Re: : OS as religions

Eric Stevens <eric.stevens@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 31 Aug 2009 12:52:01 GMT, Chris Malcolm <cam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Eric Stevens <eric.stevens@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:37:51 -0500, John Turco <jtur@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Wolfgang Weisselberg wrote:

John Turco <jtur@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Military prowess is hardly the truest measure of a civilized
society.

So what is?
How *do* you define civilization, and how 'more civilized'?

Hello, Wolfgang:

Well, "civilization" normally involves having a written language.
The ancient Romams >did< possess one, and their German adversaries
lacked same.

Not strictly true. They used Greek.

Ho hum.

I knew it was a mistake to stop teaching schoolkids to read Julius
Caesar's "De Bello Gallico" :-)

Hmmm - history written by the victor.

Of course, and for the simple elegant clarity of its language the item
of the extensive Latin written corpus most likely to be read by
schoolchildren studying Latin. You seemed to be claiming that the
Romans lacked their own written language.

Nevertheless there is archaeological evidence that to a limited extent
they did communicate amongst themselves in Greek.

Archaological evidence is not required. We have their own words in the
very considerable corpus of surviving Latin literature from Roman
times. Of course they sometimes communicated among themselves in
Greek. They used Greek slaves a lot, often in positions which required
educated skills, such as acting as tutors to the children of the upper
classes. So for many of the educated upper class Romans Greek was a
familiar high status second language, much as French and German were
in Britain. Within living memory a British university degree required
a foreign language, usually French or Latin, and proficiency in German
was a requirement for a scientific degree.

This use of Greek by the Romans is described in their own Latin
writings available today in the original and in translation in any
good academic library, and today on the Web.

--
Chris Malcolm
.

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