Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/241

Cliap. 10.] ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, ETC. 207 tre leiirn from Antias that king L. Tarquiniiis took Apiola) a town of the Latins, and with its spoils laid the first foun- dations of the Capitol. From Siirrentum'^ to the river Silarus^, the former territory of Pieentia^ extends for a distance of thirty miles. This belonged to the Etruscans, and was remarkable for the temple of the Argive Juno, founded by Jason^ In it was Picentia, a town^ of the ter- ritory of ^alernum^. CHAP. 10. THE THIRD REGION OF ITALY. At the Silarus begins the third region of Italy, consisting of the territory of Lucania and Bruttium ; here too there have been no few changes of the population. These districts ^ This city took the lead in the war of the Latin cities against Tar- qiunius Priscus. Gell and Nibby think that it was situate about eleven miles from Rome, a mile to the south of the Appian way, where there are some remains that indicate the site of an ancient city, near the stream called the Fosso delle Fratocche. Livy tells us that with the spoils thence derived, Tarquinius celebrated the Ludi Magni for the fu*st time. - Opposite Caprese, and situate on the Promontory of Minerva. Sor- rento now stands on its site. ^ The modem Silaro ; it was the boundary between Lucania and Campania, and rises in the Apennines. ■* A to^ i in the south of Campania, at the head of the Gulf of Pcestum. In consequence of the aid which they gave to Hannibal, the inhabitants were foi'ced to abandon their to"n and hve in the adjoining vdlages. The name of Piccntmi was given, as here stated, to the inha- bitants of all the territory between the Promontory of Minerva and the river Silarus. They were a portion of the Sabine Picentes, who were h'ansplanted thither after the conquest of Piccnum, B.C. 268. The mo- dem Vicenza stands on its site. ^ The Argonaut. Probably this was only a vague tradition. ^ By using the genitive ' Salemi,' he would seem to imply that the Eoman colony of Salemum then gave name to the district of which Pi- centia was the cliief town. Ajasson however has translated it merely " Salemum and Picentia." ' Intus ' can hardly mean " inland," as Picentia was near the coast, and so was Salemum. 7 This was an ancient towm of Campania, at the innermost comer of the Gulf of Pirstuni, situate near the coast, on a heiglit at the foot of which lay its harbour. It attained great pros])erity, as Salerno, in the middle ages, and was noted for its School of Healtli estabhshed there; which issued periodically rules for the preservation of health in Latin Leonine verse.