i. The Balto-Slavic. The languages of this group belong to eastern Europe.  The Baltic division of the group embraces the Lithuanian and Lettic, spoken to-day by the people living on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.  The earliest literary productions of these languages date from the sixteenth century.  The Slavic division comprises a large number of languages, the most important of which are the Russian, the Bulgarian, the Serbian, the Bohemian, the Polish.  All of these were late in developing a literature, the earliest to do so being the Old Bulgarian, in which we find a translation of the Bible dating from the ninth century.

j. The Albanian, spoken in Albania and parts of Greece, Italy, and Sicily.  This is most nearly related to the Balto-Slavic group, and is characterized by the very large proportion of words borrowed from Latin, Turkish, Greek, and Slavic.  Its literature does not begin till the seventeenth century.

2.  Home of the Indo-European Family.—­Despite the many outward differences of the various languages of the foregoing groups, a careful examination of their structure and vocabulary demonstrates their intimate relationship and proves overwhelmingly their descent from a common parent.  We must believe, therefore, that at one time there existed a homogeneous clan or tribe of people speaking a language from which all the above enumerated languages are descended.  The precise location of the home of this ancient tribe cannot be determined.  For a long time it was assumed that it was in central Asia north of the Himalaya Mountains, but this view has long been rejected as untenable.  It arose from the exaggerated importance attached for a long while to Sanskrit.  The great antiquity of the earliest literary remains of the Sanskrit (the Vedic Hymns) suggested that the inhabitants of India were geographically close to the original seat of the Indo-European Family.  Hence the home was sought in the elevated plateau to the north.  To-day it is thought that central or southeastern Europe is much more likely to have been the cradle of the Indo-European parent-speech, though anything like a logical demonstration of so difficult a problem can hardly be expected.

As to the size and extent of the original tribe whence the Indo-European languages have sprung, we can only speculate.  It probably was not large, and very likely formed a compact racial and linguistic unit for centuries, possibly for thousands of years.

The time at which Indo-European unity ceased and the various individual languages began their separate existence, is likewise shrouded in obscurity.  When we consider that the separate existence of the Sanskrit may antedate 2500 B.C., it may well be believed that people speaking the Indo-European parent-speech belonged to a period as far back as 5000 B.C., or possibly earlier.

3.  Stages in the Development of the Latin Language.—­The earliest remains of the Latin language are found in certain very archaic inscriptions.  The oldest of these belong to the sixth and seventh centuries B.C.  Roman literature does not begin till several centuries later, viz. shortly after the middle of the third century B.C.  We may recognize the following clearly marked periods of the language and literature: