Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Of Language and Citizenship in Rome
Via John Derbyshire and National Review Online:
Under [the Emperor] Claudius we hear of the Lycian who had himself received Roman citizenship but who could not understand Latin, or at least could not understand the Emperor's Latin when cross-examined by him in the Senate in A.D. 43; he was one of a Lycian delegation. 'Nobody has a right to Roman citizenship who can not speak Latin,' Claudius pronounced, and canceled the man's citizenship forthwith."
Source: J.P.V.D. Balsdon, Romans and Aliens.
|posted by Jim on 12:27 PM|
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