cunda mors erit. But nothing can be inferred
from this declamation, except, perhaps, that he did not know whether
Menander still existed or not. AEn. Sylv. Opera, p. 715; also p. 881.
Harris's Philological Inquiries, part iii. c. 4. It is a remarkable
proof, however, of the turn which Europe, and especially Italy, was
taking, that a pope's legate should, on a solemn occasion, descant so
seriously on the injury sustained by profane literature.
An useful summary of the lower Greek literature, taken chiefly from the
Bibliotheca Graeca of Fabricius, will be found in Berington's Literary
History of the Middle Ages, Appendix I.; and one rather more copious in
Schoell, Abrege de la Litterature Grecque. (Paris, 1812.)
[925] Wood's Antiquities of Oxford, vol. i p. 537.
[926] Roper's Vita Mori, ed. Hearne, p. 75.
[927] Crevier, t. iv. p. 243; see too p. 46.
[928] Incredibilis ingeniorum barbaries est; rarissimi literas norunt,
nulli elegantiam. Papiensis Epistolae, p. 377. Campano's notion of
elegance was ridiculous enough. Nobody ever carried further the pedantic
affectation of avoiding modern terms in his Latinity. Thus, in the life
of Braccio da Montone, he renders his meaning almost unintelligible by
excess of classical purity. Braccio boasts se numquam deorum immortalium
templa violasse. Troops committing outrages in a city are accused
virgines vestales incestasse. In the terms of treaties he employs the
old Roman forms; exercitum trajicito--oppida pontificis sunto, &c. And
with a most absurd pedantry, the ecclesiastical state is called Romanum
imperium. Campani Vita Braccii, in Muratori Script. Rer. Ital. t. xix.
[929] A letter from Master William Paston at Eton (Paston Letters, vol.
i. p. 299) proves that Latin versification was taught there as early as
the beginning of Edward IV.'s reign. It is true that the specimen he
rather proudly exhibits does not much differ from what we denominate
nonsense verses. But a more material observation is, that the sons of
country gentlemen living at a considerable distance were already sent to
public schools for grammatical education.
[930] De Bure, t. i. p. 30. Several copies of this book have come to
light since its discovery.
[931] Id., p. 71.
[932] Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, t. xiv. p. 265. Another edition
of the Bible is supposed to have been printed by Pfister at Bamberg in
1459.
[933] Tiraboschi, t. vi. p. 140.
[934] Sanuto mentions an order of the s
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