of the Greek Language. S33 



The truth is, that Greek was not then considered as a dead 

 language j nor had it, among the people of education, departed 

 much from the standard of the first periods of th^Christian era.* 

 Indeed, if we may take literally the glowing description given by 

 PhilelphuSf a learned Italian, who was naturalized at Constanti- 

 nople about thirty years before the Turkish conquest, the Greek 

 language at that period was not only spoken but written in all its 



setate cum primis florentem, in quo publicitus et gratis tradantur tres linguae, 



F 



Sebraica^ Grceca^ Latina^ salario satis magnifico circiter septuaginta ducatorunu 

 quod tamen augeri possit pro ratione personse. Hebrmtis jam adest, et item 

 Z>atinu$, Grcecam professionem complures ambiunt. Veriim nieum consilium 

 semper fuit^ nt ascisceretur Grtecus natus, unde statim germanatn Gr(eci sermo* 

 nis pronunciationem imbibant auditores, Ac niese sententise subscribunt auto- 

 res hujus negotii omnes, mihique mandarunt, utsuis verbis accerserera, quern ju- 

 ^icassem ad hoc negotii idoncum. Quare te rogo, vel pro soUta tua erga nos 

 humanitate, vel pro tuo erga bonas liferas favore, siquem nosti, quern esistimes 

 et mihi et tibi futurum honori, cura ut quamprim^m hue advolet. Dabitur via- 

 ticum^ dabitur salarium, dabitur locus. Erit illi res cum viris integerrimis et 

 humanissimis. Neque minus fidat his meis Uteris, quam si centum diplomatis 

 res esset fransacta. Inter bonos et absque syngraphis bene agitur. Tu cura ut 

 deligas idoneum, ego curabo ne hominem hue venisse poeniteat. Bene vale, 

 doctissime clarissimeque vir. Lovanii^ postridie divi Marci, Anno M.D.XVIIL'* 

 ( Erasmi Epist. ISl.foL Lond. 1642 J 



* ^« As early as the sixth century, (says Harris^ the author of HermeSf) or the 

 seventh at farthest, Latin ceased to be the common language of Rome, whereas 

 Greek was spoken with competent purity in Constantinople, even to tlie fifteenth 

 century, when that city was taken by the Turks," Harris' Fhilological Inqui- 

 ries^ part iu ch. 2. Dr. G?iWiVs also remarks— " The Greek was spoken in the 



4 ^^ 



middle of the fifteenth century, when Constantinople was taken by the Turks; 

 %o that from the time of Homer, it subsisted with little variation as a living 

 tongue for two thousand four hundred years."— Cri^/tVs' Hist, of Greece^ vol. iv* 

 p. 398. Note 59, 



