TEANUM was a town of the Sidicines, likewise an Ausonian people. That northern district between the Vulturnus and the Liris, which did not extend as far as the mountains, is one of the most delightful and fertile countries; it is not, indeed, as productive as southern Campania, the _agri lugubres Campaniae_, the πεδία Φλεγραῖα, the coast country from Terracina to Gaeta and Formiae, where a man has the feeling as if he were in a paradise full of the most indescribable beauties—I was there in the month of March, when spring was already displaying all its loveliness; the summer, too, is not so scorching as in the neighbourhood of Rome, for the country is well watered, and that even in the middle of summer;—but the neighbourhood of Teanum is a most delightful hilly country, with a beauty and richness of trees which form a great contrast with those of Latium. This was the country of the Falernian and Classic wines. Teanum, according to Strabo, was a large town; but the present ruins do not show many traces of that greatness, though the silver coins which are found there show that Strabo is correct. The LIRIS deserves the name of _taciturnus amnis_; it has no strong current, except in winter, when the heights are covered with snow. The VULTURNUS is quite different; descending from the neighbouring hills it has a strong current; but it is not a beautiful river, being extremely muddy. It is, however, a pleasure to see the active flow of its waters. On its banks was situated CASILINUM, on the site of the modern Capua, which is celebrated for the extraordinary defence of the Praenestine cohort against Hannibal: the perseverance of a besieged town is always interesting, and excites veneration. The garrison murdered the Campanian inhabitants, that the provisions might last so much longer. Hannibal took the place, and after that time it is not often mentioned again. The situation on the Via Appia somewhat raised its importance in the time of the emperors; its means of subsistence, as was the case with all places on high roads, were derived from commerce.