of the letters m and t as terminal sounds, show that
this Iapygian dialect was essentially different from
the Italian and corresponded in some respects to the
Greek dialects. The supposition of an especially
close affinity between the Iapygian nation and the
Hellenes finds further support in the frequent occurrence
of the names of Greek divinities in the inscriptions,
and in the surprising facility with which that people
became Hellenized, presenting a striking contrast
to the shyness in this respect of the other Italian
nations. Apulia, which in the time of Timaeus
(400) was still described as a barbarous land, had
in the sixth century of the city become a province
thoroughly Greek, although no direct colonization
from Greece had taken place; and even among the ruder
stock of the Messapii there are various indications
of a similar tendency. With the recognition of
such a general family relationship or peculiar affinity
between the Iapygians and Hellenes (a recognition,
however, which by no means goes so far as to warrant
our taking the Iapygian language to be a rude dialect
of Greek), investigation must rest content, at least
in the meantime, until some more precise and better
assured result be attainable.(2) The lack of information,
however, is not much felt; for this race, already
on the decline at the period when our history begins,
comes before us only when it is giving way and disappearing.
The character of the Iapygian people, little capable
of resistance, easily merging into other nationalities,
agrees well with the hypothesis, to which their geographical
position adds probability, that they were the oldest
immigrants or the historical autochthones of Italy.
There can be no doubt that all the primitive migrations
of nations took place by land; especially such as were
directed towards Italy, the coast of which was accessible
by sea only to skilful sailors and on that account
was still in Homer’s time wholly unknown to
the Hellenes. But if the earlier settlers came
over the Apennines, then, as the geologist infers the
origin of mountains from their stratification, the
historical inquirer may hazard the conjecture that
the stocks pushed furthest towards the south were
the oldest inhabitants of Italy; and it is just at
its extreme south-eastern verge that we meet with the
Iapygian nation.
Italians
The middle of the peninsula was inhabited, as far back as trustworthy tradition reaches, by two peoples or rather two branches of the same people, whose position in the Indo-Germanic family admits of being determined with greater precision than that of the Iapygian nation. We may with propriety call this people the Italian, since upon it rests the historical significance of the peninsula. It is divided into the two branch-stocks of the Latins and the Umbrians; the latter including their southern offshoots, the Marsians and Samnites, and the colonies sent forth by the Samnites in historical