[1403] Both Virgil and Ovid allude to this tradition.
[1404] Said to have been so called from being “opposite” to the ancient city of Saturnia. The Janiculus or Janiculum was a fortress on the opposite bank of the Tiber, and a suburb of Rome, connected with it by the Sublician bridge.
[1405] A very ancient city situate three miles from Rome, and said to have been so called from its position on the Tiber, ante amnem. In the time of Strabo it had become a mere village. It stood at the confluence of the Anio and the Tiber.
[1406] An ancient city of Latium reduced by Tarquinius Priscus. It has been suggested that the town of Palombara, near the foot of Monte Gennaro, stands on its site.
[1407] An ancient city of Latium. It probably gradually fell into decay. Lucius Tarquinius, the husband of Lucretia, is represented as dwelling here during the siege of Ardea. Its site is thought by some to have been at Castellaccio or Castel dell’ Osa, and by others at Lunghezza, which is perhaps the most probable conjecture.
[1408] An ancient city of the Sabines. Its ruins are visible at San Vittorino, a village near Aquila.
[1409] An ancient town of the Volsci, five leagues from Velletri. Sermonata now stands on its site. It must not be confounded with the town of the Peligni, the birth-place of Ovid.
[1410] “Populi Albenses.” It does not appear to be exactly known what is the force of this expression, but he probably means either colonies from Alba, or else nations who joined in the confederacy of which Alba was the principal. Niebuhr looks upon them as mere demi or boroughs of the territory of Alba.
[1411] “Accipere carnem.” Literally, “to take the flesh.” It appears that certain nations, of which Alba was the chief, were in early times accustomed to meet on the Alban Mount for the purposes of sacrifice. The subject is full of obscurity, but it has been suggested that this minor confederacy co-existed with a larger one including all the Latin cities, and there can be little doubt that the common sacrifice was typical of a bond of union among the states that partook therein. It does not necessarily appear from the context that more than the thirty-one states after mentioned took part therein, though the text may be so construed as to imply that the Latin nations previously mentioned also shared in the sacrifice; if so, it would seem to imply that Alba was the chief city of the whole Latin confederacy. See this subject ably discussed in Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of Ancient Geography, under the article Latini.
[1412] The people of Æsulæ. Of this Latin city nothing is known. The territory is mentioned by Horace, and Gell places its site on the Monte Affiliano.