3.] Before the Roman conquest, the country which is now called Lombardy, was not considered as a part of Italy.

It had been occupied by a powerful colony of Gauls, who, settling themselves along the banks of the Po, from Piedmont to Romagna, carried their arms and diffused their name from the Alps to the Apennine.
The Ligurians dwelt on the rocky coast which now forms the republic of Genoa.

Venice was yet unborn; but the territories of that state, which lie to the east of the Adige, were inhabited by the Venetians.

[74] The middle part of the peninsula, that now composes the duchy of Tuscany and the ecclesiastical state, was the ancient seat of the Etruscans and Umbrians; to the former of whom Italy was indebted for the first rudiments of civilized life.

[75] The Tyber rolled at the foot of the seven hills of Rome, and the country of the Sabines, the Latins, and the Volsci, from that river to the frontiers of Naples, was the theatre of her infant victories.