DIABLINTES
Eth.
DIABLINTES Caesar (
Caes. Gal. 3.9) mentions the Diablintes among the allies of the Veneti and other Armoric states whom Caesar attacked. The Diablintes are mentioned between the Morini and Menapii, from which, if we did not know their true position, we might be led to a false conclusion.
The true form of the name in Caesar is doubtful. Schneider, in his edition of the Gallic War, has adopted the form Diablintres, and there is good MSS. authority for it. The Diablintes are the Diablindi, whom Pliny (
4.18) places in Gallia Lugdunensis; and probably the Aulerci Diaulitae of Ptolemy (
2.8). We may infer their position in some degree from Pliny's enumeration, “Cariosvelites [
CURIOSOLITAE], Diablindi, Rhedones.” The capital of the Diablintes, according to Ptolemy, was Noeodunum, probably the Nudium of the Table. The Notitia of the Gallic provinces, which belongs to the commencement of the fifth century, mentions Civitas Diablintum among the cities of Lugdunensis Tertia.
A document of the seventh century speaks of “condita Diablintica” as situated “in Pago Cenomannico” (
Le Mans), and thus we obtain the position of the Diablintes, and an explanation of the fact of the name Aulerci being given in Ptolemy both to the Diablintes and Cenomanni [AULERCI; CENOMANNI]. Another document of the seventh century speaks of “oppidum Diablintes juxta ripam Araenae fiuvioli;” and the Arena is recognised as the
Aron, a branch of the
Mayenne. A small place called
Jubleins, where Roman remains have been found, not far from the town of
Mayenne to the S.E., is probably the site of the “Civitas Diablintum” and Noeodunum [
NOEODUNUM].
The territory of the Diablintes seems to have been small, and it may have been included in that of the Cenomanni, or the diocese of
Mans. (D'Anville,
Notice, &c.; Walekenaer,
Géog., &c. vol. i. p. 387.)
[
G.L]
