We next come to the overflowing mouths of Carbonaria, and the Fosses of Philistina[1864], by some called Tartarus[1865], all of which originate in the overflow of the waters in the Philistinian Canal, swollen by the streams of the Atesis, descending from the Tridentine Alps, and of the Togisonus[1866], flowing from the territory of the Patavini. A portion of them also forms the adjoining port of Brundulum[1867], in the same manner as Edron[1868] is formed by the two rivers Meduacus and the Clodian Canal. With the waters of these streams the Padus unites, and with them discharges itself into the sea, forming, according to most writers, between the Alps and the sea-shore a triangular figure, 2000 stadia in circumference, not unlike the Delta formed by the Nile in Egypt. I feel somewhat ashamed to have to borrow from the Greeks any statement in reference to Italy; Metrodorus of Scepsos, however, informs us that this river has obtained its name of Padus from the fact, that about its source there are great numbers of pine-trees, which in the Gallic language are called “padi.” In the tongue of the Ligurians this river is called “Bodincus,” which signifies “the bottomless.” This derivation is in some measure supported by the fact that near this river there is the town of Industria[1869], of which the ancient name was Bodincomagum, and where the river begins to be of greater depth than in other parts.
CHAP. 21. (17.)—THE ELEVENTH REGION OF ITALY; ITALIA TRANSPADANA.
From the river Padus the eleventh region receives its name of Transpadana; to which, situate as it is wholly in the interior, the river, by its bounteous channel, conveys the gifts of all the seas. The towns are Vibî Forum[1870] and Segusio; and, at the foot of the Alps, the colony of Augusta Taurinorum[1871], at which place the Padus becomes navigable, and which was founded by the ancient race of the Ligurians, and of Augusta Prætoria[1872] of the Salassi, near the two passes of the Alps, the Grecian[1873] and the Penine (by the latter it is said that the Carthaginians passed into Italy, by the Grecian, Hercules)—the town of Eporedia[1874], the foundation of which by the Roman people was enjoined by the Sibylline books; the Gauls call tamers of horses by the name of “Eporediæ”—Vercellæ[1875], the town of the Libici, derived its origin from the Salluvii, and Novaria[1876], founded by the Vertacomacori, is at the present day a district of the Vocontii, and not, as Cato supposes, of the Ligurians; of whom two nations, called the Lævi and the Marici, founded Ticinum[1877], not far from the Padus, as the Boii, descended from the Transalpine nations, have founded Laus Pompeia[1878] and the Insubres Mediolanum[1879].
From Cato we also learn that Comum, Bergomum[1880], and Licinîforum[1881], and some other peoples in the vicinity, originated with the Orobii, but he admits that he is ignorant as to the origin of that nation. Cornelius Alexander however informs us that they came from Greece, interpreting their name as meaning “those who live upon the mountains[1882].” In this district, Parra has disappeared, a town of the Orobii, from whom, according to Cato, the people of Bergomum are descended; its site even yet shows that it was situate in a position more elevated than fruitful[1883]. The Caturiges have also perished, an exiled race of the Insubres, as also Spina previously mentioned; Melpum too, a place distinguished for its opulence, which, as we are informed by Cornelius Nepos, was destroyed by the Insubres, the Boii, and the Senones, on the very day on which Camillus took Veii.
CHAP. 22. (18.)—THE TENTH REGION OF ITALY.
We now come to the tenth region of Italy, situate on the Adriatic Sea. In this district are Venetia[1884], the river Silis[1885], rising in the Tarvisanian[1886] mountains, the town of Altinum[1887], the river Liquentia rising in the mountains of Opitergium[1888], and a port with the same name, the colony of Concordia[1889]; the rivers and harbours of Romatinum[1890], the greater and less Tiliaventum[1891], the Anaxum[1892], into which the Varamus flows, the Alsa[1893], and the Natiso with the Turrus, which flow past the colony of Aquileia[1894] at a distance of fifteen miles from the sea. This is the country of the Carni[1895], and adjoining to it is that of the Iapydes, the river Timavus[1896], the fortress of Pucinum[1897], famous for its wines, the Gulf of Tergeste[1898], and the colony of that name, thirty-three miles from Aquileia. Six miles beyond this place lies the river Formio[1899], 189 miles distant from Ravenna, the ancient boundary[1900] of enlarged Italy, and now the frontier of Istria. That this region takes its name from the river Ister which flows from the Danube, also called the Ister, into the Adriatic opposite the mouth of the Padus, and that the sea which lies between them is rendered fresh by their waters running from opposite directions, has been erroneously asserted by many, and among them by Nepos even, who dwelt upon the banks of the Padus. For it is the fact that no river which runs from the Danube discharges itself into the Adriatic. They have been misled, I think, by the circumstance that the ship Argo came down some river into the Adriatic sea, not far from Tergeste; but what river that was is now unknown. The most careful writers say that the ship was carried across the Alps on men’s shoulders, having passed along the Ister, then along the Savus, and so from Nauportus[1901], which place, lying between Æmona[1902] and the Alps, from that circumstance derives its name.
CHAP. 23. (19.)—ISTRIA, ITS PEOPLE AND LOCALITY.
Istria projects in the form of a peninsula. Some writers have stated its length to be forty miles, and its circumference 125; and the same as to Liburnia which adjoins it, and the Flanatic Gulf[1903], while others make it 225[1904]; others again make the circumference of Liburnia 180 miles. Some persons too extend Iapydia, at the back of Istria, as far as the Flanatic Gulf, a distance of 130 miles, thus making Liburnia but 150 miles. Tuditanus[1905], who subdued the Istri, had this inscription on his statue which was erected there: “From Aquileia to the river Titus is a distance of 1000 stadia.”
The towns of Istria with the rights of Roman citizens are Ægida[1906], Parentium, and the colony of Pola[1907], now Pietas Julia, formerly founded by the Colchians, and distant from Tergeste 100 miles: after which we come to the town of Nesactium[1908], and the river Arsia, now[1909] the boundary of Italy. The distance across from Ancona to Pola is 120 miles. In the interior of the tenth region are the colonies of Cremona, Brixia in the territory of the Cenomanni[1910], Ateste[1911] belonging to the Veneti, and the towns of Acelum[1912], Patavium[1913], Opitergium, Belunum[1914], and Vicetia; with Mantua[1915], the only city of the Tuscans now left beyond the Padus. Cato informs us that the Veneti are descendants of the Trojans[1916], and that the Cenomanni[1917] dwelt among the Volcæ in the vicinity of Massilia. There are also the towns of the Fertini[1918], the Tridentini[1919], and the Beruenses, belonging to the Rhæti, Verona[1920], belonging to the Rhæti and the Euganei, and Julienses[1921] to the Carni. We then have the following peoples, whom there is no necessity to particularize with any degree of exactness, the Alutrenses, the Asseriates, the Flamonienses[1922] with those surnamed Vanienses, and the others called Culici, the Forojulienses[1923] surnamed Transpadani, the Foretani, the Nedinates[1924], the Quarqueni[1925], the Taurisani[1926], the Togienses, and the Varvari. In this district there have disappeared—upon the coast—Iramene, Pellaon, and Palsatium, Atina and Cælina belonging to the Veneti, Segeste and Ocra to the Carni, and Noreia to the Taurisci. L. Piso also informs us that although the senate disapproved of his so doing, M. Claudius Marcellus[1927] razed to the ground a tower situate at the twelfth mile-stone from Aquileia.
In this region also and the eleventh there are some celebrated lakes[1928], and several rivers that either take their rise in them or else are fed by their waters, in those cases in which they again emerge from them. These are the Addua[1929], fed by the Lake Larius, the Ticinus by Lake Verbannus, the Mincius by Lake Benacus, the Ollius by Lake Sebinnus, and the Lambrus by Lake Eupilis—all of them flowing into the Padus.