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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0038
22 CERVETRI. [chap, xxxiii.
It would appear that at its conquest by the Etruscans its
name was changed into Caere, but the reason of this altera-
tion we know not, unless we choose to attach credit to the
old legend, which tells us that when the Lydian or Etrus-
can colonists were about to attack the city, they hailed it
and inquired its name; whereon, a soldier from the ramparts,
not understanding their motives or language, replied with
a salutation—x°'Pe—" hail! " which they receiving as a
good omen, on the capture of the city applied to it as its
name.1 But this, like most of the etymologies of the
ancients, savours strongly of, what Pliny terms, the perversa
subtilitas of the grammarians.
In the time of JEneas, the city is represented by Virgil
as under the sway of Mezentius, a cruel and impious
tyrant, who was expelled by his subjects and fled to
Turnus, king of the Rutuli; while the liberated Agyllans
joined the ranks of the Trojan prince.2
In very early times, Caere is said to have cultivated the
arts; for Pliny asserts, that in his day paintings were here
extant, which had been executed before the foundation of
Rome; and he cites them as examples of the rapid pro-
gress this art had made, seeing that it appeared not to have
been practised in the days of Troy.3 Caere, even as early
1 Strabo, loc. cit. Steph. Byzant. v. of the Etruscan. Canina (Cere Antica
Agylla. Servius (ad Ma. VIII. 597) p. 25), who is of the old or literal school
relates the same story, but on the of historic interpretation, thinks that
authority of Hyginus (de Urbibus Ita- " the change of name, and the mingling
licis) refers this blunder to the Romans. of the Agyllans with the Etruscan in-
Miiller (Etrusk. einl. 2, 7, n. 40) thinks vaders can be established in the first
the original Etruscan name was " Cisra," ten years after the fall of Troy;" while
and cites Verrius Flaccus (ap. Interp. Niebuhr, on the other hand (I. p. 127,
Ma. X. 183. Veron.) in confirmation. cf. p. 385), will not allow it to have been
Lepsius (die Tyrrhen. Pelasg. p. 28) re- made even as late as the year of Rome
gards Caere as the original name, which 220 (B. C. 534).
came a second time into use ; and thinks 2 Virg. Ma. VII. 648 ; VIII. 481, et
it was Umbrian, not Etruscan, in con- seq.
formity with his theory of the Umbrian s Plin. N. H. XXXV. 6.
race and language being the foundation
It would appear that at its conquest by the Etruscans its
name was changed into Caere, but the reason of this altera-
tion we know not, unless we choose to attach credit to the
old legend, which tells us that when the Lydian or Etrus-
can colonists were about to attack the city, they hailed it
and inquired its name; whereon, a soldier from the ramparts,
not understanding their motives or language, replied with
a salutation—x°'Pe—" hail! " which they receiving as a
good omen, on the capture of the city applied to it as its
name.1 But this, like most of the etymologies of the
ancients, savours strongly of, what Pliny terms, the perversa
subtilitas of the grammarians.
In the time of JEneas, the city is represented by Virgil
as under the sway of Mezentius, a cruel and impious
tyrant, who was expelled by his subjects and fled to
Turnus, king of the Rutuli; while the liberated Agyllans
joined the ranks of the Trojan prince.2
In very early times, Caere is said to have cultivated the
arts; for Pliny asserts, that in his day paintings were here
extant, which had been executed before the foundation of
Rome; and he cites them as examples of the rapid pro-
gress this art had made, seeing that it appeared not to have
been practised in the days of Troy.3 Caere, even as early
1 Strabo, loc. cit. Steph. Byzant. v. of the Etruscan. Canina (Cere Antica
Agylla. Servius (ad Ma. VIII. 597) p. 25), who is of the old or literal school
relates the same story, but on the of historic interpretation, thinks that
authority of Hyginus (de Urbibus Ita- " the change of name, and the mingling
licis) refers this blunder to the Romans. of the Agyllans with the Etruscan in-
Miiller (Etrusk. einl. 2, 7, n. 40) thinks vaders can be established in the first
the original Etruscan name was " Cisra," ten years after the fall of Troy;" while
and cites Verrius Flaccus (ap. Interp. Niebuhr, on the other hand (I. p. 127,
Ma. X. 183. Veron.) in confirmation. cf. p. 385), will not allow it to have been
Lepsius (die Tyrrhen. Pelasg. p. 28) re- made even as late as the year of Rome
gards Caere as the original name, which 220 (B. C. 534).
came a second time into use ; and thinks 2 Virg. Ma. VII. 648 ; VIII. 481, et
it was Umbrian, not Etruscan, in con- seq.
formity with his theory of the Umbrian s Plin. N. H. XXXV. 6.
race and language being the foundation