522 BENEVENTO and game abound, and are extensively exported. !!. A city (anc. Jieneventum), capital of the province, at the junction of the Calore and Sabbato rivers, and on the railway from Naples to Foggia, 32 m. N. E. of Naples ; pop. in 1872, 20,133. The Porta Aurea, one of the gates of the city, which once spanned the Appian Way and now leads to Foggia, is formed by the fa- mous arch of Trajan, with bass reliefs repre- senting his exploits, and one of the finest and best preserved monuments of the kind in Italy. The Corso extends along the ridge on which the city is built, from the cathedral to the castle. In the piazza Orsini is a fountain with a statue of Pope Benedict XIII. Most of the streets, though narrow and steep, contain mansions of old families and other fine residences. There are many convents and churches. The vast and interesting cathedral had its interior com- pletely restored in the 17th century. In the episcopal palace are various antiquities and Benevento, Italy. two fragments of Egyptian obelisks in hiero- glyphics. The castle is used as the official resi- dence of the local authorities, and Latin in- scriptions abound all over the city, as well as bass reliefs and esteemed fragments of ancient statuary. Among other relics are the remains of an amphitheatre, portions of the Roman walls, and an ancient bridge over the Calore. Few Italian cities present greater archaeologi- cal and historical interest than Benevento. Traditions of a mysterious walnut tree, where the itreghe di Benevento, as the witches of S. Italy were popularly called, met at night, still linger among the people. Gold and silver ware, leather, and parchment are manufactured, and the corn trade is considerable. The origin of the city has been variously ascribed to Dio- medes and to Auson, a son of Ulysses and Circe. It first appears in history as one of the chief cities of Samnium, and fell into the hands of the Romans in the 3d century B. C., when Pyr- BENEZET rhns was defeated here (275) ; and about the same period the name of Beneventum -was adopted in place of the previous appellation of Maleventum. Under the Romans Beneventum retained great importance till the fall of the empire, on account of its wealth and pros- perity and its position on the Appian Way. Under the Lombards it became the capital of a duchy, including many of their conquests in S. Italy, and afterward of a principality with extended dominion, which passed through many vicissitudes, and became extinct in 1077 with the death of Landulph VI. The Normans then seized the territory, while the city came under the sway of the pope. Four councils were held here in the llth and 12th centuries. On Feb. 26, 1266, Manfred of Naples was de- feated here by Charles of Anjou in a celebrated battle, which has been commemorated by Dante. Early in the 15th century the city was for a tune under Neapolitan rule, till Ferdinand I. returned it to the pope. In 1688 it was devas- tated by an earthquake, and its restoration was due to the archbishop of Benevento, after- ward Pope Benedict XIII. The papal pow- er was almost uninter- ruptedly sustained till 1798, when the French took the place and sold it to Naples. Cardinal Ruffo routed here in 1799 a body of French troops. In 1806 Bene- vento was made a prin- cipality by Napoleon I. for the benefit of Tal- leyrand, but it was re- stored to the pope in 1815. An insurrection in 1820 was speedly put down; and Benevento had no share in the revolutionary outbreak of 1848-'9. In 1860 it was united to the king- dom of Italy, together with Naples. BENEVOLENCE, in England, first a voluntary gratuity voted to Edward IV. by his subjects. It was afterward a species of forced loan levied by the kings in violation of Magna Charta. The exaction aroused great indignation, and led to the insertion of an article in the petition of rights, 3 Charles I., by which it was provi- ded that no man should be compelled to yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax, or such like charge, without common consent by act of parliament. By the statute 1 William and Mary, it is declared that levying money for or to the use of the crown, by pretence of pre- rogative, without grant of parliament, or for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be so granted, is illegal. BENEZET, Anthony, an American philanthro- pist, born at St. Quentin, France, Jan. 31, 1713,
