DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0039
chap, xxxm.] HISTORY OF OERE. 23
as the time of the first Tarquin, is represented as among the
most flourishing and populous cities of Etruria ;4 and she
was undoubtedly one of the Twelve of the Confederation.5
But what, above all, distinguished Caere was, that she alone,
of all the cities of Etruria, abstained from piracy, from no
inferiority of power or natural advantages, but solely from
her sense of justice; wherefore the Greeks greatly honoured
her for her moral courage in resisting this temptation.6
The first mention of this city in Roman history is, that it
maintained a war with Tarquinius Priscus.7 It also joined
Veii and Tarquinii in the twenty years' war with his suc-
cessor, Servius Tullius, and at the re-establishment of peace,
in consequence of the prominent part it had taken, it was
punished by the Roman monarch with the forfeiture of
a portion of its territory.8
At the same period, or about the year of Rome 220
(534 B.C.), the Cserites joined their fleet with that of
Carthage on an expedition against a colony of Phocseans,
who had seized on Alalia in Corsica, and after a severe
combat, all the prisoners taken by the allies were brought
to Caere and there stoned to death. In consequence of
this cold-blooded massacre, the city was punished with a
plague ; men, herds, and flocks—whatever animal passed
near the spot where the bodies of the Phocseans lay, became
afflicted with distortion, mutilation, or paralysis; whereon
the Ceerites sent to Delphi to consult the oracle how they
might atone for their crime, and were ordered to perform
solemn expiatory rites, and to institute games of gymnastic
4 Dion. Hal. III. p. 193. represents Csere as a powerful city of
5 This may be learned from the Etruria.
passages of Dionysius and Strabo already 6 Strabo, V. p. 220.
cited, as well as from the prominent 7 Dion. Hal. III. p. 193. Nibby (I
part the city took, in conjunction with p. 347) thinks it may then have changed
Veii and Tarquinii, and the independent its name from Agylla to Caere.
course she subsequently followed with 8 Dion. Hal. IV". p. 231 ; cf. Liv.
regard to Rome. Livy (I. 2) also I. 42.
as the time of the first Tarquin, is represented as among the
most flourishing and populous cities of Etruria ;4 and she
was undoubtedly one of the Twelve of the Confederation.5
But what, above all, distinguished Caere was, that she alone,
of all the cities of Etruria, abstained from piracy, from no
inferiority of power or natural advantages, but solely from
her sense of justice; wherefore the Greeks greatly honoured
her for her moral courage in resisting this temptation.6
The first mention of this city in Roman history is, that it
maintained a war with Tarquinius Priscus.7 It also joined
Veii and Tarquinii in the twenty years' war with his suc-
cessor, Servius Tullius, and at the re-establishment of peace,
in consequence of the prominent part it had taken, it was
punished by the Roman monarch with the forfeiture of
a portion of its territory.8
At the same period, or about the year of Rome 220
(534 B.C.), the Cserites joined their fleet with that of
Carthage on an expedition against a colony of Phocseans,
who had seized on Alalia in Corsica, and after a severe
combat, all the prisoners taken by the allies were brought
to Caere and there stoned to death. In consequence of
this cold-blooded massacre, the city was punished with a
plague ; men, herds, and flocks—whatever animal passed
near the spot where the bodies of the Phocseans lay, became
afflicted with distortion, mutilation, or paralysis; whereon
the Ceerites sent to Delphi to consult the oracle how they
might atone for their crime, and were ordered to perform
solemn expiatory rites, and to institute games of gymnastic
4 Dion. Hal. III. p. 193. represents Csere as a powerful city of
5 This may be learned from the Etruria.
passages of Dionysius and Strabo already 6 Strabo, V. p. 220.
cited, as well as from the prominent 7 Dion. Hal. III. p. 193. Nibby (I
part the city took, in conjunction with p. 347) thinks it may then have changed
Veii and Tarquinii, and the independent its name from Agylla to Caere.
course she subsequently followed with 8 Dion. Hal. IV". p. 231 ; cf. Liv.
regard to Rome. Livy (I. 2) also I. 42.