[63 3 
tf with thefe. 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 fpedfators, gave way to the edge of 
<c the knife. And out of the body of the dint drop- 
cl ped feveral pieces of wood, (or rather oak) each of 
r< which had an infcription in the antient 
“ characters. The place where this prodigy, was 
<£ performed is now walled in, be-caufe in it is very 
“ religioufly kept an image of Fortune, holding Ju- 
<£ piter and Juno, reprefented as infants, in her arms, 
“ &c.” As 1 have formerly (6) proved that the anti- 
ENT CHARACTERS OF ITALY, Of the PRISCARU.M 
literarum not je of the Romans, were the EtruF 
can letters ; and as the infcription formed of .thofe 
characters, mentioned by Tully, in the paffage here pro- 
duced, cannot well be fuppofed (7) to have contained 
any other word than ^\j£)> FIR, or rather 
FVR, applicable to the deity, or deities, fo called* 
and worfhiped, both at Anti urn and Prsneffe ; we 
may fairly fuppofe the Etrufcan infcription before me 
to have glanced at the celebrated paffage juft pro- 
(6) De prlfcls Romanorum Liter! s Dijjertat, Oxonii 1746. 
Pbilofoph. Fran fad. Vol. LXi. p. 88, 89. 
(7) This muft be allowed extremely probable, as the pre- 
tended origin of the lots, mentioned by Tully, muft have 
been fuppofed prior to the foundation of their tetrpes at Antiuni 
and Piaenefle, and therefore the original infcription was only, in 
all probability, fuppofed to have been either fir, or FVR ; 
though, after the erection of thofe temples, the dtity or deities, 
now in view, might have been denominated F SOR ANT, 
2nd FOR ANT, on antient Roman coins. Vid. J. Vail]'. & Sig. 
Haverc. in Fam. Fleet or. et Rufh 
duced, 
