sanctissima exercitatio, quam Deus hospitalem esse voluit, quam late terrarum orbis patet hominibus.". 6. This leads us to a further factor in favor of the classical studies: they are one of the bonds that connect the European family of nations. Wherever we find any similarity in the education of the children of different nations, we shall not mistake in tracing it back to the influence, chiefly, of the classical studies; and the Latin schools, whether known as gymnasiums, lycées, or colleges, are the homes of culture whence issue the threads which, though not obvious to the eye, are still strong enough to connect nations. Under certain circumstances, however, the classical studies may also prove a powerful aid to the preservation of the nationality of such peoples as find their national spirit and habits and customs threatened with extinction. The English, though at home in all the corners of the globe, still retain their national traits, and this fact is due to their clinging, not only to their national traditions, but also to their old classical schools. The Germans of the Baltic provinces are as firmly attached to their higher schools and the Roman law as to their German manners and customs, being rightly convinced that these factors are the mainstays of their nationality. Those Slavs that are exposed to Magyar influences look upon the ancient languages as the bond that connects them with the West, and they rightly fear lest any weakening of the classical course involve a strengthening of the denationalizing elements. When the German spirit was reborn in the throes of the Wars of Liberation, the classical studies were also reinstated in their former place of honor. The nation waxed enthusiastic over the victory of Arminius, but the ancient Romans were on that account not suspected of endangering in the 19th century the permanence of Germanism. The Germans simply prized all that had ever redounded to the glory of their race, and among these glories of the past they found also the enthusiastic study of the ancient classics. It was only the short-sightedness of some modern educationists that found an opposition between the national interest and the classical; but these men do not realize that with the passing of the classical interest the German classicists would become unintelligible, and that the eloquence 1 That a world language of science is indispensable and that Latin alone. is fully equal to this purpose, being more adequate than any artificial language (Volapük, Esperanto) yet invented, is the thesis of Diels' lecture delivered before the Berlin Academy of Science (Sitzungsberichte of 1889, PP. 579 ff.). and wisdom of the ancients is the foundation of the deutsche Eloquenz und Sapienz. In this point of view, the Latin language, with which we are, in every respect, more closely connected than with the Greek, appears to be more important. Greek is an ornamental plant and one that we should be loath to miss; but Latin belongs to our flora, and its cultivation has first made us gardeners. Our pronunciation of Greek and Latin, an apparently insignificant point, is characteristic of our attitude toward the two languages. In the case of Greek it was an easy matter to supplant Reuchlin's pronunciation, which was modelled after the living speech of the day, by the pronunciation of Erasmus, which was the result of scientific reconstruction; and if his had not been done three hundred years ago, it could easily be accomplished to-day. In the case of Latin, however, no serious attempt has yet been made to abolish the medieval pronunciation; we speak the Latin as our forefathers spoke it, but not as the Romans spoke it; and, in this respect, Latin is to us a sermo patrius, and not at all a dead language. CHAPTER XXI. Modern Foreign Languages. 1. The intercourse between different nations necessitates the learning of modern foreign languages. But this learning becomes a subject of cultural education only after an intellectual intercourse has been established between the different nations, when the foreign tongues are regarded as keys to the foreign literatures. Such an intercourse was early established between the members of the European family of nations the chief reason being the common presuppositions of their culture. Chivalric education was based upon the knowledge of the Romance languages, particularly of French; during the latter Renaissance one could not gain admittance to the higher society of his own country without a command of French. This led, especially in Germany, to an adulation and aping of all things French, and this servile spirit held sway until the Wars of Liberation and the Romantic movement in literature awoke the German nation. to a realization of its own power and greatness. But the Germans have preserved, though at present keenly alive to their national glory, an open eye for all that is beautiful and admirable in the achievements of other peoples. They have, in more instances than one, taught other nations to understand and appreciate their own writers and artists. For instance, they have reawakened the interest of the English in Shakespeare and, to some extent, of the Italians in Dante; and the idea of a worldliterature is of German origin.' The modern literatures have this advantage over the ancient literatures that they are the products of Christian peoples, and that many of the modern works have a pronounced Christian character. But in regard to simplicity and unconscious greatness, the modern classics are far inferior to the ancient. But for this they compensate by their greater variety of poetic forms and styles; and being nearer in content and spirit to our way of thinking, they can be utilized more easily in education. Modern classics are more easily rendered accessible by translations, and some of these translations have themselves attained to the rank of classics. But even the best translations will never render useless the study of foreign languages, for the perusal of the original text is, because of the very slowness of the process, more thorough and affords a better opportunity for a many-sided study of the subject treated. Again, the original text brings us much closer than any translation to the spirit of the respective nation; and only in the original can we realize the harmony between content and form, which is an important factor for developing a good taste. Finally, the knowledge of the foreign languages is the only key to such works as have not yet been translated, and may thus prove a valuable aid to scientific studies. 2. Another important factor in foreign language studies is the linguistic value of the modern languages; and, in this respect, each of the European language groups has its own special value. The Romance languages show the interesting process of the sprouting of new branches from a trunk that is old and gnarled; 1 Longfellow would seem to expect of the Americans a similar catholicism of taste: "Let us throw all the windows open; let us admit the light and air on all sides, that we may look towards the four corners of the heavens, and not always in the same direction.... As the blood of all nations is mingling with our own, so will their thoughts and feelings finally mingle in our literature. We shall draw from the Germans, tenderness; from the Spaniards, passion; from the French, vivacity-to mingle more and more with our English solid And this will give us universality, so much to be desired" (Kavanagh, sense. ch. XX). they are the after-spring of the ancient languages. The Slavic languages retain some very old formations; witness their wealth of cases, in which regard Sanskrit alone can be compared with them, and their euphony, to which Greek alone has anything analogous. The Germanic languages occupy a middle position; they are radical, but their inflections have been greatly reduced; they resemble Greek in the wealth and variety of word-formations, and Latin in vigorous expression. Thus each nation may turn to its neighbors to supplement its own linguistic peculiarity. But every living language will supplement the classical course in one important point: the ancient languages are dead languages and, therefore, are but written languages, whereas the living language is spoken and, consequently, demands that special attention be given first to pronunciation and accentuation, and then to the modulation and inflection of the voice. All this implies a discipline of the ear and the tongue; and classical philology has nothing analogous to this important factor. However, it is extremely difficult to utilize in the classroom all the factors that constitute the educational value of the modern languages. The schools are hardly equal to the task of teaching the grammar and the linguistic side of the subject, and still less capable of bringing out the literary side of the modern languages or of imparting a practical command of them. The Berlitz method-which consists in placing the pupil, as far as possible, in the environment of the foreign country whose language is to be learned-presupposes mature and very industrious pupils and is, besides, grammatically inexact. On the other hand, home instruction in modern languages results generally in but a smattering of the foreign tongues, and even this is often obtained at too high a price--the neglect of the mother-tongue. The French and German chattering of the children harms the growing language consciousness, and the vacuousness of their foreign conversations fosters the habit of speaking without having anything to say; and the whole process deprives the children of the wealth of poetry with which their mother-tongue is freighted nursery rimes, fables, and fairy tales. Hence the language study of the schools, though cumbrous and one-sided, still admits, on the whole, of less abuse, and its defects may more easily be corrected in after life. The efforts made to correlate the school instruction in modern languages with the practical needs of the pupil have brought some good results. CHAPTER XXII. The Mother-Tongue. 1. If true education means opening the mind to the foreign, without, however, estranging it from its native possession, i. e., if it implies the assimilation of the foreign and the bringing out of that which is hid within, then the same relationship must obtain in language studies: the cosmopolitan interest in all languages must be joined with an abiding interest in what is ours by birth and native right. While eager to derive profit. from the foreign languages, both ancient and modern, we may not scorn the treasures held out to us by our mother-tongue. "The mother-tongues are the hearts of the nations," says Jean Paul, “and conserve and transmit love, life, food and warmth." Jacob Grimm calls "the inexhaustible supply of tales, legends, and history, which bring the past near to us, an angel guardian, "who is appointed by our fatherland to attend upon us, and the blessing of whose presence we learn to appreciate only when crossing the border of our native land, where the gentle spirit must forsake us." A deep and full appreciation of poetry, i. e., an understanding in which the fancy and the feelings combine in a vital union, can be learned through the poetry of our mother-tongue alone. No words but those of our mother-tongue can rouse the deepest emotions of our heart and strike its deepest chords, and they alone can voice the strongest feelings of the soul. The Latin hymns of the Middle Ages are probably the only instance of the adequate expression of feeling in a foreign idiom; and the extraordinary intensity of the religious emotions of the writers is responsible for this solitary exception to the rule that a man can truly express his feelings in his mother-tongue alone. To train the pupils to understand and appreciate the folk poetry of a nation, the teacher must turn to the songs and proverbs, to the tales and legends, that have been handed down in that nation for generations. Only by entering in this way into their own national literature can the pupils be prepared to understand the folk poetry of other nations, just as there is no other way to attain to the understanding of the artistic poetry of their own nation. And thus the native poetry |