The Advantages of Classical Studies, particularly in reference to the Youth of our Country

Summary

“Haec studia adolescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium et solatium praebent, delectant domi non impediunt foris.”

—Cic. pro Archia.

“The cultivated world, up to the present day, has been bound together, and each generation bound to the preceding by living upon a common intellectual estate. They have shared in a common development of thought because they have understood each other. Their standard examples of poetry, eloquence, history, criticism, grammar, etymology, have been a universal bond of sympathy, however diverse might be the opinions which prevailed respecting any of these examples. All the civilized world has been one intellectual nation, and it is this which has made it so great and prosperous a nation.”

—Whewell on University Education.

We have thus far proceeded on the supposition that classical studies form a necessary and important part of a liberal education. But there is a class of persons (not very numerous or influential perhaps, but still too much so to be passed over in silence) who would join issue with me on this first principle. They would deny the utility of classics as a general collegiate study, and affirm that the error of our Colleges is, not the classical deficiency of their course, but their admission of Latin and Greek at all as a necessary element of that course.