502 Rev. Mr Williams on one Soured of the 



It is not equally vain to ask, who were the destroyers of a 

 power which could build such cities, of a civilisation so advanced 

 as this. History, indeed, is silent, but the occupation of the 

 country by the Lucanians and Apulians leaves us no room to doubt 

 as to the agents in the work of destruction. The original Apulia, 

 according to Strabo, was a small tract of country immediately to 

 the south of the Frentani, whence they must have spread over 

 the larger province which, in consequence of the conquest, was 

 called after their name. 



The reaction of the native population against the foreign co- 

 lonists, which proved thus fatal in the south, was carried on with 

 equal energy in central Italy by the Samnites, who assailed with 

 equal fury and success both the Greek colonies and Tuscan in- 

 vaders of Campania. The Samnites, like the Lucanians, were Sa- 

 bellians by blood, of Sabine race, and cognate with the Marsi, 

 Marrucini, Peligni, Hernici, Vestini, Hirpini, and Frentani. If, 

 therefore, we can trace the origin of the Sabines themselves, we 

 at once discover the origin of all the tribes that sprung from them. 

 In the words of Niehbuhr, 1 " the Italian national migrations came 

 down like others from the north ; and Cato's opinion that the ori- 

 gin of all the Sabellians was derived from the neighbourhood of 

 Amiternum, admits of no other rational meaning than that the 

 most ancient traditions, whether they may have been Sabine or 

 Umbrian, assigned that district as the habitation of the people 

 who conquered Reate." The same author 2 says, " Strabo calls the 

 Sabines autochthons. This name, applied to a people whose 

 spreading so clearly falls within the historical period, can only 

 mean that they cannot be taken for any colony from any nation 

 out of Italy." The question is thus very considerably narrowed, 

 and we have only to ascertain whether they are the offshoot of 

 any other people in Italy or not. To this a satisfactory answer 



1 In the chapter on the Sabelli and Sabini, vol. L 



2 Same chapter. 



