The Story of Mankind [31]
coast of France.
Carthage could not possibly tolerate such competition. The
young rival must be destroyed lest the Carthaginian rulers
lose their prestige as the absolute rulers of the western
Mediterranean. The rumors were duly investigated and in a
general way these were the facts that came to light.
The west coast of Italy had long been neglected by civilisation.
Whereas in Greece all the good harbours faced eastward
and enjoyed a full view of the busy islands of the AEgean,
the west coast of Italy contemplated nothing more exciting
than the desolate waves of the Mediterranean. The country
was poor. It was therefore rarely visited by foreign merchants
and the natives were allowed to live in undisturbed possession
of their hills and their marshy plains.
The first serious invasion of this land came from the north.
At an unknown date certain Indo-European tribes had managed
to find their way through the passes of the Alps and had
pushed southward until they had filled the heel and the toe of
the famous Italian boot with their villages and their flocks.
Of these early conquerors we know nothing. No Homer sang
their glory. Their own accounts of the foundation of Rome
(written eight hundred years later when the little city had become
the centre of an Empire) are fairy stories and do not belong
in a history. Romulus and Remus jumping across each
other's walls (I always forget who jumped across whose wall)
make entertaining reading, but the foundation of the City of
Rome was a much more prosaic affair. Rome began as a thousand
American cities have done, by being a convenient place
for barter and horse-trading. It lay in the heart of the plains
of central Italy The Tiber provided direct access to the sea.
The land-road from north to south found here a convenient
ford which could be used all the year around. And seven little
hills along the banks of the river offered the inhabitants a safe
shelter against their enemies who lived in the mountains and
those who lived beyond the horizon of the nearby sea.
The mountaineers were called the Sabines. They were a
rough crowd with an unholy desire for easy plunder. But they
were very backward. They used stone axes and wooden
shields and were no match for the Romans with their steel
swords. The sea-people on the other hand were dangerous
foes. They were called the Etruscans and they were (and
still are) one of the great mysteries of history. Nobody knew
(or knows) whence they came; who they were; what had driven
them away from their original homes. We have found the remains
of their cities and their cemeteries and their waterworks
all along the Italian coast. We are familiar with their inscriptions.
But as no one has ever been able to decipher the Etruscan
alphabet, these written messages are, so far, merely annoying
and not at all useful.
Our best guess is that the Etruscans came originally from
Asia Minor and that a great war or a pestilence in that country
had forced them to go away and seek a new home elsewhere.
Whatever the reason for their coming, the Etruscans played a
great role in history. They carried the pollen of the ancient
civilisation from the east to the west and they taught the
Romans who, as we know, came from the north, the first principles
of architecture and street-building and fighting and art
and cookery and medicine and astronomy.
But just as the Greeks had not loved their AEgean teachers,
in this same way did the Romans hate their Etruscan masters.
They got rid of them as soon as they could and the opportunity
offered itself when Greek merchants discovered the
commercial possibilities of Italy and when the first Greek
vessels reached Rome. The Greeks came to trade, but they
stayed to instruct. They found the tribes who inhabited the
Roman country-side (and who were called the Latins) quite
willing to learn such things as might be of practical use.
Carthage could not possibly tolerate such competition. The
young rival must be destroyed lest the Carthaginian rulers
lose their prestige as the absolute rulers of the western
Mediterranean. The rumors were duly investigated and in a
general way these were the facts that came to light.
The west coast of Italy had long been neglected by civilisation.
Whereas in Greece all the good harbours faced eastward
and enjoyed a full view of the busy islands of the AEgean,
the west coast of Italy contemplated nothing more exciting
than the desolate waves of the Mediterranean. The country
was poor. It was therefore rarely visited by foreign merchants
and the natives were allowed to live in undisturbed possession
of their hills and their marshy plains.
The first serious invasion of this land came from the north.
At an unknown date certain Indo-European tribes had managed
to find their way through the passes of the Alps and had
pushed southward until they had filled the heel and the toe of
the famous Italian boot with their villages and their flocks.
Of these early conquerors we know nothing. No Homer sang
their glory. Their own accounts of the foundation of Rome
(written eight hundred years later when the little city had become
the centre of an Empire) are fairy stories and do not belong
in a history. Romulus and Remus jumping across each
other's walls (I always forget who jumped across whose wall)
make entertaining reading, but the foundation of the City of
Rome was a much more prosaic affair. Rome began as a thousand
American cities have done, by being a convenient place
for barter and horse-trading. It lay in the heart of the plains
of central Italy The Tiber provided direct access to the sea.
The land-road from north to south found here a convenient
ford which could be used all the year around. And seven little
hills along the banks of the river offered the inhabitants a safe
shelter against their enemies who lived in the mountains and
those who lived beyond the horizon of the nearby sea.
The mountaineers were called the Sabines. They were a
rough crowd with an unholy desire for easy plunder. But they
were very backward. They used stone axes and wooden
shields and were no match for the Romans with their steel
swords. The sea-people on the other hand were dangerous
foes. They were called the Etruscans and they were (and
still are) one of the great mysteries of history. Nobody knew
(or knows) whence they came; who they were; what had driven
them away from their original homes. We have found the remains
of their cities and their cemeteries and their waterworks
all along the Italian coast. We are familiar with their inscriptions.
But as no one has ever been able to decipher the Etruscan
alphabet, these written messages are, so far, merely annoying
and not at all useful.
Our best guess is that the Etruscans came originally from
Asia Minor and that a great war or a pestilence in that country
had forced them to go away and seek a new home elsewhere.
Whatever the reason for their coming, the Etruscans played a
great role in history. They carried the pollen of the ancient
civilisation from the east to the west and they taught the
Romans who, as we know, came from the north, the first principles
of architecture and street-building and fighting and art
and cookery and medicine and astronomy.
But just as the Greeks had not loved their AEgean teachers,
in this same way did the Romans hate their Etruscan masters.
They got rid of them as soon as they could and the opportunity
offered itself when Greek merchants discovered the
commercial possibilities of Italy and when the first Greek
vessels reached Rome. The Greeks came to trade, but they
stayed to instruct. They found the tribes who inhabited the
Roman country-side (and who were called the Latins) quite
willing to learn such things as might be of practical use.