s of
the Tyrrhenian and Ionic seas, belong to a later age; during the
regal period in Rome they seem to have been only gaining possession
of the settlements in which we afterwards find them. As a single
incident in the series of movements among the neighbouring peoples
caused by this Samnite settlement may be mentioned the surprise of
Cumae by Tyrrhenians from the Upper Sea, Umbrians, and Daunians in
the year 230. If we may give credit to the accounts of the matter
which present certainly a considerable colouring of romance, it
would appear that in this instance, as was often the case in such
expeditions, the intruders and those whom they supplanted combined
to form one army, the Etruscans joining with their Umbrian enemies,
and these again joined by the Iapygians whom the Umbrian settlers
had driven towards the south. Nevertheless the undertaking proved
a failure: on this occasion at least the Hellenic superiority in
the art of war, and the bravery of the tyrant Aristodemus, succeeded
in repelling the barbarian assault on the beautiful seaport.

Notes for Book I Chapter VIII

1. In the alphabet the -"id:r" especially deserves notice, being
of the Latin (-"id:R") and not of the Etruscan form (-"id:D"),
and also the -"id:z" (--"id:XI"); it can only be derived from
the primitive Latin, and must very faithfully represent it. The
language likewise has close affinity with the oldest Latin; -Marci
Acarcelini he cupa-, that is, -Marcius Acarcelinius heic cubat-:
-Menerva A. Cotena La. f...zenatuo sentem..dedet cuando..cuncaptum-,
that is, -Minervae A(ulus?) Cotena La(rtis) f(ilius) de senatus
sententia dedit quando (perhaps=olim) conceptum-. At the same
time with these and similar inscriptions there have been found some
others in a different character and language, undoubtedly Etruscan.

2. I. IV. Tities, Luceres

CHAPTER IX

The Etruscans

Etruscan Nationality

The Etruscan people, or Ras,(1) as they called themselves, present
a most striking contrast to the Latin and Sabellian Italians as well
as to the Greeks. They were distinguished from these nations by
their very bodily structure: instead of the slender and symmetrical
proportions of the Greeks and Italians, the sculptures of the Etruscans
exhibit only short sturdy figures with large head and thick arms.
Their manners and customs also, so far as we are acquainted with
them, point to a deep and original diversity from the Graeco-Ital