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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0174
72 FIDEN.E. [chap, hi.
so much annoyance from the towns in her immediate
neighbourhood, especially from Fidenae, which she had sub-
dued again and again, and re-colonised with Romans: but
the hostility of the original inhabitants being ever ready
to break forth, made it a thorn in her side ; and it
was undoubtedly to rid herself of these foes at her very
gates, that she either destroyed or suffered to fall into
decay Fidenae, Antemnae, Veii, and other towns of the
Campagna. The destruction of Fidenae was complete,
and in after ages its desolation became a bye-word.4 Yet
its site seems to have been inhabited in the time of
Cicero,5 and still later it was a village,6 or more pro-
bably only the site of some private villa.* Under the
Empire it seems to have increased in importance, for an
amphitheatre of wood was erected there, in the reign of
Tiberius, which gave way during the performance, and
fifty thousand persons were mutilated or crushed to death
by its ruins.8 It must not, however, be supposed that
such was the population of Fidenae in those times, for
Tacitus states that a great concourse flocked thither from
Rome, the more abundant from the propinquity of the
place.9 Fidenae continued in existence long after this ;
for it is mentioned in Roman inscriptions of the close of
the third, and by the Peutingerian Table in the fourth
century.
4 Hor. I. Epist. XI. 7.— twenty thousand only perished in the
Gabiis desertior atque ruins.
Fidenis vicus. 9 Tacitus (1. c.) Juvenal (VI. 56,
s Cie. de Leg. Agrar. II. 35. X. 100,) too, who wrote not many
6 Strabo V., p. 226. years after this, speaks contemp-
i Strabo V., p. 230. tuously of Fidense, and by coupling
8 Tacit. Ann. IV. 62, 63. This it with Gabii seems to refer to the
number is confirmed by the anonymous proverb, cited by Horace. Livy also
author of the Olympiads (01. 201, 2) (V. 54), and Virgil (iEn. VI. 773)
quoted by Cluverius (II., p. 657), but couple these towns together, cf. Pro-
according to Suetonius (Tiber. 40) pert. IV. 1. 34, 36.
so much annoyance from the towns in her immediate
neighbourhood, especially from Fidenae, which she had sub-
dued again and again, and re-colonised with Romans: but
the hostility of the original inhabitants being ever ready
to break forth, made it a thorn in her side ; and it
was undoubtedly to rid herself of these foes at her very
gates, that she either destroyed or suffered to fall into
decay Fidenae, Antemnae, Veii, and other towns of the
Campagna. The destruction of Fidenae was complete,
and in after ages its desolation became a bye-word.4 Yet
its site seems to have been inhabited in the time of
Cicero,5 and still later it was a village,6 or more pro-
bably only the site of some private villa.* Under the
Empire it seems to have increased in importance, for an
amphitheatre of wood was erected there, in the reign of
Tiberius, which gave way during the performance, and
fifty thousand persons were mutilated or crushed to death
by its ruins.8 It must not, however, be supposed that
such was the population of Fidenae in those times, for
Tacitus states that a great concourse flocked thither from
Rome, the more abundant from the propinquity of the
place.9 Fidenae continued in existence long after this ;
for it is mentioned in Roman inscriptions of the close of
the third, and by the Peutingerian Table in the fourth
century.
4 Hor. I. Epist. XI. 7.— twenty thousand only perished in the
Gabiis desertior atque ruins.
Fidenis vicus. 9 Tacitus (1. c.) Juvenal (VI. 56,
s Cie. de Leg. Agrar. II. 35. X. 100,) too, who wrote not many
6 Strabo V., p. 226. years after this, speaks contemp-
i Strabo V., p. 230. tuously of Fidense, and by coupling
8 Tacit. Ann. IV. 62, 63. This it with Gabii seems to refer to the
number is confirmed by the anonymous proverb, cited by Horace. Livy also
author of the Olympiads (01. 201, 2) (V. 54), and Virgil (iEn. VI. 773)
quoted by Cluverius (II., p. 657), but couple these towns together, cf. Pro-
according to Suetonius (Tiber. 40) pert. IV. 1. 34, 36.