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.