letter was utterly unknown at Rome during the space of five centuries, and was first introduced by the grammarian Spurius Carvillius in the year 540(98). It occurs, however, in the epitaph of Scipio Barbatus, which was written at least half a century before that date; and, what is remarkable, it is there placed in a word where _c_ was previously and subsequently employed, Gnaivo being written for Cnæo. The Letter _r_ was not, as has been asserted, unknown to the ancient Romans, but it was chiefly used in the beginning and end of words—_s_ being employed instead of it in the middle, as lases for lares. Frequently the letters _m_ and _s_ were omitted at the end of words, especially, for the sake of euphony, when the following word began with a consonant—thus we have Aleria cepit, for Aleriam cepit. The ancient Romans were equally careful to avoid a hiatus of vowels, and hence they wrote sin in place of si in. Double consonants were never seen till the time of Ennius(99); and we accordingly find in the old inscriptions sumas for summas: _er_ was added to the infinitive passive, as darier for dari, and _d_ was subjoined to words ending with a vowel, as in altod, marid, pucnandod. It likewise appears that the Romans were for a long period unacquainted with the use of aspirates, and were destitute of the _phi_ and _chi_ sounds of the Greek alphabet. Hence they wrote triumpe for triumphe, and pulcer for pulcher(100). We also meet with a good many words, particularly substantives, which afterwards became altogether obsolete, and some are applied in a sense different from that in which they were subsequently used. Finally, a difference in the conjugation of the same verb, and a want of inflection in nouns, particularly proper names of countries or cities, where the nominative frequently occurs instead of the accusative, show the unsettled state of the language at that early period(101). It is unnecessary to prosecute farther the history of Roman inscriptions, since, immediately after the erection of the Duillian column in 494, Latin became a written literary language; and although the diphthongs _ai_ and _ei_ were retained for more than a century longer, most of the other archaisms were totally rejected, and the language was so enriched by a more copious admixture of the Greek, that, while always inferior to that tongue, in ease, precision, perspicuity, and copiousness, it came at length to rival it in dignity of enunciation, and in that lofty accent which harmonized so well with the elevated character of the people by whom it was uttered.