Etruscan Sculpture.
The origin of the ancient inhabitants of Etruria in volves a question of more than usual intricacy, even among those historical inquiries where materials are scanty, or if abundant. perplexing and inconsistent. Here both species of are to he encountered. A few scattered rays only of certain knowledge break through the gloom of time, and the still deeper obscu rity accumulated by conjecture and hypothesis. These dispersed lights. we shall endeavour to concentrate and to direct steadily on the subject, free from all ad ventitious shades of them y or opinion, in order that the reader may be enabled to judge of the real influ ence exerted by this people on the progress of ancient art.
It is universally conceded. with some exceptions as to the extent of their dominion, that the Etruscans or Thyrreneans possessed at an early period the empire of Italy, and much of the refinement of the ancient world. But of their power and of their skill a few imperfect remains alone exist; while their scanty annals have reached us through the medium of the narratives of the Romans their conquerors, or of the Greeks their rivals. or these relations the writers are divided be tween two general opinions: one party affirms that the Thyrreneans, assuming the name from their leader, came originally and immediately from Lydia; in op position, it is asserted that Etruria was first peopled by the wandering tribes of the Pelasgic race who finally and at different times settled in Italy. On these two opinions, or modifications of them, modern authors have erected various, and in many respects conflicting systems into which we do not enter. At the same time, to adopt exclusively either the Eastern or Grecian colonization of the Etruscan states, will neither accord with contemporary, nor explain subse quent events. Under those circumstances, an endea vour to reconcile the discrepancies of statements which doubtless were drawn from purer and more ex tensive sources than can now be consulted, appears the only advisable proceeding.
Of the Nomadic nations who first inhabited Greece, the Hellenic and Pelasgic races were the most power ful, distinguished by different character and separate descent. The former, conspicuous for attachment to their native soil, made early improvement in the noble attainments which are fostered by settled habits; the latter, of a wandering disposition and uncultivated manners, never became eminent either in Greece or in Italy.. But there is undoubted evidence, not denied by any party, that the Etruscans had attained a degree of skill in the arts, opulence, security, and wisdom in their institutions, the Greeks were yet in a state of pastoral rudeness. Into Etruria, therefore,
the most ignorant of the roving tribes of Greece could not introduce that science and refinement unknown in their native country; nor, as distant colonies, is it rea sonable to suppose they could have outstripped the parent state, except by union with a more refitted peo ple previously occupying the seats into which they were received. On the other hand, the mythology of Etruria is identical with that of Greece, not merely in the general similarity which indicates a common though remote origin, but exhibiting a system adopt ed in a state of relative perfection. Again, Etruscan monuments commemorate th• earliest achievements in Grecian history prior even to the war of Troy, and of which no trace is to be found in the records of Gre cian art. These facts point to one only consistent and rational conclusion; namely, that there were two mi grations of colonists into Etruria at distant intervals and from distant settlements. This vie•.v reconciles the seeming disagreement of the classic authorities. It would appear, then, that the north-western shores of Italy were peopled as early as any part of Europe, and from the same eastern sources. These colonies, attaching themselves to commerce, naturally kept alive or improved whatever of knowledge they pre viously possessed in peaceful studies, to which the predatory, pastoral, and wandering life of other tribes, though perhaps established at the same time, proved fatal. These original settlers, who arrived directly from the east, appear to have been joined before the time of the Trojan expedition by numerous bands of the wandering Pelusgi. The two nations seem to have gradually coalesced, the warlike habits of the Greeks enabling the Etruscans to subjugate almost the whole of the peninsula, from the confines of Liguria to the straits of Messina; while the refinement of the latter could not fail to effect a favourable change on the cha racter of the former. It was an error very likely to be committed, ‘o elate the commencement of the na tion from the rise of the empire, and to confound in tellectual with political power. The Etruscans would learn from their allies the new and more lovely modi fications of older superstitions; and, to a people who had made some progress in the exercises of imagina tion, powerful charms would be presented, in the early records of Greece, where, to use the expression of Strabo, all is marvellous and tragic land.