506 Rev. Mr Williams on one Source of the 



and to return home. The Veneti, like the Romans, claimed a 

 Trojan descent, and referred to the em]o/ of Asia Minor as the 

 founders of their name and race. They, 1 like the Romans, called 

 the spot where their eastern ancestors had landed by the sacred 

 name of Troja. But the Greeks, who seldom regarded the testi- 

 mony of a people themselves as sufficient proof of their origin, in- 

 dulged in various speculations on this head. Strabo, 2 in one place, 

 informs us, that some writers held that these Italian Veneti were 

 colonies of the Gallic Veneti. In another place 3 he states it as 

 his own opinion, that these latter were the founders of the for- 

 mer Veneti, and that it was the similarity of the name alone 

 that caused them to be referred to the Paphlagonian E«V 



Without attaching any peculiar value to this opinion of 

 Strabo, it may be adduced to prove that there were some 

 stronger reasons than a mere similarity of name which led him 

 to this conclusion. And there would probably be a similarity in 

 language and habits between the Veneti on the Adriatic and 

 their namesakes on the shores of the western ocean ; and this 

 clew, if carefully unravelled, may perhaps lead us to a discovery 

 of who the " Veteres Galli" of Bocchus and Antonius were. 

 Now, Polybius, a writer well acquainted from personal inter- 

 course with all the tribes of the Vale of the Po, thus speaks of 

 the Veneti 4 : — " The territory thence stretching to the Adriatic 

 is occupied by another nation extremely ancient ; they are called 

 Veneti ; in habits and institutions not much differing from the 

 ka1«», but using a various dialect." This has been by some of 

 the most judicious inquirers into ancient history regarded as a 

 conclusive testimony against the Celtic origin of the Veneti ; but 



1 Festus, under Troja. 



2 Book v. p. 212. — Ilsg/ rwv TLviloiv diTlog tsli Xoyog, 6/ piv yag, xoti auloug <pa<si KtXruv sivui 

 a-rotxovg, tu)v o/mojvv/mojv, TLuguxiuvfluv. 



3 Book v. p. 195 — Touloug oiftat roug ouiviloug oixislug aval ruv xoflu, rov Adg/av. 



4 Ta bi vrgog rov Abgiav. ?)5?) trgoerjxovra, yevog aXXo ffavu to iraXawv diccxaleff^e. Tl^oaayogiuoo- 

 rai bt oviviloi. rotg i&iei xoti rui xod/nuj /3^a^u diatpsgovltg KsX7wv, yXwTIr) 8' aWoiq ^oj/u,ivoi. 



