During the 1670s, plans for a new triumphal arch in honour of Louis XIV triggered the so-calledQuerelle des inscriptions. Paris intellectuals debated the question whether theinscriptions for the monument were to be composed in Latin or in French. The JesuitJoannes Lucas, who was a teacher at the elitary Collège de Clermont, championed thecause of Latin inscriptions with a speech entitled De monumentis publicis Latineinscribendis oratio. He argued that only Latin inscriptions could perpetuate Louis XIV’sfame, since Latin is a dead language and therefore no longer liable to the quirks of usus.Whereas the latter is responsible for change in “living” languages, the death of the Latinlanguage confers on it the stability and universality monumental inscriptions need to perpetuateLouis XIV’s fame.
