BRIXELLUM
BRIXELLUM or
BRIXILLUM (
Βρίξελλον, Ptol.;
Βρίξιλλον, Plut.: Eth.
Brixillanus, Inscr.:
Brescello), a town of Cisalpine Gaul. situated on the S. bank of the Padus, about 12 miles NE. of Parma, and 16 from Regium. Pliny calls it a colony (3.15. s. 20), but we have no account of the time when it became such, nor does any other writer assign it that rank; but it was certainly one of the principal towns in this part of Italy. (Zumpt,
de Colon. p. 348;
Ptol. 3.1.45;
Plin. Nat. 7.49. s. 50.)
It is chiefly celebrated as the place to which the emperor Otho retired, when he quitted his army previous to the battle of Bedriacum, and where he put an end to his life on learning the defeat of his troops by the lieutenants of Vitellius. (
Tac. Hist. 2.33,
39,
51,
54;
Plut. Oth. 10,
15--17; Suet.
Oth. 9.)
He was buried on the spot, and his monument was seen there by Plutarch. (
Tac. Hist. 49;
Plut. Oth. 18.) Its selection on that occasion seems to prove that it was a place of strength; and again, at a much later period, it appears as a strong fortress in the time of the Lombard kings. (P. Diac. 3.17, 4.29.) No other mention of it is found in history; but an inscription attests its municipal condition in the reign of Julian, and it is noticed as a considerable town by Sidonius Apollinaris in the account of his journey to Rome. (
Ep. 1.5; Orell.
Inscr. 37, 34.) The Itineraries place it on the road from Cremona to Regium, which probably crossed the Padus at this point; but the distance of 40 M. P. from thence to Regiumn is certainly corrupt. (
Itin. Ant. p. 283.)
The modern town of
Brescello was, at one time, a fortress of some consideration, but is now a poor place with only 2000 inhabitants.
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E.H.B]
