited other people. As Rome had grown and developed immensely, while the others had remained behind, and as Rome, nevertheless, acted towards them as before, we cannot help calling this generous, and the conduct of Capua unjust and ungrateful. A fearful judgment came upon Capua: it was not, indeed, destroyed, but the Campanians, especially the nobles, experienced a terrible fate. The city was afterwards again filled with all manner of people, and became a domain of the Roman republic. Subsequently, several unsuccessful attempts were made to establish a colony there, until J. Caesar founded one of 5000[39] Roman citizens. From this time forward Capua was a regular colony, and remained a respectable town as long as the Roman empire existed.

MINTURNAE, near the mouth of the Liris, and SINUESSA, belong to Campania in its wider sense; both are prominent places in the system of fortifications which the Romans carried out during the second Samnite war.

The FALERNIAN DISTRICT, between the Vulturnus and the Liris, probably derived its name from a destroyed town, Faleria.

The Oscan towns around Capua probably stood to that city in the same relation as Latium did to Rome. Among them I will notice ATELLA, between Capua and Naples, because the well-known _Atellanae_ originated there. These Atellane farces are truly analogous to the modern farcical comedies, the principal personage of which also appeared in the ancient Atellanae. In a very useful glossary of the Neapolitan dialect, I found it stated, that the buffoon (_pulcinella_) was a real jester who lived 200 years ago; but the fact is, that he has been the same through the course of many centuries from the first introduction of the Atellanae.

ACERRAE deserves to be mentioned on account of the cruelty of which Hannibal was guilty towards its senate—the only cruel act that can be really laid to his charge. The town was destroyed in the second Punic war, and the Romans did nothing to restore it, although it had been faithfully attached to their cause.

NOLA was situated at a greater distance from Capua, and was not one of the Campanian towns properly so called; it was independent, and in no way subordinate to Capua. It might be doubted whether it was really an Oscan town; in Justin it is called a Chalcidian settlement, and I have no doubt that the whole chapter in which this occurs is taken from Timaeus. The coins of Nola have a perfectly Greek character and Greek inscriptions; this is indeed the case with those of Capua also, though not in the same degree as with those of Nola. My opinion is, that these places were originally Tuscan, and that during invasions of the Oscans and Sabellians, Capua lost this Tusco-Tyrrhenian character, while Nola retained it longer. If then the Greeks call the latter place Chalcidian, they do so because it received Greek, probably Chalcidian, epoeci from Naples, and not barbarians. All these towns were situated in the midst of barbarians, who, for the purpose of commercial transactions, even advanced to the Greek towns on the coast, and accordingly much more to a place which, like Nola, was situated in the midst of the country. Nola was built in that splendid plain of Campania, which extends between the Vulturnus and Naples: it is a perfect plain, with quite a volcanic soil; notwithstanding this, however, it is not dry, but very well watered, and almost marshy, whence the country abounds in draining canals lined with poplars. Nola, situated on the other side of mount Vesuvius, whose torrents of lava never reach so far, forms with Capua and Naples a triangle. In the second Samnite war it appears to have been an important town, for it sent 2000 men to Naples to defend that place against Rome; but in the course of the same war it was taken by the Romans. In the Hannibalian war, the fidelity of Nola was of infinite importance to Rome. At Nola the most beautiful Campanian vases have been found: they are made of an extremely fine clay; but they ceased to be manufactured as early as the time of Augustus, for the art of making them had been lost. They were made of clay mixed with asphalt, and then burnt, but so slightly that the asphalt was not changed by the process, hence the lightness and extraordinary fineness of the material. The darkness of the colour arises from the admixture of asphalt. Professor Hausmann of Göttingen first re-discovered the nature of the composition, and the experiments he made with it which were perfectly successful. This is really an interesting discovery, of which good use might be made, if not in Germany, at least in Italy. The art had died away to such a degree, that in Caesar’s time amateurs collected vases from Capua as well as from Corinth, and even opened tombs for the purpose of obtaining them. The vases of Arretium continued to be manufactured in the time of Augustus. The Campanian vases are not jars containing the ashes of deceased persons, such as we find elsewhere in tombs: the body was not burnt, but the skeletons are found in coffins, and on each side of the coffin, four, six, or eight vases of this kind are set up. As they were so slightly burnt, they are often found broken and crumbled, and it is a rare thing to find a large one preserved entire. They must be treated with great care, when brought to light and exposed to the atmospheric air.

CUMAE is the most ancient Greek colony in those parts, though it certainly cannot be as ancient as it is said to be. In the first edition of my Roman History, I had not sufficiently considered this point; it is one of the few subjects on which the objections raised against my view are well founded. I am now convinced, that the statement of Timaeus, for to him it belongs, is false. Certain it is, that Cumae was an ancient Chalcidian colony; but it might even be doubted whether the Chalcidian towns in Sicily were not more ancient. When Capua was taken by the Samnites, Cumae, too, was conquered, and lost its Greek character: the Greek population, which until then had formed the ruling class, became subjects; their fate was that of the American aborigines: they were not indeed extirpated, but lost their political existence. Gradually the Italicans spread more and more, and many families from Campania removed to Cumae, which thus gradually became Italian. The same also was the fate of Naples, though not to such a degree. Cumae for a long time ruled over the whole Phlegraean plain, that is, the Acte between the Vulturnus and mount Vesuvius. _Dicaearchia_, on the site of the modern Puzzuoli, was then the port town of Cumae. In the time of king Darius, it was colonised by Samians, probably in the reign of Polycrates and Syloson.

Another Greek colony from Eretria had settled in the island of ISCHIA, which bore the Greek name Αἰναρία. It is a large extinct volcano, which, however, has repeatedly been active both in ancient and in modern times; for the island is remarkable for its internal fire, which is not yet quite extinct, and is still distinctly perceptible; hence it also contains hot springs; it is a truly paradise-like place on account of the fiery character of its whole nature, its soil, and its vegetation. The Greek colony afterwards disappears, and the island became Oscan simultaneously with Cumae.

Between Ischia and the main land of Naples, there are several other islands, which were no doubt called PITHECUSAE. One of them is NESIS (the modern Nisita), that is, the little island (νησίς), a proof showing how early the modern Greek pronunciation of the η became prevalent. The ancients do not mention it.[40] Another island was PROCHYTA. All these islands had Eretrian colonies.

DICAEARCHIA was a beautiful port, which was, no doubt, likewise taken by Campanians. After the capture of Capua, it came into the hands of the Romans, who established a Roman colony there, and called it PUTEOLI, though this name may have existed previously. The place then became the real port of Rome, for Ostia was bad, and the Portus Romanus on the right arm of the Tiber was not fit for sea-ships. The port of Puteoli, on the other hand, was naturally very beautiful, and even in the time of Augustus pains were taken to make use of the nature of the locality for the purpose of extending the port. Puzzolano, so excellent as a cement for water and harbour-works, was ready at hand in abundance, and in the greatest perfection. In the neighbourhood of Rome it is likewise found, but is not so beautiful; near Centumcellae, it was also employed in making the harbour, but it had to be conveyed thither from a distance. Its abundance in the neighbourhood led to the building of the molo of Puteoli. This _moles_ of Caligula is in reality not so mad a scheme as it is commonly described: it was suggested by the wishes of rational people, but its gigantic extent was the work of madness: when ever Caligula took up a good idea, he at once turned it into something irrational. The whole commerce and intercourse of Rome with her transmarine provinces at that time was carried on by way of Puteoli; and it was there that St. Paul landed, for the voyage along the coast from cape Misenum to the mouth of the Tiber was very dangerous. The ships of that period were in many respects excellent, but in others they were very deficient. It must be supposed that at Puteoli the ships were generally so far unladen as to enable them to sail into the Tiber at Ostia; they also found at Puteoli more easily than on the Tiber, advantageous cargoes to carry back. So long as commerce supplied only the actual wants, so that there was little or no speculation, it was carried on by means of large fleets, or, according to the modern expression, of register vessels. In this way, Rome received from Egypt her supplies of corn, glass, linen, and papyrus. Such fleets, however, did not come from Egypt alone, but also from other quarters, among which Ionia, for example, is expressly mentioned. The expression for these fleets is κατάπλους, as we see from Lucian’s dialogue of this name; but the term is also quite commonly used by Latin writers of the second and third century.[41] Puteoli, as a Roman colony, was very celebrated on account of its situation and at the same time as a watering-place. Pope Gregory the Great quite seriously thinks that the hot springs of Puteoli are connected with purgatory.[42]

The real watering-place, however, was BAIAE, towards cape Misenum. It is very remarkable that at present the district is quite pestilential; if a man were to sleep there one night during the summer, he would be seized with a bilious fever, in consequence of the poisonous air. A French officer, who imagined this to be a mere prejudice, made a bet that he would sleep in the villa Borghese: he was urgently requested not to do it, but the next morning he was quite swollen, and after a few days he died of a putrid fever. The same is the case at Baiae, and yet the ancients, as we see from a fragment of Cicero’s speech _in Clodium et Curionem_, most commonly stayed there in April, when it is already dangerous. I have discovered the explanation of all this, from a conversation with a common man. He said to me that the nature of the Pontine marshes was a very strange thing, that it was not possible for any one in summer to sleep there without fatal consequences, and that it was the same in many parts of Latium; but, he added, that to his own knowledge sailors and boatmen, even in the dangerous season, slept in their boats very near the coast without injuring their health. This proves that the poisonous atmosphere does not extend across the water. The man’s remarks contain a significant hint. I remembered that the English ambassador, with whom I often took a walk there—he was not a man of learning—directed my attention to the fact, that beyond mount Posilipo, in the midst of the sea, ruins of ancient Roman houses were found, and he observed that the Romans must have had a singular taste in thus building houses in the midst of the water, and connected with the mainland by means of bridges, although there was no beauty to attract them. To abandon such a charming coast, and to build a house in the sea, was, he thought, a strange fancy. When, afterwards, I heard the account of the man I mentioned before, the matter ceased to be a mystery to me. Even at Formiae, and certainly at Baiae, the Romans built houses into the sea, in order to isolate themselves from the bad air: these are the _moles jactae in altum_, and on them people were safe.

The country there is indescribably beautiful and charming, and besides Baiae, the lake AVERNUS, surrounded by very ancient forests, is likewise a spot of great interest. Near it, a road has been cut through the rock leading to Cumae. Such roads were often constructed for the purpose of shortening the distance and avoiding the heights, for the Romans generally endeavoured by every means to shorten the roads. A similar road leads from Naples to Puzzuoli, likewise made to avoid a hill, which it would be very difficult to cross: hence the _crypta Pausilippana_, _Puteolana_, _Neapolitana_.[43] The Avernus was, no doubt, originally called ἄορνος, and with the digamma ἄϝορνος. This etymology has been rejected, because it implied the statement that birds could not fly over the lake, which, it is said, is an absurdity. But no bird settles there without dying in consequence, on account of the quantity of carbonic acid which is exhaled by the earth and the lake; dogs, too, are not safe there, but men may pass without any danger.

NAPLES[44] was originally called PARTHENOPE, and was, no doubt, situated on mount Posilipo, towards Nisita, where the crypta turns towards the cape. Afterwards, NEAPOLIS was built a few miles from it on the other side of the cape; and it is a mistake to believe that the two places were nearer each other. Parthenope was a colony of the Eretrians of Ischia, while Neapolis was a Cumaean settlement with an admixture of Athenians; and after the establishment of the latter place, Parthenope was called PALAEPOLIS. In the second Samnite war, Palaepolis was taken by the Romans, and must have been destroyed, for it entirely disappears; Neapolis, on the other hand, became a federate town of Rome, and was treated with kindness. Strabo, however, relates, that the town was so much distracted by internal disturbances, as to be obliged to concede the franchise even to the Campanians, its natural enemies. But notwithstanding all this, it remained a perfectly Greek city until the imperial times; this is evident in the reign of Augustus, evident from a letter of the emperor M. Aurelius to Fronto, and evident, also, from Petronius; there exists, moreover, a great number of Greek inscriptions of the third century. Afterwards, we lose our thread. But the chapel of the ancient church of S. Rosa at Naples contains Greek inscriptions of the period when Naples was a free city, under the protectorate of Byzantium, that is, of the seventh or eighth century.[45] Traces of Greek words still exist in the Neapolitan dialect. The Italian word _golf_ is evidently formed from κόλπος; the gulf of Naples is specially called _the_ gulf; but the ancients also called it κρατήρ.

On this gulf, at the foot of mount Vesuvius, were situated the celebrated towns of POMPEII and HERCULANEUM, remarkable for their destruction and their re-discovery. Both are called Oscan, though it is said in regard to Herculaneum, that at an earlier period it was Tyrrhenian. But from their ruins, especially those of Herculaneum when compared with those of Roman origin, it is clear that the place had assumed an entirely Greek character. Pompeii was conquered by the Romans in the Social War, and there, too, we can clearly distinguish the ancient Oscan and the more recent Roman town.

In ancient times, the bay of Naples was encircled by a wreath of towns, extending all over the coast from Naples to Sorrentum and the promontory of Minerva; but I cannot trace them here, and must now proceed to the interior of Italy.

THE SABELLIANS, SABINES, SAMNITES.

I am now going to speak of the great Sabellian nation; I shall treat of it according to its tribes beginning with the Sabines, who formed the original stock.

The names _Sabini_ and _Sabelli_ are the same, just as _Hispani_ and _Hispalli_, _Graeci_ and _Graeculi_. The form _Sabelli_ is either a diminutive or changed by a pleonasm, _Sabinulus_, and, with a change of vowel, _Sabellus_.[46] This nation occupies a large extent of country in history; but we should be mistaken, if we were to suppose, that all the tribes included under the name were pure Sabines and that they alone inhabited the countries governed by them; for they did not by any means extirpate the ancient inhabitants when they conquered a country. According to a tradition admitted by Cato himself, which contains some truth, but disfigured, the Sabines had originally come from Amiternum, the highest district of the Abruzzi, or as we may call them, the real Apennine Alps. We must not, indeed, understand this, as if the Sabines had been autochthons there, as has sometimes been asserted; but the meaning is, that the tribe from which the different Sabellian cantons issued, came down from those mountains. The ancients say no more than this, but later writers have converted it into a genealogical connection.

We cannot decide how far the Sabellians constituted one race with the Opicans and Auruncans, whether they were akin in a degree like that subsisting between the upper and lower Germans, the Suabians and Saxons, or the Germans and Scandinavians, or whether they were as foreign to each other as the Romans were to the Etruscans. That they differed from each other, is expressly attested. But the ancients are too inaccurate in these matters to allow a careful modern inquirer to accept their statement without hesitation; and although Varro attests that the Sabines and Oscans spoke different languages, still we cannot ascertain, whether he meant only different dialects, or entirely different languages. In like manner, the extension of the Sabellians in southern Italy from the Apennines can be traced only very indefinitely. This much, e.g., is attested, that the neighbourhood of Beneventum was previously occupied by Oscans, without their being the original natives of it; they must have extended even farther upwards into the country of the Marsians, and must have been expelled by the Sabines. The name Maluentum shows, that originally a people of Tyrrhenian origin dwelt between the Apennines and the valley of the Calore. Before the Sabines conquered that district, they probably had their abode in the eastern Apennines. The real and unmixed Sabines occupied a considerable extent of country; in the narrowest sense, they did not touch the sea on either side, either the Adriatic or the Lower Sea, but they extended so far, as to be separated from the latter only by a narrow strip of land, from Amiternum to the vicinity of Rome. But they sent forth branches of their nation which established themselves in other parts and became great nations.

The Sabellian people had this peculiarity, that they formed both distinct tribes and different confederations. Some of them accordingly, such as the Picentians, were without any federal relations, while the four tribes dwelling in the Abruzzi, the Marsians, Marrucinians, Pelignians, and Vestinians, were on many occasions inseparably united, and evidently formed a confederation with isopolity, similar to that subsisting between the Romans and Latins; it was, no doubt, at the same time, at least a defensive, if not an offensive, alliance. The supremacy must have belonged to one of these tribes by rotation, so that each of them may conveniently be called a canton. They stand completely by themselves, and without any connection with the mother people, the Picentians, Samnites, etc. This isolation of the Sabellian tribes was their misfortune. The Marsians and their allies never assisted the Samnites, but allowed themselves to be captivated by the Romans, by favourable terms, first to remain neutral, and afterwards to become their allies. Nor can the Samnites be regarded as a compact nation in their struggles against Rome; if this had been the case, they would unquestionably have offered a very different resistance, for they had a large population and an extensive territory. The Samnites, like the northern tribes, formed a confederation, but their bond of union was scarcely closer than that among their neighbours: they formed perfectly distinct states, which joined one another for a common purpose. The Hirpinians, Caudines, and Pentrians certainly formed a confederation; but the Frentanians did not, strictly speaking, belong to this union; they separated at an early time. To these we must add a fifth Samnite state, to which Nuceria Alfaterna belonged; its name is unknown, though it was perhaps called Alfaterna, and extended from Surrentum to the Silarus. Scylax of Caryanda clearly proves, that this district, from Surrentum to the Silarus, before it was occupied by Greeks, was inhabited by Samnites, and the same is manifest from Livy’s account. When the Romans penetrated there, Nuceria was a Samnite town, and they conquered it as such. In this manner we have, exclusive of the Frentanians, who took no great part in the second Samnite war, four Samnite cantons, which were very populous. In no map are the Caudines mentioned as a tribe, but that they were one is clear from Strabo and Velleius; manuals of geography and maps mention Caudium only as a town.

The LUCANIANS proceeded from the Samnites, but became quite independent of them. The connection with the mother-country was extremely loose with all these people; their migrations are quite different from those of other nations: they are conquests of emigrating bands of men, who for this reason lose their language and national character, and adopt those of the old inhabitants. According to a tradition, the Lucanians emigrated from Samnium as a _ver sacrum_. This phenomenon occurs among all the Italian nations: a people made a vow, that all boys born within a certain year should, after the lapse of twenty years, emigrate and seek a new home for themselves. Thus the Lucanians emigrated, and spread from the frontiers of Samnium as far as Rhegium on the straits of Messina. The ancient inhabitants were subdued, and thus three strata of different nations were mixed together: the ancient Oenotrians were conquered by the Oscans, and the Oscans by the Samnites. But these subjects afterwards rose against their rulers, and formed an independent state under the name of BRUTTIUM. The Bruttians, therefore, did not belong to the Sabellians; they must be regarded as a mixture of Oenotrians and Greeks, and were Greek rather than Italian, whence they were treated by the Romans as Greeks. The Greek language was so firmly established there, that in Terra di Lecce, about Otranto, documents were composed in the Greek language as late as the fifteenth century; specimens of it occur in the Biblioteca Barberini. In the town of Rossano in Calabria, Greek was spoken as late as the sixteenth century,[47] and in Sicily Greek poetry was written in the twelfth; when the Arabs were expelled the remaining population consisted of Greeks, and it was not till a later period that they became Italians. The praetor of Messina was, ever since the Greek times, called _Stratigo_, until in 1672[48] the people revolted against Spain, when the constitution and the office were abolished. The laws of king Roger and of Frederic II. were written in Greek.

In this manner, the component parts of the Sabellian nation, from the Picentians down to the Lucanians, presented different shades of their national character. The Sabine blood in some of them was probably not of more importance than the Frankish blood is among the modern French; for the 20,000 Franks of king Clovis were easily lost among the millions of Gauls. In our neighbourhood on the Rhine, however, the population is almost entirely Frankish, as the Franks settled here in great multitudes. The population here on both sides of the Rhine, and as far as the low German dialect is spoken, that is, as far as Andernach, is descended from the Ripuarian Franks. In the Netherlands also, there are Franks, but strongly mixed with Gauls, Batavian and Frisian tribes; still, however, the population is more Frankish than in France, and in northern France it is more so than in the south; from the Loire to Gascony only the lords of the land are Franks. In Languedoc, there was only a French garrison, and the remaining population, for centuries, remained Gothic. Although, therefore, the Franks extended even beyond the Pyrenees, their race, from the Main to Spain, presented very great differences. The country now called Franconia, scarcely contains any Franks at all. We cannot wonder, therefore, at the fact that in antiquity the Lucanians and the Sabines of Reate did not understand one another.

The constitution of the Sabellian nations seems to have been essentially democratic, so that in the course of time the subjects acquired the full right of free country people. This nation, then, in point of manners and character, was extremely respectable, and this is the special glory of the ancient Sabines, Marsians, and of the Samnites with their confederates; the Picentians and Lucanians are less deserving of this praise. The Latin poets, from Virgil to Juvenal, always set forth the former, when they want to describe the frugal Italian mode of living. If the nation had but formed one compact state, it would not have been too weak at all. The Samnites had as many free citizens as the Romans and Latins, but although their forces were numerically equal to those of the Romans, still there was this difference, that they did not form one body. There can be no question that the different cantons had the supreme command by rotation, and this constituted their great weakness in the conflict with Rome, for in courage and perseverance the Samnites were assuredly not wanting. Even when in one year they gained great advantages they were useless, as in the next year the command belonged to another nation. C. Pontius was the only man among the Samnites capable of governing a state: he might have saved his country, if it had trusted him unconditionally—the Romans would, no doubt, have raised him to the consulship year after year. But it would seem that he had the supreme command only in one town—he was probably a Caudine—while in the next year the Pentrians had the management of affairs. Other men did much, sacrificed everything, and dreaded nothing, but he alone had the power of saving his country. To what extent their country was ravaged, may be seen from the newly discovered fragments of Polybius, in which Pyrrhus, on entering Samnium, is described as terrified at the devastation of the country: the Romans had ravaged it in such a manner, that all traces of human habitations had disappeared: it was just what Peloponnesus is at present,[49] consisting of heaps of ruins and ashes, the villages were destroyed, trees were torn up, and not a trace of agriculture or the plough was left. All this the Samnites bore with inflexible determination; their desperate courage several times brought matters to a turning point, but they lacked the greatest of all things, the courage to sacrifice their prejudices and to change their constitution in such a manner as to adapt it to the circumstances of the time. Their descendants, in the Marsian or Social War, discovered their mistake, and adopted a new constitution; from the little we know of it, we must infer, that it was extremely well devised: it seems to have resembled that of the United States of America, concentrating the nation in regard to foreign enemies, but leaving the municipal sovereignty untouched. It is a pity that we do not know more about it; still, however, many things can be conjectured.

Of all the towns in the country of the Sabines proper, CURES is most renowned in tradition. The country of the Sabines, beginning at the Anio, extends beyond Amiternum, and consists of several divisions. The portion between the Nera and Anio is a hilly country; it is most adapted to the cultivation of olives, which, if well taken care of, would produce there excellent oil; corn, too, can be grown there, but it is unfavourable to the cultivation of the vine, whence Sabine wine was considered bad by the ancients, and is so still. In the angle descending towards Rome, the ancients mention no important towns; but farther up, we come to REATE and INTERAMNA. Reate is said to have been a very ancient place of the Aborigines, that is, the Prisci, and to have been taken from them by the Sabines. Near Reate the olive-growing district rises tolerably high into the Apennines. Lake VELINUS is situated there in a very wide hollow; it is said formerly to have been several miles in circumference, like lake Fucinus. When Curius Dentatus conquered that district for the Romans (463), he executed one of the most magnificent works in the world. He drew off the water from the lake in such a manner as to gain thereby several square miles of the most beautiful land; and at the same time the beautiful waterfall of Terni was formed. The crater of the lake is shut up on one side by the lofty Apennines, and on the other by a ridge of rock, which confined the river. Curius, therefore, according to a statement in one of Cicero’s letters, cut through the ridge which separated the river from the Nera. The level of this canal was from 130 to 140 feet above the river, and this gave rise to the matchless cascade, of course without any intention on the part of Curius, for it was not his object to create beautiful scenery. A person who has seen that waterfall, can no longer take any pleasure in that of the Rhine, near Schaffhausen. Every one knows the canal through the rock, for thousands of travellers visit the falls of Terni, and generally drive about a mile further to lake Lugo for the purpose of hearing the beautiful echo. I visited it accompanied by my friend Brandis; I knew what is generally known in Italy, though not so generally in Germany, that there is a cutting through the rock, and I said to our guide that I wanted to go up the canal as far as the lake. The man made difficulties, saying that it was not a road for gentlemen, but fit only for rustics. But I insisted on carrying out my plan, and we thus came to the canal which is cut through the rock at an immense depth. When the man observed that we were interested in it, he said, I will take you to see another curiosity, which no one goes to see, if the road is not too difficult for you. It was a Roman bridge, the existence of which was then altogether unknown: it consists of a single arch, and is a splendid work constructed of large blocks without any cement—a work like the cloacae; there can be no doubt that this bridge also is a work of Curius. It is not mentioned in any book of travel. The same guide told us that the people of Reate and Terni once had a law-suit about an aqueduct, and that the former applied to Cicero, and the latter to an advocate of the last century:[50] a remarkable instance of the manner in which legends arise.

The frontier of the Sabines proper extends from the Anio to the Apennines, and the people in that part are called simply the Sabines. Here we have to take into consideration the tradition, that they did not originally inhabit the country south of Reate, but that they overpowered the ancient inhabitants of the Ausonian race. In the early history of Rome, these Sabines are of great importance; they are one of the constituent elements of Rome, and the Sabine settlements on two of the Roman hills formed part of ancient Rome. Afterwards too they act a prominent part, for during the first sixty years after the expulsion of the kings Sabine wars are frequently mentioned. It is true, that history contains much that is apocryphal, but the fact that there were wars with the Sabines is certain, only we must not imagine that all the Sabines took part in them. We cannot suppose that the Sabines of Amiternum sent their troops to the Tiber, any more than we can assume that, during the Volscian wars, the more distant towns of the Volscian nation took part in them. After the time of the decemvirate, and perhaps even before, the Romans had established with them the same relation of isopolity, which had already existed in the third century, but had been broken up. It was then restored, perhaps even survived the Gallic calamity, and continued until 463, when M’ Curius conquered the Sabines. After this subjugation, we read in our meagre accounts _Sabinis civitas data est_, which is the _civitas sine suffragio_. At the end of the first Punic war, the Sabines were constituted as two tribes, whose names, Quirina and Velina, alone clearly show that they consisted of Sabines. From this it is generally inferred, that the whole nation then obtained the full franchise; but this supposition is inconsistent with what we read in Livy (xxviii. 45) about the preparations of Scipio. This passage is one of the most suggestive in regard to Roman affairs: I have often referred to it, and shall often have to return to it; it clearly shows, which towns had the Roman franchise, and which were only federate towns. Reate and Amiternum are there mentioned in the same relation as the Umbrians, Etruscans, Marsians, and Pelignians; they supported Scipio in his undertaking by voluntary contributions and by recruiting for him, which would not have been possible, if they had had the franchise. Napoleon treated dependent nations far more severely than the French themselves, but the Romans were nobler in this respect, and as they were the rulers, they also considered themselves bound to make exertions which they did not expect from their subjects. In many respects it was far more advantageous to be a Roman ally than to be a Roman citizen. There were towns on which no demands were made until the end of a campaign, because it would have been contrary to their privilege; and the _coloniae maritimae_ often became really impertinent in insisting upon their privileges.

I have little to say about the towns in the country of the Sabines proper. The most important among them are REATE and AMITERNUM, neither of which has a history of any consequence. It is said that there still exist considerable ruins of Amiternum, but I have not seen them. It was the birth-place of the historian Sallust. The fact that, during the seventh and eighth centuries, Roman authors arose in this as in the Oscan districts, is a proof how easy the transition from their language into the Latin must have been; not one Roman author arose in Etruria.

The other parts of the Sabine country are high and mountainous; they have a true Alpine character, with all the peculiar vegetation of the Alps; even Icelandic moss grows there. As to the constitution of the Sabines and their union into one state, nothing is known.

PICENUM.

The north of the country of the Sabines was occupied by the Sabellian tribe of the Picentians in the Marca Ancona, between Abruzzo, the frontier of the Sabines and Marrucinians, and the Aesis. Their country begins at the heights on the other side of the Apennines, and slopes down to the Adriatic, being one of the most beautiful hilly countries; but it has already something of the character of northern Italy, and the air is not southern; olives, however, still grow there, though not of the same beauty, and they are of a different type. The air and atmosphere are nearly the same as in Lombardy. Picenum forms the boundary between Central and Northern Italy.

According to tradition, this country was originally inhabited by Pelasgians, and was taken possession of by the Sabellians at a later period, through a _ver sacrum_. Such emigrations took place in consequence of a vow made either in times of distress, or during the calamities of war; but sometimes also they were the consequence of over-population. The emigrants were always guided by divine signs, concerning which there existed special legends. The Cumaeans related that their ancestors had been guided by a dove flying before their ships; others were led by a bull (as Cadmus to Thebes), the Hirpinians by a wolf (_hirpus_), and the Picentians by a woodpecker (_pica_) which flew before them. Traces of a longer continuance of the earlier population in the country may still be distinctly recognised. In other respects those districts are obscure to us, because the history of the times in which they acted a part is so obscure, or rather is entirely lost to us. This is the case, e.g., with the Picentian war, which was related in the thirteenth book of Livy, and with the expeditions of Cn. Pompeius Strabo during the Social War.

ASCULUM, the capital of the Picentians, was a very large place, as, according to report, may still be seen from its ruins. The historical importance of this town belongs to the Social War, which broke out there; it was here that the first act of hostility against Rome was committed in a tumult which broke out in the theatre, and in which the Romans were murdered. The new fragments from Diodorus, discovered by A. Mai, throw some light upon these events. The town was taken, and we may easily imagine what was the fate of a place whose inhabitants had imbrued their hands with the blood of the commissioners of the senate who were sent to reprimand them. Asculum was not destroyed, but its fate was probably like that of Capua. After that time a class of towns in Picenum are mentioned under the name of _praefecturae agri Piceni_, from which we may recognise that Cn. Pompeius Strabo deprived the Picentians of their municipal institutions, and constituted them in this new form. This also shows that the Italians did not gain the franchise as simply as we generally imagine.

The Picentians are said to have been a very populous nation. At the time of their subjugation, after the war with Pyrrhus, their number is stated to have been 360,000, which evidently comprises not those alone who were capable of bearing arms.