They are the thieves, the human vermin of the woods.
Under the name of gipsies, those who are now often called Romany and Zingari were well known to the ancients.

Indeed, they boast that their ancestry goes back so much farther than the oldest we can claim, that the ancients themselves were but modern to them.

Even in that age of highest civilization, which immediately preceded the present, they say (and there is no doubt of it) that they preserved the blood of their race pure and untainted, that they never dwelt under permanent roofs, nor bowed their knees to the prevalent religion.

They remained apart, and still continue after civilization has disappeared, exactly the same as they were before it commenced.
Since the change their numbers have greatly increased, and were they not always at war with each other, it is possible that they might go far to sweep the house people from the land.

But there are so many tribes, each with its king, queen, or duke, that their power is divided, and their force melts away.