11.

Both in Cispadana and around the Po there are some fine cities. Placentia1640 and Cremona, situated about the middle of the country, are close to each other. Between these and Ariminum,1641 are Parma, Mutina,1642 and Bononia,1643 which is near to Ravenna; amongst these are smaller cities on the route to Rome, as Acara,1644 Rhegium-Lepidum,1645 Macri-Campi,1646 where a public festival is held every year, Claterna,1647 Forum-Cornelium;1648 while Faventia1649 and Cæsena, situated near to the river Savio1650 and the Rubicon,1651 are adjacent to Ariminum. Ariminum, like Ravenna, is an ancient colony of the Ombri, but both of them have received also Roman colonies. Ariminum has a port and a river1652 of the same name as itself. From Placentia to Ariminum there are 1300 stadia. About 36 miles above Placentia, towards the boundaries of the kingdom of Cottius, is the city of Ticinum,1653 by which flows a river1654 bearing the same name, which falls into the Po, while a little out of the route are Clastidium,1655 Derthon,1656 and Aquæ-Statiellæ.1657 But the direct route as far as Ocelum,1658 along the Po and the Doria Riparia,1659 is full of precipices, intersected by numerous other rivers, one of which is the Durance,1660 and is about 160 miles long. Here commence the Alpine mountains and Keltica.1661 Near to the mountains above Luna is the city of Lucca. Some [of the people of this part of Italy] dwell in villages, nevertheless it is well populated, and furnishes the greater part of the military force, and of equites, of whom the senate is partly composed. Derthon is a considerable city, situated about half way on the road from Genoa to Placentia, which are distant 400 stadia from each other. Aquæ-Statiellæ is on the same route. That from Placentia to Ariminum we have already described, but the sail to Ravenna down the Po requires two days and nights. A1662 great part of Cispadana likewise was covered by marshes, through which Hannibal passed with difficulty on his march into Tyrrhenia.1663 But Scaurus drained the plains by navigable canals from the Po1664 to the country of the Parmesans. For the Trebia meeting the Po near Placentia, and having previously received many other rivers, is over-swollen near this place. I allude to the Scaurus1665 who also made the Æmilian road through Pisa and Luna as far as Sabbatorum, and thence through Derthon. There is another Æmilian road, which continues the Flaminian. For Marcus Lepidus and Caius Flaminius being colleagues in the consulship, and having vanquished the Ligurians, the one made the Via Flaminia from Rome across [Pg 324]
[CAS. 218] Tyrrhenia and Ombrica as far as the territory of Ariminum,1666 the other, the road as far as Bononia,1667 and thence to Aquileia1668 by the roots of the Alps, and encircling the marshes. The boundaries which separate from the rest of Italy this country, which we designate Citerior Keltica,1669 were marked by the Apennine mountains above Tyrrhenia and the river Esino,1670 and afterwards by the Rubicon.1671 Both these rivers fall into the Adriatic.