THE GLORY THAT WAS GREECE

At the recent presentation of the Birds of Aristophanes given in Greek by the Classical Club, the fast and witty dialogue failed to draw any audience reaction except from the most learned professors in the front rows. The biting satire, so pertinent to the world today, was completely lost on the undergraduates. Here is a sad commentary on the neglect of the classics while the social sciences here at Harvard are flooded with more students than they can handle.

In the rush for a rough-and-ready practical education, many students have overlooked the vast store-house of Greek culture. To most men spending three whole courses learning a "dead language" seems the height of other-worldly scholasticism. But this disdain is born only of ignorance, ignorance of our tremendous inheritance from Greek culture, ignorance of the importance of its ideologies, ignorance of its influence on almost every branch of the arts. Some knowledge of Greece is almost essential in the formation of an educated man.

But unfortunately there is no Forum in the Yard where members of the Classics Department may mount the rostrum and shout about "The Glory that was Greece" to the intellectual proletariat. The can only sit at their desks and hope that some students will be willing to gamble three courses on a pretty sure bet,--but three courses in a crowded schedule is a big ante. A great many men would rather lower the ante and take a smaller return.

For those men who feel they should have some knowledge of Greek culture and yet cannot afford three courses, the Classics Department should make some provision. While reading Greek in translation is appreciation second-hand, it is better than none at all. A course in the Intellectual and Literary History of Greece, given in English, would be a great help to those low-ante men. Such a course, it is true, would be no more than a whirlwind campaign through well-settled valleys, but that is the kind of a course which Sophomores and Juniors need as a background for their studies in other fields.