Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and AntiquitiesUntil very recently, the study of classical literature was, in all our univer sities. Inseparably linked with the conception of a liberal education. Holding firmly to the dignified traditions of the past, it was accepted as an undisputed fact that the highest type of scholarship, the type best fitted to sustain the supreme test of aesthetic perfection and to be stamped with the final vac/wt that confers distinction, was unattainable if severed from the direct influence and inspiration of the great Hellenic masters whose intellectual activity was imbued with a noble passion for ideal beauty and ideal truth. Of late, the tremendous pressure of material interests from without, and the national eagerness for immediate and tangible results. Have bred a new and more utilitarian theory of the academic function; so that the study of ancient life and thought has been deposed from its old supremacy and has been made to take its place beside those subjects of invas tigation that derive their interest mainly from the appeal which they can make to tastes and motives that are essentially commercial and mechanical.This revolution in palagogic theory, with the resulting revolution in the ordering of our university curricula, while it sprang from a false impression of what liberal study really means, and while it is fraught with especial evil to a community such as ours, already far too eager in the pursuit of all material ends, has nevertheless, by way of compensation, not been without a stimulating effect upon the methods and the aims of classical study. It has, to be sure, impaired the value of the university degree that once was everywhere accepted as being the hallmark of the cultivated gentleman. It has broken down forever the intellectual sympathy that once existed as a powerful bond between all univer sity men - a sympathy based upon absolute identity of training, and one which made them a potent influence in the diffusion of sanity and serenity of thought. It has lowered the whole tone of university life and imported into the academic shades the standards of value, the aims, and the ambitions of the workshop and the counting-room. Yet, nevertheless, the very changes that have nar rowed the sphere of classical study and restricted its power for good by teloas ing from its refining influence the very persons who are most in need of it, have still, within its sphere, compelled it to develop a new and vigorous life, by en abling it to gain in perfection and completeness what it has lost in universality.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.