Liberal Education. 263 



blissful ignorance of Sir G. C. Lewis, and sees 

 no absurdity in the mythological theories of Eu- 

 heraeros. 



Now it seems to us that the reform which is 

 most urgently needed in our system of liberal 

 education consists not in the substitution of one 

 branch of studies for another so much as in the 

 more liberal, rational, and intelligent pursuit of 

 various branches. In the main, fairness of mind, 

 accuracy of judgment, and shrewdness of per- 

 ception are to be secured as much by one kind of 

 research as by another kind. The alleged nar- 

 rowness and torpidity the " Kronian " charac- 

 teristics (to use an Aristophanic word) of 

 classical scholars are due far more to the irra- 

 tional method in which they have pursued their 

 studies than to those studies themselves. Let the 

 student really fathom who Julius Caesar was, 

 what he thought, what he did, wherein he differed 

 from Cato or Pompey, why his policy succeeded, 

 and what its effects have been upon all subse- 

 quent generations down to our time, let him 

 duly fathom all this, and he will have gone far 

 toward getting as good a political education as a 

 man needs to have. Let him, again, justly esti- 

 mate the value of ancient chronology ; let him 

 once have critically examined the works of Bun- 



