DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0148
132
FIESOLE,
[chap, xxxvni.
The first record we find of it is in the year 529, when
the Gauls, making a descent on the Roman territory, past
near Fsesulse, and defeated the Romans who went out
against them.1 A few years after this, when Annibal,
after his victory on the Trebia, entered Etruria, it was
by the unusual route of Fsesulse.2 The city also is repre-
sented by one of the poets as taking part in this Second
Punic War, and as being renowned for its skill in augury.3
No farther record is found of it till the Social War, about
ninety years B.C., when Fsesulse is mentioned among the
cities which suffered most severely from the terrible ven-
geance of Rome, being laid waste with fire and sword.4
And again, but a few years later, it had to endure the
vengeance of Sylla, when to punish the city for having
espoused the side of his rival, he sent to it a military colony,
Prseueste, a delightful summer retreat,
■were not assailed till vows had been
offered in the Capitol. Then Fsesulse
was what Carrse has been of late—the
grove of Aricia was as dreaded as the
Hercynian forest—Fregellse was then our
Gesoriacum, the Tiber our Euphrates."
A glance at the passage shows that
" Fsesulse " is here out of place. A city
so remote from Rome, and of Etruscan
origin, could not have been referred to
among the neighbouring Latin cities,
The true reading must either be Fidenae,
which, though Etruscan, was on the left
bank of the Tiber, or more probably
^Esula, a town near Tibur. Horat. Od.
III. 29, 6.
1 Polyb. II. 25. Mannert (Geog.
p. 396), however, thinks that it cannot
be the city near Florence to which
Polybius alludes, but some other town
of the same name, which he would place
to the west of Chiusi, and south of the
Ombrone. Cluver (II. p. 509) does not
think this the earliest mention made of
Fsesulse, for he considers the Castula,
said by Diodorus (XX. p. 773) to have
been taken from the Etruscans in the
year 444, to be a mere corruption of
Fsesulse.
2 Polyb. III. 82; cf. Liv. XXII. 3.
3 Sil. Ital. VIII. 478—
Affuit et sacris interpres fulminis alis,
Fsesula.
A goddess named Aneharia was wor-
shipped here, says Tertullian (Apolog.
24 ; ad Nationes, II. 8), which has been
confirmed by inscriptions. Mtiller, II.
p. 62, who cites Reinesius, CI. II. 23, and
Gori, Inscr. II. p. 77. cf. p. 88. This
fact establishes the correct reading to be
" Fsesulanorum Aneharia," and not
" ^Esculanorum," as some copies have
it. The Etruscan family-name of
" Ancari," not unfrequently met with at
Chiusi and Perugia, and also found at
Montalcino (see page 140, of this volume)
has doubtless a relation to the name of
this goddess. See Miiller, I. p. 421.
"Flor. III. 18.
FIESOLE,
[chap, xxxvni.
The first record we find of it is in the year 529, when
the Gauls, making a descent on the Roman territory, past
near Fsesulse, and defeated the Romans who went out
against them.1 A few years after this, when Annibal,
after his victory on the Trebia, entered Etruria, it was
by the unusual route of Fsesulse.2 The city also is repre-
sented by one of the poets as taking part in this Second
Punic War, and as being renowned for its skill in augury.3
No farther record is found of it till the Social War, about
ninety years B.C., when Fsesulse is mentioned among the
cities which suffered most severely from the terrible ven-
geance of Rome, being laid waste with fire and sword.4
And again, but a few years later, it had to endure the
vengeance of Sylla, when to punish the city for having
espoused the side of his rival, he sent to it a military colony,
Prseueste, a delightful summer retreat,
■were not assailed till vows had been
offered in the Capitol. Then Fsesulse
was what Carrse has been of late—the
grove of Aricia was as dreaded as the
Hercynian forest—Fregellse was then our
Gesoriacum, the Tiber our Euphrates."
A glance at the passage shows that
" Fsesulse " is here out of place. A city
so remote from Rome, and of Etruscan
origin, could not have been referred to
among the neighbouring Latin cities,
The true reading must either be Fidenae,
which, though Etruscan, was on the left
bank of the Tiber, or more probably
^Esula, a town near Tibur. Horat. Od.
III. 29, 6.
1 Polyb. II. 25. Mannert (Geog.
p. 396), however, thinks that it cannot
be the city near Florence to which
Polybius alludes, but some other town
of the same name, which he would place
to the west of Chiusi, and south of the
Ombrone. Cluver (II. p. 509) does not
think this the earliest mention made of
Fsesulse, for he considers the Castula,
said by Diodorus (XX. p. 773) to have
been taken from the Etruscans in the
year 444, to be a mere corruption of
Fsesulse.
2 Polyb. III. 82; cf. Liv. XXII. 3.
3 Sil. Ital. VIII. 478—
Affuit et sacris interpres fulminis alis,
Fsesula.
A goddess named Aneharia was wor-
shipped here, says Tertullian (Apolog.
24 ; ad Nationes, II. 8), which has been
confirmed by inscriptions. Mtiller, II.
p. 62, who cites Reinesius, CI. II. 23, and
Gori, Inscr. II. p. 77. cf. p. 88. This
fact establishes the correct reading to be
" Fsesulanorum Aneharia," and not
" ^Esculanorum," as some copies have
it. The Etruscan family-name of
" Ancari," not unfrequently met with at
Chiusi and Perugia, and also found at
Montalcino (see page 140, of this volume)
has doubtless a relation to the name of
this goddess. See Miiller, I. p. 421.
"Flor. III. 18.