ymbol could not possibly have been made
until after Ursa Major had become circumpolar, about B.C. 4000, I point
out that the oldest swastikas which have hitherto been found corroborate
this view, since they are all posterior to the time when Ursa Major became
circumpolar. Long anterior to its adoption, however, the primordial set of
ideas, suggested to the human mind by the observation of natural
phenomena, had reached an advanced stage of development, and had been
worked out, applied to the regulation of human life and symbolized, in
various ways, in widely separated countries.

It is impossible to conclude my comparative research, which has been
rewarded by a most unexpected wealth of material, without enumerating a
few facts connected with the earliest histories of Rome, ancient Ireland,
Britain, Wales and Scandinavia. These brief and doubtlessly imperfect
resumes will have fulfilled their purpose if they stimulate inquiry and
evoke authoritative statements by learned specialists.

ANCIENT ROME.

Whether Rome "was founded by the common resolve of a Latin confederacy or
by the enterprise of an individual chief, is beyond the reach even of
conjecture. The date fixed upon for the commencement of the city is, of
course, perfectly valueless in its precision" (Chambers' Encyclopaedia).
"According to Varro the city of Rome was founded B.C. 753, but Cato places
the event four years later.... The day of its foundation was the 21st of
April, which was sacred to the rural goddess Pales. There seems to be some
uncertainty whether Romulus gave his name to the city or derived his own
from it, but those who ascribe to the city a Grecian origin ... assert
that Romulus and Roma are both derived from the Greek word for 'strength.'
The city, we are assured, had another name which the priests were
forbidden to divulge; but what that was it is now impossible to
discover.(124) There is, however, some plausibility in the conjecture that
it was Pallanteum, and from the great care with which the Palladium, or
image of Pallas, was preserved, it seems probable that the city was
supposed to be under the care of that deity. If this conjecture be
correct, the Pelasgic origin of Rome cannot be doubted, for Pallas was a
Pelasgic deity....

"The institution of the vestal virgins was older than the city itself and
was regarded by the Romans as the most sacred part of their religious
system. In the time of Numa there were but four ... their duty wa