antiquities, ethics, philosophy were also written in Greek. Such names
as Polybius, Plutarch, Josephus, Pausanias, Dionysius, Epictetus, Lucian
will give the reader means of proof. Fronto could not prevail with a
Roman emperor, his old pupil, to prefer Latin to Greek. Marcus Aurelius
wrote his "Meditations" in Greek. The language of the infant Church,
even in Italy and the West, was not Latin, but Greek. The names of the
first bishops of Rome are Greek names, the Christian Scriptures are in
Greek, and so is the oldest extant Liturgy--the Clementine--which seems
to represent the practice of the West no less than of the East. Not only
the Canonical Scriptures of the New Testament are in Greek, but also
those which were partially or for a time received, as the Epistle of
Clement, the Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas. And a further set of
writings beyond these and inferior to these, but ultimately of great
popularity, were in Greek: I mean the legendary and romantic apocryphal
writings, such as the Acts of Peter and Paul, the Acts of Pilate, and
many others.[1] This latter set was already growing in the second
century, and reached their mature form in the time of Gregory the Great.

It is not clear how early Latin began to be used as the official
language of the Church, but everything points to an important change
soon after the middle of the second century. Before that time, Justin,
living at Rome, and writing (A.D. 138), for the Roman people to
read, a defence of Christianity, which was addressed to the emperor
Antoninus Pius, wrote it in Greek; but before long another apologetic
writer, Minucius Felix, wrote in Latin. This coincides with other
indications to mark a great transition in the latter half of the second
century. Up to this time two languages were in literary currency, a
foreign scholastic language and an æsthetic vernacular. It was chiefly
the wealthy class that sustained these literary languages in Rome. When
in A.D. 166 the Oriental plague was brought to Italy with the