AU´SONA a city of Latium, in the more extended sense of that term, but which, at an earlier period, was one of the three cities possessed by the tribe of the Ausones. Its name would seem to imply that it was once their chief city or metropolis; but it is only once mentioned in history—during the second Samnite war, when the Ausonians having revolted from the Romans, all their three cities were betrayed into the hands of the Roman consuls, and their inhabitants put to the sword without mercy. (Liv. 9.25.) No subsequent notice is found of Ausona; but it is supposed to have been situated on the banks of the little river still called Ausente, which flows into the Liris, near its mouth. The plain below the modern village of Le Fratte, near the sources of this little stream, is still known as the Piano dell' Ausente;and some remains of a Roman town have been discovered here. (Romanelli, vol. 3. p. 438.)
[E.H.B]