name unchanged to this day. It is supposed by Virgil to have been a colony of Alba ; Hi tibi Nomentum, et Gabios, urbemque Fidenam, and by Pliny to have been founded by Dardanus, a Trojan. (III. 5.) This, however, may be only a different view of Virgil's account. Dionysius ranks it among the Latin cities as early as the reign of Tullus Hostilius. (III. 34.) We are not informed when it became a Roman colony, but it is described as such by Livy. (II. 16.) The same author informs us, that it enjoyed municipal rights during the second Punic war. (XXVI. 8.) In this war Cora is mentioned as one of the refractory cities which refused to contribute its share of the necessary supplies. (XXVII. 9.) Many years after, it suffered greatly during the contest with Spartacus, being taken and sacked by one of his wandering bands. (Flor. III. 20.) It apparently, however, recovered from this devastation, as there are some fine remains of ancient buildings to be seen at Cora, which must have been erected in the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius; but Propertius and Lucan speak of Cora as the seat of ruin and desolation. e Nec dum ultra Tiberim belli sonus; ultima præda Particularly the remains of two temples. One is of the Doric order, supposed to have been dedicated to Hercules: it is in good preservation. The other was sacred to Castor and Pollux. See Piranesi, Antich. PROPERT. IV. ELEG. 11. di Cora. Nibby, Viaggio Antiquario, t. ii. p. 207. Sestini has published a coin of Cora, which he considers as unique. It has the epigraph CORANO, and a head of Apollo. Class. Gen. seu Monet. Vet. p. 12. Norba. ... Gabios, Vejosque, Coramque Pulvere vix tectæ poterunt monstrare ruinæ. LUCAN. VII. 392. Somewhat to the south of Cora, and on the same ridge of hills, was Norba, the position of which will nearly agree with the little place now called Norma. It is mentioned among the early Latin cities by Pliny; (III. 5.) and Dion. Hal. speaks of it as no obscure city of that nation. (VII. 13.) It was early colonized by the Romans as an advantageous station to check the inroads of the Volsci. (Liv. II. 34.) This, however, rendered Norba particularly subject to their devastations, especially on the part of the Privernates, who lay in the immediate neighbourhood; (Liv. VII. 42.) but neither these repeated attacks, nor even the distresses of the second Punic war, had power to shake its fidelity to Rome. (Liv. XXVII. 10.) The disastrous end of this city gave further proof of its devotion to the cause which it had espoused; for the zeal which it displayed on the behalf of Marius and his party drew upon it the vengeance of the adverse faction. sieged by Lepidus, one of Sylla's generals, it was opened to him by treachery; but the undaunted inhabitants chose rather to perish by their own hands than become the victims of a bloody conqueror. (App. Civ. Bell. I. 94.) The name of C. Norbanus, who was descended from a distinguished family of this city, occurs frequently in the history of those disastrous times, as a conspicuous leader on the side of Marius. (Liv. Epit. LXXXV.) Be At the foot of the hill on which this city was situated, the river Nymphæus takes its source in a small lake, 'noticed by Pliny for its floating islands. tuares. They were called Saltuares, from their being said Insula Salto move to the time of dancing feet. (Plin. II. 94. and 95.) The ruins of a temple, sacred to the nymphs of the place, still remain f. On the site of Sermonetta Vecchia once stood the Latin city Sulmo, which must not be confound- Sulmo. ed with the town of the same name situated among the Peligni, and better known as the birthplace of Ovids. Virgil probably alluded to this place when he gives the name of Sulmo to a Latin warrior. Quatuor hîc juvenes; totidem, quos educat Ufens, EN. X. 517. In Pliny's time no vestige of it remained. (III. 5.) Nec facili pretio, sed quo contenta Falerni Non Hybla, non me spicifer capit Nilus, X. EP. 36. ID. X. EP. 74. and likewise Juvenal, f Vulp. Vet. Lat. l. v. c. 4. See vol. i. p. 334. Tunc illa time cum pocula sumes SAT. X. 26. We may infer from Statius, that it was sometimes poured on the ashes of the wealthy dead. If Corradini be correct, we must place in the territory of Setia one of those towns which have long ceased to exist, though they once figured in the anAppiola. nals of Latium; I mean Appiolæ, a city of the Latins, said to have been taken and burned by Tarquinius Priscus, and to have furnished from its spoils the sums necessary for the construction of the Circus Maximus. (Dion. Hal. III. 49. Liv. I. 35. Strab. V. 231.) According to the abovementioned antiquary, the name of Valle Apiole is given in old writings to a tract of country situated between Sezza and Piperno. Priver num. The city of Privernum will close our description of this part of the Volscian territory. Its ancient name is but partially lost in that of the modern Piperno, which marks its situation. We have the authority of Virgil for ascribing it to the Volsci: he speaks of it as the birthplace of Camilla. Pulsus ob invidiam regno viresque superbas EN. XI. 539. Strabo seems to consider the Privernates as a distinct people from the Volsci; for he particularizes Corradini, Vet. Lat. 1. ii. c. 2. them among the petty nations conquered by the Romans and incorporated in Latium. With them he enumerates two other tribes, who have not, I believe, been mentioned by any other author, the Rhæci and Argyrusci. It is probable, however, that these names are corrupt, particularly the second, for which I think we ought to substitute that of the Aurunci, who certainly appear to have been at one time contiguous to the Privernates, and are sufficiently celebrated to deserve some notice from so accurate a writer as Straboh. (V. 231.) The same geographer elsewhere points out the situation of Privernum between the Latin and Appian ways. (V. 237.) This apparently insignificant place, trusting, as it would seem, to its natural strength and remote situation, presumed to brave the vengeance of Rome, by making incursions on the neighbouring colonies of Setia and Norba. (Liv. VII. 15.) A consul was immediately despatched to chastise the offenders, and on the submission of the town obtained the honours of a triumph. (VII. 16.) The Privernates again, however, renewed their hostile depredations; and the offence was repeated so often, that it was found necessary to demolish their walls and remove their senate to Rome. An assembly was held in that city, and a debate ensued on the punishment to be inflicted on the inhabitants of Privernum. A deputy of the conquered town being asked what penalty their rebellious conduct deserved, boldly re h In some MSS. of Dionysius this name is written Aipwνίσσους, which, as Sylburgius judiciously observed, comes near to the 'Αργυρούσκων of Strabo. (Dion. Hal. ed. Reiske, I. p. 55. + |