...... Vulturnum. Sinuessa tepens, fluctuque sonorum (Cf. Varr. de Ling. Lat. IV. Polyb. III. 92. Plut. At flavum caput, humidumque late SILV. IV. 3. num. (Cf. Dio. Cass. LXVII.) At the mouth of this river, and on the left bank, was a town of the same name, Vulturnow Castel di Volturno. (Strab. V. 24. Mel. II. 4. Plin. III. 5. Ptol. p. 66.) The origin of this city is probably Etruscan, but we do not find it named in history until it became a Roman colony, A. U. C. 558. (Liv. XXXIV. 45. Varr. loc. cit.) According to Frontinus, a second colony was sent there by Cæsar. (de Col.) Festus includes it among the præfecturæ. Beyond was the town of Liternum, so celebrated Liternum. as the spot to which Scipio Africanus retired into voluntary exile, and where he is also commonly said to have terminated his illustrious career. Its situa tion has been disputed; but antiquaries seem now agreed in fixing the site of the town at a place called Torre di Patria. The difficulty arose chiefly from the mention of a river of the same name by some of the ancient writers. (Strab. V. 243. Liv. XXXII. 29.) This river can be no other than that which rises in the Apennines above Nola, and flowing at no great distance from Acerræ, discharges its waters into the sea near Liternum. Virgil and Silius ItaClanius vel licus mention it under the name of Clanius, which it still retains under the corrupt form of Lagno. Liternus fl. Literna et vacuis Clanius non æquus Acerris. VIRG. GEORG. II. 225. Clanio contemptæ semper Acerræ. SIL. ITAL. VIII. 537. (Cf. Dion. Hal. VII. 3. Lycophr. v. 718.) This Hæc dum stagnosi spectat templumque domosque Liternum. Hinc Literna palus. Hinc calidi fontes, Hinc Literna palus. SIL. ITAL. VI. 653. stagnisque palustre ID. VIII. 532. undosis squalida terris ID. VII. 278. lentisciferumque tenentur OVID. METAM. XV. 713. undosis squalida terris SIL. ITAL. VII. 277. And Liv. XXII. 16. Liternum became a Roman That Scipio retired here in disgust at the injustice of his countrymen seems a fact too well attested to be called in question; but whether he really closed his existence there, as far as we can collect from Livy's account, may be deemed uncertain: his tomb and statue were to be seen both at Liternum and in the family vault of the Scipios, which was discovered some years ago outside the Porta Capena. (Liv. XXXVIII. 51.) Strabo certainly seems to imply that he spent the remainder of his life at Liternum, and also makes mention of his tomb there. (V. 243.) According to Valerius Maximus, Scipio himself had caused to be engraved on it this inscription, INGRATA. PATRIA. NE. OSSA. QUIDEM. MEA. HABES, Interdum et ferro subitus grassator agit rem, SAT. III. 305. Cicero leads us to suppose that this wood lay on the road from Sinuessa to Naples. (ad Fam. IX. Ep. 23.) It is now called Pineta di Castel Volturno°. • Pratilli della Via Appia, 1. ii. c. 7. p. 183. Silva. Cumæ. A few miles further was the ancient Cumæ, placed on a rocky hill washed by the sea; and the same name is still attached to the ruins which lie scattered around its base. Whatever doubt may have been thrown on the pretensions of many other Italian towns to a Greek origin, those of Cumæ seem to stand on grounds too firm and indisputable to be called in question. It is agreed upon by all ancient writers who have adverted to this city, that it was founded at a very early period by some Greeks of Euboea, under the conduct of Hippocles of Cumæ, and Megasthenes of Chalcis. (Strab. V. 243.) Thucydides terms it a Chalcidic city, in the land of the Opici; so also Livy VIII. 22. (Cf. Dion. Hal. VII. Hyper. Cum. ap. Pausan. X. 12. Plin. III. 5. Vell. Paterc. I. 4.) Scymnus of Chios, in his Periplus, says it was founded by the Chalcidians, after which some Æolians of Cumæ, in Asia Minor, came and settled there. It is true that Stephanus of Byzantium is the only author who has mentioned a Cuma in Euboea; but the admission of the existence of such a town would remove many difficulties with regard to the foundation of the Italian Cumæ. The Latin poets, with Virgil at their head, all distinguish Cumæ by the title of the Euboic city. Et tandem Euboicis Cumarum allabitur oris. EN. VI. 2. Talia convexum per iter memorante Sibylla, OVID. METAM. XIV. 154. solusque quietem Euboici vasta lateris convalle tenebis, LUCAN. V. 195. P See the notes to the French Strabo, t. ii. p. 252. The period at which Cuma was founded is stated in the Chronology of Eusebius to have been about 1050 A. C. that is, a few years before the great migration of the Ionians into Asia Minor 9. We have also the authority of Strabo for considering it as the most ancient of all the Grecian colonies both of Italy and Sicily'. (V. 243.) The same author adds, that from its commencement the state of the colony was most flourishing. The fertility of the surrounding country, and the excellent harbours which the coast afforded, soon rendered it one of the most powerful cities of southern Italy, and enabled it to form settlements along the coast, and to send out colonies as far as Sicily; but these will be noticed in their proper place. Before the Etruscans extended their dominion to the south, Cumæ had no enemy to encounter; but that powerful nation meditating, as it should seem, the entire subjugation of Italy, began to view with jealousy the prosperity and aggrandizement of this maritime town; and the more so as from being pressed See Scaliger in Euseb.Chron. and Prideaux, Not. ad Marmor. 146. Oxon. p. The colonization of Cuma at this early period is a remark able event, as shewing the progress already made by the Greeks in the art of navigation, and proving also that they were then well acquainted with Italy. |