Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK III. AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED., CHAP. 22. (18.)

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CHAP. 22. (18.)—THE TENTH REGION OF ITALY.

We now come to the tenth region of Italy, situate on the Adriatic Sea. In this district are Venetia¹, the river Silis², rising in the Tarvisanian³ mountains, the town of Alti- num⁴, the river Liquentia rising in the mountains of Opitergium⁵, and a port with the same name, the colony of Concordia⁶; the rivers and harbours of Romatinum⁷, the greater and less Tiliaventum⁸, the Anaxum⁹, into which the Varamus flows, the Alsa¹⁰, and the Natiso with the Turrus, which flow past the colony of Aquileia¹¹ at a distance of fifteen miles from the sea. This is the country of the Carni¹², and adjoining to it is that of the lapydes, the river Timavus¹³, the fortress of Pucinum¹⁴, famous for its wines, the Gulf of Tergeste¹⁵, and the colony of that name, thirty-three miles from Aquileia. Six miles beyond this place lies the river Formio¹⁶, 189 miles distant from Ravenna, the ancient boundary¹⁷ of enlarged Italy, and now the frontier of Istria. That this region takes its name from the river Ister which flows from the Danube, also called the Ister, into the Adriatic opposite the mouth of the Padus, and that the sea which lies between them is rendered fresh by their waters running from opposite directions, has been erroneously asserted by many, and among them by Nepos even, who dwelt upon the banks of the Padus. For it is the fact that no river which runs from the Danube discharges itself into the Adriatic. They have been misled, I think, by the circumstance that the ship Argo came down some river into the Adriatic sea, not far from Tergeste; but what river that was is now unknown. The most careful writers say that the ship was carried across the Alps on men's shoulders, having passed along the Ister, then along the Savus, and so from Nauportus¹⁸, which place, lying between Æmona¹⁹ and the Alps, from that circumstance derives its name.

1 The district of the Veneti. These people, taking refuge in the adjoining islands in the fifth century to escape the Huns under Attila, founded the modern city of Venice.

2 Now called the Sile, which flows past Trevigio or Treviso.

3 The mountainous district in the vicinity of Tarvisium, the modern Treviso.

4 Situate in a marsh or lagune on the river Sile. It became a Roman colony after Pliny's time, under the Emperor Trajan. Its villas are described by Martial as rivalling those of Baiæ. The Emperor Verus died here A.D. 169. The modern village of Altino is a very impoverished place. The Liquentia is now called the Livenza.

5 Now called Oderzo, on the river Montegano, which flows into the Liquenza. The conduct of the people of this place, in the wars between Pompey and Cæsar, is mentioned by Lucan, in his Pharsalia, B. iv. 1. 462.

6 From inscriptions we find that this place was called Colonia Julia Concordia, from which it seems probable that it was one of the colonies founded by Augustus to celebrate the restoration of peace. It rapidly rose into importance, and is often mentioned during the later ages of the Roman Empire, as one of the most important cities in this part of Italy. It is now a poor village, with the same name, and no remains of antiquity beyond a few inscriptions.

7 The Romatinum is the modern Lemene. Pliny seems to imply, (though from the uncertainty of the punctuation it is not clear,) that on the Romatinum there was a port of that name. If so, it would probably occupy the site of the present Santa Margherita, at the mouth of the Lemene.

8 The greater Tiliaventum is the modern Tagliamento; and Hardouin suggests that the smaller river of that name is the Lugugnana.

9 This river is supposed to be the same with the modern Stella, and the Varamus the Revonchi, which joins the Stella.

10 Now called the Ansa. The Natiso is the modern Natisone, and the Turrus the Torre; the former flowed past Aquileia on the west, the latter on the east, in former times, but their course is probably now changed, and they fall into the Isonzo, four miles from the city.

11 The capital of Venetia, and one of the most important cities of Northern Italy. In the year A.D. 452 it was besieged by Attila, king of the Huns, taken by storm, and plundered and burnt to the ground. On its site, which is very unhealthy, is the modern village of Aquileia, with about 1400 inhabitants. No ruins of any buildings are visible, but the site abounds with coins, shafts of columns, inscriptions, and other remains of antiquity.

12 Ptolemy states that Concordia and Aquileia were situate in the district of the Carni.

13 Still called the Timavo.

14 Castel Duino stands on its site. It will be found again mentioned in B. xiv. C. 8, for the excellence of its wines.

15 Now the Gulf of Trieste. Tergeste was previously an insignificant place, but made a Roman colony by Vespasian. The modern city of Trieste occupies its site.

16 Most probably the modern Risano. Cluver and D'Anville are of that opinion, but Walckenaer thinks that it was a small stream near Muja Vecchia; which seems however to be too near Trieste.

17 In the time of Augustus, and before Istria was added as a province to Italy.

18 He alludes to an old tradition that the Argonauts sailed into the Ister or Danube, and then into the Save, till they came to the spot where the modern town of Upper Laybach stands, and that here they built Nauportus, after which they carried their ship across the mountains on men's shoulders into the Adriatic. He intends to suggest therefore that the place had its name from the Greek ναῦς "a ship" and πορψμὸς "a passage."

19 The modem town of Laybach stands on its site. It is situate on the Save, and on the road from Aquileia to Celeia. The Roman remains prove that the ancient city exceeded the modern one in magnitude. According to tradition it was founded by the Argonauts. It subsequently became a Roman colony, with the title of Julia Augusta. It is again mentioned in C. 28.

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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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 22. (18.)—THE TENTH REGION OF ITALY.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 22. (18.)—THE TENTH REGION OF ITALY.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.