ar as the central ridge of the
Apennines. It was bounded on the north by Umbria, on the south by the
Vestini, and on the west by Umbria and the Sabini. Its inhabitants, the
Picentes, were a Sabine race, as is mentioned below.

4. The SABINI inhabited the rugged mountain-country in the central chain
of the Apennines, lying between Etruria, Umbria, Picenum, Latium, and
the country of the Marsi and Vestini. They were one of the most ancient
races of Italy, and the progenitors of the far more numerous tribes
which, under the names of Picentes, Peligni, and Samnites, spread
themselves to the east and south. Modern writers have given the general
name of _Sabellians_ to all these tribes. The Sabines, like most other
mountaineers, were brave, hardy, and frugal; and even the Romans looked
up to them with admiration on account of their proverbial honesty and
temperance.

5. The MARSI, PELIGNI, VESTINI, and MARRUCINI inhabited the valleys of
the central Apennines, and were closely connected, being probably all of
Sabine origin. The MARSI dwelt inland around the basin of the Lake
Fucinus, which is about thirty miles in circumference, and the only
one of any extent in the central Apennines. The PELIGNI also occupied an
inland district east of the MARSI. The VESTINI dwelt east of the
Sabines, and possessed on the coast of the Adriatic a narrow space
between the mouth of the Matrinus and that of the Aternus, a distance of
about six miles. The MARRUCINI inhabited a narrow strip of country on
the Adriatic, east of the Peligni, and were bounded on the north by the
Vestini and on the south by the Frentani.

6. The FRENTANI dwelt upon the coast of the Adriatic from the frontiers
of the Marrucini to those of Apulia. They were bounded on the west by
the Samnites, from whom they were originally descended, but they appear
in Roman history as an independent people.

7. LATIUM was used in two senses. It originally signified only the land
of the Latini, and was a country of small extent, bounded by the Tiber
on the north, by the Apennines on the east, by the sea on the west, and
by the Alban Hills on the south. But after the conquest of the
Volscians, Hernici, AEquians, and other tribes, originally independent,
the name of Latium was extended to all the country which the latter had
previously occupied. It was thus applied to the whole region from the
borders of Etruria to those of Campania, or from the Tiber to the Liris.
The original abode o