Iberia Won 7

Iberia Won 7

Est locus, Hesperiam Graii cognomine dicunt.

_Æn._ i. 534.

 

Macrobius prefers deriving the origin of the name, as applied to

Italy, from its western situation, to the fact of its being chosen

by Hesperus for his residence, when he was expelled by his brother

Atlas: “Italy is called Hesperia, because it lies to the west.”

(Macrob. _Saturn._ lib. i. cap. 3.)

 

Horace, when he applies the name to Spain, distinguishes the latter

country by the addition of the word “ultima,” thus:

 

Qui nunc Hesperiâ sospes ab ultimâ

Caris multa sodalibus, &c.

_Carm._ i. 36.

 

Strabo, lib. i. seems to derive the name from situation, where

he describes the Spaniards as the most western nation, “μάλιστα

ἑσπέριοι.” And both he and Pliny state that Hispania was likewise

called Iberia, either from a king of that name or from the river

Iberus (Ebro).

 

Iberia, though the name by which, after Hispania, Spain was

most commonly known to the Latins was, by a confusion not very

complimentary to their geographical accuracy, likewise the name of

a region in Asia Minor. It was a tract in Pontus separated from

Colchis by the Moschic mountains, and corresponds with the modern

Georgia:

 

Herbasque, quas Iolcos atque Iberia

Mittit venenorum ferax.

Horat. _Epod._ 5.

 

The names “Hesperia” and “Iberia” are found together in the same

stanza of Camóens as applied to the Peninsula, yet with some

vague attempt to confine the latter name to the Spanish portion

exclusively:

 

“Nome em armas ditoso, em noss’ Hesperia,

* * * * *

Se não quizera ir ver a terra Iberia.”

_Lus._ iv. 54.

 

Both names are properly applicable to the entire Peninsula,

including Spain and Portugal, the second epithet, modified by the

prefix _Celto_ into “Celtiberia,” being the ancient name of Aragon

and Catalonia, and Iliberia that of Granada. The name Iberia as

applied to Spain is found in Virgil, _Æn._ ix. 582:

 

Pictus acu chlamydem, et ferrugine clarus Iberâ,

 

and under this name the country is described elaborately by Avienus

(P. C. 380).

 

Quamque suis opibus cumulavit Iberia dives, &c.

 

Ausonius (also P. C. 380) makes use of both the names “Hispania”

and “Iberia:”

 

His Hispanus ager tellus ubi dives Iberum.

 

Juvenal (P. C. 120) uses the name “Hispania” as the distinctive

appellation of the country, which became better and more perilously

known in his time than in the days of Horace and Virgil:

 

Horrida vitanda est Hispania.

_Sat._ viii. 116.

 

There is classical authority for a happy variety of names in

describing Spain--“Hesperia,” “Iberia,” “Hispania:”

 

Tum sibi Callaïco Brutus cognomen in hoste

Fecit, et Hispanam sanguine tinxit humum.

Ov. _Fast._ vi. 461.

 

Herculis ritu, modò dictus, ô plebs,

Morte venalem petiisse laurum

Cæsar, Hispanâ repetit Penates

Victor ab orâ

Horat. _Carm._ iii. 14.

 

Spain was anciently divided into Hispania _Ulterior_ and

_Citerior_. The former comprehended Bætica, the present Andalucía,

and Lusitania nearly corresponding to what is now called Portugal.

Hispania Citerior comprised all the rest of the Peninsula. The name

“Hesperia” was more commonly applied by the ancient poets to the

Italian Peninsula than to the Spanish. Thus Virgil (in addition to

the passage above cited):

 

Et sæpe Hesperiam, sæpe Itala regna vocare. * *

Sed quis ad Hesperiæ venturos littora Teucros

Crederet?

_Æn._ iii. 185.

 

The preponderance of authority is clearly in favour of designating

Spain as “Iberia” or “Hispania,” and generally confining “Hesperia”

to Italy. Ovid has a very charming nymph named Hesperie, no

connection, however, of the Hesperides, of whom the most famous

was that Arethusa whose fountain-streamlet is so celebrated, and

whose enchanting name has been tastefully introduced into the

nomenclature of the British Navy. Ovid’s Hesperie, the daughter of

Cebrenis, was loved and persecuted by the Trojan hero Æsacos, whose

discovery of her is thus exquisitely described:

 

Aspicit Hesperien patriâ Cebrenida ripâ,

Injectos humeris siccantem sole capillos.

Visa fugit Nymphe!

Ov. _Met._ xi. 769.

 

A very amusing and somewhat malicious mistake was recently

witnessed at one of our English Universities. A prize was offered

for a composition on “_Hesperiæ mala luctuosæ_.” Spain was

manifestly intended. But the wags spreading all manner of doubts

and difficulties, the “Dons” were obliged to come out with a

public notice, intimating that “the gentlemen had better confine

themselves to the Spanish Peninsula!”

 

Cantabria, which is the scene of this poem, was likewise the scene

of some of Augustus’s victories. His policy seems to have been here

as successful as his generalship. “Domuit autem, partim ductu,

partim auspiciis suis Cantabriam.” (Sueton. _cap._ 20.) But the

Cantabrians, then as now unformed for subjugation, rebelled again

the moment Augustus returned to Rome. Augustus, however, paid them

a second visit, and appears to have quieted them in Roman fashion,

this being the last of his warlike exploits: “Hic finis Augusto

bellicorum certaminum fuit: idem rebellandi finis Hispaniæ.” (Luc.

Flor. _lib._ iv. c. 12.)

 

It was the proud distinction of the Cantabrian in the ancient world

to be indomitable, a character very significantly assigned to him

in Horace’s well known line:

 

Cantabrum indoctum juga ferre nostra.

_Carm._ ii. 6.

 

In a later ode Horace commemorates the subjugation of the

Cantabrians, but it was only momentary, and the difficulty with

which it was effected is acknowledged by the poet himself:--

 

Servit Hispanæ vetus hostis oræ

Cantaber, serâ domitus catenâ.

 

These are splendid tributes to the valour which resisted the then

irresistible Roman power. The Cantabrian strength was broken, and

they were temporarily subjected by Agrippa (Sueton. _Octav._ c.

20), but it was only to rise again the moment they had recovered

their shattered forces.

 

Cantabria corresponded (as already observed) with the modern Basque

Provinces, and gave with the neighbouring Asturia more trouble to

the Romans than all the rest of Spain, the mountainous character

of the country aiding them in that resistance to which they were

prompted by the hardy mountaineer’s character, and by his inherent

love of

 

The mountain-nymph, sweet Liberty!

 

“Two most powerful nations (says Florus, lib. iv. cap. 12), the

Cantabri and the Astures, were still free from the Imperial sway.

The determination of the Cantabrians was _pejor_ (so the proud

Roman calls it) and loftier, and more pertinacious in rebellion,

for not content with defending their own liberty, they sought even

to control their neighbours.... Beaten at last, they retired to

the lofty mountain Vinnius, to which they deemed that the Ocean

would ascend before the Roman arms.... But he in person drew them

from these mountains, and reduced them beneath the crown by right

of war.” Florus is here describing the last expedition against

the Cantabrians in the reign of Augustus, of which Agrippa was

commander. Suetonius gives the same narrative in substance in

_Octav. cap._ xx., and Strabo, _lib._ iii. Silius Italicus pays

even a still greater tribute to the indomitable spirit of the

Cantabrians:

 

Cantaber ante omnes hyemisque, æstusque, famisque

Invictus.

 

Horace in that variety of refined flattery, with whose incense

he knew how to intoxicate Augustus, returns frequently to his

Cantabrian wars, and while his object is to praise the Roman pays

unceasing tributes to Spanish valour. Thus:

 

Te Cantaber non antè domabilis

Miratur, ô tutela præsens

Italiæ dominæque Romæ!

_Carm._ iv. 14.