Alden, Timothy. Seven forensic disputations on the question whether the time usually spent in learning the Latin, Greek, & Oriental languages be usefully occupied : by Timothy Alden, Samuel Dana, Jotham Bender, James Kendall, David Kendall, William Wells,

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On the question - Whether the time, usually spent in learning the Latin, Greek, and Oriental languages, be usefully occupied.

The present age is distinguished by a peculiar freedom of thought and action. At no period of the world have the opinions of antiquity met with less veneration; in no one have systems, supported by prescriptive arguments alone, been more violently assailed or more generally exploded. Despising the long frequented paths of their ancestors, the present generation boldly strives to open new avenues to the temple of knowledge; and if we cannot become wise by our own exertions, we seem determined not to fall short of wisdom, by adopting the ignorance of our forefathers.

The benevolent man will behold, with pleasure, his fellow men thus rousing themselves from the slumber of ages, and awakened to the full perception and ex-

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exercise of their energies. The lover of truth will regard that severe scrutiny, to which established opinions must now submit, as the forerunner of new discoveries on every branch of science; as indicating a new era in knowledge and in virtue. That proud despotism of opinion, which claimed absolute submission to its dictates, because, during a long period of ignorance and barbarism, no one had boldness to contradict them, is now humbled in the dust. The ipse dixit of the pretended sage can no longer command implicit obedience; and systems of philosophy are not estimated by the extent or duration of their reign, but as they are conformable to truth and reason.

While we view with pleasure a prospect so favorable to the happiness of man, and repelling with indignation the impositions of antiquity, assert our right to think on all subjects as our own reason shall direct, let us beware of rejecting what is useful, merely because it is ancient; and in our zeal to throw away the dross of antiquity, let us not foolishly reject its rich and valuable ore.

Among those established opinions, which the

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wantonness of literary infidelity has lately assailed, is the general belief of the utility of classical learning. The high esteem in which our ancestors held these studies, is well known. A knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages was, with them, an indispensable part of education; and exclusively dignified with the name of learning. The ancients were supposed to reach the summit of excellence, and to leave nothing to future genius, but to admire and imitate them. On the other hand, some late writers hold them as deserving of our contempt and ridicule. They represent the classics as useless, and the acquisition of the learned languages as a heavy and intolerable burthen, imposed upon the youth of the present age by the tyranny of ancient custom. Thus prone are mankind to extremes, while truth is commonly found in the middle path.

While we hear with contemptuous indignation the assertions of those classical enthusiasts, who endeavour to persuade us that the Greeks and Romans have preoccupied every eminence in science, and that the celestial fire, which burnt so brightkly in a Tully, warms not with equal ardor the bosom of modern genius, we listen, with similar incredulity, to those, who with so much modesty inform us

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that mankind have hitherto been in an error which it was reserved for them to dispel. They trace all the applauses, which the ancients have received to the prejudices of education and the affectation of learning; and would fain have us believe, that the great men of modern days, who recommend with so much earnestness the study of the classics, are led to this by the chagrin of acknowledging that they have spent much time and labor in useless studies; and are desirous to conceal their own deviation from truth by inducing posterity to follow them in the paths of error.

It is not easy to hear with temper such slanderous insinuations; but our honest indignation is repressed by the reflection, that they are the last subterfuge of expiring folly; and though, to the ignorant, they may conceal the deficiency of better arguments, they cannot bring serious conviction, nor injure the cause of classical learning with the sensible and ingenuous.

We shall take a view of the use and progress of classical learning, of the objections raised against it, and of the advantages, which may reasonably be expected to result from the cultivation of the learned languages. Such a view, if we mistake not, will abundantly justify us

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in defending the affirmative of the question.

When the empire of Rome was destroyed by the northern nations, the works of her illustrious sons were soon neglected, and lay buried in the dust of monastic libraries. All useful literature was forgotten; and those dreadful times of barbarism have, by general consent, obtained the just and emphatic name of the dark ages. With the fifteenth century began the dawn of reason. The best Roman authors were then read and admired. We may, however, date the revival of classical learning from the destruction of Constantinople, when the most learned Greeks took refuge in Italy, and introduced their incomparable language to general notice. The progress of letters was rapidly accellerated by the invention of painting; and the sun of science, rising in majestic splendor, warmed and enlightened Europe.

The study of the Greek and Latin languages continued to monopolize the attention of learned men till the beginning of the sixteenth century; where it became a principal cause of the reformation. This may seem a hazardous assertion; but is nevertheless true. It was not un-