LANGUAGE. 
186 
more prevalent, in proportion as itdefcended from the reign 
of Adrian towards the era of the removal of the imperial 
feat from Rome to Conftantinople. Then fucceeded the 
iron age, when the Roman language became abfolutely 
rude and barbarous. 
Towards the clofe of the filver and during the whole 
courfe of the brazen age, there appeared, however, many 
•writers of no contemptible talents. The molt remarkable 
was Seneca the ftoic, the matter of Nero, whofe character 
both as a man and a writer is difcuffed with great accu¬ 
racy by tire noble author cf the Charafterillics, to whom 
we refer our readers. About the fame time lived Perfius 
the fatirift, the friend and difciple of the ftoic Cornutus; 
to whofe precepts he did honour by his virtuous life; and 
by his works, though frnall, he (bowed an early profici¬ 
ency in the fcience of morals. Under the mild govern¬ 
ment of Adrian and the Antonines lived Aulus Gellius, an 
entertaining writer in the mifcellaneous way, well (killed 
in criticifm and antiquity. His works contain feveral va¬ 
luable fragments of philofophy, which are indeed the molt 
curious part of them. With Aulus Gellius we may rank 
Macrobius; not becaufe he was a contemporary (for he is 
fuppofed to have lived under Honorius and Theodofius), 
but from his near refemblance in the character of a writer. 
His works, like thofe of the other, are mifcellaneous; 
filled with mythology and ancient literature, with fome 
philofophy intermixed. In the fame age with Aulus Gel- 
lius flouri(hed Apuleius of Madaura in Africa; a Platonic 
writer, whofe matter in general far exceeds his perplexed 
and affected ftyle, too conformable to the falfe rhetoric of 
the age in which he lived. Boethius was defeended from 
one of the nobleft of the Roman families, and was conful 
in the beginning of the (ixth century. He wrote many 
philofophical works ; but his ethic piece on the Confola- 
tion of Philofophy deferves great encomiums, both for the 
matter and ltyle; in which latter he approaches the pu¬ 
rity of a far better age than his own. By command of 
Theodoric king of the Goths this great and good man 
fuffered death ; and with him the Latin tongue, and the 
laft remains of Roman dignity, may be faid to have funk 
in the weltern world. There were befides a goodly num¬ 
ber both of poets and hiftorians who (louriihed during 
this period ; fuch as Silius Italicus, Claudian, Aufonius, 
&c. There flourifhed, too, a number of ecclefiaftical wri¬ 
ters, fome of whom deferve great commendation. The 
chief of thefe is La&antius, who has been defervedly dig¬ 
nified with the title of the Chriftian Cicero. 
The Roman authors amount to a very frnall number in 
comparifon of the Greek. At the fame time, when we 
confider the extent and duration of the Roman empire, 
we are juftly furprifed to find fo few writers of character 
and reputation in fo vaft a field. 
For a while the Latin tongue was confined almoft wholly 
•within the walls of Rome ; nor would the Romans allow 
the common ufe of it to their neighbours, or to the na¬ 
tions they l'ubdued. Cicero obferved, that, even in his 
time, Greek was ufed almoft among every people, but the 
Latin was confined to a very narrow compafs. By de¬ 
grees they were brought to grant the ufe of it as a favour; 
and, in time, became fenfible of the neceftity there was of 
its being generally underftood, for the convenie.ncy of 
commerce; and, accordingly, ufed their utmoft endea¬ 
vours, that all the nations fubjedl to their empire ftiould 
be united by one common language; io that at length they 
impofed that as a law which they had before granted as 
a favour. 
After the tranflation of the feat of the empire from 
Rome to Conftantinople, the emperors of the Eaft, being 
always defirous of preferving the title of Roman emperors, 
appointed the Latin to be (fill retained in ufe, both in 
their referipts and edifls, as appears by the conftitutions 
of theeaftern emperors, collected in the Theodofian Code; 
but at length the emperors, neglefting the empire of the 
Welt, abandoned all care of the Latin tongue, and al¬ 
lowed their judges to pafs fentence in Greek; and, accord¬ 
ingly, we find the emperor Juftinian’s Novels are com- 
poled in Greek. 
Charlemagne, coming to the empire of the Weft, ap¬ 
pointed the law-proceedings in fovereign courts to be 
made in Latin ; and the notaries were to draw their afts 
and inftruments in the fame tongue; this practice conti¬ 
nued a long time through a great part of Europe ; but at 
length it gave way, and the French took place of the 
Latin, not only in France, but, in fome mealure, in Eng¬ 
land too; and the reafon given for it was, that abundance 
of difficulties arofe about the underftanding of Latin terms, 
The Latin, however, was prociigioufiy degenerated and 
corrupted, before it came to be laid afide. At laft, being 
introduced amongft the monks, and become the common 
language of mill'als and breviaries, it was debauched to 
that degree, that it was almoft become fcandalous to ufe 
it. In this condition it was found at the time of the re¬ 
formation, when Vives, Erafmus, &c. began to open the 
way for its recovery; fmee which time monkifti Latinity 
has been declining, and all endeavours have been ufed to 
retrieve the pure language of the Auguftan age. 
Upon the whole, the Latin tongue deferves our atten¬ 
tion beyond any other ancient one now extant. The 
grandeur of the people by whom it was fpoken ; the lultra 
of its writers ; the empire which it (till maintains among 
ourfelves; the neceftity we are under of learning it in or¬ 
der to obtain accefs to almoft all the l'ciences, nay even to 
the knowledge of our own laws, of our judicial proceed¬ 
ings, of our charters ; all thefe circumftances, and many 
others too numerous to be detailed, render the acquifition 
of that language in a peculiar manner at once improving 
and highly interefting. Spoken by the conquerors of the 
ancient nations, it partakes of all their revolutions, and 
bears continually their impreflion. Strong and nervous 
while they were employed in nothing but battles and car¬ 
nage, it thundered in the camps, and made the proudeft 
people to tremble, and the molt defpotic. monarchs to 
bend their ftubborn necks to the yoke. Copious and ma- 
jeftic, when, weary of battles, the Romans inclined to vie 
with the Greeks in fcience and the graces, it became 
the learned language of Europe, and by its luftre made 
the jargon of favages difappear who difputed with it the 
poft'eftion of that quarter of the globe. After having con¬ 
trolled by its eloquence, and humanized by its laws, all 
thofe people, it became the language of religion. In (hort, 
the Latin language will be (tudied and efteemed as long 
as good fenfe and fine tafte remain in the world. 
The modern languages derived from the Latin are the 
Spanifb, Portuguefe, Italian, and French. 
Every refined and polilhed nation has a vulgar language 
in its remote provinces, and even in its capital, among 
the common people, in which there are innumerable words 
and phrafes that have never been admitted into books. 
This mull doubtlefs have been the cafe with the Romans; 
and it is the opinion of fome perfons of great eminence in 
literature, among whom may be numbered the learned 
cardinal Bembo and the marquis Maffei, that the ancient 
Romans had at all times an oral vulgar language which 
was different from that of books; and that this colloquial 
language, lefs grammatical and elegant than that of the 
learned, was carried by the Romans into all the provinces 
under their dominion. It is therefore probable that this, 
and not the written language of Italy, was the mother of 
the Provencal, Sicilian, Italian, and Spanift), dialefls. But, 
fuppofing Inch a language was ever fpoken, it could not 
be laid afide for another all at once ; and, when we are 
told of a particular period or century during which th&. 
Latin tongue ceafed to be fpoken in France and Italy, and 
the Provengal French, or Italian, began, credulity itfelf 
is daggered, and unable to reconcile it to probability. 
Every language is long fpoken before it is written ; and, 
though the fir.-t poet of Italy or Provence, who committed 
his verfes to writing in the vulgar tongue, could be 
named, no one would venture to tell us by whom it was 
fit'll fpoken. The learned Maffei (Verona illuftrata, lib. ii. 
p. 10.6.) 
