Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Various locations for wider area of: "LOMBARDIA Region ITALY" .
COMO (Town) LOMBARDIA
Larius Lacus (he Larios limne: Lago di Como), one of the largest of
the great lakes of Northern Italy, situated at the foot of the Alps, and formed
by the river Addua. (Strab. iv. p. 192; Plin. iii. 19. s. 23.) It is of a peculiar
form, long and narrow, but divided in its southern portion into two great arms
or branches, forming a kind of fork. The SW. of these, at the extremity of which
is situated the city of Como, has no natural outlet; the Addua, which carries
off the superfluous waters of the lake, flowing from its SE. extremity, where
stands the modern town of Lecco. Virgil, where he is speaking of the great lakes
of Northern Italy, gives to the Larius the epithet of maximus (Georg. ii. 159);
and Servius, in his note on the passage, tells us that, according to Cato, it
was 60 miles long. This estimate, though greatly overrated, seems to have acquired
a sort of traditionary authority: it is repeated by Cassiodorus (Var. Ep. xi.
14), and even in the Itinerary of Antoninus, and is at the present day still a
prevalent notion among the boatmen on the lake. The real distance from Como to
the head of the lake does not exceed 27 Italian, or 34 Roman miles, to which five
or six more may be added for the distance by water to Riva, the Lago di Riva being
often regarded as only a portion of the larger lake. Strabo, therefore, is not
far from the truth in estimating the Larius as 300 stadia (37 1/2 Roman miles)
in length, and 30 in breadth. (Strab. iv. p. 209.) But it is only in a few places
that it attains this width; and, owing to its inferior breadth, it is really much
smaller than the Benacus (Lago di Garda) or Verbanus (Lago Maggiore). Its waters
are of great depth, and surrounded on all sides by high mountains, rising in many
places very abruptly from the shore: notwithstanding which their lower slopes
were clothed in ancient times, as they still are at the present day, with rich
groves of olives, and afforded space for numerous villas. Among these the most
celebrated are those of the younger Pliny, who was himself a native of Comum,
and whose paternal estate was situated on the banks of the lake, of which last
he always speaks with affection as Larius noster. (Ep. ii. 8, vi. 24, vii. 11.)
But, besides this, he had two villas of a more ornamental character, of which
he gives some account in his letters (Ep. ix. 7): the one situated on a lofty
promontory projecting out into the waters of the lake, over which it commanded
a very extensive prospect, the other close to the water's edge. The description
of the former would suit well with the site of the modern Villa Serbelloni near
Bellaggio; but there are not sufficient grounds upon which to identify it. The
name of Villa Pliniana is given at the present day to a villa about a mile beyond
the village of Torno (on the right side of the lake going from Como), where there
is a remarkable intermitting spring, which is also described by Pliny (Ep. iv.
30) ; but there is no reason to suppose that this was the site of either of his
villas. Claudian briefly characterises the scenery of the Larius Lacus in a few
lines (B. Get. 319--322); and Cassiodorus gives an elaborate, but very accurate,
description of its beauties. The immediate banks of the lake were adorned with
villas or palaces (praetoria), above which spread, as it were, a girdle of olive
woods ; over these again were vineyards, climbing up the sides of the mountains,
the bare and rocky summits of which rose above the thick chesnut-woods that encircled
them. Streams of water fell into the lake on all sides, in cascades of snowy whiteness.
(Cassiod. Var. xi. 14.) It would be difficult to describe more correctly the present
aspect of the Lake of Como, the beautiful scenery of which is the theme of admiration
of all modern travellers.
Cassiodorus repeats the tale told by the elder Pliny, that the course
of the Addua could be traced throughout the length of the lake, with which it
did not mix its waters. (Plin. ii. 10b. s. 106; Cassiod. l. c.) The same fable
is told of the Lacus Lemannus, or Lake of Geneva, and of many other lakes formed
in a similar manner by the stagnation of a large river, which enters them at one
end and flows out at the other. It is remarkable that we have no trace of an ancient
town as existing on the site of the modern Lecco, where the Addua issues from
the lake. We learn, from the Itinerary of Antoninus (p. 278), that the usual course
in proceeding from Curia over the Rhaetian Alps to Mediolanum, was to take boat
at the head of the lake and proceed by water to Comum. This was the route by which
Stilicho is represented by Claudian as proceeding across the Alps (B. Get. l.
c.) ; and Cassiodorus speaks of Comum as a place of great traffic of travellers
(l. c.) In the latter ages of the Roman empire, a fleet was maintained upon the
lake, the head-quarters of which were at Comum. (Not. Dign. ii. p. 118.)
The name of Lacus Larius seems to have been early superseded in common
usage by that of Lacus Comacinus, which is already found in the Itinerary, as
well as in Paulus Diaconus, although the latter author uses also the more classical
appellation. (Itin. Ant. L. c.; P. Diac. Hist. v. 38, 39.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
PONTIROLO (Town) LOMBARDIA
Pons Aureoli (Pontirolo), a place on the highroad from Mediolanum to Bergomum, where that road crossed the river Addua (Adda) by a bridge. It is mentioned as a station by the Jerusalem Itinerary, which places it 20 M. P. from Mediolanum and 13 from Bergomum. (Itin. Hier.) It derived its name from the circumstance that it was here that the usurper Aureolus was defeated in a pitched battle by the emperor Gallienus, and compelled to take refuge within the walls of Milan, A.D. 268. (Vict. Caes. 33. Epit. 33.) After the death of Aureolus, who was put to death by the soldiers of Claudius, he was buried by order of that emperor close to the bridge, which ever after retained the name of Aureolus. (Treb. Poll. Trig. Tyr. 10)
Aureolus. After the defeat and captivity of Valerian, the legions in the different
provinces, while they agreed in scorning the feeble rule of Gallienus, could by
no means unite their suffrages in favour of any one aspirant to the purple; but
each army hastened to bestow the title of Augustus upon its favourite general.
Hence arose within the short space of eight years (A. D. 260--267) no less than
nineteen usurpers in the various dependencies of Rome, whose contests threatened
speedily to produce the complete dissolution of the empire. The biographies of
these adventurers, most of whom were of very humble origin, have been compiled
by Trebellius Pollio, who has collected the whole under the fanciful designation
of the Thirty Tyrants. But the analogy thus indicated will not bear examination.
No parallel can be established between those pretenders who sprung up suddenly
in diverse quarters of the world, without concert or sympathy, each struggling
to obtain supreme dominion for himself, and that cabal which united under Critias
and Theramenes with the common purpose of crushing the liberties of Athens. Nor
does even the number correspond, for the Augustan historian is obliged to press
in women and children and many doubtful names, in order to complete his tale.
Of the whole nineteen, one only, Odenathus the Palmyrene, in gratitude for his
successful valour against Sapor, was recognised by Gallienus as a colleague. It
has been remarked, that not one lived in peace or died a natural death.
Among the last of the number was Aureolus, a Dacian by birth, by occupation
originally a shepherd. His merits as a soldier were discovered by Valerian, who
gave him high military rank; and he subsequently did good service in the wars
waged against Ingenuus, Macrianus, and Postumus. He was at length induced to revolt,
was proclaimed emperor by the legions of Illyria in the year 267, and made himself
master of Northern Italy. Gallienus, having been recalled by this alarm from a
campaign against the Goths, encountered and defeated his rebellious general, and
shut him up in Milan; but, while prosecuting the siege with vigour, was assassinated.
This catastrophe, however, did not long delay the fate of the usurper, who was
the nearest enemy and consequently the first object of attack to his rival, the
new emperor Claudius. Their pretensions were decided by a battle fought between
Milan and Bergamo, in which Aureolus was slain; and the modern town of Pontirolo
is said to represent under a corrupt form the name of the bridge (Pons Aureoli)
thrown over the Adda at the spot where the victory was won. The records preserved
of this period are full of confusion and contradiction. In what has been said
above we have followed the accounts of Aurelius Victor and Zonaras in preference
to that of Pollio, who places the usurpation of Aureolus early in 261; but on
this supposition the relations which are known to have subsisted afterwards between
Gallienus and Aureolus become quite unintelligible.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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