188 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AJMERICAN ACADEMY 



learnt the living pronunciation of the language among the scholars of 

 Athens. Animated by his example, a young Scotch scholar, James 

 Clyde, left his employment as a classical teacher for the sake of study- 

 ing the Modern Greek under the shadow of the Acropolis. And since 

 his return, in 1854, he has published a little book on the subject, which 

 has received the well-deserved praises of an elegant scholar and most 

 competent judge. Lord Broughton, author of the Travels in Albania. 

 Many other European scholars have visited Greece, and all, so far as 

 I know, have come to the conclusion that the wisest course to take 

 would be to adopt the pronunciation of the cultivated Greeks of the 

 present day. As things are now, there is no uniform system. The 

 English, Scotch, Irish, French, Germans, and Americans have diiierent 

 methods, and even in different schools of the same country diiferent 

 systems of pronunciation prevail, and in some schools of every country 

 there is no system at all. It may be objected, as it often is, that the 

 modern Greeks neglect the quantity of syllables. That is true ; but it 

 is equally true of each and all the other systems of pronunciation. It 

 may also be objected, that by reading Greek with the modern accent 

 we spoil the rhythm of the ancient poets, and this is partly true ; but 

 it is also true of the system of reading Greek with the Roman accent. 

 In the schools of Greece, the difficulty is overcome by scanning the 

 verses just as we do ; that is, by marking the rhythmical ictus with an 

 accent, and not attempting to render the ancient musical time. Their 

 two modes of reading, the one with the natural accent and, the other 

 with a rhythmical accent, are no more incongruous, than our two modes 

 of reading Greek, the one with a Roman accent and the other with the 

 rhythmical accent. Another objection is, that the modern Greeks have 

 corrupted the ancient sounds of the vowels, and this is undoubtedly 

 true. But the Eetacism with which the Modern Greek has been re- 

 proached may be traced back beyond the Middle Ages, perhaps to the 

 Christian era. It would undoubtedly be a gratification to taste and 

 curiosity, if we could ascertain and reproduce exactly the tones and 

 qualities of the vowels as they were sounded from the lips of Demos- 

 thenes speaking to the Athenian Demos from the Bema. But this can 

 be done only partially, if at all ; and the question recurs. Is it not better 

 to adopt the living pronunciation of a people whose existing language 

 is inherited from an illustrious ancestry ? The scholars of the world 

 would at least gain these advantages : they would have the same pro- 



