EARLY HISTORY. 
in a skirmish with the Fiesolans ; others suppose Florence to 
be a corruption of the word Fluentia, from the town being 
situated at the confluence of the Arno and Mugnone ; others 
again assert that Florence or Florentia only signified a flourish¬ 
ing city ; but popular tradition ascribes the name to the 
abundance of flowers for which the district is noted : lilies, the 
Iris Florentia, grow wild in the fields and in the clefts and 
crannies of the walls, and flourish now as they did two thousand 
years ago ; for Florence is, and always will be, the City of 
Flowers. The lily, too, as the emblem of the Virgin, the 
patroness of Florence, is represented on the banner held by the 
favourite saint, Reparata, and is also figured on the red shield 
of the Republic. 
Florentia is believed to have been a commercial suburb of 
the Etruscan city Fesulae, where an active traffic was carried on 
in iron, extracted from the island of Elba, and brought up the 
River Arno from Pisa. 
The decline of the ancient Etruscan city of Fiesole preceded 
the triumph of Sulla over Marius. When master of Rome, 
Sulla punished the inhabitants of those Italian towns which had 
taken the side of his rival, by depriving them of the Roman 
franchise, and by confiscating their territory to bestow it on his 
own soldiers. Twenty-three legions (by some estimated at 
forty-seven) received grants of land, among which was the 
territory belonging to Fiesole. These rude soldiers, however, 
showed themselves worthy of their Roman origin, and Florentia 
shortly presented a miniature copy of the mother city, with her 
Field of Mars, her Forum, Temple of Mars, Baths, Theatre, 
and Amphitheatre ; there was even an aqueduct to convey 
drinking-water from a distance of seven miles, for it appears 
that the waters of the Arno and the Mugnone were always in¬ 
sufficient for the supply of the city, and the springs were few 
and unwholesome. Both Tully and Sallust speak in terms of 
praise of the new colonists, but add that, owing to the super¬ 
fluity of their wealth, they were so lavish in their expenditure,