f. _The Period of the Decline_, from 180 to the close of literary activity
in the sixth century A.D. This period is characterized by rapid and radical
alterations in the language. The features of the conversational idiom of
the lower strata of society invade the literature, while in the remote
provinces, such as Gaul, Spain, Africa, the language suffers from the
incorporation of local peculiarities. Representative writers of this period
are:

Tertullian, about 160-about 240 A.D. (Christian Writer).
Cyprian, about 200-258 A.D. (Christian Writer).
Lactantius, flourished about 300 A.D. (Defense of Christianity).
Ausonius, about 310-about 395 A.D. (Poet).
Jerome, 340-420 A.D. (Translator of the Scriptures).
Ambrose, about 340-397 (Christian Father).
Augustine, 354-430 (Christian Father--"City of God").
Prudentius, flourished 400 A.D. (Christian Poet).
Claudian, flourished 400 A.D. (Poet).
Boëthius, about 480-524 A.D. ("Consolation of Philosophy ").

4. Subsequent History of the Latin Language.--After the sixth century A.D.
Latin divides into two entirely different streams. One of these is the
literary language maintained in courts, in the Church, and among scholars.
This was no longer the language of people in general, and as time went on,
became more and more artificial. The other stream is the colloquial idiom
of the common people, which developed ultimately in the provinces into the
modern so-called Romance idioms. These are the Italian, Spanish,
Portuguese, French, Provençal (spoken in Provence, i.e. southeastern
France), the Rhaeto-Romance (spoken in the Canton of the Grisons in
Switzerland), and the Roumanian, spoken in modern Roumania and adjacent