'The turbulent Venus! Venus the virago! Ah! you think then that my Venus is a Venus of the ale-houses. By no means, Sir; she is a Venus of good society. But I am going to explain to you this TVRBVL. You must, however, promise not to divulge my discovery before my memoir is published; because you must know that I take some little credit to myself for this investigation. It is but fair that you gentlemen savans of Paris, who are so rich in the spoils of antiquity, should leave a few ears to be gleaned by us poor devils of the provinces.'
From the top of the pedestal, on which I still remained perched, I solemnly promised him that I would never be so base as to steal his discovery.
'For TVRBVL. . . ., Sir,' said he, coming close to me, and lowering his voice for fear any one else should hear him, 'read TVRBVLNERÆ.'
I was not a whit wiser than before.
'Listen to me,' continued he; 'about a league from hence, at the foot of a mountain, there is a village called Boulternére. This is a corruption of the Latin word TVRBVLNERA. Nothing is more common than these inversions. Boulternére, Sir, was a Roman city. I have always had my suspicions of this, but never had the proof. Now, Sir, there is the proof. This Venus was the local divinity of the city of Boulternére. And this word Boulternére, which I am going to show is of ancient origin, proves a still more curious fact, which is that Boulternére, before it was a Roman city, was a Phenician town!'
He stopped a moment to take breath, and enjoy my surprise. I could scarcely repress a strong inclination to laugh.
'In fact,' continued he, 'TVRBVLNERA is pure Phenician. Tvr, pronounce TOUR; TOUR and SOUR, the same word, is it not? Sour is the Phenician name of Tyre; I need not recall to you its meaning. Bvl, this is Baal, Bal, Bel, Bul, with slight differences of pronunciation. As to NERA, this has given me some little trouble. I am strongly inclined to believe, in default of finding a Phenician word, that this comes from the Greek nerós, humid, marshy. This, it is true, would make it a hybrid word. To justify nerós, however, I will show you at Boulternére how the streams from the mountain form stagnant pools there. On the other hand, the termination NERA might have been added at a much later date, in honor of Nera Pivesuvia, the wife of Tetricus, who probably had conferred some benefit upon the city of Turbul. But, in consequence of the marshes, I prefer the etymology of nerós.'
My worthy friend here took a pinch of snuff, with an air of great satisfaction.
'But let us leave the Phenicians, and return to our inscription. I translate it then: 'To Venus of Boulternére, Myron, by her command, dedicates this statue, his work.'