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CHAP. 24. (20.)—THE ALPS, AND THE ALPINE NATIONS.

Many nations dwell among the Alps; but the more remarkable, between Pola and the district of Tergeste, are the Secusses, the Subocrini, the Catali, the Menocaleni, and near the Carni the people formerly called the Taurisci, but now the Norici. Adjoining to these are the Rhæti and the Vindelici, who are all divided into a multitude of states. It is supposed that the Rhæti are the descendants of the Tuscans, who were expelled by the Gauls and migrated hither under the command of their chief, whose name was Rhætus. Turning then to the side of the Alps which fronts Italy, we have the Euganean1 nations enjoying Latin rights, and of whom Cato enumerates thirty-four towns. Among these are the Triumpilini, a people who were sold2 with their territory; and then the Camuni, and several similar tribes, each of them in the jurisdiction of its neighbouring municipal town. The same author also considers the Lepontii3 and the Salassi to be of Tauriscan origin, but most other writers, giving a Greek4 interpretation to their name, consider the Lepontii to have been those of the followers of Hercules who were left behind in consequence of their limbs being frozen by the snow of the Alps. They are also of opinion that the inhabitants of the Grecian Alps are descended from a portion of the Greeks of his army, and that the Euganeans, being sprung from an origin so illustrious, thence took their name5. The head of these are the Stœni6. The Vennonenses7 and the Sarunetes8, peoples of the Rhæti, dwell about the sources of the river Rhenus, while the tribe of the Lepontii, known as the Uberi, dwell in the vicinity of the sources of the lhodanus, in the same district of the Alps. There are also other native tribes here, who have received Latin rights, such as the Octodurenses9, and their neighbours the Centrones10, the Cottian11 states, the Ligurian Vagienni, descended from the Caturiges12, as also those called Montani13; besides numerous nations of the Capillati14, on the confines of the Ligurian Sea.

It may not be inappropriate in this place to subjoin the inscription now to be seen upon the trophy15 erected on the Alps, which is to the following effect:—"To the Emperor Cæsar—The son16 of Cæsar now deified, Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, and emperor fourteen years, in the seventeenth17 year of his holding the tribuni- tial authority, the Senate and the Roman people, in remembrance that under his command and auspices all the Alpine nations which extended from the upper sea to the lower were reduced to subjection by the Roman people—The Alpine nations so sub- dued were: the Triumpilini, the Camuni, the Ve- nostes18, the Vennonenses, the Isarci, the Breuni, the Genaunes19, the Focunates, four nations of the Vindelici, the Consuanetes, the Rucinates, the Licates20, the Catenates, the Ambisontes, the Ru- gusci, the Suanetes21, the Calucones, the Brixentes, the Lepontii, the Uberi, the Nantuates, the Seduni, the Varagri, the Salassi, the Acitavones, the Medulli, the Uceni22, the Caturiges, the Bri- giani, the Sogiontii, the Brodiontii, the Nemaloni, the Edenates23, the Esubiani, the Veamini, the Gal- litæ, the Triulatti, the Ecdini, the Vergunni, the Eguituri24, the Nementuri, the Oratelli, the Nerusi, the Velauni, and the Suetri."

The twelve states of the Cottiani25 were not included in the list, as they had shown no hostility, nor yet those which had been placed by the Pompeian law under the jurisdiction of the municipal towns.

Such then is Italy, sacred to the gods, such are the nations, such the cities of her peoples; to which we may add, that this is that same Italy, which, when L. Æmilius Paulus26 and C. Attilius Regulus were Consuls, on hearing of the rising in Gaul, unaided, and without any foreign assistance whatever, without the help even of that portion which lies beyond the Padus, armed 80,000 horse and 700,000 foot. In abundance of metals of every kind. Italy yields to no land whatever; but all search for them has been prohibited by an ancient decree of the Senate, who gave orders thereby that Italy shall be exempted27 from such treatment.

1 It is from this people that the group of volcanic hills between Padua and Verona derive their present name of Colli Euganei or the "Euganean Hills." From the Triumpilini and the Camuni, the present Val Camonica and Val Trompia derive their names.

2 Probably meaning, that for a sum of money they originally acknowledged their subjection to the Roman power.

3 The Lepontii probably dwelt in the modern Val Leventina and the Val d'Osula, near Lago Maggiore; the Salassi in the Val d'Aosta.

4 Making it to come from the Greek verb λείπω, "to leave behind."

5 As though being evyevetot or εὐγένειοι or εὐγενεῖς, "of honourable descent," or "parentage."

6 Strabo mentions the Stoni or Stœni among the minor Alpine tribes. Mannert thinks that they dwelt near the sources of the river Chiese, about the site of the modern village of Storo.

7 It has been suggested that from them the modern Valtelline takes its name.

8 Hardouin suggests that the Suanetes, who are again mentioned, are the people here meant.

9 They are supposed to have dwelt in the present canton of Martignac in the Valais, and the Vaudois.

10 They dwelt in the Tarantaise, in the duchy of Savoy. The village called Centron still retains their name.

11 The states subject to Cottius, an Alpine chief, who having gained the favour of Augustus, was left by him in possession of this portion of the Alps, with the title of Præfect. These states, in the vicinity of the modern Mount Cenis, seem to have extended from Ebrodunum or Embrun in Gaul, to Segusio, the modern Susa, in Italy, including the Pass of Mont Grenèvre. The territory of Cottius was united by Nero to the Roman empire, as a separate province called the "Alpes Cottiæ."

12 They dwelt in the vicinity of Ebrodunum or Embrun already mentioned.

13 The "mountaineers." Some editions read here "Appuani," so called from the town of Appua, now Pontremoli.

14 The Vagienni, and the Capillati Ligures, or "Long-haired Ligurians," have been previously mentioned in Chap. 7.

15 The trophy or triumphal arch which bore this inscription is that which was still to be seen at Torbia near Nicæa in Illyria, in the time of Gruter, who has given that portion of the inscription which remained unobliterated, down to "gentes Alpinæ," "the Alpine nations." Hardouin speaks of another triumphal arch in honour of Augustus at Segusio or Susa in Piedmont, which appears to have commenced in a somewhat similar manner, but only the first twelve words were remaining in 1671.

16 Adopted son of his great uncle Julius Cæsar.

17 Most of the MSS. omit the figures XVII here, but it is evidently an accident; if indeed they were omitted in the original.

18 They are supposed to have occupied the Val Venosco, at the sources of the Adige. The Isarci dwelt in the Val de Sarra or Sarcha, near Val Camonica; and the Breuni in the Val Brounia or Bregna, at the source of the Tessino.

19 D'Anville thinks that they inhabited the Val d'Agno, near Trento, between Lake Como and the Adige. He also detects the name of the Focunates in the village of Vogogna.

20 They inhabited the banks of the river Lech, their town being, according to Strabo, Damasia, afterwards Augusta Vindelicorum, now Augsburg.

21 Probably the Sarunetes, already mentioned. The Brixentes inhabited the modern Brixen in the Tyrol. The Lepontii have been previously mentioned. The Seduni occupied the present Sion, the capital of the Valais. The Salassi have been already mentioned. According to Bouche, the Medulli occupied the modern Maurienne in Savoy. The Varagri dwelt in Le Chablais.

22 The Uceni, according to Hardouin, occupied Le Bourg d'Oysans in the modern Graisivaudan; the Caturiges, the modern Chorges according to Ansart; the Brigiani, probably Briançon, and the Nemaloni, as Hardouin thinks, the place called Miolans.

23 They probably dwelt in the Ville de Seyne, in Embrun; the Esubiani near the river Hubaye, in the Vallée de Barcelone in Savoy; the Veamini in Senez, the Triulatti at the village of Alloz, the Ecdini near the river Tinea, and the Vergunni in the vicinity of the district of Vergons.

24 The Eguituri probably dwelt near the modern town of Guillaumes, the Oratelli at the place now called Le Puget de Théniers, and the Velauni near the modern Bueil.

25 Or subjects of Cottius, previously mentioned.

26 A mistake for L. Æmilus Papus. He and C. Regulus were Consuls in B.C. 225. They successfully opposed the Cisalpine Gauls, who invaded Italy; but Regulus was slain in the engagement.

27 It is difficult to say what is the exact force of "parci" here; whether in fact it means that Italy shall be wholly exempted from such treatment, as an indignity offered to her soil, or whether her minerals were to be strictly kept in reserve as a last resource. Ajasson, in his Translation, seems to take the former view, Littré the latter.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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