Page:The History of Armenia - Avdall - Volume 1.djvu/48

3 was the Armenian; it is, however, certain that no records have been handed down to us by our forefathers concerning the origin of the language; but tradition goes so far as to assert positively that it is the identical one which was used by the first settlers in Armenia, who without doubt were the children of Ham and Japheth. These are the generations which immediately lead to the first Armenian lord or chief: Japheth begat Gomer, who was the father of Torgomah and Ascanaz: Torgomah was the father of Haicus, from whom are descended the Haics or Armenians. The etymological signification of Haicus is, the father or founder of a particular race of men. These, as I have before observed, are the Armenians, who, notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of fortune, amidst the direst persecutions that ever visited a people, have preserved the bond of union with a fortitude which, alas! has only marked them out to the rest of the world as fugitives and wanderers, I might almost add, as anomalies and exceptions to the social compact amongst mankind.

Having given this short account of the origin of the Armenians, we shall now commence a detail of the several events that have distinguished them under the different modes of government through which they have passed.