Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/121

omuK oo2r £Trdria: period. The porilion of Rome itself on Ihe hn- modUte fronUen of Latiiim and Etruria, neoeMarilj bronght it into relations with the Etmacans from the very earliest periods of its ezistenoe. Accoidingij we fiiid Romulcts himself, as well as TuUns Hoe- tHius, Tepreseated as engaged in wan with the VeientioeB, the Etruscan state whose territory im- mediately bordered on that of the rising city. (Liv. }. 15) 27, 80.) That a part of the popolation of Ifaxne itself was of Tuscan origin, is attested by numerous ancient traditions, though the time and drcumstanoes of its settlement are Tery yarionsly reported. In the legeodaiy history of Borne we find three principal points of contact with Etruria : 1. the traditions connected with Gaeles Vibenoa, an Etruscan chi^tun, who is represented as a kind of CondoUiere^ or leader of an independent mercenary fbroe, and not the chief magistrate or geneiml of any of the Etruscan states. He is said to have brought with him a considerable body of Tuscan troops, who settled on the Caelian hill (Mons Oae- lius), which derired its name from their leader. (Tac Ann, iv. 65 ; Fest ▼. CaeUus^ p. 44, y. Tutau VicMSf pi 355; Varr. LX. t.S. § 46; Dionys. ti. 36.) But the period to which thb immigration IB referred was very uncertain, some assigning it to the reign of Tarqninius Priscus, which view ap- pears to have been confirmed by the Tuscan annals tited by the emperor CUmdius (See Orelli, Exe. md Toe, Amu, xi.)^ others carrying it back to the age of Romulus. Tacitus himsdf considers the settlement of the Tuscans in the quarter which bore from them the name of Tnscns Vicus as connected with the same event, though Livy and other writers feferred this to the expedition of Porsena. (Liv. it. 14 ; Fest. pb 355.) 2. The traditions which point lo the establishment of an Etruscan dynasty at Rome under the later kings, represented in the narrative of the received history by the reigns of the two Tarquins. It is remarkable that Dionysius tepresents the elder Tarquin as establishing his supremacy over the whole of Etruria, after a war of nine years* duraUon (iii. 59 — 62), an event of which neither Livy nor Cicero takes tbe least notice, ftnd which cannot be regarded as historically true; but it seems probable that the rule of the Tarquins In Rome was coincident with the period of the greatest power of the Etruscans, and that at this time their sway was extended not only over Bome itself, but a great part of Latium also. (Niebuhr, tol. i. pp. 383 — 387.) MQller, with much phm- Bibility, regards the dominion of the Tarquinii at Rome as representing a period during which the dtjf of Tarquinii had established its power over the other cities of Etmria, as well as over Rome itself. (MUller, Etruiher, vol. L pp. 118—122 ; Biogr, JHoti art Tarqoikius.) To the period of Etrus- can domination at Rome were assigned, by universal tradition, the great architectural works of the Cloaca Maxima and the Capitol, which strongly vesembled similar oonstmctions in the cities of Etruria itself. 3. A little later than the period of the Tarquins occurs a somewhat similar extension of the Etruscan power under Porsena, king of Clu- aium. There is, perhaps, no part of the Roman history that bears more manifest marks of falsifica- tion than the legends conneoted with this prince: traditions of a wholly different kind were, however, preserved, which leave little doubt that he really conquered Rome {Biogr, Diet, art PoBSira a), and extended his dominion over a great part of Latium, ftrhbia: nntll bh donquests were checked it 'Aricia, b^ tbft* assistance of the Greeks of Cumae. This last fact, which is pboed by Dionysius about 506 b. c , and was, in all probability, derived from Cumaean chro- nicles, may fiurly be depended upon as historicaL (Dionys. viL 5.) From the brief notices above given (tiie fuller de-' vekypment of which in tlds place is obviously impos- sible), it may &irly be inferred that the period when the Etruscan power was at its hdght, so far as we gather from the Roman traditions, was during the second and third centuries of the city, or about 620 — 500 B.a; a result which accords with that pre- viously derived from other sources. It is remarkable that after the war with Ponena, the Roman annals make no mention of hostilitieB with the Etruscans for above twenty years; and when they reoommeooe (B.C. 483), it is UieVeientines alone with whom the arms of the republic were engaged. The pet^ wan between these two ndghbouring states were conti- nued, with occasbnal interruptions and intervals of repose, for a period of nearly ninety years, till they ended in the capture of Veii by Camillus, n. c. 396. Throughout this whole mterval we do not find that the other cities of Etruria lent any efficient aid to the Veientines: even when the progress of the Bo- man arms threatened Veii with destruction, the efforts of the Capenates and Faliscans to induce the other cities of the league to espouse its cause proved unavailing, while they served only to draw down the' vengeance of Rome upon themselves. The fitll of Veii was the first step that marked the decline of the Etruscan power in their central dominions, or Etruria Proper. Previous to that event they had already lost the greater part, if not the whole, of their possessions N. of the Apennines : the fall of Melpum, one of the most considerable of their cities N. of the Padus, is said to have been predaely contemporaiy with that of Veil (Cora. Nepu t^ Plm, ill 17. s. 21.) Before the same period, also, the Samnites had wrested from them the fertile plains of Campania, and the central Etrurians now stood alone, assailed by the growing power of Rome in the &, and exposed to the fbnnidable attacks ef the Gauls on their northern frontier. It was pro- bably the danger that threatened them from this quarter that prevented their cities finom combining tO' resist the Roman arms, which in consequence eon- tinned to gain ground in Southern Etmria. Capena appears to have fallen into the power of Rome shortiy after Veii: Falerii, though not conquered, was oom- pelled to sue for peace; and already before the Gaulish invasion, it. c. 390, the Romans had carried their' arms as far as Sntrium, and engaged in hostilities with the powerful city of Volsinii. (Diod. xir. 98, 109; liv. V. 24, 27, 31, 32.) Even that great ca- lamity only interrupted their progress for a short time: we find them, within a few years after, not only carrying on warfare against the Etruscans in the neighbourhood of Sutrium and Nepete^ but csu- blishing Roman cokmies in both those towns, which became in consequence an important barrier against' the power of Etruria. In the subsequent wan it was sometimes Tarquinii, at othen Volsinii (at this' time one of the most powerful cities of Central Etruria), that took the lead; but in b. a 351 the Tarquinians concluded a truce for forty yean, which /ppeare to have been observed on both sides: and it was not till 31 1 that mention again oocun of an Etruscan, war. The next year (n. c. 310) was ren- dered remarkable by the passage of the Ciminiav