Free Fermina Marquez (1911) by Valery Larbaud

it. You think I worship God, not because He is He who is, but because He is the God of Rome. But the God of Rome, the one who has taken the place of Jupiter Capitolinus, might he not be the true God? If only you knew how close to the heavens Rome appears, seen from the Pincio! . . . You cannot imagine what I feel during mass."
Joanny fell silent, breathless. These were no longer secrets now; this was a passionate appeal. In the fervour of his enthusiasm, he had no doubt that he would sweep his interlocutor's opinion along with him.
"When I look at the altar, it isn't lighted candles, covers and flowers of gold but the majesty of Rome that I see. The priest, the faithful are all gathered together there as Roman Catholics; you might as well say as Romans, don't you think? The City is in the hands of infidels; the imperial gods are insulted every day; and yet those in that house glory in being called Romans. O shades of Cato, these are the last citizens! . . . There in that house of the Lord, I hear the language of my true country still spoken: Latin. For your Castillian and our French and Italian as well are simply dialects stemming from spoken Latin," continued Joanny, reciting his grammar despite himself; "These are vulgar tongues, old peasant patois. A time will come I tell you, when Latin, classical Latin will once again be taught in all the schools of the Empire and when all the vulgar languages will be forgotten. And this day is possibly not so far away as may be supposed . . .
"Do you mind my saying something to you, Mademoiselle? You won't repeat this to anybody though, you promise me? Well then, I have learnt to pronounce Latin all by myself, more or less as the ancient Romans did. It took me a long time. In the first place, because I was unable to practise out loud; in French schools, Latin is pronounced according to certain rules and if there is any departure from them, the other pupils laugh and besides, the masters are not keen on it. When the South Americans are new here, they pronounce Latin in the Spanish manner; but they are very quickly taught to articulate it as the French do. It's not just a question of certain letters; it is also a matter of the number of vowels. It is because I thoroughly grasped this that I am good at Latin verse. Sometimes when I am alone and above all while on country walks during the holidays, I recite long extracts from Lucretius, Virgil and Ovid to myself, stressing the words in the Roman style. You cannot know what pleasure this gives me. I feel that I am conversing with all these great men of antiquity in their own tongue and that they understand me! My misfortune is that I have to watch myself closely when reciting my lessons and reading out the texts of the unseen translations; I have no wish to be noticed for an accentuation which is different from everybody else's . . .
"Mademoiselle, I hope at least I'm not boring you?"
"No, you're not boring me," she replied. And with a sigh she added: "Mr Leniot, why don't you make better use of the gifts which God has bestowed upon you?"
"Fancy that, she has spotted that I am gifted," mused Joanny, gratified.
 
He carried on: "The whole problem stemmed from the splitting up of the Empire. The number of inhabitants had increased, I admit. Yet two empires, one in the east, the other in the west, or rather one Empire but which like Janus presented the two faces of the civilized world to the barbarism of the universe, were quite enough. Why were usurpers allowed to assume the titles of King of England, Duke of Burgundy, King of France? No, no, we are on imperial ground wherever there sounds Romanic speech: survey the Gauls all around us in the fullness of their summer; see Lutetia yonder. Of course Lutetia of the Parisians has grown since the days when the Emperor Julian would come to spend the winter months there — no it was before he became emperor. The Empire's population has expanded: more state servants will be needed than in days gone