That the Greek and Roman tribes before reaching civilization had passed through exactly the same processes of development as have been witnessed in the ascending scale among the North American Indians, the Arabians, and all other extant peoples, is shown not alone by the manner in which early society was organized and held together, but by the similarity observed in their myths, legends, traditions, institutions, and social usages.
Whether or not a more advanced stage of civilization had been attained by the progenitors of the Greeks and Romans is a question that does not here concern us; for, if at any time prior to the appearance of these peoples in history, a higher plane of life had been reached, it is reasonable to suppose that such a state was gained under gentile forms of society, especially as their various institutions at the beginning of the historic period represent them as still to a considerable extent governed by the ideas peculiar to the gens.
The earliest authentic accounts which we have of the Greeks represent them as composed of the Doric tribes, who were Hellenes, and the Ionians, who were of Pelasgic origin. The Dorians were a conservative people, exclusive in their tastes and intolerant of innovations, while the Ionians, who occupied the seacoasts and the adjacent islands, were restless, fond of novelty, and not averse to intercourse with surrounding nations.
Of the original inhabitants of Rome, it is observed that they consisted of wandering tribes, bands of outlaws, and refugees from various countries. Concerning the true origin of these peoples, however, and of the history of their earliest settlements, they themselves were evidently ignorant, and the fragmentary accounts of them which have been preserved to us, when viewed independently of the light reflected upon them by recent investigation, furnish but a dim picture in the outline of which the most prominent figures appear only as indistinct shadows or as objects without definite shape. It is true there was no lack of myths and traditions which had come down to the Greeks and Romans as genuine history, and which were doubtless regarded by them as trustworthy accounts of their ancestors. Theseus who united the Attic tribes, and Romulus who founded Rome, were heroes in whom the divine and human were so nicely adjusted and so evenly balanced that the history of their earthly career presents no shade of error either in public or in private life. Indeed, both had sprung from immortal sources, and their exploits were such as might be expected from the mythical heroes of a forgotten age.