There has never been a time in American history when the people who knew the classical languages were anything other than the wealthy elite.įor the last several months, I have been reading presidential biographies. During the time period when students were required to learn Latin and Greek in order to graduate from high school and be admitted to college, this was at a time when only 2-3% of the population ever graduated from high school and most people had little more than a 3rd or 4th grade education, if even that. While that is true, it is also misleading. Frustrating that I was so indifferent to all of this when I was in school, but, better late than never.įor who we are and what we'll be/ I'll sing your praise eternally/ the miles we've shared I'd trade but few/ they're the ones that kept me away from you.
I'm closing in on 40 years of age and my mind has never felt so impassioned to read and learn. I see Mandelbaum has a translation of "The Aeneid".Īnyway. First I read Esolen's and then I read Mandelbaum's. I might want to read some other translations after I'm done with Fitzgerald's. dumbing down the coursework in hopes that it will be of benefit to the student. It reminds me of what I read in Alan Bloom's "Closing of the American Mind". But, I can see how these stories could have enchanted a mind and helped a person develop a virtuous character. It's all so new to me since I never had to read this in the past. Slow, because I have to keep on searching on the references (who Ajax (the lesser) was and why Pallas (Minerva (Athena in Greece) wanted him dead. It's an incredibly interesting read so far. makes my struggles in high school and college seem paltry. I've also read that some high school and college students had the requirement to learn a language like Latin in order to read "The Aeneid". I was listening to a speech by Anthony Esolen (I made a post about reading his translation of Dante's Inferno) and he was talking about how generations prior always read the classics (namely Greek and Latin/Roman Epics).
I come from a time when the classics were not part of the school reading curriculum (high school, nor college).
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