The Antibarbarian, Treatise · Chapter 14
CHAP. XIIII. Concerning Africa, and how the ſervice in the Latine tongue entred thither.
COncerning Africa, Mounſieur du Perron ſpeakes thus.Lib. 6. c. 1. p. 1091. Saint Auguſtine witneſſeth to us, that in Africa the cuſtome which was amongſt the people of pronouncing in ſinging of the Pſalmes, De doctrina Chriſtiana. lib. 2. cap. 13.Floret ſanctificatio mea, inſtead of ſaying, Florebit, was ſo deeply rooted thorow long uſe amongſt the people, that there was no meanes to bereave them or to weane them from it, and yet nevertheleſse it is certaine that the Latine tongue was not vulgar any where out of Italie, and the townes of the Romane Colonies, ſpread abroad thorow the Empire: as was Carthage in Africa, wherein the Latine tongue was vulgar, whence it was that Saint Auguſtine (as ſuch) ſaith, that hee learned it from the blandiſhments and hugging of his Nurſes.
This Prelat doth according to his accuſtomed manner, which is to proove a thing, which is not in controverſie, and ſo to wander from the queſtion. Hee ſaith, that the Latine tongue was not vulgar in Africa: but that is not the queſtion. Wee diſpute not here of the vulgar tongue, but of a tongue underſtood by the people. It matters not whether the Latine was, or was not the vulgar tongue in Africa: the queſtion is whether it was there underſtood or no. In this part of Africa, which he noteth to us, the Liturgie was ſaid in Latine, becauſe the Latine tongue was there more common and better underſtood by the people then the Punick tongue, which was their ancient vulgar tongue. It is already much that Du Perron yeeldeth us that the Latine tongue was the vulgar tongue of Carthage a Capitall towne of Africa. Hee confeſſeth alſo the like of the townes of Africa, which were Colonies. Now the vulgar tongue of the capitall towne of the countrey being Latine, where the Proconſuls Court was, and the officers of the Emperour, and where the cauſes were judged in Latine, and wherein there were an innumerable multitude of people, and many other townes being Romane Colonies: and thorow out all theſe townes, they whom the Romanes called Curiales, & the Greeks foreign, whom in France we call les Gens du Roy, being Latine, it is no wonder, if all the people thorow the maine Countrey were accuſtomed to ſpeake Latine, and that the Latine tongue there was more uſuall then the Punick tongue, which was the vulgar tongue. Wherefore as at Carthage, ſo alſo at Bonne, and in other townes of Africa ſubject to the Romanes, not onelyonly the Liturgie, but alſo their Sermons were made in Latine. In Latine it was that Saint Cyprian, and Aurelius, and Augustine preached. The which Augustine being borne in the towne of Thagaſt or Tegeſt in Numidia, where the people were halfe barbarous, and farre from Carthage: yet nevertheleſſe in the 1 of his Confeſſions, Chapter 14.Latina didici ſine vllo metu atque cruciatu, inter etiam blandimenta nu tricum, & ioca arridentium. ſaith, hee had learned the Latine amongſt the blandiſhments and flatteries of his Nurces: for that his Father was a Courtier and an officer of the Romane Emperour: as witneſſeth Poſsidonius in the life of Saint Augustine. And therefore alſo in the books of Saint Auguſtine there are many paſſages by the which it appeareth, that the people of Africa underſtood the Latine, better then the Punicke tongue. As in theaSer. 16. de verbis Apoſtoli. Proverbium notum eſt Punicum, quod quidē Latinè vobis dicam, quia Punicè non omnes noſtis. 26. Sermon of the words of the Apoſtle, hee ſpeaketh thus to the people. There is a Punicke proverbe well knowne, which I will tell you in Latine, becauſe you doe not all of you underſtand the Punicke. And upon the 50. Pſalme. We all know that in Latine wee ſay not ſanguines, nor ſanguina. And in his ſecond booke of Chriſtian doctrine, Chapter 10. Cum dicimus bovem, bCum dicimus bovē intelligimus pecus, quod omnes nobiſcum Latinae linguae homines hoc nomine vocunt.When wee ſay OXE, we meane that beast, which all they which with us are Latinists by tongue doe call by that name. And in his firſt booke of retractations, Chapter 20.cVolens cauſam Donatiſtarum ad ipſius humilimi vulgi & omnino imperitorū & idiotarum notitiam pervenire, & eorum, quā tùm fieri poſſet per nos, inhaerere memoriae, Pſalmum qui eis cantaretur per literas Latinas feci. Deſiring that the cauſe of the Donatiſts might come to the knowledge of the common people, and of the moſt ignorant and of very Idiots, and that by our meanes it might bee deepely imprinted in their memories, I have put it into Latine in a Pſalme for them to ſing.
By all this hitherto laid open it appeareth as cleare as day that the Primitive and ancient Church in Greece, Egypt, Aſia, Armenia, Ethiopia, Africa ſubject to the Romanes, In Italie, in France, Spaine, and England divine ſervice was ſaid in a tongue underſtood. And this Mounſieur Du Perron covertly without any words acknowledged, in that hee durſt not ſay, that in theſe Churches ſervice was ſaid in an unknowne tongue, but maintaines that it was not ſaid in the vulgar tongue, and that is falſe too in Italie, in Greece, and in the moſt part of Aſia the leſſe, In the Towne of Carthage, and and in all the Romane Colonies of Africa: and in all of them it is true without exception, that Sermons and ſervice were performed and done in the ſame tongue.
FINIS.
LONDON, Printed by George Miller, for George Edwards, dwelling in Greene-Arbor, without New-gate. 1630.
End of the text · Peter du Moulin Jr, The Antibarbarian (1630)