Pomponius Mela

[M ela.] pPomptina Paludes (noyriyai Kipvai: Palude Pontine in English the Powrine J/arscs), the name of a low marshy plain on the coast of Latium between Circeii and Terracina, said to have been so called after an ancient town Pontia, which dis appeared at an early period. Tbe plain is about 24 miles long, and from 8 to 10 miles in breadth. The marshes are formed chiefly by the rivers Nymphae us, Ufens, and Amasenus, and some other small streams, which, instead of finding their way into the sea, spread over this plain. Hence the plain is turned into a vast number of marshes, tbe miasmas arising from which are exceedingly un healthy in the summer. At an early period, how ever, they appear not to have existed at all, or at any rate to have been confined to a narrow dis trict We are told that originally there were 23 towns situated in this plain; and in b. c. 432 the Ptymplinue Ager is mentioned as yielding a large quantity of com. Even as late as 312, the greater part of the plain must still have been free from the marshes, since the censor Appius Clau dius conducted the celebrated Via Appia in that year through the plain, which must then have been sufficiently strong to bear the weight of this road. In the course of a century and a half after this, the marshes had spread to a great extent; and accord ingly attempts were made to drain them by the consul Cethegus in 160, by Julius Caesar and by August us. It is usually said4hat August us caused a navigable canal to be dug along side of the Via Appia from Forum Ajii to the grove of Feronia, in er to carry off a portion of the waters of the marshes: but this canal must have been dug be fore the time of August us, since Horace embarked Upon it on his celebrated journey from Rome to Brundisium in 37, at which time Octavian, as he was then colled, could not have undertaken any of his public works. Subsequently the marshes again spread over the whole plain, and the Via Appia entirely disappeared; and it was not until the pontificate of Pius VI. that any serious attempt was made to drain them. The works were com menced in 1778, and the greater part of the marshes was drained; but the plain is still un healthy in the great heats of the summer. C. Pomptlnus, was praetor B. c. 63, when he was employed by Cicero in apprehending the am ba a dors of the Allobroges. He afterwards ob 606 PONS. lained the province of Gallia Narbonensis, and in 61 defeated the Allobroges, who bad invaded the province. He triumphed in 54, after suing in vain for this honour for some years. p 688 ba Pons/a/b, a common name for stations on the Roman roads at the pa age of rivers, some of which stations on the more important roads grew into villages or towns. L P. Aeni Pfunzet in Vindelicia, at the pa age of the Inn, was a for tre with a Roman garrison.— 2. P. Aureoli (Ροπέϊγο[ο)ς in Gallia Trans pad an a on the toad from Bergamum to Jiediolanum, derived its name from one of the 30 Tyrants, who was defeated and slain hy Claudius in this place. —3. P. Campanns, in Camp an i a between Sinue a and Urbana OU the Sa VO.—-Respecting the bridges of Rome, see R oma. pPontia Ponxay a iw island off the coast of Latium opposite Formiae, which was taken hy the Romans fromthe Volscians, and colonised, B.c. 313. Under the Romans it was used as a place of banishment for state criminals. There is a gronp of smaller islands round Pontia, which are sometimes called Insulae Pontlae. Pontiuns ε( Ποντἳνοε-)ἶ: a river and mountain in Argolis near Lerna, with a sanctuary of Athena Saitis. G. Pontius, son of Herennius Pontius, the general of the Samnites in b. c. 321, defeated the Roman array under the two consuls T. Veturius Calvin us and Sp. Postumius Albinus in one of the mountain pa es in the neighbourhood of Caudium. Tbe survivors, who were completely at the mercy of the Samnites, were dismi ed unhurt by Pon tius. They had to surrender their arms, and to pa under the yoke; and as the price of their deliverance, the consuls and the other commanders swore, in the name of the republic, to a humiliating peace. The Roman state however refused to ratify the treaty. Nearly 30 years afterwards, Pontius was defeated by Q. Fabius Gorges (292), was taken prisoner, and was put to death after the triumph of the consul.