Non-Hellenic Portion of the Latin Language. 503 



can be given, because Zenodotus of Troezene, a writer quoted 

 by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, as the author of a History of 

 the Umbri, and who must be supposed to have examined into 

 the subject, expressly asserts that the Sabini were originally 

 Umbrians. These are his words, — " The Sabines, who are indi- 

 genous, inhabited first the Reatine District, but being driven 

 thence by the Pelasgi, entered that country which they still in- 

 habit, and having changed their name together with their situa- 

 tion, were called Sabini instead of Umbri." 1 



To connect the Sabini with the original population of Rome 

 is an easy task. Whatever was the origin of Alba, the supposed 

 metropolis of Rome, its blood could not have entered largely into 

 the veins of the Roman people. According to the national tra- 

 dition, the first occupiers of the strongholds which became the 

 site of Rome were a half-pastoral, half-bandit race, composed pro- 

 bably of the broken men of many a tribe ; but according to the 

 same tradition, the mothers of the second generation of Rome 

 were all Sabines. This would make all the children half Sabine 

 in blood, and far more so in language and feeling. When to this 

 we add that the same tradition assigns to the young state a new 

 settlement, which brings King Tatius and his countrymen into 

 the city in equal numbers, and with equal privileges, the portion 

 of Roman blood, not Sabine, is reduced to one-fourth at least. 

 Moreover, had not the habits, laws, and institutions been essen- 

 tially Sabine in the early ages of the Republic, the creation of a 

 Sabine legislator in the person of Numa, the citizen of the Sa- 

 bellian Cures, would never have been invented, much less tole- 

 rated. And had not the mass of the population been decidedly 

 Sabine in its inclinations, the State would not, after the losses 



1 Lib. ii. p. 49- — Zrivodolog ds Tgoifyviog, Gvy^aipsui Of/,j3gixov i&vovg, avfaytnug iarogu ro /j,iv 

 irpurov oixrjdai irtpt rr\v xaXov/aevriv Ptalivriv, iiai&tv bwo Yiikaeym e^eXadivrag, ng ravrqv afixtaQat 

 rr\v yrp iv6a wv oikoouoiv, xai ptlafiaXovlag a/ia rw roorai rouvofjjO. lafiivovg s£ Ofifigixuv tfgoaayogiv- 

 Srjvai. 



