93 Ciacconius, however, is of opinion that this is not precisely what was inscribed on the base of the column in the time of Duillius, for that the inscription, having been greatly effaced, was repaired, or rather engraved anew, after the time of Julius Cæsar. _In Colum. Rost. Explic._ _ 94 Illustrations of Childe Harold_, p. 169. 95 This sort of rustic Latin has by some writers been supposed to be the origin of the modern Italian. 96 Omnino ad jura pontificalia pertinere videntur. _In Dempsteri libros Paralipomena_. Ed. Luca, 1767. It was on these Eugubian tables that, in modern times, the alphabet of the Etruscan language was first found. At the earliest attempt it was very imperfect and contradictory; Maffei maintaining that these tables were in Hebrew, and Gori that they were in Greek characters; but at length in 1732, M. Bourguet, a Frenchman, by comparing the tables in the Roman with those in the Etruscan character, found that the former was a compendium of the latter, and that many words in the one corresponded with words in the other. Having got this key, he was enabled, by comparing word with word, and letter with letter, to form an alphabet, which, though not perfect, was much more complete than any previously produced, and was found to be the same with that of the Pelasgi, and not very different from the alphabet communicated to the Greeks by Cadmus. _Dissertaz. dell Academia Etrusca_. T. I. p. 1. 1742. 97 Quintilian, _Institut._ Lib. I. c. 7. _ 98 Quæstiones Romanæ_. 99 Festus, voce _Solitaurilia_. 100 For a fuller detail of these variations see Funccius _de Pueritia Ling. Lat._ c. 5. Id. _de Adolescentia Ling. Lat._ c. 7. and Terrasson, _Hist. de la Jurisprudence Romaine_. Part I. par. 8. 101 For a fuller detail of these variations see Funccius _de Pueritia Ling. Lat._ c. 5. Id. _de Adolescentia Ling. Lat._ c. 7. and Terrasson, _Hist. de la Jurisprudence Romaine_. Part I. par. 8. 102 This numeration, which rests on the authority of Diodorus Siculus, (Lib. XII.) and Strabo, (Lib. VI.) has been a subject of considerable discussion and controversy in modern times. (See Wallace on the numbers of Mankind, Hume’s Essay on Populousness of Ancient Nations, and Gibbon’s Miscellaneous Works, vol. III. p. 178.) In all MSS. of ancient authors, the numbers are corrupt and uncertain. 103 Plutarch, _De Exilio_. Id. _Vit. decem. Orator._ Strabo, _Geog._ Lib. XIV. 104 Cicero, _Cato Major, seu de Senectute_, c. 12. _ 105 Rhetoricorum_, Lib. II. c. 1. 106 Horat. _Epist._ Lib. II. ep. 1. v. 58.