Etruscan city; and there is even much reason to believe that it was at that time one of the twelve cities which composed the Etruscan confederation. [ETRURIA, p. 864.] But there is much difficulty with regard to its origin; many ancient writers concurring in representing the population as one different from the rest of the Etruscan nation. A tradition, adopted by Dionysius and Cato, ascribed to them an Argive or Pelasgic origin; and the former author expressly tells us that even in his day they retained soine traces of this descent, and especially that the worship of Juno at Falerii was in many points similar to that of the famous Argive Juno. (Dionys. i. 21; Cato, ap. Plin. iii. 5 s. 8; Steph. B. 8. v. Φαλίσκος.) The poets and mythographers went a step further, and ascribed the direct foundation of Falerii to a certain Halesus or Haliscus, a son of Agamemnon, whose name they connected with Faliscus, the ethnic appellation of the inhabitants of Falerii. (Serv. ad Aen. vii. 695; Ovid, Fast. iv. 73, Amor. iii. 13, 31; Solin. 2. § 7.) Strabo speaks of the Faliscans (whom he represents as inhabiting two towns, Falerium and Faliscum) as, according to some authors, a peculiar people distinct from the Etruscans, and with a language of their own (v. p. 266); but this was certainly not the case in his day, when all this part of Etruria was completely Romanised. If any dependence can be placed on these statements they seem to indicate that Falerii, like Caere, was essentially Pelasgic in its origin; and that, though it had fallen, in common with the other cities of Southern Etruria, into the hands of the Etruscans properly so called, it still retained in an unusual degree its Pelasgic rites and customs, and even a Pelasgic dialect. But it is strange to find, on the other hand, that some points seem to connect the Faliscans more closely with the neighbouring Sabines: thus, the very same Juno who is identified with the Argive Hera, was worshipped, we are told, under the name of Juno Curitis or Quiritis, and represented as armed with a spear. (Tertull. Apol. 24; Gruter, Inscr. p. 308. 1.) The four-faced Janus also (Janus Quadrifrons), who was transferred from Falerii to Rome (Serv. ad Aen. vii. 607.), would seem to point to a Sabine connection: there is, at least, no other evidence of the worship of this deity in Etruria previous to the Roman conquest. 12.) From this time the Faliscans continued on friendly terms with Rome till B. c. 356, when they joined their arms to the Tarquinians, but their allied forces were defeated by the dictator C. Marcius Rutilus; and the Faliscans appear to have obtained a fresh treaty, and renewed their friendly relations with Rome, which continued unbroken for more than 60 years from this time. But in B. C. 293 we find them once more joining in the general war of the Etruscans against Rome. They were, however, quickly reduced by the consul Carvilius, and though they obtained at the time only a truce for a year, this appears to have led to a permanent peace. (Liv. vii. 16, 17, x. 46, 47; Diod. xvi. 31; Frontin. Strat. ii. 4.) We have no account of the terms on which this was granted, or of the relation in which they stood to Rome, and we are wholly at a loss to understand the circumstance, that, after the close of the First Punic War, in B. C. 241, long after the submission of the rest of Etruria, and when the Roman power was established without dispute throughout the Italian peninsula, the Faliscans ventured single-handed to defy the arms of the Republic. The contest, as might be expected, was brief: notwithstanding the strength of their city, it was taken in six days; and, at once to punish them for this rebellion, and to render all such attempts hopeless for the future, they were compelled to abandon their ancient city, which was in a very strong position, and establish a new one on a site easy o access. (Liv. Epit. xix.; Pol. i. 65; Zonar. viii. 18; Oros. iv. 11; Eutrop. ii. 28.) This circumstance, which is mentioned only by Zonaras, is important as showing that the existing ruins at Sta. Maria di Falleri cannot occupy the site of the ancient Etruscan city, the position of which must be sought elsewhere. The few subsequent notices in history must also refer to this second or Roman Falerii; and it was here that a colony was established by the triumvirs which assumed the title of "Colonia Junonia Faliscorum," or "Colonia Falisca." (Plin. iii. 5. s. 8; Lib. Colon. p. 217; Gruter, Inser. p. 288. 1.) It does not, however, appear to have ever risen into a place of importance; and, notwithstanding its cognomen of Junonia, it is evident that the ancient temple of Juno on the site of the abandoned city was that which continued to Be this as it may, it is certain that during the attract the votaries of religion. (Ovid, Amor. iii. 13. historical period Falerii appears as a purely Etruscan 6.) The period of its coinplete decay is unknown. city. It is first mentioned in Roman history in B. C. The Tabula still notices "Faleros" (by which the 437, when the Falisci and Veientes lent their sup- Roman town is certainly meant) as situated 5 miles port to the Fidenates in their revolt against Rome, from Nepe, on the road to Ameria; and it retained and their combined forces were defeated by Cornelius its episcopal see as late as the 11th century. But Cossus. (Liv. iv. 17, 18.) From this period till in the middle ages the advantages of strength and the fall of Veii we find the Faliscans repeatedly sup- security again attracted the population to the origiporting the Veientes against Rome; and when the nal site; and thus a fresh city grew up on the ruins siege of Veii was at length regularly formed, they of the Etruscan Falerii, which ultimately obtained did their utmost to induce the other cities of Etruria the name of Civita Castellana. (Nibby, Dintorni to make a general effort for its relief. Failing in di Roma, vol. ii. pp. 23-26.) The site of the Rothis, as well as in their own attempts to raise the man Falerii (which was about 4 miles distant from siege, they found themselves after the capture of Civita Castellana, and 5 from Nepi) is now wholly Veii exposed single-handed to the vengeance of the deserted, with the exception of a single farm-house, Romans, and their capital was besieged by Camillus. and an ancient ruined church, still called Sta. Maria The story of the schoolmaster and the generous con- di Falleri. But a large portion of the ancient walls, duct of the Roman general is well known: it is pro- with their gates and towers, still remains; and though bable that this tale was meant to conceal the fact obviously not of very early date, they have contrithat Falerii was not in reality taken, but the war buted to the mistake of several modern writers, who terminated by a treaty, which is represented by the have not paid sufficient attention to the distinction Roman historians as a "deditio or surrender of between the earlier and later Falerii, and have thus their city. (Liv. v. 8, 13, 19; Plut. Camill. 9, 10; regarded the existing remains at Falleri as those of agree in describing the Falerii besieged by Camillus, as well as the city taken by the Romans in B. C. 241, as a place of great natural strength, a character wholly inapplicable to the site of Falleri, the walls of which are on one side easily exposed to attack, just as the site of the new city is described by Zonaras (evépodos, Zonar. l. c.). On the other hand, this description applies perfectly to Civita Castellana; and there can be little or no doubt that the opinion first put forward by Cluver, and since adopted by many antiquarians, correctly regards that place as the representative of the Etruscan or original Falerii. No other ancient remains are visible there, except a few fragments of the walls; but these are of a more ancient style of construction than those of Falleri, and thus confirm the view that they are vestiges of the Etruscan city (For a full discussion of this point, see Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, vol. ii. pp. 15-30; and Dennis, Etruria, vol. i. pp. 114 147.) Gell and Müller, the two chief authorities who were misled into placing the Etruscan city at Falleri, were thus led to regard Civita Castellana as the site of Fescennium, a town of far inferior importance; though the former himself admits that that place would correspond better with the descriptions of Falerii. (Gell, Top. of Rome, pp. 235240; Müller, Etrusker, vol. i. p. 110.) The site of Civita Castellana, indeed, is not only one of great strength, from the vast and deep ravines which surround it on almost all sides, but affords space for a city of considerable extent; and the population and power of the ancient Falerii are attested by the fact that, in its last hopeless struggle against the Roman power, it is said to have lost 15,000 men in the field. (Oros. iv. 11; Eutrop. ii. 28.) The existing walls of Roman Falerii enclose a much smaller space, being only about 2300 yards in circuit, and could therefore never have belonged to a city of the first class. (Gell, p. 241.) They are, however, of interest, from their excellent preservation, and present one of the best specimens extant of Roman fortification: they are flanked at short intervals by projecting square towers, which are most numerous on the two sides where they stand completely in the plain, and much fewer on the S. side of the city, where the wall borders on a small ravine, and is protected by the nature of the ground. The gateways, of which several remain in good preservation, are regularly arched, and the masoury of the walls themselves has throughout a character of regularity wholly different from any of those of ancient Etruscan origin. The territory of Falerii appears to have been in ancient times extensive and fertile. Ovid, whose wife was a native of the place, speaks of the " pomiferi Falisci," and of the rich pastures in which its cattle were fed. (Ovid, Amor. iii. 13. 1.) It was celebrated also for its sausages, which were known as "ventres Falisci," and were considered to rival those of Lucania. (Varr. L. L. v. 111; Martial, iv. 46. 8.) There is no doubt that Faliscus was only the ethnic form derived from Falerii, and the Falisci usually mean the inhabitants of that city. Those writers, indeed, who speak of the Falisci as a sepa rate people, ascribe to them the possession of two cities, Falerii and Fescennium (Dion. Hal. i. 21); but the latter appears to have been a place of inferior importance, and was probably a mere dependency of Falerii in the days of its power. There is, however, much difficulty in a passage of Strabo (v. p. 226) in which he speaks of "Falerii and Faliscum" as twó separate towns; and both Solinus and Stephanus of Byzantium seem to acknowledge the same distinction. Little dependence can, indeed, be placed upon the accuracy of these two last authorities; and the Faliscum of Strabo (if it be not merely a mistake for Fescennium) may probably be the same place which he again alludes to shortly after as "Acquum Faliscum" (Alkovμpaxiokov), and describes as situated on the Flaminian Way between Rome and Ocriculi. No other author mentions a town of this name, but the " Aequi Falisci" are mentioned both by Virgil and Silius Italicus. (Virg. Aen. vii. 695; Sil. Ital. viii. 491.) Ancient commentators appear to have understood the epithet of Aequi as a moral one, signifying "just" (Serv. ad Aen. I. c.); while Niebuhr supposes it to indicate a national connection with the Aequians (vol. i. p. 72); but there can be little doubt that in reality it referred to the physical position of the people, and was equivalent merely to Faliscans of the Plain." It seems, however, inpossible to understand this, as Müller has dune (Etrusker, vol. i. p. 100), as referring to the site of the new city of Falerii. It is far Lore probable that the plain on the banks of the Tiber was meant; and this would agree with the statement of Strabo, who places his " Aequum Faliscum" on the Flaminian Way, where it is natural enough that a large village or borgo may have grown up, during the flourishing ages of Rome, within the Faliscan territory, but distinct both from the more ancient and later Falerii, neither of which was situated on the line of that high road. Unfortunately the passage of Strabo is obviously corrupt, and none of the emendations proposed are altogether satisfactory. (See Kramer, ad loc.) The coins ascribed by earlier numismatists to Falerii belong in fact to Elis, the inscription on them being FAAEION, the ancient Doric form with the digamma prefixed. [ELIS.] [E. H. B.] FALERNUS AGER, a district or territory in the northern part of Campania, extending from the Massican hills to the N. bank of the Vulturnus. It was celebrated for its fertility, and particularly for the excellence of its wine, which is extolled by the Roman writers, especially by Horace, as surpassing all others then in repute. (Hor. Carm. i. 20. 10, ii. 3. 8, &c., Virg. G. ii. 94; Sil. Ital. vii. 162–165; Propert. iv. 6. 73; Plin. xiv. 6. s. 8; Strab. v. pp. 234. 243; Athen. i. pp. 26, 27.) It is probable that the district in question derived its name originally from a town of the name of Faleria, but no mention of such occurs in history: and it was a part of the domain of Capua until its conquest by the Romans, who, after the great battle at the foot of Mount Vesuvius in B. C. 340, annexed the whole district N. of the Vulturnus to the Roman domains, and shortly after divided the lands thus acquired among the plebeians. (Liv. viii. 11, 12.) In B. C. 295 a colony was founded at Sinuessa, immediately adjoining the Falernian district (Liv. x. 21), but it does not appear that the latter was annexed to it: nor do we know to which of the neighbouring cities this favoured tract belonged for municipal purposes. In B. C. 217 the whole district was laid waste by the Carthaginian cavalry under Maharbal. (Liv. xxii. 13.) On this occasion Livy distinctly tells us that the "Falernus ager" which was thus ravaged extended as far as the Aquae Sinuessanae, and almost up to the gates of Sinuessa itself: shortly afterwards (Ib. 15) he speaks of the Falernus ager as separated from the "Campanus ager" by the Vulturnus. It 14. s. 19; Mel. ii. 4. § 5: Lib. Colon. p. 256; is clear, therefore, that he used the term in the full | Orell. Inscr. 83. 1535, 3143, 3969.) extent given tc it above. Pliny, on the contrary, appears to apply the name in a much more restricted sense: he describes the "ager Falernus" as lying "on the left hand as one proceeded from the Pons Campanus to the Colonia Urbana of Sulla " (xiv. 6. s. 8); which would exclude all the space between the Via Appia and the Vulturnus. The exact limits of the district cannot be fixed with certainty: the name was probably used in a narrower or a wider sense, sometimes with reference to the especial winegrowing district, sometimes to the whole of the fertile plain on the N. of the Vulturnus. Pliny tells us that the Falernian wine was in his day already declining in quality, from want of care in the cultivation: the choicest kind was that called Faustianum, from a village of that name, probably so called in honour of Sulla, who had established a colony in this district. (Plin. xiv. 6.) Immediately adjoining the Falernus ager was the "Statanus ager," the wine of which is already noticed by Strabo, and this had in the time of Pliny attained even to a superiority over the true Falernian. (Plin. l. c.; Strab. v. pp. 234, 243; Athen. i. p. 26.) The exact situation of this district is unknown: but it appears to have bordered on the Falernian territory on the one side and that of Cales on the other. Pliny also mentions (l. c.) a village called Cediae or Caediae in this district, which he places 6 miles from Sinuessa: it is evidently the same place which gave name to the "Caeditiae Tabernae" on the Via Appia, mentioned by Festus (p. 45. ed. Müller). An inscription preserved in the neighbouring town of Carinola notices the "coloni Caedicianei" together with the Sinuesani. (Mommsen, I. R. N. 4021.) [E. H. B.] FALISCI. [FALERII.] FANUM FORTUNAE (Þâvov dopтovvaι, Ptol.; Tò 'Iepov Tĥs Túxns, Strab.: Eth. Fanestris: Fano), a city of Umbria, situated on the coast of the Adriatic on the left bank of the river Metaurus, between Pisaurum (Pesaro) and Sena Gallica (Sinigaglia). It was here that the Via Flaminia, descending the valley of the Metaurus from Forum Sempronii, joined the line of road which led along the coast from Ancona and Picenum to Ariminum. (Itin. Ant. pp. 100, 126.) It is evident that the town must originally have derived its name from an ancient temple of Fortune: but of this we have no account, nor do we know whether it existed prior to the Roman conquest of this part of Italy. There must, however, have soon grown up a considerable town upon the spot, as soon as the Flaminian Way was completed; and in the Civil War of B. C. 49, we find it mentioned by Caesar as a place of importance which he hastened to occupy with one cohort, immediately after his advance to Ariminum. (Caes. B. C. i. 11.) For the same reason, in A.D. 69, the generals of Vespasian made it their headquarters for some time before they ventured to attempt the passage of the Apennines, and advance upon Rome. (Tac Hist. iii. 50.) These are the only occasions on which it figures in history; but we learn that it received a colony under Augustus, and appears to have become from thenceforth one of the most flourishing and considerable towns in this part of Italy. Its colonial rank is attested by inscriptions, on which it bears the title of "Colonia Julia Fanestris," or "Colonia Julia Fanum For It was at the period of the establishment of this colony that the city was adorned with a basilica, of which Vitruvius, as we learn from himself, was the architect (Vitruv. v. 1. § 6), and to the same period belongs the triumphal arch of white marble, erected in honour of Augustus, which still forms one of the gates of the city on the Flaminian Way (Eustace, Class. Tour, vol. i. p. 287; Orell. Inscr. 602). Claudian, Sidonius, and the Itineraries attest the continued importance of Fanum, as it was commonly called, throughout the period, and it is probable that, like most of the cities on the Flaminian and Aemilian Ways, it retained some degree of prosperity long after the other towns of the province had fallen into decay. (Claudian, in VI. Cons. Hon. 500; Itin. Ant. pp. 126, 615; Sidon. Apoll. Ep. i. 5). But the city suffered severely in the Gothic wars, and its walls, which had been erected by Augustus, were destroyed by Vitiges. (Procop. B. G. iii. 11.) The modern city of Fano contains about 8000 inhabitants; it has no other relics of antiquity besides the arch above mentioned, and a few inscriptions. [E. H. B.] FANUM FUGITIVI, a station on the Flaminian Way, between Interamna (Terni) and Spoletium (Spoleto). (Itin. Hier. p. 613.) It seems to have coincided with the spot now called la Somma, at the highest point of the pass between Interanna and Spoletium. [E. H. B.] 1. FANUM MARTIS, in Gallia Transalpina. Mentioned in the Not. Imp., gave the name of Pagus Fanomartensis to a great part of the modern Hainau in the kingdom of Belgium. The Fanum Martis was in the territory of the Nervii, and in the division of Belgica Secunda. Fammars near Valenciennes, in the French department of Nord, is the site of Fanum Martis. Fanum was the residence of the praefectus of the Laeti Nervii, as we may conclude from the Notitia. The remains of a large building of the Roman period have been discovered at Fammars. 2. The Ant. Itin. places a Fanum Martis on the road from Alauna to Condate Redonum (Rennes), between Cosedia and Fines. D'Anville conjectures that Fanum Martis may be the commanding position of Mont-martin, which is on the line of the Roman road. Walckenaer fixes it at a place called Tanie; and Ukert (p. 487), at Le Faouet. position we may assume to be unknown. The The Table places Fanum Martis between Reginea and Condate. If the position of Reginea were certain, perhaps that of Fanum Martis might be found. D'Anville supposes this Fanum Martis not to be the same as that mentioned in the Antonine Itin. between Alauna and Condate, and he fixes it at Dinan; but Walckenaer, who supposes Reginea to be Granville, fixes Fanum Martis at Tanie. [G. L.] FANUM MINERVAE, in Gallia, is placed by the Anton. Itin. on the road from Durocortorum (Reims) to Divodurum (Metz), and 14 Gallic leagues from Durocortorum. The same place seems to be intended by the corrupt word Tenomia, as D'Anville has it, or Fanomia, as Walckenaer has it, in the Table, which places it 19 from Reims. We may either correct the distance 14 in the Itin., or suppose a station to be omitted, for the purpose of making the Itin. agree with the Table, which seems to have the true distance. on the line of the Roman road, and near the camp called the camp of Attila. [G. L.] FANUM VACUNAE. [DIGENTIA.] FANUM VENERIS. [PORTUS VENERIS.] FANUM VOLTUMNAË, a place in Etruria, at which it was the custom of the Etruscans to hold the general meetings of the deputies from the different states of the confederation. (Liv. iv. 23, 61, v. 17, vi. 2.) It is evident, from its name, that it was originally a temple or sanctuary, and it is even probable that the meetings in question had at first a purely sacred character, but gradually assumed a political signification. There is no reason to suppose there was ever a town upon the spot, though there appears to have been a kind of fair at these annual meetings, at which traders assembled from the neighbouring parts of Italy. (Liv. vi. 2.) The situation of this national sanctuary is nowhere indicated, nor, indeed, does any mention of it occur after the fall of Etruscan independence: hence the sites which have been assigned to it are wholly conjectural. The opinion most commonly received would place it at Viterbo: others have fixed it at Castel d'Asso, in the same neighbourhood; and Dennis places it at Monte Fiascone, 9 miles from Bolsena, on the banks of the lake which derives its name from that city. There are certainly circumstances which would appear to connect the Fanum Voltumnae with Volsinii, and render it probable that it was somewhere in that neighbourhood. (Dennis, Etruria, vol. i. pp. 516522.) [Ë. H. B.] FARFARUS. [FABARIS.] FAUSTINO'POLIS, a town in the south of Cappadocia, about 12 miles south of Tyana. It was named after the empress Faustina, the wife of M. Aurelius, who died there in a village, which her husband, by establishing a colony in it, raised to the rank of a town under the name of Faustinopolis. (Jul. Capitol. M. Ant. Philos. 26.) Hierocles (p. 700) assigns the place to Cappadocia Secunda, and it is mentioned also in the Antonine and Jerusalem Itineraries. The exact position of the town has not yet been ascertained, but it must have been close to the defiles of the Cilician gates. [L. S.] : FAVE'NTIA (Paovevría, Ptol.; Paßevría, Steph. B. Eth. Faventinus: Faenza), a city of Gallia Cispadana, situated on the Via Aemilia, 10 miles from Forum Cornelii (Imola), and the same distance from Forum Livii (Forli). (Plin. iii. 15. s. 20; Strab. v. p. 217; Ptol. iii. 1. § 46; Itin. Ant. pp. 126, 287.) It is noted in history as the place where Carbo and Norbanus were defeated with great loss by Metellus, the general of Sulla, in B. C. 82. (Appian, B. C. i. 91; Vell. Pat. ii. 28; Liv. Epit. lxxxviii.) With this exception, we find little notice of it in history; but it appears to have been, under the Roman empire, a municipal town of some consideration, and, in common with many of the other cities on the Via Aemilia, continued to retain its prosperity down to a late period. (Plin. vii. 49. s. 50; Spartian. Hadr. 7; Capit. Ver. 1; Procop. B. G. iii. 3; Itin. Hier. p. 616.) Its territory was peculiarly favourable to vines, and, according to Varro, exceeded all other districts in Italy in the quantity of wine produced. (Varr. R. R. i. 2. §7; Colum. iii. 3. § 2.) Silius Italicus, on the other hand, speaks of it as crowned with pines (viii. 598). In the time of Pliny, Faventia was cele. brated for its manufactures of linen, which was considered to surpass all others in whiteness. (Plin. xix. 1. s. 2.) We learn from the Itineraries that a cross road led from hence across the Apennines direct to Florentia in the valley of the Arnus, a distance of 70 miles. (Itin. Ant. p. 283.) The intermediate stations are unknown, but the road must evidently have ascended the valley of the Lamone (the Anemo of Pliny), which flows under the walls of Faenza. [E. H. B.] FECYI JUGUM, on the south coast of Gallia, near Agatha (Agde), is mentioned by Avienus after Mons Setius [BLASCON]: "Fecyi jugum Radice fusa in usque Taurum pertinet." Taurus seems to be the E'tang de Tau, on one side of which there is a range of hills called "lou Pié Feguié." (Ukert, Gallien, p. 119.) [G. L.] FELSINA. [BONONIA.] FELTRIA (Feltre), a town of Venetia, but on the confines of Rhaetia, and included within that province according to the later distribution of Italy. It is situated about 3 miles from the river Piare (Plavis). Inscriptions prove it to have been a municipal town of some importance under the Roman Empire, and there can be little doubt that we should read "Feltrini" for the "Fertini" who are enumerated by Pliny among the "Rhaetica oppida" which were comprised within the tenth region of Italy. (Plin. iii. 19. s. 23; Orell. Inscr. 993, 3084; Cassiod. v. 9.) The Itineraries give a cross road from Opitergium (Oderzo) to Feltria, and thence through the Val Sugana to Tridentum (Trent). (Itin. Ant. p. 280.) [E. H.B.] FENNI, a population of the north and northeastern parts of Europe, first mentioned by Tacitus (Germania, 46), as one different from and contrasted to those of Germania. In Ptolemy, the only other author who gives their name, the form is Þírvos. The extent to which the Fenni coincided with the modern Laps of Lapland, rather than with the Finns of Finland (or vice versa), is considered under the articles SITONES, SCYTHIA, and SARMATIA. At present the name alone will be noticed. It belongs to the same language with the word Estyi=Eastmen (q. v.), viz. the German; and, of this, to the Scandinavian branch. Finn is not the name by which either the Finlanders or the Laplanders know themselves. It is the term by which they are known to the Northmen. This helps to verify the statement that the chief sources of the information of the classical writers concerning the Baltic were German. [R. G. L.] FERENTINUM OF FERENTIUM (Φερεντίνον, Strab. v. p. 226; Pepevтía, Ptol. iii. 1. § 50: Ferento), a city of Etruria, situated on the N. of the Ciminian range, about 5 miles distant from the Tiber, and the same distance from the modern city of Viterbo. It is not mentioned in history during the period of Etruscan independence, and must probably have been then a mere dependency of Volsinii: Strabo speaks of it as one of the smaller towns in the interior of Etruria, but we learn from other authorities, as well as from existing remains, that it must have been in his time a flourishing municipal town: Vitruvius notices the excellent quality of the stone found in its neighbourhood, and the numerous statues and other monuments hewn out of this material which adorned the town itself (Vitruv. ii. 7. §4). In common with most of the cities of Etruria, it had received a Roman colony before the end of the Republic, but did not obtain the title of a colony; and is termed, both by Vitruvius and Tacitus, a municipium. (Li Colon. p. 216; Vitruv. I. c.; Tac. Hist. ä. 50.) It derived some distinction from being the birth-place : " The site is now uninhabited, but is still known by the name of Ferento: and the ruins of the ancient city are considerable, the most important of them being a theatre, which is, in some respects, one of the best preserved monuments of the kind remaining in Italy. The scena, or stage-front, is particularly remarkable it is 136 feet long, and built of massive rectangular blocks of volcanic masonry, on which rests a mass of Roman brickwork with arches, decidedly of Imperial times: while seven gates, with flat arches for architraves, open in the façade itself. The lower part of this construction is supposed by Mr. Dennis to be certainly an Etruscan work; but the Cav. Canina regards the whole edifice as a work of the Roman Empire. (Canina, in the Annali dell' Inst. 1837, pp. 62-64; Dennis, Etruria, vol. i. pp. 204-210.) Besides the theatre, portions of the city walls and gates, and various ruins of buildings of Roman date, are still remaining on the site of Ferento. FERENTINUM. 895 that people against Rome in B. c. 361, but was taken by assault by the Roman consuls. (Liv. vii. 9.) In the last revolt of the Hernici, on the contrary, Ferentinum was one of the three cities that refused to join in the defection from Rome, and which were rewarded for their fidelity by being allowed to retain their own laws, which they preferred to the rights of Roman citizenship. (Id. ix. 43.) At what period they afterwards obtained the civitas is uncertain: the Latin franchise (Id. xxxiv. 42); and an inscripin B. c. 195 they are mentioned as possessing only tion still preserved, which cannot be earlier than the second century B. C., records their possession of their Roman municipia. (Zumpt, Comment. Epigr. p. own censors, a magistracy which is not found in the tain the Roman franchise till after the Social War; 77.) It is therefore probable that they did not oband the contrary cannot be inferred from the title of Municipium given to them by Gellius in citing an oration of C. Gracchus, in which that orator relates an instance of flagrant oppression exercised by a (Gell. x. 3.) Roman praetor upon two magistrates of Ferentinum. common with most of the neighbouring towns, reAt a later period Ferentinum, in ceived a colony (Lib. Colon. p. 234); but the new settlers seem to have kept themselves distinct from the former inhabitants, as we find in inscriptions the "Ferentinates Novani" (Orell. Inscr. 1011). In and ravaged by Hannibal (Liv. xxvi. 9); but with B. C. 211 the territory of Ferentinum was traversed this exception we hear little of it in history, though it appears from extant remains and inscriptions to have been a considerable town. Horace, however, alludes to it as a quiet and remote country place; a character it may well have retained, notwithstanding mentators suppose the Ferentinum noticed in the the proximity of the Via Latina, though some compassage in question to be the Tuscan town of the name. (Hor. Ep. i. 17. 8; Schol. Cruq. ad loc.) It was distant 48 miles from Rome, on a hill rising immediately on the left of the Via Latina, which passed close to its southern side, but did not enter the town. The ancient name is variously written: the MSS. of Tacitus and Suetonius fluctuate between Ferentium and Ferentinum: Ptolemy writes it Ferentia (Pepería); and the ethnic form used by Vitruvius, "municipium Ferentis," is in favour of the form Ferentium: on the other hand, the inscription above cited (which certainly belongs to the Etruscan and not to the Hernican town) gives the form Ferentinensis from Ferentinum, and the Liber Coloniarum are of considerable interest. They comprise large The existing remains of antiquity at Ferentino also has "Colonia Ferentinensis" for the Etruscan portions of the ancient walls, constructed in the Cycolony. FERENTI'NUM (epévrov: Eth. Ferentinãs, of limestone, but less massive and striking than those [E. H. B.] clopean style, of large irregular and polygonal blocks atis, but sometimes also Ferentinus, Sil. Ital. viii. of Alatri and Segni. They are also in many places 393; Jul. Obseq. § 87: Ferentino), a city of the patched or surmounted with Roman masonry; and Hernicans; but included, with the other towns of one of the gates, looking towards Frosinone, has that people, in Latium, in the more extended and the walls composing its sides of Cyclopean work, later sense of that term. It was situated on the Via while the arch above it is evidently Roman, as well Latina, between Anagnia and Frusino, and was distant 8 miles from the former (or, more strictly speak- the highest point of the hill crowned by the modern as the upper part of the wall. A kind of citadel on ing, from the Compitum Anagninum), and 7 from cathedral, is remarkable as being supported on three the latter town. (Strab. v. p. 237; Itin. Ant. pp. sides by massive walls or substructions which pre302, 305.) According to Livy, it would seem to have been at one period a Volscian city; for he de- but which, as an inscription still remaining on them sent a marked approach to the polygonal structure, scribes the Volscians as taking refuge there when informs us, were built from the ground by two mathey were defeated by the Roman consul L. Furius gistrates of Ferentinum at a period certainly not in B. C. 413; but they soon after abandoned the earlier than B. c. 150. (Bunsen, in the Ann. d. town, which was given over, together with its terri- Inst. Arch. vol. vi. p. 144; Bunbury, in Class. Mutory, to the Hernicans. (Liv. iv. 51.) We subse-seum, vol. ii. p. 164.) Numerous other portions of quently find the Volscians complaining of this as a direct spoliation (Id. 56); but from the position of Ferentinum, it seems most probable that it was originally a Hernican city, and had been wrested from them by the Volscians in the first instance. It continued after this to be one of the chief cities of the Hernicans, and took a prominent part in the war of as inscriptions, one of which, recording the munifi- |