FRUSINO
FRUSINO (
Φρουσίνωαν or
Φρούσινον: Eth.
Frusinas,--ātis:
Frosinone), a city of Latium, situated on the Via Latina, 7 miles from Ferentinum, between that city and Fregellae. (
Itin. Ant. pp. 303, 305.)
It seems to have been originally a Volscian city, though entertaining close relations with its neighbours the Hernicans: hence, on the first occasion in which its name appears in history, it is mentioned as having joined in exciting the Hernicans to revolt against Rome. For this offence the city was punished with the loss of a third part of its territory. (Liv. x. i.;
Diod. 20.80.)
Frusino is next mentioned on the occasion of the march of Hannibal against Rome, B.C. 211 (
Liv. 26.9), and incidentally alluded to by Plautus, together with some other towns in the same neighbourhood (
Plautus, Capt. 4.2. 103). Silius Italicus also notices its rocky situation and the hardy character of its inhabitants (8.398, 12.532). Cicero appears to have possessed a farm in its territory, to which he alludes more than once in his letters to Atticus (
ad Att. 11.4, 13). We learn from the Liber Coloniarum (p. 233) that it received a colony of veterans; but it remained a place of only municipal rank, and is mentioned, by Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy, among the towns in this part of Latium. Its position on the Via Latina probably caused it to retain some degree of prosperity, and Juvenal notices it as a respectable country town where houses were cheap. (
Juv. 3.224;
Strab. v. p.237;
Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 9,
Ptol. 3.1.63.) Its existence at a later period is attested by the Itineraries, and it appears to have retained its ancient site throughout the middle ages down to the present day.
It is now an episcopal town with about 7000 inhabitants, standing on a hill which rises above the river
Cosa (
Κόσας, Strab.) about 5 miles above its confluence with the
Sacco (Trerus). Some remains of an amphitheatre are still visible in the plain beneath, but the town itself contains no relics of antiquity.
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E.H.B]
