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A Plea for the Restoration of Latin and Latinity

I could write at considerable length about the value and the glory of the Latin language. I spend some of my time teaching Latin. You may imagine how I feel when somebody says to me that “Latin is a dead language” or “What, after all, is the use of Latin, these days?”

There are two problems (if not more) here. The first is the utilitarian educational philosophy that would have it that nothing should be taught that is not, by the terms of our modern educationalists, “useful.” The second problem is the lie that Latin is not useful.

I am not going to write about “transferrable skills,” an expression that annoys me. Yes, it is true that the thorough study of Latin language and literature gives the student certain skills that he may not have previously acquired, or, if he has acquired them, they will be sharpened by the study of Latin. But what I have to say is that there is value in the study of Latin as a language, with a literature, and for other academic reasons, and not because it “sharpens the mind,” which could be done with a puzzle book.

Praise the Lord

Read the Whole Article at https://onepeterfive.com/