The Roman poet Ennius (239–169 BCE) arrived in Rome from southern Italy, and although Latin was a language he had to learn, his contribution to Roman literature was great. He confessed to having three hearts: Roman, Oscan (the standard Italic language of southern Italy), and Greek. He did not even mention Messapian, the local dialect of his home region. That, in a nutshell, is the essence of multilingualism both in antiquity and in the modern world.
