Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-07-01
Classics and Literature
tFrom the Address OF Henry Cabot
Lodge at Radcliffe ColleEel

Men cannot live by bread alone, nor,
In the highest sense. can education be
confined to methods of money getting
or be OF the frst order II the >..hu-~
manities." AZ they used TO be pleasantly
called. are wholly thrust aside and
neglected.
The classics, in fact. becameya fetish
which led TO many absurdities among
their devotees. like tnat which has re-
quired successive generations Of Eng
lish boys to write Latin verses But
in getting rid Of absurdities let US
beware of losing the substance
1t is not we'll wholly to forget tho
vast debt which mankind owes to the
recovery OF the literature and art of
Greece and Rome. 1t was by no means
without reason that classical was
known and lis still known as a liberal
education. The mind of the Renais-
sance was liberalized by the study Of
the classics and what was true then
is true now. for the classical educa-
ton liberalizes in the only right way
by making its benefciaries respect
genuine learning and knowledge OF any
sort wherever found and no matter
how far removed it may be from their
own. There ia no form Of education
which teaches this respect for tho
learning and requirements Of other
men in any direction. as far as my
experience goes. so surely as the
ella ssical
creek ana Latin are the foundations
OF the literature OF Western civiliza-
ton. Is literature then to be pushed
aside because IL is not obviously
utilitarian and practically valuable in
science. in business, or in money maxi
Ing? Literature and art are in the
fine flowers OF the highest civilization.
AS Shakespeare has it:
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
or princes. shall outlive this powerful
rhyme.
In literature are garnered up the
thoughts which have moved the world
and guided. all unseen. the history Of
man. Worth more than all the money
ever piled up are the happiness, the
delights. the help. which literature
has brought to the children OF men.
purely material existence. a wholly
material civilization are joylcss, for it
is only the things of beauty that are
joys forever. In literature, In the crea-
lions of human Imagination, are to be&
found the men and women. outside the
little Immediate world Of each one of
us, wii..- we know and love best.
whom we hate most whom we con-
stantly discuss. Real men and women
die. but the men and women created
by the Imagination Of those who
body forth the forms OF things UNI
known" live always. Ulysses and Hec-
tor, Don Quixote and Hamlet are more
real, are better known to us than any
men who lived and walked the earth
and whose deeds and words fill the
pages of history
Think of the friends and companions
literature has brought to us, with.
whom we love to live and wander, and
dream the hours away. They come in
an almost endless procession, bring
ing with them every emotion, sorrow
and anger, love and hate. laughter,
humor, adventure. These are the gifts
of literature, of the ina gination of
men OF genius endowed with the crea.
tive power, from Shakespeare with his
world of men and women out and on
through all the great literature OF
civilized man.
Turn it as we will, proclaim the SUI
perior merits of science. which no one
reverences and admires more than I,
with all It's vast gifts OF knowledge,
with all that 1t has devised and I'M
vented so benehcent also so de-
structive to man, as strongly as you
please. vaunt not only the necessity
Of moneygettinG as loudly as you can,
and still even now the world admits
that those to whom we award the
honor Of scholarship, whom we de-
scribe as cultivated and accomplished,
must be men and women who know
something, at least, of histor~---n nd - ~
and literature: and hiSt6EXx RsEs
literature. so far as N I
spring from, are rela = Il Z I
with tho great CIVIL 80
and Rome. ~ X &