Aramaic language…
Do not speak in the
Language of Judah. (Second Kings 18:26)
Look what I came across this morning reading tidbits from The
Portable Renaissance Reader:
The
Latin language, in all its perfection and greatness, flourished most vigorously
in the time of Cicero, for its first state was not polished or refined or subtle,
but, mounting little by little to perfection it reached its highest summit in
the time of Cicero. After his age it began to sink… (Leonardo Bruni, Patrarca
and the Art of Poetry,1436, p. 127).
You are reading Cicero this week, right? Did Bruni have it right? He meshes the vitality of the Latin language to the state of the Republic: “Latin language went hand in hand with the condition of the Roman Republic, which had also grown in power until the age of Cicero.”
With the loss of liberty to the rule of emperors “who did not desist from killing and eliminating men of excellence, the flourishing conditions of studies and of letters perished, together with the welfare of the city of Rome.” Are you not studying political theory as well? Can it be that tyranny messes with the beauty and wonder of language? As our politics goes, so goes our language. What do you think?
Love, Papa
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