Phil. VIII. 9.) Another frequent distinction is that of Ulterior and Citerior. (Id. Prov. Cons. 15.) According to the plan I have proposed to myself, I shall not treat of Cisalpine Gaul under these extensive limits; but with a view to historical arrangement I shall follow the order which Polybius has observed in his second book, when describing the different settlements of the Gauls, and the several districts which they occupied. According to this historian, the whole of the country which they held was included in the figure of a triangle, which had the Alps and Apennines for two of its sides, and the Adriatic, as far as the city of Sena Gallica, Sinigaglia, for the base. This is, however, but a rough sketch, which requires a more accurate delineation. The following limits will be found sufficiently correct to answer every purpose. The river Orgus, Orca, will define the frontier of Cisalpine Gaul to the N. W. as far as its junction with the Po, which river will then serve as a boundary on the side of Liguria, till it receives the Tidone on its right bank. Along this small stream we may trace the western limit, up to its source in the Apennines, and the southern along that chain to the river Rubico, Finmesino, which falls into the Adriatic near Rimini. To the north, a line drawn nearly parallel with the Alps across the great Italian lakes will serve to separate Gaul from Rhætia, and other Alpine districts. The Athesis, Adige, from the point where it meets that line, and subsequently the Po, will distinguish it on the east and south from Venetia; and the Adriatic will close the last side of this irregular figure. The character which is given us of this portion of Italy by the writers of antiquity is that of the most fertile and productive country imaginable. Polybius describes it as abounding in wine, corn, and every kind of grain. Innumerable herds of swine, both for public and private supply, were bred in its forests, and such was the abundance of provisions of every kind, that travellers when at an inn did not find it necessary to agree on the price of every article which they required, but paid so much for the whole amount of what was furnished them; and this charge at the highest did not exceed half a Roman asd. (Polyb. II. 15.) As a proof of the richness of this country, Strabo remarks, that it surpassed all the rest of Italy in the number of large and opulent towns which it contained. The woolgrown there was of the finest and softest quality; and so abundant was the supply of wine, that the wooden vessels in which it was commonly stowed were of the size of houses. (Strab. V. 218.) Lastly, Cicero styles it the flower of Italy, the support of the empire of the Roman people, the ornament of its dignity. (Phil. III. 5.) The Gauls are represented as a tall and fine race of men, enterprizing and courageous in war, but fickle and prone to change, and unable to endure fatigue or hardship of any kind. Before they became subject to the Roman dominion they appear to have lived mostly in villages, engaging only in the pursuits of war and agriculture, and neglecting all the arts of civilized life. (Polyb. II. and III. passim.) Before I enter upon the description of this portion d Less than a halfpenny of our money; but of course the relative value of money must be taken into the account. of Italy, it may not be amiss to give some account of the Po, as that river forms one of its most striking features, and from its great celebrity, the length of its course, and the number of its tributary streams, seems well deserving of a separate notice. It has been much questioned whether the Greeks, from whom the name of Eridanus, and all the fables Eridanus fl. which belonged to it, derived their origin, had any distinct notion of one peculiar river to which these were exclusively to be applied. Their poets described it as the stream which received the falling Phaëton, and collected the amber tears of his sorrowing sisters; but they added no local marks by which its identity with the great river of Italy could be certified. (Apoll. Rhod. Argon. IV. 610. Conf. Diodor. V. Hygin. Myth. 154.) It is certain however that the names of Padus and Eridanus in process of time became synonymous, (Polyb. II. 16.) and with that fact it seems we should rest satisfied, without entering into a discussion which has already employed many a learned pene. It was stated under the head of Liguria, that the Po takes its source on Monte Viso, the Vesulus of the ancients, and that its Celtic name was Bodencus. According to Polybius, (II. 16.) it flows at first towards the south, but soon after it changes that direction, and runs nearly due east ; and after dividing unequally the plains which lie between the Alps and * Cluverius imagined that the Eridanus, of which Herodotus doubted the existence, (III. 115.) was the Rhodaune, a small river that empties itself into the Vistula. But if the north of Italy did produce amber for merly, which seems more than Apennines, and receiving all the waters which flow from these two chains, it empties itself by two mouths into the Adriatic: he adds, that its stream is most full about the rising of the dog-star, from the melting of the snow on the mountains. It is navigable for nearly 250 miles from its mouth. Pliny reckons the number of rivers which it receives to be thirty, and the whole length of its course to be 288 miles. (II. 103.) Of the Latin poets Lucan is most elaborate in praise of this noble stream. Quoque magis nullum tellus se solvit in amnem, Hesperiamque exhaurit aquis. Hunc fabula primum Populea fluvium ripas umbrasse corona: Cumque diem pronum transverso limite ducens, Sic pleno Padus ore tumens super aggere tutas II. 408. VI. 272. But how much more majestic an idea of the same river is conveyed by two lines of Virgil: Proluit insano contorquens vortice silvas Fluviorum rex Eridanus, camposque per omnes GEORG. I. 481. And in another place: Et gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu GEORG. IV. 371. As the mouths of the Po belong more properly to The division of Cisalpine Gaul into Transpadana and Cispadana is one which naturally suggests itself, and which it will be found convenient to adopt in the description of that extensive province. Libicii. Beginning with the first of these divisions, at its western extremity we find the two Gallic tribes of the Lævi and Libicii: they are mentioned together Lævi et by Polybius, (II. 17.) and it would seem difficult to assign to each a distinct territory. We must be content to know generally, that they occupied the country which lies between the Orgus, (Plin. III. 16.) Orca, and the Ticinus, Tesino: they did not quite Orgus fl. reach to the Alps on the north, as the Salassi seem to have extended some way into the plains situated at the foot of those mountains. (Conf. Plin. III. 17. Ptol. 64. Liv. XXI. 38. and XXXIII. 37.) Their chief city was Vercellæ, now Vercelli, on Vercellæ. the river Sessites, (Plin. III. 16.) la Sesia; but the Sessites fl. situation of the ancient town agrees more nearly with that of Borgo Vercelli, a small place on the left bank of the Sesia, and about two miles from the modern city. That Vercella was a town of some note may be collected from Pliny. (III. 17. Ptol. 64. Cic. Fam. Ep. II. 19. Sil. Ital. VIII. 599.) Tacitus styles it a municipium, (Hist. I. 70. de Clar. Orat. |