THE CLASSICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 13, 16 January 1926, Page 32

THE CLASSICS.

THEIR PLACE IN LIFE. WHAT GREECE AND ROME CAN TEACH.* (By CYRANO.) "I don't want my boy to learn Latin. What's the use of it? He's not going to be a doctor or a chemist. Why should he waste his time on a dead language? Let him learn something useful." This, or words to this effect, has been said by scores of thousands of fathers in the English-speaking world. The reaction against the classics has been strong and general, and the classicists themselves have been partly responsible. They claimed too much for their beloved Latin and Greek; they were contemptuous of *the claims of science and modern languages (including their own) ; and they did not realise that unless the teaching was enlightened the classics were an unprofitable bore to many, and perhaps most, boys. The success of the "modernists," however, has awakened the classicist to action. It has made him set his house in order, and clarify his views. The result is that he is defending his cause and preaching his gospel with wisdom as well as energy. A counter-reaction is in progress. Classical Associations in England, America and the Dominions are actively proclaiming tho virtues of classical studies. In America even the business world is coming to appreciate their value as a training. To those who take a purely materialistic view of education, it may seem ridiculous that a business man should prefer as an employee a young man who has been trained in the classics of Greece and Rome, but there are Americans who avow this preference.

Few scholars are so well fitted to expound the case for the classics as Professor J. W. Mackail. He unites with profound knowledge of his subject an unusual gift of popular exposition, and this volume, "Classical Studies," will delight not only the man or woman who has read Homer and Horace in the original, but that great body of educated people who, without being acquainted with the originals, are genuinely interested in the culture and history of Greece and Rome. 'This interest has been stimulated and widened by recent discoveries, and by the spread of education and the multiplication of books on art and history, and all this creates a favourable soil for the advocates of classical education to work in. Professor Mackail puts the familiar arguments with force and point, and illustrates them admirably •from the poems, plays and histories of the ancient world. The classics are valuable as an intellectual training, as an inspiration, and as a door opening into records of thought and practical achievement that have profoundly affected human history.

The place of Rome, of the Latin temper and civilisation, the Latin achievement in the conquest of life, is definite and assured. It represents all the constructive forces which make life into an organic structure. Law, order, reverence for authority, the whole framework of political and social establishment, are the creation of Latin will and intelligence. Throughout the entire field of human activity we are still carrying on the work of Home on the lines drawn once for all by Latin genins. This Latin genius impressed itself most strongly on their grammar and their literature: And just as Latin grammar is an unequalled instrument for the training of the mind in accurate thought, Latin literature Is an instrument as unequalled tor discipline of the practical reason.

' From Greece the world learned to think and to Tecognise and appreciate beauty. She represents, says Professor Mackail, "the, dissolving influence of analysis and the creative force of pure intelligence." Her influence is illusive, but age after age seeks it for its salvation, and seeks it in one of the world's greatest literatures. The Latin and Greek spirits have this in common, that they both teach the virtues of moderation and self-restraint, and <a world which has permitted the growth of Bolshevism in art and letters, as well as politics, is in need of a return to classical standards. For the protection of men against false gods in all lines of human effort, a sound classical training may be recommended. Dean Inge said recently that no one with a thorough knowledge of Greek and Latin prose could deceive his neighbour, except wilfully. That is to say, a man so trained i understands the use of words, and does noft use them loosely. Take a criminal demagogue like Horatio Bottomley. Nobody well trained in the use of words, and accustomed to classical standards, could be taken in by such a man. English is a magnificent tongue, but it haß the besetting weakness of looseness and vagueness. Greek and Latin are noted for their accuracy and precision, their gravity and delicacy, their power of saying much in little, and the best training for the writing of sound English is the study of these "dead" yet living languages. Surely the improvement of the standard of En& lish is a worthy ideal.

Much can "be learned profitably of ancient thought and action without a knowledge of the . languages, but Professor Mackail contends that through such ignorance we lose a great deal. It is not only that we do not submit ourselves to the mental discipline of learning.' the languages, hut that no translation—not even the brilliant renderings by Professor Gilbert Murray.of the plays of Euripides —can do justice to the original. Men are still striving to find an adequate translation for the most famous of all epitaphs, that of Simonides on the Spartans who fell at Thermopylae. It has been adapted for English memorials, and will be on the lips of men so long as civilisation lasts. "Passer-by, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here obeying their orders." "So we may attempt to render it," says Professor Mackail; "but this or any other rendering loses not only the beauty but half the meaning of the original. The word translated 'passerby' means that, but* • it also means 'stranger,' and it also means 'friend.' The word translated 'lie' means that, but it also means 'fell. 1 The phrase rendered 'obeying their orders' is many faceted; it means that, but it means likewise 'accepting. their laws' and having faith in their word." 5 Beside the general question of the place of the classics in education, Professor Mackail discusses such questions as "Virgil's Italy," "The Odes of Horace," "-Penelope in the Odyssey," and patriotism as exemplified in classical history and literature. The study of Penelope is a beautiful piece of work, which may be read with delight by those who know no Greek at all. Professor Mackail says that Penelope is. "universally known, but in a .-slovenly superficial way?; men depreciate h«£ as a woman without brains, a housewife whose constancy is habit not virtue.-How different is the real Penelope, the. woman of beauty, wisdom and character. Pro- . jaqmgMgcjga touches o* a jpow«? ot

great art that has impressed every man who responds to ife—ita ability to make men and women live in our minds as if they were real people, and to cause us to be concerned about them. Oscar Wilde elaborated this in a brilliant essay, the gist of which is that the creations of the poet and the novelist mean more to us than do persons of flesh and blood. Penelope is so real that the reader of her story tries to expand the tale; "so difficult it is to realise that, out of the 'Odyssey,' the Penelope of the 'Odyssey' does not exist at all." Nor, perhaps, was there ever a real Hector, yet how real is the reply of Homer's Hector to the comrade who says that the omens are against them and that they may die on the field—"one omen is best, to defend the Fatherland." Thus has the spirit of noble self-sacrifice spoken in all ages. •"Classical Studies," by J. W. Mackail (John Murray).