S54 Mr, Pickering on tJie Pronunciation 



collected in Heineccius^ elaborate edition of the well known work 

 of Brissonius^ De Verhoriim qu(e ad Jus Civile pertinent signifi- 



+ 



catione : A multitude of other instances may be found in GruteVf 

 and othRF writers on Roman antiquities. 



'^ B^ secunda alphabeti apud Latinos litera. Q^uum vero ilia 

 Grmcorum (Btjtcc resjpondeatf hsBc^autem litera a Grsecis ita pro- 

 nunciefur ut ea et FLatinorum exprimere soleant^ e. g. B>j/b; pro 

 Veils apud Plutarch, in Camill. p. 129. ?i/C<o? pro Livio, apud 

 eumd. in Romulo, p. 38. ^XuCiot pro Flavia, apud Reines. Inscr, 

 adpend. p. 35. factum iude est, ut in vetustis monimentis, max- 

 ime qua a seculo quarto prodierunt fere perpetua sit litera- 

 rum B et Vpermutatio, Hinc in marmoribus apud Gruter, p. 

 DCLXXXr, 7. VIVIANUB legitur pro Vibiano apud Reines. 

 Jnscr. I, 45, BICTOUINVS pro Victorino ; apud Gruter, p. 

 DCCXVIII, 6, ABITA pro Mita, in 1. 11. C. Tlieod. de Cohor- 

 tat. VASTAGA pro Bastaga : Ut innumera alia prseteream, 

 inter quae etiam est ridiculura illud a V. C. Ev. Ottone observa- 



tum apud Fabrett. p. 016. CONIVGI BENE BIBENTI, pro 



Bene Viventi,^' 



From these instances and others, (which go back to a period 

 but little subsequent to the age of Cicero himself,) it will appear, 

 that for many ages there was little or no difference, in the ordina- 

 ry pronunciation, between the B and the Fof the Romans; and 



' &"•*&' v.wr,u-.,uuv -«'UlJ, WHICH 



was the great theatre of the operations of their enemies, the Goths, must have 

 been much corrupted hy the constant and immediate influence of the language of 

 those invaders ; .vhile tlie provinces of Spain and Forlu^al, being remote from 

 that influence, mi^ht preserve the Iangua;;e, which they origif:ally "received from 

 their Roman masiers, in greater purity than tne people of Italy. 



