north by the river Mac'ra, and on the south and east by the Tiber. The
chain of the Apennines, which intersects middle and Lower Italy,
commences in the north of Etru'ria. The chief river is the Ar'nus,
_Arno_. 15. The names Etruscan and Tyrrhenian, indifferently applied
to the inhabitants of this country, originally belonged to different
tribes, which, before the historic age, coalesced into one people. The
Etruscans appear to have been Celts who descended from the Alps; the
Tyrrhenians were undoubtedly a part of the Pelas'gi who originally
possessed the south-east of Europe. The circumstances of the
Pelasgic migration are differently related by the several historians,
but the fact is asserted by all.[1] These Tyrrhenians brought with
them the knowledge of letters and the arts, and the united people
attained a high degree of power and civilization, long before the name
of Rome was known beyond the precincts of Latium. They possessed a
strong naval force, which was chiefly employed in piratical
expeditions, and they claimed the sovereignty of the western seas. The
first sea-fight recorded in history was fought between the fugitive
Phocians,[2] and the allied fleets of the Tyrrhenians and the
Carthaginians (B.C. 539.)

16. To commerce and navigation the Etruscans were indebted for their
opulence and consequent magnificence; their destruction was owing to
the defects of their political system. There were twelve Tuscan cities
united in a federative alliance. Between the Mac'ra and Arnus were,
Pi'sæ, _Pisa_; Floren'tia, _Florence_; and Fæ'sulæ: between the Arnus
and the Tiber, Volate'rræ, _Volterra_; Volsin'ii, _Bolsena_; Clu'sium,
_Chiusi_; Arre'tium, _Arrezzo_; Corto'na; Peru'sia, _Perugia_, (near
which is the Thrasamene lake); Fale'rii, and Ve'ii.

17. Each of these cities was ruled by a chief magistrate called