[1] The use of letters on the whole is very ancient. It has a threefold
root:--in Egypt, (or perhaps in Æthiopia,) in Phœnicia, and in Babylon,
all three of which are independent of each other. That in Europe
writing is of more ancient date than the time in which we place Homer,
is undeniable, as we have written monuments from such an early period,
leaving, however, the question untouched, whether Homer had committed
his lays to writing or not.
[2] Comp. concerning this chronicle Archive for Ancient German
Historical Research, v. p. 146. Pertz has afterwards (1839) published
it, Monum. Germ. Hist. Script. tom. iii. p. 695 sq.--Note of the German
Editor.
[3] IV, 20.
[4] Very interesting in this respect are the recently published
traditions of the Sandwich islanders, partly narrations, and partly
songs, which have been collected by missionaries.
[5] By some mistake, as it seems, Niebuhr mentions here the Nibelungen
instead of Waltharius, which is a Latin poem of the tenth century, and
from which Aventinus cites the verses I. 9 foll. He often refers to the
old German heroic poems, without, however, quoting them verbatim. Cf.
W. Grimm’s German Heroic Tradition (Heldensage), p. 302.--Note of the
German editor.
[6] XVII, 21 Gellius says that Nævius had come out in the same year
that the divorce of Sp. Carvilius Ruga took place, viz. in 519; but in
IV. 3, he dates the latter fact from the year 523, and thus concerning
the first appearance of Nævius also a difference is made of four years.
Cf. Ritschl, Parerga Plautina. Lips. 1845. tom. I. p. 68-70.--Note of
the German editor.
[7] For the juster estimation of Virgil, it is to be remarked, that
frequently, without directly contradicting the historical statements,
he ensconces himself in the old poetical tradition. Thus he evidently
takes Romulus to be the grandson of Æneas by Ilia, whence also the
misplacing of Æneas at the time of the foundation of Carthage. He
has therefore been unjustly censured with such vehemence for his
chronological inaccuracy precisely by the age which idolized him.
There has not on the whole enough been done by a great deal for the
elucidation of Virgil.
[8] Fabius wrote the history of his people two hundred years after
Herodotus; by so much therefore the Roman literature of history is
later than the Grecian.
[9] The cognomen Pictor occurs rarely by itself; Appian has it, however.
[10] I have a good memory, and yet it has often happened to me before
now that I have made mistakes in names. Cicero relates a similar error
of himself in the letters to Atticus, where the latter had pointed out
to him that he ought to write Phliasii instead of Phliuntii.
[11] Merula places the war of Pyrrhus in the sixth book, because
he could not believe that Ennius had devoted one book only for the
times between. But Ennius has surely not merely versified the Fasti
consulares, but very likely he strung together the principal events
only.
[12] Hieron. Columna and Natalis Comes have both of them the vanity of
pretending to have read authors, who do not either exist at all, or in
Scholiasts only, whom they may indeed have read in more complete MSS.
than we do. Niebuhr.--Claudius Sacerdos is now printed in Endlicher’s
Analecta grammatica. Note of the German Editor.
[13] Festus v. Tarpeiæ.--ED.
[14] The mode of writing in periods among the Romans commences with
Cato, and was particularly elaborated by C. Gracchus, who is on the
whole to be considered as the father of Roman prose. The periodology
has, as well as the hexameter, most likely been engrafted on the Roman
language from the Greek.
[15] IX, 13.
[16] John James Mascov, born 1689 at Dantzic, lived as professor of
history at Leipsic, where he died 1761.--TRANSLATOR.
[17] Whenever Gaius stands upon his own legs, he has no substantiated
historical statements.
[18] It was a necessity to reduce history, which had become too
voluminous, to abstracts. Such were also the tables of Cornelius Nepos
after the example of Apollodorus.
[19] These authors were not mentioned by Niebuhr in his lectures. The
brief notice which is given has been taken from the few MS. leaves of
his papers which I was allowed to make use of. Editor.
[20] V. p. 352 c. Alm.
[21] Lapus is a Florentine short name for Jacob.
[22] The first excellent translation of a Greek author into Latin is
that of Herodian, by Angelus Politian.
[23] By a lapse of memory Niebuhr refers this Greek mode of expression
to the account of the expedition of Cleonymus (X, 2,) whilst it occurs
in that of Alexander of Epirus, VIII, 24.--Note of the German Editor.
[24] The example which the grammarians quote in corroboration, _legati
domum unde venerant redierunt_, is not to be found in our Livy.
[25] This account, which is to be found in M. Seneca, Excerpt. Controv.
1, IV., does not apply to the emperor Caius (_Caligula_), but to the
son of M. Agrippa, whom Augustus had adopted. It is stated in Seneca,
_mortuo in Syria, C. Cæsare_, which can only be said of the latter.
Asinius Pollio died in the year 5 A.D. (Hieron. in Euseb. Chron. ad a.
MMXX,) and could not at any rate have known Livy’s work complete.
[26] Some books of the library of the Greek Emperors may indeed have
remained behind at Constantinople; but they were probably destroyed in
the great fire.
[27] The Arabs never translated historians.
[28] Zonaras is a modern Grecian name, and therefore to be pronounced
Sónaras, not Zonáras. It is altogether incorrect to pronounce the
modern names as the ancient Greek ones.
[29] Zonaras in the beginning of his history made use also of
Plutarch’s Romulus, Numa, and Poplicula, on which account a certain
strange individual, Nicholas Carminius Falco, took it into his head,
that Dio had compiled his history from Plutarch, and that all the rest
was to be found in Zonaras. He then announced a complete restoration
of Dio, yet his ignorance was beyond all belief, so that in the title,
instead of βιβλία ὀγδοήκοντα he wrote, βιβλία ὀκτογίντα (The first vol.
was published Neapol. 1747, fol.)
[30] The Lower Rhine boasted at that time of several men who were of
philological eminence, e. g. F. Fabricius.
[31] 1757--4to.
[32] Before Savigny, these attempts were so imperfect, that Cujatius,
Duarenus, Donellus, if they had seen them, would have expressed
themselves highly displeased with them. The modern more profound
researches also could not always at once hit the right direction on
paths which had still to be paved.
[33] This manuscript would be well worthy of being printed, the
language in it is excellent.
[34] An eclipse of the sun marked also the moment when Mars overpowered
Ilia.
[35] T. Tatius is said to have given him his daughter in marriage, and
yet he is already dead in the fourth year after the foundation of Rome.
[36] The ancient Irish legend, as far as it is accessible to me,
somewhat differs from the statement, as it is given in the text. It
is not Niall the Great who penetrates as far as the Alps, but his
successor Dathy, who, A.D. 427, is struck dead by lightning at the foot
of the Alps. See Keating, General History of Ireland, transl. by Dermod
O’Conor, Lond. 1723, fol. p. 319. M‘Dermot, History of Ireland, Lond.
1820, 8vo. I. p. 411. The accounts of Roman authors concerning Ireland
are collected in O’Conor Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores, T. I. Prolegom.
p. 1.--Note of the German Editor.
[37] The grammarian whose fragment on the Saturnian verse is here
alluded to, is Charisius. Niebuhr transcribed it in the year 1823,
from a Neapolitan MS., and his copy is intrusted to Professor Lachmann
of Berlin, who is preparing it for publication. From a copy made by
O. Müller, Professor Schneidewin, at Gœttingen, has had it printed in
a programme of the year 1841, “_Flavii Sosipatri Charisii de versu
Saturnio commentariolus ex codice Neapolitano nuce primum editus_,” and
at the same time severely criticised Niebuhr’s remarks on the Saturnian
verse. One single glance however at the fragment which is printed in
his programme, shows that Müller’s copy is very defective, and it would
therefore have been but seemly for Professor Schneidewin to have first
instituted more accurate inquiries respecting the contents of Niebuhr’s
copy, before he wrote down expressions which indeed cannot injure
the memory of Niebuhr; but which do not by any means reflect very
favourably on the modesty of their author.--Note of the German Editor.
[38] In the year 1616.
[39] Livy III. 71, 72.
[40] _Theod. Ryckii Diss. de primis Italiæ colonis et Ænea_, in _Luc.
Holstenii Notæ et Castigationes in Steph. Byzantium_. Lugd. Bat. 1684,
_fol._
[41] Salmasius was by far less clear-headed than he was.
[42] The aborigines of Macedon were neither Illyrians nor Thracians,
but neither more nor less than Pelasgians. Cf. O. Müller’s work on
Macedon.
[43] Æschylus already peoples the whole of Greece with Pelasgians.
[44] We may indeed look upon this conclusion as certain, although the
researches on the mysteries themselves will ever remain fruitless.
[45] The Fir-Bolgs belong to the Bardic history of Ireland, which
mentions them as having formed the third immigration in Ireland. The
Scots found them in Ireland ruled by kings. To them the construction
of the Cyclopian walls in Ireland is attributed.--Note of the German
Editor.
[46] In the existing collections of fragments of Cato, I do not find
this statement. I therefore suppose that Cato is here confounded with
Dionysius, who A. R. I, 16, has the notice alluded to.--Note of the
German Editor.
[47] Probably C. Sempronius Tuditanus, the same whom Dionysius A. R. I,
11, calls λογιώτατον τῶν Ῥωμαίων συγγραφέων.--Note of the German Editor.
[48] I entered upon these researches already as a youth; but in the
last edition only of my history I arrived at clear views. I relied too
much on Varro’s authority, though I judged correctly as to the main
point.
[49] _Albanos rerum potitos usque ad Tullum._ _Festus_ s. v. _praetor_.
[50] R. H. I. page 222.
[51] It is well known that there exists in Stobæus a poem on Rome, as
the authoress of which Erinna is mentioned. As Erinna, however, sung
in times in which Rome cannot be supposed to have in any way created a
sensation in Æolia, one has had recourse to the explanation, that it
was a hymn on strength. Strength cannot however be called a daughter of
Mars. The poem is of a far later period, and from these premises some
one might perhaps succeed in guessing the misspelt name of the author.
He certainly belongs to the time after the war of Hannibal, and perhaps
even as late as the times of the emperors: the most likely supposition,
however, seems to me that he was a contemporary of Sylla.
[52] In eastern tales, children are fed with the marrow of lions.
[53] _Serv. on Virg. Æn._ I. 274.--Note of the German editor.
[54] I, 48.
[55] Varro I, l. V. (IV) 42.
[56] I have spent many days in Rome in searching for the old churches
which were pulled down at the brilliant reconstruction of the town; yet
I had no guide to them, until I saw the work of a clergyman, who still
showed their traces. Like him, Varro could point out the Sabine chapels.
[57] See p. 115, 116.
[58] See R. H. II, page 202, 250, and others.
[59] Viz. 4 + 5, as five is the plebeian number.--Note of the German
Editor.
[60] When the Achæans spread over the Peloponnesus, Sicyon first, and
then by degrees the other towns, adopted their νόμιμα. It was tried to
force them also upon the Spartans, but in vain.
[61] Classical Tour, II, p. 195.--Note of the German Editor.
[62] The decay of this monument is the fault of the constructors
themselves, inasmuch as they did not choose better materials.
[63] Rasena, probably not Rasenna; _Ras_ is the root, and _ena_ the
termination, as in Porsena, Cæcina; yet the Etruscans do not double the
consonants any more than the Shemitic nations.
[64] Livy XXII, 57.
[65] I have not chosen to suppress this passage on the Etruscan descent
of Servius, which belongs to the lectures of the year 1826, although
lower down there occurs a different view, of the year 1828. The
disquisition given here, is in connection with that in R. H. I, 422,
foll. but comes forth here more clearly and distinctly.--Note of the
German Editor.
[66] In the earliest times, antiquities and history cannot be entirely
separated. The _Commentarii pontificum_, as well as Livy and Dionysius,
set us an example in this.
[67] Although I cannot succeed in finding an instance of the word
_clientus_, yet the feminine _clienta_ offers sufficient justification
for supposing also the masculine in us.--Note of the Germ. Ed.
[68] Non. 486, 24. _Campas_, _Plaut, Trin._ II, 4, 144. Lind.--Germ. Ed.
[69] These class distinctions under the second Temple, have only been
elucidated by the great Selden, but for whom I should have known
nothing of the matter, as the language and literature are unknown to me.
[70] These relative positions were so familiar to our (German)
forefathers, that in the Mayence translation of Livy, _populus_ is
rendered throughout by _Geschlechter_, _plebes_ by _Gemeinde_. Thus it
says, “There were appointed as burgomasters (consuls), T. Quinctius
by the _Geschlechter_, and L. Genucius by the _Gemeinde_;” where Livy
has _populus_ and _plebes_. The consequence of such an artless view of
the several positions was, that the men of the sixteenth century had
very correct notions of many things, although devoid of the scientific
learning which we cannot do without. I have found this out only a few
weeks ago.
[71] The researches into the histories of the Italian cities, such
as those which I have made, throw a considerable light on the whole
development of the Roman constitution.
[72] The German expression used by Niebuhr is _Hörige_, which is a
derivative of _hören_ to hear.--TRANSL.
[73] Ulpian’s fragm. V, 8.
[74] In the canton of Schwytz the country people were in the same
manner divided into four quarters, to which two were afterwards added.
[75] I have omitted to elucidate this in my history.--Nieb.
[76] This expression puzzles Livy very much at the battle of Fidenæ.
The old annalist had, _classibus certare_; yet Livy mistook the meaning
of this for fleet, and on this doubts whether on the narrow Tiber a
contest with fleets could have taken place. But it means nothing else
but a fight with heavy armed men.
[77] Sixty stivers made a dollar of Cologne, the value of which is
estimated at 23 silver groats (Silbergroschen). An as is therefore
something less than 7 Prussian pennies 6⁹⁄₁₀ths.--GERM. EDIT.
One Prussian dollar = 30 Silv. gr.
One Silver gr. = 12 pennies.
The dollar (thaler) = 2s. 9d.
The as = ²⁵³⁄₄₀₀ penny Sterling.--TRANSL.
[78] The Abbé Sieyes, said, it is true, _La minorité a toujours tort_.
[79] Lyon, Narrative of Travels in Northern Africa, Lond. 1821, vol.
iv. p. 162, gives that notice. The two tribes which inhabit the town,
are the Beni Walid and the Beni Wasid; yet according to his statement,
however, it is precisely in war time that the gate in the wall is
closed.--Germ. Edit.
[80] A palm is about 9 inches.
[81] See above p. 88. It has already been remarked there that the
following disquisition dates from the year 1828, and is therefore to
be considered as the ultimate result of Niebuhr’s researches on this
subject.--Germ. Edit.
[82] Livy V, 1. and the commentators on that passage.
[83] Ulric Becker, in Dahlmann’s Researches in the Field of Ancient
History (_Forschungen auf dem Gebiete der alten Geschichte_.)--Germ.
Edit.
[84] Orelli T. V., II. p. 255.
[85] This is not quite correct. There are native officers in the
Company’s Sepoy regiments; but they are in every case subordinate to
the Europeans.--Note of the English Translator.
[86] The Fasti, such as we have them, mention four Valerii as the sons
of Volesus; Publius Poplicola, Marcus, Manius, and Lucius; the latter,
or his son Caius, only occurs as Quæstor. The old legends, on the other
hand, only knew of two, Publius Poplicola, and Marcus surnamed Maximus.
Volesus, wherever he occurs, is mentioned as a Sabine, in the Annals,
which Dionysius follows in order to fill up the blank of the earliest
times, as a companion of Tatius; others assert, that he had emigrated
to Rome at the bidding of the oracles, and very likely this is the
older tradition. It is a common genealogical mistake to deem all of
them brothers, Dio Cassius calls Marcus only a clansman of Publius,
and the additional term which all the others bestow upon the Valerii,
_Volesi filius_ or _nepos_, originated merely from the general desire
to trace back all the members of a _gens_ to some Hero as the common
ancestor of their race.
[87] Lar is an Etruscan prænomen frequently occurring on the monuments,
and it probably means king or God. Martial’s scansion Porsĕna is
incorrect: in Vibenna, Cæcina, and others, the same termination always
appears with the penultima long.
[88] That this number is the correct one,--the MSS. of Livy having
thirty-one,--is proved in the new edition of the first volume of the
Roman History.
[89] That is to say, the patricians: for these, and not the senate, are
meant by _patres_ in every correct writer.
[90] Boekh, Political Œconomy of the Athenians, vol. ii. p. 12.--Germ.
Ed.
[91] Ingenious and learned men among the commentators of Livy have
written on the relations of the nexi; yet all their researches have
missed their object, with the exception of what Doujat, who if I
remember right, was a councillor of Parliament in Paris, has said about
the matter. Yet those, who wrote after him, did not allow themselves
to be taught by him, but they returned to the former errors; as for
instance, Drakenborch, although he quotes this author, a proof that
learned students, who are not men of the world, may often be mistaken
in such matters.
[92] During the middle ages, in Rome the _popolanti_, with the
exception of the Corso, were no genuine Romans, but Slavonians and
Albanians, who had immigrated under Innocent VIII., and as late as in
the fifteenth century, spoke their own language.
[93] See above, p. 169.
[94] Glacier.
[95] It may have been an attempt to conquer the Veientines by
establishing a strong hold within their own territory, similar to the
ἐπιτειχισμός of Decelea against Athens; for in those ages a campaign
lasted only a very short time, from eight to fourteen days. Either the
armed force of the country marched against the enemy, or it besieged
them within their walls. To prevent the inhabitants therefore from
quietly returning to their fields after the departure of the hostile
army, it often happened that the latter established some fortified
position in the enemy’s territory.
[96] Livy says of the Fabii that they had gone _infelici via, porta
Carmentali, dextro Jano_; and Ovid, _Carmentis portæ dextro via proxima
Jano est: Ire per hanc noli, quisquis es: omen habet_. This is to be
understood as follows. All the Roman gates had a double arch, by one
of which people went out, and by the other they came in; the former
was termed _Janus dexter_, the latter, _Janus sinister_. The Carmental
gate was situated between the Capitoline and the Quirinal hills. Since
therefore those, who wanted to go out, could not pass through the left
Janus, they had to make a great round, even if they wanted to go to a
place quite close to it; for the right Janus was ominous, as the Fabii
had passed through it on their last journey out.
[97] Livy, V, 46.
[98] The works of Sigonius and of Beaufort _sur la Republique Romaine_
are to be recommended as a rich treasure of subject matter treated by
clever men; but they can only be relied on with any safety in the later
period. Manutius also may be mentioned with praise: his commentary on
Cicero’s epistles is quite indispensable for any one who wishes to
understand that age. Yet in the earlier times, he too gropes his way in
the dark, and that still worse than the others.
[99] From the discovery of this place all my researches on Roman
topography have arisen.
[100] Quite incorrect is the spelling _Plebisscita_: _plebi_ is the old
form of the genitive of _plebes_, as _Hercules_, _Herculi_; _Cœles_,
_Cœli_; _dies_, _dii_.
[101] Properly speaking, ἰσονομία (in Herodotus and Thucydides) is
that state of liberty in which no one is beyond or above the law; and
ἰσηγορία (in Demosthenes), the equal dignity of every free citizen. R.
H., II, p. 640, note.
[102] The motive for dating it so early was perhaps this, that
Coriolanus was judged by it.
[103] I, 2, 29. cf. II, 2, 2.--Germ. Edit.
[104] The nature of the cury had essentially altered in the course of
time. R. H. II, p. 178.--Germ. Ed.
[105] The history of the constitution of Elis offers a close parallel
to that of Rome. The highest magistracy in that state was at first held
for life. As late as in the Peloponnesian war, the clans of Elis alone
are sovereign, and the country district is in a state of subjection,
the whole of the power being in the hands of a council of ninety men
who were elected for life. The people was divided into three phylæ, of
thirty clans each. Afterwards the country district obtained the right
of citizenship. The whole of Elis is divided into twelve regions, and
the nation into twelve tribes; four of the latter are lost during
the war, so that eight tribes only remain. This is an unmistakeable
counterpart of the Roman history.
[106] See concerning this relation R. H. II., p. 419-423.--Germ. Ed.
[107] In some recent editions of Livy, we find Clœlius instead of
Cæcilius; yet this is an emendation: in Dionysius the MSS. have
Κλύσιον.--Germ. Edit.
[108] A double disquisition on the same subject (for it occurs here,
and now and then in some other places), is to be accounted for from the
circumstance that it had to be interrupted at the end of a lecture, and
that afterwards in the following one the thread of the argument was not
quite accurately taken up.--Germ. Edit.
[109] Enigmatical is what occurs in Livy and elsewhere, that a special
law had been granted for a dictator, _ut ei equum escendere liceret_.
The way in which this is interpreted, is that the dictator was not
entitled to mount on horseback, whilst the _Magister Equitum_ was.
Perhaps the dictator was not only entitled to make use of a carriage,
but even he was not entitled to appear in any other way but in a
carriage, particularly on his return from battle. To this refers a
line in Varro, _Dictator ubi currum insedit vehitur usque ad oppidum_.
_Oppidum_, according to Varro, is properly speaking the townwall (also
a town surrounded by walls in contradistinction to _pagus_ and _vicus_).
[110] Festus, s. v. Præteriti Senatores, R. H. I. note 1163.--Germ. Ed.
[111] Cic. pro Cluent. c. 42. Ascon. in Orat. Tog. Cand. p. 84 Orell.
[112] The story of a bashaw of Aleppo is quite similar to that of
Sp. Mælius. In a great scarcity he summons the principal men, and
makes every one of them state the amount of all the corn which he
had in store; then he rides to the magazines, and on admeasurement
finds double the quantity of what had been written down from their
statements; so he takes away the surplus, and the scarcity is at an end.
[113] Labici, as it is generally spelled in the editions of Livy, is
a mistake of a copyist in the fourth or fifth century for Lavici, the
reverse of which, Vola instead of Bola, is frequently read in the old
editions.
[114] The Etruscan town of Capena was perhaps as near Rome as Veii was,
though this cannot be decided, as the town disappeared at an early
period. Certain it is that it lay between Veii, Falerii, and the Tiber.
[115] Cf. on the other hand R. H. III. note 1034. I nevertheless did
not wish to suppress the passage given in the text from the year
182⁶⁄₇. According to Arago, the winters in Tuscany are now less cold,
and the summers less warm than they were in olden times. (Berghaus
Länder-und Völkerkunde, I. p. 248.)--Germ. Edit.
[116] This notice is from the lectures of 182⁸⁄₉, and is uniformly
given by all the MSS. In the year 182⁶⁄₇, N. said, the length of the
_emissarius_ is not measured; it is stated to be one (Italian) mile and
a half, 7,500 feet: in R. H. II. p. 570, there are 6,000 feet. Abeken
_Mittel Italien_, p. 179, says:--“The subterraneous drain cuts the
south-western banks of the lake to an extent of nearly four thousand
feet.” The statement of its length, as given in the text, seems
therefore to be founded on a mistake.--Germ. Edit.
[117] See the speech of Fabricius in Dionysius, p. 747. I. 43. Sylb.
from the Exc. de Leg.
[118] See R. H. III. note 485. Above p. 45.
[119] The southern mountains in Spain are connected with the African
ones.
[120] In Lombardy, the battle fields of 1799 are very difficult to make
out since the direction of the roads has been changed. Near Lützen,
near Breitenfeld, and near Leuthen, the sites are also very hard to be
recognised; even near Prague and Collin, it is not easily done.
[121] A difficult passage in the Metamorphoses of Ovid, refers perhaps
to this war. It is stated in it that a heron had risen from the ruins
of the city, after its destruction by the barbarians. The latest
commentators have, without any just authority, tried to connect this
destruction with the war of Hannibal. It might apply to a Samnite
campaign, in which Ardea was burnt down; as Strabo, perhaps, would
induce us to believe, when asserting, that the Samnites had carried
on their conquests as far as Ardea. Yet the Samnites would scarcely
have been called barbarians. Most likely there is here an inversion of
the tradition which we have just mentioned, that the Ardeates under
Camillus had defeated the Gauls.
[122] As an artist, by working in the presence of his pupil, improves
his eye, and thus gives him the best practice, so is it also in
literary pursuits. He who has studied for the whole of his life,
certainly does a service to his hearers, when he shows them how he has
got on, and how also he has sometimes gone back.
[123] Mirabeau said at Marseilles in the year 1789, that C. Gracchus
had called on heaven to requite the shedding of his blood, and that
from this blood Marius had sprung. But Gracchus was a pure-minded,
guiltless man; Marius, a tyrant.
[124] Συμφωνεῖται σχεδὸν ὑπὸ πάντων, says Dionysius; this σχεδὸν shows,
that all were not unanimous. I believe that the excellent Cincius had
placed it in a different year, perhaps Ol. 99, 1. or 2.
[125] The chronology is very unsettled here on account of the uncertain
change of the magistrates. It was not till after the Punic wars, that
the consuls entered regularly into office in spring; and it was only in
the last years of the republic that they did so on the first of January.
[126] I have, in the neighbourhood of Tivoli, still found vestiges of
several places of which nothing is generally known, and which may have
been then destroyed. These are square enclosures of walls on the tops
of hills, without any traces of surrounding ramparts. We may see from
thence how small those towns were, which lay scattered through Italy;
they may have contained about fifty houses each.
[127] Probably VII, 12. and VIII, 6. or 8.; yet it is alluded to in
other places besides.--Germ. Editor.
[128] The triumph on the Alban mount, which is first mentioned of
Papirius Maso after the Punic war, is generally looked upon as a
discretionary act of the generals, when they were refused a triumph
in Rome; but it is undoubtedly a reminiscence of the ancient custom.
Formerly, the Latin general triumphed on the Alban mount, as the Roman
in Rome. When there was now no more a Latin general, the _imperator_,
as general of the allies, took his triumph on the Alban mount, if it
was denied him at Rome.
[129] Monte Sasso _di Castro_, above Mugello, is, according to a
surmise of the editor of the R. H. III, note 144, the name to which N.
here alludes.
[130] By this remark the difficulty is obviated, which otherwise arises
as to how in an assembly wherein those only voted who happened to be
present, it could have been the majority of the votes which decided.
Applying this to Rome, how could the members of the _Tribus Velina_,
the residence of which was very far off, not have felt grievously
prejudiced in comparison with those of the _Palatina_? But all this
is explained by the fact, that each tribe had only one vote; so that
in important discussions the distant ones sent their most able men to
town, and thus arose _de facto_ a representative government.
[131] The war of the Samnites with the Sidicines shows, that the
territory of the Samnites at that time reached to the upper Liris, so
that its limits are drawn too narrowly by d’Anville.
[132] _Campania_ is the district of the Campanians, that is to say,
of the inhabitants of Capua (_Capani_ on coins). _Campas_ instead of
_Campanus_ is met with in Plautus.
[133] Niebuhr’s positions do not here agree with those in
d’Anville.--TRANSL.
[134] In his Roman history (III. 137.), Niebuhr pronounces much more
decidedly for the second view; but it is to be remarked that the same
version as that in this passage occurs already in the first edition
(1812), whilst that, given in our text, dates from the lectures of
182⁸⁄₉. The detailed account of the battle (of the year 1826), on the
other hand, still follows the version adopted before, of which fact, in
order to prevent mistakes, we here expressly remind the reader.--Germ.
Edit.
[135] VIII, 8. towards the end.--Germ. Edit.
[136] It is a common mistake of the moderns, that, when they hear
of _cornu dextrum_ and _sinistrum_, they think of our system, and
then suppose also a main body in the centre (corps de bataille). Yet
the Roman host consisted of those two halves only (_cornua_). All
the modern writers on tactics, with the exception of Guischard, are
mistaken in this respect.
[137] In one MS. only, there is instead of “in the field,” _in campis
Tincetanis_; but evidently as a subsequent filling up of a gap, which
had been left whilst taking the notes. It is therefore probable that
Niebuhr quoted the expression _in campis Ferectanis_, which occurs in
Livy, without adding any further remark.--Germ. Edit.
[138] Also Popinia, Festus, s. v. Pupinia tribus, p. 233. M.
[139] The Plautii preserved on their coins the memory of the conquest
of Privernum as the most glorious event of their family-history, R.
H. III, 201. L. Æmilius Mamercinus Privernas and C. Plautius Decianus
triumphed over the Privernates.--Germ. Edit.
[140] Liv. VIII. 37.
[141] Herennius, as it seems, was on the whole considered as a model
of wisdom among the Samnites. According to a passage in Cicero _De
Senectute_, he occurs as a speaking personage together with Archytas
in a philosophical dialogue of a Pythagorean: a remarkable proof how
intimately those Italiote towns were connected with the Sabellian
peoples, and how far they were from looking upon them as barbarians.
They had a great contempt for the Ὀπικοί, and may therefore have made a
broad distinction between them and the Samnites. This intercourse with
the Greeks accounts for Numa, the fountain head of Sabellian wisdom,
having been imagined to have been a Pythagorean. This is a truly Sabine
tradition. They went so far in their friendly connection, that the
Greeks affected to consider the Samnites as a Spartan colony.
[142] In the lectures of 1826-7, Niebuhr places the end of the first
period _before_ the disaster of Caudium, so that the second period is
the brilliant one of the Samnites.--Germ. Ed.
[143] They consequently were not annihilated, as Zonaras has it.
[144] This is probably the passage from Dionysius, Mai Excerpt XVI, 6
quoted in R. H. III, p. 415. note 604.--Germ. Edit.
[145] See R. H. III, p. 323.--Germ. Edit.
[146] Reading Ὀμβρίκων instead of ὁμόρων. R. H. III, p. 330, note
438.--Germ. Edit.
[147] In the lectures of 1826-7 N. still mentioned here the battle on
the lake of Vadimo, which afterwards he probably rejected, as may be
inferred from R. H. III. 332.--Germ. Edit.
[148] See above, p. 152.
[149] Not Clusium, as Livy has it, for this was called in the language
of the Umbrians Camers. Polybius has the correct name, and a mere
comparison, based on the nature of the locality, might show us that
Clusium is out of question.
[150] During the revolutionary wars I had so fully entered into the
manner of the different generals, that, in very important cases, I
foretold how, for instance, Napoleon would act. People would not
believe in my predictions; yet they were generally fulfilled.
[151] For the arguments for this opinion see R. H. III, p. 431, note
647.--G. Ed.
[152] We always follow here the chronology of Cato; in Varro and in
the Capitoline Fasti whole years are interpolated. This difference
is founded upon a monstrous mistake, which Varro makes in the period
between the conquest of Rome by the Gauls and the Licinian law. That
conquest is dated by him three years earlier than it is in any of the
other accounts: from the building of the city to the Gallic invasion,
Varro and Cato agree with one another. Varro’s mode of reckoning
tallies with the Greek one, and therefore it is sometimes used for
synchronistical purposes. But there is not one among the ancient
historians who makes use of these patch works: Polybius, especially,
follows the era of Cato, which is also to be preferred on this account,
that it may always be shown with certainty why Cato has reckoned in
such or such a manner. A perfectly satisfactory Roman chronology is an
impossibility: it was only in the first Punic war that the beginning of
the year first remained fixed.
[153] See above, p. 501.
[154] Reprinted in the _Kleine historische und philologische
Schriften_. Vol. II. p. 241-256.--G. Ed.
[155] “The benefit of the assignation of land was brought about
at a period, when the people was sorely in want of its domestic
circumstances being bettered, but too late for it to have been
granted.” R. H. III, p. 488.
[156] There is evidently, by some mistake, the _Lex Publilia_ mentioned
instead of the _Lex Valeria Horatia_; as the former merely referred to
administrative measures, whilst the latter was still the only valid
form for actual laws. See above, p. 321.--G. Ed.
[157] To C. Fabricius.
[158] This dignity must have been abolished before the Punic war,
between 471 and 489.
[159] One is not to imagine, that the whole of the phalanx, sixteen
thousand men, stood always in one compact mass sixteen files deep; but
the Macedonians advanced by smaller divisions of about four hundred and
twenty, as is done in most cases even now. These were able to move,
and to find spaces to pass through, which was impossible for the great
phalanx, when it had closed its ranks. This closing in was the resource
of the last moment, and then this mass was impenetrable.
[160] We may see from this, what may be done by determination; as it
was such an excellent cavalry, and so vastly superior in numbers.