Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to 1973 impression
- Introduction
- Chapter I The Background
- Chapter II The Greek East
- Chapter III The Carolingian Age
- Chapter IV The Pre-scholastic Age
- Chapter V The Scholastic Age
- Chapter VI Collapse and New Beginnings
- Chapter VII The High Renaissance
- Chapter VIII The End of the Renaissance and the Appearance of New Patterns in Classical Education and Scholarship
- Chapter IX Education and the Classical Heritage
- Notes
- Appendix I Greek MSS. in Italy during the Fifteenth Century
- Appendix II The Translations of Greek and Roman Classics before 1600
- Index
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to 1973 impression
- Introduction
- Chapter I The Background
- Chapter II The Greek East
- Chapter III The Carolingian Age
- Chapter IV The Pre-scholastic Age
- Chapter V The Scholastic Age
- Chapter VI Collapse and New Beginnings
- Chapter VII The High Renaissance
- Chapter VIII The End of the Renaissance and the Appearance of New Patterns in Classical Education and Scholarship
- Chapter IX Education and the Classical Heritage
- Notes
- Appendix I Greek MSS. in Italy during the Fifteenth Century
- Appendix II The Translations of Greek and Roman Classics before 1600
- Index
Summary
Fifty years ago the classical education still enjoyed an exceptional measure of public esteem. That training in taste and accuracy of thought, that lucid if somewhat factitious understanding of human institutions and human nature, which a close acquaintance with the Greek and Roman authors could give, were considered to fit the young supremely for the conduct of life. Those who had undergone the rigours of the traditional Humanist discipline in school and university were accepted by the majority of their contemporaries as an authoritative élite. The classical student of Edwardian times had reason to feel that he, if any man, possessed the magic key which would unlock the kingdoms of this world.
His modern counterpart is less fortunately placed. Not only have a number of other disciplines—historical, literary, scientific and technological—taken their place alongside the classical curriculum as its manifest equals in merit, but the struggles that occurred while they made good their claims have left a sad memorial in the shape of a prejudice against Greek and Latin, which philistinism has been quick to use. For if most people are ready to sing the praises of education when their opinion is formally required, the enthusiasm they so easily express too often represents only one aspect of their inner feelings. A manual worker will sometimes educate his children at a great personal sacrifice—and then mock them for their book-learning. An academic worker will sometimes devote his life to scholarly pursuits and still nourish a barely concealed contempt for all subjects but his own.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Classical Heritage and its Beneficiaries , pp. 1 - 12Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1973