Kitap 5
4.4
The maritime cities [of Campania], after Sinuessa, are Liternum,Torre di Patria. where is the sepulchral monument of the first of the two Scipios, surnamed Africanus; it was here that he passed the last days of his life, having abandoned public affairs in disgust at the intrigues of certain opponents. A river of the same nameLiternus. flows by this city. In like manner the Vulturnus bears the same name as the cityVulturnum. founded on it, which comes next in order: this river flows through VenafrumVenafro. and the midst of Campania. After these [cities] comes Cumae,κύμη. The Greeks gave a singular form to this name of the ancient seat of the Sibyl. Her chamber, which was hewn out of the solid rock, was destroyed when the fortress of Cumae was besieged by Narses, who undermined it. the most ancient settlementEusebius states that it was founded 1050 B. C., a few years before the great migration of the Ionians into Asia Minor. of the Chalcidenses and Cumaeans, for it is the oldest of all [the Greek cities] in Sicily or Italy. The leaders of the expedition, Hippocles the Cumaean and Megasthenes of Chalcis, having mutually agreed that one of the nations should have the management of the colony, and the other the honour of conferring upon it its own name. Hence at the present day it is named Cumae, while at the same time it is said to have been founded by the Chalcidenses. At first this city was highly prosperous, as well as the PhlegraeanWe may observe that Strabo seems not to have restricted the φλέγοͅαιον πέδιον to that which modern geographers term the Phlegraean plains, which are contained between Cumae and the hills bordering the Lake Agnano, a little beyond Pozzuolo, but, like Pliny, to have extended it to the whole region, at present termed Terra di Lavoro. plain, which mythology has made the scene of the adventures of the giants, for no other reason, as it appears, than because the fertility of the country had given rise to battles for its possession. Afterwards, however, the Campanians becoming mastersA note in the French translation observes, that Diodonus Siculua (lib. xii. § 76) places this event in the fourth year of the 89th Olympiad, 421 B. C. Livy (lib. iv. § 44) seems to place it a year later. of the city, inflicted much injustice on the inhabitants, and even violated their wives. Still, however, there remain numerous traces of the Grecian taste, their temples, and their laws. Some are of opinion that Cumae was so called from τὰ κύματα, the waves, the sea-coast near it being rocky and exposed. These people have excellent fisheries. On the shores of this gulf there is a scrubby forest, extending over numerous acres of parched and sandy land. This they call the GallinarianIt is now called Pineta di Castel Volturno. wood. It was there that the admirals of Sextus Pompeius assembled their gangs of pirates, at the time when he drew Sicily into revolt.Forty years B. C.
