Excerpt from The Participle in Plautus, Petronius, and Apuleius: A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of Arts and Literature, in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

When this study of the part. Was begun it was the purpose of the author to determine what part this many-featured verbal adjective played in the sermo - plebeius presented in these three authors Of widely separated periods. But the subject soon assumed a wider scope and became an investigation into the development of the use of the part. In general. The three authors were chosen in the first place because Of the material in each for the study Of the speech of the common people, but they were retained afterward because they were seen to represent three stages in the development of the language and of the use of the part. Especially. The fact that in Plaut. The parts. Con stitute only one - half of I per cent. Of the total vocabulary, while in Petron. The proportion has risen to 4 per cent. And in Apul. To 6 per cent., would of itself indicate that in the increase of freedom and copiousness of expression which the language underwent the part. Was an important factor. In fact it may be doubted whether the rhetorical richness Of the later writers as contrasted with the plainer and more restrained language Of their early predecessors is due to any one factor more than the developed freedom Of the part. To be sure, we cannot overlook the fact that the language of comedy must be different in general composition from that of rhetorical prose, but the difference is not so great as to account for the remarkable increase in the use Of the part. Even in Virgil's Eclogues the parts. Consti tute 3 per cent. Of the vocabulary, and in the Aeneid the number is much greater.

In Plaut. We see the language with all the essential features of form and syntax developed but not elaborated. In Petron. We have a remarkable combination of rhetorical flourishes and the homely language Of the middle class. In Apul. We reach a stage of extravagant adornment which is mainly interesting as illustrating the possibilities of the language for richness of expression and rhetorical freedom in sharp contrast to the simplicity of earlier days.

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