ABSTRACT
The historian of Latin literature has a strange and fascinating story to tell. Latin became the dominant tongue of Italy, drove out all other languages save Greek, which has never quite disappeared, and forms the chief, though not the only, foundation of modern Italian and of the cognate speeches of other countries, as France and Spain. To judge by the earliest surviving monuments, Latin was undergoing a fairly rapid change, as is often the case with barbarous speeches, not yet given a standard literary form. Compared to Greek, Latin, if properly used, was good ashlar masonry as against fine marble. Since poetry forms an important part of every literature, and not least that of ancient Italy, it is necessary to realize what that careful and measured pronunciation of the language was like upon which all rhythm must depend.
