New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-11
GREAT EDUCATORS.


ARISTOTLE AND ANCIENT EDUCATIONAL lp DEAL.
BY Thomas Davidson. Pp KILL a'"' 'n"rieS
Scrlbner's sons. .
LOYoLA AND THE EDUC ATIONAL SYSTEM OF TIE
JESUITS. BY the Rev Thomas iinsnes. on me
society Of Jesus. PIP ix' 3o2' Ch''i'eS '''''"o'
sons.
1t is a rule Of epic poetry that no supernatural
power shall be introduced to perform task winch
might Just MS well be accomplished by human srehs,h
capacity. Moralizlng stands 10 history hnch III '"o
same relation that the deus cx machina STANDS 10 .o
poem a transcendant authority has given specino
warrant hesitation II not positive refusal 10 IL"
tribute personal collective disaster to the "rons
doing OF the sufferers citing the particular case OF
eighteen men who wee Llcd by the ial Oh tne
Tower Of SLOAN In his animated ana Interesting
though all brief review OF ancient edhca'oh hr
Davidson has appealed more than was heeoui "
possible moral causes for the downfall OF CLASSIC
civilization. II Attca had been inhabited by people
of absolute impeccsbiuty. there were still purely
mechanical why the Empire OF Athens had 10
fail The problem Substantially like the one that
would confront a landowner who attempted to keep
up an estate of thoIsani acres by the resources
which he could obtain from ten-acrc field. Attica
was spacious enough to rear the men necessary
10 rule IIel.as and the result. though it
might have been delayed would have been
the that 1t was, if every man In Athens
had been either Irricc> Cimon. The aristoc-
racy could not have saved political organism which
suddenly forced to manage the affairs OF world. On
this account Mr. Davidson's generalization "An In
sttution perishes when il abandOns the principle on
which II was founded and built up" while II NAV be
true has little 10 do with the case. For the same
the authors account of the decay OF humanity
in the ancient world when read coolly over
done. 1T does not enhance the triumph of Chris
tlanty to show that II conquered 50 completely
out.
The mission OF Athens political power had
practically ceased when her work as an educator
fairly begun. Her political defeat left her
splendid monument to the wisdom and energy of the
people who had shared early glory Aristotle him
SELF In senses the best educated man the world
has ever seen. is perpetual testimonial 10 the in
fuence OF a society which had ceased to
be imperial only to become cosmopolitan.
In all this there IS nothing to warrant the note OF
pessnism too often sounded whenever the name of
Athens Is mentioned Another point IS that Athens
became the teacher of the world Just by depart
Ing In spite Of herself from the narrow
view OF the state maintained by the philosophers
who continually had their minds upon sparta as a
sort OF working model-Sparta. uncOuth, mcagre saw
age, ignorant. brutal supersOus, rs Incapable Of
progress one of her own wretched IIeots. 1t was
by disTegarding the educational wisdom of Arts
tote that Athens became the university city of the
ancient world, the schooling place of Cicero and
Horace the place where almost the closing DAYS
Of Virgils life spent. The chapters OF Mr. David
sons book which give succinct and readable view a,
Aristote's opinions to the state. sufficient TO
show not merely that these opinions are now out
OF date. but that the world had got past them when
they we're written. The childish civic polity of the
Greeks sort OF game with blocks at which
grown-up philosophers amused themselves long after
civilization had found matters more worthy OF atten-
ton.
Another volume in the same series, that Of "The
Great Educators" is account OF the Jesuit system
nj I'd by Rev A hriof
biography Of Loyoa leads an elaborate analysis of
the scheme Of education carried out BY the order
and TO history Of Its and failures course
the analysis Is that of partisan, but il Is snguarly
good tempered Few machines more perfect we're ever
Invented than the Jesuit system of education. II
accomplishes its object with certainty Fortunately
cannot all agree systems for carrying
any purpose. II they could agree. the stagnaton OF
human life would be uncomfortable. The training in
Jesuit schools, II it were universal would certainly
tend to sameness In the mental equipment OF human
beings, while the other systems in vogue rather in
than diminish the individual pecuiarities Of
scholars. Many man Of different training has some
time had occasion TO envy the skill and readiness and
adaptabity Of men who had received their education
at the hands OF Jesuit teachers. But he, as well as
those with whom he compares himself would lose
much If all were formed exactly the same model.
aims and diverse methods j. shown by the author in
his account Of the damage done to the
lion when Jesuit schools suppressed Other In
stitutions which 1t supposed would be benefited
which had inspired steady improvements in methods
became inactive.