Language Reference for Business English

The Venetians were primarily interested in the material remnants of the ancient cultures of Greece and of Rome; they were not interested in their intellectual prowess. Greek for the Venetians was the language of business, rather than the language of Plato. Latin was a necessary lingua franca, not an agent of revelation. In BurckhardtБЂ™s The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy there is a long section on БЂњThe Revival of AntiquityБЂ«as an agent of moral and spiritual awareness. Venice is not mentioned in this context. Burckhardt simply praises it as the home of a flourishing publishing trade and the centre of БЂњaffectation and bombastБЂ«in funerary inscriptions. The Venetians were understandably proud of their history. БЂњI observe,БЂ«Lady Blessington wrote in the 1820s, БЂњthat the Venetian cicerone [guide] and gondoliers often refer to the past prosperity of Venice, and always in a tone that shows a knowledge of its history, and a pride of its ancient splendour not to be expected from persons of that class.БЂ«It was, and is, a city based upon memory ...»