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 192 LATIN" LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE tongue, Heffter; on grammar, Schneider, G. F. Grotefend, Zumpt, Ramshorn, Otto Schulz, Reuscher, F. A. Grotefend, G. T. A. Krtiger, Reisig, Miihlmann, Anthon Schmidt, Kritz, Berger, Engelmann, and Fr. Bauer; on the older Latin, to the end of the republic, Ritsch, Oorssen, Bucheler, and Liibbeck; on pronun- ciation, Kopp, Geppert, and Oorssen ; on vow- els, Dietrich and Fronde ; on accent, Langen, Weil, and Benlow; on the history of the alphabet, Ritschl; on orthography, Ritsch, Mommsen, Fleckeisen, and Brambach; on diminutives, Gustav Milller ; on proper names, Mommsen; on composition, Uhdolph; on de- clension, Bucheler ; on pronouns, Osann and Sa- gert ; on conjugations, Nolting, Curtius, Pauli, Liib bert, Weissenborn, Lange, and Sander ; on prepositions, Schwarz; on conjunctions, Wis- so wa ; on syntax, G. T. A. Kriiger, Hermann Schmidt, K. O. Miiller, Holtze, and Scheuer- lein. General lexicons have been compiled by Freund, Georges, Miihlmann, and Klotz; ety- mological lexicons by Schwenck and Georges ; special lexicons for the poets by Bach, Stern, and Lorey, for the sources of jurisprudence by Merkel, for the historians by Drager, and for Tacitus by Drager, Zernial, and Botticher. The lingua rustica or vulgar Latin, specially or in its relation to the Romance tongues, has been treated by Schweitzer, Berblinger, and Boh- mer ; its vocalism by Schuchard ; the Latin of the middle ages by Diefenbach, Brinckmeier, and Hildebrand. Recent English writers on Latin grammar and lexicography, including ele- mentary school books, are Ainsworth, Church, Donaldson, J. 0. Evans, T. H. Edwards, T. W. 0. Edwards, Fowle, Frost, Gepp, Haigh, Hay- man, Hooper, Howard, Kemp, Key, Kirk, Kavanagh, Kennedy, Leary, Lowe, Macgowan, Mason, Millington, Melvin, Mayor, Newman, Oxenham, Perkins, Potts, Riddle, Robertson, Robson, Roby, Rust, Roberts, Stapylton, W. Smith, R. P. Smith, Sargent, Stretton, T. W. Thompson, J. T. "White, and Wilkins. LITERATURE. The history of Latin literature may be divided into several well defined peri- ods. The earliest period, until the appearance of the poems of Livius Andronicus, about 240 B. 0., is void of monuments of literature proper, and may be designated as the period of the beginnings of Latin literature. The second period reaches to the death of the em- peror Augustus (A. D. 14). This period may be subdivided into the age of archaisms, or of natural or artless productions; the Ciceronian age, or that of artistic prose ; and the Augustan age, or that of artistic poetry. The last two divisions are generally comprised in one, and distinguished as the golden age. The third period extends to the death of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (180) ; but from the time of Hadrian (117-138) literature was character- ized by so great a decline of taste as almost to require a separate treatment. The fourth period is one of literary anarchy. Ciceronian Latin ceases to be the living model of the lit- erary language, and the plebeian Latin gains the ascendant. The period closes with the be- ginning of the Gothic age, or the time of Boe- thius and Cassiodorus, about the year 500. Lat- in literature, if understood to embrace all works written in the Latin language, would reach to the present day, as men of science in Europe still occasionally write their books, especially when philological, in that ancient tongue. But the subject is here confined to the times of the growth and decay of Latin, when the language of its literature was represented by the speech of a people. Thereafter the task of the his- torian of Latin literature consists in following out the history of its study, and of the means whereby its knowledge has descended to our own day. This has been merged, in the pres- ent article, with the preceding account of the history of the Latin language. The First Pe- riod, or the Beginnings of Latin Literature. Though it is to be supposed that Latin poetry, like that of other nations, began in the lyrical form, or, as Mommsen says, sprang out of those primitive festal rejoicings in which dance, mu- sic, and song were still inseparably blended, no remains have been preserved of the germs of the Roman epos and drama. The oldest monuments of the literature with which we are acquainted are religious chants and politi- cal documents. Among these the Salian songs are probably of the highest antiquity. They were religious litanies sung and danced by the Salii (leapers) and other priesthoods at public processions, sacrifices, marriages, and funerals. One of them, still extant, is a dance chant of the Arval brethren in honor of Mars, revealing a very primitive form of the language. Pos- sibly also a collection of ordinances, spoken of by ancient writers as the Leges regia or Jus Papirianum, was composed at this time. It is reported that in the age of Numa was writ- ten a sort of philosophy of religion, known as Libri Numa Pompilii ; but the senate ordered the books to be burned, as heretical, before any one gained sight of them. Numerous conjec- tures in regard to their nature have been en- tertained in ancient and modern times ; but it seems hardly possible that Latin culture was sufficiently advanced to produce a work of such size and spirit. The Annales Maximi, named by Quintilian as the beginning of Latin prose, the clan registers, the books of oracles, and the Alban and Roman calendars, are also of great antiquity. But none of them equals in value, as an index to the state of civilization at that time, the law of the twelve tables, which is exclusively the production of Roman intelli- gence, and dates from about 450 B. C. Appius Claudius Csecus, who became censor in 312, was often praised by later writers for his style and learning as a writer on matters of jurispru- dence ; but not one of his works has been pre- served. The four epitaphs of the Scipios, one found in 1616 and the others in 1780, belong- ing to this period, are written in verses of Saturnian metre, and serve at best as samples