ttn1~ers1ty or !exae Publications University of Texas Bulletin No. 2214: April 8, 1922 Latin Leaflet No. 3: April, 1922 PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY FOUR TIMES A MONTH, AND ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POSTOFFICE AT AUSTIN. TEXAS, UNDER THE ACT OF AUGUST 2~. I912 The Latin Leaflet is issued by the Department of Classical Languages in the interest of Latin teaching in the high schools of Texas. ROBERTA F. LAVENDER, Editor. TEACHERS! h. f ·---h' '-h Th e c ie ~urpose w ic~, as go-i:­erned.th~ choice of mat~rial .for this ments of the human spirit and no forms of human expression have sur­passed, or even equaled, those of the Greeks in the arts of sculpture and architecture, in poetry and in phi­losophy. * * * * * * * "It is a very practical question now to repair the damage that has been done by the growing neglect of the ancient classics for a generation past. This can not be accomplished in a bulletm is that of puttmg mto t~e day, but a beginning towards its ac­~ands ?f the teachen:, as the ye.ar Icomplishment should no longer be is nearn~g a ~l<;>se, suitable material postponed."-Nicholas Murray Butler, for use 1~ guid~ng the stud~nts w~~ formerly professor of Education, now are. entermg high school ~n the~I president of Columbi University. choice of courses. Sane guidance is a always needfu1 at such a turning point; and where could one turn for "A man of my calling, comfortably more authoritative advice than that assiduous and having length of years, of the men who are quoted here'? puts into print the equivalent of 100 Read what these men say: octavo volumes of 350 pages each. "The embryology of civilization is Who in the realm of pure literature just as significant and important as writes so much'? If in Dante's thought the embryology of organic forms, and Virgil, with the Eclogues, the Geor­this can only be studied under the gics, and the Aeneid, was the fount of powerful microscope provided by the a broad river of speech, then a verit­Greek and Latin languages. No edU·· able Amazon of utterance flows forth cated citizen of a modern free state Ifrom the pen that, year after year, can afford to ignore the lessons taught contributes a daily column to the by the Roman Empire, which for cen-. press. It is not literature; it would turies held together in a common-miss the mark if it were, but its ob­wealth that was both prosperous and ject is best attained if it have the contented peoples widely differing in form and quality of literature. To religious faith, in racial origin, and the multitude it is the abiding and in vernacular speech; and no achieve-1 most familiar example in the use of LATIN LEAFLET No. 3 language in other than spoken form. things of the spirit; youth shall train It is quite unnecessary to argue that in branches that will provide the big­a stream from which so many take gest store of bread and butter for their fill should be pure at the source. the body. For any young man who Standards may be kept inviolate by would become a newspaper writer the pen of genius writing for the that is a false, deluding doctrine. It cloistered few; current speech takes is precisely the good old fashioned its form very much from the daily classical schooling that gives him newspaper. command of the higher places, the "It is a responsibility not lightly higher rewards. If he would climb borne by men of conscientious habit. to the high places, let him build the Through what discipline comes fit-f,tairway during his college years. ness to bear it worthily? We must "I am void of all fear about con­not with too clamorous insistence tradiction when I say that a news­press the case for Latin and Greek paper man, and particularly an edi­beyond safe limits. Too many men torial writer, who has missed making write good English who never read a the acquaintance of the gods and line of either tongue. Much reading mortal speaking men from whom our of English gives command of an en-heritage of civilization has descended compassing vocabulary, good taste must fail to do full justice of his tal­and the instinctive sense of language ents, however great they .may be. may confer the power to employ it In modern times every unexplored with elegance and propriety. How-river, every mountain unclimbed, has ever acquired there must be an in-been a challenge to the daring spirit structed discrimination in the use of of man, until the secret of all sources the elements of the language, a sense has been laid bare, all summits always clear and sure of the just topped, save the very few that nature word. That discriminating sense Ireserves for the glory of heroic spir­comes, if it be unfailing can come its in the later generations. If we only, through knowledge of the ori-strive so unconscionably in these ste­gin, history and composition of words. 1 rile adventures, shall we be incurious It is my observation and judgment about that Roman fountainhead of that the surest way, certainly the our laws, our political institutions shortest way to the acquisition of and a great part of our language? this sense of values leads through the Shall we disdain to climb where texti of the Greek and Latin authors through the age:. our fathers have and the less allurt,ng but indispens-climbed, to that Athenian summit able pages of the grammarians. I when the light of civilization burst should give it much emphasis if I upon the world, where the noblest in were called upon to advise in this art, in poetry, in letters had its birth? matter young men looking forward to For us there is no other source, no a newspaper career. other mountain top. Beyond Greece "This is very familiar ground and and Rome, save in religion, we trace I forbear. I mean merely that a no line of descent. The Oriental newspaper reporter, correspondent, monarchies blazed up and were ex­ or editorial writer who does not know, tinguished. They left us no heritage. citing only examples that have re-Our mother lands are Greece and cently come under my eye, that ex-Rome. There men won deathless purgate does not mean expunge, that fame in works that time has never egregious is only by custom and not conquered. Shall we let them die? by etymology an epithet of reproach, Shall we undo the Renaissance, and and that a decimated regiment may of the coeval printer's art, seemingly still be a force to be reckoned with, born to transmit for our advantage has much to learn about the Euglish \and enjoyment the treasures of language. Lord Bryce, in accounting Greece and Rome, make a sumpter for the newborn interest in this ques-mule burdened only with commodi­ tion displayed by "certain sections of ties appraisable in cash? the population which were not wont "I think I do not wander from the to interest themselves in educational point, the practical point. Without matters,' says that 'there has been understanding of the ancient world, created in the popular mind an asso-our ancient world, there can be no dation, now deeply rooted, between sound understanding of the mode"n the knowledge of applied science and world and its affairs. It is highly material prosperity." This is eco-desirable that a newspaper man nomic determinism applied to educa-should try to understand the world tion. To the dogs with the higher <.:bout him. I know that his effort LATIN LEAFLET No. 3 will be less toilsome, its reward richer and more certain, if the light kindled by classical knowledge burns within his mind. To this mastery and un­derstanding a proficiency in science, skill in the mysteries of the external world, no matter in what high de­gree held, serve no purpose of guid­ance. What man is doing, singly or associatively, that is the newspa­per's province. And for one who has to take thought about the behavior those studies in favor of modern lan­guages or of our own respective sub­jects."-Statement signed by fifty Professors of Mathematics, Mechan­ical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Economics, Botany, Zoology, Psychology, Modern Languages, Philosophy, etc., in Cor­nell University, April, 1911. "It is claimed by some that the use of man, and give expression to it, no · of Latin names in medicine and gen­branch of knowledge is alien, none erally in science is pure affectation superfluous. Culture, even if for the and should be discontinued. This pure joy of culture, is of high and statement could be made only by one constant service. It freshens, stim-grossly ignorant of the facts. The ulates, uplifts, vivifies. word 'salt' may mean any one of a "Ajll the world is sweeter, if the thousand compounds, but "SoP,ii chlo- Athenian violet quicken; ridum" and "Magnesii sulphas" are All the world is brighter, if the definite and capable of only one inter­ Athenian sun return.' "-Charles R. Miller, Editor, The New York Times, New York City. "For the core of secondary instruc­tion as a preparation for general ed­ucation nothing seems to me to have yet been found so effective as the classics; nor is the familiarity with the literature of Greece and Rome without great value to the thoughtful citizen of the present day. The prob­lems, social, political and interna­tional, that forced themselves upon antiquity are on the whole nearer to the ones that we face, and still more shall face, than are those of any in­tervening period. The dassics in the colleges and universities ought, I believe, to be taught far less as they have been in past years from the point of view of philology, and more from the point of view of humanity, that is, of the thoughts of men as in­dividuals and as communities, espe­cially in their bearing upon present day civilization. Such a change is taking place, but it ought to be pushed much farther. If this were done, we might witness a revival of the class­ics as a living force in education, and in the life of educated men.''­Abbott Lawrence Lowell, formerly a practicing lawyer, now president of Harvard University. "We, the undersigned professors (or one-time professors) of Cornell University should prefer as students of our respective subjects those who have included both Greek and Latin pretation, be the reader English, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, er German. Common names of plants and animals vary in different sections of the same country, while the scien­tific designation is the same the world over. The language employed by an exact science like chemistry, botany, or bacteriology must be one which has already crystallized, and not one which means one thing today and may have quite another meaning a year from now, or even a century in the future. We must not forget, even in the pursuit of the rapidly growing modern sciences, that there is a bi­ology of language and that it like every thing else mundane comes into existence, goes through a process of evolution, suffers modifications from its environment, and does not crystal­lize into exactness until it is no longer used orally; and not until this period is reached and it is no longer sub­ ject to modification, does it become the suitable form for exact, scientific ex­pression.''-Victor C. Vaughan, Dean of the Medical School, University of Michigan. "I say here advisedly, and as the result of experience, that I was en­abled to attack and solve the problems (engineering or constructive) solely by the discipline of a classical educa­tion at Abington, Exeter, and Brown University. There is no opinion about this matter; it is a fact that has ap­peared plainly many times in my life, then and since then. The education outlined above has enabled me to do things that I never could have done among their preparatory studies without it. It has given me power rather than those who have neglected lin my professional work during the LATIN LEAFLET No. 3 last forty-seven years. More than that, it has carried me far afield of engineering and has given me world­wide interests along many lines of human activity. What I have said about the real value of a classical education in my own case I can say from personal knowfodge about engi­neers all over the wcrld where my business and my interests have taken me."-E. L. Corthell, President Amer­ican Institute of Consulting Engi­neers, 1915. "With a retrospect of twenty years, it see:rrls to me that I am warranted in saying that I could have better spared any other course that I took in high school than the Latin. If something must have gone, if I could have taken but three-fourths of the subjects that I took, the Latin would be first and foremost, the one thing that would not have been left out."­George W. Patterson, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan. "It is my opinion that this neglect of the classics is one of the most ser­ious mistaes of modern education, and that the study of thei classics is very important and valuable, and more so in the education of the engineer than in most other professions, for the rea­son that the vocation of an engineer is specially liable to make the man one-sided. . . It is true that the classics are not necessary if the aim is to fit the student to ply the trade of engineer, as one plies that of the plumber or the boiler-maker, and the world, especially the United States, is full of such men, who have learned merely the trade of engineer."­Charles P. Steinmetz, Consulting En­gineer, General Electric Company. 0-----­ THE MAIN THING NEEDFUL The first requisite for good tea.ching is to know one's subject. The worst foe of Latin is the bad teacher of Latin. Can't every teacher in Texas attend at least one term of a good summer school? ' At the University of Texas you will find opportunity in the first term (June 13 to July 24) to review Sec­ond Year High School Latin and Vir­gil; you can study Latin writing­the best way in the world to secure accurate knowledge; you can read Livy's thrilling account of Hanni­bal's invasion of Italy; you can do Junior work, probably in Terenc:e or Pliny's Letters; you can take a Senior or Graduate course in Virgil's Ec­logues and Georgics or Plautus; you can fill in your background by a course in Roman Life; you can study Methods of Teaching; you c,m make a beginning in the langul' ~~ that the Romans looked up to as containing their models and that throws unend­ing light on every phase of Roman civilization. The teachers are Pro­fessor Battle and Miss Lavender of the long session staff, Dean Terrill of the Northeast Texas State Normal, Miss Anna Gardner, of the Fort Worth High School, and Miss Edith C. Symington of the Soldan High School, St. Louis. In the Second Term (July 24 b August 30), there will again be courses in Caesar and Virgil and ad­ditional Junior and Senior work. The teachers will be Professor Penick of the long session and Miss Katherine McLean of Westmoreland College, San Antonio. If you already know the University you will enjoy renewing old ties. If you have not yet learned to sing "The Eyes of Texas Are upon You," you will find a great open-handed Univer­ sity with a faculty by hundreds and students by thousands and you will goain a new inspiration from the his­ toric associations and natural beauty of your state capital. A letter to Registrar E. J. Math­ews, University of Texas, Austin, will get you all the information you maywish. This leaflet should be placed also into the hands of trustees, superin­tendent, principal, club women, phy­sicians-in fact it should go into the hands of all concerned for the wel­fare of the local school.