,ROME. The design of this article is to furnish the reader with a brief outline of the ETHNOLOGY and HISTORY of ancient Italy, in so far as these are not already discussed or described under particular heads, to which reference will be made. As the Roman state gradually conquered and incorporated with itself the other states and territories of the Italian peninsula, and as these (in general) figure separately in history only during the process of this subjugation, it will be most convenient to consider them here.
the earliest times we find in Italy fire distinct races; three of which (IAPYGIANS, ETRUSCANS, and ITALIANS) may, in a restricted sense, he termed "native," inasmuch as we do not meet with them elsewhere; and two, GRE1,:ES and GAULS, " foreign ;" inasmuch as their chief settlements were not in Italy, but in Greece and Gallia. But, ethnologically, this distinction is arbitrary. There is no reason for believing that the first three races were indigenous, and the last two immigrant: the analysis of their languages, or of such fragments of their languages as survive, leads strongly to the conclusion that all were alike immigrant, and that in this respect the only difference between them is one of time.-1. The fapygians.—This race, monuments of which in a peculiar language (as yet undeciphered), have been found in the s.c. corner of Italy—the Messapian or Calabrian peninsula—is in all probability the oldest. 2. Etruscans.—The origin of this mysterious people is certainly one of the most interest ing, if also one of the most insoluble problems in history. It is not, however, necessary lo say anything about them here, as their history, character, and civilization are handled et length in the article ETRURIA.-3. what period the earliest immigrations into Italy of the so-called "Italian" races—the Latins and Umbro-Sabellians, took place, it is wholly impossible to tell; but it was undoubtedly long before the Etruscans had settled in Etruria. They were by far the most important of the various races that inhabited the peninsula; in fact, the entire historical significance of Italy depends upon them; and therefore it is fortunate that their ethnological origin and affinities are capable of the most certain demonstration. An investigation of their language, subdivided indeed into numerous dialects, often widely differing but fundamentally the same, has resulted in' the discovery that they belong to the great Aryan or Indo-Germanic family (see ARYAN RACE and AnYissi LANGUAGES), and are in particular closely allied to the Hellenes. We are therefore warranted in affirming that at some very remote period a race migrated from the cast, embracing the ancestors of both Greeks and Italians. By what route they proceeded, or at what point they diverged, we can only conjecture, for the problem is not yet solved whether the Hellenes reached Greece by way of Asia Minor or from the regions of the Danube; but, at any rate, Mommsen's statement that "tire Italians, like the Indians, immigrated into their peninsula from the north," may be regarded as certain. There is ground for believin5 that the Latins were the first members of the Italian family to enter Italy, and that, having crossed the Apennines, they spread themselves to the s. along the western coast, driving the Iapygians before them, and finally cooping them up iu the Calabrian paninsula—the heel of the boot. But this conquest belongs to prehis toric ages, and the original Latins of Ciunpadia, Bruttium, perhaps even Sicily (i.e., the races spoken of in classic legend as the Itali, from whom the peninsula received its name, the Margetes, Ansones, Siculi, etc.), were themselves in the course of time se thoroughly lIellenized by the influence of the rich and powerful Greek colonies planted on their coasts (see MAGNA GRIECIA), or so overwhelmed by the successive invasions of Sam nite hordes, that nearly every trace of a primitive Latin nationality has disappeared, and only here and there a solitary linguistic or legendary relic survives to indicate faintly the path which conjecture should pursue. It was only in Latium proper, where no Greek
colonies were founded, and where the fortune of war was in its favor, that the Latin branch of the Italian race firmly rooted itself. There, however, it did flourish, and petty as the district might seem—not more in all than 700 sq.m.--it was incomparably time mast important in the peninsula, for within its limits rose those seven hills on which a city was to be built that was destined to subdue and govern the world. The other branch of the " Italian" stock, the Umhro-Sabellian, must have entered Italy at a later period titan the Latin. Its advance along the central mountain-ridge—the Apennines—from n. to s. essa still be traced; and its last phases—i.e., the conquest of Campania and the other southern districts of the peninsula by the Samnite highlanders—belong to purely historical times. The oldest members of this branch are probably the Sabines (q.v.), who seem to have fixed themselves in the mountainous region to the Ise. of Rome, and arc regarded as the progenitors of that multitude of tribes which we find occupying the central portion of Italy—the Picentes, Peligni, Marsi, IEqui, Vestini, Marrucini, Frentani, Samuites—per haps also the Volsci and Hernici.-4. Gauls.—To a period considerably later and com paratively historical, belong the settlement of the Gauls in the n., and of the Greeks in the s. of Italy. The former a branch of the Celtic race, itself now ascertained to be also a member of the great Aryan family (see assirrc NATIONS), and therefore allied, however distantly, to the other Italian races, had, for ages before history begins, fixed themselves in the region now known as France. Finding further progress westward barred by the waves of the Atlantic, and being of a restless and excitable disposition, they turned their steps e. and s. e. , broke over the Alps (according to the legend in Livy, by the little St. Bernard) some time during the 3t1 c. after the founding of Rome, and poured down into the plains of the Po. Time first Gallic tribe that made its appearance on the soil of the peninsula is said to have been the Insubres, whose capital was Mediolanum (Milan); then followed the Cenomani, whose headquarters were Brixia (Brescia) and Verona, and after ward numerous kindred hordes, among the latest and most powerful of whom were the Boii (q.v.) and Senones, who forced their way across the Po, and effected a lodgment in the modern Romagna, occupying (besides an inland district) the coast of the Adriatic as far s. as Ancona. Hence, in ancient times, the whole of northern Italy was for a long period known as Gallia Cisalpina (Gaul on this, i.e., the Italian side of the Alps), to dis tinguish it from Gaul proper, which was called Gallia Transalpina. Gallia Cisalpina was again subdivided into two parts by the river Padus (Po); the northern being named Gallia Transpadaua, and the southern (the country of the Boii and the Senones), Gallia Cispadana. Various other tribes or peoples are found in the n. of Italy, such as the Liguriens (along the gulf of Genoa), and the Veneti (in modern Venetia), regarding whose origin—in the absence of all linguistic and other memorials—we are utterly in time dark.-5. Greeks,—The other people which we have distinguished as "foreign" was the Greek. There is, however, this distinction to be observed, that the Greeks were not (like the Gauls) barbarians; they did not swoop down upon the southern shores of Italy (like the Norse pirates °tulle coasts of England and France) to plunder and devastate;-nor did they force their way into the interior and dispossess the native inhabitants; they merely colonized time coasts, built cities, and carried on commerce. Through them it is probable the Romans acquired their earliest notions of the Greek literature, philosophy, and cultus. For further information concerning them, we refer the reader to the article MAGNA GILECIA, and to such of their cities as have received separate treatment.