Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/15

 ROMAN CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.

FIRST PERIOD.

THE FORMATION OF THE ROMAN STATE, 753–509 B.C.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

I.

The Italians.—The Italians were a branch of the Indo-European race. In language they were most closely related to the Celts, but throughout their history they were most intimately connected with the Greeks, and they had little in common with the Etruscans, who probably were not Indo-Europeans.

They entered Italy from the North, and may for a considerable time have dwelt in the plains of the Po. In very early times they crossed the Apennines and settled in central Italy. They had at that time separated into two main divisions, the Latins and the Umbro-Sabellians; and they spoke dialects which formed two quite distinct groups.

The Latins perhaps preceded the others and settled on the west coast in the neighborhood of the Tiber. The