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 THE ITALIAN COLONIES. Id There had probably always been a large Italian element in Constantinople. Latin had never ceased to be un- Latin nlwavs *. . uuderstouJiu dcrstood by some portion or the population of the seaports. . *' ^ mi r • capital and other seaport towns. ihe Lingua Franca which the Crusaders were able to understand was closely allied to the dialect of Latin spoken in Italy, and was probably a compound of the Latin imported with Constantino and his successors, of the Italian introduced by the colonists, and of a kindred dialect more nearly related to Latin than to Greek, which had been spoken in the Balkan peninsula long before the time of Constantino. The people of Romania con- tinue to our own time the dialect of Latin, which I believe to have been the language of a portion of the wider Romania which was under the rule of l^ew Rome. Whether the mod- ern language is a corruption of the Latin of Dacian colonists, or, as I have already suggested and as there seems more rea- son to conclude, an independent branch from the common Aryan stem, closely related to that which was developed in Rome, the readiness with which a Latin dialect could be un- derstood throughout at least the littoral of the empire, as well as in isolated communities in the interior of the Balkan pen- insula, can be satisfactorily established, and greatly facilitated trade. During the latter half of the twelfth century the Latins had Latiu settle- obtained possession of a large part of the commerce meuts q£ |.|jg empire. They had important colonies in most of the great towns. Many Venetians were settled at Sardis and at other places along the west coast of Asia Minor, as far north as the Dardanelles, where at Abydos their colo- nists w^ere found. Others were at Rodosto, on the north coast of the Marmora. During Isaac's reign they had settled at Adrianople, while an older colony of Latins was established at Philippopolis. The chief city and natural port of Macedonia then as now was Salonica. It was the terminus of many roads, which immediately before and after the great fair of St. Demetrius were crowded with traders. The furs and salt fish of Russia for winter supply were exchanged for the 11