LAV'INIUM (Aaovíviov; Aabíviov, Steph. B.: Eth. Aabiviárns, Laviniensis: Pratica), an ancient city of Latium, situated about 3 miles from the seacoast, between Laurentum and Ardea, and distant 17 miles from Rome. It was founded, according to the tradition universally adopted by Roman writers, by Aeneas, shortly after his landing in Italy, and called by him after the name of his wife Lavinia, the daughter of the king Latinus. (Liv. i. 1; Dionys. i. 45, 59; Strab. v. p. 229; Varr. L. L. v. § 144; Solin. 2. § 14.) The same legendary history represented Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, as transferring the seat of government and rank of the capital city of the Latins from Lavinium to Alba, 30 years after the foundation of the former city. But the attempt to remove at the same time the Penates, or household gods of Lavinium, proved unsuccessful: the tutelary deities returned to their old abode; hence Lavinium continued not only to exist by the side of the new capital, but was always regarded with reverence as a kind of sacred metropolis, a character which it retained even down to a late period of the Roman history. (Liv. i. 8; Dionys. i. 66, 67; Strab. v. p. | 229; Vict. Orig. Gent. Rom. 17.) It is impossible here to enter into a discussion of the legend of the Trojan settlement in Latium, a question which is briefly examined under the article LATIUM; but it may be observed that there are many reasons for admitting the correctness of the tradition that Lavinium was at one time the metropolis or centre of the Latin state; a conclusion, indeed, to which we are led by the name alone, for there can be little doubt that Latinus and Lavinus are only two forms of the same name, so that Lavinium would be merely the capital or city of the Latins. (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 201; Donaldson, Varronianus, p. 6.) The circumstance that the Penates or tutelary gods of Lavinium continued down to a late period to be regarded as those not only of Rome, but of all Latium, affords a strong corroboration of this view. (Varr. L. L. v. § 144.) Whether Lavinium was from the first only the sacred metropolis of the Latin cities, -a kind of common sanctuary or centre of religious worship (as supposed by Schwegler, Kömische Geschichte, vol. i. p. 319), -or, as represented in the common tradition, was the political capital also, until supplanted by Alba, is a point on which it is difficult to pronounce with certainty; but the circumstance that Lavinium appears in history as a separate political community, and one of the cities composing the Latin League, would seem opposed to the former view. It is certain, however, that it had lost all political supremacy, and that this had passed into the hands of Alba, at a very early period; nor did Lavinium recover any political importance after the fall of Alba: throughout the historical period it plays a very subordinate part.

The first notice we find of it in the Roman history is in the legends concerning Tatius, who is represented as being murdered at Lavinium on occasion of a solemn sacrifice, in revenge for some depredations committed by his followers on the Lavinian territory. (Liv. i. 14; Dionys. ii. 51, 52; Plut. Rom. 23; Strab. v. p. 230.) It is remarkable that Livy in this passage represents the people

injured as the Laurentes, though the injury was avenged at Lavinium,-a strong proof of the intimate relations which were conceived as existing between the two cities. The treaty between Rome and Lavinium was said to have been renewed at the same time (Liv. l. c.), and there is no doubt that both the Roman annals and traditions represented Lavinium, as well as Laurentum, as almost uniformly on friendly terms with Rome. It was, however, an independent city, as is proved by the statement that Collatinus and his family, when banished from Rome. retired into exile at Lavinium. (Liv. ii. 2.) The only interruption of these friendly relations took place, according to Dionysius, a few years after this, when he reckons the Lavinians among the Latin cities which entered into a league against Rome before the battle of Regillus. (Dionys. v. 61.) There is, however, good reason to believe that the names there enumerated are in reality only those of the cities that formed the permanent Latin League, and who concluded the celebrated treaty with Sp. Cassius in B. C. 493. (Niebuhr, vol. ii. pp. 23, 24.)

Lavinium is next mentioned during the wars of Coriolanus, who is said to have besieged and, according to Livy, reduced the city (Liv. ii. 39; Dionys. viii. 21); but, from this time, we hear no more of it till the great Latin War in B. C. 340. On that occasion, according to our present text of Livy (viii. 11), the citizens of Lavinium are represented as sending auxiliaries to the forces of the League, who, however, arrived too late to be of service. But no mention occurs of Lavinium in the following campaigns, or in the general settlement of the Latin state at the end of the war; hence it ap. pears highly probable that in the former passage Lanuvium, and not Lavinium, is the city really meant; the confusion between these names in the MSS. being of perpetual occurrence. [LANUVIUM.] It is much more probable that the Lavinians were on this occasion also comprised with the Laurentes, who, as we are expressly told, took no part in the war, and in consequence continued to maintain their former friendly relations with Rome without interruption. (L. vi. l. c.) From this time no historical mention occurs of Lavinium till after the fall of the Roman Republic; but it appears to have fallen into decay in common with most of the places near the coast of Latium; and Strabo speaks of it as presenting the mere vestiges of a city, but still retaining its sacred rites, which were believed to have been transmitted from the days of Aeneas. (Strab. v. p. 232.) Dionysius also tells us that the memory of the three animals-the eagle, the wolf, and the fox - which were connected by a well-known legend with the foundation of Lavinium, was preserved by the figures of them still extant in his time in the forum of that town; while, according to Varro, not only was there a similar bronze figure of the celebrated sow with her thirty young ones, but part of the flesh of the sow herself was still preserved in pickle, and shown by the priests. (Dionys. i. 57, 59; Varr. R. R. ii. 4.) The name of Lavinium is omitted by Pliny, where we should have expected to find it, between Laurentum and Ardea, but he enumerates among the existing communities of Latium the "Ilionenses Lavini,”. an appellation evidently assumed by the citizens in commemoration of their supposed Trojan descent. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 9.)

Shortly after the time of Pliny, and probably in the reign of Trajan, Lavinium seems to have re

ceived a fresh colony, which for a short time raised it again to a degree of prosperity. On this occasion it would appear that the Laurentines and Lavinians were united into one community, which assumed the name of LAURO-LAVINIUM, and the citizens that of LAURENTES LAVINATES, names which from henceforth occur frequently in inscriptions. As a tribute to its ancient sacred character, though a fresh apportionment of lands necessarily attended the establishment of this colony, the territory still retained its old limits and regulations (lege et consecratione veteri manet, Lib. Colon. p. 234.) This union of the two communities into one has given rise to much confusion and misconception. Nor can we trace exactly the mode in which it was effected; but it would appear that Lavinium became the chief town, while the "populus " continued to be often called that of the Laurentes, though more correctly designated as that of the Laurentes Lavinates. The effect of this confusion is apparent in the commentary of Servius on the Aeneid, who evidently confounded the Laurentum of Virgil with the Lauro-Lavinium of his own day, and thence, strangely enough, identifies it with the Lavinium founded as the same city. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 2.) But, even at a much earlier period, it would seem as if the " ager Laurens," or Laurentine territory, was regarded as comprising Lavinium; and it is certainly described as extending to the river Numicius, which was situated between Lavinium and Ardea. [NUMICIUS.] Inscriptions discovered at Pratica enable us to trace the existence of this new colony, or revived Lavinium, down to the end of the 4th century; and its name found also in the Itineraries and the Tabula. (Itin. Ant. p. 301; Tab. Peut.; Orell. Inscr. 1063, 2179, 3218, 3921.) We learn also from a letter of Symmachus that it was still subsisting as a municipal town as late as A. D. 391, and still retained its ancient religious character. Macrobius also informs us that in his time it was still customary for the Roman consuls and praetors, when entering on their office, to repair to Lavinium to offer certain sacrifices there to Vesta and the Penates,—a custom which appears to have been transmitted without interruption from a very early period. (Macrob. Sat. ii. 4. § 11; Val. Max. i. 6. §7; Symmach. Ep. i. 65.) The final decay of Lavinium was probably produced by the fall of paganism, and the consequent extinction of that religious reverence which had apparently been the principal means of its preservation for a long while

before.

The position of Lavinium at Pratica may be considered as clearly established, by the discovery there of the numerous inscriptions already referred to relating to Lauro-Lavinium in other respects also the site of Pratica agrees well with the data for that of Lavinium, which is placed by Dionysius 24 stadia, or 3 miles, from the coast. (Dionys. i. 56.) The Itineraries call it 16 miles from Rome; but this statement is below the truth, the real distance being little, if at all, less than 18 miles. The most direct approach to it from Rome is by the Via Ardeatina, from whence a side branch diverges soon after passing the Solfatara,—a spot supposed to be the site of the celebrated grove and oracle of Faunus, referred to by Virgil [ARDEA], which is about 4 miles from Pratica. The site of this latter village, which still possesses a baronial castle of the middle ages, resembles those of most of the early Latin towns: it is a nearly isolated hill, with a level summit of no

| great extent, bounded by wooded ravines, with steep banks of tufo rock. These banks have probably been on all sides more or less scarped or cut away artificially, and some slight remains of the ancient walls may be still traced in one or two places. Besides the inscriptions already noticed, some fragments of marble columns remain from the Imperial period, while broken pottery and terra cottas of a rude workmanship found scattered in the soil are the only relics of an earlier age. (Nibby, Dintorni, vol. ii. pp. 206-237.) [E. H. B.}

LAVISCO or LABISCO, in Gallia Narbonensis, appears on a route from Mediolanum (Milan) through Darar.tasia (Moutiers en Tarentaise) to Vienna (Vienne) on the Rhone. Lavisco is between Lemincum (Lemens, or Chambéry au Mont Leminc) and Augustum (Aoste or Aouste), and 14 M. P. from each. D'Anville supposes that Lavisco was at the ford of the little river Laisse, near its source; but the distance between Lemincum and Augustum, 28 M. P. is too much, and accordingly he would alter the figures in the two parts of this distance on each side of Lavisco, from xiiii. to viiii. [G. L.]

LAUMELLUM (Aaúμeλλor, Ptol. iii. 1. § 36: Lomello), a town of Gallia Transpadana, not mentioned by Pliny, but placed by Ptolemy, together with Vercellae, in the territory of the Libici. The Itin. Ant. (pp. 282, 347) places it on the road from Ticinum to Vercellae, at 22 M. P. from the former and 26 from the latter city: these distances agree well with the position of Lomello, a small town on the right bank of the Agogna, about 10 miles from its confluence with the Po. According to the same Itinerary (p. 340) another road led from thence by Rigomagus and Quadratae to Augustae Taurinorum, and in accordance with this Ammianus Marcellinus (xv. 8. § 18) mentions Laumellum as on the direct road from Ticinum to Taurini. It seems not to have enjoyed municipal rank in the time of Pliny, but apparently became a place of more consideration in later days, and under the Lombard rule was a town of importance, as it continued during the middle ages; so that, though now but a poor decayed place, it still gives to the surrounding district the name of Lumellina. [E. H. B.]

LAUREA'TA, a place on the coast of Dalmatia, which was taken by the traitor Ilaufus, for Totila and the Goths, in A. D. 548. (Procop. B. G. iii. 35; Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol. ix. p. 182.) [E. B. J.]

LAURENTUM (Aaúpevrov, Strab. et al.; Awpevтóv, Dion. Hal.: Eth. Aaupevtivos, Laurentinus: Torre di Paternò), an ancient city of Latium, situated near the sea-coast between Ostia and Lavinium, about 16 miles from Rome. It was represented by the legendary history universally adopted by Roman writers as the ancient capital of Latium, and the residence of king Latinus, at the time when Aeneas and the Trojan colony landed in that country. All writers also concur in representing the latter as first landing on the shores of the Laurentine territory. (Liv. i. 1; Dionys. i. 45, 53; Strab. v. p. 229; Appian. Rom. i. 1; Vict. Orig. Gent. Rom. 13; Virg. Aen. vii. 45, &c.) But the same legendary history related that after the death of Latinus, the seat of government was transferred first to Lavinium, and subsequently to Alba; hence we cannot wonder that, when Laurentum appears in historical times, it holds but a very subordinate place, and appears to have fallen at a very early period into a state of comparative insignificance. The historical notices of the city are indeed extremely few and scanty; the

most important is the occurrence of its name (or that of the Laurentini at least), together with those of Ardea, Antium, Circeii, and Tarracina, among the allies or dependants of Rome, in the celebrated treaty of the Romans with Carthage in B. c. 509. (Pol. iii. 22.) From this document we may infer that Laurentum was then still a place of some consideration as a maritime town, though the proximity of the Roman port and colony of Ostia must have tended much to its disadvantage. Dionysius tells us that some of the Tarquins had retired to Laurentum on their expulsion from Rome: and he subsequently notices the Laurentines among the cities which composed the Latin League in B. C. 496. (Dionys. v. 54, 61.) We learn, also, from an incidental notice in Livy, that they belonged to that confederacy, and retained, in consequence, down to a late period the right of participating in the sacrifices on the Alban Mount. (Liv. xxxvii. 3.) It is clear, therefore, that though no longer a powerful or important city, Laurentum continued to retain its independent position down to the great Latin War in B. c. 340. On that occasion the Laurentines are expressly mentioned as having been the only people who took no share in the war; and, in consequence, the treaty with them which previously existed was renewed without alteration. (Liv. viii. 11.) "From thenceforth" (adds Livy) "it is renewed always from year to year on the 10th day of the Feriae Latinae." Thus, the poor and decayed city of Laurentum continued down to the Augustan age to retain the nominal position of an independent ally of the imperial Rome.

No further notice of it occurs in history during the Roman Republic. Lucan appears to reckon it as one of the places that had fallen into decay in consequence of the Civil Wars (vii. 394), but it is probable that it had long before that dwindled into a very small place. The existence of a town of the name (" oppidum Laurentum ") is, however, attested by Mela, Strabo, and Pliny (Mel. ii. 4. § 9; Strab. v. p. 232; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9); and the sea-coast in its vicinity was adorned with numerous villas, among which that of the younger Pliny was conspicuous. (Plin. Ep. ii. 17.) It is remarkable that that author, in describing the situation of his villa and its neighbourhood, makes no allusion to Laurentum itself, though he mentions the neighbouring colony of Ostia, and a village or "vicus" immediately adjoining his villa: this last may probably be the same which we find called in an inscription "Vicus Augustus Laurentium." (Gruter, Inscr. p. 398, No. 7.) Hence, it seems probable that Laurentum itself had fallen into a state of great decay; and this must have been the cause that, shortly after, the two communities of Laurentum and Lavinium were united into one municipal body, which assumed the appellation of Lauro-Lavinium, and the inhabitants that of Lauro-Lavinates, or Laurentes Lavinates. Sometimes, however, the united "populus" calls itself in inscriptions simply "Senatus populusque Laurens," and in one case we find mention of a Colonia Augusta Laurentium." (Orell. Inscr. 124; Gruter, p. 484, No. 3.) Nevertheless it is at least very doubtful whether there was any fresh colony established on the site of the ancient Laurentum: the only one mentioned in the Liber Coloniarum is that of Lauro-Lavinium, which was undoubtedly fixed at Lavinium (Pratica). [LAVINIUM.] The existence of a place bearing the uame of Laurentum, though probably a mere

village, down to the latter ages of the Empire, is, however, clearly proved by the Itineraries and Tabula (Itin. Ant. p. 301; Tab. Peut.); and it appears from ecclesiastical documents that the locality still retained its ancient name as late as the 8th century (Anastas. Vit. Pontif. ap. Nibby, vol. ii. p. 201). From that time all trace of it disappears, and the site seems to have been entirely forgotten.

Laurentum seems to have, from an early period, given name to an extensive territory, extending from the mouth of the Tiber nearly, if not quite, to Ardea, and forming a part of the broad littoral tract of Latium, which is distinguished from the rest of that country by very marked natural characteristics. [LATIUM.] Hence, we find the Laurentine territory much more frequently referred to than the city itself; and the place where Aeneas is represented as landing is uniformly described as " in agro Laurenti;" though we know from Virgil that he conceived the Trojans as arriving and first establishing themselves at the mouth of the Tiber. But it is clear that, previous to the foundation of Ostia, the territory of Laurentum was considered to extend to that river. (Serv. ad Aen. vii. 661, xi. 316.) The name of " ager Laurens" seems to have continued in common use to be applied, even under the Roman Empire, to the whole district extending as far as the river Numicius, so as to include Lavinium as well as Laurentum. It was, like the rest of this part of Latium near the sea-coast, a sandy tract of no natural fertility, whence Aeneas is represented as complaining that he had arrived "in agrum macerrimum, littorosissimumque." (Fab. Max. ap. Serv. ad Aen. i. 3.) In the immediate neighbourhood of Laurentum were considerable marshes, while the tract a little further inland was covered with wood, forming an extensive forest, known as the Silva Laurentina. (Jul. Obseq. 24.) The existence of this at the time of the landing of Aeneas is alluded to by Virgil (Aen. xi. 133, &c.). Under the Roman Empire it was a favourite haunt of wild-boars, which grew to a large size, but were considered by epicures to be of inferior flavour on account of the marshy character of the ground in which they fed. (Virg. Aen. x. 709; Hor. Sat. ii. 4. 42; Martial, ix. 495.) Varro also tells us that the orator Hortensius had a farm or villa in the Laurentine district, with a park stocked with wild-boars, deer, and other game. (Varr. R. R. iii. 13.) The existence of extensive marshes near Laurentum is noticed also by Virgil (Aen. x. 107) as well as by Martial (x. 37. 5), and it is evident that even in ancient times they rendered this tract of country unhealthy, though it could not have suffered from malaria to the same extent as in modern times. The villas which, according to Pliny, lined the shore, were built close to the sea, and were probably frequented only in winter. At an earlier period, we are told that Scipio and Laelius used to repair to the seaside on the Laurentine coast, where they amused themselves by gathering shells and pebbles. (Cic. de Or. ii. 6; Val. Max. viii. 8. § 4.) On the other hand, the bay-trees (lauri) with which the Silva Laurentina was said to abound were thought to have a beneficial effect on the health, and on this account the emperor Commodus was advised to retire to a villa near Laurentum during a pestilence at Rome. (Herodian. i. 12.) The name of Laurentum itself was generally considered to be derived from the number of these trees, though Virgil would derive it from a particular and celebrated tree of the kind. (Vict

Orig. G. Rom.. 10; Varr. L. L. v. 152; Virg. Aen. vii. 59.)

The precise site of Laurentum has been a subject of much doubt; though it may be placed approximately without question between Ostia and Pratica, the latter being clearly established as the site of Lavinium. It has been generally fixed at Torre di Paternò, and Gell asserts positively that there is no other position within the required limits "where either ruins or the traces of ruins exist, or where they can be supposed to have existed." The Itinerary gives the distance of Laurentum from Rome at 16 M. P., which is somewhat less than the truth, if we place it at Torre di Paternò, the latter being rather more than 17 M. P. from Rome by the Via Laurentina; but the same remark applies to Lavinium also, which is called in the Itinerary 16 miles from Rome, though it is full 18 miles in real distance. On the other hand, the distance of 6 miles given in the Table between Lavinium and Laurentum coincides well with the interval between Pratica and Torre di Paternò. Nibby, who places Laurentum at Capo Cotto, considerably nearer to Pratica, admits that there are no ruins on the site. Those at Torre di Paternò are wholly of Roman and imperial times, and may perhaps indicate nothing more than the site of a villa, though the traces of an aqueduct leading to it prove that it must have been a place of some importance. There can indeed be no doubt that the spot was a part of the dependencies of Laurentum under the Roman Empire; though it may still be questioned whether it marks the actual site of the ancient Latin city. (Gell, Top. of Rome, pp. 294-298; Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, vol. ii. pp. 187-205; Abeken, Mittelitalien, p. 62; Bormann, Alt Latin. Corographie, pp. 94-97.)

It is hardly necessary to notice the attempts which have been made to determine the site of Pliny's Laurentine villa, of which he has left us a detailed description, familiar to all scholars (Plin. Ep. ii. 17). As it appears from his own account that it was only one of a series of villas which adorned this part of the coast, and many of them probably of equal, if not greater, pretensions, it is evidently idle to give the name to a mass of brick ruins which there is nothing to identify. In their zeal to do this, antiquarians have overlooked the circumstance that his villa was evidently close to the sea, which at once excludes almost all the sites that have been suggested for it.

The road which led from Rome direct to Laurentum retained, down to a late period, the name of VIA LAURENTINA. (Ovid, Fast. ii. 679; Val. Max. viii. 5. § 6.) It was only a branch of the Via Ostiensis, from which it diverged about 3 miles from the gates of Rome, and proceeded nearly in a direct line towards Torre di Paternò. At about 10 miles from Rome it crossed a small brook or stream by a bridge, which appears to have been called the Pons ad Decimum and subsequently Pons Decimus: hence the name of Decimo now given to a casale or farm a mile further on; though this was situated at the 11th mile from Rome, as is proved by the discovery on the spot of the Roman milestone, as well as by the measurement on the map. Remains of the ancient pavement mark the course of the Via Laurentina both before and after passing this bridge. (Nibby, Dintorni, vol. i. p. 539, vol. iii. p. 621.)

Roman authors generally agree in stating that the place where the Trojans first landed and established

their camp was still called Troja (Liv. i. 1; Cate, ap. Serv. ad Aen. i. 5; Fest. v. Troia, p. 367), and that it was in the Laurentine territory; but Virgil is the only writer from whom we learn that it was on the banks of the Tiber, near its mouth (Aen. vii. 30, ix. 469, 790, &c.). Hence it must have been in the part of the "ager Laurens" which was assigned to Ostia after the foundation of the colony; and Servius is therefore correct in placing the camp of the Trojans "circa Ostiam." (Serv. ad Aen, vii. 31.) The name, however, would appear to have been the only thing that marked the spot. [E. H. B.]

LAURETANUS PORTUS, a seaport on the coast of Etruria, mentioned only by Livy (xxx. 39). From this passage it appears to have been situated between Cosa and Populonium; but its precise position is unknown. [E. H. B.]

LAURI, a place in North Gallia, on a road from Lugdunum Batavorum (Leiden) to Noviomagus (Nymeguen), and between Fletio (Vleuten) and Niger Pullus. It is 5 M. P. from Niger Pullus to Lauri, and 12 M. P. from Lauri to Fletio. No more is known of the place. [G. L.]

LAURIACUM or LAUREACUM, a town in the north of Noricum, at the point where the river Anisius empties itself into the Danube. (Amm. Marc. xxxi. 10; It. Ant. pp. 231, 235, 241, 277; Gruter, Inscr. p. clxiv. 3; Not. Imp.: in the Tab. Peut. its name is misspelt Blaboriciacum.) In a doubtful inscription in Gruter (p. 484. 3) it is called a Roman colony, with the surname Augusta: Laureacum was the largest town of Noricum Ripense, and was connected by high roads with Sirmium and Taurunum in Pannonia. According to the Antonine Itinerary, it was the head-quarters of the third legion, for which the Notitia, perhaps more correctly, mentions the second. It was, moreover, one of the chief stations of the Danubian fleet, and the residence of its praefect, and contained considerable manufactures of arms, and especially of shields. As the town is not mentioned by any earlier writers, it was probably built, or at least extended, in the reign of M. Aurelius. It was one of the earliest seats of Christianity in those parts, a bishop of Lauriacum being mentioned as early as the middle of the third century. In the fifth century the place was still so well fortified that the people of the surrounding country took refuge in it, and protected themselves against the attacks of the Alemannians and Thuringians; but in the 6th century it was destroyed by the Avari, and although it was restored as a frontier fortress, it afterwards fell into decay. Its name is still preserved in the modern village of Lorch, and the celebrated convent of the same name, around which numerous remains of the Roman town may be seen extending as far as Ens, which is about a mile distant. (Comp. Muchar, Noric. i. p. 362, 268, 163, ii. p. 75.) [L.S.]

LAURIUM (Λαύρειον, Herod. vii. 144; Λαύριον, Thuc. ii. 55: Adj. Navpiwτikós; hence ai yλaûKES Aaupietikai, Aristoph. Av. 1106, silver coins, with the Athenian figure of an owl), a range of hills in the south of Attica, celebrated for their silver mines. These hills are not high, and are covered for the most part with trees and brushwood. The name is probably derived from the shafts which were sunk for obtaining the ore, since Aaúpa in Greek signifies a street or lane, and Aaupeîov would therefore mean a place formed of such lanes,— i. e., a mine of shafts, cut as it were into streets, like a catacomb. (Wordsworth, Athens and Attica, p. 209.) The mining district extended a little way north of

Sunium to Thoricus, on the eastern coast. Its present condition is thus described by Mr. Dodwell:"One hour from Thorikos brought us to one of the ancient shafts of the silver mines; and a few hundred yards further we came to several others, which are of a square form, and cut in the rock. We observed only one round shaft, which was larger than the others, and of considerable depth, as we conjectured, from the time that the stones, which were thrown in, took to reach the bottom. Near this are the foundations of a large round tower, and several remains of ancient walls, of regular construction. The traces are so extensive, that they seem to indicate, not only the buildings attached to the mines, but the town of Laurium itself, which was probably strongly fortified, and inhabited principally by the people belonging to the mines." Some modern writers doubt whether there was a town of the name of Laurium; but the grammarians (Suidas and Photius) who call Laurium a place (Tóπos) in Attica appear to have meant something more than a mountain; and Dodwell is probably correct in regarding the ruins which he describes as those of the town of Laurium. Near these ruins Dodwell observed several large heaps of scoria scattered about. Dr. Wordsworth, in passing along the shore from Sunium to Thoricus, observes:-"The ground which we tread is strewed with rusty heaps of scoria from the silver ore which once enriched the soil. On our left is a hill, called Scoré, so named from these heaps of scoria, with which it is covered. Here the shafts which have been sunk for working the ore are visible." The ores of this district have been ascertained to contain lead as well as silver (Walpole's Turkey, p. 426). This confirms the emendations of a passage in the Aristotelian Oeconomics proposed by Böckh and Wordsworth, where, instead of Τυρίων in Πυθοκλῆς Αθηναῖος Αθηναίοις συνεβούλευσε τὸν μόλυβδον τὸν ἐκ τῶν Τυρίων παραλαμβάνειν, Böckh suggests Aaupiwv, and Wordsworth ȧpyuplov, which ought rather to be ȧpyvpelwv, as Mr. Lewis observes. The name of Laurium is preserved in the corrupt form of Legrana or Alegrand, which is the name of a metókhi of the monastery of Mendéli.

The mines of Laurium, according to Xenophon (de Vectig. iv. 2), were worked in remote antiquity; and there can be no doubt that the possession of a large supply of silver was one of the main causes of the early prosperity of Athens. They are alluded to by Aeschylus (Pers. 235) in the line

ἀργύρου πηγή τις αὐτοῖς ἐστι, θησαυρὸς χθόνος. They were the property of the state, which sold or let for a long term of years, to individuals or companies, particular districts, partly in consideration of a sum or fine paid down, partly of a reserved rent equal to one twenty-fourth of the gross produce. Shortly before the Persian wars there was a large sun in the Athenian treasury, arising out of the Laurian mines, from which a distribution of ten drachmae a head was going to be made among the Athenian citizens, when Themistocles persuaded them to apply the money to the increase of their fleet. (Herod. vii. 144; Plut. Them. 4.) Böckh supposes that the distribution of ten drachmae a head, which Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to forego, was made annually, from which he proceeds to calculate the total produce of the mines. But it has been justly observed by Mr. Grote, that we are not authorised to conclude from the passage in Herodotus that all the money received from the

mines was about to be distributed; nor moreover is there any proof that there was a regular annual distribution. In addition to which the large sum lying in the treasury was probably derived from the original purchase money paid down, and not from the reserved annual rent.

Even in the time of Xenophon (Mem. iii. 6. § 12) the mines yielded much less than at an early period; and in the age of Philip, there were loud complaints of unsuccessful speculations in mining. In the first century of the Christian era the mines were exhausted, and the old scoriae were smelted a second time. (Strab. ix. p. 399.) In the following century Laurium is mentioned by Pausanias (i. 1), who adds that it had once been the seat of the Athenian silver mines. (Dodwell, Tour through Greece, vol. i. p. 537, seq.; Wordsworth, Athens and Attica, p. 208, seq.; Walpole's Turkey, p. 425, seq.; Fiedler, Reise durch Griechenland, vol. i. p. 36, seq. ; Leake, Demi of Attica, p. 65; Böckh, Dissertation on the Silver Mines of Laurion, appended to the English translation of his Public Economy of Athens; Grote's Greece, vol. v. p. 71, seq.)

LAURIUM, a village in Etruria, more correctly written Lorium. [LORIUM.]

LAURON (Aaúpwv: prob. Laury, W. of Xucar, in Valencia), a town of Hispania Tarraconensis, near Sucro, and not far from the sea. Though apparently an insignificant place, it is invested with great interest in history, both for the siege it endured in the Sertorian War, and as the scene of the death of Cn. Pompeius the Younger, after his flight from the defeat of Munda. (Liv. xxxiv. 17; Appian, B. C. i. 109; Plut. Sert. 18, Pomp. 18; Flor. iii. 22, iv. 2, comp. Bell. Hisp. 37; Oros. v. 23; Ukert, vol. ii. pt. 1. p. 404.) [P.S.]

LAUS (Aãos: Eth. Aäivos: near Scalea), a city on the W. coast of Lucania, at the mouth of the river of the same name, which formed the boundary between Lucania and Bruttium. (Strab. vi. pp. 253, 254.) It was a Greek city, and a colony of Sybaris; but the date of its foundation is unknown, and we have very little information as to its history. Herodotus tells us that, after the destruction of Sybaris in B. C. 510, the inhabitants who survived the catastrophe took refuge in Laüs and Scidrus (Herod. vi. 20); but he does not say, as has been supposed, that these cities were then founded by the Sybarites: it is far more probable that they had been settled long before, during the greatness of Sybaris, when Posidonia also was planted by that city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian sea. The only other mention of Laüs in history is on occasion of a great defeat sustained there by the allied forces of the Greek cities in southern Italy, who had apparently united their arms in order to check the progress of the Lucanians, who were at this period rapidly extending their power towards the south. The Greeks were defeated with great slaughter, and it is probable that Laüs itself fell into the hands of the barbarians. (Strab. vi. p. 253.) From this time we hear no more of the city; and though Strabo speaks of it as still in existence in his time, it seems to have disappeared before the days of Pliny. The latter author, however (as well as Ptolemy), notices the river Laüs, which Pliny concurs with Strabo in fixing as the boundary between Lucania and Bruttium. (Strab. l.c.; Plin. iii. 5. s. 10; Ptol. iii. 1. § 9; Steph. B. s. v.)

The river Laus still retains its ancient name as, the Lao, or Laino: it is a considerable stream, falling into the Gulf of Policastro. Near its sources