DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0169
chap, in.] SITES OF ANCIENT DEEDS. 67
the Romans and Etruscans. Here, in the year of Rome
317, the Fidenates, with their allies of Veii and Palerii, were
again defeated, and Lars Tolumnius, chief of the Veientes,
was slain.4 And a few years later, Mamilius iEmihus and
Cornelius Cossus, the heroes of the former fight, routed
the same foes in the same plain, and captured the city of
Fidense.5 Here too, Annibal seems to have pitched his
camp when he marched from Capua to surprise the City.6
I turned to the right, and there, at the foot of the hill,
the Ponte Salaro, a venerable relic of antiquity, spanned
the Anio. It may be the identical structure which, in
the year of Rome 393, was the scene of many a fierce
encounter between the Romans and Gauls encamped on
opposite banks of the stream, andon which ManliusTorquatus
did combat with the gigantic Gaul who had defied the Roman
host, and, like another David, smote his Goliath to the dust.7
I turned to the left, and yon ruins on the further bank
of the Tiber, marked the supposed site of the Castle of
the Pabii; nearer still several crumbling towers indicated
the course of the Plaminian; and yon cave at the base of
a cliff was the celebrated tomb of the Nasoni. Further
down the Tiber was the Ponte Molle, the scene of Con-
stantine's battle with Maxentius, and of the miracle of the
flaming cross. On every hand was some object attracting
the eye by its picturesque beauty, or exciting the mind to
the contemplation of the past.
The Ponte Salaro is on the fine of the ancient Via
Salaria, the high road to Fidenae. It is a very fine
bridge, of three arches ; the central one, eighty feet in
* Liv. IV. 17,18, 19. (Excerp. Mai, torn. II. p. 530), makes
5 Liv. IV. 32, 33, 34. it the king of the Gauls whom Manlius
6 Liv. XXVI. 10. slew, transferring his greatness from his
7 Liv. VII. 9, 10. Serv. Ma. VI. stature to his station.
825. Aul. Gell. IX. 13. Dio Cassius
F2
the Romans and Etruscans. Here, in the year of Rome
317, the Fidenates, with their allies of Veii and Palerii, were
again defeated, and Lars Tolumnius, chief of the Veientes,
was slain.4 And a few years later, Mamilius iEmihus and
Cornelius Cossus, the heroes of the former fight, routed
the same foes in the same plain, and captured the city of
Fidense.5 Here too, Annibal seems to have pitched his
camp when he marched from Capua to surprise the City.6
I turned to the right, and there, at the foot of the hill,
the Ponte Salaro, a venerable relic of antiquity, spanned
the Anio. It may be the identical structure which, in
the year of Rome 393, was the scene of many a fierce
encounter between the Romans and Gauls encamped on
opposite banks of the stream, andon which ManliusTorquatus
did combat with the gigantic Gaul who had defied the Roman
host, and, like another David, smote his Goliath to the dust.7
I turned to the left, and yon ruins on the further bank
of the Tiber, marked the supposed site of the Castle of
the Pabii; nearer still several crumbling towers indicated
the course of the Plaminian; and yon cave at the base of
a cliff was the celebrated tomb of the Nasoni. Further
down the Tiber was the Ponte Molle, the scene of Con-
stantine's battle with Maxentius, and of the miracle of the
flaming cross. On every hand was some object attracting
the eye by its picturesque beauty, or exciting the mind to
the contemplation of the past.
The Ponte Salaro is on the fine of the ancient Via
Salaria, the high road to Fidenae. It is a very fine
bridge, of three arches ; the central one, eighty feet in
* Liv. IV. 17,18, 19. (Excerp. Mai, torn. II. p. 530), makes
5 Liv. IV. 32, 33, 34. it the king of the Gauls whom Manlius
6 Liv. XXVI. 10. slew, transferring his greatness from his
7 Liv. VII. 9, 10. Serv. Ma. VI. stature to his station.
825. Aul. Gell. IX. 13. Dio Cassius
F2