Geography

​After Antium is Circeium, at a distance of two hundred and ninety stadia, a mountain which forms an island by being surrounded by the sea and marshes; they say also that it is rich in roots, perhaps associating this with the myth of Circe. It has a small town, a temple of Circe, and an altar of Athena, and they say that a certain cup of Odysseus is also shown there. Between them is the river Storas and, at its mouth, an anchorage. Then follows a coast adjacent to the southwest wind, having a small harbor only near Circeium itself. Above this, in the interior, lies the Pomentine plain; the district continuous with this was formerly inhabited by the Ausones, who also possessed Campania, and after them by the Osci; these too had a share in Campania, but now all belongs to the Latins as far as Sinuessa, as I have said. A peculiar thing has happened to the Osci and the nation of the Ausones; for while the Osci have disappeared, their dialect remains among the Romans, so that even plays are staged in it on the occasion of a certain traditional contest and are mimicked; whereas the Ausones, although they never once inhabited the shores of the Sicilian Sea, yet have the sea called Ausonian after them. Next, at a distance of one hundred stadia from Circeium, is Tarracina, formerly called Trachine from its circumstance. In front of it lies a large marsh, which two rivers make; the larger is called Ufes. Here the Appian Way first touches the sea, being paved from Rome as far as Brentesium, and being the most traveled of all, though it touches only these coastal cities—Tarracina, and next Formiae, Minturnae, and Sinuessa, and the outermost Tarentum and Brentesium. Near Tarracina, as one travels towards Rome, there is a canal running alongside the Appian Way for many places, filled by the marshy and river waters; it is navigated chiefly by night, so that those who embark in the evening disembark in the morning and travel the rest of the way by the road, but also by day; and a mule tows it. Next is Formiae, a Laconian foundation, formerly called Hormiae because of its good anchorage. And they named the gulf between them Caiata; for the Laconians call all hollow places caietas; but some say that the gulf was named after the nurse of Aeneas. It has a length of one hundred stadia, starting from Tarracina as far as the promontory of the same name; and there huge caves open up, which have received large and luxurious dwellings; from there to Formiae it is forty stadia. Between this and Sinuessa lies Minturnae, at a distance of about eighty stadia from each. The river Liris flows through it, which was formerly called Clanis; it flows down from above from the Apennine mountains and the territory of Vestine, past the village of Fregellae (formerly a famous city), and empties into a sacred grove held in extraordinary honor by the inhabitants of Minturnae, lying below the city. In full view of the caves lie two islands in the open sea, Pandateria and Pontia, small but well-peopled, not far distant from each other, and two hundred and fifty stadia from the mainland. Adjoining the gulf of Caiata is Caecubum, and next to this Fundi, a city situated on the Appian Way. All these places are extremely productive of good wine; the Caecuban, the Fundan, and the Setine are among the most famous, just like the Falernian, the Alban, and the Statan. Sinuessa is situated in a gulf, from which also it gets its name; for a gulf is called sinus; near it are excellent hot baths, beneficial for certain diseases. These, then, are the coastal cities of Latium.