Laudator Temporis Acti

Raymond William Lamb, quoted in "La biblioteca di Raymond William Lamb," Belfagor 66.5 (September 30, 2011) viii:

For some years now I have been re-reading the Latin and Greek classics often in bed straight through with no commentary. It is surprising how satisfying this is. Of course I don't understand everything, but does this matter? Yes, it does if you are studying the book intimately, but if you are reading for pleasure, as books were meant to be read, no. My early years of reading the classics were hindered by reading commentaries rather than texts. Even now like Scaliger, I cannot resist a good (or bad) commentary. As he said, the sauce is often better that the meat. My favourite commentary is Henry's Aeneidea. What a man! A doctor, he spent much of his life visiting the libraries of Europe, travelling on foot with his daughter, collating manuscripts of Vergil and meeting scholars. The academics of today seem to spend their lives in perpetual motion, going from conference to conference world-wide (all expenses paid), a kind of holiday, producing endless papers about trivialities, but no 'magnum opus', or even a 'parvum opus'.