in ancient times tainted the district as it taints
it at the present day. It is a mistake to suppose
that these miasmata were first occasioned by the neglect
of cultivation, which was the result of the misgovernment
in the last century of the Republic and under the Papacy.
Their cause lies rather in the want of natural outlets
for the water; and it operates now as it operated
thousands of years ago. It is true, however,
that the malaria may to a certain extent be banished
by thoroughness of tillage—a fact which
has not yet received its full explanation, but may
be partly accounted for by the circumstance that the
working of the surface accelerates the drying up of
the stagnant waters. It must always remain a
remarkable phenomenon, that a dense agricultural population
should have arisen in regions where no healthy population
can at present subsist, and where the traveller is
unwilling to tarry even for a single night, such as
the plain of Latium and the lowlands of Sybaris and
Metapontum. We must bear in mind that man in
a low stage of civilization has generally a quicker
perception of what nature demands, and a greater readiness
in conforming to her requirements; perhaps, also,
a more elastic physical constitution, which accommodates
itself more readily to the conditions of the soil
where he dwells. In Sardinia agriculture is
prosecuted under physical conditions precisely similar
even at the present day; the pestilential atmosphere
exists, but the peasant avoids its injurious effects
by caution in reference to clothing, food, and the
choice of his hours of labour. In fact, nothing
is so certain a protection against the “aria
cattiva” as wearing the fleece of animals and
keeping a blazing fire; which explains why the Roman
countryman went constantly clothed in heavy woollen
stuffs, and never allowed the fire on his hearth to
be extinguished. In other respects the district
must have appeared attractive to an immigrant agricultural
people: the soil is easily laboured with mattock
and hoe and is productive even without being manured,
although, tried by an Italian standard, it does not
yield any extraordinary return: wheat yields on
an average about five-fold.(3) Good water is not abundant;
the higher and more sacred on that account was the
esteem in which every fresh spring was held by the
inhabitants.
Latin Settlements
No accounts have been preserved of the mode in which the settlements of the Latins took place in the district which has since borne their name; and we are left to gather what we can almost exclusively from a posteriori inference regarding them. Some knowledge may, however, in this way be gained, or at any rate some conjectures that wear an aspect of probability.