(anc. geog.), the country of the Latins, at first contained within very narrow bounds, but afterwards increased by the accession of various people. The appellation, according to Virgil, is a latendo, from Saturn's lying hid there from the hostile pursuits of his son Jupiter; and from Latium comes the name Latini, the people, (Virgil): though Dionysius Haliarnassus derives it from king Latinus, who reigned about the time of the Trojan war. But whatever be in this, it is certain, that Latium, when under Æneas and his descendants, or the Alban kings, contained only the Latins, exclusive of the Æqui, Volsci, Hernici, and other people; only that Æneas reckoned the Rutuli, after their conquest, among the Latins. And this constituted the ancient Latium, confined to the Latins: but afterwards, under the kings, and after their time, it reached from the Tiber to Circeii. Under the consuls, the country of the Equi, Volsci, Hernici, &c. after long and bloody wars, was added to Latium, under the appellation adjectivus or superadded Latium, as far as the river Liris, the eastern boundary, and to the north as far as the Marsi and Sabines. The various people, which in succession occupied Latium, were the Aborigines, the Pelasgi, the Arcades, the Siculi, the Arunci, the Rutuli; and beyond Circeii, the Volsci, the Osci, the Aufones: but who first, who next, occupied the country, it is difficult to say.