POMPONIIUS MELA. See MELA.
POMPTINE or PONTINE MARSHES (Pomptine Paludes) was the name given to the extensive fens in the
Ponany
Pondi-
cherry.
south of Latium, on account of their vicinity to the town of Suessa Pometia. They covered a space which was 7 or 8 miles in breadth, and which extended in a south-easterly direction to the length of about 30 miles. On the W. a desolate tract of sandy downs, diversified with clumps of trees and lagoons, separated them from the sea. On the other side they were hemmed in by the dry slopes of the Volscian Hills. Through the level district thus inclosed the Amasenus (Amaseno), the Ufens (Uffente), and other streams from the neighbouring high lands, took their course, creeping sluggishly along, spreading their ooze and slime over the entire dead flat, changing the ground into one large quaking bog, and sending up disease, pestilence, and death into the overhanging air. This immense stagnant pool continued for many centuries to swamp and swallow up all attempts to reclaim the soil from its dominion. In 312 B.C. the censor Appius Claudius Cæcus, while carrying his famous Via Appia directly through the middle of it, diverted the water into various channels; but in no long time the streams had risen above these, and filled them all up with mud. Many years afterwards, Augustus cleared and repaired the choked-up drains; but the silent sapping of the floods soon destroyed them once more. Equally vain were the successive efforts of several emperors and many popes to convert this scene of noisome desolation into a dry and habitable region. Highwaymen, footpads, and desperadoes were the only persons who ventured to dwell in it. The waters also continued steadily to increase, until the Appian Way, with its arches and bridges, was completely submerged. It was not until the pontificate of Pius VI. that the attempts at draining were in any degree successful. Canals were then dug which effectively carried off the floods, and which have been able, with occasional repairs, to keep the greater part of the plain dry down to the present day. Rich pastures and fertile corn-fields now extend over a large portion of that space which was once covered with soaking and barren mud.