xxxn 



RISE AND PROGRESS OF LITERATURE. 



advantage undoubtedly on the side of the Chris. 

 tian polemics; hut provincialisms infest and 

 corrupt their style almost as much as their bit- 

 terness, their unfairness, and their vanity mis- 

 become the cause for which they wield the pen. 

 During the fourth and fifth centuries this 

 process of the debasement of the Roman tongue 

 went on with great rapidity. The influence of 

 the provincials began what the irruptions of the 

 northern tribes consummated. In many scat- 

 tered parts of the empire, it is probable that 

 .-{unite Latin dialects arose; and the change 



upon the whole structure of the tongue could 

 not fail to be prodigious when the Goths poured 

 into Italy, established themselves in the capital, 

 and began to speak and write in a language 

 previously foreign to them. No one can marvel 

 at the distinct traces of this alteration under tho 

 sway of Theodoric.* Here we drop the curtain 

 upon ancient literature. Its rising will reveal 

 new scenes, superior in variety, and not inferior 

 in interest and beauty. 



* A. D. 4t3-5>. 



END OK PART FIRST. 



