Long Live Latin
by Nicola Gardini,
Profile, 256pp, £14.99/$26
Is Latin still alive? Yes, there are some intellectuals like Benedict XVI who can speak Latin. He gave his resignation statement in Latin in 2013 – mirabile dictu! The Vatican now has a marvellous news programme in Latin, too.
But these are some of the last vestiges of Latin as once spoken across much of Europe. Otherwise, it’s fair to say that spoken Latin is in its death throes.
Written Latin, though, is as vivid and alive as ever – to that admittedly shrinking band of people who can understand the world’s most influential language. As Nicola Gardini says in this highly enjoyable, erudite book, to learn Latin is to bridge the centuries; to connect your mind with the best that has been thought and said.
