e north by Campania and Samnium, on the
east by Apulia, and on the south by the Bruttii. The Apennines run
through the province in its whole extent. The Lucanians were a branch of
the Samnite nation, which separated from the main body of that people,
and pressed on still farther to the south.

13. The BRUTTII[2] inhabited the southern extremity of Italy, lying
south of Lucania; and, like Lucania, their country is traversed
throughout by the chain of the Apennines.

Italy has been in all ages renowned for its beauty and fertility. The
lofty ranges of the Apennines, and the seas which bathe its shores on
both sides, contribute at once to temper and vary its climate, so as to
adapt it for the productions alike of the temperate and the warmest
parts of Europe. In the plains on either side of the Apennines corn is
produced in abundance; olives flourish on the southern slopes of the
mountains; and the vine is cultivated in every part of the peninsula,
the vineyards of northern Campania being the most celebrated in
antiquity.

The early inhabitants of Italy may be divided into three great
classes--the _Italians_ proper, the _Iapygians_, and the _Etruscans_,
who are clearly distinguished from each other by their respective
languages.

(1.) The _Italians_ proper inhabited the centre of the peninsula. They
were divided into two branches, the _Latins_ and the _Umbro-Sabellians_,
including the Umbrians, Sabines, Samnites, and their numerous colonies.
The dialects of the Latins and Umbro-Sabellians, though marked by
striking differences, still show clearest evidence of a common origin,
and both are closely related to the Greek. It is evident that at some
remote period a race migrated from the East, embracing the ancestors of
both the Greeks and Italians--that from it the Italians branched
off--and that they again were divided into the Latins on the west and
the Umbrians and Sabellians on the east.

(2.) The _Iapygians_ dwelt in Calabria, in the extreme southeast corner
of Italy. Inscriptions in a peculiar language have here been discovered,
clearly showing that the inhabitants belonged to a different race from
those whom we have designated as the Italians. They were doubtless the
oldest inhabitants of Italy, who were driven toward the extremity of the
peninsula as the Latins and Sabellians pressed farther to the south.

(3.) The _Etruscans_, or, as they called themselves, _Rasena_, form a
striking contrast to the Latins and S