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MARSI

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 774 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARSI , an See also:

ancient See also:people of See also:Italy, whose See also:chief centre was See also:Marruvium, on the eastern See also:shore of See also:Lake Fucinus. They are first mentioned as members of a confederacy with the See also:Vestini, See also:Paeligni and See also:Marrucini (Liv. viii. 29, cf. viii. 6, and Polyb. ii. 24, 12). They joined the See also:Samnites in 308 B.C. (Liv. ix. 41), and on their submission became See also:allies of See also:Rome in 304 B.C. (Liv. ix. 45). After a See also:short-lived revolt two years later, for which they were punished by loss of territory (Liv. x. 3), they were readmitted to the See also:Roman See also:alliance and remained faithful down to the social See also:war, their contingent (e.g.

Liv. xliv. 46) being always regarded as the See also:

flower of the See also:Italian forces (e.g. See also:Hor. Od. ii. 20, 18). In this war, which, owing to the prominence of the Marsian rebels is often known as the Marsic War, they fought bravely against odds under their See also:leader Q. Pompaedius Silo, and, though they were frequently defeated, the result of the war was the enfranchisement of the allies (see RoME: See also:History, " The See also:Republic "). The Marsi were a See also:hardy See also:mountain people, famed for their See also:simple habits and indomitable courage. It was said that the See also:Romans had never triumphed over them or without them (See also:Appian). They were also renowned for their magicians, who had See also:strange remedies for various diseases. The Latin See also:colony of See also:Alba Fucens near the See also:north-See also:west corner of the lake was founded in the adjoining Aequian territory in 303, so that from the beginning of the 3rd See also:century the Marsians were in See also:touch with a Latin-speaking community, to say nothing of the Latin colony of See also:Carsioli (298 B.C.) farther west. The earliest pure Latin See also:inscriptions of the See also:district seem to be C.I.L. ix.

3827 and 3848 from the neighbourhood of Supinum; its See also:

character generally is of the Gracchan See also:period, though it might be somewhat earlier. - See also:Mommsen (Unteritalische Dialekten, p. 345) pointed out that in the social war all the coins of Pompaedius Silo have the Latin See also:legend " Italia," while the other leaders in all but one See also:case used Oscan. The chief See also:record of the See also:dialect or See also:patois we owe to the goddess Angitia, whose chief See also:temple and See also:grove stood at the See also:south-west corner of Lake Fucinus, near the inlet to the emissarius of See also:Claudius (restored by See also:Prince Torlonia), and the See also:modern See also:village of Luco. She (or they, for the name is in the plural in the Latin inscription next cited) was widely worshipped in the central See also:highlands (Sulmo, C.I.L. ix. 3074, Furfo Vestinorum, ibid. 3515) as a goddess of healing, especially skilled to cure See also:serpent bites by charms and the herbs of the Marsian See also:woods. Her worshippers naturally practised the same arts—as their descendants do (see A. de Nino's charming collection of Usi e costumi abruzzesi), their See also:country being in Rome counted the See also:home of See also:witchcraft; see Hor. Sat. 1, 9, 29, Epod. 17, 28, &c. The earliest See also:local inscriptions date from about 300 to 150 B.C. and include the interesting and difficult See also:bronze of Lake Fucinus, which seems to record a votive offering to Angitia, if A(n)ctia, as is probable, was the local See also:form of her name.

Their See also:

language differs very slightly from Roman Latin of that date; for apparently contracted forms like Fougno instead of See also:Fucino may really only be a See also:matter of spelling. In final syllables the diphthongs ai, ei, oi, all appear as e. On the other See also:hand, the older form of the name of the tribe (dat. plur. Martses = See also:Lat. Martiis) shows its derivation and exhibits the assibilation of -tio- into -tso- proper to many Oscan dialects (see OSCA LINGUA) but strange to classical Latin. See R. S. See also:Conway, The See also:Italic Dialects, pp. 290 seq. (from which some portions of this See also:article are taken by permission of the syndics of the Camb. Univ. See also:Press) ; on the Fucino-Bronze, ib. p.

294. (R. S.

End of Article: MARSI

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