Laudator Temporis Acti

Suppose I want to find out the correct interpretation of Plato's teaching. What I am most confident in accepting is that interpretation wh. is common to all the Platonists down all the centuries: what Aristotle and the Renaissance scholars and Paul Elmer More agree on I take to be true Platonism. Any purely modern views wh. claim to have discovered for the first time what P. meant, and say that everyone from Aristotle down has misunderstood him, I reject out of hand.

But there is something else I wd. also reject. If there were an ancient Platonic Society still existing at Athens and claiming to be the exclusive trustees of P's meaning, I shd. approach them with great respect. But if I found that their teaching in many ways was curiously unlike his actual text and unlike what ancient interpreters said, and in some cases cd. not be traced back to within 1000 years of his time, I shd. reject these exclusive claims: while still ready, of course, to take any particular thing they taught on its merits.

I do the same with Xtianity. What is most certain is the vast mass of doctrine wh. I find agreed on by Scripture, the Fathers, the Middle Ages, modern R.C.'s, modern Protestants. That is true 'catholic' doctrine. Mere 'modernism' I reject at once.

Ismenias the Theban used to exhibit both good and bad players to his pupils on the flute and say, "you must play like this one," or again, "you must not play like this one"; and Antigenidas used to think that young men would listen with more pleasure to good flute-players if they were given an experience of bad ones also.

Ἰσμηνίας ὁ Θηβαῖος ἐπιδεικνύμενος τοῖς μαθηταῖς καὶ τοὺς εὖ καὶ τοὺς κακῶς αὐλοῦντας εἰώθει λέγειν, “Οὕτως αὐλεῖν δεῖ,” καὶ πάλιν, “Οὕτως αὐλεῖν οὐ δεῖ,” ὁ δ᾿ Ἀντιγενίδας καὶ ἥδιον ᾤετο τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀκροᾶσθαι τοὺς νέους αὐλητῶν ἐὰν καὶ τῶν φαύλων πεῖραν λαμβάνωσιν.

[L]et them that scorn the tartan fear the dirk!

i.e. let those who scorn a Highlander fear a Highland mode of revenge. Although the formulation seems proverbial this is not recorded as a traditional proverb.

Sorry again. But a talk to the general public on 'Paradise Lost' would be an absolute waste of time. What's the good of telling them they'll enjoy it, when we both know they won't?

In conclusion, then, I would say that a city which is accustomed to activity would be very quickly destroyed by a change to inactivity, and that the people who live in the greatest security are those who most respect their existing character and institutions, whatever their shortcomings, in the way they manage their affairs.

παράπαν τε γιγνώσκω πόλιν μὴ ἀπράγμονα τάχιστ᾽ ἄν μοι δοκεῖν ἀπραγμοσύνης μεταβολῇ διαφθαρῆναι, καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀσφαλέστατα τούτους οἰκεῖν οἳ ἂν τοῖς παροῦσιν ἤθεσι καὶ νόμοις, ἢν καὶ χείρω ᾖ, ἥκιστα διαφόρως πολιτεύωσιν.

The principles to be observed in elementary books seem to be such as these:

I. Keep the master in view, as much as the pupils; let each sentence be either new to him, or suggestive of some heroic act, some noble character, some masterpiece of letters or of art, some pregnant law of language; let common sayings be traced to their source; many a story, supposed of recent importation from the backwoods, is hoary with the dignity of 2000 years, and proves once more, that 'there is nothing new under the sun.' In short, let each line, like the oratory of Perikles, 'leave its sting' in the hearers; at least let it convey some information not wholly trivial.

II. Let each sentence be a whole, intelligible in itself; proverbs, words of the wise, anecdotes which clothe the skeletons of history with flesh and blood, linking contemporaries indissolubly in the memory; choice flowers from the Florilegia; those lofty γνῶμαι in which the Greek literature is rich beyond all thought of rivalry, — let these form the staple of the feast. Season all with Attic salt of a lower, but not less enduring kind, tart homely gibes of Diogenes, light touches of Menander's pencil, and the broad fun of Hierokles. Who does not recall, after 30 or 40 years, the σχολαστικός carrying a brick by way of sample of his house, apt emblem of our puffing advertisements? It is of the last importance never to set before any student a whole too large for him to apprehend in one view.

By the observance of these two rules you may ensure that a boy who learns Greek only for a week, will carry away with him something of real interest.

"Once upon a time" is a rather loaded translation of "olim", I think!

(dating an incident on an occasion in the past) once (upon a time).

Labels: typographical and other errors

The Abbey of the Holy Cross is organizing, for the first time in its guesthouse, a course dedicated to Latin as the proper language of the Church’s tradition and of Christian culture: Sub Cruce scholae Latinae. The course aims to provide a living space for study, prayer, and encounter with the ancient authors who transmitted the faith and wisdom of the Christian tradition throughout the centuries. It will take place during the first week of August 2026 (from 3 to 9 August) at the Abbey Guesthouse of the Holy Cross Abbey. Registrations and inquiries may be sent to subcrucescholaelatinae@gmail.com until 15 July.

The program is intended both for students who already understand Latin and wish to begin speaking it, and for readers with experience in Latin texts who seek to deepen their engagement with classical and Christian authors.

The daily schedule will combine classes in spoken Latin, the reading of ancient and Christian texts, conversation in Latin, and optional participation in the liturgical life of the monastery, all within a monastic environment dedicated to study, fellowship, and prayer.

The course will feature specialists in Latin language and literature and will offer an authentic experience of linguistic and humanistic immersion.

Philology has fallen on hard times in the English-speaking world (much less so in continental Europe). Many college-educated Americans no longer recognize the word. Those who do often think it means no more than scrutiny of ancient Greek or Roman texts by a nit-picking classicist, while British readers may take it as referring only to technical research into languages and language families. Professors of literature use the term to belittle a simpleminded approach to their subject, mercifully discarded long ago. Indeed, for most of the twentieth century, philology was put down, kicked around, abused, and snickered at, as the archetype of crabbed, dry-as-dust, barren, and by and large pointless academic knowledge. Did I mention mind-numbingly boring? Whenever philology shows its face these days in North America or the British Isles—not often, outside of classics departments or linguistics faculties—it comes coated with the dust of the library and totters along with arthritic creakiness. One would not be startled to see its gaunt torso clad in a frock coat.

I take a less favourable view of the Humanists than you. I've never quite forgiven them for killing live Latin and erecting the mausoleum of Ciceronianism over its corpse—specially when they themselves have to fall back on that live Latin and do so without gratitude ('quod barbari nostri circumstantias vocant' says J.C. Scaliger).

In a Europe of unpaved streets and primitive sanitation, Madrid was celebrated for more than usual Spanish negligence in such matters. Visitors were eloquent in their commentaries; poems appeared with such titles as La Merdeide; and innumerable stories were current in the eighteenth century of homesick Spaniards revived in spirit by sudden whiffs of unspeakable odors.

Labels: noctes scatologicae