ius had made a mistake, and was reproved for it by
Marcellus, another grammarian of the name of Capito, who happened to be
present, remarked that what the emperor said was good Latin, or, if it
were not, it would soon be so. Marcellus, more of a grammarian than a
courtier, replied, "Capito is a liar; for, Caesar, thou canst give the
Roman citizenship to men, but not to words." A similar anecdote is told of
the German Emperor Sigismund. When presiding at the Council of Costnitz,
he addressed the assembly in a Latin speech, exhorting them to eradicate
the schism of the Hussites. "Videte Patres," he said, "ut eradicetis
schismam Hussitarum." He was very unceremoniously called to order by a
monk, who called out, "Serenissime Rex, schisma est generis neutri."(24)
The emperor, however, without losing his presence of mind, asked the
impertinent monk, "How do you know it?" The old Bohemian school-master
replied, "Alexander Gallus says so." "And who is Alexander Gallus?" the
emperor rejoined. The monk replied, "He was a monk." "Well," said the
emperor, "and I am Emperor of Rome; and my word, I trust, will be as good
as the word of any monk." No doubt the laughers were with the emperor; but
for all that, _schisma_ remained a neuter, and not even an emperor could
change its gender or termination.

The idea that language can be changed and improved by man is by no means a
new one. We know that Protagoras, an ancient Greek philosopher, after
laying down some laws on gender, actually began to find fault with the
text of Homer, because it did not agree with his rules. But here, as in
every other instance, the attempt proved unavailing. Try to alter the
smallest rule of English, and you will find that it is physically
impossible. There is apparently a very small difference between _much_ and
_very_, but you can hardly ever put one in the place of the other. You can
say, "I am very happy," but not "I am much happy," though you may say "I
am most happy." On the contrary, you can say "I am much misunderstood,"
but not "I am very misunderstood." Thus the western Romance dialects,
Spanish and Portuguese, together with Wallachian, can only employ the
Latin word _magis_ for forming comparatives:--Sp. _mas dulce_; Port. _mais
doce_; Wall, _mai dulce_; while French, Provencal, and Italian only allow
_of plus_ for the same purpose: Ital. _piu dolce_; Prov. _plus dous_; Fr.
_plus doux_. It is by no means impossible, however, that this distinction