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08983_Field_TCGG T748.txt
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development of Latin to meet the changing needs of new
talent and new subject-matter was thus precluded; with
one blow of ‘his Mace petrific’ the classical spirit ended
the history of the Latin tongue. This was not what the
humanists had intended.
Febvre and Martin point also (in L’Apparition du livre , p.
479) to the role of the revival of ancient Roman script. “Even
more, the return to the antique letters contributed to make of
Latin a dead language.” This is a basic point. The very letters
which we associate with print itself were not medieval but
Roman and were used by the humanists as part of their
archeological effort. But the high visual quality of Roman script,
so congenial to the printing press, was the main factor in
ending the reign of Latin, even more than the revival of ancient
styles by means of the printed word.