The San Francisco call., 1895-11-17

of Greek if were not glad of an oppor-
tunity like this to give reason for the
faith that is in me. And If l shall prove
to have less to say of the great claims Of
Roman literature and history upon our at
tention it is not from any exclusive prefer
ence for my own favorite line of study, but
because the attacks upon the classics have
been chiefly directed against the Hellenic
side Of classical scholarship, while the i'm
portance of Latin studies is scarcely ques-
toned by intelligent men.
Has the study of Greek literature and
Greek life any claim upon the men and
women of to-day? The question is per-
fectly legitimate one. In time like ours,
when all beliefs, however sacred, are pitt
lessly assailed, no opinion can long hold
its ground on the mere basis of tradition.
We live in a busy world, where there is
much for each of US to do and to learn.
Departments of investigation which were
quite unknown to our fathers press them
selves upon our attention with the utmost
insistence. Why should we turn aside
from so much that is fascinating and use
full as well, and apply ourselves to the
sayings and doings of handful of distant
cousins who lived and died so many years
ago? Why should men of fair ability be
willing to withdraw themselves from every
avenue to wealth and power, voluntarily
relinquishing the so-called prizes of life
to rivals of perhaps no more than equal
intelligence and energy. in order to spend
laborious lives in porelng over the pages
of ancient philosophers and poets? Have
we not the rich storehouse of English
literature at hand, needing no mastery of
a difficult foreign tongue to unlock
its treasures? And if English
Dante and Goethe and Lessing and
Moliere and Cervantes in languages less
hard to learn than Greek, and with subject
matter which lies much nearer to modern
thoughts and modern interests? In at
tempting to express to you the feeling of
the student of Greek toward questions like
these, I would not lay too much stress
upon the intrinsic superiority of Greek
literature. 1t may be that the Divine
Comedy is as significant poem as the
Iliad, although I doubt it. It may be
that Hamlet is more perfect tragedy
than King Gdipus, though few compe-
tent critics would say so. It may be that
Tennyson in borrowing from Theocritus
has improved upon his Sicilian master,
though this is not the view of Stedman.
You may even assert that Kant was as
profound thinker as Plato though have
yet to meet the philosopher who so regards
him. But there is fair room for difference
of opinion in matter so largely subjective
as this, and so long as the world agrees in
placing the Greek writer's at least
on par with the giants of later days, we
need not demand that they be ranked above
them all.
Nor would insist too strongly upon that
aspect of the question which regards Greek
literature as the key to the true apprecia-
ton of modern books, though the truth
and Importance of this view can hardly be
overestimated. The historical method of
study is the most characteristic feature of
modern scholarship that method which
is not content to examine a phenomenon
as it appears to-day, but must see it in its
growth and origin, must trace it to its
source, and so discover its essential nature.
This kind of study if applied to any de-
partment OF modern literature leads us
inevitably to the Greeks, for it is from
them that modern writers have drawn
their inspiration, and in their works that
they have, consciously or unconsciously,
found their models. No man can under