It's a famous comic scene. The group of downtrodden subjects of the Roman Empire sit around moaning about their overlords and asking: 'What have the Romans ever done for us?'

The answers, when they come, end up making the question seem a bit ridiculous: roads, sanitation, medicine, education, wine, the rule of lawThe idea that those who govern and the government itself must be subject to the same laws as everyone else., and more.

What the actors in Monty Python's Life of Brian failed to add to the list (perhaps they would have done if the film wasn't set in ancient JudeaThe southern part of the historic Land of Israel, it is now part of the West Bank.), was the rich legacy of Latin in modern European languages, and in scientific disciplines.

After the Roman Empire collapsed, formal, Classical Latin remained the official and written language across much of Rome's former territory. Meanwhile, spoken Latin evolved into the Romance languages: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and French.

Via these languages, and from Latin directly, English and German also derive a large proportion of words. Alongside this natural inheritance, English also has a host of words deliberately invented by writers using Latin (and some Greek) roots. These are known as 'inkpot' or 'inkhorn' words: for example predict, extraneous, deracinated, to name a few sneered at by George Orwell in a famous essay on style.

Now, a much broader swathe of British pupils is getting its introduction to this rich linguistic heritage: more than 500 mixed-ability state schools are offering Latin, partly due to the expansion of online language courses.

The Cambridge Schools Classics Project, which was set up in 1966 at Cambridge University 'to make the classical world accessible to as many students as possible, whatever their age or background,' says that 403 independent schools and 104 state sector grammar schools, which select pupils on academic ability, teach Latin.

But 511 comprehensives are also offering the language, although not necessarily as a timetabled subject. And when it comes to GCSEs, around two-thirds of candidates are from private schools.

Latin is the official spoken language of only one country: the Vatican state. But there's a group of people who advocate teaching it as a living language, where speaking and listening are as important as reading and translating.

To that end, the team at The Latin Quarter has made a series of films which show the language in use, spoken with a lovely Italian lilting pronunciation and convincing naturalness by actors.

It's a trick, but a clever one: are you convinced, like the Government ministers who now say that ancient languages should be held as valuable in exam league tables as living, modern tongues?

Rule of law - The idea that those who govern and the government itself must be subject to the same laws as everyone else.

Ancient Judea - The southern part of the historic Land of Israel, it is now part of the West Bank.