CHAPTER III--THE PEOPLE--ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS.
Semitic origin of the Phoenicians--Characteristics of the Semites--Place of the Phoenicians within the Semitic group-- Connected linguistically with the Israelites and the Assyro- Babylonians--Original seat of the nation, Lower Babylonia-- Special characteristics of the Phoenician people--Industry and perseverance--Audacity in enterprise--Pliability and adaptability--Acuteness of intellect--Business capacity-- Charge made against them of bad faith--Physical characteristics.
The Phoenician people are generally admitted to have belonged to the group of nations known as Semitic.

This group, somewhat irrelevantly named, since the descent of several of them from Shem is purely problematic, comprises the Assyrians, the later Babylonians, the Aramaeans or Syrians, the Arabians, the Moabites, the Phoenicians, and the Hebrews.

A single and very marked type of language belongs to the entire group, and a character of homogeneity may, with certain distinctions, be observed among all the various members composing it.
The unity of language is threefold: it may be traced in the roots, in the inflections, and in the general features of the syntax.

The roots are, as a rule, bilateral or trilateral, composed (that is) of two or three letters, all of which are consonants.

The consonants determine the general sense of the words, and are alone expressed in the primitive writing; the vowel sounds do but modify more or less the general sense, and are unexpressed until the languages begin to fall into decay.