smen? The Roumanians are descended from the legions
and colonists who were led into Dacia by Trajan and other emperors: they
were called Wallachs from Pius of Flaccus (after a German
pronunciation), but by us, because they are such good marksmen.'

AEneas Sylvius (Pope Pius II., 1458) is still more explicit. In a few
pithy sentences he gives the geography of Wallachia and Transylvania;
the history of Dacia from the time of the Persian and Greek wars to the
Roman conquest; the fall of the colony; the derivation of the name from
Flaccus; and then he adds: 'The people even now speak the Roman
language, but so mutilated that an Italian can hardly understand them.'

And not only did learned writers recognise the descent of the Wallachs
from the old Roman colonists, but crowned heads referred to it in their
communications with the Bulgarian chiefs and with one another, as we
shall see presently. Lauriani, from whose work we have made these
extracts, says that the Hungarian writers were nearly always silent on
the subject, or spoke of it with the utmost bitterness. He, however,
quotes two who, in treating of the various nationalities, admit that
Moldavia and Wallachia contain the descendants of the Roman colonists
who speak a perverted Latin. One of them gives an extract from a poem by
Martin Opitz (1621), who describes the national dance of Wallachia, the
Hora, or 'Chora' as he calls it. After speaking of the vicissitudes
through which the people have passed, he says of their language that the
Roman tongue is still in vogue; and of the people who are dancing he
says: 'The men, who are almost made (? clothed) upon the Roman model,
are bad, but witty, think much and say little.'[124]

We have already made a brief reference to the influence of the barbarian
rule upon the language and habits of the modern Roumanians, and it is
very interesting to find that in the seventeenth century, when Opitz
lived, this fact had already been noticed. Although it concerns chiefly
the national sentiment of the Roumanians of to-day and is no doubt very
fascinating for them, the enquiry still presents some interesting
problems for readers of every nationality.

[Footnote 122: Modern French and German writers called them
Petschenigues and Petschenegen.]

[Footnote 123: For further details concerning the Patzinakitai and
Wallachs the student must consult the pages of Roesler, Pic, Engel,
Lauriani, &c.]

[Footnote 124:

'Die Menschen, die