Note 008 Ancient Greek

Athanas. tom. ii. in Vit. St. Anton. p. 452 [p. 795, ed. Bened. 1698; cf. c. 72, p. 849], and the assertion of his total ignorance has been received by many of the ancients and moderns. But Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 666) shows, by some probable arguments, that Antony could read and write in the Coptic, his native tongue; and that he was only a stranger to the 'Greek letters'. The philosopher Synesius (p. 51 [ed. Par. 1612]) acknowledges that the natural genius of Antony did not require the aid of learning.

The History Of The Decline and Fall Of The Roman Empire—Volume 1— Chapter 37