. Up hill and down dale in ancient Etruria. d Greek and Roman historians tomodify or to change their views respecting the originof the Etruscan people would form a very interestingfield of speculation. Yet to embark upon such an enterprise would bebeyond the scope of this work and the ability of thewriter. Suffice it then to observe, for the present,that those discoveries have placed us not only in afar better position for arriving at juster conclusions,but also upon an altogether different point of viewthan that which the old historians were in possessionof. The modern Sciences of Ethnology,
. Up hill and down dale in ancient Etruria. d Greek and Roman historians tomodify or to change their views respecting the originof the Etruscan people would form a very interestingfield of speculation. Yet to embark upon such an enterprise would bebeyond the scope of this work and the ability of thewriter. Suffice it then to observe, for the present,that those discoveries have placed us not only in afar better position for arriving at juster conclusions,but also upon an altogether different point of viewthan that which the old historians were in possessionof. The modern Sciences of Ethnology, Philology,Palaeography, comparative Anatomy—in a word thestudy of Archaeology—have shouldered out and dis-placed the barren theories and inconsequent pro-nouncements of incurious historians. We stand upon an altogether higher plane. It is true that we have to rummage among dust andashes of thousands of tombs for our records,—yet onesuch Sepulchre is a truer witness to the Etruscanpast than all the ingenious conjectures of superficial. {? f. HISTORY OF THE ETRUSCANS 29 chroniclers. The Etruscans themselves are our onlyhistorians. The greatness of the nation is attested by themassive remains of their great city-walls. Their religious observances, their social customs,their beliefs, their refined tastes, and their luxuryare written in their Sepulchres and in the contentsof those tombs. Their Sarcophagi, their cineraryurns, their sculptures, their paintings, their vases,their jewels, their metal-work, their armour, indeedspeak to us, for other language there is none. Verilya Dead Language. And the Etruscans,—because thevisible proofs of their existence have to be disin-terred,—have appropriately enough been styled ageological Race. And yet it has to be confessed thatdespite all the assistance that Archaeology—(all theologies in fact—) have been able to afford, and de-spite the information which the Etruscan Tombs havegiven us, a heavy pall of mystery continues to hang
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