Sic Transit Gloria The walls of the bold Rutulian, the city which they say Danaë built for her Argive settlers, landing there under stress of wind. Ardea was the name which past generations gave the place, and Ardea still keeps her august title; but her star is set. JOHN CONINGTON Ardea, a famous name, a city ruled over by high-spirited men. Marshy and unhealthy, such as the country of Ardea. ARICIA (ARICCIA) Founded in remote antiquity, the place reached the zenith of its prosperity in the sixth and seventh centuries B. C., taking a leading part in the affairs of the Latin League. In 338 B. C. it fought unsuccessfully with Rome. Even after the loss of its independence, however, it styled the leading officer "dictator," and its council "senatus," and kept also its own calendar down to the time of Caesar. The neighboring Alba finally overshadowed the city. Under the Empire it is largely known for its fine vegetables and excellent wine (Plin. N. H. xix. 110 et al.; Mart. xiii. 19). Augustus' mother, Atia, and her father were natives of this place. Antony is said to have upbraided Augustus with the fact that his greatgrandfather at one time kept a perfume shop at Aricia (Suet. Aug. 4). Egressum magna me excepit Aricia Roma. hospitio modico. Nemoralis Aricia. Hor. S. i. 5, 1-2. Luc. vi. 75. Vetustate antiquissimum, iure foederatum, propinquitate paene finitimum, splendore municipum honestissimum. Hinc Voconiae, hinc Atiniae leges: hinc multae sellae curules et patrum memoria et nostra: hinc equites Romani lautissimi et plurimi. Cic. Phil. iii. 15-16. Caecus adulator durusque a ponte satelles, dignus Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes blandaque devexae iactaret basia raedae. Juv. iv. 116-118. At Vitellius profecto Caecina, cum Fabium Valentem paucis diebus ad bellum impulisset, curis luxum obtendebat: non parare arma, non adloquio exercitioque militem firmare, non in ore vulgi agere, sed umbraculis hortorum abditus, ut ignava animalia, quibus si cibum suggeras, iacent torpentque, praeterita instantia futura pari oblivione dimiserat. Atque illum in nemore Aricino desidem et marcentem proditio Lucilii Bassi ac defectio classis Ravennatis perculit. Tac. Hist. iii. 36. 1 The first stop made by Horace on his journey to Brundisium. (See note under Anxur.) 2 Connected with the story of the Nemus Dianae, a grove about three miles from the town, looked upon as one of the sacred places in Italy. (See Nemus Dianae.) 3 The Voconian had to do with legacies and the Atinian granted a seat in the senate to the plebeian tribunes. 4 Beggars found the Clivus Aricinus, a steep road leading to what is now Genzano, a desirable place for their trade--especially so since the Appian Way upon which Aricia was situated was a much-traveled thoroughfare. (See Mart. ii. 19.) 5 Emperor in 69 A. D. Caecina and Fabius Valens were powerful men at his court. The former, however, went over to the side of Vespasian, a rival claimant to the Roman throne with whom Vitellius engaged in deadly combat. Fresh from great Rome with all its din Aricia with its little inn Received me first.1 Aricia with its grove." SIR THEODORE MARTIN Cicero Pays Tribute to the Character of Aricia's Citizens A town most ancient as to its antiquity; if we regard its rights, united with us, by treaty; if we regard its vicinity, almost close to us; if we regard the high character of its inhabitants, most honorable. It is from Aricia that we have received the Voconian and Atinian laws;3 from Aricia have come many of those magistrates who have filled our curule chairs, both in our fathers' recollection and in our own; from Aricia have sprung many of the best and bravest of the Roman knights. C. D. YONGE A Favorite Place for Beggars A blind flatterer, a dire courtier from a beggar's stand, well fitted to beg at the wheels of chariots and blow soft kisses to them as they rolled down the Arician hill.1 G. G. RAMSAY A Roman Emperor Disgraces Himself A few days after the departure of Caecina, Vitellius had hurried Fabius Valens to the seat of war, and was now seeking to hide his apprehensions from himself by indulgence. He made no military preparation; he did not seek to invigorate the soldiers by encouraging speeches or warlike exercises; he did not keep himself before the eyes of the people. Buried in the shades of his gardens, like those sluggish animals which, if you supply them with food, lie motionless and torpid, he had dismissed with the same forgetfulness the past, the present, and the future. While he thus lay wasting his powers in sloth among the woods of Aricia, he was startled by the treachery of Lucilius Bassus and the defection of the fleet at Ravenna. CHURCH AND BRODRIBB ARIMINUM (RIMINI) As early as 268 B. C. the Romans established a colony at Ariminum, being quick to perceive the advantages they might derive from a well-fortified city situated on the sea and just a few miles south of the line dividing Italy from Cisalpine Gaul. The fact that the great highway know as the Flaminian Road (built in 220 B. C.) led directly from here to Rome, enormously increased its importance, as did the building of the Aemilian Road a few years later (187 B. C.), which connected the place with other flourishing towns to the northwest. Its value as a strategic center for all campaigns in the north as well as the fact that it was a convenient base of supplies for military movements in other directions, caused it to take on the appearance of a camp. This was in constant use throughout the second Punic war (Liv. xxi. 51; xxxi. 10) and in the various civil wars that followed. It is perhaps best known from the fact that Julius Caesar after making his decision to lead his legions to Rome in defiance of the senate and after having crossed the Rubicon, a few miles to the north, occupied Ariminum, which he used for some time as a military center (App. B. C. ii. 35; Plut. Caes. 33). The place was conspicuous in the civil wars between Marius and Sulla (App. B. C. i. 91) as well as in the later struggles between Antony and Octavius (App. B. C. iii. 46). Tacitus (Hist. iii. 41-42) connects it moreover with the bitter contest between Vitellius and Vespasian, and as late as the sixth century A. D. it is the scene of several struggles between the invading Goths and Belisarius, the Roman general (Procop. B. G. ii. 10 et al.). It is said that Augustus adorned it with beautiful buildings and works of art to atone for the division of its land among the soldiers of the triumvirs (App. B. C. iv. 3), and certainly existing ruins show traces of this emperor's care. Strabo (v. 2, 10) describes the Flaminian Road from Ariminum to Rome. In this connection the traveler should read the account of the journey of the emperor Honorius 1 Lucan thus voices the lament of the inhabitants of Ariminum at their unfortunate situation. from Ravenna to Rome as given by Claudian (de vi. Cons. Honor. 494-522) closing with the lines, "excipiunt arcus, operosa que semita, vastis molibus, et quicquid tantae praemittitur urbi." O male vicinis haec moenia condita Gallis, errantesque domos, Latii quam claustra tueri. Luc. i. 248-257. An Onerous Destiny1 Alas, these city walls erected too near the Gauls, and cursed in their location! While all peoples are enjoying deep peace and undisturbed tranquillity, we are the victim of the war-crazed, we are the first battle ground. Better, dame Fortune, hadst thou given us a dwelling under the Eastern sky or portable homes in the frozen North than this task of defending the gates of Italy. We were the first to meet the shock of the Senones, the oncoming Cimbrians, the invader from Africa, and the Teuton assault; in fact, as often as Fortune has harassed Rome, by this route has war entered. H. C. NUTTING |