refusing to supply the usual quota of troops which they had agreed to furnish as allies of Rome. Their bold demand, which was urged through L. Annius Setinus, in the Roman senate, that one of the consuls at least should be chosen out of their nation, led to an open rupture. A war followed, which was rendered remarkable from the event of the execution of young Manlius by order of his father, and the devotion of Decius. After having been defeated in several encounters, the Latins were finally reduced to subjection, with the exception of a few towns, which experienced greater lenity, and Latium thenceforth ceased to be an independent state. (Liv. VIII. 14. Plin. XXXIV. 5.) At that time the rights of Roman citizens had been granted to a few only of the Latin cities; but, at a later period, the Gracchi sought to level all such distinctions between the Latins and Romans. This measure, however, was not carried. The Social war followed; and though the confederates were finally conquered, after a long and desperate contest, the senate thought it advisable to decree that all the Latin cities which had not taken part with the allies should enjoy the rights of Roman citizens. Many of these towns were, however, deprived of their privileges by Sylla; and it was not till the close of the republic that the Latins were admitted generally to participate in all the rights and immunities enjoyed by the Quirites". (Suet. Cæs. 8. Ascon. Ped. in Pis. p. 490.)

The name of Latium was at first given to that portion of Italy only which extends from the mouth

m On the intricate subject of the Jus Latii and Jus Italicum, see Lips. in Tacit. Ann. XI. 24.

Panvin. Comm. Reip. Rom. III. p. 329. and Spanhem. Orb. Rom. I. 16.

of the Tiber to the Circæan promontory, a distance
of about fifty miles along the coast; but subsequently
this last boundary was removed to the river Liris,
now Garigliano, whence arose the distinction of
Latium Antiquum and Novum. (Strab. V. 231.
Plin. III. 5.) At a still later period, the southern
boundary of Latium was extended from the Liris to
the mouth of the river Vulturnus and the Massic
hills. I shall at present confine myself to the de-
scription of Latium Antiquum, which may be con-
sidered as bounded to the north by the Anio and
the Tiber, the Latins being separated from the Sa-
bines by the former river, and from the Tuscans by
the latter; to the east and south-east by the river
Ufens and the Volscian mountains, and to the west
by the Tyrrhenian sea.
Even in this narrow terri-
tory it will be observed that many tribes are in-
cluded which were not originally incorporated into
the Latin confederacy, and consequently did not
offer sacrifice in common on the Alban mount, nor
meet in the general assembly held at the source of
the Aqua Ferentina: this has been done to avoid
superfluous subdivisions. I purpose, however, still
to retain the original name of each separate people,
as it is better known as such in the Roman history,
which alone gives an interest to what is otherwise
insignificant and obscure.

In describing the towns and other sites of Latium, of which mention is made in ancient writers, I shall begin from the Tiber, as being the northern limit of that portion of Italy. At the mouth of this river stood the once celebrated town and harbour of Ostia", the Ostia.

n Cluverius conceives, with some degree of probability, that

the name of Ostia was in the
plural number, as being applied

port of Rome; its name even now remains unchanged, though few vestiges are left of its ancient greatness. All historians agree in ascribing the foundation of Ostia to Ancus Martius, (Liv. I. 33. Dion. Hal. III. 44. Flor. I. 4. Eutrop. I. Cf. Polyb. VI. Frag. Strab. V. 231.) and Ennius, quoted by Festus.

Ostia munita est―idem loca navibus pulchris
Munda fácit, nautisque mari quæsentibus vitam.

That it was a Roman colony, we learn from Flor. I. 4. Senec. I. 15. Tacit. Hist. I. 80. When the Romans began to have ships of war, Ostia became a place of greater importance, and a fleet was constantly stationed there to guard the mouth of the Tiber. (Liv. XXII. 11. and 27. XXIII. 38. and XXVII. 22.) It was here that the statue of Cybele was received with due solemnity by Scipio Nasica, whom the public voice had selected for that duty, as the best citizen of Rome. (Liv. XXIX. 14. Herodian. I.) In the civil wars, Ostia fell into the hands of Marius, and was treated with savage cruelty. (Liv. Epit. LXXIX.) Cicero, in one of his orations, alludes with indignation to the capture of the fleet stationed at Ostia by some pirates. (pro leg. Manil.) The town and colony of Ostia was distant only thirteen miles from Rome, but the port itself, according to the Itineraries, was at the mouth of the Tiber. There is some difficulty, however,

to the Ostia Tiberina, as the Tiber divided itself into two branches near its entrance into the sea. Ital. Ant. II. p. 872.

• Unless it be thought with

Vulpius, that the town and harbour, with all their dependencies, might occupy an extent of three miles along the river. Vet. Lat. lib. ii. c. 1. p. 136.

in ascertaining the exact situation of the harbour, from the change which appears to have taken place in the mouth of the river during the lapse of so many ages. Even the number of its channels is a disputed point. Ovid seems to point out two.

Ostia contigerat, qua se Tiberinus in altum

Dividit, et campo liberiore natat.

FAST. IV. 291.

Fluminis ad flexum veniunt; Tiberina priores
Ostia dixerunt, unde sinister abit.

FAST. IV. 329.

But Dionysius, in his Periegesis, positively states that there was but one. This difference, however, may be reconciled, by supposing that in the geographer's time the right branch of the river might alone be used for the purposes of navigation, and that the other stream was too insignificant and shallow for the reception of ships of any size P.

According to Plutarch, Julius Cæsar was the first who turned his attention to the construction of a port at Ostia, by raising there a mole and other works; but it was to the emperor Claudius that this harbour seems indebted for all the magnificence ascribed to it by antiquity. Suetonius, in his life of that prince, has given us a detailed account of the formation of this harbour, with its pharos. (c. 20. Cf. Dio. Cass. LX. Plin. XXXVI. 9. 15. and 40.)

P. The two streams still exist; the left is called Fiumara; the right, on which the Portus Augusti was situated, is known by the name of Fiumicino. See a plan of this harbour, and the mouths of the river, in a disser

tation of the Marchese Lucatelli on the port of Ostia. (Dissert. dell' Accad. di Cort. vol. vi. p. 24. and 25.) In the Tab. Theodos. there is also a representation of the port and its pharos.

In the latter author there is a curious description of the attack and capture of a huge fish, which had entered the port during the time of its construction. (IX. 6.) Valerius Flaccus alludes likewise to this harbour.

Non ita Tyrrhenus stupet Ioniusque magister
Qui portus Tiberine tuos, claramque serena
Arce Pharon princeps linquens, nusquam Ostia, nusquam
Ausoniam videt.-.
ARGON. VII. 83.

It is generally supposed that Trajan subsequently improved and beautified the port of Ostia; but the only authority for such a supposition is derived from the Scholiast of Juvenal, in his commentary on the passage where that poet describes the entrance of Catullus into this haven.

Tandem intrat positas inclusa per æquora moles,
Tyrrhenamque Pharon; porrectaque brachia rursum
Quæ pelago occurrunt medio, longeque relinquunt
Italiam. Non sic igitur mirabere portus
Quos natura dedit.-

SAT. XII. 75.

It is not impossible, however, that the Scholiast might confound the harbour of Ostia with that of Centumcellæ, which was certainly a work of Trajan; and to which the medals of that emperor, with the representation of a port, are to be referred. In process of time a considerable town was formed round the haven, which was itself called Portus Augusti, or simply Portus: and a road was constructed from thence to the Capitol, which took the name of Via Portuensis. Ostia, as we have observed, attained the summit of its prosperity and importance under Claudius, who always testified a peculiar regard for this colony. (Suet. Claud. 20. and 25.) It seems to