Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/233

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Chap. 9.]
ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, ETC.
199

rani[1], the Allifani[2], the Atinates[3], the Aletrinates[4], the Anagnini[5], the Atellani[6], the Affilani[7], the Arpinates[8], the Auximates[9], the Abellani[10], the Alfaterni (both those who take their names from the Latin, the Hernican and the Labicanian territory), Bovillæ[11], Calatia[12], Casi-

  1. The people of Acerra, still called by the same name; it was plundered and burnt by Hannibal, B.C. 216, but was rebuilt by order of the Roman senate.
  2. The people of Allifæ, a former city of Samnium, on the borders of Campania. The modern city of Alife, a decayed place, stands on its site. There are considerable remains.
  3. The people of Atina, an ancient city of the Volscians. The modern city of Atina, noted for the bleakness of its situation, stands on its site. There are extensive ruins of the ancient city.
  4. The people of Aletrium or Alatrium, an ancient city of the Hernici. The modern Alatri stands on its site; there are but few ancient remains.
  5. The people of Anagnia in Latium, still called Anagni. There are scarcely any remains of the ancient place, which was of considerable importance.
  6. The people of Atella, an ancient city of Campania. Some remains of its ruins are to be seen two miles east of the town of Aversa, near the villages of San Arpino and San Elpidio.
  7. The people of Affilæ, an ancient Hernican town. It is still called Affile, and has many ancient remains.
  8. The people of Arpinum, once a famous city of the Volscians. The present Arpino occupies its site; there are few Roman remains, but its ancient walls, of Cyclopean construction, still exist. It was the birth-place of Marius and Cicero. The villa of the latter was on the banks of the adjoining river Fibrenus. It was, and is still, famous for its woollen manufactures.
  9. The people of Auximum, a city of Picenum. Its site is occupied by the modern Osimo; there are numerous remains of antiquity to be seen.
  10. Or perhaps "Abellini," people of Abelliacum; which, if meant, ought not to be included in this division, being a city of the Hirpini. This city was finally destroyed in the wars of the Greeks and Lombards, and the modern Avellino rose on its site. There are considerable ruins in the vicinity. According to Hardouin, this place also claimed the honour of giving name to filberts, which grew abundantly in its vicinity. If such is the case, it seems probable that both it and Abella took their names from that fruit as called by the early inhabitants. See Note in p. 198.
  11. An ancient city of Latium. Its ruins are to be seen in the vicinity of the Via Appia. See a curious story connected with it in Ovid's Fasti, B. iii. l. 667 et seq.
  12. There were two cities of this name on the confines of Samnium and Campania, one in the valley of the Volturnum, the modern Caiazzo, the other in Campania, between Capua and Beneventum, whose ruins are probably those to be seen at Le Galazzi, between Caserta and Maddaloni.