ever they could make their own;* and the hazards, to which they unhesitatingly exposed their own lives, must have taught them a lesson of stern indifference to the security of others. The chances, too, were equal. Strength and skill were the arbiters of the contest. The prize of victory and the consequences of defeat were known and weighed before the sword was drawn.

But, although the commencement of nautical commerce was thus rough and unpromising, yet it was not long ere it began to feel the benign influence of advancing civilization. And no sooner was it perceived, that far more was to be gained by an equitable exchange of the products of one country for those of another, than by these predatory excursions, which, although sometimes successful, were always attended with double exposure, than it became an object of general attention, and was prosecuted with such ardor and address as rapidly carried it to a very high pitch of prosperity.

Here again the Etruscans took the lead. The beak or pointed prow, so terrible in the shock of naval combat, was invented by them. The double-fluked anchor, also, was an Etruscan invention. Even had the voice of history been silent, the names borne by the two seas which bathe the Italian peninsula would form an imperishable monument of the nautical enterprise of the Etruscans. Their colonies in Corsica and Sardinia have already been mentioned. Their first treaties with the Carthaginians were of a very early date; and, up to the third century of Rome, they not only competed with them for the command of the Mediterranean, but even attempted to follow their track in the more difficult and adventurous navigation of the Atlantic.

The materials by which this commerce was supplied were, in a great measure, derived from their own soil. Grain was exported from the fertile districts that border on the sea. Their forests furnished the best of timber. The iron of the vast mines of Elba was wrought at Populonia, and formed an important staple of traffic. The

Such may have been the meaning of Horace ;
"Illi robur et æs triplex

Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci
Commisit pelago ratem

Primus," &c.

mines of Volterra and of the territory of Siena gave copious supplies of copper, which was used in the construction of arms and of various utensils and instruments of labor, and was also coined as money. The native stores of wax, of honey, and of pitch, were enlarged by the annual tribute from Corsica, and exchanged in the course of commerce for various foreign productions. But the most active branch of commerce was the exportation, into different countries, of bronze images and domestic utensils of Etruscan make, which were eagerly bought up at high prices, to the great advantage of their manufacturers. Among the principal objects of importation, were the ivory of Nigritia, and the amber of the north, which were furnished, either directly or indirectly, by foreign merchants. The seaports were provided with extensive arsenals, public warehouses, and convenient docks.

Other states, also, shared in this lucrative commerce. The Rutuli, Volsci, Ligures, and Campani traded along the western coasts and among the islands of the Mediterranean. The Volsci and the Ligures ventured in their light barks as far as Africa, Gaul, and Spain. Timber, gums, wax, honey, and skins, were the exports of the Ligures; in return for which they received grain, oil, wine, and other necessaries of life, which their own soil did not produce. Their only manufactures were of coarse woollen. Other districts carried on a fruitful traffic in finer wools, and the Brutii drew ample returns from their exportations of pitch and tar. Thus, in ancient times, as among the republics of the Middle Ages, woollens, iron, pitch, and timber, were the great sources of Italian wealth.

A lucrative and active commerce was also everywhere carried on, from the coast to the interior, and thence back again to the sea. Commodious roads, of parts of which the solid paving still exists, facilitated and gave security to this intercourse. Small fees, on entering and clearing a port, and on the passage of a river or bridge, were the only taxes to which the merchant was subjected; and moderation in these was held to be the surest test of a good government.

Such a commerce as that, of which we have traced the outline, necessarily supposes the existence of an established currency. The first medium of general exchange was cumbersome and awkward, but still well enough adapted to the limited wants of its inventors. As the enlarging circle of

commerce afforded room for the introduction of more valuable wares, the coin of the country underwent a correspondent change. Copper was the first metal whose value was fixed by coinage, and the same practice was soon extended to silver and gold.

27. There is no art to which uncivilized man takes so readily as that of war; and yet none is more dependent upon civilization for its progress and its perfection. Savages rush to arms from the instinct of revenge; exhaust their strength in irregular efforts; and only lay by their weapons, when their passions have been satisfied, or their blind impulse spent. Civilized nations begin by formal denunciations of hostility; regulate their movements by the rules of art; and retire when their object has been obtained, or when the chances of failure overbalance the hopes of success. The savage trusts to his ambush; to the darkness of midnight; to the terror which he strikes by a sudden and violent attack. The civilized warrior, although he rejects not the advantages of an unexpected onset, confides in the skilful execution of well-directed manoeuvres, and in the overwhelming impulse of closely-united and concurrent squadrons. The former

seeks to destroy; the latter, to secure some immediate advantage, or to avert some distant and contingent evil. Hence, while war with the one is the unmitigated scourge of human kind, with the other it assumes a character connecting it with the arts of an improved society.

The military science of the ancient Italians was in the midway between these two extremes. The necessities of their situation made them soldiers; while the exposures of a hard and laborious life fitted them for the toils of service. But their progress in the more difficult and important principles of the art was limited by their imperfect knowledge of the science on which they depend. It would be unjust, then, to look for great discoveries, or to pretend that leading theories were understood, where their scientific basis was, as yet, incomplete. Still they enlarged the bounds of the art by several important discoveries, and it was to them that the Romans were indebted for many parts of their discipline.

Their arms, both offensive and defensive, varied according to the service for which the particular class of troops that bore them was destined, and were often very different among different tribes. The heavy-armed infantry, upon whose

firm lines the chief reliance for victory was placed, were clad in a strong and weighty armour, which protected nearly the whole person. The light-armed troops, as their name shows, wore a lighter armour, which, although unfit for the shock of a close attack, was well adapted to the distant contest which they waged with their slings, their bows, and their javelins. But, whatever the class to which he belonged, or the armour that he bore, the Italian soldier prided himself upon his equipment, and took pains to deck it with his richest and costliest

ornaments,

The mode of levying troops and organizing the army, was established by law. A solemn oath bound the soldier to his standard; and the religious veneration, with which this oath was observed, is singularly illustrated by several facts of ancient history. The legion was subdivided into cohorts, and contained a proportionate number of heavy and of light armed foot, together with the necessary train of musicians and of artisans, as well as a distinct body for the protection of the baggage. Military service, like taxation, was regulated by the census. The soldiers of the first rank, and the cavalry, which was always composed of the first class of citizens, were bound to equip themselves at their own expense. In cases of extreme danger, and when the ordinary number of regulars was not adequate to the urgency of the moment, others were added by individual choice. A corps was formed, composed solely of the most distinguished soldiers. Each member of this body then chose an assistant, for whom he became personally responsible. This assistant named a second upon similar conditions; and this was continued until the required number had been obtained. Besides these bands of citizensoldiers, there were mercenary leaders, who let themselves out to the highest bidder.

Campaigns were usually short and sudden excursions. The general led his troops directly up to the enemy, and either measured his strength in a pitched battle, or laid waste his territory. Camps were chosen with great care, and strongly fortified; each band raising its own works, and destroying them again before it marched. The same method of encampment was followed by the Romans, until the war with Pyrrhus gave them the model of a more scientific form.

In preparing for battle, the troops were usually drawn up in three bodies; a centre and two wings. The cavalry was stationed according to the nature of the ground, and most

frequently as a covering to the wings. The usual mode of advancing was in parallel lines; a form less adapted to complex manœuvres than the oblique, but admirably suited to those conflicts in which victory is decided by the struggle of man with man. Ambuscades, and all the devices to which a skilful general resorts in a mountainous or wooded country, were in frequent use.

While advancing towards the foe, they sought to terrify him by their warlike songs and the martial sound of their trumpets. The attack began by a discharge of missiles from the slings and bows of the light-armed troops; a shower of javelins followed, carrying terror and confusion into the ranks of the enemy; the heavy-armed infantry then advanced to the onset, with their short, heavy swords, which inflicted deep and fatal wounds; and the cavalry, hovering on the wings and watching the moment to charge, decided by its impetuosity the fate of the day. A crown of gold, and, if we can trust Florus, even the triumphant march, in which the victor was borne in a car richly gilded and drawn by four horses, were the rewards of distinguished bravery.

Roman history alone throws light enough upon the military character of the other people of Italy. The bloody annals of this warlike city nowhere record such desperate conflicts, such interminable struggles, such vigor in defence, and such perseverance in resistance, as in the long story of their Italian Five centuries scarcely sufficed for the subjection of the peninsula; but, its hardy inhabitants once subdued, and from enemies converted into allies and assistants, the whole ancient world was soon bowed to the yoke.

wars.

28. Every reader who has attempted to follow, with any degree of accuracy, the earlier periods of ancient or of modern history, must have been struck with the exceeding difficulties which attend every system of reasoning, that is founded upon etymology and the original structure of language. So flexible is this great instrument of human thought, that there is scarce any theory, be it ever so wild and extravagant, which, with a little ingenuity and a proper share of credulity, it may not be made to support. And yet so close is the connexion between the character of a nation and that of its language, that it is impossible to enter to any extent upon the examination of the one, without giving at least an inquiring glance at the other.

Hitherto the study of the ancient languages of Italy has