FROM THE COMMENTARIES OF CESAR. I51 
Gaul almost necessarily precluded the commu- 
nication of knowledge and letters. The Gauls 
were barbarians, and according to the known 
character of men in that state, their inaptitude 
for intellectual cultivation was so great, that it 
required avery long period to be overcome. 
Before it could be overruled, their general con- 
dition must have been changed. 
The Gauls had much stronger political mo- 
tives to make themselves masters of the language 
of Rome than of Greece, even previously to the 
wars of Cesar in Gaul; and the acquisition might 
have been made with, at least, equal facility. 
But of that language, too, they appear to have 
been mostly ignorant, for recourse was continu- 
ally had to interpreters. 
It is a well ascertained fact, that the progress 
of civilization is exceedingly gradual and slow, 
when it is impelled only by its own momentum. 
We, however, know, that the Roman power, 
whereever it was established, took the most de- 
cisive measures to accelerate its progress, espe- 
cially in regard to a few particulars, of which 
language was one of the principal. We must 
acknowledge, according to the most undeniable 
historical evidence, that, from whatsoever 
