2023-09-20 11:00:09
Rome did not pay traitors or translators; nothing to do with what we have seen these days in Congress after the controversy over co-official languages, their political use and some headphones that found orphaned ears on Tuesday. In his ‘History of the Roman Senate’, José Francisco Díaz maintains that, “since the time of Romulus”, the official language in the chamber in question was the so-called ‘Latin language‘. And, when ambassadors from other lands arrived at the ‘urbs’ to discuss “business of war and peace, as well as all questions of international law,” they were obliged to jump through hoops and present their proposals and ramblings in Latin.
“When they explained the purpose of their mission in the Senate, they had to do so precisely in Latin, because no one was allowed to express themselves in another language before that assembly so jealous of Roman dignity,” says the expert in his work. Only when the situation was extremely necessary, because the legate in question did not know a word of the ‘Latin lingua’ and it was impossible for him to express himself or make himself understood, did the politicians allow a translator to be in the room. Although, in the author’s words, “some of the senators themselves or other respectable people usually acted as interpreters.”
Because yes, from the Republic to the Empire, Latin was the column on which the culture of Rome was built. This is how he explains it in statements to ABC Federico Romero Diazco-author of the choral work ‘City’, president of Popularizers of History and co-founder of Romanity Day: “It was used in the administration, but also to give orders in the army and at the political level.” There were no rules that specified it. “It was done like that, period,” insists the expert.
And that did not mean that educated Romans did not know and appreciate other languages. «They liked to know the international language, the English of today, which was Greek. “They learned it from a young age because it was a cultural trait,” she adds.
Although, since being polite did not take away from being brave, there were some exceptions regarding the Greek. He was the rhetorician Apolonio Molón who opened the ban in the 1st century BC. C. In honor of Cicero, who had attended his eloquence lessons in Rhodes and Rome, this wise man was allowed to express himself in his language when he attended the Senate. However, no one was exempt from asking the camera for permission to address politicians in the language of Alexander the Great. “Even the emperors Tiberius and Claudius asked the Senate for dispensation every time they used a Greek word in their speeches,” reveals, in this case, José Francisco Díaz.
The situation continued in this way even after the division of the Empire into two. «Both in East like in West It was the official language of the administration. Although in the East it also coexisted with Greek. In the end it depended on the origin of each citizen. In Macedonia or northern Thrace the former was used more; to the south, in Egypt and Asia, the second,” Romero tells ABC. This continued until the time of Justinian.
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