Laudator Temporis Acti

Alfred J. Toynbee (1889-1975), A Study of History, Vol. 12: Reconsiderations (London: Oxford University Press, 1961; rpt. 1964), p. 580:

One of the chief obstacles to our treating each other tolerantly, sympathetically, and considerately is the illusion, which we find it hard to overcome, that our own particular relative values and standards are universal and absolute. Any means at our disposal for dispelling this dangerous illusion, even partially, therefore has an unusually high value for mankind at the present day. And a 'classical' education is an effective means for dispelling the illusion, partially at least, inasmuch as a 'classical' education teaches one to appreciate and revere a culture that is not one's own.

This is a first step towards becoming aware of the relativity of one's outlook to one's social milieu and one's personality; and an awakening to this truth sets one's feet on the path towards intellectual and moral salvation. Learning to admire what one recognizes as being admirable in an alien culture opens one's eyes to the blemishes in one's own culture, and this makes one receptive to the sense of humility which is the necessary condition for achieving even the smallest measure of insight and discretion. The mere fact that the culture in which one is being educated is not one's own is enough in itself to teach one this lesson. But the lesson is also taught explicitly in the literatures of the earlier civilizations that have been canonized by subsequent civilizations as 'classics'. These literatures, like all literatures, reflect and convey something of the experience of the societies in which they were created. The participants in the civilizations of the first two generations lived to have the tragic but illuminating and regenerating experience of seeing their high hopes brought to naught by their own perverse acts.