The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-07-14
"OUR CLASSIC HERITAGE

| VI dH the elIortS TO revive the stand.
Ing Of Greek in college curriculurns In
this country, probably the most impor.
tant is that undertaken by DR.. G. G..
Murray, regius professor Of Greek at
Oxford. His visit to this country was
especially to urge the retention of
Greek IN the classic courses, and to i'm
press upon us all the importance of
classic education and learning in the
life Of the American people He states
as the result of his observations in
America, that there is deep decay in
the study of the classics in this coun-
try, and IN explanation of this decay,
he puts forth the following:
can see quite well that circumstances
demand quick. cheap, businessike edu-
Gatioh TO meet the needs of the imme-
dlate moment but I think a time has
come "nlch demands a deeper, more
SOLID and, therefore, slower education
Great lnsurgent forces are at work in the
United States, and citizenship will re-
quire In future finer training and vision
than In the past.
DR.. Murray is quite right when he
says that circumstances have demanded
quick returns in the educational field
IN the United States, and that the i'm
mediate practical necessities have put
in the background the old "humani-
ties But that is not quite all Of it.
The time was In this country when the
classics were favored and when no one
was supposed to have liberal educa.
tion unless he knew considerable Latin
and something of Greek The classical
education was indeed supposed to be
the supreme aim Of educational train
ing in early times In America. AS the
progress Of the country began to press,
and immediate results were not only
desired, but essential, the negligible
portions Of what was deemed to be a
college education were gradually
thrown into the background. There
has always been tradition in the col
leges and universities, however, that
Latin and Greek were essential to
liberal education, and those languages
have held their places with more or less
tennctty and prominence It was to
help to ward off a further negligible
treatment Of these languages that DR..
Murray came to this country In re-
sponse to an invitation from those who
would like to have these old classical
forms Of education regain their old
places Of prominence.
1t is quite true that without Latin
and Greek, we would lose large DOR.
tions Of the great literature Of the
human race. It is also true that, In
spite of the best translations, (and we
have excellent English translations
now OF pretty much everything worth
whlle,) no translation can quite do
justice to the flavor, the force. and
the ingenuity Of the original And 40
there will always have to be attention
paid to Greek and Latin, because with
their submergence, the world would
lose too much that 1t cannot afford to
lose.
At the same time, it must not be for.
gotten that the Greek and Latin vcre
local tongues in their time They pro.
duced either In original OF by adapta.
ton Of the great minds Of those native
to them, the highest and most ilmmi. |
mating things in the world We have
the New Testament in as nearly as nos
sible its original form only in Greek
A number Of the books of the Bible
are also IN Greek, and the Greek trans
latlon of all Of the old Bible is a most !
reference work with which to |
compare the standard versions now
available; and the great classical works
In Greek and Latin will always be a
treasurehouse Of thought, expression.
and information.
But may 1t not be possible for Amer
lea to do for remote generations what
the Greeks and the Romans did for
their own time and for succeeding
agesf May we not hope that in Amer
lea we shall have a literature In our
own mother speech that will be as great
and as much admired and sought after
IN after ages as the Greek and the
Latin are now esteemed and sought,
If it is replied that the references, alike
as to localities, natural phenomena, and
environment, would be merely local.
it can fairly be replied that such is
precisely the case in the Greek and
Latin classics. 1t Is well. as DR.. Muir
ray says, to keep hold upon the elias.
sizes and upon the great things Of old
that the illustrious men Of their time
produced, but it is not we'll to forget
that We also may produce illustrious
work, and that American authors may
stand to later times on an equality
with the great ones Of Athens and
Rome, or being somewhat nearer those
later times, be even moro highly
In this view of the case, the preser-
yation of our contact with the Greek
and Latin classics might be held as IN
incentive to emulate them and to give
to the world American classics that in
time would be their equal, and would