DEADLANGVACIS. 341 



to improvement. The wretched ftate to which 

 the Greeks are reduced by the Turks, renders 

 them indolent, and, by a necefiary confequeace, 

 ignorant. The policy of the Ottoman Porte 

 does not permit its lubjedls to apply themfeives 

 toftudy, and that fame ipirit, which kas deftroyed 

 the fincft monuments of antiquity, which has 

 made, of columns of porphyry and granate, balls 

 for their cannons, has caufed the decadency and 

 total deftru&ion of the fciences. The principal 

 difference between the ancient and vulgar Greek 

 confuls in the terminations of their nouns, pro- 

 nouns, verbs, and other parts of fpeech. There 

 are alfo, in the modern, many words that are not 

 to be found in the ancient Greek , particles that 

 appear to be expletives, and which cuitom alone 

 has introduced to diftinguifh certain tenfes of 

 their verbs , names of employments and dignities 

 unknown to the ancient Grecians ; and a great 

 number of words taken from modern tongues : 

 which altogether form a fpurious language, a 

 kind of jargon. There is a glofiary of this 

 language compofed by du Cange. 



VI. (4.) The Greek of the New Teflament. 

 The Greek of the Evangeliih and Apoilles is 

 very different from that of Thucidydes, Xeno- 

 phon, and Dcmofthenes. At the time of the 

 birth of our Saviour, Greek was commonly fpoke 

 in Judea ; for after the hit captivity, the people 

 no longer undcrftood Hebrew : their Greek, 

 however, was corrupted, mixed wi'h a g 



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