Some of them were of Greek origin, and others had emigrated
from countries just north of Italy, though, as we now know that Asia
was the cradle of our race, and especially of that portion of it that
has peopled Europe, we suppose that all the dwellers on the boot-shaped
peninsula had their origin on that mysterious continent at some early
period.
If ?neas could have gone to the southern part of Italy,--to that part
from which travellers now take the steamships for the East at Brindisi,
he would have found some of the emigrants from the North. If he had
gone to the north of the river Tiber, he would have seen a mixed
population enjoying a greater civilization than the others, the
aristocracy of which had come also from the northern mountains, though
the common people were from Greece or its colonies. These people of
Greek descent were called Etruscans, and it has been discovered that
they had advanced so far in civilization, that they afterwards gave
many of their customs to the city of Rome when it came to power. A
confederacy known as the "Twelve Cities of Etruria" became famous
afterwards, though no one knows exactly which the twelve were. Probably
they changed from time to time; some that belonged to the union at one
period, being out of it at another.
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