Home life in Hellas, Greece and the Greeks - eBooks4Greeks.gr

202 HOME LIFE IN HELLASliterature, and in the thirteenth century it was ingeneral use. The change from ancient to modernGreek is one common to languages, from thesynthetic to the analytic.Professor Mahaffy saysthat the language is that of Plato essentially,despite development and decay. No one who hasa knowledge of ancient and modern Greek candeny this.Latin died and left a legacy to posterityin the Romance tongues, but Greek has alwaysbeen Greek and is living still. As to the artificialreintroduction of Greek from Byzantium, SirRennell Rodd opposes that theory on the groundthat varieties of dialect point to a direct inheritanceof tradition. Moreover, herdsmen and husbandmenemploy a greater number of ancientwords than the townsfolk. This fact tends toprove that the ancient race has lived on in allits purity away from the beaten tracks. SirRennell Rodd maintains that a nationality severaltimes extinguished in its hereditary seat has succeededin overshadowing and absorbing thevarious elements which had threatened to overwhelmit. Professor Mahaffy asserts that themain body of the people are Greek like theirtongue, and adduces as an argument the fact thatin the Greek colonies the barbarians spoke Greek,but when Greek influence was withdrawn returnedto their own language. He also insists on theresemblance in character between ancient andmodern Greeks—Athenians told him that hisSocial Life in Greece was based on studies of