Strabo · c. 20 CE (Books I–VI likely composed/available by this period)
primary
passage 203 of 384 · BOOK I. > CHAPTER III. (10/11)
↪ you wandered here via “siege of Praeneste Marius” — the connecting lines are tinted below
the sea] at a city[1885] bearing the same name as itself. Æsernia[1886] and Alliphæ,[1887] cities of the Samnites, the former was destroyed in the Marsian war,[1888] the other still remains.
- The Via Valeria, commencing from Tibura,[1889] leads to the country of the Marsi, and to Corfinium,[1890] the metropolis of the Peligni.
Upon it are situated the Latin cities of Valeria,[1891] Carseoli,[1892]
Alba,[1893] and near to it the city of Cuculum.[1894] Within sight of
Rome are Tibura, Præneste, and Tusculum.[1895] At Tibura is a temple of
Hercules, and a cataract formed by the fall of the Teverone,[1896]
(which is here navigable,) from a great height into a deep and wooded ravine close to the city. From thence the river flows through a highly fertile plain along by [CAS. 238] the Tiburtine stone-quarries, those of the Gabii, and those denominated the red-stone quarries. As both the carriage from the quarries and the conveyance by river are easy, most of the Roman edifices are built of materials from hence. In this plain flow the cold waters called Albula, they spring from numerous fountains, and are taken both as a beverage and as baths,[1897] for the cure of various diseases. Of the same kind are the Labanæ,[1898] not far from these, on the Via Nomentana, and near to Eretum.[1899] At Præneste is the celebrated temple and oracle of Fortune. Both this and the preceding city are situated on the same chain of mountains, and are distant from each other 100 stadia. Præneste is 200 stadia from Rome, Tibura less than that distance. They are said to be both of Grecian foundation,
Præneste being formerly named Polystephanus. They are both fortified, but Præneste is the stronger place of the two, having for its citadel a lofty mountain, which overhangs the town, and is divided at the back from the adjoining mountain range by a neck of land. This mountain is two stadia higher than the neck in direct altitude. In addition to these
[natural] defences, the city is furnished on all sides with subterraneous passages, which extend to the plains, and some of which serve to convey water, while others form secret ways; it was in one of these that Marius[1900] perished, when he was besieged. Other cities are in most instances benefited by a strong position, but to the people of
Præneste it has proved a bane, owing to the civil wars of the Romans.
For hither the revolutionary movers take refuge, and when at last they surrender, in addition to the injury sustained by the city during the war, the country is confiscated, and the guilt thus imputed to the guiltless. The river Verestis[1901] flows through this region. The said cities are to the east of Rome.
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