Editing Prose (section)

==History==
{{History of literature by region or country}}
{{Expand section|date=October 2020}}

{{See||Chinese prose|Ancient Greek literature|Roman literature|Elizabethan literature#Prose|Augustan prose|Restoration literature#Prose genres|Prose of the Ottoman Empire}}

[[Latin]] was a major influence on the development of prose in many [[European countries]]. Especially important was the great Roman orator [[Cicero]] (106–43 BC).<ref>"Literature", ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. online</ref> It was the ''lingua franca'' among literate Europeans until quite recent times, and the great works of [[Descartes]] (1596–1650), [[Francis Bacon]] (1561–1626), and [[Baruch Spinoza]] (1632–1677) were published in Latin. Among the last important books written primarily in Latin prose were the works of [[Emanuel Swedenborg|Swedenborg]] (d. 1772), [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] (d. 1778), [[Leonhard Euler|Euler]] (d. 1783), [[Carl Friedrich Gauss|Gauss]] (d. 1855), and [[Isaac Newton]] (d. 1727).

Latin's role was replaced by French from the 17th.- to the mid-20th century, i.e. until the uptake of English:
:For about three hundred years French prose was the form in which the [[culture of Europe|European intelligence]] shaped and communicated its thoughts about [[history]], [[diplomacy]], [[definition]], [[criticism]], [[human relationship]]s — everything except [[metaphysics]]. It is arguable that the non-existence of a clear, concrete German prose has been one of the chief disasters to European civilisation.<ref>{{cite book | last=[[Kenneth Clark|Clark]] | first=Kenneth| title=Civilisation: A Personal View | year=1969 | location=London | publisher=[[BBC]] and John Murray | page=220| oclc=879537495|via=repetition in the [[Civilisation (TV series)|TV series of the same name]].}}</ref>