5. Only one half of Liguria was accounted part of Italy; the remainder
was included in Gaul. The Ligurians originally possessed the entire
line of sea-coast from the Pyrennees to the Tiber, and the mountainous
district now called _Piedmont_; but before the historic age a great
part of their territory was wrested from them by the Iberians, the
Celts, and the Tuscans, until their limits were contracted nearly to
those of the present district attached to Genoa. Their chief cities
were Genua, _Genoa_; Nicoe'a, _Nice_, founded by a colony from
Marseilles; and As'ta, _Asti_. The Ligurians were one of the last
Italian states conquered by the Romans; on account of their inveterate
hostility, they are grossly maligned by the historians of the
victorious people, and described as ignorant, treacherous, and
deceitful; but the Greek writers have given a different and more
impartial account; they assure us that the Ligurians were eminent for
boldness and dexterity, and at the same time patient and contented.
6. Cisalpine Gaul extended from Liguria to the Adriatic or Upper Sea,
and nearly coincides with the modern district of Lombardy.
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