252 plint's natural history. [Book III. 



the interior of the tenth region are the colonies of Cremona, 

 Brixia in the territory of the Cenomanni\ Ateste' belonging 

 to the Veneti, and the towns of Acelum^, Patavium^, Opi- 

 tergium, Belnnum^, and Vicetia ; with Mantua^, the only 

 city of the Tuscans now left beyond the Padus. Cato in- 

 forms us that the Veneti are descendants of the Trojans'', 

 and that the Cenomanni^ dwelt among the Volcse in the vici- 

 nity of Massilia. There are also the towns of the Pertini^, 

 the Tridentini^", and the Beruenses, belonging to the Ithseti, 

 Yerona^\ belonging to the Hliaeti and the Euganei, and Ju- 



* Livy seems to imply that Cremona was originally included in the 

 territory of the Insubres. A Roman colony being established th^re it 

 became a powerful city. It was destroyed by Antonius the general of 

 Vespasian, and again by the Lombard king Agilulfas in a.d. 605. No 

 remains of antiquity, except a few inscriptions, are to be seen in the 

 modern city. 



2 The modern city of Este stands on the site of Ateste. Beyond in- 

 scriptions there are no remains of tliis Roman colony. 



•^ Asolo stands on its site. 



■* It was said to have been founded by the Trojan Antenor. Under the 

 Romans it was the most unportant city in the north of Italy, and by its 

 commerce and manufactures attained great opiilence. It was plundered 

 by Attila, and, by AgLLulfus, king of the Lombards, was razed to the 

 ground. It was celebrated as being the bu-th-place of Livy. Modern 

 Padua stands on its site, but has no remains of antiquity. 



^ Now called Belluno. Vicetia has been succeeded by the modern 

 Vicenza. 



^ Mantua was not a place of importance, but was famous as being the 

 birth-place of Virgil ; at least, the poet, who was bom at the vdlage of 

 Andes, in its vicinity, regarded it as such. It was said to have had its 

 name from Manto, the daughter of Tiresias. Virgil, in the ^neid, B. x., 

 aUudes to its supposed Tuscan origin. 



^ Led by Antenor, as Livy says, B. i. 



^ The Cenomanni, a tribe of the Cisalpine Gauls, seem to have occu- 

 pied the country north of the Padus, between the Insubres on the west 

 and tlie Veneti on the east. From Polybius and Livy we learn that they 

 had crossed the Alps within historical memory, and had expelled the 

 Etruscans and occupied their territory. They were signalized for their 

 amicable feehngs towards the Roman state. 



^ Their town was Fertria or Fcltria, the modern Feltre. 



^° The modern city of Trento or Trent occupies the site of Tridentum, 

 their tovm. It is situate on the Athesis or Adige. It became famous in 

 the middle ages, and the great ecclesiastical councd met here in 1545. 



^* It was a Roman colony under the name of Colonia Augusta, 

 having originally been the capital of the Euganei, and then of the Ceno- 



