It will not perhaps be altogether foreign to the purpose, if I here make mention of one peculiar institution of our forefathers which bears especial reference to the inculcation of silence on religious matters. The goddess Angerona[1387], to whom sacrifice is offered on the twelfth day before the calends of January [21st December], is represented in her statue as having her mouth bound with a sealed fillet.
Romulus left the city of Rome, if we are to believe those who state the very greatest number, having three[1388] gates and no more. When the Vespasians were emperors[1389] and censors, in the year from its building 826, the circumference of the walls which surrounded it was thirteen miles and two-fifths. Surrounding as it does the Seven Hills, the city is divided into fourteen districts, with 265 cross-roads[1390] under the guardianship of the Lares. If a straight line is drawn from the mile-column[1391] placed at the entrance of the Forum, to each of the gates, which are at present thirty-seven in number (taking care to count only once the twelve double gates, and to omit the seven old ones, which no longer exist), the result will be [taking them altogether], a straight line of twenty miles and 765 paces[1392]. But if we draw a straight line from the same mile-column to the very last of the houses, including therein the Prætorian encampment, and follow throughout the line of all the streets, the result will then be something more than seventy miles. Add to these calculations the height of the houses, and then a person may form a fair idea of this city, and will certainly be obliged to admit that there is not a place throughout the whole world that for size can be compared to it. On the eastern side it is bounded by the agger of Tarquinius Superbus, a work of surpassing grandeur; for he raised it so high as to be on a level with the walls on the side on which the city lay most exposed to attack from the neighbouring plains. On all the other sides it has been fortified either with lofty walls or steep and precipitous hills[1393], but so it is, that its buildings, increasing and extending beyond all bounds, have now united many other cities to it[1394].
Besides those previously mentioned, there were formerly in the first region the following famous towns of Latium: Satricum[1395], Pometia[1396], Scaptia, Politorium[1397], Tellene, Tifata, Cænina[1398], Ficana[1399], Crustumerium, Ameriola[1400], Medullum[1401], Corniculum[1402], Saturnia[1403], on the site of the present city of Rome, Antipolis[1404], now Janiculum, forming part of Rome, Antemnæ[1405], Camerium[1406], Collatia[1407], Amitinum[1408], Norbe, Sulmo[1409], and, with these, those Alban nations[1410] who used to take part in the sacrifices[1411] upon the Alban Mount, the Albani, the Æsulani[1412], the Accienses, the Abolani, the Bubetani[1413], the Bolani[1414], the Cusuetani, the Coriolani[1415], the Fidenates[1416], the Foretii, the Hortenses[1417], the Latinienses, the Longulani[1418], the Manates, the Macrales, the Mutucumenses, the Munienses, the Numinienses, the Olliculani, the Octulani, the Pedani[1419], the Polluscini, the Querquetulani, the Sicani, the Sisolenses, the Tolerienses, the Tutienses, the Vimitellarii, the Velienses, the Venetulani, and the Vitellenses. Thus we see, fifty-three peoples of ancient Latium have passed away without leaving any traces of their existence.
In the Campanian territory there was also the town of Stabiæ[1420], until the consulship of Cneius Pompeius and L. Cato, when, on the day before the calends of May [30th of April], it was destroyed in the Social War by L. Sulla the legatus, and all that now stands on its site is a single farmhouse. Here also Taurania has ceased to exist, and the remains of Casilinum[1421] are fast going to ruin. Besides these, we learn from Antias that king L. Tarquinius took Apiolæ[1422], a town of the Latins, and with its spoils laid the first foundations of the Capitol. From Surrentum[1423] to the river Silarus[1424], the former territory of Picentia[1425] extends for a distance of thirty miles. This belonged to the Etruscans, and was remarkable for the temple of the Argive Juno, founded by Jason[1426]. In it was Picentia, a town[1427] of the territory of Salernum[1428].
CHAP. 10.—THE THIRD REGION OF ITALY.
At the Silarus begins the third region of Italy, consisting of the territory of Lucania and Bruttium; here too there have been no few changes of the population. These districts have been possessed by tbe Pelasgi, the Œnotrii, the Itali, the Morgetes, the Siculi, and more especially by people who emigrated from Greece[1429], and, last of all, by the Leucani, a people sprung from the Samnites, who took possession under the command of Lucius. We find here the town of Pæstum[1430], which received from the Greeks the name of Posidonia, the Gulf of Pæstum[1431], the town of Elea, now known as Velia[1432], and the Promontory of Palinurum[1433], a point at which the land falls inwards and forms a bay[1434], the distance across which to the pillar[1435] of Rhegium is 100 miles. Next after Palinurum comes the river Melpes[1436], then the town of Buxentum[1437], called in [Magna] Græcia Pyxus, and the river Laus; there was formerly a town[1438] also of the same name.
At this spot begins the coast of Bruttium, and we come to the town of Blanda[1439], the river Batum[1440], Parthenius, a port of the Phocians, the bay of Vibo[1441], the place[1442] where Clampetia formerly stood, the town of Temsa[1443], called Temese by the Greeks, and Terina founded by the people of Crotona[1444], with the extensive Gulf of Terina; more inland, the town of Consentia[1445]. Situate upon a peninsula[1446] is the river Acheron[1447], from which the people of Acherontia derive the name of their town; then Hippo, now called Vibo Valentia, the Port of Hercules[1448], the river Metaurus[1449], the town of Tauroentum[1450], the Port of Orestes, and Medma[1451]. Next, the town of Scyllæum[1452], the river Cratæis[1453], the mother of Scylla it is said; then the Pillar of Rhegium, the Straits of Sicily, and the two promontories which face each other, Cænys[1454] on the Italian, and Pelorus[1455] on the Sicilian side, the distance between them being twelve stadia. At a distance thence of twelve miles and a half, we come to Rhegium[1456], after which begins Sila[1457], a forest of the Apennines, and then the promontory of Leucopetra[1458], at a distance of fifteen miles; after which come the Locri[1459], who take their surname from the promontory of Zephyrium[1460], being distant from the river Silarus 303 miles.
At this spot ends the first[1461] great Gulf of Europe; the seas in which bear the following names:—That from which it takes its rise is called the Atlantic, by some the Great Atlantic, the entrance of which is, by the Greeks, called Porthmos, by us the Straits of Gades. After its entrance, as far as it washes the coasts of Spain, it is called the Hispanian Sea, though some give it the name of the Iberian or Balearic[1462] Sea. Where it faces the province of Gallia Narbonensis it has the name of the Gallic, and after that, of the Ligurian, Sea. From Liguria to the island of Sicily, it is called the Tuscan Sea, the same which is called by some of the Greeks the Notian[1463], by others the Tyrrhenian, while many of our people call it the Lower Sea. Beyond Sicily, as far as the country of the Salentini, it is styled by Polybius the Ausonian Sea. Eratosthenes however gives to the whole expanse that lies between the inlet of the ocean and the island of Sardinia, the name of the Sardoan Sea; thence to Sicily, the Tyrrhenian; thence to Crete, the Sicilian; and beyond that island, the Cretan Sea.
CHAP. 11.—SIXTY-FOUR ISLANDS, AMONG WHICH ARE THE BALEARES.
The first islands that we meet with in all these seas are the two to which the Greeks have given the name of Pityussæ[1464], from the pine-tree[1465], which they produce. These islands now bear the name of Ebusus, and form a federate state. They are separated by a narrow strait[1466] of the sea, and are forty-six[1467] miles in extent. They are distant from Dianium[1468] 700 stadia, Dianium being by land the same distance[1469] from New Carthage. At the same distance[1470] from the Pityussæ, lie, in the open sea, the two Baleares, and, over against the river Sucro[1471], Colubraria[1472]. The Baleares[1473], so formidable in war with their slingers[1474], have received from the Greeks the name of Gymnasiæ.