Longula

LO´NGULA(Λόγγολα: Eth. Longulanus: Buon Riposo), an ancient city of Latium, which seems to have been included in the territory of the Volscians. It first appears as a Volscian city, which was taken by assault by the Roman consul, Postumus Cominius in B.C. 493. (Liv. 2.33; Dionys. 6.91.) But it was recovered by the Volscians under the command of Coriolanus, in B.C. 488 (Liv. 2.39; Dionys. 8.36): in both cases it is described as falling an easy prey to the invading army, and was probably not a place of any great importance; indeed Livy's expressions would lead us to infer that it was a dependency of Antium. After this it is only incidentally mentioned ; once, as the place where the Roman army under L. Aemilius encamped in the war against the Volscians, B.C. 482 (Dionys. 8.85); and again, at a much later period in the Samnite Wars, B.C. 309. (Liv. 9.39.) Its name is after this found only in Pliny's list of the cities of Latium which were in his time utterly decayed and deserted. (Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 9.) As he enumerates it among the cities that shared in the sacrifices on the Alban Mount, it would seem to have been originally a Latin city, though it had fallen into the hands of the Volscians before its name appears in history.
All the above passages would lead us to place Longula in the neighbourhood of Antium, while the two former connect it closely with Pollusca and Corioli. These are all the data which we have for determining its position, which must therefore be in some degree matter of conjecture, especially as that of Pollusca and Corioli is equally uncertain. But Nibby has pointed out a locality which has at all events a plausible claim to be that of Longula, in the casale,or farm-house, now called Buon Riposo, on the right of the road from Rome to Antium, about 27 miles from Rome, and 10 in a straight line from Porto d'Anzo. The position assigned to Buon Riposoon Gell's map does not accord with this description of the site given by Nibby; but this part of the map is very imperfect, and evidently not derived from personal observation. Gell's own account of the situation of Buon Riposo(p. 185), though less precise, agrees with that of Nibby.The farm, or tenuta,of Buon Riposolies between that of Carrocetoon the one side, and Ardeaon the other ; while the site occupied by the casaleitself, and which was that of a castle in the middle ages, is described as one of those which is so clearly marked by natural advantages of position that it could scarcely fail to have been chosen as the site of an ancient city. No ruins remain; but perhaps these could hardly be expected in the case of a town that ceased to exist at so early a period. (Nibby, vol. 1. p. 326; Abeken, Mittel-Italien, p.72.) [E.H.B]