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.
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