Note 859 — Chapter III · LANGUAGE AS THE BASIS OF SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.
S. G. C. (Samuel George Chetwynd) Middlemore translation
See on this subject the investigations of Lionardo Aretino (Epist. ed. Mehus. ii. 62 sqq. lib. vi. 10) and Poggio (Historiae disceptativae convivales tres, in the Opp. fol. 14 sqq.), whether in earlier times the language of the people and of scholars was the same. Lionardo maintains the negative; Poggio expressly maintains the affirmative against his predecessor. See also the detailed argument of L. B. Alberti in the introduction to Della Famiglia, book iii., on the necessity of Italian for social intercourse.