"Seventeen miles from Rome; so that, having finished my affairs in
town, I can pass my evenings here without breaking in upon the
business of the day. There are two different roads to it: if you go by
that of Laurentum, you must turn off at the fourteenth mile; if by
Ostia, at the eleventh." (See Letter to Gallus, ii. 17.) Three miles
inland is Capocotta, the site of Laurentum, the capital of Latium.
Five miles off is Pratica, the ancient Lavinium, founded by Æneas.