Censorinus informs us, on the authority of Varro, that this ancient people was not without its chroniclers and historians—_In Tuscis Historiis quæ octavo eorum sæculo scripta sunt_(62). But this eighth century of the Etruscans, according to the chronology followed by Lanzi, would be as late as the sixth century of Rome(63); and, besides, it is evident from the context of Censorinus, that these pretended _histories_ were, in fact, mere registers of the foundations of cities, and the births and deaths of individuals. Varro also mentions Etruscan tragedies composed by Volumnius(64). No date to his productions, however, is specified, and Lanzi is of opinion, that he did not write in Etruria till after the dramatic art had made considerable progress at Rome; and it certainly may at least be doubted, if, previous to that period, the Etruscan stage had ever reached higher than extemporary recitations, or pantomimic entertainments of music and dancing. But whatever the literature of the Etruscans may have been, it certainly had no influence on the progress of learning among the Romans. Neither the intercourse of the two nations, nor the capture of Veii, though followed by the final subjugation of the Etruscans, was attended with any literary improvement on the part of their unpolished neighbours. In fact, few nations have been more completely illiterate than the Romans were, during five centuries, from the commencement of their history; and of all the nations which have figured in the annals of mankind, none certainly attained the same height of power and grandeur, and civil wisdom, with equal ignorance of literature or the fine arts. For the pretended acquaintance of the elder Brutus with the Pythagorean philosophy, it would be difficult, I suspect, to find any better authority than the romance of Clelia; and the learned academy, which some writers(65) have found in Numa’s College of Pontiffs, must be classed, I fear, with Vockerodt’s literary societies, which existed before the flood(66).