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.
The most important town in that whole country is ANCONA, which is the
Latin form of the name, the Greek being Ἀγκών. It is one of the latest
Greek settlements, a truly Greek town, founded by Dionysius in the 100th
Olympiad; but we do not know whether the colonists were Syracusan exiles,
or colonists sent out by Dionysius according to a definite plan. I am
inclined to believe that Dionysius himself established the colony. The
latter period of the elder Dionysius and the first of the younger are
obscure to us on account of the absence of a regular plan in the work
of Diodorus: he sometimes becomes tired in following up a history which
he has carried through a series of years with the greatest minuteness;
he then passes away from it, and leaves it out altogether. There does
not exist a more thoughtless writer than this Diodorus of Sicily. Ancona
remained a Greek town for a long time, and continued at a very late
period to be connected with Constantinople, whence in the twelfth century
it placed itself under the protection of Manuel Comnenus against the
emperor Frederic I. Ancona is one of the very few ports on that coast
of Italy, and Trajan increased this advantage by building the molo which
still exists.
A people mentioned under the name of PRAETUTII bordered on Picenum; there
is great uncertainty about them, and it is not clear, whether they were
Sabines, or whether they belonged to the ancient Tyrrhenian population.
The town of HADRIA, from which the sea derives its name, was situated
there.
THE UPPER CONFEDERATION OF THE MARSIANS, PELIGNIANS, MARRUCINIANS, AND
VESTINIANS.
The four Sabine tribes of the upper confederation occupied the country
from the hills, which form the watershed between the Liris and the
Vulturnus, to the Adriatic. They formed together one confederate state,
and their connection is repeatedly alluded to in our authorities, as, for
example, in Polybius, where he enumerates the Italian contingents levied
against the Cisalpine Gauls; and in Ennius where we read _Marsa manus,
Peligna cohors, Vestina virum vis_. At the time when the Vestinians
declared for the Samnites, and the Romans wished to overcome them by a
sudden attack, Livy remarks that the Romans ought to have considered
that, by attacking the Vestinians, they would also make the Marsians,
Marrucinians, and Pelignians their enemies. They were united as a
confederation, in the same manner as the Romans were united with the
Latins and Hernicans. In regard to origin, they were the same as the
far ruling Samnites, but in their political system they were entirely
different from them. Once only, in the second Samnite war, they hesitated
as to whether they should not join the Samnites against the Romans;
but the latter succeeded in preventing it. It was the consequence of
the fatality by which the Romans were destined to become the rulers of
Italy, that the Marsians began to move during the interval between the
second and third Samnite war: it was then a piece of folly on their
part, which they had reason bitterly to repent; they ought to have done
so before, and to have joined the Samnites. They were subdued and had
to submit to hard terms, though afterwards the Romans again placed them
in an honorable position, in which they remained until the outbreak
of the great Marsian or Social War. There existed various causes, why
they separated themselves from the Samnites, so that the latter did not
obtain the support which, had the others not been infatuated, ought
to have been given to them. It has often been observed, that people
of quite different religions do not hate one another as much as those
belonging to different sects of the same religion, even though their
differences should be slight, nay the more trifling the differences are,
the bitterer is their hatred. Thus, e.g., in France the Jansenists and
Jesuits, as they are called, are more embittered against each other,
than either of them is against the Calvinists; the united and non-united
Armenians are enraged against each other, though their difference is
only a formal one not affecting their dogmas. The Samnites and the other
tribes were one nation, but the Samnites had become great, and hence
the unfortunate envy and jealousy of their less powerful kinsmen. This
is the chief reason, why they formed friendship with the Romans. They
had, however, another reason besides, which afforded them a specious
pretext, and draws a veil over the odiousness of their conduct. They were
mountaineers and a pastoral people, who, during winter, required pastures
for their sheep which they sent down into the plains of Apulia. Now, the
Romans had succeeded in attaching the Apulians to their interests and in
establishing themselves in their country. Hence the nations that were not
on friendly terms with Rome, were excluded from the winter pasture in
Apulia. If the Marsians and their confederates had entertained different
sentiments, they would have resolved, in conjunction with the Samnites,
to expel the Romans from Apulia, which might have been a matter of no
great difficulty.
I have shown in the first volume of my Roman History, that these four
tribes belonged to the Sabine race: in regard to the Pelignians it is
clear from Ovid, and the scholiast on the Aeneid proves it in regard
to the Marsians. Each of these four tribes was in its own territory
sovereign and independent; each also may have been subdivided, but in
their relation to foreign countries they formed one state. In speaking
of their separation from the Samnites, I was obliged to mention their
disgraceful faithlessness, but this does not detract from their worth
in other respects. It is acknowledged on all hands, that on account of
their extraordinary and antique simplicity and frugality, they belonged
to the most respectable nations of Italy; these virtues were preserved
there at a time when the other Italians had long sunk into degeneracy,
and when the Romans had completely abandoned the severe manners of their
ancestors. This is the praise bestowed upon them by Virgil and even by
Juvenal; the latter may in his expressions be alluding to earlier poets,
but he could not possibly have written in the manner in which he has
done, unless at least a shadow of the ancient manners had been preserved
there. They were at the same time extremely industrious; their country
was for the most part mountainous; agriculture was indeed carried on in
the valleys, but it was not very productive, and the greater part of
the country was pasture land. They had no wealth; but their strength
lay in their contentment. Their valour was not less celebrated than the
simplicity of their manners, and this feature too procured them the
greatest respect among all the Italian nations; thus Ovid boasts of the
_miles Pelignus_, his countryman. The Romans had a proverb saying, that
they never triumphed over them and never without them. The former part
of this saying may be an exaggeration, for there can be no doubt that
they were conquered in the third Samnite war; it is possible, however,
that no triumph over them was celebrated; Livy does not mention it, and
the Triumphal Fasti of that period are lost.
The MARSIANS dwelt about lake _Fucinus_ (Lago di Celano), which is as
clear as crystal, and is formed by the confluence of small brooks and
subterraneous springs; Virgil calls it _vitrea unda_, and elsewhere it
is described as _pellucidus lacus_. There is no visible outlet of its
waters; they rise at intervals of several years, and decrease again. It
must discharge its waters somewhere by subterraneous passages, which, we
do not know how, sometimes close and then open again. When these passages
are closed, the lake rises, overflows its banks, and covers large and
beautiful tracts of country. In order to prevent such devastations, the
emperor Claudius attempted to construct an immense canal to the Liris.
The first attempt, however, failed on account of the great distance;
a second succeeded for a time, but the canal then became obstructed.
Before the time of the French revolution, renewed efforts were made to
restore it, as the lake was greatly increasing; but while I was in Italy
it decreased, and afterwards continued to do so still more; more than a
Roman mile of land has thus been left dry, whence we must infer that new
outlets have been opened. Many interesting antiquities have been found
there.
MARRUVIUM was the capital of the Marsians, who themselves were sometimes
called after it _Marruii_ or _Marruvii_. It was taken by the Romans and
changed by them into a Roman colony; it is remarkable for being the
northernmost town in those parts that has Cyclopean walls. Petit-Radel
has inferred from this, that the Pelasgian race extended to those
districts, but I cannot decide as to whether he is right or wrong. He has
very confused ideas about the ancient nations, and is, therefore, little
qualified to pronounce judgment; still, however, it is possible that he
may be right.