About the middle of the peninsula there runs down, westward from the
Apennines, a river called the Tiber, flowing rapidly between seven low
hills, which recede as it approaches the sea. One, in especial, called
the Palatine Hill, rose separately, with a flat top and steep sides,
about four hundred yards from the river, and girdled in by the other
six. This was the place where the great Roman power grew up from
beginnings, the truth of which cannot now be discovered.

[Illustration: CURIOUS POTTERY.]

There were several nations living round these hills--the Etruscans,
Sabines, and Latins being the chief. The homes of these nations seem to
have been in the valleys round the spurs of the Apennines, where they
had farms and fed their flocks; but above them was always the hill which
they had fortified as strongly as possible, and where they took refuge
if their enemies attacked them. The Etruscans built very mighty walls,
and also managed the drainage of their cities wonderfully well. Many of
their works remain to this day, and, in especial, their monuments have
been opened, and the tomb of each chief has been found, adorned with
figures of himself, half lying, half sitting; also curious pottery in
red and black, from which something of their lives and ways is to be
made out. They spoke a different language from what has become Latin,
and they had a different religion, believing in one great Soul of the
World, and also thinking much of rewards and punishments after death.
But we know hardly anything about them, except that their chiefs were
called Lucumos, and that they once had a wide power which they had lost
before the time of history. The Romans called them Tusci, and Tuscany
still keeps its name.