New ideas, too, rather than new blood was what was introduced by the Romans; the great change which they effected being that of the language from Iberic to Latin. At the same time, it is by no means safe to say that the Turdetanian civilization was wholly of foreign origin--half Roman and half Phœnician. The inland cities could scarcely be the latter. Yet they existed when Rome first began its conquests. So high do I put either the actual civilization of the southern Iberians, or (what is nearly the same thing) the capacity for receiving its elements, that I doubt whether it stands on a lower level than that of Northern Italy itself _minus_ its geographical advantages of contiguity to Greece. Their remote position was a great disadvantage, and so was the comparative smallness of their sea-board, arising from the unindented character of the peninsular coast. Between the garrisons of Rome and Carthage we may safely assume some intermixture of native African blood--Numidian, Gætulian, or Mauritanian--Amazirgh, Kabail, or Berber. It is safe, too, not exactly to exclude Greek influences from Turdetanian Iberia altogether, but to hold as a general rule that, from the monopolizing character of the Phœnician commerce--especially the Carthaginian branch of it--the Greek and Phœnician influences were in the inverse ratio to each other. The chief _negative_ fact connected with ancient Bætica is, that none of its geographical localities end in -_briga_, a remark, of which we shall soon see the import.