New-York tribune., 1896-12-05
MODERN GREEK.
TWO BOOKS SHOWING AN EASY WAY
TO THE OLD CLASSICS.

MODERN GREEK MASTERY. Short ROAD 20
arcisn, Creek BY Thomas l.; stedmah' ~ '"'
NJ D. Pr viii $50, Harper & bro'ne's
CONCISE p!cTloSAAERnY oSAEnx OF FLAISHGHuAGEs IHH aS1 as
narts Ph. d. English Greek. PIP. 41o i'a'pe'
Brothers
r,. co,,emann wished to learn the liiad oy
s..r, ha heaan by learning modern Greek Ju''
=. ho heard II talked In the towns OF "iee'e'
Iu,o,hsr his example had any influence Oh ia'e'
.o,o,ors or not It is plain that modern uieeN
,o,.,nc in favor The foreign schools at A'ie''
link the remotest past with the present "H'e
modern Greek newspaper is no uncommon s'e"''
ayar IN obscure American colleges. Dr "'o'
man o,,ud,ne to the universal demand TOT
.or,r,on language in which all civilized men may
understand each other cogently advocates '"e
,,o,r,s NJ ,oodern Greek The mutual Jealousieso vi
rrr,sb French and Germans prevent eao''
ono from, acceptng the speech on el'hei Va
ia rivals He does not even ihen''o'
nos.fbjlitv of using an arthciai NY
like Volapuk To his mind the only way
out of the difficulty is to choose
language from without the circie oi vi,
great nations which are so distrushui 'o""u
cach other. He cites Voltaire, the ia'e iroie's'
Rlackie and others in favor or the auop'0" "
(;rcel, as the universal language. Inc '"oue"'
has an element OF sublimity In II. TWICE i" ''
x,.r,, f.ree, couId almost claim the honor OF be-
, .,o co-nrnon tongue Of civilization and or Ill
.ro.rra once under the successors of Alexander
,d AGAIN In the time OF Rome's widest sway
.,. T., o,,. tho language Of commerce throughout
..o royont as II was before and at the begin
ming of the Christian era. the common 'onsue -
men OF letters and of polite society IN the 'i|i
world" Nearly all the deep and primary 'hous"'
~ tho world outside of the domain OF Ju''s-
rrudence Mt least, Is IN Greek. and much OF 'he
worlds finest poetry. Nearly all 'he "o'''
great stories outside Of the cycles Oh Ar''"i "''N
xor, were told in Greek before they were re-
n.a,ed in any Western language Even yet IL Is
,oh IN ballad and folk-tale and popular ora'''a'
hardly less rich than English itseil' go
pu+ those Of us who are acquainted onl! WIFI
ancient Greek-"mere thumbers OF dict'o'a''e'
% use Dr Stedman's expressive phrase-"ho
s,uded the language before the present reViVa'
co, in cannot get over the memory OF grave o'i-
ec,,ties The verb haunts us like ghos' but
chic ghost is now laid. Modern Greek Is ancient
c.reek made easy. 1t is nearer TO the oc'o'i "a
r,or,er or Xenophon or the New Testament IMAM
the English of the present day IS 10 'he H"s''
-, Cbancer This fact says DR.. Stedman' mas
Ian incontrovertbly established by q Eich'ha''
p,ackie Cennadius and others Ihe cohJus"
.,or q, the verb Is simple now. ana yet " ""'
Lent the key to all the intricacies OF the a''iU'
naradiems And in that adds our au'hoi' II ""
except the slightly different arrahse
~s. 4, tho sentence and a vocabulary modihed
m meet the necessities OF modern 'hp"s"'' ~
practically the only difference pet"eei' '"o '""
ondt
guaee Of Demosthenes or Herodotus anu '''' o
C,oraas or Bikelas.' AS one who wlsneo u S1"o'
C,baucer would begin by learning mooer" Ems
lsh so with better reason accoroins ~ -
stedman should he who desires 10 ieau
and above all the New Testament oesi' WIN
Modern Greek In making this ratlohai s'"''' "
should aim not merely to train MS eyes - ''
nize Greek words when he sees 'he"'' 'u' ~ ~
and 10 think in Greek. His pronunc'a"oii VIII
indeed at the very best. be different from 'hat %
classic times This is conceded but Il "e i'
lows the Greeks Of the present DAY he VIII az
,o.s, sneak naturally. and that he cannot do with
the scholastic method which goes by the name Vi
rrasmus And IL one can think in Greek wha'
matters 1t though one may not DE ao'e " '
cover all the vowel sounds just as Demosthenes
or an actor in a play OF Sophocies "ou'u nave
uttered them!
The best guarantee that modern Greek mas va
ried littl, in sound from its classic pronouhoia'o'
q 70 be found in the rarity Of the changes 'ha'
have come over its crthography, ts s!n'aA anu
its vocabulary. The scruples OF schoiars seem -
he Welding to the inevitable necessity Oh n'''hs
theories to practical facts. II you WISH a' '''e
--,.,,os, cost Of labor to realize Macaulay's ideal
Of learning to be able to read Piato "i'h !ou'
90, on the fender. Dr. Stedman points out the
tongue. A characteristic part Of his scheme IS a
o,.s or what he calls thought exercises. IN
.snorsed with the formal elements OF grammar
Dc constant repetition of these. at the same time
suit,np action to the spoken words. he IS con-
,.,,ced fnerbaps from experience) that even the
solitary learner can become proficient. Ano'her
characteristic of his book is that 1t gets to the
,,o,o, nonts as quickly as possible This makea
., Interesting merely as a specimen OF scientinc
.orr The French watch with amused curiosity
.h. roeditati,e habit of the Germans In waiting
Coz tho verh" Nobody has to wait for the verb
e., Dr stedman's book. 1t confronts him the In
.tant he has made up his mind to NEEDLE with
Tho parts Of speech And it really is. just as the
au,bor saws n trihe compared with that thorny
chapter Of old grammar which began with
"Tupto' and ended with memorizing the whole
table OF irregular forms. that one could say 1t
backward. like a witch's prayer. II one had oc-
cas;on to do So The book not only explains how
% read. to talk and TO think Greek, but how TO
write Greek script.
With this book and with DR.. Jannariss die
.,ororv the ambitious student ought to get on
,rerri,v For Greek reading. indeed. the part Of
tho dictionary yet to come that is, the Greek
English volume will be more useful than the
..o,,,,,o already Dubshed. Nevertheless, in
voluntary and rather troublesome test Of the
Enelish-Greek part in the effort to turn some
modern Greek into English showed that the
.l.a hook 10 lucid q make ref