ad slain (_Polit._ vii. c. 2. 6), but proof is wanting that
these Iberi were Basques.

Iberian inscriptions have been found on the so-called _toros de guisando_,
rude stone bulls or boars, on other monuments of northern Spain and in
ancient sepulchres; some of these figures, _e.g._ at the _Cerro de los
Santos_ in Murcia, recall the physical type of the modern Basques, but they
are associated with others of very varied types.

Of the religion of the Basques anterior to Christianity, little is
certainly known. The few notices we have point to a worship of the
elements, the sun, the moon and the morning star, and to a belief in the
immortality of the unburnt and unburied body. The custom of the _couvade_,
attributed by Strabo to the Cantabri, is unknown among the modern Basques.
As elsewhere, the Romans assimilated Basque local deities to their own
pantheon, thus we find Deo _Baicorrixo_ (Baigorry) and _Herauscorrtsehe_ in
Latin inscriptions. But the name which the Basques themselves give to the
Deity is _Jaincoa_, _Jaungoikoa_, which may mean lord or master, Lord of
the high; but in the dialect of Roncal, _Goikoa_ means "the moon," and
_Jaungoikokoa_ would mean "Lord of the moon." The term _Jaun_, lord or
master, _Etcheko Jauna_, the lord or master of the house, is applied to
every householder.

There is no aid to be got from folk-tales; none can be considered
exclusively Basque and the literature is altogether too modern. The first
book printed in Basque, the _Linguae Vasconum Primitiae_, the poems of
Bernard d'Echepare, is dated 1545. The work which is considered the
standard of the language is the Protestant translation of the New Testament
made by Jean de Licarrague, under the auspices of Jeanne d'Albret, and
printed at La Rochelle in 1571. The _pastorales_ are open-air dramas, like
the moralities and mysteries of the middle ages. They are derived from
French materials; but a dancing chorus, invariably introduced, and other
parts of the _mise-en-scene_, point to possibly earlier traditions. No MS.
hitherto discovered is earlier than the 18th century. The greater part of
the other literature is religious and translated. It is only recently that
a real literature has been attempted in Basque with any success.

In spite of this modernity in literature there are other matters which show
how strong the conservatism of the Basques really is. Thus, in dealing with
the language, the only true measure of the antiquity of the