The eastern branch of this road is thus described in the Antonine Itinerary. From Ancona there was a road which kept along the coast of Picenum, and connected the Flaminian with the Salarian way. The Antonine Itinerary divides it into these stations. The Table furnishes us with some cross-roads. through different parts of Picenum. From Septempeda on the Via Flaminia to Asculum, as follows: SECTION VII. SABINI, ÆQUI, MARSI, PELIGNI, VESTINI, MARRUCINI. History and topography of these several people in the order in which they are here placed-Roman ways. THE Sabines appear to be generally considered one of the most ancient indigenous tribes of Italy, and one of the few who preserved their race pure and unmixed. (Strab. V. 228.) We are not to expect, however, that fiction should have been more sparing of its ornaments in setting forth their origin, than in the case of other nations far less interesting and less celebrated. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, among other traditions respecting the Sabines, mentions one which supposes them to have been a colony of the Lacedemonians about the time of Lycurgus, (II. 49.) a fable which has been eagerly caught up by the Latin poets and mythologists. (Sil. Ital. XV. 545. Ovid. Fast. I. 260. Hygin. ap. Serv. ad Æn. VIII. 638.) Their name, according to Cato, was derived from the god Sabus, an aboriginal deity, supposed to be the same as the Medius Fidius of the Latins. His son Sancus was the Sabine Hercules a. (Varr. Ling. Lat. IV. 10.) * In the Eugubian Tables he is styled Fijuvi and Fise Sabi, which Lanzi interprets Filius Jovis, and Filius Sabi, vol. iii. p. 667. læti pars Sancum voce canebant SIL. ITAL. VIII. 422. Having already touched upon the origin of the Sabines in the last section, I shall refer the reader to the arguments there stated, which would incline us to suppose that they were a branch of the aboriginal Umbri b. How inconsiderable a community they constituted at first may be seen from the accounts of Cato; who, as quoted by Dionysius in his Antiquities of Rome, (II. 49.) reported, that the first Sabines settled in an obscure place named Testrina, in the vicinity of Amiternum. As their numbers increased, however, they rapidly extended themselves in every direction; expelling the Aborigines from the district of Rieti, and from thence sending numerous colonies into Picenum, Samnium, and the several petty nations who are named at the head of this section. The early connection of the Sabines with Rome, which was yet in its infancy, naturally forms the most interesting epoch in their history. The event which brought the two states into contact, as related by the Roman historians, is too well known to require further notice here. But whatever truth may, ple seems certain. That the Sa- be attached to the rape of the Sabine women, we cannot but look upon the accession of Tatius to the regal power, and the incorporation of the Quirites with the citizens of Rome, as well attested proofs of the control once exercised by the Sabine nation over that city. With the reign of Numa, however, this influence ceased, for at that time we find the Sabines engaged in war with his successor Hostilius, and experiencing defeats which were only the prelude to a series of successful aggressions on the one hand, and of losses and humiliations on the other. It was reserved for the consul Curius Dentatus A. U. C. 462. to achieve the entire subjugation of the Sabines, by carrying fire and desolation beyond the sources of the Nar and Velinus, to the very shores of the Adriatic. (Liv. Epit. XI. Flor. I. 15.) Though the conquered country was apparently poor and void of resource, the rapacity of the victors is said to have been amply gratified in this expedition by plunder, such as they had never obtained in any of their former conquests. (Strab. V. 228.) A fact from which it may be inferred, that the Sabines of that day were no longer that austere and hardy race, to whose simplicity and purity of manners such ample testimony is paid by the ancient writers; whose piety and pristine worth were the model of the royal legislator, and an example of all that was noble and upright to the early patriots of Rome. Hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini: Hanc Remus, et frater: sic fortis Etruria crevit, |