holding rigorously in subjection a degraded caste Qf scpfs.not
much above the. condition of draconian helot#)* parallel
to this is alleged of any of the other old Ita^jan tribes;
This §ebms to imply thatothe;deminant race was too superior
in civilization* add5 too much opposed indangeuge and habits
to the conquered nation* to allow of their becoming blended
or amalgamated so as to form one people.
This hypothesis would have obtained more .general Sint
if there were any clear historical evidence,!#the Eastern origin
of the Tuscans and of. the event of their migration, as .there
appears to be in the instance of the Phocseans and the Garth a-
giniansï The evidence of such an event is indeed defectiv,e*,and
too vague to_be entitled" to implicit confidence, thoughjlfee
statement is supported by the-uniform testimony u f fradiitionj
and might be found recorded in authentic books if the litcrat
ture of Etruria had not perished. But there- are n o t,wanting
indications of the connection of thé Etruscan people with, Asi%.-
The Eastern origin of their arts..and“ culture is indeed admitted
by those who look upon the- raee as indigenous,, in .Italy-' ;■„!
shall close my observations on this subject by ad jerking/ to
two or three remarkable indications.
Ê The national character of the Etruscans .is very different
from that which may be supposed to have 'bekpged a tribe
of rude mountaineers from the Rhsetian Alps; The Ganls of
the Cisalpine retained their barbarous or simple-habjts in the
time M Strabo and Pliny, though they had h em settled , for
centuries in the 'cultivated plains which had formed: .part of
Northern Etruria. How can wer.account, admitriigntheir
Alpine and Barbaric origin, for the superior civilisation and
peculiar character of the Tuscans?. They were one o f the
most.cultivated nations of antiquity, famous for their industry,
devoted to agriculture,manufactures; excelling in arts both useful
and ornamental; in literature and science, such as science
"then was: they had a complex and elaborate system of rites
and ordinances in the hands of priests, who were not like the
Schamans of the northern barbarians, but revered as the depositories
of ancient learning.
I f it is suggested that they adopted the arts of the Pelasgi,
whom they are said to have conquered, the reply is unsatisfactory.
The Pelasgi were'themselves a roving.semibarbarous
“p ’eéplè*ian’d in-thferriwliole character the very reverse of the
Etruscans.“ j ;
&. The Superstition o f the.rEtruscajns. had many oriental traits.
Their'cösmol'o^y, and their doctrine -afi).%turlei, successive revo-
lutionsUnd eyclesof time, connected with:changes< in the destiny
of mankind, wêre. almost the exact éounterpart of the Indian
dbetrihê'Oh^i^fand manWantarns‘4 It resembles^ the Grecian
fable of the four\agesp, but is more complete rand-systematic, and
approaches more nearl^ifep the Indian theory, which appears
'to have spread at an early period through; many,,countries in
Upper Asia*. Ito cannot be doubted that; this Etruscan
doctrine had an oriental origin, nor is if)in the least probable
• that derived it from the East through the medium of the
Pelasgi.
„ <3. Niebuhr has argued, and perhaps: conclusively, th at the
Tuscan characters are not of-Pejasgic-origin, but derived imr
mediately from th e Phoenicians; but. the Phceniihansare not
known to have had any commercial intercourse, with Tuscany.
M would appear that the use of .these letters- must have been
.brought by the Etruscans: from A s ia .# J
4. The Tyrrhenian or Etruscan music was celebrated at
' Rome, where the use of wind instruments wa|^oiisidered to
be peculiarly aTuscan art. Virgil has the expression 4 Tyr-
rhenus clangor;” and the use of th e /4tibia or 44 avXog is
termed <4Ti*p<rjjvó»' The use of the aa\TnyZ or trumpet
was also introduced into Rome fromEtruria.^ Phrygia and
Lydia were the countries whence the Greeks derived the use
of the same instruments. , The musical art of the Etruscans
was in füct'either identical with that of the Lydians or very
similar to it, as it appears from a variety of passages cited on
this subject by Professor Muller.|| , <
5. Tyrrha was a city and distriètvon the river Caystrus, m
the southern part of Lydia. Southern Lydia was the country
* Sjuidas, von .'SvXX ag- u <
^ Cilicia contained Plirerilcian settlements. (See GfeseniuS, Palseogr. Fhoen.)
X JÉnèrd. viii. 526. Tynanes, t. i. p. 505. Anal. Br.
§ SaXfriy2v:£èp?)/ia'Tv(4|ó^i'»sov. Pollux.
.... || Muller's Etrusker, t .