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LUCRE´TILIS MONS

LUCRE´TILIS MONS (Monte Gennaro), a mountain in the land of the Sabines, whose name is known to us only from the mention of it by Horace, who calls it “the pleasant Lucretilis,” whose shades could allure Faunus himself from Mount Lycaeum. (Hor. Carm. 1.17.) It is evident from the expressions of the poet that it was in the immediate neighbourhood [p. 2.212]of his Sabine farm; and this is admitted by all the old commentators, who with one accord call it “Mons in Sabinis,” but without giving any further clue to its position. The identification of this must therefore depend upon that of Horace's Sabine villa; but this being clearly established near Licenza [DIGENTIA], we cannot refuse to recognise Lucretilis in Monte Gennaro, a lofty mountain mass which rises nearly due W. of Licenza,, standing out prominently towards the plain of the Campagna, so that it is one of the most conspicuous of the Apennines as seen from Rome. On the side towards the plain it rises very steeply and abruptly, but on the reverse or Sabine side it has a much more gentle slope, and fully deserves Horace's epithet of “amoenus,” --being furrowed by deep valleys, the sides of which are clothed with woods, while nearer the summit are extensive pastures, much resorted to by cattle in summer. (Gell, Top. of Rome, pp. 270--273; Nibby, Dintorni, vol. ii. pp. 105--107.) The highest point is 4285 English feet above the sea. Whether the name of Mons Lucretilis was applied to the highest part of the mountain, now called Monte Gennaro, which is so conspicuous from Rome, or was a more local appellation for the peaks nearer the valley of the Digentia, cannot now be determined ; but there is little doubt that the two names belong at least to the same mass or group of mountains.

[E.H.B]

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