{"product_id":"2940012916174","title":"The Childhood of Rome","description":"INTRODUCTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is scarcely necessary to say that these stories are not meant to be\u003cbr\u003etaken as history, even legendary history. The tales of the founding of\u003cbr\u003eRome and of the early life of the Italian races are many and\u003cbr\u003econtradictory. It is quite possible that future discoveries may disprove\u003cbr\u003ehalf the theories now held on these subjects. There must have been,\u003cbr\u003ehowever, heroic semi-savage figures like the Romulus of the legends, and\u003cbr\u003ethe aim of the author has been to re-create in some degree the atmosphere\u003cbr\u003eand the surroundings in which they may have lived.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe various customs and events introduced here were not, probably, part of\u003cbr\u003ethe history of one generation. It is possible, however, that as a tree\u003cbr\u003egrows from a seed, the laws of the future city were foreshadowed and\u003cbr\u003esuggested in the relations between the Romans as individuals and between\u003cbr\u003ethe town on the Palatine and its neighbors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt will be observed that the forms of Latin and Italian names used in\u003cbr\u003ethese stories do not follow the usual classic Latin style and end in “us.”\u003cbr\u003eIt is said by some authors that the original immigrants from whose customs\u003cbr\u003eand traditions Roman civilization developed came from Greece, and in that\u003cbr\u003ecase such Greek forms as “Vitalos” might have been preserved long after\u003cbr\u003esuch clipped forms as “Marcus” and “Marcs” became current. Inasmuch as\u003cbr\u003eItalian peasant names hardly ever end in anything but a vowel it seems\u003cbr\u003eillogical to take it for granted that in a colony of farmers, such as the\u003cbr\u003emen who founded Rome, the names would all have taken the classical Latin\u003cbr\u003eform at first. They would have been much more likely to vary according to\u003cbr\u003ethe ancestry, dialect and intelligence of the family. Later they would\u003cbr\u003etend to a conventional form as certain families of distinction set a\u003cbr\u003estandard for others to follow and took pride in keeping their own speech\u003cbr\u003ecorrect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn short, the period described here is a transition stage, and like any\u003cbr\u003eage of the founding of a new civilization, contains incongruous elements.\u003cbr\u003eIt has been stated that even in the great days of the Roman Empire the\u003cbr\u003enumber of people who actually spoke correct classical Latin was extremely\u003cbr\u003esmall in proportion to the whole population of any city.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                           THE LIVING LANGUAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Sing a song of little words, homely parts of speech,\u003cbr\u003e  Phrases children use at play, songs that mothers teach,—\u003cbr\u003e  Who would think when Rome was new, they used that language then—\u003cbr\u003e  Table, chair and family, map and chart and pen?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Sing a song of stately ways, camp and square and street,\u003cbr\u003e  Consuls, tribunes, governors, the legion’s myriad feet,\u003cbr\u003e  If those wise men so long ago had not known what to say,\u003cbr\u003e  All they gave us readymade we should not have to-day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Clear and straight and brief their talk in country or in town.\u003cbr\u003e  Lucid, vivid, accurate the thoughts that they set down.\u003cbr\u003e  Still the world is using words that bear the Roman stamp—\u003cbr\u003e  Coined in forum, villa, temple, market place or camp.\u003cbr\u003e  Still our thoughts take day by day those shapes of long ago—\u003cbr\u003e  If you read the dictionary you will find it’s so.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47168906887408,"sku":"2940012916174","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012916174_p0.jpg?v=1763574014","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012916174","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}