Via Flaminia

“ It was also on a branch leading from the Via Flaminia at Nuceria Camellaria to Septempeda There were also communications from north to south, a road led from Asculum to Urbs Salvia and Ancona, another from Asculum and Firmum and the coast, another from Urbs Salvia to Potentia, while finally along the whole line of the coast there ran a prolongation of the Via Flaminia, the name of which is not known to us. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the time of Tiberius there was a project for regulating the river and its outlets from the lake, against which the citizens of Interamna and Reate energetically and successfully protested (Tac. Ann. i. 79) . Similar questions arose as the river formed fresh deposits during the middle ages and during the 15th and 16th centuries. A branch of the Via Flaminia passed from Narnia to Forum Flaminii, and is given instead of the direct line in the Antonine and Jerusalem itineraries. A road led from here to the Via Salaria at Reate. ”

“ Everywhere round about are remains of vast constructions of great height for the conveyance of water, and below the road rocks of enormous thickness have been cut through or levelled. All along this road, the Via Flaminia, which leads to Rome, are traces of the great stones used for paving, but most of these are buried ”

“ The bridge of Pontemolle, by which we passed into the immediate suburb of Rome, was the ancient Pons Æmilius, and here Cicero arrested the conspirators on their way to join Catiline in his camp. It was on the same bridge, too, that Constantine saw his famous vision, and gained his victory over the tyrant Maxentius.
Two miles over the Via Flaminia, between garden walls that were ornamented with sculpture and inscription in the time of Augustus, brought us to the Porta del Popolo. The square within this noble gate is modern, but very imposing. ”

“ We will now follow the Corso, which, in spite of its narrowness and bad side-pavements, is the finest street in Rome. It is greatly to be regretted that this street, which is nearly a mile long, should lead to nothing, instead of ending at the steps of the Capitol, which would have produced a striking effect. It follows the line of the ancient Via Flaminia, and in consequence was once spanned by four triumphal arches—of Marcus Aurelius, Domitian, Claudius, and Gordian—but all these have disappeared. ”

“ They likewise received from the Senate certain sums of money to keep the public buildings, roads, and aqueducts in repair, [43] and to construct new public works in Rome and other parts of Italy. Hence we find that many of the great public roads, such as the Via Appia and Via Flaminia, were made by Censors. ”

“ It is time to die. They know it....
"L'albergo dei gatti," says a cheery voice at my side--some countryman, who has also discovered Trajan's Forum to be one of the sights of Rome. "The cats' hotel. But," he adds, "I see no restaurant attached to it."
That reminds me: luncheon-time.
Via Flaminia--what a place for luncheon! True; but this is one of the few restaurants in Rome where, nowadays, a man is not in danger of being simultaneously robbed, starved, and poisoned. Things have come to a pretty pass. This starvation-fare may suit a saint and turn his thoughts heavenwards. ”

“ The date of its construction is uncertain: it cannot have been earlier than 187 B.C., [2] when the consul C. Flaminius constructed a road from Bononia to Arretium (which must have coincided with the portion of the later Via Cassia) . It is not, it is true, mentioned by any ancient authorities before the time of Cicero, who in 45 B.C. speaks of the existence of three roads from Rome to Mutina, the Flaminia, the Aurelia and the Cassia. ”

“ At the present day, however, since Italy comprehends the whole country as far as the Alps, we need take no further notice of these limits. All allow that Ombrica1771 extends as far as Ravenna, as the inhabitants are Ombrici. From Ravenna to Ariminum they say is about 300 stadia. Going from Ariminum to Rome by the Via Flaminia, the whole journey lies through Ombrica as far as the city of Ocricli1772 and the Tiber, a distance of 1350 stadia. ”

“ Nevertheless, report says, the people are much poorer than those of Fano. In the public place is a large marble pedestal with a long inscription of the age of Trajan, written in honour of a certain inhabitant of [Pg 10] the place;11 and set against the wall is another without any sign to proclaim its date. This place was formerly called Forum Sempronii, and the people now maintain that the original town stood farther towards the plain, and that ruins of the same are still to be found on a vastly better site. Here is a stone bridge which carries the Via Flaminia over the Metaurus. ”

“ The “ secret fountain," with its light and shade, its rest and motion, sound and silence, its art and nature, was the poetic expression of life as it was known by the men for whom it was created.
The records of those days are never free from blood, and at least one assassination is connected with the building of this house of mirth* Baronino, an associate of Vignola and Amannati, leaving the villa with a friend on a certain evening, was set upon as he turned into the Via Flaminia and stabbed to death. ”

“ Later on a more circuitous route from Narnia to Forum Flaminii was adopted, passing by Interamna, Spoletium and Fulginium (from which a branch diverged to Perusia) , and increasing the distance by 12 m. ”

“ Who in thy dark and watery deep doth rest,—
The stern Flaminius,—he who saw defeat
The eagle standard quell, and fled to hide
His burning shame with thee, holding the frown
And grasp of pitiless Death, less terrible
Than Rome's upbraiding eye.—
In earth he dream'd
To strike a root eternal, and to hang
Unfading garlands on the fickle sky
Of stormy honour.—Even then was spread
Thy bulrush pall for him,—and from their cells
Thy scaly monsters throng'd at his approach
To gaze upon him. ”

“ A short journey from the Flaminian Gate, a journey through a country which might almost pass for a border shire of England, with the heights of Wales in the distance, brings us to a city which has utterly perished, where no permanent human dwelling-place is left within the ancient circuit. In a basin, as it were, unseen until we are close beneath or above it, hedged in by surrounding hills as by a rampart, stands all that is left of the first great rival of Rome, an inland Carthage on the soil of Etruria. ”

“ What, dost thou think Flaminius hath no friends For to revenge his death on thee again? Yes, be you sure that, ere you scape from hence, Thy gasping ghost shall bear him company, Or else myself, fighting for his defense, Will be content by those thy hands to die. Alphonsus
Laelius, few words would better thee become, Especially as now the case doth stand; And didst thou know whom thou dost threaten thus, We should you have more calmer out of hand: For, Laelius, know that I Alphonsus am, The son and heir to old Carinus, whom The traitorous father of Flaminius Did secretly bereave his diadem. ”

“ Fabius said to give land to the poor people of Rome encouraged men who could find work in the city but did not take the trouble. They would not cultivate the land if they got it: they would sell it and come back for more. Flaminius denied this. There were men in numbers, he said, men who had served in the armies, who wanted to work but could not do it because they could not get land. To put more men on the land would enrich the whole country. His law was finally carried. Another work done by Flaminius stands to this day as a memorial of him. It, too, shows the imagination of the man. ”

“ Character of Flaminius. ‘The party feelings which have so coloured the language of the ancient writers (e.g. Livy, Polybius) respecting him need not be shared by a modern historian. Flaminius was indeed an unequal antagonist to Hannibal; but, in his previous life, as Consul and as Censor, he had served his country well; and if the defile of Trasimene witnessed his rashness, it also contains his honourable grave.’ Arnold, Hist. Rome, iii. ”

“ Flaminius himself fell bravely fighting. Although his guilt is infinitely small when compared with the charges which have been laid upon him, yet, according to my views of the battle, he is not quite to be acquitted of carelessness; but in great events which are to change the destinies of the world, a fatality rules, which blinds the eyes even of the very shrewdest.
After this battle, Hannibal exchanged, even as he had already begun to do so after that of the Trebia, the arms of his Libyans for those of the Romans, a proof how, even in the midst of war, he still trained his troops. ”

“ They were now treading on what was once the Via Cassia, and they pursued it some little way; but in lieu of going on by it to the Ponte Molle, Saturnino crossed the green turf by paths he knew, and at length entered on a broad crowded public road, which once had been the great Flaminian Way. He deemed it less perilous to pass through the gates with other men than to endeavour to enter the city secretly by any suspected means. ”

“ Here Hannibal formed his plans for the next campaign. He found out that Flaminius the consul was a vain, self-confident man, with neither experience nor skill in war. It would be easy, he thought, by laying waste the rich country to the south, to draw the Roman general from his camp at Arretium; and so it proved. Flaminius, greedy of glory he could never gain, refused to listen to the advice of his officers and wait for the arrival of the other consul, and set out in pursuit of Hannibal, who felt that victory was once more in his hands. ”

“ Moreover, there was a saying that the Greeks and Gauls should one day enjoy the Forum; but the Romans fancied they could satisfy this prophecy by burying a man and woman of each nation, slaves, in the middle of the Forum, and then they prepared to attack the Gauls in their own country before the inroad could be made. There was a great deal of hard fighting, lasting for years; and in the course of it the consul, Caius Flaminius, began the great road which has since been called after him the Flaminian Way, and was the great northern road from Rome, as the Appian Way was the southern. ”

“ It had been a terrible crossing: men, horses, and animals fell ill and died. Hannibal himself lost an eye. But he had crossed the mountains and marched right past Flaminius, who was not strong enough to attack him, on the road to Rome. This was done on purpose to lure Flaminius on; for Hannibal knew that he longed to fight before the other consul, Servilius, could join him with his army and share the glory. Hannibal had learned a great deal about the country and he succeeded in misleading Flaminius as to his movements, drawing him on into a deadly trap. ”

“ Fifteen thousand Romans fell that day in the fierce battle, during which even an earthquake passed unheeded. Multitudes were pushed back into the lake and were dragged down to the bottom by the weight of their armour. Some fled to the hills and surrendered on the promise of their lives being spared, and a few thousands found their way back to Rome.
The victory being won, Hannibal charged the soldiers to seek for the body of Flaminius, so that he might give it honourable burial, by which nations in ancient times set special store. ”

“ Nothing so easily drew the storm-wind of Flamin's anger out of its cavern, as a doleful voice and long religious edicts. "For God's sake," cried Flamin, "let that be enough now,—God shall punish me, I will be lost to all eternity, I swear to you, if I ever touch him even." This oath which escaped him was magnificent marshmallow-paste and soft ice-cream for the heated court-chaplain, who from forgetfulness of his order of business now adopted the opinion that the betrothal was already full well known to the Regency-Councillor. ”

“ At the Isthmian games, held at Corinth the year after the downfall of Philip, the Roman consul Flaminius, a true friend of Greece, under the authority of the Roman Senate caused proclamation to be made, that Rome "took off all impositions and withdrew all garrisons from Greece, and restored liberty, and their own laws and privileges, to the several states" (196 B.C.) . The deluded Greeks received this announcement with exultation, and the highest honors which a grateful people could bestow were showered upon Flaminius. ”

“ After completing the independence of Greece, by forcing republics on some of its cities, taking possession of some others, and establishing internal discord in nearly all, Flaminius returned to Rome in the year of the City 559, and enjoyed the honours of a triumph.
As no one is at times louder in his denunciations of dishonesty than the practised rogue, so the Romans, who were for enslaving and plundering [196] all the world, found it convenient, occasionally, to protest against the rapacity of such as were rivals in the game of conquest. ”

“ There are, of course, countless other short lengths of highway, coming down from historic times, left in Italy, but the Roman viae with which we have become familiar in the classical geographies and histories of our schooldays are now replaced by modern thoroughfares which, however, in many cases, follow, or frequently cut in on, the old itineraries. Of these old Roman Ways that most readily traced, and of the greatest possible interest to the automobilist who would do something a little different from what his fellows have done, is the Via Æmilia. ”