and Bruttians, the latter of whom now occur for the first time in Roman history (Liv. Epit. xii.); but circumstances soon arose which led the Romans to declare war against the Tarentines; and these called in the assistance of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. The war with that monarch (the first in which the Romans were engaged with any non-Italian enemy) was at the same time decisive of the fate of the Italian peninsula. It was, indeed, the last struggle of the nations of Southern Italy against the power of Rome: on the side of Pyrrhus were ranged, besides the Tarentines and their mercenaries, the Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians; while the Latins, Campanians, Sabines, Umbrians, Volscians, Marrucini, Peligni, and Frentani, are enumerated among the troops which swelled the ranks of the Romans. (Dionys. xx. Fr. Didot.) Hence, the final defeat of Pyrrhus near Beneventum (B. c. 275) was speedily followed by the complete subjugation of Italy. Tarentum fell into the hands of the Romans in B. C. 272, and, in the same year, the consuls Sp. Carvilius and Papirius Cursor celebrated the last of the many Roman triumphs over the Samnites, as well as the Lucanians and Bruttians. Few particulars have been transmitted to us of the petty wars which followed, and served to complete the conquest of the peninsula The Picentes, who were throughout the Samnite wars on friendly terms with Rome, now appear for the first time as enemies; but they were defeated and reduced to submission in B. c. 268. The subjection of the Sallentines followed, B. C. 266, and the same year records the conquest of the Sarinates, probably including the other mountain tribes of the Umbrians. A revolt of the Volsinians, in the following year (B. C. 265), apparently arising cat of civil dissensions, gave occasion to the last of these petty wars, and earned for that people the credit of being the last of the Italians that submitted to the Roman power. (Florus, i. 21.) | East, they were still constantly engaged in an inglorious, but arduous, struggle with the Ligurians, on their own immediate frontiers. Strabo observes, that it cost them eighty years of war to secure the coastline of Liguria for the space of 12 stadia in width (iv. p. 203); a statement nearly correct, for the first triumph over the Ligurians was celebrated in B. C. 236, and the last in B. C. 158. Even after this last period it appears to have been a long time before the people were finally reduced to a state of tranquillity, and lapsed into the condition of ordinary Roman subjects. 2. Italy under the Romans. It would be a great mistake to suppose that the several nations of Italy, from the periods at which they successively yielded to the Roman arms and acknowledged the supremacy of the Republic, became her subjects, in the strict sense of the word, or were reduced under any uniform system of administration. The relations of every people, and often even of every city, with the supreme head, were regulated by special agreements or decrees, arising out of the circumstances of their conquest or submission. How various and different these relations were, is sufficiently seen by the instances of the Latins, the Campanians, and the Hernicans, as given in detail by Livy (viii. 11 -14, ix. 43). From the loss of the second decade of that author, we are unfortunately deprived of all similar details in regard to the other nations of Italy; and hence our information as to the relations established between them and Rome in the third century B. C., and which continued, with little alteration, till the outbreak of the Social War, B. C. 90, is unfortunately very imperfect. We may, however, clearly distinguish two principal classes into which the Italians were then divided; those who possessed the rights of Roman citizens, and were thus incorporated into the Roman state, and those who still retained their separate national existence It was not till long after that the nations of as dependent allies, rather than subjects properly so Northern Italy shared the same fate. Cisalpine called. The first class comprised all those comGaul and Liguria were still regarded as foreign munities which had received, whether as nations or provinces; and, with the exception of the Senones, separate cities, the gift of the Roman franchise; a whose territory had been already reduced, none of right sometimes conferred as a boon, but often also the Gaulish nations had been assailed in their own imposed as a penalty, with a view to break up more abodes. In B. C. 232 the distribution of the "Gal- effectually the national spirit and organisation, and licas ager" (the territory of the Senones) became bring the people into closer dependence upon the the occasion of a great and formidable war, which, supreme authority. In these cases the citizenship however, ultimately ended in the victory of the was conferred without the right of suffrage; but in Romans, who immediately proceeded to plant the most, and perhaps in all such instances, the latter two colonies of Placentia and Cremona in the ter- privilege was ultimately conceded. Thus we find ritory of the Gauls, B. c. 218. The history of the Sabines, who in B. C. 290 obtained only the this war, as well as of those which followed, is "civitas sine suffragio," admitted in B. c. 268 to fully related under GALLIA CISALPINA. It may the full enjoyment of the franchise (Vell. Pat. i. here suffice to mention, that the final conquest of 14): the same was the case also, though at a much the Boii, in B. C. 191, completed the subjection of longer interval, with Formiae, Fundi, and Arpinum, Gaul, south of the Padus; and that of the Trans- which did not receive the right of suffrage till B. C. pacane Gauls appears to have been accomplished 188 (Liv. viii. 41, x. 1, xxxviii. 36), though they Soon after, though there is some uncertainty as to had borne the title of Roman citizens for more than the exact period. The Venetians had generally a century. To the same class belonged those of the been the allies of the Romans during these contests Roman colonies which were called "coloniae civium with the Gauls, and appear to have passed gradually Romanorum," and which, though less numerous and and quietly from the condition of independent allies powerful than the Latin colonies, were scattered to that of dependents, and ultimately of subjects. through all parts of Italy, and included some wealthy The Istrians, on the contrary, were reduced by force and important towns. (A list of them is given by of arms, and submitted in B. C. 177. The last Madvig, de Coloniis, pp. 295–303, and by Marquardt, people of Italy that fell under the yoke of Rome | Handb. der Römischen Alterthümer, vol. iii. pt. i. were the Ligurians. This hardy race of mountaineers was not subdued till after a long series of To the second class, the "Socii" or "Civitates campaigns; and, while the Roman arms were over-Foederatae," which, down to the period of the Social throwing the Macedonian and Syrian empires in the War, included by far the largest part of the Italian p. 18.) people, belonged all those nations that had submitted | to Rome upon any other terms than those of citizenship; and the treaties (foedera), which determined their relations to the central power, included almost every variety, from a condition of nominal equality and independence (aequum foedus), to one of the most complete subjection. Thus we find Heraclea in Lucania, Neapolis in Campania, and the Camertes in Umbria, noticed as possessing particularly favourable treaties (Cic. pro Balb. 8, 20, 22); and even some of the cities of Latium itself, which had not received the Roman civitas, continued to maintain this nominal independence long after they had become virtually subject to the power of Rome. Thus, even in the days of Polybius, a Roman citizen might retire into exile at Tibur or Praeneste (Pol. vi. 14; Liv. xliii. 2), and the poor and decayed town of Laurentum went through the form of annually renewing its treaty with Rome down to the close of the Republic. (Liv. viii. 11.) Nor was this independence merely nominal: though politically dependent upon Rome, and compelled to follow her lead in their external relations, and to furnish their contingent of troops for the wars, of which the dominant republic alone reaped the benefit, many of the cities of Italy continued to enjoy the absolute control of their own affairs and internal regulations; the troops which they were bound by their treaty to furnish were not enrolled with the legions, but fought under their own standards as auxiliaries; they retained their own laws as well as courts of judicature, and, even when the Lex Julia conferred upon all the Italian allies the privileges of the Roman civitas, it was necessary that each city should adopt it by an act of its own. (Cic. pro Balb. 8.) Nearly in the same position with the dependent allies, however different in their origin, were the so-called "Coloniae Latinae;" that is, Roman colonies which did not enjoy the rights of Roman citizenship, but stood in the same relation to the Roman state that the cities of the Latin League had formerly done. The name was, doubtless, derived from a period when these colonies were actually sent out in common by the Romans and Latins; but settlements on similar terms continued to be founded by the Romans alone, long after the extinction of the Latin League; and, before the Social War, the Latin colonies included many of the most flourishing and important towns of Italy. (For a list of them, with the dates of their foundation, see Madvig, de Coloniis, l. c.; Mommsen, Römische Münz-Wesen, pp. 230-234; and Marquardt, l. c. p. 33.) These colonies are justly regarded by Livy as one of the main supports of the Republic during the Second Punic War (Liv. xxvii. 9, 10), and, doubtless, proved one of the most effectual means of consolidating the Roman dominion in Italy. After the dissolution of the Latin League, B. C. 338, these Latin colonies (with the few cities of Latium that, like Tibur and Praeneste, still retained their separate organisation) formed the " men Latinum," or body of the Latins. The close connection of these with the allies explains the frequent recurrence of the phrase "socii et nomen Latinum" throughout the later books of Livy, and in other authors in reference to the same period. no those who had so long been her bravest defenders, they would have been still more alarming had the whole Italian people taken part in it. But the allies who then rose in arms against Rome were almost exclusively the Sabellians and their kindred races. The Etruscans and Umbrians stood aloof, while the Sabines, Latins, Volscians, and other tribes who had already received the Roman franchise, supported the Republic, and furnished the materials of her armies. But the senate hastened to secure those who were wavering, as well as to disarm a portion at least of the openly disaffected, by the gift of the Roman franchise, including the full privileges of citizens : and this was subsequently extended to every one of the allies in succession as they submitted. There is some uncertainty as to the precise steps by which this was effected, but the Lex Julia, passed in the year 90 B. C., appears to have conferred the franchise upon the Latins (the "nomen Latinum," as above defined) and all the allies who were willing to accept the boon. The Lex Plautia Papiria, passed the following year, B. C. 89, completed the arrangement thus begun. (Cic. pro Balb. 8, pro Arch. 4; A. Gell. iv. 4; Appian, B. C. i. 49; Vell. Pat. ii. 16.) By the change thus effected the distinction between the Latins and the allies, as well as between those two classes and the Roman citizens, was entirely done away with; and the Latin colonies lapsed into the condition of ordinary municipia. At the same time that all the free inhabitants of Italy, as the term was then understood (i. e. Italy S. of the Macra and Rubicon), thus received the full rights of Roman citizens, the same boon was granted to the inhabitants of Gallia Cispadana, while the Transpadani appear to have been at the same time raised to the condition and privileges of Latins, that is to say, were placed on the same footing as if all their towns had been Latin colonies. (Ascon. in Pison. p. 3, ed. Orell.; Savigny, Vermischte Schriften, vol. iii. pp. 290-308; Marquardt, Handb. vol. iii. pt. i. p. 48.) This peculiar arrangement, by which the Jus Latii was revived at the very time that it became naturally extinct in the rest of Italy, is more fully explained under GALLIA CISALPINA. In B. C. 49, after the outbreak of the Civil War, Caesar bestowed the full franchise upon the Transpadani also (Dion Cass. xli. 36); and from this time all the free inhabitants of Italy became united under one common class as citizens of Rome. The Italians thus admitted to the franchise were all ultimately enrolled in the thirty-five Roman tribes. The principle on which this was done we know not; but we learn that each municipium, and sometimes even a larger district, was assigned to a particular tribe: so that every citizen of Arpinum, for instance, would belong to the Cornelian tribe, of Beneventum to the Stellatine, of Brixia to the Fabian, of Ticinum to the Papian, and so on.* But in so doing, all regard to that geographical distribution of the tribes which was undoubtedly kept in view in their first institution was necessarily lost; and we have not sufficient materials for attempting to determine how the distribution was made. A knowledge of it must, however, have been of essential importance so long as the Republic continued; and *This did not, however, interfere with the per A great and general change in the relations previously subsisting between the Italian states and Rome was introduced by the Social War (B. C. 90—sonal right, where this previously existed, so that a 89), and the settlement which took place in consequence of it. Great as were the dangers with which Rome was threatened by the formidable coalition of Roman citizen already belonging to another tribe, who settled himself in any municipium, retained his own tribe. the opulent watering-place of Baiae always remained, in this sense we find Cicero alluding to " Italia tributim descripta" as a matter of interest to the candidates for public offices. (Q. Cic. de Petit. Cons. 8.) 3. Italy under the Roman Empire.-No material change was introduced into the political condition of Italy by the establishment of the imperial authority at Rome; the constitution and regulations that existed before the end of the Republic continued, with only a few modifications, in full force. The most important of these was the system of municipal organisation, which pervaded every part of the country, and which was directly derived from the days of Italian freedom, when every town had really possessed an independent government. Italy, as it existed under the Romans, may be still regarded as an aggregate of individual communities, though these had lost all pretensions to national independence, and retained only their separate municipal existence. Every municipium had its own internal organisation, presenting very nearly a miniature copy of that of the Roman republic. It had its senate or council, the members of which were called Decuriones, and the council itself Ordo Decurionum, or often simply Ordo; its popular assemblies, which, however, soon fell into disuse under the Empire; and its local magistrates, of whom the principal were the Duumviri, or sometimes Quatuorviri, answering to the Roman consuls and praetors: the Quinquennales, with functions analogous to those of the censors; the Aediles and Quaestors, whose duties nearly corresponded with those of the same magistrates at Rome. These different magistrates were annually elected, at first by the popular assembly, subsequently by the Senate or Decurions: the members of the latter body held their offices for life. Nor was this municipal government confined to the town in which it was resident: every such Municipium possessed a territory or Ager, of which it was as it were the capital, and over which it exercised the same municipal jurisdiction as within its own walls. This district of course varied much in extent, but in many instances comprised a very considerable territory, including many smaller towns and villages, all which were dependent, for municipal purposes, upon the central and chief town. Thus we are told by Pliny, that many of the tribes that inhabited the Alpined. valleys bordering on the plains of Gallia Cisalpina, were by the Lex Pompeia assigned to certain neighbouring municipia (Lege Pompeia attributi muniThe municipal organisation of Italy, and the tercipiis, Plin. iii. 20. s. 24), that is to say, they ritorial distribution connected with it, lasted throughwere included in their territory, and subjected to out the Roman empire, though there was always a their jurisdiction. Again, we know that the terri- strong tendency on the part of the central authority tories of Cremona and Mantua adjoined one another, and its officers to encroach upon the municipal though the cities were at a considerable distance. powers: and in one important point, that of their In like manner, the territory of Beneventum com- legal jurisdiction, those powers were materially cirprised a large part of the land of the Hirpini. It is cumscribed. But the municipal constitution itself this point which gives a great importance to the naturally acquired increased importance as the cendistinction between municipal towns and those which tral power became feeble and disorganised: it surwere not so; that the former were not only them-vived the fall of the Western Empire, and continued selves more important places, but were, in fact, the capitals of districts, into which the whole country was divided. The villages and minor towns included within these districts were distinguished by the terms "fora, conciliabula, vici, castella," and were dependent upon the chief town, though sometimes possessing a subordinate and imperfect local organisation of their own. In some cases it even happened that, from local circumstances, one of these subordinate places would rise to a condition of wealth and prosperity far surpassing those of the municipium, on which it nevertheless continued dependent. Thus, Röm. Alterthümer, vol. iii. pt. i. pp. 44—55; Hoeck, Röm. Geschichte, book 5, chap. 3; and the article GALLIA Cisalpina.) to subsist under the Gothic and Lombard conquerors, until the cities of Italy gradually assumed a position of independence, and the municipal constitutions which had existed under the Roman empire, became the foundation of the free republics of the middle ages. (Savigny, Gesch. des Römischen Rechts im Mittel Alter, vol. i.) The ecclesiastical arrangements introduced after the establishment of Christianity in the Roman empire, appear to have stood in close connection with the municipal limits. Almost every town which was then a flourishing municipium became the see of a bishop, and the limits of the diocese in general co- VI. The Sixth Region contained Umbria, to incided with those of the municipal territory.* But gether with the land N. of the Apennines, once in the period of decay and confusion that followed, occupied by the Senonian Gauls, and which exthe episcopal see often remained after the city had tended along the coast of the Adriatic from the been ruined or fallen into complete decay: hence Aesis to the Ariminus. On the W. it was sepathe ecclesiastical records of the early ages of Chris-rated from Etruria by the Tiber, along the left bank tianity are often of material assistance in enabling of which it extended as far as Ocriculum. us to trace the existence of ancient cities, and identify ancient localities. 4. Political and Administrative Division under the Roman Empire. It is not till the reign of Augustus that any division of Italy for administrative purposes occurs, and the reason is obvious. So long as the different nations of Italy preserved the semblance of independence, which they maintained till the period of the Social War, no uniform system of administration was possible. Even after that period, when they were all merged in the condition of Roman citizens, the municipal institutions, which were still in full force, appear to have been regarded as sufficient for all purposes of internal management; and the general objects of the State were confided to the ordinary Roman magistrates, or to extraordinary officers appointed for particular purposes. The first division of Italy into eleven regions by Augustus, appears to have been designed in the first instance merely to facilitate the arrangements of the census; but, as the taking of this was closely coupled with the levying of taxes, the same divisions were soon adopted for financial and other administrative purposes, and continued to be the basis of all subsequent arrangements. The divisions established by Augustus, and which have fortunately been preserved to us by Pliny (the only author who mentions their institution), were as follows: I. The First Region comprised Latium (in the more extended sense of that name, including the land of the Hernicans and Volscians), together with Campania, and the district of the Picentini. It thus extended from the mouth of the Tiber to that of the Silarus; and the Anio formed its boundary on the N. II. The Second Region, which adjoined the preceding on the SE., included Apulia, Calabria, and the land of the Hirpini, which was thus separated from the rest of Samnium. III. The Third Region contained Lucania and Bruttium: it was bounded by the Silarus on the NW. and by the Bradanus on the NE. IV. The Fourth Region contained all Samnium, except the Hirpini, together with the Frentani, Marrucini, Marsi, Peligni, Aequiculi, Vestini, and Sabini. It thus extended from the Anio to the frontiers of Picenum, and from the boundary of Umbria on the N. to Apulia on the S. It was separated from the latter district by the river Tifernus, and from Picenum by the Aternus. V. The Fifth Region was composed solely of the ancient Picenum (including under that name the territory of Hadria and of the Praetutii), and extended along the Adriatic from the mouth of the Aternus to that of the Aesis. * A glance at the list of bishoprics existing in any of the provinces of Central Italy (Etruria, for instance, or Umbria), as compared with the names of the towns enumerated by Pliny in the same district, will at once show the connection between the two. (Bingham's Ecclesiastical Antiquities, book ix. chap. v. VII. The Seventh Region consisted of the ancient Etruria, and preserved the ancient limits of that country: viz. the Tiber on the E., the Apennines on the N., and the Tyrrhenian sea on the W., from the mouth of the Tiber to that of the Macra. VIII. The Eighth Region, or Gallia Cispadana, extended from the frontiers of Liguria near Placentia, to Ariminum on the Adriatic, and was bounded by the Apennines on the S., and by the Padus on the N. IX. The Ninth Region comprised Liguria, extending along the sea-coast from the Macra to the Varus, and inland as far as the Padus, which formed its northern boundary from the confluence of the Trebia to its sources in Mt. Vesulus. X. The Tenth Region was composed of Venetia. including the land of the Carni, with the addition of Istria, and a part of Gallia Cisalpina, previously occupied by the Cenomani, extending as far W. as the Addua. XI. The Eleventh Region comprised the remainder of Gallia Transpadana, or the whole tract between the Alps and the Padus, from the sources of the latter river to its confluence with the Addua. It is probable, both from the silence of Pliny, and from the limited scope with which these divisions were first instituted, that the regions had originally no distinctive names applied to them: but these would be gradually adopted, as the division acquired increased political importance. No difficulty could arise, where the limits of the Region coincided (or nearly so) with those of a previously existing people, as in the cases of Etruria, Liguria, Picenum, &c. In other instances the name of a part was given to the whole: thus, the first region came to be called Regio Campaniae; and hence, in the Liber Coloniarum, the "Civitates Campaniae” include all Latium also. [CAMPANIA.] The name of Regio Samnii or Samnium was in like manner given to the fourth region, though perhaps not till after the northern part of it had been separated from the rest under the name of Valeria. The division introduced by Augustus continued with but little alteration till the time of Constantine. The changes introduced by Hadrian and M. Aurelius regarded only the administration of justice in Italy generally (Spartian. Hadr. 22 ; Capit. M. Ant. 11); but in this, as well as in various other regulations, there was a marked approach to the assimilating the government of Italy to that of the provinces; and the term "Consularis," applied to the judicial officers appointed by Hadrian merely to denote their dignity, soon came to be used as an official designation for the governor of a district, as we find it in the Notitia. But the distinction between Italy and the provinces is still strongly marked by Ulpian, and it was not till the fourth century that the term "Provincia" to be applied to the regions or districts of Italy (Mommsen, ad Lib. Col. pp. 193, 194.) came The changes introduced into the divisions of Augustus, either before the time of Constantine or under that emperor, were the following:-1. The fourth region was divided into two, the southern portion containing Samnium (to which the land of the Hirpini, included by Augustus in the second region, was reunited), together with the Frentani and Peligni; while the land of the Sabines, the Marsi, and the Vestini, constituted a separate district, which bore the name of VALERIA, from the great highway, the Via Valeria, by which it was traversed. 2. The portion of the sixth region which lay between the Apennines and the Adriatic (originally inhabited by the Gauls) was separated from Umbria properly so called, and distinguished by the name of Picenum Annonarium, while the true Picenum was called, for the sake of distinction, Picenum Suburbicarium. 3. The eighth region, or Gallia Cispadana, was divided into two, of which the westernmost portion assumed the name of AEMILIA, from the highroad of that name; an appellation which seems to have come into common use as early as the time of Martial (iii. 4, vi. 85): while the eastern portion, much the smaller of the two, received that of FLAMINIA, though the highroad of that name only extended to Ariminum, on the very frontier of this district. This new division seems to have been generally united with Picenum Annonarium, though retaining its separate name. 4. The Alpes Cottiae, a mountain district which in the time of Augustus had still retained its nominal independence, though incorporated with the Roman empire by Nero, seems to have continued to form a separate district till the time of Constantine, who united it with the ninth region, the whole of which now came to be known as the Alpes Cottiae: while, still more strangely, the name of Liguria was transferred from this region, to which it properly belonged, to the eleventh region, or Gallia Transpadana; so that late writers speak of Mediolanum as the capital of Liguria. [LIGURIA.] 5. The only other change that requires notice was the division of Etruria into two portions, called Tuscia Annonaria and Tuscia Urbicaria. This, as well as the similar distinction between the two Picenums, had its origin in the administrative arrangements introduced by Maximian, who, when he established the imperial residence at Milan, imposed upon the northern and adjoining provinces the task of finding supplies (annonae) for the imperial court and followers, while the other portions of Italy were charged with similar burdens for the supply of Rome. (Mommsen, ad Lib. Col. PP. 198-200.) Hence Trebellius Pollio, writing in the reign of Diocletian, after enumerating the districts of Southern and Central Italy, comprises all that lay N. of Flaininia and Etruria under the general appellation of "omnis annonaria regio." (Treb. Poll. Trig. Tyr. 24.) In addition to these changes, Constantine, in the general reorganisation of his empire, united to Italy the two provinces of Rhaetia (including Vindelicia), as well as the three great islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. These last, together with all the central and southern provinces of Italy, were placed under the jurisdiction of the Vicarius Urbis Romae, while all the northern provinces were subject to the Vicarius Italiae. The minor arrangements seem to have frequently varied in detail, but the seventeen provinces into which the "Dioecesis Italiae" was now divided, are thus enumerated in the Notitia Dignitatum (ii. pp. 9, 10):— 1. Venetia. 2. Aemilia. 3. Liguria (i. e. Gallia Transpadana). 5. Tuscia et Umbria. 6. Picenum Suburbicarium. 7. Campania. 8. Sicilia. 9. Apulia et Calabria. 10. Lucania et Bruttii. 11. Alpes Cottiae (Liguria). 12. Raetia Prima. 13. Raetia Secunda. 16. Sardinia. This list substantially agrees with that in the Libellus Provinciarum (published by Gronovius, Lugd. Bat. 1739), a document of the time of Theodosius I., as well as with that given by Paulus Diaconus in his geographical description of Italy (Hist. Lang. ii. 14-22), though he has added an eighteenth province, to which he gives the name of Alpes Apennini;" which can be no other than the northern part of Etruria, or Tuscia Annonaria. Of the seventeen provinces enumerated in the Notitia eight were placed under governors who bore the title of Consulares, seven under Praesides, and the two southernmost under Correctores, a title which appears to have been at one time common to them all. (For further details on the administrative divisions of Italy during the latter period of the Roman empire, see the Notitia Dignitatum in Partibus Occidentis, Bonn, 1840, with Böcking's valuable commentary; Mommsen, über die Lib. Colon. in the Schriften der Römischen Feldmesser, vol. ii. Berlin, 1852; Marquardt, Handb. der Röm. Alterthümer, vol. iii. pt. i. pp. 55—71.) The divisions thus established before the close of the Western Empire, were continued after its fall under the Gothic monarchy, and we find them frequently alluded to as subsisting under their old names in Cassiodorus and Procopius. It was not till the establishment of the Lombards in Italy that this division gave place to one wholly different, which became the foundation of that which subsisted in the middle ages. The Lombards divided the part of Italy in which they established their power, including all the N., or what is now called Lombardy, together with a part of Tuscany and Umbria, into a number of military fiefs or governments, under the name of Duchies (Ducatus): the Duchy of Friuli, Duchy of Verona, Duchy of Pavia, &c. Besides those immediately subject to the Lombard kings, two of these were established further to the S.,-the Duchy of Spoleto and Duchy of Benevento, which enjoyed a semi-independent position: and the last of these was extended by successive conquests from the Greek Empire, till it comprised almost the whole of the S. of Italy, or the modern kingdom of Naples. The Greek emperors, however, still retained possession of the Exarchate of Ravenna, together with the district called the Pentapolis, comprising a considerable part of Picenum, and what was called the Duchy of Rome, including a part of Etruria and Umbria, as well as Latium. In the S. also they always kept possession of some of the maritime places of Campania, Naples, Gaëta, and Salerno, as well as of a part of Calabria, and the cities of Otranto and Gallipoli. After the fall of the Lombard kingdom, in A. D. 774, though they had now lost their possessions in the N., the Exar |