Aricia
Now Riccia; an ancient town of Latium at the foot of the Alban Mount, on the Appian Way, sixteen miles from Rome. It was subdued by the Romans, with the other Latin towns, in B.C. 338, and received the Roman franchise. In its neighbourhood were the celebrated grove and temple of Diana Aricina, on the borders of the Lacus Nemorensis. Diana was worshipped here with barbarous customs; her priest, called Rex Nemorensis, was always a runaway slave, who obtained his office by killing his predecessor in single combat. This custom is very strikingly alluded to by Macaulay in the following lines:“From where the witch's fortress
O'erhangs the dark-blue seas,
From the still, glassy lake that sleeps
Beneath Aricia's trees—
Those trees in whose dim shadow
The ghastly priest doth reign,
The priest who slew the slayer,
And shall himself be slain.”
—Battle of Lake Regillus.