Show 1 LITERATURE AS A MEANS OF CULTURE The d department of Greek and Latin instruction as understood in inthe the its not the study of the languages languages languages languages' lan lan- University of Utah includes within scope only but also of the ancient Greeks and nd Romans in all their activities and and achievements The work of the department is being developed under the in influence influence influence in- in fluence of this broad conception Besides the usual language study and reading reading reading read read- ing courses in Roman and Greek history and in the life customs and institutions of the people are now offer offered d and these will willbe be extended extended arid and in increased increased increased in- in creased as fast as possible t r The The- books maps and charts esse for the prosecution of work works in these hese courses are now in inthe the library land class room The yet but t. t i e if r f h Ii tl the value and usefulness of any department of t the e library does not depend so soW W much upon the number as upon the quality of its books In this respect the recently collected works in the Greek and Latin department invite examina examina- tion A list of new publications is kept and the and the best of these will be added as rapidly as possible The work of this department is so commonly misunderstood through too narrow a conception of its scope and underrated because misunderstood that 1 jit It t is proper to speak of its place and value in a liberal education The value of its work of and the mental faculties langu language ge as a means exercising training is so well known and ac acknowledged that we need but mention this point We would call attention to the value of the work of this department in relation to literature art history etc In regard to literature the words of R. R G. G Moulton Professor of Literature Literature Literature Litera Litera- ture in the University of Chicago and formerly a lecturer in Cambridge U University University Uni Uni- England are so weighty and felicitous that we cannot do better than to quote them In the preface to his book The Ancient Classical Drama Drama he says says- I am one of those who believe a knowledge of the ancient classical literatures to tobe tobe tobe be a first requisite of a liberal education I think it is a mistake to direct attention from these in favor of our own earlier literature Our true literary ancestors are the Latin and Greek classics The old English writers have had less influence in t our modern literature than have Homer and Virgil and the Greek dramatists As a practical teacher of literature I find it almost impossible to give an intelligent grasp of form in Shakespeare to those who are ignorant of classical drama for the first is a multiple of which the latter is the unit Milton and Spenser construct their poems out of details which were made into literary material by the literatures of the past The ancient classics classic constitute a common stock from which the writers of all modern countries draw and their familiar ideas are the currency in which modern literary intercourse is transacted a As much might be said for the study of ancient Greek and Roman art politics ethics and philosophy in their relation to modern as for the litera litera- ture Our true art ancestors are the Greeks and Romans Our sculptors i architects and decorators construct their works very largely out of art material fashioned by the art of the past Our statesmen moralists and philosophers find in that past most impressive inspiration iol and warning It is safe to say k that interest in the ancient classics and the people that produced them can can cany y never perish unless liberal education and culture perish and this interest will willin in in any community be in proportion to the cultivation of that community If the proper study of mankind is man then a relic of those mighty anc ancient ent civilizations civilizations civilizations should surpass in interest a fragment of the earths earth's geologic past as asfar asfar asfar far faras as man and the soul of f man transcend the lower realms of nature J l' l |