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hand, were entirely unacquainted. The term Iapygia appears to have been confined at first to that ninsula which closes the gulf of Tarentum to the south-east, and to which the name of Messapia was likewise sometimes applied; but we find at a later period that Polybius gives to Iapygia the same extension which the Roman historians and geographers assign to Apulia.

When describing Hannibal's advance into the southern provinces of Italy from Picenum, he states that this general, having traversed the country of the Marrucini and Frentani, penetrated into Iapygia, which is divided into the territories of the Dauni, the Peucetii, and the Messapii. (Polyb. III. 88.) Strabo acknowledges also the same division of Apulia, and adds, that as these distinctions were very ancient, it was no easy matter in his time to assign to each people their peculiar limits. (VI. 277. and 283.) Before we follow him, however, in this inquiry, it will be necessary to state generally the boundaries under which Apulia, in its greatest extent, seems to have been comprehended. To the north then this province was separated from the Ager Frentanus by the river Tifernus; to the west it may be conceived as divided from Samnium by a line drawn from that river to the Aufidus, and the chain of mount Vultur; to the south, and on the side of Lucania, it was bordered by the river Bradanus d. Within these limits then we must place with Polybius, Strabo, and the Latin geographers, the several portions of country

Iapyges and lapygi are found only in the Latin poets and geographers, as terms borrowed from the Greeks.

e In the Greek text the name of the Peucetii is left out.

d Cluver. Ital. Ant. II. p. 1219.

occupied by the Daunii, Peucetii, and Messapii, and endeavour to discern, as accurately as it is possible at the present day, what relates to each respective people.

DAUNIA.

The Daunii appear to be one of the earliest Italian tribes with which the Greeks became acquainted, from the circumstance of their having formed colonies which they established at a remote period on the western shores of the Adriatic. This people, according to the most received tradition, obtained their appellation from Daunus, the father-in-law of Diomed; who is stated, on his return from Troy, to have been compelled, by domestic calamities, to abandon his native country, and to have founded another kingdom in the plains watered by the Aufidus. This tradition, as far as it relates to Diomed, may afford matter for a separate discussion; but I shall at present remark, that it proves at least the great antiquity of the Daunians as an indigenous people of Italy. Other accounts, perhaps still more ancient, asserted that Daunus was an Illyrian chief, who, driven from his country by an adverse faction, formed a settlement in this part of Italy. (Fest. v. Daunia.)

If indeed we compare the several testimonies of ancient writers, in regard to the derivation of some portion at least of the population of south-eastern Italy from Illyria, we shall be disposed readily to admit the fact, and to allow also that the period to which it must be referred is of very remote antiquity. But I will not go so far as Freret, who asserts that the Apuli, Daunii, Peucetii, and Calabri, were actually Illyrians".

e Hist. de l'Acad. des Inscript. t. xviii. p. 75.

We are assured by Strabo, that these several people resembled each other in customs and language; and as we know that the Calabrian dialect was much allied to the Oscan, from the fact of its being the language of Ennius, we are authorized to infer the existence of the same affinity with regard also to the Daunii and Apuli, independently of other arguments drawn from coins, inscriptions, and various monuments f. We cannot doubt indeed that the Oscans had extended themselves along the shore of the Adriatic, since they are distinctly mentioned by Scylax in his description of that part of Italy. (Peripl. p. 5.) The safest opinion, therefore, that can be adopted with regard to the inhabitants of this province, is to consider them as the descendants of a remnant of Liburni, and other ancient Illyrians, mingled with a subsequent and preponderating influx of Oscans and different native Italian tribes.

We have no insight whatever into the history of Daunia or Apulia, properly so termed, before the wars of the Samnites and Romans, except the single fact, that these districts were under the government of native princes. (Strab. VI. 281.)

At the period above stated, it appears that the Samnites had already directed their attention to the conquest of Apulia, and this was probably a sufficient inducement for the Romans to dispute with them the possession of that fertile country. Accordingly we hear of the plains of Apulia becoming the fre

f There is a strong analogy between the names of many Apulian towns, and others of Oscan origin in various parts of Italy. Thus we have Teanum,

Teate, Asculum, Luceria, corresponding with Teanum of the Sidicini, Teate of the Marrucini, Asculum of the Picentes, Nuceria of the Campani and Umbri.

quent scene of hostilities between the contending armies of both nations, and of their becoming finally the prize of the victorious Romans; who pretended, however, according to the rules of their specious policy, to consider the Apuli as their faithful allies, unjustly harassed and oppressed by their Samnite neighbours. (Liv. IX. 2. and 12.) In the war with Pyrrhus, the struggle was for some time carried on in Apulia, and many of her towns fell into the power of that prince; but on his evacuating Italy they returned again to their former allegiance. (Plut. Pyrr.) In the second Punic war, a great portion of this province declared itself in favour of the Carthaginians, after the disastrous defeat experienced by the Romans at Cannæ, and remained in the occupation of Hannibal, until he withdrew to the more southern parts of Italy. (Liv. XXII. 61.) At a subsequent period, the Apuli joined in the efforts made by the confederate Italic cities to obtain from the Roman senate an acknowledgment of their rights, and they finally with them reaped the fruit of their perseverance and resolution. (App. Civ. Bell. I. 39. Vell. Paterc. II. 16.)

In describing the boundaries of Apulia Proper, we must follow the authority of Strabo, as he is the only writer who has noticed the existence of a district

under this specific name. He evidently conceives it to have been contiguous to the Ager Frentanus on one side, and to the Daunia on the other. (VI. 283.) Pliny likewise seems to confirm this arrangement when he tells us, that the Apulian Dauni extended from the river Tifernus to the Cerbalus; (III. 11.) though it must be observed, that Strabo appears to limit these Apuli to the south by the Lacus Urianus,

now Lago Varano. At this point, therefore, we may fix the confines of the Apuli and Dauni, and trace those of the latter and the Peucetii, by a line drawn from the mouth of the Aufidus to Silvium, now Garagnone, in the Apennines, so as to include Cannæ and Canusium within the Daunian territory. (Strab. VI. 283.)

Beginning then from the river Tifernus, the first town we find on the side of Apulia is Cliternia. (Mel. Cliternia. III. 4. Plin. III. 12.) According to Romanelli, the ruins of Cliternia are to be seen at a small place called Licchiano, styled in old writings Cliternianum, and situated on the little river Sacchione, not far from the seas.

Larinum is a town of more importance, which, Larinum. though it may have once belonged to the Frentani, from the name of Larinates Frentani attached to its inhabitants by Pliny, (III.12.) appears to have formed in itself a small independent state, before it became subject to the Roman power. Stephanus Byz. terms it a Daunian city. (v. Aápiva.) We have frequent mention of Larinum in Cicero's defence of A. Cluentius, who was a distinguished citizen of that town; and we may collect from what is there stated, that it was a municipal city of some consequence, and in a flourishing condition. It appears from Livy, that Larinum was situated on the road which led from Picenum into Apulia, as that historian describes Hannibal's march along the Adriatic through the territory of the Frentani and of Larinum: (XXII, 18.) and elsewhere, that of Claudius Nero, when proceeding to join his colleague, who was opposed to Asdrubal. (XXVII. 43.)

* Romanelli, t. iii. p. 22.