x thousand years--as they
say."[6]

Now, whatever may be the doubts implied by the last three words of this
extract, the evidence is to the effect that the old Iberians were a
lettered nation; the antiquity of their civilization being another
question. To modify our scepticism on the point, the text has been
tampered with, and it has been proposed to read _poems_ ({epon}) instead
of years ({eton}). The change, to be sure, is slight enough--that of a
single letter--from _p_ ({p}) to _t_ ({t}); nevertheless, as it is more
than cautious criticism will allow, the reading must stand as it is, and
the claim of the Turdetanians must be for a literature nearly as old as
the supposed age of the world in the current century,--a long date, and
a date which would be improbable, even if we divided it by twelve, and
rendered {etos} by _month_ instead of _year_. It denotes either some
shorter period (perhaps a day) or nothing at all.

So much for the Iberians; of which the Lusitanians of Portugal were a
branch; and of which there were several divisions and subdivisions
involving considerable varieties both of manners and language. In
respect to the latter there is the special evidence of Strabo that their
tongues and alphabets differed. And so did their mythologies. The
Callaici had the reputation of being _atheists_; whilst the Celtiberi
worshipped an anonymous God,[7] at the full of the moon, with feasts and
dances.

But who were the Celtiberi? I have already said that there were
difficulties upon this point. The name makes them a mixed people; half
Celt and half Iberic. If so, the French influence in the Spanish
Peninsula was as great in the time of Hannibal, as it was wished to be
in the time of Louis XIV.

With the exception of Niebuhr, the chief authorities have considered the
Iberi as the aborigines, and the Celts as emigrants from Gaul. To this,
however, Niebuhr took exceptions. He considered the warlike character of
the Iberians; and this made him unwilling to think that any invader from
the north had displaced them. And he considered the geographical
_distribution_ of the Celtiberi. This was not in the fertile plains nor
along the banks of fertilizing rivers, nor yet in the districts of the
golden corn and the precious wool of Hispania, but in the rougher
mountain tracts, in the quarters whereto an aboriginal inhabitant would
be more likely to retire, than an invading conqueror to covet, I admit
the difficulty implied i