THE HUMAN SPECIES. 803 



THE VENET1. 



ACCORDING to their national tales, plainly the in- 

 vention of later ages, the Italian Veneti pretended to 

 be a colony of Trojan fugitives, under the conduct 

 of Antenor. After they arrived in the west, they 

 warred with Servius Velesus, king of the Euganeans ; 

 and their records hinted at a consanguinity with the 

 Heneti of Paphlagonia, where they were horsemen and 

 hired soldiers, and headed, it is said, by king Pyle- 

 raenus, they served Priam in the Trojan war. But 

 they were thrifty dealers, since to them is assigned 

 the introduction of mules in the markets of Asia 

 Minor. The Greek poets spoke of their country, situ- 

 ated at the mouth of the Eridamus (the Po), per- 

 haps also the Rhine, where the Celtae dwelt; and 

 Virgil was well acquainted with their legends and 

 assumed descent. Industrious, like modern Arme- 

 nians, they had successively demanded the protection 

 of the strongest power near them. At one time the 

 Ligurians, and subsequently the Romans, took upon 

 themselves to defend their interests from Gallic ag- 

 gression, Their capital, Padaviurn, now Padua, 

 probably was one of those neutral marts necessary to 

 barbarous nations ; it was older than Rome, and in 

 the time of Tiberius, the second city of Italy for 

 extent and riches. 



They were, Herodotus asserts, Ulyrians; and Ser- 

 vius names CEnetus or Wenetus as one of their kings, 



