Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-06-25


New thou gttrest Me the sacred wall
Shows on votive board, when high hung
My dripping weeds; gift
Gladly paid to the sea gods might.
We might multiply examples of this Sort but these win
suffice, hope for the thoughtful and serious reader
whose attention Mr., Newman specially bespeaks in his
predatory remarks. As for ourselves do not know
whether it is because we have the organ of much
too little developed that have been unable to rem
der ympanum sufficiently delicate to catch the fuga
cious melody of these unrhymed metres" They still
seem harsh" to U.S. and our most contumacously
refuses to "requre the variations" which Mr. Newman
promised it should. But will "suspend our judg-
ment and pass from these particular metres" to in
dulge in few reflections the position and Importance
of classical lettersa topic discussed by Mr. in his
preface
little than three centuries ago. Greek and ko-
man literature composed the only medium for attaining
the highest culture Of the day. The mental expansion
and literary development to which they greatly contr
buted at the time of the Revival of Letters have subse
quenty resulted in the formation of modern literature
which threatens supersede and ignore that elder to
whchit only its primal origin but the very form
and substance of being The earned languages no
longer indispensable to the acquisition of high literary
culture The treasures Of modern letters consider
able that he who has enriched his mind by appropratng
the stores Of his native literature will have attained
familiarity with of the grandest and most genuine
forms of poetry and eoquence England and France and
Italy and Spain and Germany have each built up lite
nature since the period above named which rivals that Of
Greece Rome To the great of every people their
vernacua literature must be the sole of their cu
ture and when this is copous and rich those
respectively possessed by the nations have mentioned
there is nothing to warrant the apprehension that any
mans mind will be dwared by lack of knowledge But,
while thus conceding that high culture may be reached
without any acquaintance with the dead languages OF
Greece and Rome not yet ready admit that the
highest possible culture be attained by the individual
or maintained by the people who neglect their study 1t
must be remembered that the light Of modern
in great part light borrowed and reflected from the
selaons which illustrated the horizon of Greece
and Rome. From these, from "urns Of light, we
derns have been constantly drawing until rma
ment has been studded with of greater and lesser
magnitude But let not forget where torches
kndled or Ito change the gure let lay arbitrary
embargo literature from which receiving
constant importations, and which composes so large
part Of the literary activity and scholastic training
among
Some popular reformers in country have evinced
hostility to classical learning which is utterly ncompre
hensible, except the weknown principle which in
cnes the great vulgar" to undervaue any accomplish
mcnt which it does happen itself possess But
Gently this hostility has broken out in Europe and
among quite another class. Certain utramontane theo
logians of the Gacan Church have begun to advocate
the substitution of the Fathers for the Classics Instead
of Demoshcne they would introduce in schools the
writings Of the godenmouthed Bishop of Consantinope,
and instead of Cicero the Homilies of St.
Augustn and the pages of Lacantius Instead of Homer
must put up with the Hymns of St. Ambrcsius, and
take Hugh of ST. Victor in exchange for Horace and V
gill Now would not disparage these worthless of the
early and medieval church. The eloquence of an Au-
gustn and the genius of Hugo dc ST. Victor truly adj
mrable authors sometimes studied for their STYLE
and be alleged that the Ecclesiastical writer's of the
Decline and the Western Empire masters of pure
Latin stylef Their theology may be Christian than
that taught in Cceros Tusculan Disputatons but for
ourselves prefer Tully the best monk of them n
and would not give his q DE 0fcas for oil the Le
gends" recorded of all the Saints in the Calendar We
are glad to learn that library Of the Fathers about
appear Rome under the auspices of his Holiness Pho
Mono That the learned Cardinal ANGELO NAL who edits
this new edition of Patrstic Divinity, is competent for
the task we have no doubt learn that he spent all
his earlier years and acquired little fame in
ing lost fragments Of classical literature by Gliding the
oyerayng stratum Of monish trash and restoring the
original text Our readers all that literature
is under great Obligations Monasticism for preser
VI clSsicS VI
the middle ages The abbey during this period the
only library and the monks the custodians Of let
ters but those holy did set much by the
writings Of heathendom they frequently beguiled their
ettered ease" by erasng the Decades of Livy the
parchment tones Of Varro in order make for
legend Of more recent date
The Of classical literature owes debt Of graft
tude to Catholic scholars which no reputation Of their
own labors can make forget The Dolphin Edition
of the Roman authors must remain monument of
Jesuit learning aud The doctors of the Sorbonne
and the Vatican the foremost cham pions Of Roman
letters little than century ago. That they should
have greatly affected Greek was quite under
the circumstances since that tongue carly taken
der the special patronage Of the Professionals in whose
hands it has remained to the present day for learn by
statement of LEorARDIs the brightest genius Of modern
Italy, that in the whole Italian peninsula it would be i'm
possible to find FIVE who could read with any uency
the language Of Homer aud Plato But Latin literature
had expected to enrolled the " Tndcr Err
pwgatoius." There time when Jealous Romansts,
like the Jesuit Hardoun, maintained that nearly all the
socaed classics genuine productions Of the true
mother church. Not only did Hardouin assert that the
Apostles and the Evangests in Latin and that the
Vugate was the original Of which the Greek Testament
version but further maintained with vast show
Of learned augmentation that all the ancient classics,
Greek and Latin elegant trifcs struck oil by the
Monks during the thirteenth century, Excepting, per-
haps Ciceros works. Phnys Natural History, the Geor-
gic Horacc's Epistles and few others Of little note"