RUTUBA
RUTUBA (
Roja), a river of Liguria, which rises in the Maritime Alps, near the
Col de Tende, and flows into the sea at
Vintimiglia (Albium Intemelium). Its name is found in Pliny (
3.5. s. 7), who places it apparently to the W. of Albium Intemelium, whereas it really flows on the E. side of that town; Lucan also notices it among the streams which flow from the Apennines (2.422), and gives it the epithet of “cavus,” from its flowing through a deep bed or ravine. From the mention of the Tiber just after, some writers have supposed that he must mean another river of the name; but there is no reason to expect such strict geographical order from a poet, and the mention of the Macra a few lines lower down sufficiently shows that none such was intended. Vibius Sequester (p. 17) who makes the Rutuba fall into the Tiber, has obviously misunderstood the passage of Lucan.
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E.H.B]