Treatise of Religion and Learning, Book 2 · Chapter 6

Treatise of Religion and Learning · Book 2 · Chapter 6

p. 54CHAP. VI. Of the Languages.

COnstat Graecos & Latinos peregrinae linguae voces, dum suae lingua decero, & compositioni student, prodigiosè corrupisse. Leland. Comment. in Cigu. Cant.

Languages do often much change in processe of time. The French, Spanish and Italian, coming from the Latine are much fallen from the purity of the Latine tongue. None of the French will now understand the Laws of England published by William the Conqueror in the Norman without an Interpreter.

Languages differ much in common names, but not in proper; all Languages say almost in the same manner, Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, Socrates, Plato, Caesar, C. Caro, Carolus, and in the like.

The Confusion of Languages was brought in at the building of the Tower of Babel, Peccati poena est tot esse linguas, Lud. Viv. de Trad. Discip. l. 3.as Moses the Hebrew Prophet in the 11^th Chapter of Genesis, and Josephus the Hebrew Historian in the 4^th Chapter of his first book of Jewish Antiq. evidently demonstrate.

The punishment of strange Languages was a heavy punishment, next to our casting out of Paradise, and the Flood. M^r Wheat. Protot. ch. 7.

p. 55The holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in the shape of tongues. Quid autem lingua dissecta aliud (saith one) quam variarum linguarum cognitionem portenderunt?

Bibliander saith, There are seventy seven Languages commonly reckoned, De ratione communi omnium Linguarum, c. 1.

The Hebrew Language was the first and most ancient,Varia linguarum genera & permulta quidem, sive septuaginta duo, sive plura vel pauciora jam inde ab aedificatione Turris extitisse pro comperto habetur. Imm… ut alii volunt ex illa aedificatione seu potius insania, tanta hominum sermonis varietas, linguarumque confusio innata est, ut quot orbis regiones sunt tot hominum linguae sint: prius enim universa terra, teste Moyse, labii unius erat. Ang. Roch. De Append. Bib. Vatic. de Dialect. and the onelyonly Language before the building of the Tower of Babel.

Ansten saith, It is better to be in the company of a known dog, then in a mans society whose speech is unknown to us.Linguarum diversitas hominem alienat ab homin…, nam si duo sibimet invicem siant obviam, neque praeterite, sed simul esse aliqua necessitate cogantur, quorum neuter norit linguam alterius, facilius sibi animalia muta etiam diversi generis, quàm illi cùm sint homines ambo sociantur, & quando enim quae sentiunt inter se communicate non possunt, propter solam linguarum diversitatem nihil prodest ad consociandos homines tanta similitudo naturae: Ita ut libentius homo sit cum cane suo quam cum homine alieno. August. l. 19. De civit. Dei, c. 7.

The Hebrew tongue kept its purity, and remained uncorrupted, though other tongues were added to it, and derived from it.

It is reported of Mithridates, that he spake two and twenty Languages.Mithridatem Ponti regem solum mortalium viginci duabus linguis locutum certum est. Gesueri Mithridates De differentiis linguarum. Animo fuit excultissimo: quippe non Graecis, nec vulgaribus tantùm litteris eruditus: sed, quod permirum sit ac omnino rarum & inauditum, viginti duarum gentium quas dictioni suae subjectas habebat linguas ita percalluit, ut cum earum hominibus sine interp…et… n…n minus scite, quam si inde fuisset oriundus, loqui militésque sine monitore sa…utare & appel. are potuerit. Waj… ad Gesn. Mith. Comment. Vide Anl. Gel. Noct. At. Gesner therefore writing a Book of divers Languages, styles it Mithridates Gesneri. Vide R. Episc. Uss. Annal. partem posteriorem. p. 142. Et Theodorum, Bibliandrum. De Ratione Communi omnium Linguarum, c. 1.

Benedictus Arias Montanus in his Preface to the King of Spains Bible, professeth that he understood ten Languages.

Godesohalcus Praetorius, a man of great wit and vast memory, and famous in all kinde of Learning, once a singular ornament of the University of Francford in Germany, understood fourteen Tongues, saith Neander in the first part of his Geography.

Postell shews, that he was skilfull in fifteen Languages.

Schindler and De Dieu were Polyglottists.

Joseph Scaliger and our Bishop Andrews had also knowledge in severall Languages.

Theodorus Bibliander De Ratione Communi omnium Linguarum, cap. 1. saith thus of himself, Equidem ut de uberiori aliqua perfusione divini spiritus gloriari non possum nec debeo, ita beneficia Christi servatoris minimè vel modestum, vel religiosum est dissimulare. Fateórque me non tam labore & diligentia & ingenii quodam acumine singulari, quam ex merito & gratia, & dono principis nostri opt. max. Jesu Christi consecutum esse facultatem aliquam scribendi & loquendi, aut certè judicandi de iis linguis, quae totum orbem terrarum longè lateque possident. Vide plura ibid.

The common use of all Languages is twofold:Vide Drus. ad difficil. loc. Genes. c. 74 &c 91. Mercer. ad Gen. 11.1. & ad v. 31. & ad Gen 31 47. Effusione enim Spiritus Sancti miraculosâ in festo pentecostes, id effectum fuit, ut confusio Linguarum (uti etiam loquitur excellentissimus noster Johan. Gerbard. Th. Doct. ejusque Professor Jenensium femosissimus, in libro meditationum suarum devotissimarum c. 22. propè finem) quae p…ena fuerat superbiae & ten…eritatis in aedificanda turre Babylonis, fuerit sublara, jamque dispersae illae gentes per diversitatem linguarum in unitatem …; Spiritus Sancti munere congregatie sunt. Cr…s. Discurs. de Consul. Ling. c. 11.Gen 11:1Gen 31:47

One, That others may discover their minde to us.

Another, That we likewise may reveal our minde to them.

As the confusion of tongues at Babel had caused the casting off of the Gentiles, p. 56by severing them from the participation of the true Religion (which was onelyonly professed and known in the Hebrew tongue) so was the gift of tongues to be a needfull means to bring them into Religion again; when every one may hear of the things of God in his own Language.

The Languages may be divided into Oriental and Occidental:

1. Oriental; Hebrew, Chaldee, Samaritan, Syriack, Arabick, Aethiopick, Persian, Armenian, Coptick.

2. Occidental; Greek, Latine, Spanish, French, Italian, German, English, and Sclavonick, which is spoken very generally.

The Oriental tongues are written and read from the right hand to the left, except the Aethiopick and Armenian.

The Grecians at first did write forward and backward, whence that phrase, Literas exarare and lineae, are called versus, and thence that was a most profitable and grave Decree of the Councel of Vienna, Vide Bocharti Geog. sac.celebrated under Clement the 5^th, That there should be in Universities publick professours of the Hebrew, Chaldee and Arabick tongues, which should teach them, and translate books out of them into Latine for the propagation of the Faith, and more easie conversion of the Infidels.

Sigismundus Gelenius hath written L…ticum Symphonum.

Quo quatnor Linguarum Europae familiarium, Gracae scilicet, Latinae, Germanica, ac Sclavinicae concordia judicatur.

Bibliander De ratione communi omnium linguarum, layes down an easie method of learning a Language, Qui enim dictiunculas principales, & themata singulis diebus discat, & aliquid tribuat regulis derivandi, flectendi, & componendi, utque ordinem & constructionis leges cògnoscat, centesimo die per otium linguam perdidicit. He saith there, That there are a thousand original words of the Latine tongue, and themata bis mille linguae Hebraeae, two thousand roots of the Hebrew tongue.

There are three principal or learned Languages, the Hebrew, Greek and Latine.

1. Of the Hebrew

Of Languages, the Hebrew as it is the first and most ancient of all, so it alone seems to be pure and sincere,Nostri etiam seculi omnes propemodum docti, primas linguae Hebraeae deferunt, excepto unico Goropio Becano, qui Belgicam suam principem antiquitate asserere, sed frustra & admodum languide, allaborat. Crinesiò Discursus de confusione Linguarum, cap. 1, Vide plura ibid. Ut Biblia…d. de Ratione Communi omnium linguarum, cap. 5. It is most certain that the Hebrew langage from the beginning of the world to this present, never received any alteration or corruption in its dialect or manner of speech. See Jerom in his Preface to the Prophet Jeremiah, in his last Epistle to Paulus Urbicus, and in his Exposition on the third Chapter of Zephany. Re…chlin in his Book of the Jews Cabala. Augustinus Steuchus in his Annotations on the 37 Chapter of Genesis, and divers others quoted by Duret, Histoire Des Langues De cest univers. all the rest almost are mixt: for there is none of them which hath not certain words derived and corrupted from the Hebrew. So the Latines have not onelyonly borrowed many words of Art from the Grecians, but also of things which they found in their books. So the Latine tongue was corrupted by the Gothes in Italy, France and Spain.

Some think that the English Language is most mixt and corrupt of all. Munster in the second Book of his universal Cosmography, saith, The English tongue is compounded of many Languages. In times past (he saith) it was pure Germane, as one may know by Beda, who was born in England.

Hac Hebraica sive Judaica lingua quae & sacra dicitur, Vetus Testamentum conscriptum fuit. Profecto Liber fere solus purus Hebraicus habetur, ut eruditi affirmant: alii enim iisdem Characteribus Conscripti vel Chaldaici sunt, vel alias dialectos & glossas habent admixtas. Ang. Roch. Append. Bib. Vat. de dialectis.The Mysteries of God, and our salvation were delivered by God, and received by the holy Fathers and Prophets in the Hebrew tongue.

Textus biblieus unus Hebraismi puri & antiqui thesaurus nobis superest. Pocock. Not. Miscel. in Por…am Mosis. c. 3.The Hebrew tongue excels all others in dignity, pleasure, profit and necessity. The antiquity of it demonstrates its dignity, the simplicity and grace of it its pleasure. p. 57It is the fountain of all other Languages, of the Indian, Persian, Babylonian, Armenian, Syriack, Arabick, the Egyptian, Aethiopick, and therefore profitable. Beckman shews, that many Greek words are derived from it.Nulla enim est lingua, quae non ab Hebraica derivata quaedam & corrupta vocabula habeat. Gesneri Mithridates. Hoc verissimum esse, vel una vox Hebraica ab clarissimè docet. Ab hac enim nata est vox Chaldaica, Aethiopica, Arabica abbá. Was. Comment. ad Methridat. By it we are instructed in the knowledge of God and the Church, and our selves, therefore it is very necessary.

The Punique tongue was the Canaanitish or old Hebrew **See Brerewoods Enquiries, ch. 7.Language, that which was vulgarly spoken among the Jews before the Captivity.

Amongst Christians for more then a thousand years from Christ, none scarce did adorn the Hebrew Language unlesse very few. The Jews were in such hatred, that their very Language was vilified. Origen of Alexandria learned it of a Jew called Hill, not without trouble, and the publick upbraiding of Celsus. Jerom also of Stridona a Monk and Presbyter, learned this Language at Bethlehem, especially in the night time of a Jew, fearing his Countreymen, whose name was Barhanina, whence Ruffinus becoming his enemy objected to him, that leaving Christ he followed Barabbas, He neglecting that calumny went on stoutly, and taught many religious Virgins this Language, that they might sing Hebrew Psalms. After Jerom, who flourished in the year of Christ 385. followed John Damascene, who lived in the year of Christ, 730. Nicholas Lyra was converted from Judaism in the year of Christ, 320. Afterward Paulus Burgensis was converted from Judaism. And this was the lot of that holy Language even unto the year of Christ 1440. when Printing was invented, and the studies of Languages and Learning began to flourish. Here among the Christian restorers of the holy tongue Reuclin was the first. He learned the Greek tongue of Greek exiles (amongst whom was Chalcondylas) and the Hebrew of the Jews, and he illustrated both. The ice being broken by him, Hebrew Bibles were printed first at Pisauna, after at Venice, and in Italy. Faelix Pratensis, Daniel Bombergus his master in the holy tongue, the Author and Moderator of his famous printing in the Hebrew, much adorned this Language, by publishing Hebrew Bibles, which are called Veneta & Bombergiana.

Augustinus Justinianus Nebriensis Episcopus put forth Psalterium octaplum.

Petrus Galatinus flourished in Spain, also Franciscus Ximenes Archbishop of Toledo, and Cardinal, who procured the Edition of Opus Complutense, & Benedictus Arias Montanus Hispalensis, who being helped together with his Collegues by the munificence of Philip the second King of Spain, promoted that kingly work, the Spanish and Plantine Bible.

In France Sanctes Pagninus Lucensis professed this tongue, The Author of the Treasury of the Hebrew tongue, Franciscus Vatablus, which incouraged and furthered Robert Stevens in printing so elegantly the Hebrew Bible at the charge of Francis the first King of France. John Mercer who together with Bonaventure Cornelius Bertram and Antonius Cevallerius inriched Pagnines Treasury with Annotations.

To these may be added William Postell and Nicholas Clenard, who travelled far out of their love to the Hebrew and Oriental tongues.

In Germany after Capnio or Reuchlin, Conrad…s Pellican, Sebastian Munster, John Oecolampadius, Luther, Aurogallus, Forster, Zigler, John Albert Widmanstadius, Andraeas Masius, Paulus Fagius, John Avenarius, John Drusius, Waser, John Buxtorf the Father and Sonne, George Cruciger, and others bestowed their pains to good purpose in this Language.

Wakefield **Primus omnium in Angliam Chaldaeum, Hebraeum, Arabicumque invexit, & illa publicè in utraque Academia docuit. Wakefield de se in orat. de laudibus & utilitate trium ling. Arab. Chald. & Hebraic.of old taught Hebrew in England.

Of later time Edward Livelie in Cambridge.

Hugh Broughton and Nicholas Fuller did also excell in that Language.

p. 58See Arias Mon…anus his Preface to his book De Hebraicis Idiotismis, and his book intituled Communes & familiares Hebraicae linguae idiotismi.The Hebrew Language in a few words comprehends much matter, is very significant, it hath a gravity, sweetnesse, vivacity, and marvellous efficacy in its words, periods.

Qui Ebraeam linguam compendio vult discere, assues▪ cer uni Grammaticae, eique methodicae & plenae. Nihil enim magis Tyroni noxium quam per multas Grammaticas volare. Sixtini Amana Consilium de Ebraico faeliciter instituendo.The way to learn the Hebrew tongue, is to inure ones self to one methodical and compleat Grammer. Some much commend Martinius his Hebrew Grammer.

Of the Chaldee Language.

Hac lingua in Aegypto, & Aethiopia eruditiores u…untur, ut à multis accepi Hebraicae confinis est, nec multo magis quàm Dorica à Graeca communi dissert. Ang. Roch. Appendix Bib. Vatic. De Dialectis. Haec lingua unâ cum Chaldaeorum & Assyriorum Monarchia, liberalium artium cultu, legumque ac ju…ium tractatione exculta, longe lateque pomaeria sua protulit. Prae caeteris linguis, sanctae maximè affinis est Chaldaica, inquit Elias Levita. Nam praecipua diversitas in terminatione, mutatione, litterarum & punctorum articulorumque variatione consistit. Interdum tamen quaedam apud Chaldaeos vocabula occurrunt, quae ab Hebraeis non frequentantur, vel planè non usurpantur. In hac lingua Daniel & Esdras magnam partem conscripti sunt. Hujus linguae vocabula nonnulla reperias in Jobo, Proverbiis, Jeremia, & alibi. Waseri Comment. ad Mithridatem Gesueri. Chaldaea sunt in lege seu Mose Gen. 31.47. duae voces: in Prophetis Jer. 10.11. versus integer in Hagiograph Ez…aea c. 4.7. usque 6.19. & 7.12. usque 27. v. Daniele 24. usque 8.1. Unde illud, ne sit lingua Aramaea levis in oculis tuis, quoniam invenimus in lege, & in Prophetis, & in scriptis sanctis seu hagiographis, quod ille sanctus benedictus ipse (Deus) tribuit ei honorem. Wal. Epist. Walae… Gomarus.Gen 31:47Jer 10:11During the seventy years Captivity of the Jews in Babylon, there was a mixture of the Hebrew and Chaldee Language, as is evident by the writings of the Prophet Daniel, composed of both, as Jerom hath well observed in his Preface upon that Prophet, as also by the writings of Ezra, and more evidently in the Chaldee Paraphrases.

The Syriack and Chaldee are as it were but dialects of the Hebrew (differing not much more then Northern and Western speech from plain English) and though they be nearly allied to the Hebrew, yet they are nearer one to the other, insomuch that some reckon them both one.

Those Christians are a terrour to the Jews who are indifferently skilled in the Thargum and the Rabbins, for they know that many pillars of Judaism are most vehemently shaken, yea overthrown in them. The more the pity that these most profitable studies are so neglected in those places where the Jews most resort.

Many Christians in Syria use this Language in Grammaticis & sacris about the mountain Libanus.

The Samaritan Language.

Totidem verbis quot Judaei, ne una quidem minus, au… amplius, Pentateuchum legunt. Et quod caput est, literis non adulterinis, ut Judaei, sed meris Mosaicis characteribus, ut planè à Postello proditum est, & res ipsa loquitur. Scalig. De emendat. Temp. lib. 7.It hath no other letters and characters proper to it, but the Hebrew letters and characters, yet most ancient. Many Jews at this day dwelling in Syria, and chiefly in the Town of Sichem, use this Samaritan Language, which are called Samaritans.

The Syriack tongue, which is very like to the Hebrew, witnesseth that the Hebrews have two and twenty letters, for they also have two and twenty in sound alike, but divers characters. The Samaritans also write the Pentateuch of Moses in so many letters; and it is certain that Ezra after the taking of Hierusalem, and the restauration of the Temple under Zorobabel, found out other letters which we now use, when to that time the characters of the Samaritans, and the Hebrews were the same.

p. 59Of the Syriack Language.

It is called also Lingua Aramaea, Esa. 36.11. The new translation hath,Hoc sacrosanctum est idioma, quo uti dignatus est Dominus noster Jesus Christus filius Dei, Deus verus, & verus homo: cùm in terris visibiliter ageret. Propterea vocant Christianam, quia Domino Christo familiaris fuit. Ea utuntur Asiatici omnes Christiani, cùm inter se, tum verò praecipuè in suis sacris. Pet. Vict. Cajet. Palm. Paradig Ling. Syr. Vide plura ibid. Syrorum lingua conflata est ex Chaldaica & Hebraica. Nam habet quaedam communia cum utraque & quaedam diversa. Wasaeri Comment. ad Gesneri Mithrid. Haec lingua in diatu no exilio Babylonico primordia coepit: ubi Judaei, sicut fieri solet à victis, ad aucupandam victorum gratiam, suam cum Chaldaica miscuerunt: ex qua commixtione illa prodiit. Hanc linguam sanctissimis labris suis consecravit Christus, quum his in terris inter mortales vitam degisset: ut quae ejus & Apostolorum ae…ate Judaeis vernacula erat: quod docent voces, Abba, Aceldama, Bar, Bar aba, Bar Jesu, Bar jona, Bar-Timi: Bel vel Beel, Beelzebub, Bethabara, Bethania, Bethesda, Beliar, Bene rehem, Ephphata, Gabbatha, Genesara, Golgotha, Korbona, Mammona, Ribbi, Talitha-Kumi, & aliae; quae merè sunt Syriacae, & passim in Novo Testamento occurrunt. In hac lingua exstat translatio totius Novi Testamenti vetustissima & elegantissima, ac proinde divinam apud doctiores venerationem habens: quum vel ab Apostolis ipsis, vel â discipulis eorum conscripta credatur. Waseri Comment. ad Mithrid. Gesn. the Syrian Language, the old, The Aramites Language.

The Syriack tongue is certainly thought to have had beginning in the time of the Captivity of the Jews in Babylon, while they were mingled among the Chaldeans. In which long revolution of seventy years, the vulgar sort of the Jews forgot their own language, and began to speak the Chaldee; but yet pronouncing it amisse, and framing it somewhat to their own Countrey fashion, in notation of points, affixes, conjugations, and some other properties of their ancient speech, it became a mixt Language of Hebrew and Chaldee. Brerewoods Enquiries touching the Diversity of Languages and Religions through the chief parts of the world, ch. 9.

Guido Fabricius clearly demonstrates the vulgar tongue of Jury in the dayes of our blessed Saviours pilgrimage here upon earth to be Syriack, which (saith Masius) grew out of the mixture of the ancient Chaldee and Hebrew, and was so different from the latter, that the one could not be understood by the other. The Preface to Brerewoods Enquiry.

Crinesius commends the Syriack Grammer of Mafius, Mercer, Tremellius and especially Wasers. But De Dieu's is an excellent one.

Of the Arabick.

It is 1. a very ancient Language,Si ut hominibus, ita linguis etiam genus & prosapia nobilitatem addat, nostra uni cedit Hebraeae, primae huic (nec longo sane intervallo proxima) & divinae parentis germanissima filia. Greav. Orat. De Linguae Arab. util. & praestant. Sive autem Hagarenos & Saracenos, sive Arabes dixeris uno nomine, lingua usi sunt, hodiéque utuntur eâ, quae praeter Hebraeam & Chaldaeam omnibus caeteris prior & antiquior est, & quasi mater earum censetur, in Africa, Asiaque ita vigens, ut eam infantes à matribus suis haurire possint. Crines. De confus. Ling. c. 6. Vide plura ibid. Hinc usum ejus obtinere & in pretio esse videmus, non apud Arabes tantum, sed & Mauros, Poenos, Nubios, Aegyptios, Syros, Chaldaeos, Turcas, Armenos, Persas, …artaros, Indos; item Graecos, Macedones, Thraces, Ungaros, & alios Europae populos; ne multis, apud majorem earum gentium partem, quae orbem antiquis cognitum incolunt. Erpen. Orat. De Ling. Arab. Namque in ipsa Heberi familia primum nata Arabica lingua, cum gente sua & longe diffusa, & in proprio semper conservata solo, tandem quoque extra illud ita propagata fuit, ut hodiè extremos orientis & occidentis terminos conjungat; per tanta terrae latifundia sacri & profani doctarumque mentium jam per multa saecula interpres. Golii Paefat. ad Lexicon Arabico Latin. Illud enim inter eruditos pridem convenit, Nullam unquam ab orbe condito linguam latè adecò diffusam, aut plus terrarum occupasse. Non enim in Arabia modo, amplissima quidem regione tanquam privato lare habitavit, sed Asiam penè universam, maximam Africae, haud mediocrem Europae partem peruaga…a est. Greav Orat. De Ling. Arab. util. & praestant. Nulla Lingua hodiè, nec usquam olim in tot partibus orbis locum habuit. Postellus. as Jerom shews in his Commentaries upon the Prophet Esay, and in his Preface to Daniel and Job; and Erpenius in his first Orat. De ling. Arab.

2. It is of larger extent now then any other Language, almost the third part of the habitable world acknowledgeth it.

Although I be farre from their opinion, which write (too overlashingly) that the Arabian tongue is in use in two third parts of the inhabited world, or in more, yet I finde that it extendeth very farre, and specially where the Religion of Mahumed is professed. Brerew. Enquir. ch. 8.

Ejus beneficio valebimus sine interprete conversari cum Mauro, Aegyptio, Syro, p. 60Persa, Turcho, Tartaro, Indo, & ut semel dicam, ferè in toto terrarum orbe. Postellus.

3. It is an elegant Language whether we consider the plentie of words, and the force of signification, or the sweetnesse of the phraseology, or the facility and gravity of the whole Language. All these particulars Erpenius proves in his first Oration. De Ling. Arab. and M^r Greaves saith, it exceeds both the Greek and Latine in number of words.

Vide Pocock. Not. Miscel. in portam Mosis.4. It is a profitable Language. He that hath the knowledge of this Language, may travell without an Interpreter almost all over Africa and Asia. There are many words in the Hebrew Bible, and the most ancient and profitable Chaldee Translation of it, and many manners of speaking whose signification and sense cannot be had but out of this Language. Without the knowledge of this Language, how shall the impious opinion of Mahomet be either fully known or refuted?

It gives great light to the Syriack, Aethiopick, Persian, and other Languages, to the Mathematicks,Nulla, mi Lector, lingua est (Graecam & Latinam excipio) quae plura solidae eruditionis & encyclopaediae monumenta continet. In Theologia multos ea & graves scriptores habet. In re medica, bone Deus, quanta è scriptorum Caterva memorabo, Rhasin, Abin Sennam, Mesuem, Serapionem? Quam bonos, quam serios scriptores: Mathemeticis omnium charissimi Arabes: quia Mathematica illis. Hac enim artes hi prae caeteris nationibus invenerunt, coluerunt, perfecerunt. Testes mihi Geber, Haly, Thebit, Alphraganus, Albumasar, & alii multi graves & actri ingenii authores, quorum inventa in his artibus valdè celebrantur. Bedw. Praef. ad Joh. Apost. Epist. Cathol. Arab. Vide Erpenii Orat. 2. De Lingua Arabica. Ad medicinam & humani corporis salutem nati planè videntur, neque ulli artem hanc meliore Phoebo, aut dextro magis numine aggressi sunt. Greav. De Linguae Arab. util. & praestant. Quos inter classem ducit naturae nostrae miraculum poenè Avicenna, in Philosophia vix Stagiri…â minor, medendi arte nihil Galen cedens, idem cum maximis oratoribus facundiae gloria conferendus. Id. ibid. they having invented the Algebra, and having Mathematicians more acurate then Ptolomy, to Physick, Avicenna, Mesua, Serapio, Rasis were famous Physicians. Averroes, Avicenna and others much adorned Philosophy. They have very many famous Poets, Historians. Ingentes Historiarum copias habent, obscurae & sepultae jam antiquitati lucem vitamque allaturas. Poetarum illis seges densissima est, ut nullibi terrarum major ingeniorum messis provenerit, saith M^r Greaves in his Oration.

He commends it also for its facility, for here are no dialects at all, no turnings of flexions, no anomalies.

Mercer, Joseph Scaliger, Francis Rophelengius, Isaac Casanbone, Emanuel Tremelius, and Francis Junius, Clenard, Golius, and our Pocock and Graves highly prized this Language, and promoted the study of it.

The Arabians (saith Bedwell) translated the Syriack Testament not the Greek, as it will appear by many places to him that shall compare them, whence those things which are very well rendred by the Syriack, are also rendred ad verba by the Arabick, where the Syriack hath erred, there also the Arabick hath much more missed the mark.

Of the Ethiopick or Indian Language.

Graeci Ae…hiopiam dicunt ab foreign, uro, & foreign visus, facies, solis enim vicinitate incolae ejus regionis ita torrentur, ut atro sint colore, adeoque immutabili. Jer. 13.20. Crines. De Consus. Ling. c. 8. Linguam Aethiopicam in multis mirificè congruere cum Hebraea, Chaldaea & Assyria inductione benè longa comprobari possit. Verùm qui linguas illas vel primoribus labris attigit, ex unico orationis dominicae, quod …uctor adtexuit, specimine, clarissimè potest videre. Waseri ad Mithridatem Gesneri Commentarius. Indica lingua, adeò Hebraicae, Chaldaicae & Arabicae affinis est, licet Characteribus variet, ut rara admodum sit in hac dictio, quin in aliarum aliqua repetiatur. Haec sola Orientalium, quae ab Hebraea originem habent, legitur nostro modo, à sinistra in dextram. Postellus.Jer 13:20It is so near (saith Bibliander, De Ratione Communi omnium linguarum, cap. 2.) to the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabick, that there is scarce any diction which is not found in some of them.

The Ethiopians are descended from Chus the sonne of Cham.

It proceeds almost wholly from the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriack and Arabick. They write from the left hand to the right. It hath a great passage through all the Kingdom of Ethiopia and Africk, which is of great extent. Some think the Prophets p. 61were written in the Ethiopick tongue from the times of our Saviour Christ, and his Apostles, and that the Eunuch (who was Treasurer under the Queen of Candace) read it, by which Eunuch also afterward all Ethiopia was converted to the faith of the Gospel.

Of the Persian Language.

There are many footsteps of the Persian Language in the Scripture, especially in Esther, as Ahashuerus, Esther, Hammedetha, Phur or Phurim, Gaza, Susa, Zeres, Hac de Lingua nihil prorsus possideo, sed eandem jam excolere coepit vir aliâs excellentissimus in Linguis Anatolicis, Dn. Wilhelmus Schikhardus Tubingensium Professor Publicus, dominus & amicus noster venerandus, qui nuperrimè ex eadem Tarich, hoc est seriem Regum Persicorum typis evulgavit publicis. Crines. Discursus de Confusione Linguarum, c. 7. Inter omnes linguas Armenica prolatione difficillima. Bibliand. De ratione communi omnium Linguarum, c. 2.Mardochai, and others.

Persarum lingua omnium linguarum mundi facillima est. Bibliand. De Ratione Communi omnium linguarum.

M^r Graves hath written of it, Persica lingua in tota ferè Asia hodiè locum habet, ut in occidente Latina, saith Waserus in his Commentary on Gesners Mithridates.

Of the Coptick Kircherus hath written.

Of the chief Oriental Languages, Arabick, Armenian, Syriack and Ethiopick hath Petrus Victor, Cajetanus Palma written, and Ludovicus De Dieu a Grammar of them.

Of the Greek Language.

It is a most elegant, rich and copious Language,There are several Orations in the commendation of the Greek Tongue by Heresbachius, Hoelzlin, D. Prideaux. Heinsius. Graeca lingua est erudita admodum & locuples. Et quemadmodum Latina lingua alias potest copia sua instruere ac juvare, sic Graeca tum Latinam ipsam, tam alias quoque auget & adornat: Estque perfectioni Latinitatis necessaria, non secus quàm Latina Italicae aut Hispanicae. Nec ullus absolutè suit Latini sermonis peritus, nisi & Graeco imbutus. Ex sermone enim Graeco Latinus, ex Latino Italus Hispanus & Gallus manarunt, quibus olim nationibus Latina lingua erat vernacula. Bibliander. De ratione Communi omnium linguarum. Ingenium Graiis dedit ore rotundo. Musae loqui. Illinc sunt tropi, illinc omnes figurae sententiarum & verborum, quae unde prodeant, satis suis nominibus produnt: illinc sunt Oratores Romani, qui eloquentiam Graecis acceptam referunt. Barthol. Alex. Orat. Omitto Latinos Poëtas à Graecis omnia mutuatos esse: Terentium à Menandro, Virgilio à Theocrito, Hesiodo, Homero: Horatium à Pindaro. Id. ibid. and very usefull for understanding of the Scripture and other Arts.

The Old Testament was translated out of Hebrew into Greek, and the New Testament was wholly written by the Apostles in this Language. Many Greek Fathers also have commented on the Scripture, or defended Religion by Theological Treatises. Grammatica, Dialectica, Rhetorica, Arithmetica, Musica, Geometria, and many Chronological words have come from the Greek.

Many terms in the Mathematicks cannot be understood without it.

The Greeks in their Liturgie have no Latine speech, but the Latines have divers Greek speeches in theirs. An evident proof, that the Latines have received of the Greeks the Christian Religion, and have been their Disciples. As this appears by the History of the Acts of the Apostles, where we may see the Christian Religion passed from Syria to the Greeks, and from the Greeks into Italy, and to Rome. Anatomie De La Messe, l. 5. c. 14.Thence it comes, that the most part of words used in Religion amongst the western Christians are Greek, as those of Christ, Church, Apostle, Evangelist, Baptism, Eucharist, Bishop, Deacon, Exorcist, Monk, Letany, Antiphonie, Chrisme.

Rom. 1.14. I am debtor both to the Greeks and Barbarians, that is,Vide Drusium ad Roman. 8.15. to all Nations under heaven, bottoming his speech from the phrase of the Grecians,Graeca Lingua diutius est syncera & pura conservata, quàm nostra, quòd illa barbararum nationum incursus minùs sensit, quam occidens. Ludov. Viv. De Trad Disc. lib. 3. which gave the style of Barbarous for distinction sake, unto all the Nations, even the Romans, beside themselves.

p. 62The Greek Language is difficult by reason of the many Dialects, the Attick common,In Graeca lingua magni sunt recessus, & vastissimi Labyrinthi, non solum indialectis variis, sed in unaquaque illarum. Attica & Atticae proxima communis maximè sunt necessariae, propterea quòd & sunt facundissimae atque excultissimae: & quicquid Graeci habent legi ac cognosci dignum, istis dialectis est consignatum. Reliquis utuntur authores ca…minum, quos non tanti est intelligi: praesertim quum non in dialectis modo, sed in apellandis rebus, & colore loquendi tantum sic inter orationem numeris solutam & adstrictam discriminis, ut non videatur esse eadem lingua. Bibliander de Ratione Communi omnium Linguarum & Literat. cap. 4. Graeca Lingua quinque distinguitur dialectis, Aeolica scilicet, Attica, Ionica, Dorica & communi. Attica verò inter caeteras elegantior & communi propior, Dorica crassissima indicatur, & in hac Eclogae & Pastorum co…loquia à Theocrito conscripta fuisse aiont. Aug. Roch. Append. Bib. Varic. de Dialectis. Vide Crines. de Confus. Ling. c. 9. Graeca Lingua adeò necessaria, ut vix quenquam dixerim eruditum, qui eam ignoraverit. Ringelbergius de Ratione Studii. Eolick, Ionick and Dorick. The Attick Dialect is the most elegant and usefull; the Dorick was the most gross, therefore the Eclogues and conferences of Shepherds were written by Theocritus in that Language: Yet Petrus Mosellanus Orat. de Var. Ling. Cognit. saith, Adsit ingenium foelix, non desit discendi propositum constans, contingat & praeceptor non dectus solùm, sed & prudens, vel meo ipsius periculo polliceri ausim, minori & tempore, & negotio mediocrem utriusque linguae cognitionem posse percipi, quàm hodiè linguae semel latinae miseranda discitur balbuties.

Cato being old learned Greek, as Origen did Hebrew.

Vide Aul. Gell. Noct. Att. l. 11. c. 16. & Turneb. Animadv. l. 5. c. 19.There is no Language so happy in composition, as the Greek, so fit in joyning and coupling one word with another as it, as Julius Pollux a Greek Author in his Onomasticon evidently demonstrates.

All the Hebrew and Latine eloquence know not with their mystery, gravity, copiousness and eloquence, to express and utter so properly and naturally many Nowns and Verbs as are to be found frequently in the Books of Greek Authours.

Greek Books, (in very deed, if any after the sacred) are best able to make a man Wise and Learned. D^r Casaub. of Enthus. c. 2.

At this day the Greek Tongue is very much decayed, not only as touching the largeness of it, but also in the pureness and elegancy of the Language; though it was preserved pure longer then the Latine.Thresor de L' Histoire Des Langues. De Cet univers. Par Duret. pag. 674. De couplements de mots Grecs. Brerewoods Enquiries touching the diversity of Languages, cap. 2

Picus Mirandulanus, Hermolaus Barbarus, Bembus, Politian, were famous Italians,In Graecis authoribus Xene…hontis Cyrus, & Socratici Commentarii, & Herodotus, & Thucydides, & Demosthenes, & Aristotelis libri de moribus, & de Repub. & Homerus, atque Hesiodus. Et cum ab his intermissio fi…ri potest, sevocandus aliquando Theocritus est, & Pindarus & Euripides & Sophocles: & si quis est alius aut Philosophorum, aut Historicorum, aut Poetarum, qui placeat. Sturmii Nobilitas Literata. well skild in the Greek.

By the pains of Theodorus Gaza, Luscaris, Musorus, Cretensis, Chalcondiles, Argyropylus, Trapezuntius, Chrysoloras, the Greek tongue was wonderfully spread.

Sthwartzerd was called from the Greek Melancthon, Newman, Neander, Churchyard, Polyander, Freeman, Luther, ab foreign, Reuelin, Capnio.

The Germane tongue hath many words purely Greek, as Neander in the first part of his Geography shews.

Doctissimus ille quondam praeceptor meus Johannes Camerarius Dalburgius, Ecclesiae Vvormaciensis reverendissimus antistes, aliquot millia dictionum Graecarum collegerat, quae in utraque lingua Graeca & Germanica idem significant. Bibliand. de Ratione communi omnium Linguarum c. 2.

The French tongue hath a great conformity with the Greek, as both Joach. Perionius de Linguae Gall. cum Graeca cognat. and Henry Stevens in that Book entituled Conformité de Language Francois avec le Grec. abundantly shew.

So hath the English also divers words from them, as I have elsewhere declared.

p. 63All Learning and Wisdom is contained in the Greek Language.Quia verò in Graeca lingua suavissima, dulcissima, elegantissima, & ornatissima omnis erudita doctrina & sapientia fuit tradita, cum Deus in illa gente, quicquid literarum, artium, doctrinae ac sapientiae literatae uspiam esset, deposuisset, caepit illa lingua propagati, tum per Graecorum colonias, tùm etiam aliis rationibus per omnes fero gen…es omnium partium orbis terrae adeò ut non modo Scythis, Indis, quod ex Philostrato patet, sed Germanis etiam quod Willichius in Commentariis suis eruditis in Cornelium Tacitum annotavit. Graecae literae fuerint familiares, & circa Caroli magni tempora anno 800. circiter post Christum natum Graecis literis Germanica scriberent, adeò ut omnes suas rationes, omniaque sua acta Graecè us que ad tempora Rudolphi Caesaris Habspurgensis scriberent. Neand. Geog. parte 1^a.

Of the Latine Tongue.

It is one of the three Learned Tongues,Legendi scriptores Classici quales è Latinis praecipuè sunt Cicero, Caesar, Terentius, scriptor, ut ad nomen, ipsum alludamus, terendus adolescentiae noctu, diuque Vossius de Philologia, cap. 6. Cognosce…dus nobis est Cicero totus in lingua Latino, & Caesaris commentarii, & alustius, & Virgilias. in quo studio cum quid superest horarum, interponendum ex Plauto, & Terentio, & Varrone, & Lucretio caeteris que aliquid, quod ad intelligendum facile, & ad cognoscendum sit jucundum. Nobilitas literata Sturmii. Ad Ciceronem vero quod me revocas auctorem quidem linguae Latinae summum: nec tamen solum, quaero quid aliis facias: quorum testimonia vim sententiae semper apud eruditissimum quemque habuerunt. Quaero item, quid un… saltem Va…roni respondeas: qui quidem sicuti Ciceroni palmam concedit orandi causas: ita Latine loquendi sibi retinet. Quaero etiam: an quasi barbaros quosdam rejicias: Livium, Sallustium, Quintillianum, Senecam, Plinium quoque utrumque, multos alios p…aeterea tot saeculorum suffragiis comprobatos. Polit. Epist. l. 5. Epist. 1. in comparison of which all others are said to be barbarous.

Some hold that the flourishing, pure and incorrupt age of the Latine Tongue was from Terence, even to the times of Quintilian.

This age had Terence, Pacuvius the Poet, Lucretius and Archias Poets, Varro, Cicero, Julius Caesar, Virgill, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, Catullus, Ovid, Salust, Columella, Livy▪ Quintus Curtius, Persius, Seneca, Silvius Italicus, and Martiall. Under Augustus Caesar the Latine tongue was most pure.

Vide Becmanni Manuduct. ad Ling. Lat. c. 6. concerning the pure Latine Authours, and c. 7. what Authours are most to be read, and also some Elogies of the Latine Tongue by divers Learned men.

Paesquier Recherches de la France l. 9. c. 29. reckons up the Authours which excelled in the Latine Tongue.

The Latine Tongue grew to perfection by certain degrees, and in Caesar and Cicero's times (whereof the one for purity, the other for copiousness were the best that ever writ) it came to the highest flourish together with the Empire.

Among the Poets, Plautus, Naevius, Accius, Pacuvius, Ennius and Virgill most refined it, among the Orators and Historians M. Cato, Sisenna, Caesar and Cicero.

The Spanish Writer of the Book which is called the Triall of Wits, ch. 4. collects thence, that there is a speciall agreement of the Latine Tongue with the reasonable soul, because mad men which never learned Latine, nevertheless sometime speak it of their own accord.

The Latine Tongue is usefull for all Arts **Lingua Latina non uni vel arti, vel genti servit: sed omnibus quaecunque sunt, ubicun que sunt, & artibus & generibus. Quicquid olim latuit in scriniis sive Hebraicis, sive Graecis, sive aliis, in Latinum idioma conversum est. Beckm. Manuduct. ad Ling. Lat. c. 2. Haec cum nuspiam hodie vernacula aut materna sit, ideo ab ineunte statim aetate pueris discenda datur. Hac, quodcunque sit, in Scholis & Academiis docetur Hac, quasi vinculo, tam variae, tam dissitae copulantur nationes. Id. ibid.and Nations.

Julius Scaliger and Joseph his sonne hold, that the Originals of the Latine speech are many of them drawn from the Greek. Crinesius de Confusione Linguarum cap. 10. proves by many instances, that the Latine Tongue proceeded from the Hebrew.

It is very commendable to speak good Latine freely, and to write in a pure and elegant style.

That is much which Fanchimus Fortius Ringelbergius **Postremo animum adjunxi ad curā Latinè ac politè scribendi, cujus gloria inter humanos conatus omneis summum tenere locum videtur. In hac finire vitam decrevi. Quae si dabitur mediocriter longa, in animo est opuscula millena (id que summa quantum in nobis fuerit, adhibita cura Latini sermonis) ante mort…m conscribere: quorum corpore universo inde titulus erit Chilias. Nec prius desistere certum est, quàm it…aec quae dixi, perteoero, nisi mors invitum opprimat. Ex hoc numero libellos nuper undeviginti absolvimus, speramus que nos brevi ad centum, hoc est decimam Chiliados partem perventuros.in his truly golden Book De Ratione Studii reports of himself.

p. 64Of the Italian, French and Spanish Languages.

Nostram linguam qua jam utimur, non difficile intellectu est, ex variis variarum gentium sermonibus conflatam esse. Dimidia sermonis ejus pars Romanis accepta ferenda: quemadmodum qui vel Latinis literis tinctus potest animadvertere. Hocoman. Franco. Gal.One Bense hath written a Book entitled Analogo-Diaphora, sen Concordia Discrepans, & Discrepantia Concordans trium Linguarum, Gallicae, Italicae, & Hispanicae.

The disagreeing concord and the agreeing discord of those three Languages, French, Italian and Spanish.

The Language of the Spaniards is said to be Manly, the Italian Courtly, and the French Amorous.

Enquiries touching the diversity of Languages, ch. 5. Latinae linguae propagines, sed tempore & vulgi imperitia valde corruptae, sunt tres, hodie vulgares linguae, Italica, Hispanica, & Gallica. Prima minus, utpote Latinae linguae proxima, secunda magis, tertia maxime corrupta. Ang. Roch. Appendix Bib. Vatic. de Dialectis. In tres potiores Dialectos locutio Romana, ex Barbarorum incursione & immixcione, divisa est: in Italicam, Gallicam & Hispanicam. Ex his Italica à Latino facilè intelligitur sicuti & Gallica tardius prolata (quod tamen respuere videtur) à Germano Latino facillime percipitur. Crines. de Confus. Ling. cap. 10.Brerewood conceives these tongues are more ancient, and that they have not sprung from the corruption of the Latine Tongue, by the inundation and mixture of barbarous people in these provinces, but from the first unperfect impression and receiving of it in those forraign Countries.

One of the Councels cals the French Tongue Linguam Romanum rusticam, whence Romances, because they were written in that Tongue.

The genuine pronunciation and reading is the most difficult in the French Tongue, for many letters which are written, are not pronounced, or otherwise pronounced.

Crinesius in his Discourse of the Confusion of Languages, c. 10. gives seven generall rules of the French pronunciation, and many speciall ones.

There are many severall Dialects of the French Tongue. Nam in Gallia certè nostra, tot ferè linguae sunt, aut certè tot ejusdem linguae dialecti, ac diversi pronuntiandi modi, quot sunt Galliae, non dicam provinciae, sed urbes. Casaub. Comment. in l. 4. Strabonis.

Lingua Hispanica affinis est Italicae, & ad Latinam linguam propitìs quam Gallica accedere mihi videtur, minus tamen quam Italica. Gesueri Mithridates De differentiis Linguarum.The Spanish Tongue is near to the Italian, and seems to come nearer to the Latine Tongue then the French, but not so near as the Italian.

Brerewood in his 6^th Chapter of Enquiries touching the diversity of Languages, saith he hath seen an Epistle written by a Spaniard, whereof every word was both good Latine and good Spanish, and an example of the like is to be seen in Merula Cosmog. part. 2. l. 2. ch. 8.

Scaliger Epist. Casaub. saith Quarta pars Hispanicae linguae merè Arabica.

Scaliger commends the French for a most elegant and sweet Language, and prefers it before the Spanish and Italian.Lingua F…ancica est hodie omnium linguarum Romanensium excultissima elegantissima & suavissima, & cum qua neque Italica, neque Hispanica contendere possunt. Jos. Scalig. Diat. de Hodiernis Francorum Linguis.

The people leave out many of their consonants in their pronunciation, which makes it the sweeter.

In aulis omniumpropemodum principum, maximè occidentalium, viget illa lingua & floret. Petrus Bense in Epistola Dedicatoria.

The people speak the best French in Blois or Orleance, and the best Italian in Hetruria, Linguae Gallicanae elegantia hic (Aureliae) & Blaesiis ea floret, ut palman facilè praeripiant omnibus. Hinc Gallis Aurelianismus quod Graecis Atticismus. Jodoci Sinceri Itinerarium Galliae. Quamvis autem his Italiae Provinciis una sit lingua Hetrusca, tamen nova cultior & emendatior inter alias censetur, & majori habetur pretio, ad quam profecto linguam qui magis accedit, purior in dicendo, aut in scribendo existimatur. Aug. Roch. Append. Bib. Vatic. de Dialectis. Inter Dialectos, quibus hodie utuntur Castellana praefertur. Crines. de Confus. Ling. c. 10.and the best Spanish in Castile.

p. 65Antoine Du Verdier in his excellent Preface to his Bibliotheque highly commends the French Language, Quant à la phrase & elegante maniere de parler, pour exprimer belles conceptions, He hath much more there in the commendation of his own Language.ie ne sai si les Grecs mesmes se peuvent vanter d'estre pareils à …ous. Dema part, ie croy que nostre langue ait estè composee de toutes les fleurs d' eslite, qui sont esparses par la Grecque, la Latine, l' Italienne, & autres celebres & renommees, tant antiques que modernes.