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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0173
CHAP. III.]
HISTORY OF FIDENjE.
71
and the tombs around are the sole evidences of its exist-
ence. Yet, as Nibby observes, " few ancient cities, of
which few or no vestiges remain, have had the good
fortune to have their sites so well determined as Fidense."7
Its distance of forty stadia, or five miles from Rome,
mentioned by Dionysius,8 and its position relative to Veii,
to the Tiber, and to the confluence of the Anio with that
stream, as set forth by Livy,9 leave not a doubt of its
true site.
The history of Fidense is a series of struggles with
Rome, of captures and rebellions, if the efforts of a people
to free themselves from a foreign and unwelcome yoke
may be thus designated. We have no less than eight
distinct captures of it recorded.1 Livy sneeringly remarks,
" it was almost more often captured than attacked."2 It
was first taken by Romulus, and by him made a Roman
colony; and such it continued, save at intervals when it
threw off the yoke, till its final capture and destruction
in the year of Rome 328.3 Its destruction was an act
of policy on the part of Rome. She had experienced
7 Nibby II., p. 5].
8 Dion.Hal.II.,p.ll6,III.,p. 167,and
X.,p.648. StraboV.,p. 230. It is the
first station from Rome on this road in
the Peutingerian Table, which calls it
six miles distant—reckoning from the
Forum.
9 Liv. I. 14,27 ; IV., 17, 21, 31, 32
33, 34, see also Dionysius III., pp. 165,
181,191, 193.
1 See the Appendix to this Chapter.
2 Liv. IV. 32,—prope ssepius captas
quam oppugnatas.
3 Floras (1.12) speaks of it as having
been burnt by its inhabitants,—cremati
suo igne Fidenates — the prototype of
Moscow. Yet not many years after,
shortly after the Gaula had evacuated
Rome, we hear of the Fidenates, in
conjunction with some of the neigh,
bouring people, suddenly rising, and
striking such terror into the Romans,
that they commemorated the event ever
after by a public festival on the Nones
of July, called " Populifugia" or
" Poplifugia." Varro de L. L. VI. 18.
Macrob. Saturn. III. 2. Dionysius,
however (II., p. 118), gives a very
different version of the origin of this
festival, referring it to the time immedi-
ately subsequent to the death of Romu-
lus. This discrepancy leads Arnold (II.,
p. 10)to regard the story as "uncertain,"
and Niebuhr (II., p. 573) justly doubts
if these towns could have been left
standing at the period of the Gaulish
HISTORY OF FIDENjE.
71
and the tombs around are the sole evidences of its exist-
ence. Yet, as Nibby observes, " few ancient cities, of
which few or no vestiges remain, have had the good
fortune to have their sites so well determined as Fidense."7
Its distance of forty stadia, or five miles from Rome,
mentioned by Dionysius,8 and its position relative to Veii,
to the Tiber, and to the confluence of the Anio with that
stream, as set forth by Livy,9 leave not a doubt of its
true site.
The history of Fidense is a series of struggles with
Rome, of captures and rebellions, if the efforts of a people
to free themselves from a foreign and unwelcome yoke
may be thus designated. We have no less than eight
distinct captures of it recorded.1 Livy sneeringly remarks,
" it was almost more often captured than attacked."2 It
was first taken by Romulus, and by him made a Roman
colony; and such it continued, save at intervals when it
threw off the yoke, till its final capture and destruction
in the year of Rome 328.3 Its destruction was an act
of policy on the part of Rome. She had experienced
7 Nibby II., p. 5].
8 Dion.Hal.II.,p.ll6,III.,p. 167,and
X.,p.648. StraboV.,p. 230. It is the
first station from Rome on this road in
the Peutingerian Table, which calls it
six miles distant—reckoning from the
Forum.
9 Liv. I. 14,27 ; IV., 17, 21, 31, 32
33, 34, see also Dionysius III., pp. 165,
181,191, 193.
1 See the Appendix to this Chapter.
2 Liv. IV. 32,—prope ssepius captas
quam oppugnatas.
3 Floras (1.12) speaks of it as having
been burnt by its inhabitants,—cremati
suo igne Fidenates — the prototype of
Moscow. Yet not many years after,
shortly after the Gaula had evacuated
Rome, we hear of the Fidenates, in
conjunction with some of the neigh,
bouring people, suddenly rising, and
striking such terror into the Romans,
that they commemorated the event ever
after by a public festival on the Nones
of July, called " Populifugia" or
" Poplifugia." Varro de L. L. VI. 18.
Macrob. Saturn. III. 2. Dionysius,
however (II., p. 118), gives a very
different version of the origin of this
festival, referring it to the time immedi-
ately subsequent to the death of Romu-
lus. This discrepancy leads Arnold (II.,
p. 10)to regard the story as "uncertain,"
and Niebuhr (II., p. 573) justly doubts
if these towns could have been left
standing at the period of the Gaulish