Of this changeable tongue, the earliest specimen extant, and which is supposed to be as ancient as the time of Romulus, is the hymn chaunted by the _Fratres Arvales_, the college of priests above-mentioned, who were called _Fratres_, from the first members of the institution being the sons of Acca Laurentia, the nurse of Romulus. This song was inscribed, during the time of the Emperor Heliogabalus(85), on a stone, which was discovered on opening the foundations of the Sacristy at St Peter’s, in the year 1778. It is in the following words:— “Enos Lases juvate, Neve luerve Marmar sinis incurrer in pleoris. Satur fufere Mars: limen sali sta berber: Semones alternei advocapit cunctos. Enos Marmor juvate, Triumpe! triumpe!” These words have been thus interpreted by Herman: “Nos Lares juvate, neve luem Mamuri sinis incurrere in plures. Satur fueris Mars: limen (_i. e._ postremum) sali sta vervex: Semones alterni jam duo capit cunctos. Nos Mamuri juvato—Triumphe! Triumphe”(86)! There are just sixteen letters used in the above inscription; and it appears from it, that at this early period the letter _s_ was frequently used instead of _r_—that the final _e_ was struck out, or rather, had not yet been added—the rich diphthong _ei_ was employed instead of _i_, and the simple letter _p_, in words where _f_ or _ph_ came afterwards to be substituted. Of the _Carmen Saliare_, sung by the Salian priests, appointed under Numa, for the protection of the _Ancilia_, or Sacred Shields, there remain only a few words, which have been cited by Varro, who remarks in them, what has already been noticed with regard to the Hymn of the _Fratres Arvales_, that the letter _s_ often occurs in words where his contemporaries placed _r_—as Melios, for melior—Plusima, for plurima—Asena, for arena—Janitos, for janitor(87). The _Carmen Saliare_, however, can scarcely be taken as a fair specimen of the state of the Roman language at the time it was composed. Among the nations adjacent to Rome, there were Salian priests, who had their hymns and solemn forms of invocation(88), which are said to have been, in part at least, adopted by Numa(89). So that his _Carmen Saliare_ probably approaches nearer to the Tuscan and Oscan dialects, than the Latin language did, even at that early period of the monarchy.