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Ancient literary sources

Several ancient authors provide quite a few details about Centumcellae. The account by Pliny the Younger is famous. He was asked by Trajan to join him as an advisor:

C. Plinius Corneliano Suo Salutem.

Evocatus in consilium a Caesare nostro ad Centum Cellas (hoc loco nomen) maximam cepi voluptatem. Quid enim iucundius quam principis iustitiam, gravitatem, comitatem in secessu quoque, ubi maxime recluduntur, inspicere? Fuerunt variae cognitiones, et quae virtutes iudicis per plures species experirentur. Dixit causam Claudius Ariston, princeps Ephesiorum, homo munificus, et innoxie popularis. ... Sequenti die audita est Gallitta adulterii rea. ... Tertio die inducta cognitio est multis sermonibus et vario rumore iactata Iulii Tironis codicilli, quos ex parte veros esse constabat, ex parte falsi dicebantur. ...

Vides, quam honesti, quam severi dies; quos iucundissimae remissiones sequebantur. Adhibebamur cotidie cenae: erat modica, si principem cogitares. Interdum ακροαματα audiebamus, interdum iucundissimis sermonibus nox ducebatur. Summo die abeuntibus nobis (tam diligens in Caesare humanitas) xenia sunt missa. Sed mihi ut gravitas cognitionum, consilii honor, suavitas simplicitasque convictus ita locus ipse periucundus fuit.

Villa pulcherrima cingitur viridissimis agris, imminet litori; cuius in sinu fit cum maxime portus. Huius sinistrum brachium firmissimo opere munitum est; dextrum elaboratur. In ore portus insula adsurgit, quae illatum vento mare obiacens frangat tutumque ab utroque latere decursum navibus praestet, adsurgit autem arte visenda; ingentia saxa latissima navis provehit; contra, haec alia super alia deiecta ipso pondere manent ac sensim quodam velut aggere construuntur. Eminet iam et apparet saxeum dorsum impactosque fluctus in immensum elidit et tollit. Vastus illic fragor canumque circa mare. Saxis deinde pilae adicientur, quae procedente tempore enatam insulam imitentur. Habebit hic portus et iam habet nomen auctoris eritque vel maxime salutaris. Nam per longissimum spatium litus importuosum hoc receptaculo utetur.

Vale. 		Plinius to his Cornelianus, greetings.

I received lately the most exquisite entertainment imaginable at Centumcellae (as it is called), whither our Emperor had summoned me to his privy council. Could anything indeed afford a higher pleasure than to see the sovereign exercising his justice, his wisdom, and his affability, and that in retirement, where they are laid most open to view? Various were the cases brought before him, which showed under several aspects the virtues of the judge. That of Claudius Ariston came on first. He is an Ephesian nobleman, of great munificence and unambitious popularity. ... The next day, Gallitta was tried on the charge of adultery. ... The third day an inquiry was begun concerning the much-discussed will of Julius Tiro, part of which was plainly genuine, the other part, it was said, was forged. ...

Thus you see how honourably and seriously we spent our days, which however were followed by the most agreeable recreations. We were every day invited to Caesar's supper, which, for a prince, was a modest repast; there we were either entertained with interludes, or passed the night in the most pleasing conversation. On the last day he sent each of us presents at our departure, so unremitting is the benevolence of Caesar! As for myself, I was not only charmed with the dignity of the proceedings, the honour paid to the assessors, the ease and unreserved freedom of the conversation, but with the place itself.

Here is a villa, surrounded by the most verdant meadows, and overhanging a bay of the coast where they are at this moment constructing a harbour. The left-hand mole of this port is protected by immensely solid masonry; the right is now being completed. An island is rising in the mouth of the harbour, which will break the force of the waves when the wind blows shorewards, and afford passage to ships on either side. Its construction is highly worth seeing; huge stones are transported hither in a broad-bottomed vessel, and being sunk one upon the other, are fixed by their own weight, gradually accumulating in the manner, as it were, of a rampart. It already lifts its rocky back above the ocean, while the waves which beat upon it, being tossed to an immense height, roar prodigiously, and whiten all the sea round. To these stones are added wooden piles, which in time will give it the appearance of a natural island. This port will be, and already is, named after its great author, and will prove of infinite benefit, by affording a haven to ships on a long stretch of harbourless coast.

Farewell.
Epistulae VI,31. Translation W. Melmoth - W.M.L. Hutchinson.

The letter must have been written in the autumn of 107 AD. From the letter and the silence of other sources can be deduced that there was no Centumcellae before the construction of the harbour. Around 60 AD Pliny the Elder mentions in the area the Aquenses cognomine Taurini, so a place called Aquae Tauri (NH 3,51-52). This must be a nearby locality where extensive baths have been found. There is no obvious explanation for the name Centumcellae, one hundred cellae. Were these huts or humble dwellings? Or places where something was stored? [1] And what was its legal status? Pliny speaks of a locus, a place. His designation ad Centum Cellas is no more than a toponym. [2]

Whether Trajan's villa was newly built or older does not become clear. It must have been an important and large villa, seeing that a prince could be received there with his retinue, and because it could be used for three days by many guests: lawyers, advisors, witnesses and so on. It was surrounded by a green area. There has been much speculation about its location. A lot depends on the translation of villa imminet litori, "the villa overhangs the coast". Immineo means "to project over or towards a thing, to bend or lean towards, to hang down over, overhang; to be near to a thing, to touch on, border upon". Was the villa situated on the coast, or at some distance on higher ground?

The villa was also used by the young Marcus Aurelius, in the years 140-145 AD, before he became Emperor: the villa had been inherited by Antoninus Pius. It is mentioned in the correspondence with his tutor Marcus Cornelius Fronto. Here we learn that there was a vivarium near the villa, where wild animals were kept for the hunt.

Have, mi magister optime.

Egone ut studeam, cum tu doleas, praesertim cum mea causa doleas? Non me omnibus incommodis sponte ipse adflictem? Merito hercule. Quis enim tibi alius dolorem genus, quem scribis nocte proxuma auctum, quis alius eum suscitavit nisi Centum Cellae, ne me dicam? Quid igitur faciam, qui nec te video et tanto angore discrucior? Adde eo quod, etiamsi libeat studere, judicia prohibent, quae, ut dicunt, qui sciunt, dies totos eximunt. Misi tamen tibi hodiernam γνωμην et nudiustertianum locum communem. Heri totum diem in itinere adtrivimus.

Hodie difficile est, ut praeter vespertinam quicquam agi possit. "Nocte", inquis, "tam longa dormis?", et dormire quidem possum; nam sum multi somni. Sed tantum frigoris est in cubiculo meo, ut manus vix exseri possit. Sed revera illa res maxime mihi animum a studiis depulit, quod, dum nimium litteras amo, tibi incommodus apud Portum fui, ut res ostendit. Itaque valeant omnes Porci et Tulli et Crispi, dum tu valeas et te vel sine libris firmum tamen videam.

Vale, praecipuum meum gaudium, magister dulcissime. Domina mea te salutat. Γνωμας tres et locos communes mitte. 		Hail, my best of masters.

What, am I to study while you are in pain, above all in pain on my account? Shall I not of my own accord punish myself with every kind of penance? It were only right, by Hercules. For who else brought on that pain in the knee, which you write was worse last night, who else if not Centumcellae, not to mention myself? What then shall I do, who cannot see you and am racked with such anxiety? Besides, however much I might be minded to study, the courts forbid it, which, as those say who know, will take up whole days. Still I send you today's maxim and the day-before-yesterday*s commonplace. The whole day yesterday we spent on the road.

Today it is hard to find time for anything but the evening maxim. "Do you sleep", say you, "the livelong night?" Aye, I can sleep, for I am a great sleeper; but it is so cold in my room that I can scarcely put my hand outside the bed-clothes. But in good sooth what most of all put my mind off study was the thought that by my undue fondness for literature I did you an ill turn at the Harbour, as the event shewed. And so farewell to all Catos and Ciceros and Sallusts, as long as you fare well and I see you, though with never a book, established in health.

Farewell, my chief joy, sweetest of masters. My Lady greets you. Send me three maxims and commonplaces
Domino meo.

Lectulo me teneo. Si possim, ubi ad Centum Cellas ibitis, itineri idoneus esse, VII Idus vos Lorii videbo deis faventibus. Excusa me domino nostro patri tuo, quem (ita vos salvos habeam!) magno pondere gravius amo et colo, quom tam bene in senatu judicatum est, quod et provinciis saluti esset et reos clementer objurgasset.

Ubi vivarium dedicabitis, memento quam diligentissime, si feras percuties, et equom admittere. Galbam certe ad Centum Cellas produces. An potes octav(um) Idus Lorii?

Vale, domine, patri placeto, matri dic salutem, me desiderato.

Cato quid dicat de Galba absoluto, tu melius scis; ego memini propter fratris filios eum absolutum. Το δε ακριβες ipse inspice. Cato igitur dissuadet, neve suos neve alienos quis liberos ad misericordiam conciliandam producat neve uxores neve adfines vel ullas omnino feminas.

Domine, matrem saluta. 		To my Lord.

I am confined to my bed. If I should be fit for the journey when you go to Centumcellae I shall see you, please the gods, at Lorium on the seventh day before the Ides. Make my apologies to my Lord your father, whom — may heaven preserve you both — I love and honour all the more intensely since the excellent decision in the Senate, which, while safeguarding the interests of the provinces, at the same time gently rebuked the offenders.

When you inaugurate your game preserve, be sure that you remember, without fail, if you strike a beast, to set your horse at full gallop. Of course you will bring Galba to Centumcellae, or can you be at Lorium, on the 8th before the Ides?

Farewell, my Lord, please your father, greet your mother, miss me.

You know better than I what Cato says of Galba's acquittal. As far as I remember he was acquitted for the sake of his nephews. But see for yourself what the truth of the matter is. Cato, in consequence, is of opinion that no one should bring into court his own or others' children to excite pity, nor wives nor relations, nor any women at all.

Greet my Lady your mother.
Epistulae 5,74 and 3,21. Translation C.R. Haines.

Some decades later, in 173 AD, some nasty behaviour by Commodus, then 12 years old, seems to have occurred in the villa:

Auspicium crudelitatis apud Centumcellas dedit anno aetatis duodecimo. Nam cum tepidius forte lautus esset, balneatorem in fornacem conici iussit; quando a paedagogo, cui hoc iussum fuerat, vervecina pellis in fornace consumpta est, ut fidem poenae de foetore nidoris impleret. In the twelfth year of his life, at Centumcellae, he gave a forecast of his cruelty. For when it happened that his bath was drawn too cool, he ordered the bathkeeper to be cast into the furnace; whereupon the slave who had been ordered to do this burned a sheep-skin in the furnace, in order to make him believe by the stench of the vapour that the punishment had been carried out.
Historia Augusta, Commodus 1,9. Translation D. Magie.

In 414 AD Rutilius Namatianus visited Centumcellae, on his voyage from Rome to Gaul, described in "De reditu suo", "His return". He visited baths to the east of the city, called Aquae Tauri (named, he says, after the accidental discovery of springs by a bull, taurus). Extensive remains of these baths have been excavated.

Ad Centumcellas forti defleximus austro;
tranquilla puppes in statione sedent.
Molibus aequoreum concluditur amphitheatrum
angustosque aditus insula facta tegit;
attollit geminas turres bifidoque meatu
faucibus artatis pandit utrumque latus.
Nec posuisse satis laxo navalia portu:
Ne vaga vel tutas ventilet aura rates,
interior medias sinus invitatus in aedes
instabilem fixis aera nescit aquis;
qualis in Euboicis captiva natatibus unda
sustinet alterno bracchia lenta sinu.

Nosse iuvat Tauri dictas de nomine Thermas,
nec mora difficilis milibus ire tribus.
Non illic gustu latices vitiantur amaro
Lymphaque fumifico sulphure tincta calet:
Purus odor mollisque sapor dubitare lavantem
cogit, qua melius parte petantur aquae.
Credere si dignum famae, flagrantia taurus
investigato fonte lavacra dedit,
ut solet excussis pugnam praeludere glaebis,
stipite cum rigido cornua prona terit. 		To Centumcellae we changed our tack before a strong South wind: our ships find mooring in the calm roadstead. An amphitheatre of water is there enclosed by piers, and an artificial island shelters the narrow entrances; it rears twin towers and extends in both directions so as to leave a double approach with narrow channels. Nor was it enough to construct docks of wide harbourage; to keep the vagrant breeze from rocking the craft even when safe in port, an inner basin has been coaxed into the very midst of the buildings, and so, with its surface at rest, it knows naught of the wayward wind, like the water imprisoned in Cumae's baths which buoys up the unhurried arms plied by the swimmer in alternate sweep.

We pay a pleasant visit to the hot springs named after a bull: the distance of three miles seems no troublesome delay. There the wells are not spoiled by a brackish flavour, nor is the water coloured and hot with fuming sulphur: the pure smell and delicate taste make the bather hesitate for what purpose the waters should better be used. If the legend deserves credit, it was a bull that first revealed these hot baths by tracking out the source, when, tossing aloft the sods, as is a bull's way to prelude a fight, he grazed his downbent horns upon a hard tree-stump.
De reditu suo I, 237-258. Translation A.M. Duff.

Procopius mentions the city when discussing events in 537 AD:

And the Goths who were holding the stronghold at Portus abandoned the place by the order of Vittigis because their supplies were exhausted, and came to the camp in obedience to his summons. Whereupon Paulus with his Isaurians came from Ostia and took possession of it and held it. Now the chief reason why these barbarians were without provisions was that the Romans commanded the sea and did not allow any of the necessary supplies to be brought in to them. And it was for this reason that they also abandoned at about the same time a sea-coast city of great importance, Centumcellae by name, that is, because they were short of provisions. This city is large and populous, lying to the west of Rome, in Tuscany, distant from it about two hundred and eighty stades. And after taking possession of it the Romans went on and extended their power still more, for they took also the town of Albani, which lies to the east of Rome, the enemy having evacuated it at that time for the same reason, and they had already surrounded the barbarians on all sides and now held them between their forces.

The Goths, therefore, were in a mood to break the agreement and do some harm to the Romans. So they sent envoys to Belisarius and asserted that they had been unjustly treated during a truce; for when Vittigis had summoned the Goths who were in Portus to perform some service for him, Paulus and the Isaurians had seized and taken possession of the fort there for no good reason. And they made this same false charge regarding Albani and Centumcellae, and threatened that, unless he should give these places back to them, they would resent it. But Belisarius laughed and sent them away, saying that this charge was but a pretext, and that no one was ignorant of the reason why the Goths had abandoned these places.
De bello Gothico, VI,VII,16-24. Translation: H.B. Dewing.

[1] An inscription excavated in Rome mentions "Bellona Centum Cellis", but that must be a toponym in Rome, perhaps a reference to chambers created during the mining of pozzolana (EDR161291).
[2] An inscription mentioning a municipium and perhaps ordine has been linked to Centumcellae, but the place of discovery is most uncertain and the likely date 25 BC - 50 AD (CIL XI, 3545; EDR127615).