Itmayhavebeenslowerwithsome，quickerwithothers。Sometribesmayhaveusedshorter，otherslongerwordsorcries：theymayhavebeenmoreorlessinclinedtoagglutinateortodecomposethem：theymayhavemodifiedthembytheuseofprefixes，suffixes，infixes；bythelengtheningandstrengtheningofvowelsorbytheshorteningandweakeningofthem，bythecondensationorrarefactionofconsonants。Butwhogavetolanguagetheseprimevallaws；orwhyoneracehastriliteral，anotherbiliteralroots；orwhyinsomemembersofagroupoflanguagesbbecomesp，ord，t，orch，k；orwhytwolanguagesresembleoneanotherincertainpartsoftheirstructureanddifferinothers；orwhyinonelanguagethereisagreaterdevelopmentofvowels，inanotherofconsonants，andthelike——arequestionsofwhichweonly’entertainconjecture。’Wemustrememberthelengthoftimethathaselapsedsincemanfirstwalkedupontheearth，andthatinthisvastbutunknownperiodeveryvarietyoflanguagemayhavebeeninprocessofformationanddecay，manytimesover。
（ComparePlato，Laws）：——
’ATHENIANSTRANGER：Andwhatthenistoberegardedastheoriginofgovernment？Willnotamanbeabletojudgebestfromapointofviewinwhichhemaybeholdtheprogressofstatesandtheirtransitionstogoodandevil？
CLEINIAS：Whatdoyoumean？
ATHENIANSTRANGER：Imeanthathemightwatchthemfromthepointofviewoftime，andobservethechangeswhichtakeplaceinthemduringinfiniteages。