MARCO POLO MARENGO. 



681 



which they observed, however, only so long as they 

 were paid tribute, or Rome had a resolute ruler. 

 They devastated Noricum and Rhaetia, and even 

 advanced through tlie passes of the Alps. Under 

 Aurelian, in 270, they filled all Italy with consterna- 

 tion. But in the fifth century, the name of Marco- 

 manni disappeared. The general migration of the 

 nations consigned the names of the ancient tribes to 

 oblivion. After the overthrow of the dominion of 

 the Huns, the Rugii, Heruli, Scyri, Turcelingi made 

 their appearance in the countries of the former Mar- 

 comanni. A powerful nation, the Baioarii, we find 

 in the mountains of Noricum and Rhaetia, which 

 Mannert assigns strong reasons for regarding as the 

 same with the Marcomanni, who had emigrated 

 hither, being driven from their residences by the 

 Rugii, Longobardi, &c. The Baioarii are the pro- 

 genitors of the Bavarians. 

 MARCO POLO. See Polo. 

 MARCULPHUS ; a monk, known in the history 

 of the feudal law, for his work, entitled the Formu- 

 lary, consisting of a collection ot'formularia or forms 

 of forensic proceedings and legal instruments, includ- 

 ing charters, &c., of the kings of France. He lived 

 about the middle of the seventh century. Jerome 

 Bignon published the formulary of Marcnlphus, 

 with learned annotations, in 1613, reprinted in 1666; 

 but the most complete edition is that of I?aluze, in 

 the second volume of his Capitularies (1677). 

 MARCUS AURELIUS. See. Antoninus. 

 MARDI GRAS (Fat Tuesday) is the French 

 name for Shrove Tuesday, because it was formerly, 

 and, in many cases, is still, customary to make this 

 a day of feasting and merriment, by way of prepara- 

 tion for the forty days' fast of Lent, which immedi- 

 ately follows. 



MAREMME ; tracts of country hi Middle Italy, 

 partly in the States of the Church, partly in Tus- 

 cany, in the region of Sienna,, on the Tuscan sea, 

 and on the western declivity of the Apennines, and 

 partly also in Naples. These tracts, by reason of 

 the unhealthy exhalations of a soil abounding in sul- 

 phur and alum, cannot be inhabited in summer with- 

 out danger. This unhealthiness has been especially 

 observed since the fifteenth century, and has already 

 begun to advance to the Arno, this side of the Vol- 

 terra, although Volterra rises 3600 feet above the 

 level of the sea. The population of a region, which 

 has thus become unhealthy, must emigrate, or be 

 swept away by fever, and this maV aria already 

 prevails in different streets of Rome, which it will, 

 perhaps, one day render uninhabitable. Whenever, 

 from a diminution of culture, the vegetation con- 

 sumes less of the mephitic air, the evil becomes 

 worse. On the other hand, the Maremme afford, in 

 winter, a luxuriant pasturage for cattle, which graze, 

 in summer, on the Apennines, and, in this season, 

 man himself experiences no difficulty in dwelling 

 there, in houses, or in the open air. In the Roman 

 Maremme, which, the former small proprietors 

 having been bought out, have become, for miles, 

 the depopulated possessions of a few princes, a 

 small part of the land is used in years of scarcity, for 

 the cultivation of wheat. The earth is ploughed ii 

 autumn; hired labourers, from far and near, take 

 care of the harvest, and, on the field, thrash out the 

 grain, which is then deposited in the great magazine-* 

 of the estates, whence it is conveyed to Rome or to 

 Ostia, for further transportation. These labourers 

 are so careless, that they sleep under the few trees 

 or in the open air, and if they are attacked with tin 

 fever, after some heavy dews at night, the steward o 

 the estate gives them their dearly earned wages am 

 a loaf, with which they return to their mountains 

 unless previously overtaken by death. The more 



alubrious atmosphere of their mountains often re- 

 tores them but slowly. From the oppressive poverty 

 f the Italian mountaineers (of those, at least, who do 

 lot carry on robbery for a livelihood), there is never 

 ny want of men and women, who come down during 

 he harvest, in the face of death, to collect a few 

 cudi, to pay their rents, and for bread. The younger 

 hese labourers are, the more liable are they to the 

 leadly fever. The insalubrity, moreover, betrays 

 tself neither by mist nor by an offensive atmosphere; 

 MI the contrary, the air seems very pure, and the 

 lorizon of a clear blue. In part of Tuscany, exer- 

 ions have been made to improve the corrupted air 

 n these pestilent regions, by planting trees ; by this 

 expedient, the evil has been lessened in a degree, but 

 >y no means entirely removed, as is proved, for ex- 

 ,mple, by the environs of the Lago di Bolsena (lake 

 f Thrasymene), which have much wood, but suffer 

 rom the maV aria. There were meadows at Antium, 

 which were in ill report for their unhealthiness, even 

 in the times of the Romans. At present, these same 

 meadows, provided the open air at night is avoided, 

 are perfectly healthy : 2000, and even 1500 years 

 ago, the whole Campagna di Roma was very densely 

 nhabited, and a garden ; and probably for that very 

 reason, the country was as healthy as it now is the 

 contrary. Since the period of the migrations of the 

 nations, husbandry on a small scale, and the use of 

 the spade, which Cato Major esteemed so highly, have 

 disappeared ; and the more the property in the Cam- 

 :mgna di Roma became accumulated in the possession 

 of religious corporations and in entailed estates, the 

 more unhealthy became the ancient territory of the 

 Elomans. According to Lullien de Cliateauvieux, 

 the smell and vapours betray, everywhere in the 

 Maremme, the presence of sulphureous springs, 

 which form permanent quagmires. But this mal' 

 aria cannot proceed exclusively from the waters of 

 he marshes, or the nakedness of the land, for it is 

 i qually dangerous on the mountains and in the depths 

 )f the forest. The evil probably has its origin in the 

 chemical properties of the soil developed by some 

 latent operation of nature. Unless some means of 

 remedying the unhealthy air be discovered, or some 

 new volcano shall effect the purification of the atmo- 

 sphere by eruptions, it is highly probable that Middle 

 Italy, south of the Alps, may become, after the lapse 

 of centuries, a desert, used in winter for the pastur- 

 age of cattle, and totally uninhabitable in summer. 

 The Pontine and other marshes do not belong to the 

 Maremme. These are a consequence of the imper- 

 fect draining of the lowlands, between the coasts of 

 the sea and the foot of the Apennines. A grand 

 canal along the foot of this chain of mountains, should 

 receive all its waters, and, as its bed would be higher 

 than the level of the Mediterranean, where the former 

 mouths of the rivers have been filled with sand, and 

 have thereby become choked, should carry them, by 

 many broad and deep canals, frequently cleared out, 

 into the sea. And if the lowlands, which it is im- 

 possible to drain thoroughly, were planted with 

 thickly- leaved trees, and many small villages were 

 settled there, these swamps would soon become 

 healthy. 



MARENGO ; a village in the plains between 

 Alexandria and Tortona, in the royal Sardinian 

 duchy of Montferrat, celebrated for the battle of 

 June 14, 1800. Bonaparte had passed the Alps, 

 between the 16th and 27th of May, with 60,000 men. 

 Melas, the Austrian general, discovered his danger 

 too late. June 2d, Bonaparte had obtained posses- 

 sion of the fortress of Bardo, which commanded the 

 entrance of the valley of Aosta; Murat advanced on 

 Milan, Suchet took Nice, and Berthier defeated at 

 Montebello the lieutenant field-marshal Von OtU 



