In Troubadour-Land: A Ramble in Provence and Languedoc Part 23

Also--and this is remarkable--the name of the girl is Calpurnia; and Caius Marius was a native of Arpinum, and when this town was taken by the Romans from the Samnites, in B.C. 188, the franchise was given to the inhabitants, who were enrolled in the Calpurnian _gens_. Now this is a little fact that it is most improbable a forger would know--but it quite explains the girl receiving the name of Calpurnia, if genuine.

2. The Tomb of Julia Tyranna. The inscription runs:--

IVLIae . LVC . FILIae . TYRANNIae .

VIXIT ANN . XX . M . VIII .

QVae MORIBVS . PARITER . ET .

DISCIPLINA . CETERIS . FEMINIS .

EXEMPLO . FVIT . ANTARCIVS .

NVRVI . LAVRENTIVS . VCXORI .

It was raised to her memory by her father-in-law Antarcius, and by her husband, Laurentius. The organ is represented with seven pipes.

3.

O DOLOR . QVANTae LACHRIMae . FECERE SEPVLCRVM . IVL . LV CINae . QVae . VIXIT . KA D . RISSIMA . MATRI . FLOS . ae M.

TATIS . HIQ . IACET . INTVS .

CONDITA . SAXOO . VTINAM .

POSSIT . REPARARI . SPIRITVS . ILLE .

VT . SCIRET . QVANTVS . DOLOR . EST .

QVae . VIXIT . ANN . XXVII . M . X . DIE XIII .

IVL . PARTHENOPE . POSVIT . INFELIX MATER .

"O Grief! what tears have watered this tomb of Julia Lucina who in life was very dear to her mother. Carried off in the flower of her age, here she lies, buried in this marble tomb. Would that her spirit might be restored, that she might learn how great is my grief. She lived twenty-seven years, ten months, and thirteen days. Julia Parthenope, her unhappy mother, raised this."

4.

HYDRIae TERTVLLae C . F . CONIVGI . AMANTISSI Mae ET AXIae OELIANae .

FILIae DVLCISSIMae .

TERENTIVS MVSEVS HOC SEPVLCRVM POSVIT .

"Terentius Musaeus placed this to his most loving wife, Hydria Tertulla, and to his most sweet daughter, Axia Oeliana." On this is a child with a c.o.c.k in hand, an oblation to the infernal deities.

5.

F . MARIO . MF .

MARINO .

EXS . TESTA MENTO .

Observe in this, as in No. 3, the queer spelling, in both phonetic:--HIQ, SAXOO, EXS.

6. Here is a Christian inscription:--

INTEGER . ATQVE . PIVS . VITA . ET . CORPORE . PVRVS .

aeTERNO . HIC . POSITVS . VIVIT . CONCORDIVS . aeVO .

QVI . TENERIS . PRIMVM . MINISTER . FVLSIT .

IN . ANNIS .

POST . ETIAM . LECTVS . COELESTI . LEGE . SACERDOS TRIGINTA . ET GEMINOS . DECEM . VIX . REDDIDIT .

ANNOS .

HVNC . CITO . SIDEREAM . RAPTVM . OMNIPOTENTIS .

IN AVLAM MATER . BLANDA . ET . FRATER . SINE FVNERE QVaeRVNT .

"Intact and pious, pure in life and body, here lies buried, but eternally lives Concordius, who in his tender years shone first as a deacon, afterwards chosen by the celestial law a priest; he lived hardly fifty years. Transported too soon to the starry hall of the Almighty, his gentle mother and his brother seek him without bewailing him."

This is on a sarcophagus of white marble with a colonnade carved on the face, the pillars channeled and spiral. In the centre is Jesus Christ, seated on a throne, instructing His apostles and a crowd, which is seen through the arcade, at the right a man, on the left a woman, on the cover are the twelve apostles with rolled volumes before them. This sarcophagus belongs to the fourth century.

7.

PAX aeTERNA DVLCISSIMae . ET . INNOCEN TISSIM . FILLIae . CHRYSOGONE . IV NIOR . SIRICIO . QVae . VIX . ANN . III .

M . II . DIEB . XXVII . VALERIVS . ET . CHRY SOGONE . PARENTES . FILLIae . KARIS SIMae . ET . OMNI . TEMPORE . VI Tae . SVE . DESIDERANTISS .

M . A . E .

"Peace eternal to the most sweet and innocent girl, Chrysogone (the younger) Siricio, who lived three years, three months, and twenty-seven days. Valerius and Chrysogone, her parents, raised this monument to their most dear daughter, whom they will regret all their lives."

The bones were found in a leaden coffin enclosed in one of stone. The body of the little Chrysogone had been enveloped in a rich brocade of gold thread and silk.

8. A curious column dedicated by the good people of Arles to Flavius Valerius Constantinus (Constantine the Great), son of Constantius, long served the boatmen on the Rhone to fasten their vessels to, and it is sadly furrowed by the chains and cords so employed. It bears the inscription:--

IMP . CaeS . FL . VAL . CONSTANTINO P . F . AVG . DIVI CONSTANTI .

AVG . RII . FILIO .

Constantius Chorus also bore the names of Flavius Valerius.

B.--THE CAMPAIGN OF MARIUS.

For determining this the following points must be settled:--

I. _Where was his camp?_

To fix the position of his camp we must see where he could best watch the barbarians cross the Rhone, in such a place as he would have his rear covered, and where he could keep open his communications with Rome, and receive both reinforcements and victuals.

Now there is absolutely no point that answers these requirements like S.

Gabriel. It was certain that the barbarians would not cross at Arles, for they could not advance thence south of the chain of Les Alpines, owing to the lagoons and mora.s.ses, and the desert of the Great Crau. They must cross below Avignon and at or above Tarascon. Now, as they would almost certainly march along the high table-land that extends from Montpellier by Nimes to Beaucaire, and not wade through the marshes below these hills, they would arrive with dry feet at Beaucaire, and there, naturally would cross and follow up the valley of the Durance. S. Gabriel was a natural watch-tower, whence Marius could observe them. It is an ancient Roman settlement.

Numerous Roman remains have been found there. Marius had but to mount the heights behind the little town, and he commanded all the country to the north-west and south for a vast distance. Then, again, by means of his ca.n.a.l, connecting the lagoons, he was able to bring ships with supplies under his walls. His ca.n.a.l opened out of the Etang de Galejon, with a station at Fos, not at the exact entrance of the ca.n.a.l, which was low and marshy, but at the entrance of the channel of Martigues that opens into the Etang de Berre. Through Galejon it ran north, cutting through a chain of lagoons, pa.s.sed under Mont Majeur to S. Gabriel, and there probably received the waters, the overspill of the Durance, above Chateau Renard.

Plutarch says that it was connected with the Rhone, but this was probably an error. Its course to S. Gabriel remained in use and falling into decay in the Middle Ages as the Ca.n.a.l des Lonnes. Between S. Gabriel and the Etang de Galejon it could also be traced, and bore the name of Le Vigueirat. This ca.n.a.l of Marius was perfectly protected from the barbarians by the mora.s.ses that intervened between it and the Rhone.

II. _To determine his march._

The old pre-Roman road from Nimes to Aix certainly followed the high and dry ground to Tarascon, thence traced up the valley of the Durance. It could no longer follow the high ground, as that is broken into limestone peaks, but it followed up the river below them, carried above the rubble of the Durance. The first station after Tarascon was Glanum, now S. Remi.

Then it went to Orgon, where it touched the Durance for the first time, and whence branched the roads to Italy--one by Mont Genevre, the other by Aix and the coast. I suppose that Marius, following the barbarians, he on the heights, they in the valley, observed the direction they took to right or to left, from the precipitous crags of Orgon. It must be remembered that Marius had an army made up of demoralised soldiers, who had escaped from defeat by the barbarians, and of raw levies, and all were in deadly fear of their savage foes, so that he dare not bring them to a pitched battle till they had become accustomed to the sight of the Teutons and Ambrons, and were themselves impatient to come to blows with them.

The host of invaders turned south towards Aix. Marius pursued: there can, I think, be little question that he pursued the same tactics, exchanging a sandstone range for one of limestone, and following them steadily step by step, keeping the heights.

Now, if the camp of Marius was at S. Gabriel, and if the Teutons marched up the Durance valley to Orgon, and then turned to Aix, then, it seemed to me, on the spot, that no one save an idiot in command of the Roman soldiers could have done anything else than strike for the sandstone ridge and march along that, still observing the enemy.

Another theory relative to the Roman road is that it ran south of the chain of Les Alpines. This would not matter for the course of Marius, but would explain the fact of the monument of Marius being found at Les Baux; and Les Baux would then be the cliff whence he watched the march of the barbarians.

III. _To determine the position of the battles._