Keep Up Your Latin

Extract

Most students, when their last examination is over, are glad enough to sell their text-books and bid a long farewell to all subjects that lie outside their daily occupations. Not only Classics but History, Music, Mathematics, and even French are cheerfully ‘dropped’—a course that many will regret in after years. Up to the twentieth century Latin was not a dead or an alien tongue: it was part of an educated man's native language. But the overcrowded time-table, the ‘new’ pronunciation, and the so-called diffusion of culture have made a cleavage between young and old. Our Ciceronian accent sounds pedantic at home and is not understood by foreigners; so we no longer quote Latin, but join in the common hunt for second-hand American slang.

But is not this a foolish betrayal of the very citadel of sound learning and enlightenment? Who are the bearers of culture if not the young graduates from our Arts Departments? How can the tide of barbarism be stemmed if the leaders of thought are ashamed of their own know-ledge and literary taste? I do not mean that the art of classical quotation can be revived. But for our own pleasure, as well as for the ripening of our attainments, should we not make a little effort to keep up our Latin? Let me suggest one or two simple ways of doing this.

1. If you have an odd half-hour in a library, pick out an edition of any Latin author not too familiar. Read the introduction until you find out who he was and when he lived.