This view entertained by the Greeks, though one-sided, is so attractive and seductive, that one easily allows one’s self to be captivated by it, especially as we have no detailed account of the natives of Italy to oppose to it. But amid a countless number of particular subjects requiring critical treatment in ancient history, people have forgotten to ask, How did the natives come to use this name? And this question changes our point of view. We have, indeed, no ancient Roman monuments on this subject, but we know for certain, that after the beginning of the seventh century, the name Italy was applied by the Romans to the whole peninsula, as far as Cisalpine Gaul; nay, Polybius extends it even to the foot of the Alps. The name Italy is very ancient, and occurs in the earliest fragments known to us; it is manifestly of native origin, and was habitually used by the Romans in their official language. What then were the limits set to it by the Romans? Did they consider themselves to be living beyond the boundaries of Italy about the middle of the fifth century when the Greeks drew their line of demarcation? If the Samnites and Etruscans were beyond that line, what was the name they applied to the whole of the peninsula? Almost all the coins discovered on the frontiers of Lucania and Samnium in southern Italy, bear the inscription _Viteliu_; and a statement in Suetonius, a very well read scholar, in his life of Vitellius, mentions _Vitellia_ as a divinity worshipped in all Italy. Some of the coins, moreover, have a peculiar figure, a bull with a man’s face. The ancients lastly inform us, that _vitulus_, in the ancient Italian language, signified both a calf and a heifer. Accordingly, I recognise in this figure the symbolical representation of a hero and archegetes of the people, who was called by the Greeks Italus, and by the Italian nations Vitellius or Vitalus, and was represented on their coins in a hieroglyphical manner as a bull. This figure of the bull has always been misunderstood; all kinds of symbolical and mythological explanations have been attempted, and a vast deal has been written about Ammon, Bacchus, and the like. All countries derive their names from their inhabitants; Egypt alone, which was thus called by the Ionians from its river (the Odyssey describes it as a διιπετὴς ποταμός), forms an exception. This statement is certain, for _Aegyptus_ was the original name of the river Nile which is singularly remarkable, and when swollen fills the whole country; so that both have the same name. The name _Egypt_ was foreign to the natives as a name of their country; the name with them was _Chemi_, whence the people ought to have been called Χημοί or Χῆμες. With this single exception, the names of countries are derived from their inhabitants; in Greek geography we always have first the name of the people, and then that of the country. So also Ἰταλοί is the original name of the people, and from it is formed _Italia_, the country of the Itali.