[ 6 3 ] ~ 



" with thcfe frequent vifions, he obeyed.. He 'came 

 •« to the place appointed, and there, in the prefence 

 «< of feveral of his fellow-citizens, who laughed at his 

 *■* attempt, tried to cut a flint ; which, to the great 

 <c furprize of the fpeerators, gave way to the edge of 

 <c the knife. And out of the body of the flint drop- 

 *< ped feveral pieces of wood, (or rather oak) each of 

 «« which had an infcription in the antient 

 <( characters. The place where this prodigy was 

 if performed is now walled in, becaufe in it is very 

 " reiigioufly kept an image of Fortune, holding Ju- 

 <l piter and Juno, reprefented as infants, in her arms, 

 " &c." As 1 have formerly (6) proved that the anti- 

 ent CHARACTERS OF ITALY, Ol' the PRISCARUM 



literarum NOT-ffi of the Romans, were the Etruf- 

 can letters ; and as the infcription formed of thofe 

 characters, mentioned by Tully, in the p ail age here pro • 

 duced, cannot well be fuppofed (7) to have contained 

 any other word than $\jQ> FIR, or rather 

 FVR, applicable to the deity, or deities, fo called, 

 and worshiped, both at Antium and Pr«nefte ; we 

 may fairly fuppofe the Etrufcan infcription before me 

 to have glanced at the celebrated paffage juft pro- 



(6) Be Prifds Romenorum Literis 'J&iffertafl. Oxonii 1746. 

 PbihfopkTranfacl. Vol. LXk p. 88, 89. 



(7) This muft be allowed extremely probable, as the pre- 

 tended origin of the Iots, mentioned by *Tully, muff, have 

 been fuppofed prior to the foundation of their terr.-p'es at Antium 

 and Praenefte, and therefore the original infcription was only, in 

 all probability, fuppofed to hafve been either fir, or FVR} 

 though, after the erection of thofe temples, the deity or deities, 

 now in view, might have been denominated F SOR ANT, 

 and FOR ANT, on antient Roman coins. Vid. J. Vaill. & Sig. 

 Haverc. in Fam. PUtor. et Rujl. 



duced, 



