THE VISITORS OF TREBULA
Several famous men have staied in the Trebula's territory: Claudio Marcello, Hannibal, Fabio Massimo and Cicero. Now we write about each of them.
Claudio Marcello
After the defeat of the roman army at Canne (216 B.C), Hannibal
occuped Capua that yielded in pacific way when the town fell
into power of the popular party. In fact the popular party
sided with Hannibal while the aristocratic party sided with
Rome. Nola have been yielded in pacific way too, because at
Nola the popular party sided with Hannibal. This man, to clash
Rome, tried to incite the samnite people to rebel against
the roman supremacy. For the above reason the senate and the
noblemen of Nola did something about it by sending ambassadors
to Claudio Marcello consul that was settled at Casilino (on
the outskirts of present Capua) to inform him about the serious
situation. Next Claudio Marcello made for Nola to avoid the
desertion from Rome. What was his way? Certainly passing along
Capua wasn't profitable because Hannibal (his enemy) camped
there! Therefore he chose to pass through the internal zones
of the Samnium; from Casilino he crossed Saticula,
carried
on the bordering territory of Trebula and he arrived
at territory of Caiazzo; from here he crossed the Volturno
river and finally he made for Nola.
Hannibal
Polibio and Tito Livio, in their works relate that Hannibal,
during his travel from Samnium to Campania,
crossed
the Mount Callicula through its narrow pass between the Pontelatone's
commune and that of Bellona.(See photos A and B)
Fabio Massimo
Hannibal crossed the territory of Trebula; therefore this
territory was crossed by Fabio Massimo too, because this last
man followed his enemy as his shape.
He reconquered
Trebula, Cubulteria and Austicula that, after the
defeat of the roman army at Canne (216 B.C.), deserted from
Rome allying with Hannibal. At Treglia the road linking "Via
Roma" with the church has been dedicated to Fabio Massimo.
Cicero
This famous orator
often went to Trebula where his
friend Lucio Ponzio gave hospitality him. Lucio Ponzio
was a member of one more important samnite gentes, that of
Pontii. Herennius Pontius, the father of the Forche Caudine's
winning was a member of this gens too. The Cicero's visits
must have been more frequent from 49 B.C. when burst the civil
war between Caesar and Pompeo. Cicero supported the cause
of the senatus and Pompeo. The staies at Trebula gave him
quiet and let him be far away from the stormy events of Rome
that often disappointed him. At Trebula Cicero wrote one of
his epistles that he was used to send to his friend Pomponio
Attico. The epistles was written between 68 B.C. and 43 B.C.;
they form the collection named
"Epistole ad Atticum".
In these epistles we can perceive references to political
and personal life of Cicero. Here is the list of the epistles
that refer to Trebula:
- Epistola V-II
- Epistola V-III
- Epistola V-IV
- Epistola VII-II
The other visitors of Trebula
In time relatively recent the following characters went to inspect the ruins of Trebula.
- The english ambassador William Hamilton
with his wife Emma Liona in 1758 and 1766. His friend
was the lawyer Angelo D'Apisa, son of Carlo D'Apisa from
Formicola. Since Hamilton was supported by a lot of people
he embarked on excavations without permission of the government
of Naples's kingdom.
- Van Duhun, german historian, on 13rd
September 1877
- Theodor Mommsen, famous german historian,
with the canon Gabriele Iannelli, on 25th April 1878.
- The historians from Campania as Melchiori, Mazzocchi,
Marrocco, Trutta, Pratilli, Iadone, Pellegrino, Sanfelice,
Iannelli, Faraone and, finally, Amedeo Maiuri.
This last man was one of most famous archaeologists of
the previous century.
