GERMAN TESTIMONY ON CLASSICS QUESTION 23 



the language of the classic writers in the Latin and Greek classes, and 

 the history class, for which we had to learn by heart the dry para- 

 graphs of an outline, was entirely disconnected from them." 



On this point Paul Pfizer wrote in his " Correspondence of Two 

 Germans " (1831) : " In the construing of ancient writers, as it is car- 

 ried on in the schools, the spirit of modern life is simply lost, with- 

 out that of the past being gained. . . . Among us twelve years of 

 youthful life is sacrificed to the study of a dead language which the 

 student learns neither to speak nor to write, and very promptly forgets, 

 while the opportunities of parading this unfruitful possession are be- 

 coming scarcer and scarcer." 



The slight acquaintance with antiquity and the imperfect com- 

 mand of the classical languages gained by school-boys having been 

 often pointed out, the study is now defended mainly on the ground 

 that the most valuable mental exercise is obtained from wrestling with 

 the grammars. It is interesting to note what value this use of the 

 dead languages had in the estimation of Herder : 



" As soon as learning Latin is made an end, and this in itself so 

 pleasing and useful language is no longer employed as a means of learn- 

 ing history, of looking into the minds of great men, and of making 

 one's own the whole field of an excellently developed language, then 

 the Muses of Latium are allowed too much space in the schools. To 

 be more particular, if the interpretation of an author affords nothing 

 but words and mechanical style for the pupils to learn, if the method 

 of the teacher has for its chief aim only the grammatical choice and 

 arrangement of words, and if the whole school or educational system is 

 controlled by a certain Latin spirit, which must produce a sad defi- 

 ciency in other branches, then, however admirable and useful the 

 Latin language may be, too much is sacrificed to it." 



Again, Paul Pfizer : " The fact that from the ' school of the an- 

 cients ' excellent men have come forth proves nothing as to the ex- 

 clusive pre-eminence of Latin-learning, with its eternal translating, 

 its verse-making, and its phrase-twisting. Not from the school of the 

 ancients, but from the hand of Nature, have these men come forth, 

 and the acquiring of Arabic or Persian would have done them about 

 the same service." 



It may be objected that most teachers of the classics do not report 

 any such discouraging failures. Are they not likely to know best the 

 condition of their own business ? The pamphlet before me contains a 

 passage which shows that declarations of teachers, among which the 

 famous " Berlin report " should be counted, must be taken with sev- 

 eral grains of salt, thus aptly re-enforcing the article by Professor 

 James already referred to : 



" The resolutions which are passed by bodies of teachers can not 

 be regarded as representing the actual state of affairs. Against the 

 complaints or remonstrances of the laity the teachers stand as one 



