Page:Regal Rome, an Introduction to Roman History (1852, Newman, London, regalromeintrodu00newmuoft).djvu/30

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aiming to learn what and who the Latins were, we cannot dispense with inquiring what relation their language bore towards that of other known surrounding nations.

It is universally agreed among the learned that the Latin language is one of a large group, technically called Indo-European, to which the German, the Greek, the Welsh, and the Irish belong. The prevalent opinion moreover regards the two last tongues, (which are grouped together under the name of Keltic,) as peculiarly remote members of the family; and teaches that the Latin is far more closely related to Greek and to German, than to the Irish or Welsh.

The closer the question is examined, the more perhaps will it appear, that the discussion of it is embarrassed by the fact, that the Latin is a very composite language. That the old Latins were at least a double people, is implied in every ancient account; and it might be reasonable to think that large masses of