these regions before the arrival of the Greeks. The use of the name of Ausonia for the whole Italian peninsula was merely poetical, at least it is not found in any extant prose writer; and Dionysius indicates that it was used by the Greeks in very early times, associates it with Hesperia and Saturnia, both of them obviously poetical appellations. Lycophron, though he does not use the name of Ausonia, repeatedly applies the adjective "Ausontan" both to the country and people, apparently as equivalent to "Italian"; for he includes under the appellation, Arpi in Apulia, Agylla in Etruria, the neighbourhood of Cumae in Campania, and the banks of the Crathis in Lucania. Apollonius Rhodius, a little later, seems to use the name of Ausonia precisely in the sense in which it is employed by Dionysius Periegetes and other Greek poets of later times (for the whole Italian peninsula). It was probably only adopted by the Alexandrian writers as a poetical equivalent for Italia, a name which is not found in any poets of that period. From them the name of Ausonia was adopted by the Roman poets in the same sense, and at a later period became not uncommon even in prose writers. The etymology of the name of Ausones is uncertain; but it seems not improbable that it is originally connected with the same root as Oscus or Opicus. History The first Greek settlers found Italy inhabited by three major populations: Ausones, Oenotrians and Iapyges. The Ausones spoke an Indo-European language and were probably present in Italy at least from the 17th century BC. Continental Ausones The core of the Ausonian people lived in a territory called Ausonia: in the 8th century BC it included what is now southern Lazio and Campania until the Sele river. In one passage Livy speaks of Cales as their chief city; but a little later he tells us that they had three cities, Ausona, Minturnae, and Vcscia, all of which appear to have been situated in the plains bordering on the Liris, not far from its mouth. At this period they were certainly an inconsiderable tribe, and were able to offer but little resistance to the Roman arms. Their city of Cales was captured, and soon after occupied by a Roman colony, 333 BC; and though a few years afterwards the success of the Samnites at Lautulae induced them to take up arms