will ever be known in detail. Plunder
and spoliation were second nature to them, but they also spitefully
defaced escutcheons and armorial insignia which were the only available
keys wherewith to unlock the mysteries of the past. The Valletta museum,
notwithstanding its misfortunes, contains many curious and unique
specimens of antiquity, being almost entirely composed of such as have
been found upon the islands of this group. These consist of statuary,
vases, illumined marbles and very ancient coins, amphora of Egyptian
shape and mural urns. A considerable number of these and also some
beautiful Etruscan vases were found on the island of Gozo, and were
unearthed quite recently. One of the marble groups represents the
familiar subject of a wolf suckling the infants Romulus and Remus.
Another marble figure is a bust representing Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra.
This is in alto-relievo. Some of the metallic objects are too much
corroded by time and rust to enable one to divine their original
purpose, like the specimens seen in the museum at Naples exhumed from
buried Pompeii. There are three or four interesting medals exhibited
which are in excellent preservation, bearing Phoenician characters,
and some other articles which are inscribed in the same language. There
is one monument which evidently belongs to the period of the Goths,
besides a fine marble statue of Ceres, the product of the same period.
This was exhumed on the island of Gozo. A few medals bear Greek
inscriptions. There are some lachrymals and sepulchral lamps which came
from Roman tombs near Citta Vecchia, the ancient capital, also a couple
of terra-cotta sarcophagi from the same neighborhood. A square stone
slab of great interest bears a legend in Punic characters, designating
it as cut to mark the burial place of the famous Carthaginian general,
Hannibal. This was found in a natural Maltese cave near Ben-Ghisa.

It is claimed that Hannibal was born on this island, and there is a
respectable, intelligent family now living near the city of Valletta who
bear the name of Barchina, and who assert themselves to be his
posterity. Menander, the celebrated orator, was born at Malta. Aulus
Licinius, whom Cicero styled the Aristotle of Malta, and Diodotus, the
philosopher and intimate friend of Cicero, were also born here. The
latter died half a century or more before Christ was born, which reminds
us that the "Sons of Malta" were representative men in Rome about two
thou