Wednesday, June 15, 2022
A Classical Education
Ezra Pound, radio broadcast from 1941, in Ezra Pound Speaking. Radio Speeches of World War II. Edited by Leonard W. Doob (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1978), p. 391:
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In fact a classical education WOULD be useful if the universities didn't wrap it in cotton wool, and keep the stewdents from reading the more vital passages.
In fact a little Greek of the right kind or even readin' some with a crib IF you have the real curiosity would be useful.
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When will American college students realize that almost ANY bit of real knowledge would keep 'em from being dead rabbits? Aristotle, Demosthenes, Mencius or Confucius, all antidotes to bein' suckers.
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And of course it is a mere matter of opinion, but it WAS Aristotle's opinion, expressed in the 5th book of his Politics, that the three qualities which supreme magistrates ought to possess are loyalty to established constitutions; secondly, great capacity for the duties of the office; and thirdly, virtue and justice.
