Act v. s. 1. stand thus:--

1. N' yth alionim valionuth sicorath jismacon sith 2. Chy-mlachai jythmu mitslia mittebariim ischi 3. Liphorcaneth yth beni ith jad adi ubinuthai 4. Birua rob syllohom alonim ubymisyrtohom 5. Bythrym moth ymoth othi helech Antidamarchon 6. Ys sideli: brim tyfel yth chili schontem liphul 7. Uth bin imys dibur thim nocuth nu' Agorastocles 8. Ythem aneti hy chyr saely choc, sith naso. 9. Binni id chi lu hilli gubylim lasibil thym 10. Body aly thera ynn' yss' immoncon lu sim--

_The Same, in Hebrew Characters._

[Hebrew: N' 'T `LYWNYM W`LYWNWT SHKWRT YSMKWN Z'T:] .1 [Hebrew: KY MLKY NTMW: MTSLYCH MDBRYHM `SQY:] .2 [Hebrew: LPWRQNT 'T BNY 'T YD `DY WBNWTY:] .3 [Hebrew: BRWCH RB SHLHM `LYWNYM WBMSHWRTHM:] .4 [Hebrew: BT`RM MWT CHNWT 'WTY HLK 'NTYDMRKWN:] .5 [Hebrew: 'YSH SHYD`LY: BRM T`PL 'T CHYLY SHKYNTM L'PL:] .6 [Hebrew: 'T BN 'MYTS DBWR TM NQWT` NWH 'GWRST`WQLYS:] .7 [Hebrew: CHWTM CHNWTY HW' KYWR SH'LY CHWQ Z'T NWSH':] .8 [Hebrew: BYNY `D KY LW H'LH GBWLYM LSHBT TM:] .9 [Hebrew: BW' DY `LY TR` 'N': HNW 'SH'L 'M MNKR LW 'M] .01

Six lines following these were determined to be _Liby_-Phoenician, or the language of the native Africans in the neighbourhood of Carthage, mixed with Punic. These, it was stated, had the same meaning with the ten lines in Carthaginian.

The following lines of Plautus have, by all commentators, {137} been viewed in the same light, _viz._ as the Latin version of the speech of the Carthaginian.

1. Deos deasque veneror, qui hanc urbem colunt, 2. Ut, quod de mea re huc veni, rite venerim. 3. Measque hic ut gnatas, et mei fratris filium 4. Reperire me siritis: Di, vostram fidem! 5. Quae mihi surruptae sunt, et fratris filium: 6. Sed hic mihi antehac hospes Antidamas fuit. 7. Eum fecisse aiunt, sibi quod faciendum fuit. 8. Ejus filium hic esse praedicant Agorastoclem: 9. Deum hospitalem et tesseram mecum fero: 10. In hisce habitare monstratum est regionibus. 11. Hos percunctabor, qui huc egrediuntur foras.

Guided by the metrical _paraphrase_ of the original author, Bochart laid before the scholars of his time a Latin version, of which the following is an English translation:--

_Close Translation of Bochart's Latin Version._

1. I ask the gods and goddesses that preside over this city, 2. That my plans may be fulfilled.--May my business prosper under their guidance! 3. The release of my son and my daughters from the hands of a robber. 4. May the gods grant this, through the mighty spirit that is in them and by their providence! 5. Before his death, Antidamarchus used to sojourn with me. 6. A man intimate with me: but he has joined the ranks of those whose dwelling is in darkness (the dead). 7. There is a general report that his son has here taken his abode; _viz._ Agorastocles. 8. The token (tally) of my claim to hospitality is a carven tablet, the sculpture whereof is my god. This I carry. 9. A witness has informed me that he lives in this neighbourhood. 10. Somebody comes this way through the gate: behold him: I'll ask him whether he knows the name.

To professed classics and to professed orientalists, the version of Bochart has, _on the whole_, appeared satisfactory. Divisions of opinion there have been, it is true, even amongst those who received it; but merely upon matters of detail. Some have held that the Punic is Syriac rather than Hebraic, whilst others have called in to its interpretation the Arabic, {138} the Maltese, or the Chaldee; all (be it observed) languages akin to the Hebrew. Those who look further than this for their affinities, Gesenius[33] dismisses in the following cavalier and cursory manner:--"_Ne eorum somnia memorem, qui e Vasconum et Hiberniae linguis huic causae succurri posse opinati sunt; de quibus copiosius referre piget._"

The remark of Gesenius concerning the pretended affinities between the Punic and Hibernian arose from the discovery attributed to General Vallancey; _viz._ that the speech in Plautus was Irish Gaelic, and consequently that the Irish was Carthaginian, and _vice vers[^a]_. The word _attributed_ is used because the true originator of the hypothesis was not Vallancey, but O'Neachtan.

_The Gaelic Version._

1. N 'iath all o nimh uath lonnaithe socruidshe me comsith 2. Chimi lach chuinigh! muini is toil, miocht beiridh iar mo scith 3. Liomhtha can ati bi mitche ad ['e]adan beannaithe 4. Bior nar ob siladh umhal: o nimh! ibhim a frotha! 5. Beith liom! mo thime noctaithe; neil ach tan ti daisic mac coinme 6. Is i de leabhraim tafach leith, chi lis con teampluibh ulla 7. Uch bin nim i is de beart inn a ccomhnuithe Agorastocles! 8. Itche mana ith a chithirsi; leicceath sith nosa! 9. Buaine na iad cheile ile: gabh liom an la so bithim'! 10. Bo dileachtach nionath n' isle, mon cothoil us im.

_In English._

1. Omnipotent much-dreaded Deity of this country! assuage my troubled mind! 2. Thou! the support of feeble captives! being now exhausted with fatigue, of thy free will guide to my children! 3. O let my prayers be perfectly acceptable in thy sight! 4. An inexhaustible fountain to the humble: O Deity! let me drink of its streams! 5. Forsake me not! my earnest desire is now disclosed, which is only that of recovering my daughters. 6. This was my fervent prayer, lamenting their misfortunes in thy sacred temples. 7. O bounteous Deity! it is reported here dwelleth Agorastocles. {139} 8. Should my request appear just, let here my disquietudes cease. 9. Let them be no longer concealed; O that I may this day find my daughters! 10. They will be fatherless, and preys to the worst of men, unless it be thy pleasure that I should find them.

From the quotations already given, the general reader may see that both the text and the translation of Plautus are least violated in the reading and rendering of Bochart, a reading and rendering which no _Gothic_ or _Semitic_ scholar has ever set aside.

s. 195. _The hypothesis of an aboriginal Finnic population in Britain and elsewhere._--A Celtic population of Britain preceded the Germanic. Are there any reasons for believing that any older population preceded the Celtic?

The reasoning upon this point is preeminently that of the Scandinavian (_i.e._ Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian) school of philology and ethnology.

Arndt, I believe, was the first who argued that if the so-called Indo-European nations were as closely connected with each other as they are generally considered, their separation from the common stock must have been subsequent to the occupation of Europe by some portion or other of the human species--in other words, that this earlier population must have been spread over those areas of which the Indo-Europeans took possession only at a later period.

That the divisions of such an earlier population were, _at least_, as closely connected with each other as the different members of the so-called Indo-European class, was a reasonable opinion. It was even reasonable to suppose that they were _more_ closely connected; since the date of their diffusion must have been nearer the time of the original dispersion of mankind.

If so, all Europe (the British Isles included) might have had as its aborigines a family older than the oldest members of the Indo-European stock; a family of which every member may now be extinct, or a family of which remains may still survive.

Where are such remains to be sought? In two sorts of localities-- {140}

1. Parts _beyond_ the limits of the area occupied by the so-called Indo-Europeans.

2. Parts _within_ the limits of the so-called Indo-Europeans; but so fortified by nature as to have been the stronghold of a retiring population.

What are the chief parts coming under the first of these conditions?

_a._ The countries beyond the Indo-Europeans of the Scandinavian and Slavonic areas, _i.e._ the countries of the Laplanders and Finnlanders.

_b._ The countries beyond the Indo-Europeans of the Iranian stock, _i.e._ the Dekkan, or the country of those natives of India (whatever they may be) whose languages are not derived from the Sanscrit.

What are parts coming under the second of these conditions?

_a._ The Basque districts of the Pyrenees, where the language represents that of the aborigines of Spain anterior to the conquest of the Roman.

_b._ The Albanians.--Such the doctrine of the _continuity_ of an _ante_-Indo-European population, from Cape Comorin to Lapland, and from Lapland to the Pyrenees. There is _some_ philological evidence of this: whether there is _enough_ is another matter.

This view, which on its _philological_ side has been taken up by Rask, Kayser, and the chief Scandinavian scholars, and which, whether right or wrong, is the idea of a bold and comprehensive mind, as well as a powerful instrument of criticism in the way of a provisional theory, has also been adopted on its _physiological_ side by the chief Scandinavian anatomists and palaeontologists--Retzius, Eschricht, Niilson, and others. Skulls differing in shape from the Celtic skulls of Gaul, and from the Gothic skulls of Germany and Scandinavia, have been found in considerable numbers; and generally in burial-places of an apparently greater antiquity than those which contain typical Celtic, or typical Gothic crania. Hence there is some _anatomical_ as well as philological evidence: whether there is enough is another question.

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