were painted. In one, Mantus and Mania held dread court of judgment; on another the twelve gods sat in council; here the lotus and the bullrush sprang to life, and Etruscan boys danced and leapt and strung the lyre; there Cupa and Horta sported amidst flowers, and Vertumnus was crowned with fruit.
The graves had doubtless all belonged to the same family, that of the great Lucumo, whose skeleton and armour had melted and vanished at the first touch of air. Possibly he had been one of the forgotten kings of the Tyrrhene people; certainly he had been some mighty warrior-prince, since he had had the corona etrusca about his casque, and the eagle with spread wings upon his ivory sceptre.
The shape and sentiment of Greek art were visible on all the ornaments of his burial chamber; the painted vases were all of Greek taste, polychrome and decorated with divine figures or groups of fruits or flowers; such vases as are oftener found in Athens than Etruria. Probably this necropolis had been contemporary with, or somewhat earlier than, Alexander of Macedon.
The tombs had been undiscovered alike
